Transcript - Episode 15: The Right Stuff (Part 2)
Audio for The Right Stuff Part 2
The Right Stuff Part 2
Wed, Nov 19, 2025
“Push the Roll with Ross Bryant” is produced for the ear and includes emotion and emphasis that's not on the page. Transcripts are generated using a combination of speech recognition software and human transcribers, and may contain errors.
Ross Bryant 00:00
[MUSIC: ominous drone] It's a voice coming from the ground near where you felt your ankle get touched. It felt like something was groping at you.
Nate Highland (Matt) 00:13
I kind of very gingerly get down on all fours.
Ross Bryant 00:17
Snap, snap, snap, snap. [SFX: branches break] There are branches being snapped about eight feet off to your left, deeper into the darkness.
Paula Deming 00:24
No, no, no, I hate it.
Nate Highland (Matt) 00:27
I can't quite see you.
Annalise (Ross) 00:30
Please help it's still out here.
Nate Highland (Matt) 00:32
What's still out here?
Ross Bryant 00:35
And now that you're on your knees, resolving out of the darkness as a hand is now touching your cheek, is the face moving up out of the darkness, scratched by brambles, smudged with dirt. The face of a teenage girl, very wan, very pale, her eyes wide in the dark. It's now so close to your own.
Annalise (Ross) 01:04
Help me.
Nate Highland (Matt) 01:06
Oh, sorry! I can't, I can't, I can't.
Matt Young 01:10
I try to get up and run.
Ross Bryant 01:12
Okay, great. Make a Dexterity roll.
cuppycup 01:14
Oh no.
Matt Young 01:16
It's a 63 under 65.
Paula Deming 01:19
Ooh!
Ross Bryant 01:20
Great. This means to me that you have dexterously gotten away from this face that just resolved out of the darkness of the forest.
Annalise (Ross) 01:29
No, help!
Ross Bryant 01:31
Is what you hear as you move away.
Nate Highland (Matt) 01:33
I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry!
Ross Bryant 01:36
You move. [SFX: running footsteps] The branches slapping your face. You feel your garments tear on a thorn, as you get back into the light created by the van and are scrambling back up towards it. And you can still hear vaguely back behind you.
Annalise (Ross) 01:53
Please!
Ross Bryant 01:53
[MUSIC: melancholic guitar theme] The cosmos is a cyclopean infinity of chaos, infinite branching paths stretching off to vistas in the distance that will drive the mind mad. Shall we shrink in the face of all this? Or will we climb aboard the chaos and ride it to the end, letting chance guide the way? This is Push the Roll. We're rolling dice against your Patreon suggestions to create improvised Call of Cthulhu adventures in real time with themes of eldritch horror, the weird, the transhuman, the transmundane, the cyberpunk, the splatterpunk, the anything punk. We don't know until we roll. Anytime, anyplace, anything can happen when you push the roll.
Nate Highland (Matt) 02:51
[SFX: running footsteps] Derek! Derek! Chris! Chris! We got to get out of here. There's some crazy like Beetlejuice shit happening over here. [SFX: van door opens]
Nic Rosenberg 03:04
Bobby jumps out of the side of the van.
Bobby King (Nic) 03:04
Nate, are you okay? Oh, my God. What happened to your shoes?
Nate Highland (Matt) 03:04
There's, there's a girl. She's like, scared and scary, and we gotta go. We gotta go.
Billy Baker (Paula) 03:07
There's a scary girl? Get in the car! [SFX: van engine running]
Nate Highland (Matt) 03:07
Yeah, we just gotta go. We gotta go find someone. We'll come back.
Chris Holloway (Cup) 03:07
What?
Nate Highland (Matt) 03:07
We gotta go. Get in the van.
Bobby King (Nic) 03:07
There's a girl out here?
Chris Holloway (Cup) 03:17
No, Nate, that could be a fan.
Nate Highland (Matt) 03:18
She didn't recognize me at all. We gotta go. [laughter]
Chris Holloway (Cup) 03:21
But would she recognize B.B.?
Ross Bryant 03:23
You hear a scream. [SFX: girl screams]
Billy Baker (Paula) 03:29
(panicked) What do we do? What do we do?
Nate Highland (Matt) 03:31
We gotta go. We gotta come back. We cannot stay here.
Billy Baker (Paula) 03:34
Who are we coming back with? We don't even know where we are.
Derek (Ross) 03:37
What the hell is going on? What the hell's going on?
Nate Highland (Matt) 03:39
Derek. Derek, shut up. We gotta go.
Derek (Ross) 03:42
Why is the door open? Where'd you get those Cool Ranch Doritos? [laughter]
Bobby King (Nic) 03:45
Nowhere. [SFX: chip crunch]
Nate Highland (Matt) 03:46
There's like a Winona Ryder girl over there. She was scary, and she yelled at me, and then she was afraid of something. We gotta go.
Derek (Ross) 03:53
Oh, what the hell are you talking about?
Chris Holloway (Cup) 03:54
No, Nate, we're a band, and this is team building. We need to investigate together, right?
Nate Highland (Matt) 04:01
Well, you guys do whatever you want. I'm sitting right here in the van.
Chris Holloway (Cup) 04:04
You told me to love myself. I mean, how am I gonna build self-confidence if we don't show some bravery?
Billy Baker (Paula) 04:09
I mean, Chris has a really good point.
Paula Deming 04:11
And B.B. will swallow back like the bile that's rising in his throat as he kind of remembers his own upsetting experience and says,
Billy Baker (Paula) 04:19
The only way I'll ever be taken seriously is if I'm not just handsome but a hero. We should go into the woods. I can do it. I can be brave. Chris, yes, Bobby, you in?
Bobby King (Nic) 04:30
Absolutely. You're an inspiration, B.B. Let's go help this girl.
Chris Holloway (Cup) 04:35
Nate, you gotta come with us. Come on, Nate, you gotta show us where she was.
Matt Young 04:39
Fine, fine. But I'm taking this handgun we have stuffed under the seat. [laughter]
Ross Bryant 04:46
It seems extremely unlikely to me that you would have a handgun. [laughter]
Matt Young 04:50
It was worth a shot.
Ross Bryant 04:51
If you can make an extreme Luck roll.
Nic Rosenberg 04:53
Oh, my goodness.
Ross Bryant 04:54
You've got a weapon. Maybe not a handgun.
Matt Young 04:56
Okay, yeah, something.
Paula Deming 04:58
We might have a tire iron in here, or something, you know?
Ross Bryant 05:01
Definitely have a tire iron. You need an extreme success.
cuppycup 05:04
Oh, that's not... [laughter]
Matt Young 05:06
No. 68.
Ross Bryant 05:07
Yeah, there's a copy of Spin magazine down here. [laughter]
Matt Young 05:12
Yeah, I just roll up a magazine ready to hit something with it, because better than nothing, I guess.
Billy Baker (Paula) 05:17
I mean, if it's Dogman again, just him on the nose, you know?
Nate Highland (Matt) 05:21
Yeah.
Billy Baker (Paula) 05:22
That's a good idea, guys.
Ross Bryant 05:24
The face of Michael Stipe is curled into a tight rod [laughter] as you walk out into the night, all four of you?
Matt Young 05:33
Please be a "Shiny Happy People" cover.
Ross Bryant 05:35
Yes, yes.
Paula Deming 05:36
Because I'm sure that the van has like one of those little roadside assistant kits, you know, with like, a flare in it, B.B. will root around in there and grab, there's probably two flares, maybe?
Ross Bryant 05:48
Yeah, one for the front of the car, one for the back of the car.
Paula Deming 05:50
Grab both of the flares.
Ross Bryant 05:52
Okay.
Paula Deming 05:52
And I just shove them, like, in my in my pocket of my really baggy pants.
Billy Baker (Paula) 05:56
Okay.
Nic Rosenberg 05:57
Nice.
Billy Baker (Paula) 05:58
Just in case, you know, I could shove them in someone's face or send off a signal where we are if something bad happens. You know? Alright, guys.
Chris Holloway (Cup) 06:05
I've been lifting, I think we'll be fine.
