Transcript - Episode 22: The Worst Gift Ever Given (Part 3)
Audio for The Worst Gift Ever Given Part 3
The Worst Gift Ever Given Part 3
Wed, Jan 7, 2026
“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.
Agent Caspius (Josephine) 00:04
Hey, Marcella. Marcella! Hey, hey, hey! Hey, come back to us.
Detective Brenda (Becca) 00:08
Catch her! Catch her!
Agent Caspius (Josephine) 00:10
Hey, come back to us. Come back to us. Whoa, Marcella. Marcella!
Ross Bryant 00:15
Make a sanity roll.
Paula Deming 00:19
That's a fail. Yeah, that's a fail.
Ross Bryant 00:21
That could have been very bad, but I just rolled a two, so you got two points of Sanity loss.
Paula Deming 00:27
Oh, that could have been terrible.
Agent Caspius (Josephine) 00:30
Marcella?
Paula Deming 00:34
[gasping] And my eyes open and I scream, and just put my hands on either side of Caspius' face and say
Marcella (Paula) 00:44
It's co- it's- we're all going to die!
Agent Caspius (Josephine) 00:49
All right...
Detective Brenda (Becca) 00:49
Okay? Eventually.
Marcella (Paula) 00:52
[panicked] No! Now! It's coming. It's bursting forth from all of us! Something is waiting to be born from within all of us, and it's going to kill us all!
Agent Caspius (Josephine) 01:00
Okay, oh. Shhh...
Ross Bryant 01:01
[chuckling]
Detective Brenda (Becca) 01:03
Maybe you're really ready for a few days off, Marcella.
Agent Caspius (Josephine) 01:06
Yeah, Marcella, why don't we go outside for some fresh air for a bit? I think maybe you touched a little too much in here.
Detective Brenda (Becca) 01:17
Yeah, we'll check the upstairs.
cuppycup 01:19
You hear from the top of the stairs,
Max (cuppycup) 01:21
I'll be down in just a minute!
Becca Scott 01:24
Oh, wow.
Ross Bryant 01:24
You heard a scream from downstairs, Max.
Ross Bryant 01:27
[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.
Marcella (Paula) 01:27
[screams]
Max (cuppycup) 02:21
Well, they've, they've...
cuppycup 02:26
He's talking to himself,
Max (cuppycup) 02:28
They've cleaned the crime scene. But the carpet has memory. The dust has memory. There's something here. I don't think he did it, but he was looking at me, wasn't he?
cuppycup 02:38
And he's gonna take a close look at the bedroom.
Agent Caspius (Josephine) 02:42
Damn it, Brenda, don't let Max fuck it all uh, you know. Can you go up there with him?
Detective Brenda (Becca) 02:47
Max! Keep your hands to yourself!
Becca Scott 02:49
She starts stomping up the stairs.
Max (cuppycup) 02:52
I'm gonna check the bedroom.
Agent Caspius (Josephine) 02:54
I'll keep an eye on Marcella.
Max (cuppycup) 02:56
[door creaks] Slow. [soft footsteps]
Ross Bryant 03:04
There is a wan light coming through, a sickly pale light through the Venetian blinds in the bedroom. The bed is crisply made. There's a little dresser, various objects strewn around, little scraps of paper, books.
Max (cuppycup) 03:30
This is just like my room. He's even got a Garfield phone. [laughter]
Ross Bryant 03:35
Yeah, sure, yeah, there's a Garfield phone.
cuppycup 03:36
I just wanted to keep it creepy, Ross.
Paula Deming 03:40
[amused] Garfield phone. [laughter]
Ross Bryant 03:42
Yeah, there's a Garfield phone. You see on the wall there are things tacked up in a big array above the dresser. You get the sense that this was the last thing he wanted to see when he fell asleep and the first thing he wanted to see when he woke up. Tacked directly into the wall, some of them look like images that might be taken from like a Hubble telescope or an orbital telescope, like things that you might have printed out at his job at Kinko's from the NASA website. It looks like he's tracking a comet. It's shown in its sort of orbit. It seems to be kind of coming in around the Sun, and before it's flung back out into space, coming very close to the Earth. You can see things tacked to the wall that look like they're, as you squint at it, it looks like they're in Latin. But the biggest image is a reproduction of a painting that is tacked to the center of the wall.
Detective Brenda (Becca) 04:54
Hands in pockets.
Max (cuppycup) 04:56
Okay!
cuppycup 04:57
I think he's gonna reach out and touch. The painting and say, [laughter]
Max (cuppycup) 05:00
I know this.
Ross Bryant 05:02
Yeah, you do know it. You remember this. This is Saturn devouring his children by Francisco Goya, and the wild and crazed eyes of the God are staring out of the darkness at you as the boy disappears down its ravening maw.
Paula Deming 05:23
[quietly] This painting.
cuppycup 05:27
Could I roll Insight to see if I know anything about the comet, the things that are surrounding the painting?
Ross Bryant 05:34
Insight? Certainly
cuppycup 05:35
Just looking for like dates, names, patterns.
Max (cuppycup) 05:40
Hey, Brenda, I'll just be another minute. I'm not touching anything. Just just looking at the carpet.
Detective Brenda (Becca) 05:45
I'm right behind you.
Josephine McAdam 05:47
[laughing] Yeah, I was gonna say...
Detective Brenda (Becca) 05:49
What is this?
cuppycup 05:51
Oh, I rolled a 62 under 65, Ross.
Ross Bryant 05:56
Yeah, you know this comet goes by the name of Lua, L-U-A. Astronomers and astrophysicists have dubbed it,
Max (cuppycup) 06:06
Lua.
Josephine McAdam 06:08
Caspius takes Marcella, while this is happening upstairs, you know, Caspius has taken Marcella out to the front steps for some fresh air. And they're just like, sitting down and perhaps kind of looking up at the night sky, a little in tandem moment, just like,
Agent Caspius (Josephine) 06:22
Hey, hey, just breathe, just breathe. Just uh, hey, when I get dizzy, I just look up, you know, I just look up.
Marcella (Paula) 06:29
I don't want to look up. I don't want to look up, Caspius. That's what, that's what I did when I had a vision. Did you know I have visions?
Agent Caspius (Josephine) 06:38
You know, I read some notes. Yeah.
Marcella (Paula) 06:43
I looked up and I saw- I don't want to tell you. I don't think I will look up. I'll just, I'll just look at you,
Paula Deming 06:50
And she'll grab his hand, and as she does, perhaps his sleeve comes down a little, and I see the tattoo.
Marcella (Paula) 07:00
What? What is this, Caspius?
Agent Caspius (Josephine) 07:05
Oh, yeah, that's, that's Saturn, you know? It's my favorite planet.
Marcella (Paula) 07:11
Oh,
Agent Caspius (Josephine) 07:12
You know, it's got like 274 moons? That is a lot.
Marcella (Paula) 07:18
It's a lot of moons.
Agent Caspius (Josephine) 07:19
It's a lot of moons
Marcella (Paula) 07:21
And it's a pretty one with the rings and...
Agent Caspius (Josephine) 07:23
... Yeah, yeah. Marcella, I swear to you. Look, I know you're scared to look up, but if you, I promise you, if you look up, all you're gonna see are the stars above, and maybe that'll help settle you.
Becca Scott 07:35
And the stars in my eyes.
Ross Bryant 07:40
Wow
Marcella (Paula) 07:40
I'm scared.
Ross Bryant 07:41
Make a Spot Hidden.
Agent Caspius (Josephine) 07:44
Why don't we look on the count of three?
Marcella (Paula) 07:47
Okay,
Ross Bryant 07:49
Why don't you each make a Spot Hidden?
Paula Deming 07:51
Okay,
Josephine McAdam 07:52
Wow. I didn't think I would succeed, because I don't have a great Spot Hidden, but I got a 17 under 26.
Ross Bryant 07:59
Great.
Paula Deming 08:00
Nice.
