Welcome, my little critters, to Tales from the Crit Season 2, The Level Up.
We're an actual play podcast with an ever-changing cast of players making our way through a bunch
of different RPG systems, from micro-RPGs to some of the more well-known role-playing
games out there, and the occasional highly narrative tabletop game.
Content warnings can be found in the episode's description.
My name is Riley Groves, and I am the Crit Keeper on this episode of Tales from the Crit.
Welcome back to Tales from the Crit.
I am Riley Groves, your Crit Keeper, and I am very excited to play Kids on Bike once
again.
At the table with me, I have Connor.
Hey, it's good to see you guys.
And Derek.
Hello there.
And before we get started, we're going to answer a question from our characters' perspectives,
from the Ultimate RPG Campfire deck, by Adams Media.
You can pick that up, I think, right on Amazon is where I got it.
And so the question today deals with your characters' present states, and the question
is, do you have any opinions or views that you are afraid to share with others?
What holds you back?
Danny has quite a lot of views on poetry.
He's a poetry critic, but he does not think that any of his friends would appreciate the
art the same way that he does, and that holds him back from sharing with them and having
any meaningful dialogue on the great poets.
All right.
Awesome.
Now 16 has some strong opinions about art that he can't share with probably his friend
Josh, now 11 this year.
And what does Josh have an opinion on that he is afraid to share with others?
I think after everything he went through, that he is under the impression that the school
cafeteria is not using actual meat in their stuff.
They're using things like the hoppers from the last incident and things like that, like
the meat everywhere is just supernatural.
It's not from cows and-
Oh shit.
But he seems to think that it's like a little crazy.
I would say.
Uh, that sounds crazy.
Okay.
All you two ready?
Yeah, let's get into it.
Yeah.
All right.
The morning school bell rings and a familiar voice of Jamie comes over the loudspeaker.
Good morning fellow students and welcome to school on this lovely October Thursday.
All students are encouraged to come to our homecoming soccer game and bonfire on the
13th, which is tomorrow night, where we will crush the Bulldogs once again.
The school's Halloween dance, our Monster Mash, will be October 28th and will be held
at the school rather than the Hotel B like usual.
The weather has been unseasonably cold, so be sure to dress warm for gym class and any
after school activities.
And if you see Brian Law, be sure to give him a big high five for scoring the game winning
goal in last night's game.
As for me, I'll give him a big hug.
And Jamie's voice fades out and we get to Josh, just getting into class as the announcements
are ending.
Josh, you look next to you and see an empty seat where your friend Jack should be.
However, you're left sitting alone now that his father has sent him to military school.
You have not talked to Jack since the beginning of the school year.
Uh, since his friend has left, Josh spends most of his classes just with his head down
drawing or doodling or writing or just otherwise not paying attention in a notebook, making
it look like he's paying attention, but really just wasting time tuning things out.
Okay.
Danny, now a senior, you're on your way to gym class.
When suddenly in the hall, you pass Billy, Andy's little brother, who is just hitting
his head against the locker by himself.
Whoa, Billy.
Hey, hey, what are you doing there, bud?
Did you hear the announcements?
Yeah, I heard the announcements.
What's wrong with those?
Jamie left me for that bastard, Brian law.
Well, sometimes these things happen.
You're just, you know, I know it hurts now, Billy, but you'll, you'll get over it.
Things will seem in perspective later.
I hate this.
I don't want to go to gym.
Hey, you have gym right now too.
So do I.
I know we have gym together.
I usually just hide under the bleachers.
Oh, that's why I haven't seen you.
Come on, we can go to gym class or if you want, we can, you know, I'm a senior now.
We can just get out of here.
Jim's only like a half hour.
Where do you want to go?
What do you mean?
We'd have to tell my mom.
I already told her.
She's, she says it's fine.
I'd go anywhere but here.
All right.
We sneak out of school and go get a milkshake somewhere.
The Bethlehem diner is right nearby.
Yeah.
Okay.
Me and Billy are going to sneak out of school and go get a milkshake to feel better about
his girlfriend.
All right.
Ex-girlfriend.
Do you sneak through the Blackwood, which kind of surrounds the school?
Yes.
The Blackwood is thusly named because it's a very old forest, but very dark.
The school and the diner are right next to each other.
So you're able to get over there and it's well-patroned.
It's got a decent number of people in here for 1130 in the afternoon on this Thursday
and you slide in to a booth.
Hopefully Billy's mom doesn't work here.
She does not.
All right, Billy, let's, let's get a milkshake and then we'll, we'll get on back.
Home class will be over and you know, you'll feel better.
Trust me milkshakes make everything better.
I think they do.
I like mine with extra candy on it.
Do you think they could crush up some M&Ms?
Maybe they can like, you know, put some candy crumble on top or something.
All right.
We'll ask about it.
The waiter that comes up is the owner of the diner, Mr. Bob, a very large man, pretty unkempt,
covered in grease.
It smells like home fries.
Hey boys, what can I get you?
Oh, hey, Mr. Bob.
We'll have a couple of milkshakes please.
He's pretty bummed out and you know, milkshake always makes something better.
Ah, so he'll need the extra candy on top.
You know it.
He likes it if you just crush a candy bar or something and put it right on top for him.
For Billy, I can do that.
He asked for two a day anyways.
So you know just how he likes it.