Nic Rosenberg 06:08
Bobby is armed with a heavy, heavy thermos, just a metal, solid piece that he's just kind of like carrying with him full of SpaghettiOs. Full of SpaghettiOs. [laughter]
Ross Bryant 06:20
Now armed for war. [laughter]
Chris Holloway (Cup) 06:22
Derek, watch the van. We'll be right back. We're gonna do band stuff.
Derek (Ross) 06:25
No problem, boys!
Ross Bryant 06:31
He shuts it behind you. [SFX: van door closes] You hear the doors lock. [SFX: van door locks]
Billy Baker (Paula) 06:38
(singing) I believe in us. I believe in you. I believe in me, (Bobby joins) I believe in us.
Chris Holloway (Cup) 06:39
(singing) I've been loving on myself.
Billy Baker (Paula) 06:40
Yeah.
Ross Bryant 06:40
[SFX: forest insects and brush movement] The lights of the headlights go out into the woods. You don't hear much now, after that scream. [MUSIC: ethereal drone] The foggy windows of the van are utterly opaque behind you. You can barely see them anyway, because of the headlights illuminating the trees, and that is what stands before you now. The little slope down and then the trees, the tall stands of pine. And the sounds of the forest ahead. And you can no longer hear, even you Nate, who have heard her ragged voice can hear her.
Nate Highland (Matt) 07:19
Hey guys, I'm really sorry I freaked out before. I saw something crazy out there. And look, the girl's name is Annalise, and I think we need to help her. So if we get split up, just look for Annalise. Okay?
Billy Baker (Paula) 07:36
Okay, okay. Well, what if we didn't get split up, though?
Bobby King (Nic) 07:38
Yeah.
Nate Highland (Matt) 07:39
Well, we should try to stay together. I think it was... it looks like from the trees there, I...
Matt Young 07:46
Can I see? I'm gonna do a Spot Hidden, I guess. See if I can tell where I came from?
Ross Bryant 07:52
Yeah, I don't even think you need to roll for that. You came from there. You succeeded your dash back. You can guide them.
Matt Young 07:59
And some branches are probably busted up and stuff. So, like, yeah, that's the direction I came.
Nate Highland (Matt) 08:04
Let's just go that way and just stick by my side, okay?
Chris Holloway (Cup) 08:08
Nate, man, I gotta ask. I don't want to be freaked out on camera. This is not "Candid Camera" or some bullshit where they're gonna jump out and scare us, right?
Nate Highland (Matt) 08:15
No way, man.
Billy Baker (Paula) 08:17
Oh, man, I hadn't thought about that. Chris, Nate, are we on a prank show right now?
Nate Highland (Matt) 08:22
I wish, but we're not.
Bobby King (Nic) 08:24
I feel like "Punk'd" is probably not invented yet. Like, that's probably late 90s. [laughter]
Chris Holloway (Cup) 08:24
That's a great name for a prank show, Bobby.
Bobby King (Nic) 08:26
But I just feel like, yeah, yeah. Like, it would be good for a brand maybe.
Nate Highland (Matt) 08:33
Yeah. Let's put that in your back pocket. We gotta start that show when we get out of here.
Bobby King (Nic) 08:37
Yeah, yeah.
Billy Baker (Paula) 08:38
So this whole situation is genuinely minatory, which means menacing or threatening. [laughter]
Chris Holloway (Cup) 08:46
Sure. [laughter]
Matt Young 08:48
Look, maybe I'm being hyperbolic here, but...
Billy Baker (Paula) 08:51
Oh, that means over-exaggerating. [laughter]
Nate Highland (Matt) 08:53
That's right, that's right, Billy. But if I don't come back, can one of you tell Christina for me that I love her.
Chris Holloway (Cup) 09:00
I'll tell her. [laughter] Give me her number.
Paula Deming 09:05
Christina Applegate?
Nate Highland (Matt) 09:06
Yeah, we went on two dates. Follow me.
Ross Bryant 09:10
Off you go into the woods.
Nic Rosenberg 09:11
Ross, do we see any of the... you said that the sound that we had heard originally was kind of like broken branches. Can we see the broken branches?
Ross Bryant 09:21
What an astute question, Bobby King. Yeah, as you look around, you can see in the darkness the jagged shadows of some trees. Not like stout pines, but more slender trees that look as though they've been cracked sideways, broken asunder. You can see some brambly limbs that look as though they've been rent down.
Nic Rosenberg 09:44
Using maybe something like Natural World, can I get a rough idea of how, like, what size thing would be required to make these types of breaks and types of rending?
Ross Bryant 09:55
Yeah, please do.
Nic Rosenberg 09:56
That is 30 under 50.
Paula Deming 09:59
Nice.
Nic Rosenberg 10:00
I'm tempted to spend five Luck to make that a hard success.
Paula Deming 10:04
Do it!
Nic Rosenberg 10:05
I'm gonna do it. Let's make that a hard success.
Ross Bryant 10:08
One, I'm curious how Bobby King came by such a high knowledge of the state of the natural world.
Nic Rosenberg 10:17
Yeah, I think that Bobby has always been kind of a sensitive soul, and maybe was kind of one of those young boys, you know, who was out in the woods a lot, writing poetry, learning about birds, specifically, which obviously leads to trees and flowers and just all sorts of you know, he's a foliage expert. He has the Audubon's natural world books. Yeah.
Bobby King (Nic) 10:40
They're just beautiful.
Matt Young 10:42
Hey, Bobby, your parents were hippies, right?
Bobby King (Nic) 10:44
Yeah. Yeah. I was almost raised on a commune.
Nate Highland (Matt) 10:47
Wow.
Billy Baker (Paula) 10:49
Whoa.
Nate Highland (Matt) 10:49
Can you tell anything?
Bobby King (Nic) 10:51
I mean, I should probably think for a second until the result of that roll that I just made comes through, and then I think I'll probably know something.
Nate Highland (Matt) 10:59
Cool!
Ross Bryant 11:00
[MUSIC: ominous drone] Bobby, you know, of course, that it's probably an animal. And you know that, for example, when deer are in velvet, when youthful deer still have their antlers encased in that thin layer of velvety flesh, they might scratch them up on a tree, break things, leave a bunch of scratches and rutting on foliage. Also, when stags are mature, they might do that to mark territory. That's a kind of logical idea, considering where you are.
Nic Rosenberg 11:32
Yeah.
Ross Bryant 11:33
The weird thing is like how high those breaks seem to be. It would have to be like a deer standing on its hind legs, or like much, much taller. Like seven feet tall.
Bobby King (Nic) 11:48
I think this might be the work of a deer. We might be in mating season, so we should be super careful, and maybe, if we're lucky, it will be a majestic elk. It's just really high is the thing.
Billy Baker (Paula) 11:59
That's unusual.
Bobby King (Nic) 12:00
It's a little unusual, but I think maybe...
Billy Baker (Paula) 12:03
Could it be a moose? Moose are really big.
Ross Bryant 12:06
I think Bobby, I'll let your roll roll over here and say, like, where you are, this is the American South. You wouldn't see moose or elk. You might see a black bear, but black bear don't get that big.
Bobby King (Nic) 12:16
Listen, it's just a lot of pressure being asked all these questions. I know that I have this experience, but I just, it's not clear. It's a little weird, and it's just, it's a tall deer or just a really acrobatic bear.
Nate Highland (Matt) 12:30
Hey, that's great. Yeah.
cuppycup 12:33
Hey, Bobby, should we be loud or quiet? I don't know whether to try to scare this thing off or try to sneak up on it.
Bobby King (Nic) 12:40
I just, I can't be left with all these decisions! [laughter]
Nic Rosenberg 12:42
Unscrewing the thermos and just like, downing some SpaghettiOs. [SFX: eating sounds]
Nate Highland (Matt) 12:46
Bobby, it's okay, it's okay, it's okay. Look, I have a question too, but it's for the whole group. Is mating season a good name for an album? [gasps]
Chris Holloway (Cup) 12:54
Oh, hell yes, that's perfect.
Bobby King (Nic) 12:57
Oh.
Billy Baker (Paula) 12:59
Maybe for, like, our third album when we're ready to show that we're like, we're grown up now, you know what I mean?