Josephine McAdam 08:01
How strange. They put one point in spot hidden for this character.
cuppycup 08:04
Wow.
Josephine McAdam 08:06
[chuckling ] One point.
Becca Scott 08:07
Weird.
Paula Deming 08:07
I fail mine.
Ross Bryant 08:08
Failed.
Paula Deming 08:10
I'm not fully with myself, so I can't be observant.
Ross Bryant 08:14
Okay, where were you looking, Caspius? In the sky?
Josephine McAdam 08:18
Yeah, I'm trying to, like, have Marcella follow my gaze, like up at the night sky, and kind of like center her a bit.
Ross Bryant 08:25
You see up there in the sky all the things you're used to seeing: the North Star, the Big Dipper, Orion's Belt, or whatever constellations occur above the sky of New Jersey in December.
Agent Caspius (Josephine) 08:43
Yeah, everything's as it should be, Marcella.
Ross Bryant 08:48
And one speck of light that's new,
Agent Caspius (Josephine) 08:51
Huh?
Ross Bryant 08:52
Not a satellite. Something else burning and brightening there.
Agent Caspius (Josephine) 09:00
Oh, hold on a sec. That's strange.
Marcella (Paula) 09:04
What?! I'm not looking, Caspius,
Agent Caspius (Josephine) 09:06
Uh, yeah, no, you're okay.
Josephine McAdam 09:11
I'm gonna stand up and kind of look a little closer. Well, focus on this point in the sky.
Ross Bryant 09:20
Yeah. I mean, it's no great shakes to know that like you're noticing that there's a comet in the night sky,
Josephine McAdam 09:27
Yeah, but I don't think I actually, I don't know if Caspius knows that.
Agent Caspius (Josephine) 09:34
I think there's a shooting star. Marcella. Marcella! Look, look!
Paula Deming 09:39
I'll look up.
Ross Bryant 09:41
Great. Yeah, you see it, too. Gosh, make a Christmas wish. [laughter]
Agent Caspius (Josephine) 09:48
I made a wish. Did you?
Paula Deming 09:51
I'll look back at Caspius,
Marcella (Paula) 09:53
Yes, I did.
Becca Scott 09:57
They make out. [laughter]
Ross Bryant 10:00
And maybe we just see now through those venetian blinds, the little slit, you can see Caspius and Marcella down there on the sidewalk in front of the condo. And their heads sort of tilt together
Detective Brenda (Becca) 10:15
While on duty, I see.
Ross Bryant 10:19
Brenda. What are you doing up here?
Detective Brenda (Becca) 10:22
I want to Spot Hidden check the closets. I feel like there's bodies in this building.
Ross Bryant 10:28
Go for it.
Becca Scott 10:29
Okay,
Paula Deming 10:31
Yeah, I didn't tell them I heard screams coming from the fridge. [laughter]
Becca Scott 10:35
That's a 72. I'm feeling like this is cold. And I want to push this roll.
Josephine McAdam 10:40
Yeah!
Ross Bryant 10:42
Go for it.
Paula Deming 10:43
Nothing bad can happen.
Ross Bryant 10:44
With pushing the Spot Hidden? Yeah,
Becca Scott 10:46
I feel like I missed something downstairs. I'm gonna go back downstairs and try there again.
Ross Bryant 10:52
Okay,
Becca Scott 10:53
This is a dice tower moment.
Paula Deming 10:55
Do it.
Becca Scott 10:57
21. That's a hard success!
Paula Deming 10:59
Yeah!
Josephine McAdam 11:01
Yeah!
Ross Bryant 11:01
A hard success?
Becca Scott 11:03
Yeah!
Ross Bryant 11:04
Great. On a Spot Hidden?
Brenda the Bold (Becca) 11:06
On a Spot Hidden. And downstairs,
Ross Bryant 11:09
You go down, and I think we've already, if what you're, if bodies is on your mind, you move back into that kitchen. The low hum of the refrigerator. Your hand reaches out and opens it. And you can see, it looks like a liver, some freshly cut filets, kidneys, a little bowl of tripe.
Becca Scott 11:47
The lights aren't on, and the glow of the fridge illuminates me and washes me out in a sickly yellow hue.
Ross Bryant 11:56
Why is your back so cold? You feel the draft of the chilly air from this nauseating refrigerator - roll Sanity, by the way - seeing this meat.
Becca Scott 12:09
Fail,
Ross Bryant 12:12
One point of Sanity loss,
Becca Scott 12:14
Oh, God!
Ross Bryant 12:17
But you turn at feeling that draft. The kitchenette extends back into that little sitting room, and now you can see that the back window is open. Was it open before?
Becca Scott 12:31
I run to it and look out,
Ross Bryant 12:35
Some Christmas lights strung on a neighboring condo. People move behind the blinds.
Detective Brenda (Becca) 12:45
Something's not right. Something's not right. This is... Hey, hey guys?! Guys?! Found something! Found something awful. Don't bring Marcella!
Josephine McAdam 12:55
It was like moments away from maybe kissing Marcella.
Agent Caspius (Josephine) 12:58
Yeah, I'll be right in.
Detective Brenda (Becca) 13:00
It's disgusting! It's vile! It'll make you puke your guts out! Come look. [laughter]
Ross Bryant 13:05
You're hollering and screaming. You hear that from upstairs, Maximus. Brenda, perhaps your scream is cut off because the person that was in the shadows moves out of the shadows towards you. [gasps] You can see them stepping out of the shadows. Their eyes wide, their smile wider. Yeah, it looks as though there's something flashing in the moonlight, in their hand.
Becca Scott 13:25
I pull out my Taser.
Ross Bryant 13:27
Great. The Taser was not readied. Let's do an opposed Dexterity roll to see who gets there first.
Becca Scott 13:34
Okay! Oh, succeed by one point. Regular.
Ross Bryant 13:42
That's a regular success. Here we go. That's a regular success. What is your Dexterity?
Becca Scott 13:48
75
Ross Bryant 13:49
Higher than this guy’s. Your Taser goes off.
Becca Scott 13:55
[electrical noises]
cuppycup 13:55
Hell yeah.
Becca Scott 13:55
Gonna tase you, bro! [laughter]
Ross Bryant 13:59
Great. Super. Do your Taser damage, I guess.
Becca Scott 14:05
Cool. I just decided I had one.
Ross Bryant 14:08
That makes total sense that you would.
Becca Scott 14:10
Because I don't have a sword today. [laughter] Okay, well, I rolled a 1 on a d4 so...
Ross Bryant 14:20
Not enough for them to go unconscious, as you see now, just the sparks like [sparky noises] underlight them for a moment. They go stiff, and I want to say they stumble backwards, breaking through the glass coffee table. [breaking sound] There's slivers of glass on the floor now, and you can see their hand raise up and rip the little needle probes from the taser out of their chest.
Agent Caspius (Josephine) 14:45
Whoa!
Josephine McAdam 14:46
I'm gonna, like, rush it after hearing the glass break and be like,
Agent Caspius (Josephine) 14:49
Whoa, wait here, Marcella!
Josephine McAdam 14:51
And try to rush in.
Detective Brenda (Becca) 14:53
Code red! Intruder!
cuppycup 14:58
And all of this really startled Max upstairs. Because he was talking to Brenda when she started yelling downstairs. [laughter]
Max (cuppycup) 15:05
You know how my startup page is NASA.gov? [laughter] Saturn's rings, they're not solid. They're mostly debris. Just like ice and rock suspended there in place. It's really neat. Brenda? Brenda, talk to me?!
Ross Bryant 15:22
Okay, great. Yeah, you're thumping down the stairs. There's a full on fight happening now in this little sitting area in front of a pull out couch and on top of just a cascade of broken glass and wood. It sounds like Caspius was rushing into the fray. What would you like to do?
Josephine McAdam 15:41
Yeah, I would like to help restrain whoever this person is that is trying to attack. I'm gonna, like, jump on him, basically.