Excellent.
Yes.
And what about yours?
Oh, I'll just have a regular chocolate milkshake.
It's been so great that that bookstore shut down next door and I could get their milkshake
maker.
This has been a humdinger.
It's excellent.
Although the bookstore was nice, you know, for a while until all that weird stuff happened,
but milkshakes are great for everyone.
Milkshakes are great.
Here you go, boys.
Thank you.
Here you go, Billy.
Thanks, Danny.
All right.
You got to drink these milkshakes up and you'll feel better and forget about Jamie.
Don't worry.
Remember she got, you know, all that stuff happened that probably didn't make her feel
better either.
This here sucks.
It'll get better.
Jack's not here.
Jamie left me.
Now I just got you and you and Josh.
Hey, what's wrong with me and Josh?
We're a senior.
Josh and I don't have any classes together.
Well, we still see each other in the halls and we've got gym class together.
We're getting milkshake right now.
That's true.
So how are you doing this year?
Oh, you know, it's weird being a senior going to be getting out of here next year.
Like your sister, she's gone now.
I know.
I wrote her and she hasn't written me back yet.
Oh, so she hasn't written you back either.
Maybe she couldn't read it.
I don't write good.
Maybe they just have really bad mail delivery system at the school she goes to.
Yeah, maybe I didn't even address it to the right place.
I don't know.
That's all right.
She'll come home for a holiday or something sometime.
I asked her to come back like a week ago.
I told her that you missed her.
Oh, thank you.
I don't know if I told you that, but I did.
I don't know.
I'm just trying anything to get her back.
I just live with my mom and dad.
Hey, but your mom's really nice lady.
She's totally checked out.
All right, well, we should finish up these milkshakes and head back over to the school,
I guess.
Yeah, I guess so.
It's been like three minutes, but yeah, sure.
Okay.
And you guys finish up your milkshakes and head back.
As you're coming through the back of the school, the route you always take to sneak in, you
have to cross through the backyard, which is where most of the gym classes are held.
So you do see the soccer field and you can see many people playing on it.
So as you guys jump the fence and kind of assimilate in with the rest of the crowd,
a girl that you know is Shelly runs up to you.
Hey, Danny.
Oh, hey, Shelly.
Are you going to the soccer game and bonfire tomorrow night?
I was thinking about it.
Why?
Are you going?
I think it would be fun.
I would like it if you went with me.
Oh, yeah, that sounds great.
Are you asking me to the bonfire with you?
Yes, I'd love to go.
Okay.
Yeah, don't make it weird.
Sure.
So we'll just meet here.
Okay, that sounds great.
Cool.
I didn't see you all gym class.
Oh, yeah, I was just running really fast chasing Billy here around.
Oh, okay.
Yeah.
How are you Billy?
He's really young.
Yeah, he was a friend's younger brother.
And so he was sad.
I wanted to help cheer him up by chasing him around so he could forget about feeling bad.
All right.
Well, I'm gonna go.
All right.
Well, see you at the soccer game.
Bonfire.
Yeah.
Oh, Danny, who's that?
I've never seen that girl before in my life.
You've never seen Shelly?
You got to open your eyes up.
There's other people here.
You can make some more friends like Shelly.
She's really nice.
I've been too busy sucking face with Jamie for the last year and now she just up and
left me.
You can forget about her.
It's okay.
You can, you know, make friends with new people.
You don't need to find someone to suck face with right away.
Maybe I'll come to the bonfire tomorrow night and meet Shelly too.
Maybe she'll be like my new sister because I miss her a lot.
That's a little weird, Billy, but you can.
Yeah, you know, if everybody can come to the bonfire and we'll be here.
So you know, sure.
You know, we can say hi if you're here.
Maybe she has other friends your age.
Okay.
Well, for Jim rings and it is time for the first lunch of the day, which Billy and Josh
do have together and is their only time of the day where they see each other.
Well, hey, Josh.
Hey, Billy.
This year sucks.
Yeah, it definitely does.
Did you hear my girlfriend left me?
Yeah.
Did you hear my best friend left me?
I know I miss Jack a lot.
Yeah, me too.
Why do you have to go to an insane asylum?
That's what I thought too.
That's what my mom said.
Probably.
His dad keeps saying that they went to military school, but I don't believe him.
It's hard to believe anything these days.
You want to go get some chicken nuggets?
No, I don't really eat here anymore.
Oh, oh, I still do.
So saddle up, big boy.
Here comes Billy for the chicken nugget train.
And he heads up to the lunch line.
He's just going to sit there and he's still just like doodling in his book and his notebook
and just kind of looking around at people and watching them all eat the food from the
cafeteria and it just like gives them the chills.
All right.
The rest of the day goes on and is pretty unmemorable like most school days.
And Billy comes to find Josh once again.
Hey, Josh.
Hey, Billy.
What are you doing after school?
Not much, probably just going home.
Hey, did you ever think that Danny doesn't want to hang out with us anymore because his
cousin's not here with us either?
Yeah.
I don't see him much anymore either and that makes me a little sad.
He bought me a milkshake earlier.
We could go try to find him.
Oh, that sounds that that free milkshake sounds nice.
Yeah.
All right.
Let's go.
Soon, Danny, you see Josh and Billy finding you in the senior parking lot at the school.
Oh, hey, boys.
Hey, Danny.