Bobby King (Nic) 13:04
Yeah, we're real men.
Nate Highland (Matt) 13:05
Let's hang on to that one. I like that.
Chris Holloway (Cup) 13:08
You know, it could be the name of our world tour, "mating season."
Matt Young 13:11
Oh yeah, yeah. I love that. [SFX: heavy breathing] You guys... do you hear that?
Ross Bryant 13:20
Yeah, you all hear that.
Paula Deming 13:22
I don't like it.
Nate Highland (Matt) 13:24
Annalise? Annalise, it's me, Nate. From The Other Side. [SFX: heavy breathing]
Ross Bryant 13:32
It stops, and then you just barely perceptibly,
Annalise (Ross) 13:39
You ran away.
Matt Young 13:41
I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I got freaked out, but I came back with my bandmates. We're here to help.
Ross Bryant 13:47
The voice is not coming from the ground now. It seems to be coming from, like, head height.
Paula Deming 13:52
Do we see anything that might be making a voice?
Ross Bryant 13:56
You definitely hear where it's coming from. Would you like to move toward it?
Paula Deming 14:00
No!
Matt Young 14:02
I raise my magazine and move towards it.
cuppycup 14:04
Yeah, Chris is gonna follow Nate.
Bobby King (Nic) 14:06
Man, I wish we'd like brought a flashlight, or something.
Chris Holloway (Cup) 14:10
That would've been such a great idea.
Bobby King (Nic) 14:11
We should have looked for a flashlight, damn it.
Ross Bryant 14:15
Maybe when you get back to the van, you can roll Luck for it.
Nic Rosenberg 14:18
Yeah, but we're in it now.
Ross Bryant 14:21
Yeah, who is moving towards the sound?
Matt Young 14:24
I think it's me, followed by Chris and Bobby, right?
Nic Rosenberg 14:27
Yeah.
Ross Bryant 14:28
Great.
Nate Highland (Matt) 14:28
Billy, you went in on this action?
Billy Baker (Paula) 14:30
Okay, I'll come, but I'm pulling up the rear here. I'll be in the back because I gotta protect my face. You know, I'm the face of the group. So that's the professional thing to do.
Ross Bryant 14:40
Speaking of faces, Nate as you walk forward, suddenly, you see her face again. [SFX: high-pitched metallic wail] It is at face height. It again sort of resolves out of the darkness. Though she is not standing, she is rather hanging in a bent and contorted position. Suspended in the branches of the tree where it seems as though she has been left. You see her face, and of course, because you're now much closer to it, you can see that her face, last when you saw it, totally pallid and pale, is now covered in blood. Please roll Sanity for me.
Paula Deming 15:17
Did we all see this? Or just Nate? Or...
Ross Bryant 15:19
Yes.
Paula Deming 15:20
Oh, good.
Nic Rosenberg 15:22
Boy band training kicks in for Bobby, and he just goes,
Bobby King (Nic) 15:25
Hey, girl, what are you doing in that tree? [laughter]
Matt Young 15:31
So it looks like, for Dilettante, I start at 50 max. I rolled an 80.
Ross Bryant 15:36
Okay, that's a failure.
Matt Young 15:37
Yeah, yeah, pretty clearly.
cuppycup 15:38
I rolled under for Chris, he's been lifting.
Ross Bryant 15:41
Okay. Yeah.
Nic Rosenberg 15:41
Bobby also passes.
Ross Bryant 15:44
Great.
Paula Deming 15:44
I failed. No, no thank you. No. I don't need something else getting in my trunk. I don't need, I don't... no, no, no, no, no, uh-uh.
Ross Bryant 15:54
Great. This is just some violence. This is horrible, though. What have you come upon here? Her breathing is still shallow. She's alive. Those of you who passed your Sanity rolls take no Sanity loss. Those of you who failed take three points of Sanity loss.
Paula Deming 16:11
Oh my gosh, three? [laughter]
Matt Young 16:13
Can I roll, I guess it'd be Spot Hidden again to see if I can tell how she's like... can I see like a rope or, yeah, an investigation of some kind for that?
Ross Bryant 16:20
Please do.
Matt Young 16:21
That's a 36 over 35 so I'm going to spend Luck. I'm gonna spend just two to get it under so I'm down to 43 and then I pass that.
Ross Bryant 16:35
[MUSIC: ominous drone] You passed your Spot Hidden. I'll tell you this, Nate. You don't need Spot Hidden to see that one arm is thrown over a branch. It looks as though she has been flung here. And the reason that she's suspended is there's a jagged stick of pine protruding through the flesh of her upper thigh. She is slightly impaled and pinned to this tree. She is alive. Her breath is shallow. You didn't need Spot Hidden to know that, you just see it. What the Spot Hidden success that you're so lucky to see gets you is that for the first time out in the darkness, in the total darkness, outside of the beam of the headlights of the van, you see now turning towards you the reflective wolfen eyes of something off in the darkness. The two kind of yellowish disks reflecting the dim light of the headlights back at you. The eyes are about seven to eight feet high in the air. Only Nate sees that.
Matt Young 17:47
Billy, give me a flare.
Billy Baker (Paula) 17:50
Okay.
Paula Deming 17:50
And Billy will fumble in his pocket and pull a flare out and hand it.
Matt Young 17:55
Don't pull her off the branch, break the branch and take her back to the van.
Chris Holloway (Cup) 17:58
Yeah, yeah, I'll do that.
Bobby King (Nic) 18:00
You got it.
Billy Baker (Paula) 18:01
Okay, it's okay, girl, we got you. (singing) We got you. (Bobby joins) We got you, girl. We got you, girl. (Chris joins) We got you, girl.
Matt Young 18:09
Can we spend Magic points to sing to her? [laughter]
Ross Bryant 18:14
What a great question. That would imply that you're attempting to do a spell.
Matt Young 18:17
Yeah, to make her feel better.
Ross Bryant 18:19
Uh huh. I would say you could just roll Art/Craft: Music to attempt the same result. Or Charm is a way we could sort of bargain that to be the case.
Paula Deming 18:30
I could Charm it up maybe.
cuppycup 18:31
Yeah.
Matt Young 18:32
I say we all roll Charm to sing to her while we try to save her. [laughter]
Billy Baker (Paula) 18:37
(singing) We got you girl. I rolled real good. (Bobby joins) We got you. That's a hard success, like I knew I would. [laughter] Because we got you girl, we got you girl. Ooh, ooh.
Matt Young 18:51
I rolled real bad, but I'm gonna push it, and I got a three!
Nic Rosenberg 18:54
Oh my gosh!
Paula Deming 18:55
Yeah!
cuppycup 18:57
Amazing.
Nic Rosenberg 18:58
I also rolled bad. I will also push by trying to harmonize with Nate's direction that he takes the song. Please, let me fail this. I did fail it, actually.
Ross Bryant 19:06
This isn't precisely how group rolls work in Cthulhu, [laughter] but...
Matt Young 19:10
Yeah, yeah.
Ross Bryant 19:10
I love the teamwork on display here from the members of The Other Side.
Matt Young 19:14
I've instructed them to get her down, but what I would like to do is take that flare and walk towards the eyes.
Ross Bryant 19:21
Love it. So all of you singing, it sounds like you succeeded. Your harmonies are impeccable.
Paula Deming 19:28
Better than they've ever sounded, maybe?
cuppycup 19:29
How did Bobby's push go?
Ross Bryant 19:32
Bobby's push failed.
cuppycup 19:33
Ooh, okay.
Ross Bryant 19:34
You failed your Music roll?
Nic Rosenberg 19:35
Yes.
cuppycup 19:36
Because I was gonna push if you succeeded, I couldn't be the only one not succeeding at the singing.
Nic Rosenberg 19:43
No, no, let's fail together.
cuppycup 19:43
Yeah, this is a comfort. This is a comfort for Chris.
Nic Rosenberg 19:43
But maybe the harmonies are good for a second, and then the second we, like, go over and start to try to actually interact with this body, it's too real.
cuppycup 19:49
Yeah.
Ross Bryant 19:50
So I'm sorry, there was a lot of rolls were happening all at once. [laughter]
Matt Young 19:50
Sorry. Sorry.
