Strangers in the Pines: Ep 1 The Disappearance of Cindy Mulligan

Hi guys, I'm Izaak, the DM of Strangers in the Pines, an actual play, role play podcast using Monster of the Week rules, inspired by things like Gravity Falls, Stranger Things, and Twin Peaks. Let's begin. [door opening and closing]

Hey, there's a town called Pineforge. You heard of it? [bottles clinking] Yeah, it's nestled in the heart of the Blackwood National Park in northeast Oregon. Hmm. The town seems small and quaint at first, but if you know what to look for, and you look hard enough, you realize something strange is brewing under the surface and in the pines that surround the town. This story follows four unusual high school students that we marked as they try to unravel the mysteries of the strangers in the pines.

[door closing]

We see a flat, dull, metallic horizon stretching endlessly outward. Little pools and pockets of almost metallic liquid stand, and in each one with a closer look, you can see the world reflected in it, twisted through this metallic sheen. Looking around this flat plain, we see four children, haggard, a tall, blonde man with a large wound in his side, bleeding, holding a shotgun in one arm, using it like a crutch.

We see another, a young Hispanic man, kneeling, one hand on the ground as something is reflected in his eyes as he looks at it with curiosity and fear. A boy, a little bit taller, lanky, with an eye of fear and confusion. He reaches out an arm, almost reflexively in a gesture of defense. And the last is a girl standing, looking at something, mouth open as a conversation is being held, but in her form, this fear that is projected throughout these children is visible, but an air of confidence and is seen.

This ragged band of misfits stands lone sentinels upon this field. But this isn't the beginning of the story. For that, we have to go back. [suspenseful music]

I'm Robert, but I'm pretty much known as Lachiel in various places on the internet. I will be playing Chad Woodmore VII using the professional playbook. Chad is a senior at Blackwood High School this year, having transferred back to Blackwood Public last term from a prestigious private school out east. The reason for the transfer has never been fully explained to the faculty or his peers.

Hey, my name is Josh. I will be playing the character of Danny Fields, the spooky who doesn't really control his powers. He just thinks what he wants and it just kind of happens.

Hi, my name's Blaise, and I'll be playing Dottie Luzkov a kind of antique-loving nature girl who's using the divine playbook.

And I'm Paul. I'm playing Lucas Santiago, the monstrous playbook, and I've been infected by some sort of strange virus.

The birds sing as the sun rises over Iron Bells Mountain, [birds chirping] slowly illuminating the valley and the town of Pineforge. We come into Pineforge High, local high school, as a small field of students stand outside the high school waiting for it to be opened. And upcoming you see... And Paul, what does your character look like?

So Lucas is wearing baggy clothes. He's got dark hair slightly tan skin. He's, like, 5'5". He's riding up on a skateboard wearing incredibly baggy clothes with, like, a chain wallet and a big like, drapey backpack.

All righty. Following, after, following as Lucas kind of enters the crowd, we see... Robert, if you would introduce your... What does your character look like?

So yeah, Chad pulls into the high school parking lot in his custom 1995 candy apple red Jeep Wrangler custom. He's got R. Kelly's Bump and Grind blaring on the Alpine stereo. Obviously, he's a total douche. He's got sandy blonde hair, startling green eyes, a tall, muscular physique. He's dressed preppy to the nines, and he looks at the growing crowd over the top of his sunglasses, smirks, and gets out of the car.

Okay, and moving away from that jockish scene, we head over to Josh. What does your character look like?

So my character, Danny, is walking up with his mom who works in the school. She's kind of going on and on about different things that he needs to remember to take care of, you know, during the day, wash his hands basic mom stuff. And he's wearing clothes that clearly came from, like, Goodwill you know, like a T-shirt about save the whales or something like that. And he is a tall kid about 6'2" you know...

Bowl cut that was clearly home, you know cut at home by his mom, and just a kid that doesn't really care about his outward physical appearance even though he's in high school

All righty. And last, but certainly not least, Blaise, your character.

Dottie comes riding up in a bicycle. She's wearing a sweatshirt under, over kind of a cardigan, ginen shirt, or, I don't know, pastel. Not pastel. What am I thinking of? Plaid shirt, and a kind of long skirt. And she is kind of a little bit on the frumpy side, kind of brown hair. Maybe she has glasses? I'll give her glasses. Why not? And she has a slightly peaceful look on her face.