What's going on?
Haven't seen you both in a while.
I saw you earlier, Billy.
You know, I see Billy all the time.
We have gym class together.
Josh, Josh, I don't think I have any classes with you.
I don't have any classes with you either.
And that's what Billy was saying.
So we came over to say hi to you.
He said that you guys went and got milkshakes earlier and I told him he'd give him a milkshake.
It makes people feel better.
And I'm feeling pretty low myself right now.
Yeah, you're probably pretty bummed since your cousin left, too.
All right.
I mean, Mr. Bob did say that you get several milkshakes a day.
So I'm going for a record today.
We might as well hop in my car, guys, and we'll drive across the street.
Oh, Danny, I didn't even know you had his car.
Yep.
I what's this?
What is this bad boy?
It's a it's a Honda.
Oh, man.
All right.
Yeah, my friend drives a Honda.
The two boys get into your car and you drive several seconds to the to the diner next door.
All right, guys, let's get out and get some some milkshakes then.
Josh is all excited for a milkshake.
He's like, this is like the best thing that's happened to him all week.
Oh, you got to get the same one that I'm going to get.
Hey, Mr. Bob, extra candy all around.
And soon three milkshakes with extra candy on top arrive on the bar top.
All right, boys, let's enjoy these milkshakes and not feel so sad that our best friend and
sister are not here anymore.
Just Danny and Josh slams into him for a hug, like attaches himself to a side for a second.
OK.
Hey, Josh, are you going to the bonfire tomorrow night?
I wasn't planning to, but we should.
There's this really nice girl named Shelly and we're going to make her my older sister
or something.
No.
Well, that sounds like fun.
We should do that.
All right.
Danny, are you going to be there?
Yes, I'm going to be there.
I'm going to meet Shelly.
You guys can also be there because everybody's invited and if we see each other, I'll make
sure we say hi.
I don't think she's going to be anything like Billy's older sister.
He's, you know, imaginative, but we'll say hi.
We'll see you.
You know, we'll all see each other at the homecoming.
All right.
That sounds great.
It's going to be a rip-roaring good time.
Yeah, it'll be a perfect time for you guys to make some new friends, too.
You know, maybe meet someone new there.
Yeah, we're going to meet Shelly.
Right.
Yeah.
We'll all meet some other people, too.
Maybe when I meet her, I call her sis.
Yeah, that's not weird, right?
We should both do that.
Okay.
I don't recommend that, guys.
I mean, but let's see what happens.
It'll be fun.
Just know that I'm going to be like, what are you too on about?
You look over at Josh and his milkshake is just like the Loveland is just sinking rapidly
as he just stares at you.
Just like all excited.
I'm definitely glad we got the extra candy this time.
I didn't get that before when I was here at earlier.
I asked for extra sugar in mine, too.
I told you these are delicious.
Look at it.
And they're so thick.
They don't even fall out of the-
And Billy tips his upside down and it falls all over the table and the floor.
Oh.
And he just looks at you with big doe eyes.
Oh, Danny, my milkshake is empty.
Well, you can try and, you know, slosh it off the table back into the cup.
I don't know what to tell you, bud.
That's a- Are there napkins on table?
Can we get three more milkshakes over here?
Mr. Bob turns.
Well, I don't think you need them, honestly.
That's enough.
I feel like I'm doing an injustice serving so many at once.
I feel for your boys' health.
I'm 11.
That doesn't mean that you can have 11 milkshakes.
You know, we've got to still moderation.
Three milkshakes do not appear on the counter as Mr. Bob does stop serving you guys.
Well, this place is beat.
Let's get out of here.
All right.
Yeah, I got to bring, you know, the car back.
Anyway, it's not really mine.
So- Oh, whose is it?
It is my parent's car.
Oh.
Will you drop me off at home?
Yes.
I need to write my sister another letter.
I don't know if she's being replaced.
Don't be too harsh on her.
If you're going that way, I only live around the corner.
Everybody pile in.
Yay!
The rest of the night is as uneventful as the rest of the day was.
Josh, as you sleep and drift off into a dream, you find yourself standing in the middle of
the school's soccer field with the bonfire right in front of you.
The fire begins to grow quickly, getting bigger and bigger and growing out of control.
You run into the school looking to get away, but it seems to follow you.
As you run through the school, the light from the fire glows bright through the windows,
but replacing the sound of the inferno is a strange violin playing strange chords in
irregular timing.
It is haunting, but also alluring as it pulls you down different hallways until you come
to a dead end with a pair of twin teenage girls, both with blonde hair and pale skin
standing at the other end of the hall.
Suddenly a cat runs past you, back the way you came, all the while the violin's strange
music grows louder.
You turn to run following that cat, and you find yourself standing in the blackwood alone,
except for the cat, who takes a few steps into the darkness and the trees beyond before
you get the chance to move.
The violin stops and is replaced with a hellish roar, and you awake with a fright.
Yeah, I'm gonna sit straight up in bed, sweating a little bit, probably breathing pretty heavy,
and I'm gonna quickly look around my room to make sure that I am not in any immediate
danger.
And yeah, I'm just gonna kind of curl up in a ball on my bed and just kind of sit there
and just keep looking around.
You get no more sleep this night, and when you get to school the next day, you arrive
really pretty late, missing the morning announcements and running to your class.