Paula Deming 19:52
And then I started singing.
Ross Bryant 19:55
Did Chris fail?
cuppycup 19:56
I failed, but I didn't push it. I was waiting to see how the harmonizing was going.
Ross Bryant 19:59
Okay.
cuppycup 20:00
He was helping Bobby, like, maybe use Strength to try to get the branch broken and get her out of here. Annalise, yeah.
Ross Bryant 20:06
Love that. Love that. I'll say that failure just means that the harmony is slightly discordant. We're gonna resolve the results of that failed push in a moment.
Chris Holloway (Cup) 20:15
Stop singing with food in your mouth, Bobby. (Bobby garbles reply)
Ross Bryant 20:19
Chris, roll Strength.
cuppycup 20:21
Okay. I have a regular success.
Nic Rosenberg 20:23
Nice.
Ross Bryant 20:24
The branch comes off, although you can tell as you do so, Annalise gasps in pain because of the movement of the splintery wood in her thigh.
Paula Deming 20:36
Is there enough light in here to know if we recognize her? Was she in the group of girls we were running from?
Nic Rosenberg 20:42
Ooh.
Paula Deming 20:42
I feel like that would maybe be hard to know, but...
Ross Bryant 20:45
Pretty hard to tell at this moment.
Paula Deming 20:47
Yeah.
Ross Bryant 20:48
I'll say that at the moment, you do not recognize her.
Nic Rosenberg 20:51
She's just covered in blood, yeah.
Ross Bryant 20:53
You're seeing, yeah, this the flakes of drying blood on her face. She is in shock, and you are now bearing her weight, Chris, having broken off the little jagged stick.
Chris Holloway (Cup) 21:06
Help me. We got to get her to the van.
Ross Bryant 21:09
Nate, you're lighting the flare and walking into the darkness?
Matt Young 21:13
I am not lighting the flare yet. I am walking towards the eyes and I'm going,
Nate Highland (Matt) 21:18
(singing) Baby girl, we've got a date tonight. It's gonna be you and me, alright. Baby girl, oh baby girl, we're gonna make history. I've got to show you something you have got to see.
Matt Young 21:38
And as I get.. the closer I get to it, I'm like, ready to light the flare. And if I see it flinch at all, I'm gonna, like, throw the flare right at the eyes.
Ross Bryant 21:48
I love that. You're singing towards it. [laughter]
Matt Young 21:51
Yeah. And slowly moving towards it as I sing.
Ross Bryant 21:53
What is your goal here? [laughter]
Matt Young 21:57
I'm gonna try to kill this thing. Because I feel really guilty.
Ross Bryant 22:00
I want to be clear about what kind of flare this is. This is not a flare gun. [laughter] This is a road flare.
Matt Young 22:06
It is a flare, but maybe scare it off. You know, like, I think it's like an animal, and I'm like, gonna...
cuppycup 22:11
It's like "Jurassic Park?"
Ross Bryant 22:12
Sounds like you're trying to Intimidate it.
Matt Young 22:15
Intimidate it. Exactly. Perfect.
Nic Rosenberg 22:17
Hell yeah.
Ross Bryant 22:17
Will you roll Intimidate for me, please?
Matt Young 22:20
Yeah, yeah.
Nic Rosenberg 22:21
Go Nate. Nate, Nate Nate.
Matt Young 22:23
Oh, this is not gonna be good.
Nic Rosenberg 22:25
You got this.
Matt Young 22:26
I have a 15. Let's see what we do. Eight!
cuppycup 22:30
Oh, beautiful.
Nic Rosenberg 22:31
Huzzah. [laughter]
Ross Bryant 22:32
Wonderful. Here's what happens. [SFX: footsteps in dirt] You walk forward, singing, holding this flare that you have not lit, correct?
Matt Young 22:40
Correct.
Ross Bryant 22:41
And you're attempting, with your singing, to scare it off. Whatever this thing is.
Matt Young 22:45
It's partially like, keep my nerve up, but then like, I'm gonna light it and throw it or try to scare it off, yeah.
Ross Bryant 22:52
[MUSIC: ritualistic orchestra] You're moving towards those eyes, those glittering eyes that seem to flash yellowish-blue. They're widely set. They're high up. As you move forward, you can tell that whatever this is, it is tall. The eyes are regarding you as you move towards it. It kind of hunches. You can't really get a sense of its dimensions, how long the neck is, or how serpentine or sinuous the musculature that allows its head to sort of dip in the hasty way it drops towards you as you sing, towards it. As you do so, it begins to sing as well. [laughter] And you got a hard success roll, correct?
Matt Young 23:41
Yeah, yeah.
Ross Bryant 23:42
So what you hear is just it harmonizes with you, and it's not singing your lyrics. It's just a like (throat singing). It has kind of that timbre. But also, if you've ever heard like Mongolian Tuvan throat singing.
Matt Young 24:03
Sure.
Ross Bryant 24:04
So it has this feminine high register, and then almost as if a second mouth is singing that like (low throat singing) as well.
Matt Young 24:17
Okay.
Ross Bryant 24:17
And as it does that, you feel your skin prickle as for a moment, you feel in communication with this thing as its head lowers and the glow in its eyes snuffs out, as you watch its head move back into the darkness away from you. You failed your pushed roll, Bobby King, as you sang. So yeah, you hear it singing as well. Everyone hears it singing, but you hear it, if I may say, more so. [laughter]
Nic Rosenberg 24:47
Just hearing it harder.
Ross Bryant 24:48
You failed, which means that you were kind of discordantly singing, and for a moment the sort of like treble voice of this thing, creating all these strange semitones with its own voice creates this discord with your voice. Bobby is our sensitive soul with hippie parents.
Nic Rosenberg 25:12
Yes.
Ross Bryant 25:13
Who's done great study of the natural world?
Nic Rosenberg 25:16
Yeah, yeah.
Ross Bryant 25:18
Maybe Bobby has a sense of a certain type of discord that is referred to in classical music as Diabolus in Música. Discords that are so profound that they create these skincrawling sort of sensations. And you feel that prickle in your skin too, but it is almost like a prickle of psychic pain as this thing vibrates you on its frequency.
Nic Rosenberg 25:48
I'll roll Sanity.
Ross Bryant 25:49
Yeah, absolutely.
Nic Rosenberg 25:50
(laughs) Okay, I passed the San roll. But this is probably that kind of thing where, you know, it's like this thing is happening and Bobby's losing a grip, and then the insecurity of...
Bobby King (Nic) 26:04
Wait a second, is this discordant because I can't sing? [laughter] Am I actually talented? Should I even be in this band?
Nic Rosenberg 26:12
This is kind of happening internally. And so the insecurity kind of overtakes a madness. It just kind of overshadows it.
cuppycup 26:20
That's amazing.
Bobby King (Nic) 26:20
I'm a fraud. I'm a fraud. Where are my chips?
Ross Bryant 26:23
Take one point of physical damage.
Nic Rosenberg 26:27
Hell yeah!
Ross Bryant 26:28
As your mind reels with the power of this discordant semitone. This is not all that happens. You passed your Sanity role, so it gives you a gift. You have a vision.
Paula Deming 26:41
What? What is happening?
Ross Bryant 26:42
[MUSIC: ritualistic rhythm] In a split second, impossible to communicate how fast, but you have a sense of being in a forest, far away from here, and you see a young woman. It's not Annalise, it's not a face you recognize. She is wearing a flowered crown with two stags' antlers attached to it. There is a ring of people around her. There is a table covered in flowers and fruits and vegetables, newly harvested, and the woman with the antler headdress makes a triangular gesture and beckons you closer. And you realize that you are going to be given to him. You are going to be his bride. She shall perform the ceremony, and you will both sing your wedding song together. He is waiting in the woods to consummate your union. And that's the result of the psychic damage you take as this sound punches into your mind, not making you insane, but giving you a vision.
Nic Rosenberg 27:57
Yeah. Cool, cool, cool, cool, cool. [laughter]
Chris Holloway (Cup) 28:01
Come on, Bobby!
Bobby King (Nic) 28:02
Huh?
cuppycup 28:03
Like, we're carrying this girl right?