Ross Bryant 15:48
You're gonna grapple him? Great. Let's get a Fighting (Brawl) roll and see if you can do that.
Josephine McAdam 15:52
How do you feel about an Animal Handling?
Becca Scott 15:55
Can I help to give a bonus?
Ross Bryant 15:57
How do I feel about an Animal Handling roll? [laughter]
Josephine McAdam 16:00
Yeah, it's like a wild animal before me. I think of men as animals. [laughter]
Ross Bryant 16:05
Okay, in that case, that would be a, uh look, this is a maneuver. Let's say you're trying to almost lasso them.
Josephine McAdam 16:13
[laughing] Yeah,
Ross Bryant 16:15
So, yeah, why don't you make an Animal Handling roll, and we can see if you can totally 4H your way through this combat. Wow! Yeehaw.
Josephine McAdam 16:23
Oh, my God, I'm already pushing it, and I'm gonna push it because I got a 76 over 60.
cuppycup 16:33
It's combat though, I don't think you can push it.
Josephine McAdam 16:35
Oh, I thought, can I not push it?
Ross Bryant 16:37
No pushing combat rolls. You can spend Luck, though.
Josephine McAdam 16:40
Oooh, I'll spend 16 Luck.
Paula Deming 16:43
Yeah, do it! Why not?
cuppycup 16:45
Impress Marcella!
Josephine McAdam 16:46
Yeah, yeah, yeah! [laughter]
Paula Deming 16:48
I'm sitting outside. This has been an upsetting day.
Josephine McAdam 16:52
No, but I have, you know, I gotta do something.
Ross Bryant 16:56
Great. I will say that you're using Animal Handling here, and your goal is to restrain them. So, uh...
Josephine McAdam 17:02
Yeah. Did they get knocked back in this?
Ross Bryant 17:05
They got knocked back, but not down.
Josephine McAdam 17:07
Oh, not down. Okay.
Ross Bryant 17:07
So they stumbled backwards through this table, and they might be, like, kind of on one knee as you come charging down the hallway.
Josephine McAdam 17:13
Okay, so maybe I'll jump on their back and, like, ride them, you know?
Ross Bryant 17:18
I'm gonna give them an opportunity to fight back or to dodge this...
Josephine McAdam 17:22
Yeah, yeah.
Ross Bryant 17:23
...this maneuver of yours.
Josephine McAdam 17:24
Okay.
Ross Bryant 17:24
So you got a regular success with your Luck spend?
Josephine McAdam 17:27
That's a regular success.
Ross Bryant 17:29
All right, great. That was another regular success from this folk. What's your Animal Handling?
Josephine McAdam 17:38
60.
Ross Bryant 17:40
Great. You've got them.
Josephine McAdam 17:41
Okay.
Ross Bryant 17:42
Partly. You know, you're... how does an Animal Handling restraint look?
Josephine McAdam 17:47
Okay, so maybe I got him by the back of the neck, you know?
Ross Bryant 17:50
Ah, it's like the way you kind of, like, when you reach down and grab a kitten, then they kind of go limp. [laughter of agreement] Brenda, you're kind of, like, shaking off your shock as the Taser cords come out of the chest of this shadowy figure, and suddenly, Caspius comes charging down the hallway, and you're watching him do a Vulcan neck pinch. [laughter] You've kind of grappled him, but there's some freedom in his limbs.
Becca Scott 18:17
I'd like to kick him in the chestnuts.
Paula Deming 18:19
Yeah, roast him!
Ross Bryant 18:21
Kick him in the chestnuts! And because he's partially grappled, I'm gonna give you...
Becca Scott 18:25
Jingle all the way! [laughter]
Ross Bryant 18:26
... Yes, damn, right! You can get a bonus die.
Becca Scott 18:31
Oh, right!
Ross Bryant 18:33
Because of Caspius' maneuver.
Becca Scott 18:35
Oh! Don't need it. That's a 12,
Josephine McAdam 18:37
Yeah!
Becca Scott 18:39
So that's a hard success. Oh, sorry, extreme success.
Ross Bryant 18:44
Okay, great. I want to call it because you're aiming for the chestnuts. I'm gonna call this an extreme attack, a blunt so you can deal max damage plus your max damage bonus.
Becca Scott 18:53
Okay, so my Brawl is 1d3 and my damage bonus is 1d4. Okay.
Paula and Cup 19:01
Ooh!
Becca Scott 19:03
Straight to the chestnuts.
Ross Bryant 19:05
Okay, great. You go jingling all the way straight to the chestnuts, and you see this man. He's got kind of like white blonde hair. It looks like totally normal. The phrase that maybe comes to your mind is Mormon missionary, and he's got like, a white collared shirt on and khakis. You can still see the little singe marks from your taser on his shirt and wham! Right to the chestnuts! He fails his Constitution role. His eyes roll back in his head from pain, and he fumbles to the ground unconscious [*crunch*] against the wood and glass.
Detective Brenda (Becca) 19:40
Oh, that's gotta really hurt you, sicko!
Agent Caspius (Josephine) 19:45
Where did he come from?
Ross Bryant 19:47
His eyes crossed when you hit him in the chestnuts in a totally hilarious way. He's like "Doh!"
Becca Scott 19:54
I'm gonna reach in his pockets and search for ID.
Agent Caspius (Josephine) 19:57
Damn, Brenda.
Detective Brenda (Becca) 19:59
Thank you.
Paula Deming 20:01
I will come just to stand in the open doorway so I can, like, see what's happening, but I'm not entering the apartment, but now I have an eye on what's going on. Just so everyone knows where I am. Just establishing myself.
Josephine McAdam 20:10
Yeah, yeah.
cuppycup 20:11
Max is standing at the bottom of the stairs, so he has a line of sight, but he's not in danger, really, not contaminating anything.
Max (cuppycup) 20:18
I don't have a weapon, but I can call it in.
Ross Bryant 20:20
Okay, great. You whip out an ID. The guy's name is Brian Lyle.
Becca Scott 20:27
Brian Lyle...
Ross Bryant 20:28
In his wallet, there's also public school staff IDs. You get the sense that this guy might be a teacher or a substitute or something,
Detective Brenda (Becca) 20:38
Hmm. This guy's around kids?
Agent Caspius (Josephine) 20:42
Hey, where did he come from? Brenda, I thought we cleared the place? We said "clear"
Detective Brenda (Becca) 20:49
The window’s open. Climbed in. Came for us.
Agent Caspius (Josephine) 20:54
Damn, forgot to check the windows.
Max (cuppycup) 20:57
Before anyone moves anything else, please take photos! The window frame, the floor. Any shoe prints the direction of the glass. Please!
Ross Bryant 21:05
Make a Spot Hidden for me, Marcella.
Paula Deming 21:08
It's not good. I'm not good at Spot Hidden. Nope. Nope, nope, nope, nope, nope. That's an 88 over 25. That's a fail.
Ross Bryant 21:16
That's quite a fail. Do you want to push it?
Paula Deming 21:20
No, I don't want to push it because I keep failing my pushes.
cuppycup 21:26
You don't have to. What's the name of the show? I can't remember.
Paula Deming 21:29
"Push the Roll!" Shut up, Cup, I'm doing it! [laughter] Nope! It's a fail. 61! You don't push a roll where you have a 25% shot. What was I thinking?
cuppycup 21:38
Yeah, why'd you do that?
Paula Deming 21:40
You bullied me. [laughter]
Ross Bryant 21:42
Hey!
Becca Scott 21:44
Yeah, Cup, the bully!
Ross Bryant 21:45
Well, it sounds to me that by the letter of the law, you just failed a pushed roll.
Paula Deming 21:49
I sure did. Third time.
Ross Bryant 21:52
I'm sorry you don't see what was happening. Turning back to Max, Caspius, and Brenda, you're kind of shaking this guy, I guess, kind of rifling him, you're seeing all this stuff from his pockets.