She looks at the school expectantly and hooks her bike up to wherever bikes get hooked up to. The bike stand, I don't know [laughs]

The bike rack. [laughs]

The bike rack, yes. [laughs] A gun rack. [laughs]

The bike parking garage. You have to pay, you pay [laughs] on-

Oh [laughs]

... Your way out.

Wow [laughs]

All righty. Well, cutting into the kind of intro Paul, you're you get stopped by one of your friends Mark, and he's part of the AV Club. He, being kind of new to the school, you know, a lot of the already established cliques didn't really want to interact with you. But you had a you had a you have a you have a business science class with him, and he comes up. He goes, "Oh hey, Lucas"

Ugh. Hey, Mark. What's up, man?

"Oh, man, you would you would not believe it. Oh my goodness, "

Okay, out with it. What?

"Cindy Mulligan's gone missing"

Wait, what?

"Yeah"

Dang, man.

"Apparently she didn't go home last night"

Huh. She's probably just like, you know, got drunk and is in a ditch somewhere. Who knows? [laughs]

Lord. Oh my. Wow, Lucas. Oof. Must somebody must have pissed in your cornflakes, so.

Oh, is that not something that happens up here? I mean, it happens all the time-

Uh-

... In San Bernardino

... Not really, no. I mean, I mean, the most thing we have to worry about is people getting lost in the mountains and whatnot.

Ugh.

Um-

Yeah, they freak me out, man

... Yeah, I've got to remember to [laughs] not to, not spend too much time in San Bernardino. I'll remember that. And kind of him rambling on about this, you know, it's crazy that this happened. They like, this is a like, this is a crazy thing. Nobody's... It's been a long time since they've had a high schooler go missing.

What do-

Um-

What does or Lucas know about this girl?

Lucas knows that she's a junior that's part of the hill, more of the richer side of town. She's known to be not necess- like, kind of a mild party girl, but nothing too wild. But she's definitely more on the calm side. And, you know, it's one of those things where she'd go to parties, but she wouldn't necessarily get... She wouldn't be the center of the party, if that makes sense.

Yeah.

So-

Would I have known her personally?

You may you may have seen her around, but you haven't really interacted with her. You're two grades below her, and, you know, the new kid, so she hasn't really talked to you at all.

Okay.

Cutting away, we go to Chad. So Chad, you walk up to some of your senior buddies, and it's it's a bunch of people on the winter ski team. And one of your one of your friends, his name's, uh-

Carver Coleman

Carver Coleman, there we go. Carver comes up to you. He goes, [laughs] "Hey, man"

Carver. Carver Coleman.

"Dude, it's getting ready to be powder season. I am so ready for this. It's gonna be great"

Dude, my Perlinis are all waxed up and ready to go. Look at that mountain. It's sparkling. Can't wait to get up there.

"Oh, man, I got a new set of Dellmans. Oh, crazy thing, though. Do you hear about Sydney?"

Cindy? Sha-Wing Cindy?

"Yeah. Apparently, after, like, practice, she just, like, poof, she's gone. I mean, it's just, it's just crazy. But I mean, it's, you know, she'll, she'll turn up. It's Pine Forge. Everyone turns up eventually. It's not like she's gonna go anywhere. But oh my yeah, this is just the freakiest." and he starts talking to you about how they're set at the scout, the ski chalet's starting to open up again and stuff like that.

And, um-

Do I am I aware of any weird or strange goings-on in and around Pine Forge, you know, mysterious stuff, aside from my family, that is?

Nope. You Pine Forge is just kind of like an average town for you. It's a little smaller. You've taken some trips to, like, Seattle and Portland with your dad, and you know, you've been used to the big city life. But you're, you know, you're kind of used to living in Pine Forge, but it just, it's just kind of that average logging town, so.

So, um-

Nothing-

... Somebody disappearing would be cause for alarm, but not really trigger, like, spidey sense kind of danger or anything.

Yeah, it's one of those things where it's like, it's one of, like a, like a kid has gone missing And so as in the normal sense of when a kid goes missing, it's not neces- it's not a, it's not a good thing, [laughs] so especially in this kind of small town environment, so people are, people are talking. Um-

I mean, it depends on the kid, really. [laughs]

So I'm thinking that maybe Chad has a bit of a crush on Cindy Mulligan, you know? She's a hilly, lives out by the golf course. All the jocks are crushing on her, talking about, you know, "I'd like to take a mulligan" and all that, you know?