Chris Holloway (Cup) 28:04
Focus up, man.
Ross Bryant 28:06
Yeah, yeah, dragging Annalise back toward the car. Bobby is kind of maybe taking a second, as I said, this happened in a (snaps fingers) moment.
Nic Rosenberg 28:14
Yeah, it's like it hits like a headache. (Bobby winces)
Ross Bryant 28:16
Nate, you hear the scrambles and shuffles of this thing as it recedes back into the forest, and now there is silence.
Billy Baker (Paula) 28:23
Nate? Nate, you're coming with us, man, right? Come on. We gotta go. We got her.
Nate Highland (Matt) 28:28
Yeah, yeah, I'm coming.
Matt Young 28:30
I'm kind of still staring back towards it where it receded. I didn't light the flare, but I was... sorry. I'm kind of like panicking, because I don't know what to do. Should I follow it? Should I try to hurt it? And then I realize I just need to get back to the group. And I head back to the group.
Ross Bryant 28:46
I want to put us right back in the van.
Paula Deming 28:48
Yeah.
Ross Bryant 28:49
As you come out, you hear the doors unlock, and Derek slides the door open [SFX: van running, doors unlock, door opens]. He's like,
Derek (Ross) 28:56
Pardon my French, but what the fuck is this?
Nate Highland (Matt) 28:59
Derek, roll Drive Auto. We got to get out of here. [laughter]
Ross Bryant 29:03
Derek scrambles to the front seat and Annalise is now in your van.
Chris Holloway (Cup) 29:07
Bobby, hand me a fruit roll up. I can do first aid.
Bobby King (Nic) 29:10
Uh yeah. Listen, guys. I think I might be a little like hypoglycemic or something. I think I need to get my blood sugar back up. But like when we were leaving the signing, there was this one girl who was kind of watching us leave, and she made this weird sign. And just now in the woods, I swear to God, I had some kind of weird, like waking dream thing, and I saw somebody doing that same thing. And there's something waiting in the woods. There's something waiting in the woods. And listen, I'm super flattered, but I don't, I mean, like, I know I give off a lot of feminine energy, but I do identify as he/him. So, like, it's probably not me that they were... anyway, there's something waiting in the woods.
Billy Baker (Paula) 29:50
Yeah, of course there is.
Nate Highland (Matt) 29:51
I saw something too.
Billy Baker (Paula) 29:54
Of course there's something in the woods. I believe both of you, I once... you know the story. Something came out of the woods. I hit it with my car, it ended up in my trunk, and then it was and then was not in my trunk anymore. I believe you. We should not go back in there.
Nate Highland (Matt) 30:06
It was a big animal or something, but it was just making this noise that it sounded like singing, but not singing, and I saw it. I saw its eyes. I stared at its eyes.
Chris Holloway (Cup) 30:17
Wait Nate, that's how you described me after my audition. It was like singing, but not singing. [laughter]
Nate Highland (Matt) 30:24
No, no. It was more... and I was looking at you right in your eyes, but it was like, it was, I was like, you need to smile with your eyes. And this thing was not smiling with its eyes either. It was like,
Chris Holloway (Cup) 30:34
Okay, yeah, real serious?
Nate Highland (Matt) 30:36
But it wasn't dead eyed, like you. [laughter] It was sort of like intense, like, creep eye, like, "oh, I'm gonna, like, bring you in" so I totally hear what you're saying, Bobby. I felt under its sway or something. It was crazy. Annalise, are you okay? We gotta get you to a hospital.
Ross Bryant 30:54
She's kind of, like, shaking her head. And even Derek is at the front.
Derek (Ross) 30:58
Hospital?
Ross Bryant 30:59
And he's fumbling with a map on his lap as he's kind of trying to split his focus between the road and this map. [SFX: map movement]
Derek (Ross) 31:08
God, we're like, six hours back. We'd have to turn around and we, we got to make Greenbrier, West Virginia by tomorrow afternoon. [laughter]
Nate Highland (Matt) 31:17
Man, forget that, Derek, we just got to get to the hospital. We'll worry about the gig later. Okay? Here, you keep driving. Give me that map.
Chris Holloway (Cup) 31:25
Why can't every city have the infrastructure of Orlando? [laughter]
Matt Young 31:30
I rolled Navigate. I got a 72 over 30.
Nic Rosenberg 31:33
Right on.
Ross Bryant 31:34
Anybody can look at a map. But can you interpret a map? You look at this map and you failed it. So what even is this? What are all these lines? [laughter]
Nate Highland (Matt) 31:45
Just here, turn onto this blue road and follow it for a while.
Ross Bryant 31:48
Yeah, you see roughly where you are, and you do see confirmed what you kind of have heard from Derek that, like you were kind of in the middle of nowhere here. You're sort of in one of these rural areas between... and around here to call them urban centers is even a stretch, but you've got like, little communities all around here. And you hear Annalise on the seat, just like,
Annalise (Ross) 32:09
Gotta take me back to Gundestrup. Take me home.
Billy Baker (Paula) 32:20
Okay, okay, Annalise. I'm gonna talk to her guys, cuz, you know, I'm the favorite. Girls like me.
Nic Rosenberg 32:26
Sure, sure.
Paula Deming 32:27
Then I'll, like, put on all my like, hot boy charm, and I'll take her hand.
Billy Baker (Paula) 32:32
Girl, tell me what you need. Where is home?
Ross Bryant 32:37
She looks at you, and as you can see, her even through her shock, sort of falling under the spell of... [laughter]
Annalise (Ross) 32:46
Gundestrup.
Ross Bryant 32:47
And she might even look at the map if it's nearby.
Paula Deming 32:51
Yeah, I grab the map.
Billy Baker (Paula) 32:53
Nate, give me that. [SFX: map rustles]
Nate Highland (Matt) 32:53
Hey!
Billy Baker (Paula) 32:55
It's me. I'm here. I'm here. B.B., your boy, you know?
Ross Bryant 33:00
And now you're looking at a bloody fingerprint where she has left it on the map, right there, in a patch of greenery in a national forest, there is a tiny little dot of this town called Güdastrup.
Billy Baker (Paula) 33:17
Gundestrup, okay, this is where we're going. Nate take it. Tell Derek how to get to here.
Nate Highland (Matt) 33:21
Alright.
Billy Baker (Paula) 33:22
Annalise, you did real good, girl. You did real good. How you feeling? What was back there? How did you get back there?
Annalise (Ross) 33:30
I was just walking. It's not, it's not far. But I got lost. (labored breathing)
Ross Bryant 33:40
She kind of looks up at you like,
Annalise (Ross) 33:43
I ran, it was coming after me.
Billy Baker (Paula) 33:48
What was? An animal? A moose?
Ross Bryant 33:51
She kind of looks confused.
Annalise (Ross) 33:53
Did you see it?
Billy Baker (Paula) 33:55
No, but I have seen something before. I hope to God, that's not what was coming after you. I'm sure it wasn't.
Ross Bryant 34:03
Maybe it was like a wood-lined road, not unlike this when you hit something.
Paula Deming 34:11
Oh yeah, this is pulling up like some light PTSD, I would say.
Billy Baker (Paula) 34:16
Let me ask you, Annalise, did the thing coming after you at one point, did it look like Dogman? And then did it look like, you know, like Mothman, and then did it look like Bigfoot? And then, you know, like, was it always changing? Because that's what I saw.
Ross Bryant 34:31
She gets deadly serious. It's kind of like (heavy breathing), as you kind of make that litany of things, she kind of pauses and it's like (gasps), and looks right into your eyes and just says,
Annalise (Ross) 34:43
Yes.
Paula Deming 34:45
I think I need to make a Sanity roll. [laughter]
Ross Bryant 34:50
Yeah.
Paula Deming 34:51
I passed somehow. Okay, I'm like, because I'm focused in I rolled a 23 under 42, so I'm focused in.
Ross Bryant 34:57
Because what you hit back then was an animal. I mean, there's no other explanation, unless you hit a person. I mean, that's too horrible to contemplate. But...
Paula Deming 35:05
A person? It was an animal. It was weird but that was just my brain.