Detective Brenda (Becca) 22:03
Call it in somebody. Oh, that's me! I'll call it in.
cuppycup 22:07
Max is gonna go to the open window and look outside.
Max (cuppycup) 22:12
I just want to check the sky for a second. I need to think.
Ross Bryant 22:17
Yeah, you look up at the night sky, and you can see, just like Caspius did. You're actively looking and, even brighter now, there's another light in the firmament.
Max (cuppycup) 22:31
Lua?
Agent Caspius (Josephine) 22:33
What was that, Max?
Max (cuppycup) 22:35
Lua. It's the comet he was tracking, the one on the wall.
Agent Caspius (Josephine) 22:41
Oh, it's a comet. Oh, well, yeah, I guess that makes sense. [chuckles] Shooting star.
Ross Bryant 22:48
Someone want to give me a History or a Religion role?
cuppycup 22:52
Oh, I think base on Religion is 20%? I failed.
Becca Scott 22:58
I can give you a Religion. Nope.
Josephine McAdam 23:02
I can do an Occult.
Ross Bryant 23:04
Interesting. I think you do have an Occult skill, because you've dealt with this kind of thing before in your dealings with the FBI.
Josephine McAdam 23:11
[laughing] Yeah. I just rolled a 4 under 45. An extreme Occult.
Ross Bryant 23:19
Amazing. What about you, Marcella?
Paula Deming 23:21
I just got a hard success, which I'll spend five points of Luck to make an extreme success in Religion.
Josephine McAdam 23:29
Hell yeah.
Ross Bryant 23:31
Religion-wise, this is vaguely familiar to you. You're a psychic, right?
Paula Deming 23:38
Yeah.
Ross Bryant 23:39
So maybe you do go in for some like, interesting folkloric learnings.
Paula Deming 23:44
I'm more spiritual than religious. You know?
Ross Bryant 23:48
That's great, definitely. So maybe you engage in a little bit of New Age stuff, a little bit of Jungian analysis. You're into archetypes,
Paula Deming 23:55
Yeah, yeah.
Ross Bryant 23:57
Lua flashes in your memory: a minor Roman goddess associated with Saturn. Very little known about her. Associated with the burning of enemy weapons, and is affiliated with ideas of sterility and reproduction. Could induce sterility or reproduction, is part of what's under her purview.
Paula Deming 24:28
When I think of this does it make me, do I make a connection with the, I believe she was like a burning kind of woman, if I'm remembering now that I saw in my vision? I saw a woman giving birth who seem to have, like…
Ross Bryant 24:42
Flaming.
Paula Deming 24:43
Flames, yeah.
Ross Bryant 24:44
With a star-like fire.
Marcella (Paula) 24:46
Lua.
Ross Bryant 24:49
You've tracked cults like, Caspius, like people interested in black magic, or odd satanic biker gang. Weird, esoteric gangs that practice Odinism and things like this. You've heard of obscure cults from the past, like the Brotherhood of the Black Pharaoh.
Josephine McAdam 25:15
Yeah.
Ross Bryant 25:17
Lua is one where, like, it's so obscure and ancient, the records that are passed down don't give you a sense of like, exactly the nature of the worship. It must have been extremely esoteric, but something having to do with being a consort of Saturn. And then it strikes you, maybe at the same time that it strikes Marcella, that she’s also known as Lua Saturnii, Lua of Saturn. And Lua Mater: Lua the Mother. The Mother. And that what sits in your mind, Marcella, as you are feeling the rag go over your mouth, [gasp] and you were pulled backwards into the darkness.
Josephine McAdam 26:06
What?
Becca Scott 26:07
No, no!
Ross Bryant 26:11
You are coming out of the darkness. The skiff that plied the waters of your sea, the Roman sea, brought you from the coast, from the ports of Rome, across making landfall, perhaps in Sicily. And on the coast of the Dalmatians down south. And you're moving now through the arid landscape of the Roman colony here. Following the intuition. Following the star, deep, deep into the interior. It can't be far now. You have the sense, a guide assists you along the way as you move on your pack animals. And it's as though that the star up ahead of you seems to cascade light down in a column, like a great band of light in front of you that seems to illuminate this little building off in the distance.
Caspius Law (Josephine) 27:34
Do you think we might see Saturn himself?
Marcella (Paula) 27:39
I do not know! What a gift that would be.
Maximus Artifex (cuppycup) 27:43
Or do we only get the shadow of him like everyone else?
Paula Deming 27:48
I do not know. I don't know if Saturn will show himself in that way or not, but there will be something there for us. I know.
Caspius Law (Josephine) 27:56
Yes.
Brenda the Bold (Becca) 27:58
Few things make me fearful, but seeing Saturn in the flesh, it shakes one to the core, just the thought.
Paula Deming 28:08
It's not something normally meant for mortal eyes. Very few of us have been blessed with these kinds of insights.
Caspius Law (Josephine) 28:19
You're right. You're right. Livia, perhaps best to don the blindfold as we approach.
Marcella (Paula) 28:27
Yes.
Livia (Ross) 28:29
Must I, Father? Must I? Will I, like Semele, be burned if I gaze upon the image of the god with my bare eyes?
Marcella (Paula) 28:39
Yes, perhaps you will be Livia.
Caspius Law (Josephine) 28:41
Yes, we do not know, but I cannot risk you. Livia. I cannot lose you. Livia. Come on, for your Father
Livia (Ross) 28:51
As you wish.
Ross Bryant 28:52
She puts the band of cloth back over her eyes, and you move towards this building in the distance.
Caspius Law (Josephine) 29:02
Totally normal building.
Paula Deming 29:03
Totally normal.
Becca Scott 29:05
Not weird at all.
Maximus Artifex (cuppycup) 29:07
You spoke of gifts. We have no gifts. Are we- we can't offer our pack animals, right? We need them to get back. What do we do?
Marcella (Paula) 29:15
Well, I have-
Paula Deming 29:17
I'll pull out a little, like, flask kind of thing.
Marcella (Paula) 29:20
I have brought some of the blessed oil from the temple with me.
Maximus Artifex (cuppycup) 29:27
Gods bless you.
Brenda the Bold (Becca) 29:29
I have the only trinket that is a reminder of my parents; their teeth.
Becca Scott 29:38
And I pull out a little satchel.
Maximus Artifex (cuppycup) 29:41
It's been a long time since I've gazed upon these teeth. They are beautiful,
Ross Bryant 29:45
Especially to a bone worker like you.
Brenda the Bold (Becca) 29:48
I know I showed you that one time.
Maximus Artifex (cuppycup) 29:50
Love to get my hands on those.
Brenda the Bold (Becca) 29:52
No, you can't have them.
Maximus Artifex (cuppycup) 29:54
I said that out loud? I brought nothing worth an as. Or any coin. If Saturn wants payment, he'll take it from me.
Marcella (Paula) 30:05
Yes, Maximus, you have brought yourself. That is all that is asked of us.
Caspius Law (Josephine) 30:11
I have the lock of Helena's hair that I keep.
Brenda the Bold (Becca) 30:15
Oh, not weird. Not weird.
Maximus Artifex (cuppycup) 30:18
You're all so prepared.
Caspius Law (Josephine) 30:20
It's not weird. It's my dear departed wife, just something to remember her by. I could think of no greater...
Marcella (Paula) 30:28
A truly worthy gift, Caspius.
Caspius Law (Josephine) 30:32
Thank you, Marcella.
Maximus Artifex (cuppycup) 30:34
And if all else fails you have Livia.
Caspius Law (Josephine) 30:38
What are you suggesting, Maximus?
Maximus Artifex (cuppycup) 30:41
I'm not suggesting anything, but it's Saturn, and whatever Saturn demands, Saturn will have.
Marcella (Paula) 30:47
Well, we shall see. I do not believe that Saturn will ask such a sacrifice from us. Saturn is about abundance and generation. He does not want us to cut short our own generations, our provenance. No.
Caspius Law (Josephine) 31:08
Right, right, yes.