And you finally make it, and you slam down in your chair, your art teacher, very displeased
as this happens more often than it should for such a young lad.
However, she lets it go, and she has a new student to announce in the class.
And as you look up at the front, she addresses the rest of the class and announces the new
student's name, Callie.
And she is a rather tall, pale, blonde teenage girl, and her chair ends up being the one
of your old friend, Jack, and she sits right next to you.
I'm guessing she looks just like the girl, one of the twins from my dream?
Yes.
Okay.
Identically.
Thought so.
Josh is gonna sit there for a second and kind of like make sure he's not still dreaming,
and then probably be very quiet.
Sounds like a very fearful situation, like a living nightmare.
You sweat your way through class.
Yeah, I'm gonna sweat my way through class and just kind of I straightforward.
Josh has never paid attention on class more than he is right now.
And so you get through the class, and when you leave, you come across Billy laying on
the floor in a hallway.
Billy, what are you doing?
Oh, hey, Josh.
Why are you on the floor?
I'm tired, man.
Me too.
I didn't get any sleep last night.
Me fucking either.
Why didn't you get any sleep?
I had this terrible dream, and everything was awful in it, and there was a fire, and man,
I'm just tired.
I couldn't sleep.
I was gonna get eaten.
I wrote my sister another letter.
Man, I had a dream about a fire last night too, and these really creepy girls, and then...
I have one of those girls in my class.
I do too.
What do you mean you do?
There's...
She was in my class.
Oh god, there's actually two of them?
There are two of them.
What was yours named?
I don't remember.
Oh, okay, good.
Then maybe it's not... maybe they're the same person.
I don't remember a lot after I saw her.
I thought I was dreaming again.
Oh, I knew I wasn't.
Also because there was no fire.
What do we do?
I don't know.
We get Danny.
Yeah, let's go tell Danny.
Okay.
All of a sudden, you hear two little fists rapping on doors throughout the hallway.
They clearly don't know what class you're in until suddenly they burst through, and
you see Josh and Billy standing in the doorway, and your teacher is irate.
However, you hear the...
Danny, Danny, Danny, we need to talk to you.
Come here, Danny.
Come here, we need to talk to Danny.
First, teacher, I need to bring these two rambunctious students to the principal's office.
I'll be right back.
It's really important.
And like grab them both and like shoo them out the door.
Oh, we had bad dreams.
Is there anybody else in the hallway with us?
We need to like...
No.
Okay.
The field was on fire, and then the school was on fire, and...
We dreamed of these girls?
Then there's... yeah.
Wait, you had the same dream?
Yes.
So yeah.
And now the girls are here in school.
The twins are in the school with us.
I should try that on other girls.
Billy squenches his face together and pictures just a litany of women that will not materialize
in real life.
Knock it off.
All right.
Geez.
Okay.
Well, this is weird.
Maybe it's just a coincidence.
Yeah, but what do we do?
She sits right next to me.
Okay.
So, probably not in every class, you know, and just be nice, say hi.
Maybe don't lead off with I had a dream about you last night.
That doesn't sound good.
Twins are weird in the first place.
What if she's eating my thoughts?
Well...
They can do that?
I don't know.
Just be careful.
I don't think they can eat thoughts.
That sounds a little weird.
So what do we do?
Do you want to bring us to the diner to get milkshakes all day and avoid school for the
rest of the day?
No, you just, you know, go through your normal classes, be observant, but, you know, don't
stare at them.
You know, just act like you didn't have a scary dream last night and aren't, you know,
terrified of the new kids.
I think she's onto me.
I stared at the side of her head for the entire class like this.
And he doesn't blink at all.
Okay.
So just do that to someone else next time you see her for the next class.
Another girl stared at her like that?
All right.
I'm going to get over Jamie.
I know it, but not today.
Buck up.
Oh yeah.
Danny, I don't think milkshakes are going to do it this time.
I think we need a Sunday.
But it's only Friday.
So, you know, we can put that one in the bucket of ideas to get back around to.
Really?
He's going to buy us a Sunday on Sunday.
All right.
I can't wait for Sunday.
That sounds like it's going to be such a good day.
I'm going to get the big one.
Mr. Rod leans his head out the door of the class you came from, Danny.
Boys, are you going to get to class or do I have to send you to the office?
This was very important.
And I just say, go on, get back to class, guys.
And they skitter off and you head back into class.
We're getting Sundays.
I'm sorry, Mr. Rod.
They're very active imaginations at that age.
Yeah.
Let's just get back to what we were doing.
The rest of the day goes off without a hitch.
Josh and Billy.
Every chance they get stare awkwardly at these girls, but Billy also tries to stare awkwardly
at other girls like Danny told him to, which goes over pretty poorly because he's a pretty
misunderstood child already.
And we find ourselves at the bonfire and soccer game later on.
It's a bright night due to the full moon.
It is pretty brisk on this October the 13th night and Shelly runs up to you when you get
there, Danny.
Hey.
Oh, hey, Shelly.
I'm so glad you came.
I'm glad you asked me.
You're excited to watch the soccer game?
Not really.
Are you?
I mean, not super into the school sports.
I didn't think you were.
I saw you score a goal in soccer last year, though.
That was a gym class, though, right?
Yeah.
I mean, yeah, that's as close as I've ever seen you get to sports.
As close as I've ever gotten.