Billy Baker (Paula) 35:10
It's okay, Annalise. This is what I've learned. The thing that I hit, that was just my brain trying to process the guilt. It wasn't, it was just an animal. It wasn't actually changing how it looked. That was just me, girl. So that's got to be what happened to you. You were just being chased by a bear or a deer, and you got caught in that tree somehow. But it's okay. You're safe now because you're here with The Other Side. [laughter]
Ross Bryant 35:38
Speaking of the other side, there's like a fork up in the road up ahead, and Derek from the front is like,
Derek (Ross) 35:43
So which way am I going?
Ross Bryant 35:45
And you can tell, based on your conversation, Bobby, that you have to turn off to the right.
Paula Deming 35:51
The right stuff. [laughter]
Ross Bryant 35:56
If you're gonna actually take her to Gundestrup.
Bobby King (Nic) 35:59
We can't take her with us to the gig.
Billy Baker (Paula) 36:02
No, we've got to take her home. Which way on the map? Nate, you've got the map, right? I handed it to you.
Nate Highland (Matt) 36:06
Yeah, yeah, I guess. I guess we take the next right up here.
Chris Holloway (Cup) 36:13
Nate, are you cool, man?
Nate Highland (Matt) 36:17
Yeah, I'm okay. I'm just...
Paula Deming 36:20
Psychology! Psychology roll. You don't seem okay. [laughter] I'm gonna spend eight Luck points to make that 68 into a 60 so I get a regular success.
Billy Baker (Paula) 36:28
What's going on, dude? Tell us. Tell us what's going on.
Nate Highland (Matt) 36:32
You know, it's just that thing back there. It was crazy. It was weird. Don't worry about me. Is she bleeding? Is she okay?
Chris Holloway (Cup) 36:40
Oh yeah.
Billy Baker (Paula) 36:41
No, I am worried about you, man.
Nate Highland (Matt) 36:43
I'm fine. I just got to get back to L.A. and, you know, I just want to see Christina again.
Billy Baker (Paula) 36:50
Oh, near death experiences make you think about the ones you love. I get it, man, I get it. Maybe we could do a song.
Nate Highland (Matt) 36:57
You know, she said David Faustino is a really nice guy. They really get along, even though they're like, are always sniping each other on that show. [laughter] Man, sorry, sorry. My mind's just racing all over the place.
Ross Bryant 37:11
God, yeah.
cuppycup 37:12
Can Chris do First Aid on Annalise?
Ross Bryant 37:14
Sure.
cuppycup 37:15
He did well in Health class. I've got some points.
Ross Bryant 37:17
Roll it, see if you can kind of stabilize her, get her a Health point back.
cuppycup 37:21
Okay, maybe he was a paramedic before he found accounting and singing. [laughter]
Matt Young 37:26
Paramedic to boy band.
cuppycup 37:27
Oh, my God!
Nic Rosenberg 37:28
Oh, shit!
cuppycup 37:29
I rolled an extreme success. I think he's kneeling down on the floor of the van next to her, and he looks back at Bobby and holds his hand out like a surgeon.
Chris Holloway (Cup) 37:36
Slim Jim. [laughter]
Nic Rosenberg 37:38
Slim Jim. And then a fruit roll up that you asked for before.
cuppycup 37:41
Yes, yes, I'll make a splint or something. I don't know how she's injured exactly.
Paula Deming 37:45
Splint out of a...?
Ross Bryant 37:47
Yeah, absolutely.
Nic Rosenberg 37:48
I gotta know more about this splint.
Paula Deming 37:51
A splint out of a Slim Jim?
cuppycup 37:52
Well, they made in the early 90s, they have those massive ones, right?
Paula Deming 37:52
They had those really big ones.
cuppycup 37:52
The novelty ones, yeah. Of course, Chris also has an unlimited supply of bandanas if you're not buying that.
Ross Bryant 38:02
Absolutely, you do. You probably have 'em on arms, legs, wrapped around the cuff of your jeans.
cuppycup 38:07
The outside of my pants, yeah.
Ross Bryant 38:08
Yes, you are able to staunch the bleeding coming from this wound, and also from like scratches that she has received as well. Let's put our camera way up high, show you veering off of your course, off to the right, deeper into this rural area, into the forest. [SFX: van driving]
Matt Young 38:27
So how long is this car ride to this place? Do we have a while to kind of ponder and regroup?
Ross Bryant 38:36
Not a crazy while. If there's something you'd like to do to brood, brood now or forever hold your peace. [laughter]
Nate Highland (Matt) 38:43
Hey, I don't know about you guys, but, you know, I had a whole career as a sitcom star before this. Nothing lasts...
Billy Baker (Paula) 38:50
Yeah we know, Nate.
Bobby King (Nic) 38:50
You just won't stop talking about it.
Billy Baker (Paula) 38:50
We talk about it all the time.
Nate Highland (Matt) 38:54
Well, it's just, you know, I had the most popular catchphrase in the whole show it was like, "Ew, yuck!" [laughter]
Chris Holloway (Cup) 38:59
It's a good one.
Nate Highland (Matt) 39:01
That's not really the point.
Billy Baker (Paula) 39:02
People still ask you to say it at our concerts.
Nate Highland (Matt) 39:05
Look, change is constant, man. It's inevitable. And I'm thinking about all the crazy stuff that's happened so far tonight, and I just don't know if, well, I don't know if I should continue with the band.
Bobby King (Nic) 39:17
What?
Billy Baker (Paula) 39:18
I'm sorry, are you quitting right now?
Nate Highland (Matt) 39:19
I don't know. I don't know. I just got to think. I got to think.
Nic Rosenberg 39:22
Nate, where is this coming from?
Chris Holloway (Cup) 39:24
Yeah, man.
Nate Highland (Matt) 39:25
It's coming from seeing a crazy thing in the woods, and this poor girl, you know, and like, she's not even our fan.
Billy Baker (Paula) 39:31
We don't know.
Nate Highland (Matt) 39:32
What are we doing if we can't reach more people?
Billy Baker (Paula) 39:35
She looked at me like she recognized me, Nate. So maybe she just wasn't a Nate fan, you know, but she's a BB lover.
Chris Holloway (Cup) 39:42
Hey! B.B., B.B.
Bobby King (Nic) 39:44
Guys.
Derek (Ross) 39:44
Everyone's a potential fan, boys.
Bobby King (Nic) 39:47
Nate, use this. Just don't quit. Remember what you told me. We're a band. We can do anything we put our minds to, man.
Nate Highland (Matt) 39:56
You're right.
Bobby King (Nic) 39:57
This is an opportunity. I mean, B.B. was right before, like, we could be more than just a band. We could be heroes.
Billy Baker (Paula) 40:06
Yeah.
Bobby King (Nic) 40:06
This could be our whole new direction.
Billy Baker (Paula) 40:08
Just for one day. [laughter]
Paula Deming 40:13
Sorry.
Derek (Ross) 40:13
Has anyone ever written a song about that? [laughter]
Bobby King (Nic) 40:16
Shut up, Derek. We're having a band meeting. [laughter]
Nate Highland (Matt) 40:20
Derek, sidebar. "Mating Season," third album tour. Think about it. Keep that title. Keep that title.
Bobby King (Nic) 40:26
Yeah, yeah.
Derek (Ross) 40:26
Okay, I'll noodle it.
Billy Baker (Paula) 40:28
Yeah. But if you want to be here for that, Nate, then you can't quit, can you?
Nate Highland (Matt) 40:32
Look...
Billy Baker (Paula) 40:33
Do you want to be here for Mating Season or not, Nate?
Nate Highland (Matt) 40:36
Don't get mad at me. I'm just scared and upset. And I know I usually play it really cool, and I try to act like I'm above everything. But, you know, this freaked me out. I'm just freaked out.
Bobby King (Nic) 40:46
That's okay.
Chris Holloway (Cup) 40:47
You know, what if we do promos and it's like "Nate-ing season?"
Billy Baker (Paula) 40:53
"Nate-ing Season." Oh yeah.
Chris Holloway (Cup) 40:55
Nate, come on, man, we literally can't do that without you.