Maximus Artifex (cuppycup) 31:10
Right. You're the learned one. Forgive me.
Caspius Law (Josephine) 31:12
I do this for Livia.
Maximus Artifex (cuppycup) 31:15
Oh, we're here.
Marcella (Paula) 31:16
Yes, let us enter, perhaps.
Ross Bryant 31:25
It's a low and rather humble stone building, not quite a stable. As you enter in, there are other animals around. The light of the star is up above. And you enter it as though there is a choir singing. Sort of choir of angels, shepherds.
Marcella (Paula) 31:47
Do you hear what I hear? [laughter]
Maximus Artifex (cuppycup) 31:51
A song.
Marcella (Paula) 31:52
A song rising in the night.
Ross Bryant 31:58
You walk into this space, down into this building. It is humble, small, and as you enter, there is a ring of robed people. Some of them have shepherd's crooks. They all look up to behold you, and as though some of them still like glitter with the glow of the star up above, and one of them turns, his white beard kind of cascading out of his robe.
Old Man (Ross) 32:32
Ah. More travelers. Wait. Attend. Attend ye now, all of us gathered here for now unto us, a child shall be born. He has brought her to us.
Ross Bryant 32:58
You can see his milky eyes. It looks like this man may have not been able to see it all, but it is as though he is looking right at you, Marcella.
Old Man (Ross) 33:09
Yes, he has sent her to us. She has sent her to us. Lua Mater.
Ross Bryant 33:19
And all of them like [droning chanting noises] as their hands grope forward, taking hold of you, Marcella.
Caspius Law (Josephine) 33:30
Marcella!
Brenda the Bold (Becca) 33:31
Wait.
Marcella (Paula) 33:32
It's all right, everyone.
Brenda the Bold (Becca) 33:34
What is this?
Ross Bryant 33:36
Moving you into the center of this space.
Old Man (Ross) 33:39
Yes, soon he shall rise. Soon he shall rise.
Brenda the Bold (Becca) 33:46
Saturn, right? We're going to see Saturn?
Ross Bryant 33:51
There's one book in particular from the table of Ray that you found on the desktop. It looks like it was a photocopy of a photocopy of a photocopy of a photocopy, and it just reads "Codex Saturnalias." You can't quite get a bead on how Marcella left. She was there and she was gone. But within this book seems to be contained the, best as you can understand it, the theology or mystic sort of narrative that Ray had sort of placed himself within.
Agent Caspius (Josephine) 34:31
Marcella! Marcella! Hey, you all seen Marcella?
Detective Brenda (Becca) 34:38
No.
Max (cuppycup) 34:39
No.
Agent Caspius (Josephine) 34:40
Where'd she go?
Detective Brenda (Becca) 34:41
I thought she was talking to you.
Agent Caspius (Josephine) 34:43
She was. We were just- I was just- we're just ta- Lua, but.
Detective Brenda (Becca) 34:48
Brian!
Becca Scott 34:49
I punch him in the face.
Detective Brenda (Becca) 34:50
You working alone?
Brian Lyle (Ross) 34:53
No! We are- We are everywhere. We, who have heard his voice, heard his calling. I am blessed to have seen her. I am blessed to have seen her. I have seen his mother.
Detective Brenda (Becca) 35:09
How do you know who she is?
Brian Lyle (Ross) 35:10
I could feel it. She has been touched by him. He will devour you all, but we the worthy who have had his Eucharist. We are flesh of his flesh.
Agent Caspius (Josephine) 35:31
I don't have time for this shit.
Detective Brenda (Becca) 35:33
Are you saying you ate people too? We got a confession.
Brian Lyle (Ross) 35:37
We are flesh of his flesh.
Agent Caspius (Josephine) 35:39
Hey. Shut him up! Shut him up! We gotta find Marcella. She's gone.
Max (cuppycup) 35:44
I'll check the cars.
Ross Bryant 35:45
Yeah. Why don't you give me a Track roll or an Investigation roll of some kind to see if you can figure out what has happened?
Max (cuppycup) 35:51
Okay, okay, I can do this. I can keep it together.
Detective Brenda (Becca) 35:55
Bunch of cannibals.
cuppycup 35:58
How much Luck do I have? I'm gonna spend 21 Luck to succeed on a Track roll.
Becca Scott 36:05
I've got track as well.
Josephine McAdam 36:07
I don't have any points in that. [laughter]
Max (cuppycup) 36:11
Come on, Brenda, we track her together.
Detective Brenda (Becca) 36:14
Yeah, sure.
Becca Scott 36:14
I'll spend, uh, 29 Luck. [laughter] No, I don't need to. You got it. You got it.
Ross Bryant 36:24
I want to say that that Track roll, Maximus and this, Max, as it were, Max is what you go by. It makes sense doing forensic and coroners-type investigations, your analytic eye is taking in all this material, and then you're outside seeing like the tire treads. You could see grooves in the earth leading up to the parking where it looks as though Marcella was dragged kicking backwards into a vehicle. You could see the rubber on the asphalt where it peeled out, going this direction. There must be some map. There must be some way of figuring it out, of triangulating. You briefly have a flash as you're looking at these things of holding a map in your hands, and it's sort of bursting into 100 pieces, little parts of it skittering off over a stone floor. But you know you can do it this time. You know you can. And you're looking and you can find a Xerox printout of a map. A little unassuming house. It's nearby. There's some like writing of Ray's underneath, like
Ray Salvatorio (Ross) 37:27
The triangulation occurs. Yes, the Sickle of Othrys falls here. Lua’s light penetrates the darkness and makes it gravid.
Ross Bryant 37:41
You can see, like the little pin drop on this map - you actually have a map - and you're pretty sure this may be where Marcella is being taken.
Max (cuppycup) 37:49
Brenda, we're gonna need the siren!
Agent Caspius (Josephine) 37:51
Yeah, all right, all right, let's get it-
Max (cuppycup) 37:53
Yeah,
Becca Scott 37:54
I'm already pulling up.
Max (cuppycup) 37:57
Come on, Caspius.
Josephine McAdam 37:59
Yeah, I'm with you. I'm getting in the car with you,
Detective Brenda (Becca) 38:03
Caspius, you can sit up front.
Max (cuppycup) 38:04
What?! [laughter]
Agent Caspius (Josephine) 38:05
Yeah, okay, okay, we got to be fast. We got to be fast
Detective Brenda (Becca) 38:08
There's no time, Max! There's no time.
Agent Caspius (Josephine) 38:11
Thanks for tracking this for us, Max. Oh, man, oh God, if something's happened to her,
Ross Bryant 38:18
Not to push your hand. But did anybody want to take a look at that book?
Paula Deming 38:20
The Codex of Saturnalias
Josephine McAdam 38:22
Yeah, can we grab it on the way out so we can look at it in the car?
Becca Scott 38:27
Not with my driving!
Agent Caspius (Josephine) 38:31
Max, what does this all mean? Is this what you found in the room?
Max (cuppycup) 38:36
I mean, I could take a look.
Agent Caspius (Josephine) 38:37
Okay, okay. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Detective Brenda (Becca) 38:39
Shout out navigation, Max!
Becca Scott 38:41
And I am just like 90 miles per hour on a residential street.
Max (cuppycup) 38:46
I can't do both. I can barely do one thing!
Agent Caspius (Josephine) 38:50
Okay, you navigate. I'll look at this shit.
Max (cuppycup) 38:52
Okay, okay, okay. Left! [sound of squealing tires]
Ross Bryant 38:59
In the beginning there was Cronus, the Titan out of time. The sickle sword of Othrys wielded by Saturn, castrated his father, and he made the land. Saturn rose, devoured his sons. He presided over a golden age. And lo, it did come to pass that an age of Iron and of Stone did follow after them in those days. Lo, the Golden Age of Saturn was forgot until such late times as his signs, once again in the heavens, did proclaim themselves. When his consort blazed in the sky at night and lo its light acted as a wonder to those with eyes to see. Those with eyes to see and ears to hear, they were drawn unto that holy place where her light did fall. And lo, her children were beckoned unto her and lo, they did come these in leagues and fathoms, drawn unto her that the mother may be proclaimed. So that unto them...