You seem like you'd be good at running.
I, yeah, you know, I can run pretty good when I have to, especially if I'm being chased
or have to get some work because I'm late.
Are you interested in drinking anything out of this flask I brought?
Oh, sure.
You also brought a flask.
Excellent.
You want to try some of mine?
Yeah.
Perfect.
This is, you know, from my dad's dash, just like the car keys I took yesterday.
Awesome.
This is from my mom's.
Perfect.
What do you have in yours?
A bourbon.
Mm.
She has straight vodka in hers.
Well, I think yours tastes better, actually.
I'm going to hang on to it.
You can have mine.
Okay.
All right.
Cool.
Deal.
And you guys walk into the bonfire, not into the bonfire.
You guys walk towards the bonfire, which is going on outside of the soccer field, a good
50 yards away.
Just want to give you a heads up.
I have these two friends that you met one of them yesterday, Billy.
He's, you know, him.
The weird, the little weird one.
Yeah, yeah.
They're younger.
They're still having trouble.
One of their friends, you'll meet the other one later, Josh, but one of their friends,
my cousin, that's how I know them.
I had a younger cousin.
His dad sent him off to military school and they're really having a hard time without
him this year.
So they might come up and, you know, say hi and they get a little clingy sometimes.
So just, just be prepared for that.
We could always get out of here before they come.
A couple of us, we're going to go smoke a joint in the woods.
All right.
That sounds like a great idea.
All right.
Let's go.
Okay.
And you guys head off.
Josh and Billy arrive at the bonfire.
Billy's waiting for you, Josh, when you get there.
And he's just standing by himself in the field looking around.
Josh is going to go up to Billy.
Billy, look, I got this flashlight from my dad for when it gets dark out.
That's awesome.
I should have brought that.
I brought a can of Chef Boyardee.
That sounds good.
It should be.
I thought I could roast it over the open fire, but look at the size of that stupid thing.
It's fucking huge.
Yeah, I wouldn't get any worse.
I don't think you're going to be able to cook on that.
Yeah.
How are you going to get it open?
Oh crap.
I kind of forgot everything that you would need.
I should call my mom.
Hey, over there.
Hey, does that look like Danny?
No, it doesn't actually.
I mean, it kind of does.
Are you sure?
Yeah, but look over there instead.
And across the road from the school, you see a black SUV pull up outside.
And since you guys aren't fully behind the school yet.
It really drags you to the roadside to look at it.
And it stops outside the Hotel B. And getting out of the SUV alone is a boy that looks to
be just about your age.
And tell us a little about him.
Maxwell Cowell is 13 years old.
He has never been in the public school system.
He's rebellious, has an unconventional upbringing, and he's really into business.
His parents travel a lot, so he tends to be sent to various places to have a very well
rounded upbringing.
Well, not in the parental sense, but in the idea of he is seeing the world and learning
real life things.
Billy goes, who do you think that is?
I don't know, but in that car, he seems very important.
He's got to be our age.
Should we call him over here?
Let's follow him for a second.
Okay, let's follow him like we used to.
Yeah.
We'll just walk across the street into like to behind some bushes, try and get a closer
look at him as he comes around.
Ian enters into the hotel.
Maxwell, you head into the hotel and you head up to the front desk and you know this protocol
pretty well by now.
The SUV drives off and you have just your two bags, your backpack and your luggage when
you arrive at the front desk.
Checking in to your room is quite easy, actually, as arrangements have been made previously.
Give me a brain's roll of a four.
I got a six.
All right.
All right, passed.
How do I say that in this game?
You can tell me what you got because the more you succeed, the better it is.
Okay.
So on your way up, because you never take the elevator from the first floor to the second
one, you always take the staircase from the first to the second floor for some reason.
You do see that there are two boys that look to be about your age, maybe just a little
younger that have been following you since you got into the hotel.
Okay.
Maxwell is going to continue to make his way to his room, being aware that he has two kids
following him.
You get to your room and Billy and Josh are in the hallway after you've successfully got
it in.
Oh, Josh, I think we lost him.
I think he went into one of the rooms.
Did we just start knocking?
We could do that thing we did last year.
We just ran through and hit all the doors and then just sit at the end of the hall and
wait to see who sticks their head out.
Yeah, let's do that.
That sounds perfect.
Okay, great.
And they just start smashing on doors.
Your door, Maxwell, gets hit several times, but you hear that many others are as well.
Huh.
There must be some sort of fire drill or something going on.
I better open the door, make sure everything's okay.
You peek your head out and there's at least 10 other people that are also looking down
the hallway and you just see these two young kids that had followed you sitting down at
the end.
Oh, Josh, I don't think this is working very well.
Everyone seems mad.
I look around.
There he is.
I look at everybody and go, happy Arbor Day.
And I push Billy into the stairwell and we run down the stairs.
Just kind of look around and see what the adults are doing.
Is this a fire drill?
Is everything okay?
I think we just need to go back to our rooms.
It seems like it was just a bad joke by some kids.
Oh, okay.
Thanks.
Yeah.
Yeah, I feel like Max is kind of curious.
He's going to just grab his couple little things and then, you know, hotel key in the
back pocket, probably grab his Swiss Army knife.
Yeah, I think that's all he needs.
And do you head down?
Oh, you know what?
Actually, he is going to go with his two-way radio as well.