Oh, God.

So he's he's a little concerned. He's wondering what could have happened to her. Would I know, you know, any of her girlfriends that may have information?

You start to think about that, and we cut over to Danny. Your mom's kind of leaving you by the by the door and getting ready to head inside. "All right, now have you got your lunch?"

Yes.

"Got your hand sanitizer?"

Yes.

"All your homework?"

Yes.

"All right. Oh, shoes tied, yep. All right. I'll see you inside, sweetie."

Okay.

"If you need anything, you know where to find me. Just let me know."

In the office, as always.

"As always."

Okay, Mother.

And he she leans down and gives you kind of a peck on the forehead and heads in to go. It's about 10 minutes before they open up the school, and last is-

She... Hang on. She leans down to a 6'2" kid? How tall is the mother? [laughs]

She's very-

Good God. [laughs]

She's half giant. This is fine.

She's, she's 7'2". She's a foot... She has to bend down. [laughs] She has to, she has to use a hand so she doesn't, to walk in the doorways.

Is this Shannon?

She played for the Ducks in college.

She's incredibly thin.

She's like Hagrid.

She got the strides.

She's a mountainous person.

She's Hagrid's mom.

Yeah, she's she's Hagrid's mom. No, she kinda like, grabs your, like, grabs your shoulder and lightly pull, like, pulls you down and gives you a kiss on the forehead and then heads inside. And last, you, we cut to Dottie, one of your one of your friends that's more that's in, that's, does a lot of drawing, comes up her name's Lisa McCarthy. [laughs] Lisa McCarthy, and she comes up-

Okay

... Just, "Oh hey, Dottie."

Oh, hi, Lisa. How are you?

"Oh, it's, I'm, I'm good. I'm, I've been enjoying hanging out a little bit. It's phew, few... I'm assuming you heard, didn't you?"

Well, I heard a little bit about the Mulligans. They were pretty concerned last night. I, they used to, the, her grandparents used to go to the shop that my parents used to own, you know? So I mean, I've kind of heard the grapevine. The police are looking for her. But well, I hope these things turn out all right. There hasn't been a missing persons case in Pine Forge since the '60s, I think, about '63.

"Yeah, I mean, at least, at least not with a, at least not with a teenager. It but yeah, just remember to head like, just head home right after school. We don't know what's going on and we don't want anyone else to go missing. Just-"

Oh, th-

"... Stay safe."

Well, I'll, I'll, I'll be somewhere. Maybe not home, but I'll, I'll be somewhere. I'll, I'll be safe. I'll be safe.

"You'll be safe?" All right. And as she's kinda like reass- reassuring her the doors open, and kids sort of start filtering into the school. There's the rush of kids running to their lockers talking in the halls, and you all end up at homeroom. So you all, sorted by last names and a few other things, are all in the same homeroom with your teacher Mr. Ford. So he's a history teacher by trade, but he's also just your basic homeroom teacher.

"hey. Well, welcome back, everyone. We have a little time before the announcement gets started. I need to tell you all last night between probably around 6:30 and 8:00 Cindy Mulligan, you know, from the, from the cheer team has gone missing. Now, the police are doing everything they can to locate her, and we're, we're sure we'll find her, but as an encouragement to all students, you have to please head directly home.

If you see any suspicious activity, remember to call the police and just keep track of your fellow students. It's always good."

Lucas raises his hand.

"Lucas, do you have a question?"

Yeah, did they check the mall? She's probably just at the mall. That's all.

He goes, "well, I mean, they've, they've done a lotta, a lot of searching," trying to not engage the sarcastic comment. Uh-

Does the room laugh, though?

Although he... The room, the room, the room chuckles a little bit. She's kinda popular, so it's not necessarily, like, the like, the greatest, the greatest joke, but people chuckle a little bit. [laughs]

I just keep a polite smile on without really saying anything.

So I think that at this point Danny kinda grabs his desk, and, like, it causes that horrible desk on the floor screeching noise. And he just kind of like seizes just a little bit. I'd like to roll premonition

Oh, absolutely. Oh, that's fantastic. First roll. First roll the, of the campaign.