Old Man (Ross) 40:14
A child could be born!
Ross Bryant 40:17
Intones the man as he drags you forward. And you can feel within you, Marcella...
Paula Deming 40:23
Yeah
Ross Bryant 40:24
...a quickening.
Brenda the Bold (Becca) 40:25
Oh, wow. Oh, my God. Oh, God, no, that's-
Marcella (Paula) 40:29
Yes!
Brenda the Bold (Becca) 40:30
The stretch marks!
Marcella (Paula) 40:31
I feel them. I am the mother. That is why you've brought me here. Oh, what a gift! What a gift indeed!
Old Man (Ross) 40:41
Bring forth the Golden Age to us!
Marcella (Paula) 40:45
A blessing!
Old Man (Ross) 40:46
You are the burner of weapons. Let peace now reign and the Golden Age be restored. We shall eat the world of iron and give birth to the world of gold once more!
Caspius Law (Josephine) 41:01
Marcella, wha...
Marcella (Paula) 41:03
And the children of my children will bear this blessing. And generations from now, this will come to fruit again!
Paula Deming 41:13
As I think I give myself over.
Ross Bryant 41:16
Great.
Paula Deming 41:17
I was chosen as a young girl for something. It had to have been this.
Ross Bryant 41:22
They're peeling the robe of Marcella away. The beadwork of her diadem is thrown to the ground.
Old Man (Ross) 41:29
All this is dross before the sublimity of his gold!
Brenda the Bold (Becca) 41:34
Marcella, this is what you want?
Ross Bryant 41:37
You can see now her gravid belly growing, growing blasphemously in front of you.
Caspius Law (Josephine) 41:46
You're with child, Marcella! It's...
Brenda the Bold (Becca) 41:49
Most unnatural.
Paula Deming 41:51
It is a gift! It is a gift from Saturn. I will be the mother. I will bring a golden age to us all!
Caspius Law (Josephine) 41:59
Let us help you.
Chanting Cultists (Ross) 42:01
You will bring a Golden Age to us all. Mater Lua. She was the Golden One sent from above. Mater Lua.
Ross Bryant 42:10
The chant fills the basement space that you are in, Marcella.
Maximus Artifex (cuppycup) 42:15
Mater Lua.
cuppycup 42:16
He falls to his knees in worship, just like chanting along.
Josephine McAdam 42:19
Yeah.
Becca Scott 42:20
I want to roll for Religion to see if this feels like Saturn or this feels like a weird cult, and I need to fight it.
Ross Bryant 42:27
Great. Go for it.
Josephine McAdam 42:29
I trust Marcella. I'm gonna go to her side and hold her hand.
Becca Scott 42:33
92.
Ross Bryant 42:35
I'm gonna let you decide. I mean, 92. To a Roman what's a weird cult, really?
Josephine McAdam 42:41
Yeah, right (laughing)
Becca Scott 42:42
I'm just gonna strip naked because it feels right for the ceremony.
Ross Bryant 42:47
You're not the only one. Everyone in this space is removing their garments.
Paula Deming 42:53
Yeah.
Josephine McAdam 42:53
I'm going to leave Livia with her blindfold, kind of like in the corner, so all she’ll overhear are the sounds of whatever's happening.
Brenda the Bold (Becca) 43:00
Mater Lua! Mater Lua!
Maximus Artifex (cuppycup) 43:04
Mater Lua!
Chanting Cultists (Ross) 43:05
Mater Lua!
Josephine McAdam 43:07
And I go hold Marcella's hand. I'm like,
Caspius Law (Josephine) 43:11
We're right here. I'm here with you, Marcella.
Brenda the Bold (Becca) 43:14
It looks painful, Marcella! Your skin!
Marcella (Paula) 43:19
[cries of pain]
Ross Bryant 43:19
It is agonizing what is happening. You get the feeling that you may not survive what is about to happen
Paula Deming 43:27
That's all right, because my children will, my children will, and they will be a blessing to this earth.
Caspius Law (Josephine) 43:34
Stay with us!
Old Man (Ross) 43:36
Though we may not live to see it, the blood shall flow! His sacrament! When the time is right, for what is the mote of time to the eyes of Saturn, who slew Cronus, whose sickle of Othrys killed time itself. We devour time!
Ross Bryant 43:57
And you can see a face push against the flesh and the interior of Marcella's body.
Becca Scott 44:06
A grown up face?
cuppycup 44:08
Can we roll Sanity?
Ross Bryant 44:09
Yeah. Everyone roll Sanity.
Paula Deming 44:11
Yeah.
cuppycup 44:12
Fail. 78. No. 76 over 37.
Becca Scott 44:19
Fail.
Caspius Law (Josephine) 44:20
Caspius has actually succeeded. This is not unlike some of the animal births on the farm.
Ross Bryant 44:27
Yeah.
Paula Deming 44:28
Marcella also succeeded. I think together they are,
Josephine McAdam 44:32
Oh, yeah.
Marcella (Paula) 44:33
This is true. This is real. This is good.
Caspius Law (Josephine) 44:36
Yes, you're all right.
Ross Bryant 44:39
My successes lose two points of Sanity. My failures lose five points of Sanity. [laughter]
Josephine McAdam 44:47
Here we go.
Ross Bryant 44:50
Who are the ones who failed again?
Becca Scott 44:52
I failed.
cuppycup 44:53
Max failed. Maximus.
Becca Scott 44:56
And Brenda.
Ross Bryant 44:57
Roll Intelligence to see if you understand what you are seeing.
Becca Scott 45:02
Oh, I rolled a six, baby. We understand.
Ross Bryant 45:06
Wonderful.
cuppycup 45:07
Oh, I failed my intelligence, so I continue to worship.
Ross Bryant 45:12
Take the Sanity, and continue to worship. Brenda, that little question that you had earlier, now you have horrifying clarity.
Brenda the Bold (Becca) 45:21
Oh no, the face. The face!
Ross Bryant 45:25
There's something so woefully inhuman about what is pressing obscenely against the flesh of Marcella from the interior. The nude bodies of these adherents, like raising their hands to the heavens, something is being given birth here. But is it a god? Something has fallen out of the sky. There is a comet, a stone from far away from gulfs far off in the distance of the cosmos, and it has come to Earth. It has fallen to Earth. Its machinations are now in motion, and it is not a god. It is some sort of cosmic parasite that is being birthed right now out of Marcella.
Brenda the Bold (Becca) 46:15
No.
Ross Bryant 46:16
It may wear a human face for now, but it will dwell dormant in the blood.
Brenda the Bold (Becca) 46:24
It's not right.
Becca Scott 46:25
I run to my fallen armaments and grab my sword. And without saying anything, I walk casually up to Marcella and the ceremony, and then as fast as I can, without notice, lift my sword high above my head and stab it through Marcella's belly, where I saw the face.
Josephine McAdam 46:49
In the timing of this as you're walking up. I'm like,
Caspius Law (Josephine) 46:52
Marcella, I don't know if this is a good time or not, but I've always loved you. If you just push through this, I see a future for us, perhaps once I'm recovered and- Oh, my god! Brenda!
Brenda the Bold (Becca) 47:08
This is not the spawn of Saturn! This is a demon child!
Ross Bryant 47:15
Of course, someone is trying to stop you. So, yeah, make your roll. Someone is flinging themselves in your way to fight you.
Becca Scott 47:24
I slash through. [laughing] Can I push it?
Ross Bryant 47:30
You cannot push. You can spend luck, though.
Becca Scott 47:32
Hold on, it was a 92 and I have a 70 in Sword, so I will spend 22 Luck.
Josephine McAdam 47:40
22 Luck.
cuppycup 47:41
Oooh.
Josephine McAdam 47:42
Hell yeah!