I'm just...
Getting ready.
Assuming that that's what I need.
Yeah.
And then I'm going to kind of just start kind of slowly walking that way.
It's not a rush.
I'm not like chasing.
Just seeing if I could find him.
You see Billy and Josh's heads like peer back into the hallway quick from the stairwell.
Then they like disappear quickly.
Oh, Josh, he's right there.
He's coming this way.
What do we do?
I don't know.
Oh, shit.
Hi.
Housekeeping.
Do you need any more pillows?
Hi, guys.
Do you...
Are you trying to find me?
I just asked because you just keep looking this way and whispering and you followed me
up the stairs.
Okay.
Yeah.
So maybe.
So you just...
We thought your car was cool.
My friend drives a Honda.
Oh, that's not my car.
That was just my ride.
They just dropped me off.
Oh, shit.
Yeah.
Like your mom?
Uh, no.
His name was Ed.
He was really nice.
Oh.
Yeah.
Is he your dad?
No, he just drove the car.
Your mom's fitness instructor?
Um, I don't know.
Your dad's friend?
I don't...
Maybe.
Oh.
Anyways, so are you going to go to school here now?
Probably not.
I usually take all of my classes online, but I really don't know.
I'm still waiting for my parents' email.
Yeah.
The second half of the story.
I think it was in an email.
Oh.
But I do have to go pick up more paperwork, I think, for the front desk.
I forgot to ask.
Usually my parents send an agenda, and I didn't ask.
I just got the key.
Well, if you've got nothing on the agenda now, there's a bonfire across the street.
Yeah, we were going to go meet our friend Danny.
What's at the bonfire?
Kids and soccer.
Oh.
Um, I don't know.
It's just a school thing.
Okay.
Bulldogs and greyhounds.
Do you have any local squads of the Brave Blossoms?
The Girl Scout troop?
Yeah.
Well, I mean, it's all inclusive.
Uh, I don't...
Wasn't your sister in that?
Like, when she was younger?
Oh yeah, that's right.
She was.
Oh.
Does she, like, graduate?
Yeah.
She doesn't write.
She doesn't call.
I don't even know if she's called Danny.
I don't get a lot of letters or anything either.
I just get an email every once in a while from my parents.
I don't even know what an email is.
It stands for electronic mail.
It's good for business.
Oh gosh, I don't even know my sister's address.
Anyways...
Wait, what?
Oh, I don't know.
How are you sending the letters?
I just put to sister.
And then what?
I put them in the mailbox.
My mom takes care of it.
It's not a big deal.
Okay.
Did you try the one at the post office?
You should try that one.
Oh, well.
Uh, so anyways, do you want to go to the soccer game bonfire thing?
Yeah.
I'm going to stop at the desk first, but that sounds like fun.
Okay.
All right, then let's go.
We'll move to Danny and Shelly and the group of other students that you guys have with
you are all chilling in the woods, smoking some ganache.
Uh, Danny, I didn't tell you that all of us were thinking about recreating the ghost walk
that the bookstore used to put on.
Recreating the ghost walk.
Yeah, we've got the old map and everything.
All right.
Yeah, let's do it.
I mean, I went on a ghost walk once.
It was very exciting.
So hopefully it's not that exciting, but I hope it's exciting.
I think it will be.
Nothing's ever happened before.
I said that Jim can't do it anymore because he's dead.
Well, I mean, it is a thing that happened to Jim that we're all still dealing with.
That's true, but we can do it at least as good as he did.
I'm sure probably better.
All right.
Well, let's, let's go.
And you guys head out of the woods and head to the bookstore, which is now closed as a
starting point.
And the first stop on the ghost tour is to head through the historic Bethlehem buildings.
There's several like row houses pretty much that are connected by internal passageways.
Go ahead and make me a brains check.
What's your brain score?
D8.
Make me a brains check of eight, please.
Five.
All right.
On a five, you guys are headed through and out of the corner of your eye, you swear you
glimpse an apparition move past one of the walls or move past one of the windows that
looks like an old army general.
Whoa.
Did you see that?
Did I see what?
I didn't see anything.
I swear there was just, I don't know, nevermind.
I thought I saw an army general or something.
There is supposed to be one here from the revolutionary war.
I don't know.
Hope I don't see him again.
It's just a coincidence.
Let's move out of here.
And you guys move through the historical Bethlehem and out.
And the second stop on the tour is the old watchtower, which was closed the last time
that you went on the ghost walk and still remains closed.
Do you want to go inside though?
There's an old rickety set of stairs in there.
Everybody else is going to do it.
Yeah, let's go.
I mean, Jim's not here to tell us no this time.
Yeah, I guess he wasn't really an authoritative figure anyways.
Lots of kids broke in here.
That is true.
I have heard lots of people broke in here.
You cram into the watchtower.
It's pretty much a single circular staircase up to the top.
Go ahead and make me another brains check of six.
Do I get a coin from not passing the last one?
You did pass the last one.
You got a five.
I thought you said it was eight.
No, you said I said it was a four.
You rolled a d8.
I thought I heard you say eight too.
Should have been a four.
It was a four.
You passed the last one.
Oh, I thought that I did not pass the last one.
I didn't either.
In case I did fuck up, I was looking for a four.
You rolled a d8 and got a five.
So in my mind, it succeeded.