Nice.

Get out the champagne.

Oh.

There we go. [laughs]

He got a 14, which is six and six.

Okay, with a yeah, with a 14 we get spooky. Premonition. Set aside a mystery roll, plus Weird. On a 10+ you get a detailed vision of something bad that has yet to happen. You take +1 forward to prevent it from coming true, and mark experience if you stop it. Okay. So as you, everyone watches as Danny's eyes kind of almost roll up into the back of his head. The sound just ripples through the room, and Danny, you see you see what appears to be a younger student a younger, a younger male student, kind of glasses a little bit, a baseball cap on.

He's in the bathroom, and he's washing his hands, and looks up, kind of brushes some water on his face, and turns to leave. And you watch as a hand reaches out from the mirror and grabs him by the backpack and pulls. And you watch as he begin, as he struggles against this thing but is bodily pulled into the mirror, his head hitting the, hitting the sink, and then disappearing into the mirror.

And you snap out of it, and you're back in class.

Okay.

I think I would be kind of looking, I was like, "Oh, is something the matter, Danny?" Because I would think I would kind of know him a little bit.

Yeah, I think-

He's been in town for a while

... Danny, would you and Lucas be friends already? 'Cause I feel like-

I don't know

... Lucas would-

We kind of-

... Would kind of like you because you're so different than everyone else, and he already kind of feels like he stands out 'cause he's the new kid.

You guys, you guys have a little bit of a repertoire. It's one of those things where, like, you'll be... Like, you choose each others as partners on assignments, but you haven't, like, gotten around to going to each other's houses yet.

Okay.

You-

Super quick question, does Danny know the name of the student?

That is a student you have never seen before.

Okay.

So I think that Lucas would jump out of his seat and be like, "Danny, are you okay, man?"

What happened?...

You had a seizure or something. I don't know.

Danny, do you need me to call your mom? Are you okay? Do you, have you, are you on any medicine that needs to worry about, any anti-seizure stuff? Just-

No, I have all my medicine taken care of. Do you know a male student with glasses and a baseball cap? Do you, does that-

Uh-

Does anyone know a male student with glasses and a baseball cap?

Danny, that's like half the school.

That fits like five, 15 people.

Yeah, my group over in the corner is just snickering.

Mm.

Chad's not snickering-

That's so weird

... But the rest of the kids in the group, they're all, you know, laughing and pointing fingers and, you know, poking fun and stuff like that.

I think I would come over a little bit and say, "Well, why are you asking, Danny?"

I think, I think this young man is going to be in trouble. I can't say for certain, but he definitely had glasses and a baseball cap. He went into the bathroom, so you won't be able to help there, but-

Do you know which bathroom it was, Danny?

I can't tell. All the bathrooms look the same in this school.

Oh.

So it was in this school?

Yes.

Well, I mean, are you trying to tell us something, Danny?

I already told you something.

I, well, all right.

So Mr. Ford kind of comes over and motions for Dottie and Lucas to head back to their seats. It's okay, Danny. Deep breaths. Would you like to go down to the nurse or maybe your mom?

Yeah, I think, I think I should go tell my mom.

Okay. Well, you can go see your mom. You know where your classes are, right?

Yes. I'm sorry, class, for the disruption.

All right.

It's cool, Danny.

Okay, so Danny heads out of homeroom, and people, a few people, a lot of, like, especially kind of the kids from the Hill start to snicker. Um-

Am I, am I infect- I'm infected already, right?

Yes. Yes, you have, you have already, you've already had that. So you are, you are already infected.

Okay. I feel like the way that they're acting towards Danny is, like, kind of infuriating me, and so I raise my hand to the teacher.

Yeah, Lucas.

Hey, Mr. Ford, can I gotta go to the bathroom. Can I, can I get the hall pass?

He looks at he checks his watch and goes, "All right. Make it quick, though. Classes are beginning to start."

Yeah. And I kind of rush out and I catch up with Danny. Danny, are you, are you okay? That seemed kind of odd.

Yes. Yes, it was odd. I don't know if I've ever experienced anything like that before, but I just saw a male student with glasses and a baseball cap in the bathroom, and he was in trouble.

Wait, like, while you were sitting there you saw that?

Yes.

Weird.

Yes, it was very weird.