Ross Bryant 47:43
Okay, this guy also failed. It's eating its way out. And then you see the blade,
Brenda the Bold (Becca) 47:53
It must be!
Marcella (Paula) 47:54
It's.. wha- Caspius?
Caspius Law (Josephine) 47:57
Marcella!
Ross Bryant 47:58
And then the sword comes down.
Brenda the Bold (Becca) 48:03
[screams]
Ross Bryant 48:03
Bang! Bang! And the door of this basement space is kicked open by Brenda, and you now see the whole tableau, a bunch of blandly dressed people swaying around Marcella, who's laid out there on a table. You could see something moving underneath her skin, like,
Chanting Cultists (Ross) 48:22
Mater Lua. Mater Lu-
Marcella (Paula) 48:25
Help me!
Agent Caspius (Josephine) 48:27
Marcella!
Marcella (Paula) 48:28
Help me!
Max (cuppycup) 48:29
Shoot him! Shoot him!
Detective Brenda (Becca) 48:31
She's not your Lua!
Josephine McAdam 48:33
We probably start shooting. That seems like par for the course. [laughing]
Ross Bryant 48:36
Yes. You're feeling it now though, Marcella, the quickening underneath your flesh. Something happened. You can feel it, there, in your body, in your blood.
Agent Caspius (Josephine) 48:49
Marcella!
Marcella (Paula) 48:50
How is this? Why?
Ross Bryant 48:52
You have been cursed by your ancestors and you are paying rent on your heritage. [laughter] The rent is due. The rent is due.
Marcella (Paula) 49:04
Please help me! Caspius, do something! Make it stop!
Agent Caspius (Josephine) 49:08
I'm coming. I'm coming.
Detective Brenda (Becca) 49:10
We need an emergency C-section! Get get an OB here as fast as possible! An emergency OB! [laughter]
Caspius Law (Josephine) 49:17
Actually, we're just gonna try to knock bodies out of the way to get through to Marcella.
Ross Bryant 49:21
If you're it sounds like we're firing guns. It's chaos.
Josephine McAdam 49:24
Yeah, yeah.
Paula Deming 49:26
Also I'm like, tied up and somehow pregnant?
Josephine McAdam 49:30
Yeah.
Ross Bryant 49:30
It just happened so fast.
Becca Scott 49:32
This is so kinky.
Paula Deming 49:34
I think I should roll Sanity I feel like, in this moment. All of a sudden, I'm like, What the fuck? [laughter] Oh yeah, that's a fail. That's a fail. That's a 79 over 50. This is too horrifying.
Josephine McAdam 49:49
I'll do a Sanity, like, pushing through and seeing this too, right?
cuppycup 49:54
Seeing what's happening with Marcella. I think it makes sense, yeah?
Josephine McAdam 49:57
But I pass because uh, what's the justification this time?
Becca Scott 50:02
You're focused!
Josephine McAdam 50:03
I'm actually not looking at her, but I'm looking at Marcella's face. Her beautiful, beautiful face. I'm like,
Agent Caspius (Josephine) 50:07
I'm coming Marcella!
Becca Scott 50:09
Wait, I do fail.
Detective Brenda (Becca) 50:13
Oh, my God, how? This doesn't make any sense. She's pregnant?!
Max (cuppycup) 50:20
No, she can't be.
Ross Bryant 50:21
Those of you who ran in... Oh my God, I rolled a d10 and I rolled a one!
cuppycup 50:30
Good news, Ross! I rolled 79 which is a failure, and I was one off indefinite insanity.
Josephine McAdam 50:36
There we go.
cuppycup 50:37
So the one is gonna do it.
Becca Scott 50:40
Hey! I was also one off indefinite insanity.
cuppycup 50:45
Amazing.
Ross Bryant 50:46
Oh, my God. Okay. Brenda and Maximus, yes. How do you think this manifests for you?
cuppycup 50:54
Max saw the comet and the painting. I think this is making sense to him a little bit.
Max (cuppycup) 51:00
The comet, the painting, mother, the whole script..
cuppycup 51:05
I think what he's gonna try to do is knock the gun out of Brenda's hand.
Max (cuppycup) 51:11
Brenda, don't shoot! You'll hit her!
Becca Scott 51:13
Brenda's gonna try to kill everybody.
Paula Deming 51:16
Yeah.
cuppycup 51:17
And I'm right there going for your gun.
Paula Deming 51:20
This feels right for both characters.
Ross Bryant 51:22
You're turning on each other. You have a readied firearm, though, like,
cuppycup 51:27
Yeah, I can't dodge it.
Ross Bryant 51:29
Are you shooting Brenda or are you knocking it out of her hand?
cuppycup 51:32
I don't have a gun, so I want to try to knock the gun out of her hand, but if she has a ready firearm, she'll be able to get a shot off.
Ross Bryant 51:38
Okay. Okay.
Becca Scott 51:39
And I pull the trigger.
Ross Bryant 51:42
Get a shot off, Brenda. Go for it. Pull that trigger. Who are you aiming at?
Becca Scott 51:46
Maximus.
Ross Bryant 51:47
Great,
cuppycup 51:48
Yeah, I think I threw myself kind of in front of it. I want to protect the tableau, as you called it
Becca Scott 51:53
45 and I'm going to say my sword is a gun in this world. So that's a success.
Ross Bryant 52:02
Bang. Here comes your damage. That's three damage to you, Maximus, as you are shot.
cuppycup 52:10
I just fall to the ground.
Detective Brenda (Becca) 52:13
What are you doing? You working with them.
Max (cuppycup) 52:15
I'm not with them. I'm trying to keep her alive. Look at her face. She doesn't understand what they're doing. If you shoot you're finishing it for them.
Detective Brenda (Becca) 52:24
This wasn't what she wants. She doesn't want- what did they do to her? How does this, how does this even happen?
Marcella (Paula) 52:29
Help me, please!
Max (cuppycup) 52:31
She was chosen!
Marcella (Paula) 52:32
Help me!
Agent Caspius (Josephine) 52:32
Marcella! Marcella, just breathe. Hey, hey, y'all! Shut up. What are you- did you shoot?
Marcella (Paula) 52:37
[cries out in pain]
Agent Caspius (Josephine) 52:38
Marcella. Marcella, I'm here, I'm here, I'm here, I'm here, hey! Oh god, oh god.
Ross Bryant 52:45
Something is trying to break free.
Agent Caspius (Josephine) 52:49
Oh god, I'm gonna...
Detective Brenda (Becca) 52:52
You gotta deliver the child, Caspius. [laughing]
Josephine McAdam 52:55
Yeah, I'm gonna try and deliver the child. Like, get it out of Marcella, because in-
Paula Deming 53:00
Can I pitch something?
Ross Bryant 53:02
Please.
Paula Deming 53:03
Okay, we've done Power rolls, so far as we've done other things. Can I tap into whatever ancient power is within me and try to, like, I don't know exactly how this would look, but stop this from happening. Make it leave me, but in a way, that's like, I guess you could decide, depending on what I roll, make this leave me.
Ross Bryant 53:26
I will say that, like, in order to have much effect, this would have to be extreme.
Josephine McAdam 53:30
How do I help Marcella in this? Like, if I can, I don't know, succeed on roll, can she get, like, a bonus die on this or something?
Ross Bryant 53:40
Sure. How is it that you want to, that you want to instill inspiration into her at this moment?
Josephine McAdam 53:49
I kiss her.
Ross Bryant 53:50
Great,
Josephine McAdam 53:51
[laughing] The worst possible time.
Becca Scott 53:53
While in agonizing pain.
Paula Deming 53:55
It might be the only time we have!
Ross Bryant 53:57
Caspius, you fling yourself through the crowd as bullets fly.
Josephine McAdam 53:57
Yeah!
Agent Caspius (Josephine) 54:02
I'm here, Marcella!
Ross Bryant 54:04
Give me a, I think, maybe a Dexterity roll? Maybe a Charm roll to get through and smooch.