If that's not what happened, that was what was supposed to happen.
Okay.
All right.
So now I got to get a six for this one.
Yes.
All right.
So you're looking out the watchtower, which it's pretty creaky because as you may remember,
this has not been historically redone because the town doesn't feel like putting any money
into it.
But as you're standing there, you clearly hear the thud of several boots coming up the
staircase, the metal staircase.
However, when you look, there is no one there.
Whoa.
Did you hear that, Shelly?
I think I definitely heard that this time.
Yeah, that's pretty spooky.
Is that one of you guys over there, thudding around?
We should get out of here.
I don't like this.
Yeah, let's check out the next place.
The next place ends up being the old Shaker Ruins, which doesn't prove to be fruitful
at all for ghosts watching.
But the next stop would be the cemetery.
This place has always spooked me out.
Yeah, the cemetery is definitely the creepiest place from what I remember about the last
time I did this.
You ready to go in there?
I don't know if I'm ever ready, but yeah, sure.
Let's go.
Liquid courage, right?
And she downs some of her flask, which is consequently your flask.
Exactly, and I do the same.
And the group of students heads in there.
Everybody grab your buddy's hand so that nobody gets lost.
And I grab Shelly's hand.
She smiles and blushes at this gesture, and the two of you move through.
And once again, unfortunately, there are no other sightings of ghosts in the cemetery,
and you guys make your way back out.
That's good.
We didn't lose anybody this time, right?
What do you mean lose anybody?
Did you lose people here?
What?
Oh, I heard sometimes people get lost on the ghost walks.
Oh, well, I'm glad it wasn't me.
I don't want to get lost.
I'm afraid of getting lost.
Like really afraid of getting lost.
So don't let go of my hand and don't get lost.
You probably have a compass or something, right?
I have an innate sense of direction.
That works.
And you guys make your way back.
Coming back across the street, give me a smarts roll of a two.
A six again.
For a brief moment, you glance over at the bookstore that remains closed.
But for a moment, you think you see a light and a figure pass in front of it before it
quickly goes out inside the bookstore.
I swear someone's in the bookstore.
I don't know why they would be.
I mean, there's a lot of books left in there.
You want to break in?
Right now?
Me and you?
I see, but it's right across from the sheriff's office.
I'm not a breaker in there.
I could be.
Well, let's just go around the side that's not directly facing the sheriff's office and
check it out.
Like the wood side?
Yeah.
I mean, that way if there is someone in the sheriff's office, they can't just look out
the window.
Okay.
And if there is anything really bad in there, we're right across from the sheriff's office.
So we'll be fine.
You and Shelly, as well as the four other students that are with you, head back towards
the school and between the school and the bookstore, which has part of the dark wood
in it.
And you and Shelly stand behind the bookstore looking around trying to see in the other
students head into the woods and back towards the bonfire.
Josh and Maxwell and Billy make it back to the bonfire and soccer game.
So this is our school, not your school, I guess.
You're doing something different.
Um, that's cool.
I wish I didn't have to go to school.
This place kind of sucks.
Uh, yeah.
Why do you do it if you don't want to be here?
My mother makes me.
Yeah, same.
I have to come here.
Well, they do make the final decision for quite a while though.
That's for sure.
For my whole life.
Mine too.
Oh, is it your mom that gave you that can of Chef Boyardee?
Oh, no.
I couldn't believe I'm still carrying this.
I brought that from my own home.
Oh, is that like your, is that your dinner?
It was going to be a snack.
Oh, nice.
I was going to cook it over that giant fire over there.
Oh, well, that's a good idea.
Yeah.
It's like real survivalist stuff.
Let's go throw it in there.
Oh, I don't think that's the exact method you should use.
Oh, well.
We'll get it out when it's done, right?
Should be good tomorrow.
Uh, so yeah, this is our school.
Um, that's soccer.
We don't play soccer.
Oh, what do you guys, uh, what do you guys play?
I haven't played in quite some time.
Played specifically?
Anything.
Oh.
I haven't played.
I haven't played around.
My heart's been broken, man.
Oh, I'm sorry to hear that.
My girlfriend left me for a soccer player.
You had a girlfriend?
I did.
Her name is Jamie.
Oh, wow.
It's been an excellent year, but now it's not a good year anymore at all.
Oh, well, what do you do?
Not too much of anything.
My friend moved away and.
Was it your girlfriend?
No, it was my best friend.
Oh, yeah, I don't.
I had to leave my friends too.
We still email though.
They're my friends from the Brave Blossoms.
I was part of the Brave Blossoms in my own town, where I, the last town I was in, to
learn how to do business.
Do you have any cookies?
I do back in my room.
I have one box of fancy confetti confetti cookies.
Oh, shit, those sound good.
They do.
I wonder if they go good on a milkshake.
How, brother, do we have an idea for you?
OK.
When our friend Danny gets here, he's much older.
He's got a lot of money.
He's going to buy us milkshakes.
We'll bring some of those cookies down, break them on top.
Oh, well, I.
It's going to blow your mind.
Is that the Moravian Diner next door?
It is, yeah.
I have some money.
We could go do that now.
We don't have to wait for your friend, your friend Danny.
Oh, they're closed now, but.
Oh, I thought I saw.
I thought I saw someone in the window.
Oh, creepy.
Well, I don't know.
I was just looking quick.