I wanna put my hand on his shoulder and then do my weird move well, magic, but see another place and another time. But I don't think Lucas is doing this on purpose, but just, like, to see as Sort of reaction of me touching Danny

Okay. Roll plus weird.

I got a six.

Can I give him... So I get a plus one forward to prevent, you know, the thing that I saw coming true. Can I give that to him?

Oh.

Sure, yeah. You can give that to him.

Okay.

Okay. Um-

So that give, gives me a seven

... So what you do is you get to choose your effect, and... But you also get to choose one glitch.

I think the glitch will be it has a problematic side effect.

So what happens is you put your hand on Danny's shoulder, and as you do that, a, the smallest little almost like a capillary vein pops out of your finger and just and just lightly touches into his neck. And then suddenly you see it. You see it's a, it's a male student it looks to be... He looks like a freshman. He's got these big thick brimmed glasses on and a large Budios baseball cap on.

Did he... And he had a big backpack. Was his backpack, like, noticeable color or anything?

It's kind of, it's this kind of mix of like dark green with some dark blue accents. And yeah, you see he looks up at the mirror, and something that you, that Danny didn't really recognize the moment that you taking a little more time can see is when he looks up into the mirror there's no reflection looking back.

Oh.

It's just blank. And you watch as the hand reaches out, grabs him, pulls him by the backpack. His head slams into the sink, and he just kind of goes limp as he's pulled in through this mirror. And the side effect is Danny falls unconscious.

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You just... You watch as Danny, his eyes, your the eyes roll up in the back of your head, and he just falls.

Yeah, definitely Lucas is like, "Oh, shit. What the... Oh, God. Oh. Well, I'm gonna be sick. Oh, God." And I just, like, kind of run over to... How far away are we from the administration, like, where his mom would be?

You guys are... The administration's a floor below you guys.

Okay.

Um-

So I-

But there are, like, different rooms around with different teachers in it.

I put Danny up over my shoulder. I know he's huge and I'm really small, but I'm also incredibly strong. [laughs] And so, uh-

Yeah, you have no problem, which is a little weird.

Yeah. I'm trying to be, like, kinda subtle about it. Like, I think I realize this already, right? Or do I not?

You have, you've had a few instances of when trying to do things that used to be a little easier, you have, like, broken things and you realize that something has been off. You have definitely been a lot stronger.

Yeah, so I just kinda carry him, like, over my shoulder and try to get him to his mom.

Okay. So you start carrying him. Cutting back to Chad and Dottie. You guys are in homeroom. Is there anything you would like to do? Chad, you said you wanted to see if you could talk to any of her gal pals?

Yeah. I was thinking you know, I'd probably be, you know, trapped in class. I didn't manage to, you know, sneak out with some sort of lame seizure ploy [laughs]... Anything. So I don't know. I would probably chat up my friends, like, "Hey, you know, what's the scoop? What'd you guys hear about the Mulligan situation? What happened?"

She was at cheer practice. That's, I mean, that's what we heard from, like, Lauren and Ashley and whatnot, but other than that, I mean, she went to cheer practice, and then she left, and then nobody saw her again. I mean, that's as much as we know. I guess you could go talk to Lauren and Ashley.

Are Lauren and Ashley in the classroom, or are they off somewhere else?

Ashley is. She's in the same homeroom as you, but Lauren isn't. One of your buddies looks over to you and just kinda goes, "Oh, why are you so interested, man? What are you doing?"

Chad gives him a bit of a sheepish grin and is, "Yeah, I'm, I'm... It's not that I'm really that interested. It's just, you know, it's the most interesting thing that's happened in this town in the last year or so-

Oh

... You know, with people disappearing and all. [laughs]

So true. Oh, it's been one year.

Besides, she's a total babe.

I mean, that's that's true that, I mean...

And if a babe's in trouble, ain't no better way-

Oh

... When a babe's in trouble, and I, like, flip my collar. It's, like my Prada. Well, I've, I've got this, like, longshoreman's coat that's, like, made by Prada. It's like a super posh version of, like, the longshoreman's coat the dock workers wear and, you know, I'll snap the collar and like Chris and I get up and I start to strut my way over there

Your buddy, like, kinda, like, slaps you on the back, "Go get 'em, tiger." [laughs] And just, they're all, like, chuckling and laughing after you, just, ugh. And so you head over to Ashley?