Josephine McAdam 54:13
I was just gonna try my Power roll, the power of love, right? Was that what we said?
cuppycup 54:17
Roll Appearance, [laughter]
Becca Scott 54:20
The power of hotness.
Josephine McAdam 54:21
I don't even know what my Appearance is. What is my... no, no, let's go with the power of love.
Ross Bryant 54:27
Roll the power of love. Roll Power.
Josephine McAdam 54:29
It's a success! 57 under 60. Yeah.
Ross Bryant 54:33
Caspius' lips close over yours, and for a moment you feel like generations slip and slide. Time seems to close in on itself. Make your Power roll with a bonus die.
Paula Deming 54:48
This is meant to be. This is why we are supposed to be together. We have been star crossed, and it has not happened, but this is the time, and I love you.
Paula Deming 54:54
Okay, the first one was a 94 roll,
Becca Scott 54:57
Roll better. Roll better than that.
Paula Deming 54:59
Why are you rolling 90 so much?! Come on! Okay, that's a 44 with the bonus die, which is a regular success. And to get it to an extreme success, I have the Luck, Ross! I can spend, because 44 to 11 would be 33 and I have 53 Luck left. So I will spend 33 Luck points and believe in a holiday miracle. That somehow...
Becca Scott 55:29
It's a holiday miracle!
Ross Bryant 55:31
Anything's possible if you believe!
cuppycup 55:33
In Saturn! [laughter]
Ross Bryant 55:38
Great.
Paula Deming 55:38
I don't know however you interpret that, but I've succeeded on that Power roll extremely
Ross Bryant 55:44
Caspius makes that time bend feeling happen when your lips lock, and time itself seems to fold. You smell the incense in the air. You feel the blood. You see Brenda the Bold's sword coming down and ending you 2000 years ago. And you realize now that you are in control. You are a votary of Saturn. You are Lua incarnate. You can get on top of this. You can be the potent force here. Stop this from happening. Stop this thing from gnawing its way out of you.
Paula Deming 56:30
I think Roman Marcella, how this is born through the generations, is in this moment as the power builds in her, she takes this unnatural fetus that is crawling and gnawing its way out of her, and she compresses it down into a seed that will lay dormant until one day in the future, some generation, some ancestor, will be, unfortunately, not blessed by it, but cursed. But we don't have to deal with that. Now Caspius, we can be, we can be together. Now, I have done it.
Ross Bryant 57:15
You can see the face sort of recede. Calm comes over the face of Marcella, this clarity, her eyes rolled up, and her head comes forward, and it is though for a moment, for all of you, she is lit by an interior glow. Suddenly, you can't hold your gun anymore, Brenda. It's too hot, like just as though the weapon itself is burning. And everyone is transfixed by Marcella, transfigured for a moment in this brightness as she is the mother, not giving birth, not yet, not like this, but holding, for a moment, a seed. And let's see them being carried out of the building, EMTs and FBI personnel carrying Marcella out in a blanket. Brenda debriefing with the chief.
Captain (Ross) 58:11
You wrapped this thing up. I'm not busting your chestnut. You okay? Your eyes aren't focusing so good.
Detective Brenda (Becca) 58:17
Yeah. But the pa- the paperwork. I don't know what to write on the paperwork, because there was, there was- Chief, Chief you had- you didn't see what I saw,
Captain (Ross) 58:30
Eh.
Detective Brenda (Becca) 58:30
The demons that were in that basement.
Captain (Ross) 58:34
[uncertain] Uh huh... yeah,
Detective Brenda (Becca) 58:35
We got to destroy them all before it's too late.
Ross Bryant 58:40
And you could see therapists and counselors coming over and leading people away. And Caspius perhaps you like just see Marcella being carried into the back of an ambulance.
Agent Caspius (Josephine) 58:54
Marcella, you're gonna be okay, yeah? I'll be waiting for you.
Marcella (Paula) 59:03
I'll be waiting for you. We're going to be okay.
Agent Caspius (Josephine) 59:05
Yeah, yeah.
Marcella (Paula) 59:08
What are you doing on Christmas?
Ross Bryant 59:10
Slam! [laughter]
Agent Caspius (Josephine) 59:12
I'm free! I'm holding it for you!
Ross Bryant 59:18
Holding it for her. As you look down at the picture in your pocket. God, you still got to get a Christmas present for your daughter, Livy. She hasn't seen any of this. And there you are in the hospital. Beep, beep. Marcella,
Doctor (Ross) 59:37
You've suffered a terrible shock, certainly, but don't worry. Um, terrible circumstances. But actually, I suppose it's attended with some joy, Miss. Um, excuse me, can everyone leave the room?
Ross Bryant 59:51
And he sits down next to you.
Marcella (Paula) 59:53
Yes. What is it?
Doctor (Ross) 59:55
Did you know you were pregnant?
Marcella (Paula) 59:58
No.
Doctor (Ross) 59:58
Oh, it looks like it's very early. It looks as though like a first or second trimester.
Marcella (Paula) 1:00:05
Oh,
Josephine McAdam 1:00:05
[whispered] Those are very different.
Ross Bryant 1:00:08
Oh, yeah, extremely different. [laughter] This is extremely rushed now, just based on a cursory look at your vitals.
Marcella (Paula) 1:00:19
Oh, I guess I'll have to decide what to do about that.
Doctor (Ross) 1:00:27
Obviously, that's your choice.
Marcella (Paula) 1:00:29
Yes, I'll have to think on it.
Doctor (Ross) 1:00:34
Yes, of course, you've been through a lot. I'll let you rest.
Marcella (Paula) 1:00:37
Thank you.
Ross Bryant 1:00:39
You can hear from out in the hallway,
Holiday Music [Ross] 1:00:42
♫ Sleigh bells ring. Are you listening?♫ [garbled noise as the stations change] ♫God rest ye merry gentlemen. Let nothing you dismay. Know that Christ our Savior, was born on Christmas Day to save us all from Satan's power when we were gone astray♫
Ross Bryant 1:01:03
And we see the face of Marcella,
Marcella (Paula) 1:01:06
[singing] Comfort and joy
Ross Bryant 1:01:10
Inscrutable. A mother, a seer, a Sibyl, a prophetess. Nine months may elapse and something may happen. But what does time mean? What does time mean when you're combined with the thing that killed time itself, the slayer of Cronus? And you can raise a child. And who knows what might happen 2000 or so years from now, when the seed grows, when the comet Lua returns on its orbit, dropping its debris once more. Time has no meaning to you. The time is coming. Unto you a child is born. The worst gift ever given. [laughter]
Paula Deming 1:02:14
Incredible! Those two titles together. What a gift, truly.
Josephine McAdam 1:02:20
Oh, my God,
Becca Scott 1:02:22
My Jesus Christ. And Saturn.
Paula Deming 1:02:26
I can't wait to tell my parents I got to play Mary in the nativity play.
Becca Scott 1:02:29
Oh, they'll be so proud!
cuppycup 1:02:31
Wow.
Ross Bryant 1:02:33
Oh, wow, wow.
Becca Scott 1:02:34
It was so nice to be here with you guys. This was so much fun.
Ross Bryant 1:02:38
That was incredible.
Josephine McAdam 1:02:39
Yeah.
Becca Scott 1:02:40
The best.
Ross Bryant 1:02:41
Awesome and demented. Thank you so much to Cup, to Josephine, to Paula, to Becca. Oh my gosh. What a crew. What a dream.
Josephine McAdam 1:02:49
Ross, thank you. Thank you. Geez,
Paula Deming 1:02:51
Ross, yes, you're- y'all that was made up! Okay, if you don't believe, like Ross, we made that up. That was crazy.
Ross Bryant 1:03:00
[sigh] Crazy.
Josephine McAdam 1:03:01
We made that up.
Ross Bryant 1:03:02
We made that up, folks! Merry Christmas to all and to all, a good night.
Becca Scott 1:03:09
A good night.