Nate Highland (Matt) 40:58
I mean, you got me back when I heard my name. [laughter]
Chris Holloway (Cup) 41:05
Works every time.
Derek (Ross) 41:06
Good. I didn't want to have to play the "you'll owe us $100,000 if you leave before promo for the album is done." [laughter]
Nate Highland (Matt) 41:14
Shit. I forgot all about that.
Bobby King (Nic) 41:16
Derek, not now, man!
Derek (Ross) 41:17
It was a big advance, boys, it was a big advance. You're a hundred grand in the hole. We gotta keep digging.
Ross Bryant 41:24
[SFX: van driving] Deeper and deeper and deeper. Soon, due to the map's guidance and Annalise coming in and out of consciousness to guide you down increasingly small roads, you come out into a clearing. You pass a small house, pass another small house, and you're kind of moving into what looks like a small community of homes all set back in the woods. The road winds around, past like big stands of old growth trees. Little creeks go by, and you kind of go over small bridges, these creeks coming down from the hills. And you kind of come out into a sort of almost like a village green area where there is an A-frame church, it looks like. And there's, again, more houses. And next to the church there's sort of like a little common area, or maybe like parish hall, school or something. And this is what you see. It is night. It is nighttime.
Matt Young 42:24
There's gotta be somebody up, or a town doctor we can call or something.
Billy Baker (Paula) 42:29
Annalise, where's your home?
Paula Deming 42:30
And I'll try and, like, kind of prop her up a little maybe, so she can, sort of, maybe she can see out the windows. Like, can you can you give us some directions, Annalise? We gotta know where to take you, girl.
Ross Bryant 42:40
I think maybe the reason that you haven't driven directly to her door is that she's been unconscious, sleeping soundly due to the expert First Aid of Chris.
cuppycup 42:51
I was gonna say, did you not hear about the Fruit Roll-ups? [laughter]
Ross Bryant 42:54
Yeah. And she kind of maybe rouses, looks up out of the window, and you can see now someone has, like, popped open a door of that A-frame church. Light is spilling out, and there's someone walking out towards your vehicle.
Nic Rosenberg 43:08
Just real quick, while she's awake. And I think something triggers when Bobby sees the church, basically. Bobby's gonna lean into Annalise.
Bobby King (Nic) 43:17
Annalise, girl, do you know what this means?
Nic Rosenberg 43:20
And then Bobby will make that triangular sign.
Ross Bryant 43:25
She's looking at you quizzically, like the look of total confusion on her face.
Nic Rosenberg 43:29
Okay.
Paula Deming 43:30
Interesting.
Nic Rosenberg 43:30
Real quick, I'm eating a Fruit Roll-up while that's happening. [laughter]
cuppycup 43:30
Off of her leg?
Matt Young 43:31
Does that change anything? It's a different one. It's a different one. [laughter]
Paula Deming 43:41
I need to know, Nate. Is Nate eating it still fully rolled up? Or have you unrolled it and punched out the little shapes from it and eating, you know?
Matt Young 43:48
He would definitely punch them out.
Ross Bryant 43:49
Okay, good. Fastidious, garbage-hating Nate is punching out...
cuppycup 43:54
They're all triangles, though. [laughter]
Ross Bryant 43:56
A sick triangle and a little skateboard out of the Fruit Roll-up. [laughter]
Billy Baker (Paula) 44:00
Oh, the church door. Should we... Derek go to the... someone's there. They might know Annalise.
Derek (Ross) 44:06
Uhh, okay.
Ross Bryant 44:08
He pops open the door, steps out. [SFX: van door opens, footsteps on dirt] The person is walking towards the van. He's like,
Derek (Ross) 44:12
Uh, hi, hello, sorry it's so late.
Ross Bryant 44:17
The person walking towards you is a man. He's got glasses, kind of squarish, wire-rim, glasses. Balding somewhat, not quite shoulder length, but longish hair combed back. And is like,
Silas (Ross) 44:31
[MUSIC: somber strings] I'm sorry? What? Yes, it is awful late. Someone... you, you found someone?
Bobby King (Nic) 44:37
Yeah, a girl named Annalise. She's hurt pretty badly. Chris has done some really good work on her leg, but she could really use a doctor.
Paula Deming 44:47
And at that, I think B.B. will be like,
Billy Baker (Paula) 44:49
Chris, help me pull her out of the van.
Paula Deming 44:50
And so we'll like, if Chris will help, we'll be like, kind of bringing her out so that he can see her.
Silas (Ross) 44:55
I think when he hears that, he's like,
Silas (Ross) 44:56
Not Annalise Lund.
Ross Bryant 44:58
And as you bring her out, he's just like, oh, good Lord, and he will kind of cradle her up, paying no mind as blood gets on his white shirt.
Billy Baker (Paula) 45:10
We think she got chased by an animal in the woods, and she was kind of caught up in a tree, and she got impaled on a stick, it was... but don't worry, I kept her calm the whole time, so. [laughter]
Matt Young 45:24
I roll down my window from the passenger side seat, and I go, [SFX: manual window rolls down]
Nate Highland (Matt) 45:28
We're from The Other Side. [laughter]
Nic Rosenberg 45:31
So good about promoting the brand.
Billy Baker (Paula) 45:34
Yeah. Should we sing a song real quick? No, no, it's an inappropriate time.
Bobby King (Nic) 45:38
Is it? [laughter]
Derek (Ross) 45:39
Yeah.
Ross Bryant 45:40
Says Derek,
Derek (Ross) 45:41
Do you have a CD player in there?
Matt Young 45:43
Those things are like $800. [laughter]
Silas (Ross) 45:48
Yes, yes, sir. We have a cassette player, but that's hardly of import at the moment. (struggling) Here, here, you please give me a hand here.
Ross Bryant 45:58
And he is asking you to help him carry her.
cuppycup 46:01
Yeah.
Ross Bryant 46:01
Kind of back.
cuppycup 46:03
We'll continue that with his help, I think.
Nic Rosenberg 46:05
Ross, can I ask how long it took us to get here? Like, approximately from where we found her to here. Like, what's that distance?
Ross Bryant 46:12
Yeah, it didn't take too, too long. I think trying to figure out the tight array of country roads took a while. But distance-wise, it was not too, too far.
Nic Rosenberg 46:22
Okay.
Ross Bryant 46:23
I want to say it took you about like 40 minutes of driving to get here.
cuppycup 46:26
So it's still a long walk for her to get to the woods.
Ross Bryant 46:29
Quite a long walk.
Nic Rosenberg 46:30
Okay, good to know.
Ross Bryant 46:31
Yes, away you go. He's leading you back into the church.
Paula Deming 46:36
Did we get his name? Did he say his name? This church fellow?
Ross Bryant 46:39
He did not.
Paula Deming 46:40
Does he look like he's dressed like someone who might... who is like Amish or Mennonite, or is it that kind of a community feel? Or is he just..
Ross Bryant 46:50
You're not getting that sort of like, that much unstuck in time, he's not like a plain Quaker or someone dressed Amish or Mennonite, but it's very plain.
Paula Deming 46:59
Okay.
Ross Bryant 46:59
It's like a white button down shirt, dungarees. It's just very plain.
Paula Deming 47:06
Thank you.
Matt Young 47:06
I get out of the car, and I'm kind of following behind, trying to catch up and help, because I'm feeling a little guilty. I just ask. I'm like,
Nate Highland (Matt) 47:13
Hey, are you the Reverend here? Or what's your deal?
Silas (Ross) 47:18
Oh, well, sir, yes, I am.
Nate Highland (Matt) 47:21
It's a pleasure to meet you. I'm Nate "Style" Highland. We're The Other Side.
cuppycup 47:26
(laughing) We're all striking poses as we introduce ourselves.
Ross Bryant 47:29
Yeah.
Bobby King (Nic) 47:29
I'm Bobby King.
Billy Baker (Paula) 47:30
I'm Billy Baker. You can call me B.B.,
Chris Holloway (Cup) 47:33
And I'm Chris, formerly known as C.J. [laughter]
Billy Baker (Paula) 47:39
I'm so sorry again Chris that you had to change your name because everyone started calling me by my initials, and so we had to literally stop calling you by your initials and start going by Chris. I'm really sorry again.