So what is Ashley's last name?

It is Ashley Cox.

Ashley. Ashley Cox, how you doing?

What's up? [laughs]

So I hear that Cindy's vanished. What do you know about it? You know, I heard that she was at cheer practice and no one's seen her since.

So, yeah, I mean, she looks, she looks tired, and she looks, she has a lot of, like, she has deep bags under her eyes, and you can definitely tell that she has, she seems like she's been stressed. Like, it is, it is very obvious. Yeah.

Chad'll like, you know, put his hand on her shoulders, like, "Calm down, calm down. I'm not here to try to cause you any stress or any trouble"

"I know, Chad, I just, it's... I'm just... I already went through this with the, with the police and it's, I'm just I'm worried, I'm tired."

"Well, you know, my dad's business has, like, lots of resources. If you can fill me in on, you know, what's going on, maybe I can make some phone calls and, you know, get some people looking and get some people calling other people and, you know, bring some resources to bear. Maybe we can find her, you know, turn something up"

"Okay. Well, like I, like I told the cops we were, we were at cheer practice. We got out and, well, we were, I mean, we'd, we were, we had gotten out, we hit the we were in, just in the showers getting ready to head home. I left. I remember it was her and it was her and Stacy that were the last two in there. But I mean, other than that, I went home and then I found out that she'd gone missing"

"So have you seen Stacy today?"

"I saw her this morning, but-

"Oh, so she's fine"

"Yeah, I'm just, what if there's someone out there, Chad?"

"I know, I know. You hear about these kind of things in, like, the big city in California, but not in Pine Forge. I mean, this is Sleepy Town USA. Anyway, I'll, I'll, I'll get with some of my dad's people and get some people mobilized and see what we can do and see if it turns something up"

"All right thanks, Chad." and she just kinda, like, looks down at her bag again and kinda just zones out a little bit. And as you're kinda, like, getting ready to head back... Dottie, is there anything you would like to do-

Yeah

... While we're waiting in homeroom?

I'd, I'd like to go up to the teacher and say, "You know, the new kid just went and used the restroom, and it just got kind of, you know how, like, dominoes fall? I need to use the restroom is what I'm saying, Mr. Ford" [laughs]

And he kinda, like, he, like, sighs and just checks his watch and just goes, "Just make it really quick 'cause we don't have a lot of time before class starts, and if you-

"Oh, you know me. You know I'll be back in time"

"All right. Well, don't be late. If you're late, I'm not gonna write you a pass" And he lets you go.

All right. I'm gonna scamper to the administration office to see how Danny's doing.

Okay. Okay. So you're, you're heading down there, and Paul and Lucas, you guys you're carrying him down the stairs?

Yeah, Lucas is carrying him down the stairs.

You hear the bell ring for first period.

Oh, crap. I put my hand around his waist and, like, hold him up and make it look like he's walking. [laughs]

So as [laughs] as you kinda try to, like, figure, you're like, "" and just, like, trying to move him and then get him set up you see Dottie kinda, like, heading down the stairs towards you.

Oh, good. I'm like, "Dottie, come here. I need help"

Dottie, yeah, you see Lucas trying very adamantly to prop up what is very blatantly an unconscious Danny, just-

Okay. Well he's-

Just get that arm. Hurry up.

What's your plan?

Take him to his mom. He just kind of fainted.

Oh, okay. When you say, like, I, okay. All right.

What did you think I was gonna do? Like-

Let's get going. I don't know you very well yet, Lucas, sorry. But I'm sure we'll get to know each other.

Okay.

Anyway, let's get poor Danny to the office.

Yeah, we just make our way to the office.

So Danny, you're unconscious, but it's weird. You felt just the littlest bit of pressure in your neck, and then you saw that vision again, but it was, it wasn't your mind. You know how you think, and this, it wasn't that way. And you are kind of out of it. You're kind of you're shifting in this kind of dark space. You're not sure where you are or what's happened, but you can't see or hear anything.

And then all of a sudden, you see this kind of orange glow all around you then a massive flash of just heat and light, and then your eyes open. And you guys, while holding Danny kinda, like, Weekend at Bernie's style, you guys are on the same floor- right about to hit a group of kids, Danny's eyes snap open

Keeper, is this a good time to roll hunches?

Absolutely.