Chris Holloway (Cup) 47:48
No, when you were the only member on the album cover, it made sense.
Billy Baker (Paula) 47:51
Yeah, yeah, thanks.
Nate Highland (Matt) 47:52
So friend, if we were gonna add you to the band would the lyrics then go, Nate Billy, Bobby, Chris and...
Silas (Ross) 47:58
Silas.
Nate Highland (Matt) 47:59
Silas doesn't really roll off the tongue.
Bobby King (Nic) 48:02
I love how you get people's names.
Nate Highland (Matt) 48:04
Silas, what can you tell us about Annalise? What's going on here?
Silas (Ross) 48:09
I mean, it appears, that some sort of terrible accident has happened, or maybe a, oh, Lord, it may be an animal.
Ross Bryant 48:17
And he's like, still walking her up.
Billy Baker (Paula) 48:19
It was an animal.
Silas (Ross) 48:20
It was an animal?
Billy Baker (Paula) 48:22
That's what she told me.
Silas (Ross) 48:22
Did she now?
Ross Bryant 48:22
And he brings you inside. [SFX: heavy door opens and footsteps on wood] The interior of this church, as you walk in, it is A-frame. It's got those tall, angled beams inside. There's an altar up at the front and wooden pews. Low tables by the door. Doors leading back into offices, perhaps, or rooms in the back and another door leading off into that sort of common area or parish hall off to the left there. There aren't any, like, pictures or anything anywhere.
Paula Deming 48:50
Is there a cross or anything? Does it feel Christian coded or...
Ross Bryant 48:54
Yeah, I mean, it looks like any church you've seen. You may notice that there is no cross in here. It's just like a bare wall. It's all very, very austere. That is maybe the word that describes everything that you've seen once you've crossed into Gundestrup. The houses modest, free of ornamentation. Likewise, the interior of this building.
Billy Baker (Paula) 49:16
I guess people here don't really like flash.
Matt Young 49:19
Is there an equivalent of like, oh yeah, Intelligence.
Ross Bryant 49:22
Why don't you tell me your goal?
Matt Young 49:24
What am I trying to think here? Because I think I, Matt Young, have figured something out, but I want to see if my character figures it out. [laughter]
Ross Bryant 49:31
Yeah.
Matt Young 49:31
I want to see if I make a connection to this building from what I've seen so far tonight.
Ross Bryant 49:39
Why don't you make an Occult roll?
Matt Young 49:41
Occult roll, okay, great. Love it. Would have preferred Intelligence. [laughter]
Paula Deming 49:47
Yeah.
Ross Bryant 49:47
Well, there are different flavors of information on the sheet, which, if you roll them, might flavor the type of information that you get. So if there's a better... rather than just rolling straight Intelligence, although you could if you wanted to.
Matt Young 50:00
It's just a much better number for me, Occult's a five. So I like, I just don't have anything.
cuppycup 50:05
As a Dilettante?
Matt Young 50:06
As a Dilettante, yeah, I'm just not. Yeah, that's straight Intelligence.
Ross Bryant 50:10
Any other of those, like, kind of interpretive or investigative skills that are higher for you?
Matt Young 50:16
My Credit Rating's 75. Does that help? [laughter]
Ross Bryant 50:20
Yeah, you can tell that this is well constructed, but cheaply constructed. [laughter]
Matt Young 50:25
Screw it. Let's just do, let's do Occult, because that's what it is, and...
cuppycup 50:30
You're gonna get it.
Matt Young 50:31
Tough shit.
Nic Rosenberg 50:32
Holy shit!
cuppycup 50:33
Wow.
Paula Deming 50:33
What'd you roll?
Matt Young 50:34
I rolled a three. [laughter]
Ross Bryant 50:36
Holy moly. You rolled a three under five?
Matt Young 50:39
Yes, yes.
Nic Rosenberg 50:41
Hell yes, Nate.
Ross Bryant 50:42
Okay.
cuppycup 50:44
Nate's back.
Paula Deming 50:45
Wild, wild.
Matt Young 50:47
I'll push it. [laughter]
Ross Bryant 50:49
Yeah, good idea. I'll tell you off the jump that, like, if Bobby has been at all forthcoming about things that they have seen.
Matt Young 50:58
Yeah.
Ross Bryant 50:58
It probably just like resonates with you immediately that this A-frame building is a triangle.
Paula Deming 51:05
Wow. Paula hadn't put that together. [laughter]
Ross Bryant 51:09
And, you know, you're not a dummy. A small southern kind of insular religious community is, you know, you would imagine that this would be probably pretty Evangelical, and where folks are coming together and have a pretty deep relationship with the Bible in a sense of like this, redeeming a rather hard scrabble life. And so it's not strange that this room is plain. It's strange that there's no cross here.
Paula Deming 51:39
There's no cross, there's no picture of Jesus. That's weird.
Nate Highland (Matt) 51:43
Hey, Silas, we're actually gonna be late for a gig. Why don't we just take Annalise with us and we'll take her to hospital, the next town we go to.
Billy Baker (Paula) 51:50
No, Annalise said she wanted to be here, Nate.
Chris Holloway (Cup) 51:53
Yeah, Nate.
Billy Baker (Paula) 51:53
We gotta honor the girl's wishes, just like our song says.
Nate Highland (Matt) 51:57
Yeah. I really think we just need to go.
Silas (Ross) 52:00
Oh, besides, sir, we have a doctor here. I think it might be better with a speedy hand, although it seems as though you've already dressed these wounds rather well.
Nate Highland (Matt) 52:09
Yeah. So no reason not to just take her with us and be on our way. So sorry to bother you so late.
Ross Bryant 52:15
He just, like, puts a hand on Annalise, like, very, very gently. He's very kind of paternal and concerned. It's like,
Silas (Ross) 52:22
Oh, Lord. Lordy, I am alone here.
Nic Rosenberg 52:25
Keying off of Nate's obvious discomfort, and because Bobby's parents on the commune instilled a deep distrust of organized religion, can I do like a Psychology roll on Silas to see if the concern seems completely appropriate. And it's all kind of directed at Annalise's health. Or if there is now something kind of, at the mention of taking her away, like something maybe more sinister coming off of this guy?
Ross Bryant 52:52
Yeah, go for it.
Nic Rosenberg 52:54
Well, I did fail that 81 over 55.
Ross Bryant 52:58
You want to push it?
cuppycup 52:58
Get in his face. [laughter]
Nic Rosenberg 53:01
How are we feeling about.. I think I'm gonna push this.
Paula Deming 53:04
Yeah.
Matt Young 53:05
Yeah.
Nic Rosenberg 53:06
Yeah. I think maybe he'll step forward and he'll just be like,
Bobby King (Nic) 53:09
Listen, I think my man Nate here has a great idea. And, you know, like, is there a reason that just a normal hospital wouldn't be a good thing to take her to? She's hurt pretty bad.
Nic Rosenberg 53:21
And just kind of try to provoke a better reaction, or a stronger reaction out of him. 39. Passed that one.
Paula Deming 53:29
Yeah.
Nic Rosenberg 53:30
Yes, a success.
Ross Bryant 53:30
A success.
Ross Bryant 53:32
With the goal of trying to provoke a stronger reaction.
Nic Rosenberg 53:34
Because I want to get a sense of the flavor of like... he's protesting a little bit, it seems. He's holding back. Nate's idea of we can take her to a real hospital, seems like a good one. So like, what's happening there?
Silas (Ross) 53:49
[MUSIC: ominous build] No doubt a doctor at a hospital would provide a great deal of professional comfort. But we have a doctor here. I think right now, as time is of the essence, I'm worried if she goes jostling down the road much longer, she may die. I am alone here. If you wish to be of help, Mr...
Bobby King (Nic) 54:04
Uh, King.
Silas (Ross) 54:05
Mr. King. Can you wake up Dr. Pritchard for me? He's just across the village green there. Can you bring him here for me?
Matt Young 54:12
I run up and I punch this guy right in the face. [laughter]
Nic Rosenberg 54:16
Just get into it. [SFX: punch]
Paula Deming 54:20
Whoa, Nate!