All right. A 12, nice.

So it's strange. You feel this kind of sense of dread, but not... You feel this sense of dread and all you can think is, "I need to go to the woods. I should've gone to the woods." And that's, that's the thought that comes to your head, is, "I should have gone to the woods." And the kind of dread kind of fades, but that lingers with you, is not, is just that kind of forethought of, "I should have gone to the woods."

So you're you guys watch as with like a kind of, like, head snap, eyes open Danny comes back into consciousness. So what would you, what would you three like to do?

Well, how do you react from that, Danny?

He basically comes out of it and he says exactly what Izaak just said, which is, "I need to go to the woods."

I think you need to rest first, dear.

Yeah, Danny, you gotta... We gotta get you to your mom. You just fainted, dude.

I need to go to the woods, and we need to find, we need to find the young male student with glasses and a baseball cap.

Okay. Well, we can look around as we're taking you to your mom so she can at least, like, know what's going on. How about that?

How did, how did I get here?

We carried you down the stairs.

Oh.

I think you've had a fainting spell Danny. You should rest. I think you might be dealing with repressed memories, but I'm not sure over what. But either way, I think you should relax a little bit. I wouldn't worry too much. I know there's a lotta, lot of stress going on right now, but as somebody who knows practically everybody in this town, you don't have to worry. We're all good people here.

There's plenty to worry about the student with glasses and a baseball cap and also there's something going on out in the woods, and I need to go there. And you guys can come, too and girl, you guy and girl can come, too. I'm sorry, I didn't mean to call you a guy just then. It's-

Oh, I'm really not the type that cares. Don't worry, Danny.

Oh, yeah. Okay. I mean, that's fine. I'm gonna go to the woods now. You can tell my mom where I went. It's fine.

Gosh, Danny, you can't just go to the woods, man. You're... It's the middle of the school day.

He tries to slip out.

Fine, I'll go with you.

Oh, okay, this is gonna be a little bit harder to get an administrative leave on, but I am not letting Danny here just kinda... Yeah, I'm, I'm coming. [laughs]

Can I roll investigate a mystery to, like, look at kind of all the kids in the halls and stuff to see if I spot this-

So instead of investigate a mystery roll act under pressure-

Okay

... To try and like, spot this kid while trying to head trying to follow Danny out. [laughs] while you're doing that-

I got a five. What the heck is wrong with my rolls? [laughs]

I can't, I can't help you with that one, man. [laughs]

Okay.

Mark experience.

Okay.

Woo-hoo.

You... It's a sea of people that you have no idea, you've never seen any of them before. You've never seen anyone before. [laughs] [laughs] What are people? So Shad you are kind of heading towards your first class when you're stopped by your buddy from outside, Connor. He goes, "Hey, man. Look, they just... The chalet just opened, and it's fresh powder up there. We how about we ditch this-"

Let's bounce, dude. We're out of here.

"Absolutely. If we head out the side door out next to the, next to the gym, we'll be good and in the clear."

Oh, by the way, I do have-

Mm-hmm

... At the start of a mystery I have to roll something 'cause I took Boss From Beyond.

Oh, nice.

Oh, okay.

I got a 10. That's-

Nice.

Nice.

Okay. On the, at the beginning of each mystery you roll on a... On a 10 your suspirius asks you to do something small. So you have this kind of this, like, notebook that you keep different, like, drawings of eh, different things that you might have found, like leaves that looked really cool or, like, drawings or pictures of really cool antiques that you had seen-

Mm-hmm

... And stuff like that. And this morning when you were looking through it you have this piece of birch bark that all the patterning on it looks just like eyes. And when you had looked at it, you had kind of felt this tingle. And flipping through your book below the, below the birch bark, which something you've never really, never really seen before you looking at the pattern and below it reads...

It almost spells out in the patterning chrome key.

Well, I mean, the human mind has a tendency to create patterns when it sees things. But I mean, what's the harm in finding a chrome key if it's just, you know, at an antique shop or something? I'm not doing it because of this pattern. That would be ridiculous, and I'm a rational person. But you know, it's not gonna harm anyone if I see a chrome key.

Yeah, and so you just have this kind of, this thought of, "Huh, a chrome key. That would, you know, that'd be interesting. I'd like to see it. It might be a cool antique." [laughs]

Antique chrome, exactly what you need.

Yep. So I, for the group of three, uh-

Well, also he gets to ask one of the investigative mystery questions now.

Oh, he does. He does.

I guess, what is being concealed here? Because this is a little bit weird. I'm thinking, you know, she, maybe she got pregnant and maybe she went off. Maybe not. She doesn't... I think I would know if she were with a guy like that because those types of stories sure spread around, but maybe she ran away from home. I don't know. But I really-

So when you-

... Don't think she's been kidnapped.

So you're looking through your notebook and you're at that page with the, with the birch and the chrome key, and you watch as a little droplet of water falling from falling from your ceiling in your room hits the birch bark and creates just this small almost, like, dime-sized reflective surface. And you're looking at it and kind of inspecting to see your face kind of reflected back.

You see, for just a second, almost a window looking out on a field, on a plane of just this, of just what appears to be reflective metal, just a window a window framed by brick that looks out onto a plane of metal. And then the droplet kind of coalesces and then rolls off the piece of birch bark.

Well, that was my subconscious recognition of what my parents are always talking about with their worries about, you know, modernization and, you know, the destruction of everything. But I'll, I'll keep a eye out for that of whatever that is. I guess, you know, if I accidentally end up in Brazil or something, you know, I'll, I'll know why. So... And I take it this was all, like, the night before?

This was, this was kind of this morning-

Okay

... After you'd woken up and gotten ready for school.

All right. Yeah, I'm just jotting stuff down. Okay. Just trying to remember things. Okay. All right.

Uh-

Well, I know, but I don't know because I'm, I'm that way. [laughs]

Yep.

I have to justify everything. Everything must have a rational explanation. I will also throw in Jungian psychology, even though that's not very rational, but it just, it's not supernatural, guys. Trust me. [laughs]

Chad, I need you to make me an act under pressure roll. And I need, out of the three of you, one of you to make an act under pressure roll, and you have a you have a minus one to it. So but you have to decide between yourselves which person you would like to do the roll-

What are we-

... With a minus one

... What are we acting under pressure for? Like, what's, what's actually happening?

Sneaking out of a school.

Oh, okay.

Oh.

Oh, actually, I think Lucas... It makes more sense that Lucas would know how to sneak out of a school than Dottie. I could totally see Lucas sneaking out, like, multiple times. It's like, school's such a bummer, man.

What's your cool, Lucas?

One. Okay, I'll do it.

Not cool at all.

Please don't suck.

Just a straight roll for you, Lucas.

Yep.

And then Chad, roll with just cool.

I already did. It was an 11.

Oh.

Okay. Do you need-

Help out, help out, help out, help out.

Okay.

Oh, good idea.

What's, what does it take to help out?

Uh-

Cool? Is that cool again?

I will say you two Danny and Dottie-

Yeah

... Roll act, both of you roll act under pressure. And for, if you two also succeed for every success you two get, I will add a plus one. Okay.

Okay.

So he has a seven.

Okay.

So-

So that actually is a seven, so it's a mixed success.

Okay. So you get, you, that bumps you up to an eight Lucas, luckily. But that means under the act under pressure... So you have a worse outcome, hard choice, or price to pay. For you, Lucas, you know that the worst outcome is going to be you can sneak out of the school, but you're going to be seen by a student or teacher. Hard choice, you can make it out, but you're going to have to leave either Danny or, Danny or Dottie behind.

It's just three people. It's just too many to try and sneak through the school. Or price to pay is if you sneak out, you're going to miss a math test- [laughs]... Which if you do, you are probably going to be confronted about later on why you missed it.

Hm. I'll take the math test for 500, Alex. [laughs]

Okay. So you've taken the math test.

Or I won't take the math test. [laughs]

So you guys... So Chad, you managed to... You're sneaking by the teacher. You're sneaking down. You come down the side hall side hallway, and basically run out and go to your car, and you're starting to drive away. And luckily you guys are heading out from one of the side doors that you've found that is a pretty good way to head out. Chad, as you whip around a corner, right in front of your car is Lucas, Dottie, and Danny.

[tires screech]

That's the end of this episode. We hope you enjoyed it as much as we enjoyed making it, and I can't wait to get you the next episode. In the meantime, you can check out all of our other stuff over at the Patreon. And remember, play on. This episode was edited by Liam McKenzie.