It's hard to see with a big bonfire back there or here, I guess, because we're here now.
We are here now.
What a cool place to be.
I've never been to the bonfire.
Have you ever been to a bonfire?
I mean, I've been to fires.
Oh, I guess bonfires more the size.
So nothing, nothing like this.
This fucker is huge.
Oh, yeah.
Billy.
Yeah.
How long are you?
You're you're can going to take to cook.
Oh, they're probably it's probably good.
How are we going to get that out?
Well, that's what I said.
It'd probably be good tomorrow.
Oh, yeah.
But you have you have to wait for the fire now.
That's a lot of fire.
Last year, I could probably have gotten it out.
Were you fireproof last year?
I don't know.
I don't know what you'd call it.
Probably.
Oh, there's a good chance.
It was a weird year, man.
I'd take that one over this one any day.
Oh, my girlfriend left me and my sister left.
Wow.
Well, you'd better cherish every day with your parents.
Mom's kind of checked out.
Oh, boy.
I'm sorry.
But this conversation right now, I learned that type of honesty
through some emails
With my therapist, okay
Well, they do always say when the grass is greener on the other side of the fence knock a hole in the fence
What do you want to do Billy? What would make you feel happy right now kissing Jamie? Oh, I don't think you can do that, buddy
Yeah
What what's something that's a little more achievable right now?
We could go find my sister, but you don't even have her address. Maybe yeah, I don't know maybe ask Josh
Josh, what do you want to do man? I mean didn't we come here to meet a Shelly? Oh, yeah, we should find Shelly
She could be my new sister. Yeah, that's what we're supposed to be doing
Oh, Shelly's supposed to be his new sister and my new best friend. Oh, that's Danny was gonna introduce us
Is that her over there or or the other the other girl over there? There's a whole slew
Should we do we just do you want to just walk around and look for Shelly?
You know, I I don't know what she looks like. Oh
Yeah, me either. Oh wait. No, I met her. Oh what she looks like. Oh
Was she tall?
Yes
Okay, does she have blonde hair? No brown hair. Yes, okay
Did what color was her shirt?
blue
Okay, so we look around for someone who's tall with long. I saw her yesterday though. Oh
Okay
Well, I should look for my friend Danny instead. We know what he looks like. Okay, let's go friend Danny Danny standing out back of the Moravia
Bookstore you and Shelly are trying to look in the windows. It's pretty dark inside
It looks dusty as fuck and suddenly you hear the scream come from not far off in the woods
Followed by the loudest roar that you've ever heard
Simultaneously as you guys are walking around looking for Danny
Billy says oh look at that and Josh he points and you recognize the twins are
Standing there next to the bonfire and as you're watching you see them push. Mrs. Melbourne the music teacher into the bonfire
Mrs. Melbourne erupts out on fire and
Collapses to the ground trying to stop drop and roll however
She's unsuccessful at doing so and the three of you watch her scream
until the sound stops
Josh is going to as soon as he can turn around and go I'm dreaming. I'm dreaming. I'm dreaming. I'm dreaming. I'm dreaming
Maxwell uh
What the fuck I?
We should go to push that kid back into the fire
Yeah, we should definitely you said the sheriff's department was somewhere
Did I see that when I pulled in are they are there police? Yeah, that's right
Chaperone grab him and just start running there is people running everywhere now
It is definitely evident that this was a real thing
Okay, quickly students are running away from the school and teachers are going crazy the three of you can book it to the
Sheriff's department Max is gonna pull out his radio and see if you can find any open channels
That might have some sort of emergency thing on it. Yeah shit. Give me a brains just of four
Three just a failure by one you find a channel, but it is not the sheriff's channel
You get into the channel of a CB radio or something and you overhear a trucker talking
illicitly to a non trucker lady
Hello, this is Maxwell
I'm in the little town of Bethlehem at the junior senior high school
And there's been what appears to be a grisly murder. I need to get a hold of the police
Oh, yeah, I am NOT into that kind of thing. Now. That is not for me
Yeah, I'm not a big fan either, but I could really use your help
Could you can I the police do you know how to get a hold of them?
Maybe try to be like 18 I could get into an 18 year old thing
Wrong number. Okay guys, we we definitely got it. I don't think we have to go to the let's run to the police department
I think that's the that's the best thing to do. We gotta tell somebody come on this way
You guys run into Danny and Shelley Billy says he runs by oh we run by him. I thought we were running
Seem to run towards I feel like if we saw him we'd run towards them
The twins just push the wood the art teacher in the fire
What what dirty just use our fire the art teachers on fire? Yeah, the twins did it is that what that scream was?
That sounds like the opposite direction. We just heard a scream and a roar. Hi, my name is Maxwell
Cowell and she was not she's not a fire. She's dead now. We really gotta tell the police everyone's running around
Hi, nice to meet you again. My name is Maxwell. We gotta go to the police. Yeah, this is a new kid Maxwell
We found we're gonna put cookies on our milkshakes next time we see you what he wanted to go without you
I have really good cookies from the brave blossoms
But I don't know if we're gonna share that because right now the town is full of grief and the twins really ruined everything at
The bonfire that's a lot. That's a lot kids. Shelly. Yeah. Yes. This is
Hey, Shelley. Oh, hi, Shelley. I've heard a lot about you. Will you be Billy's new sister?
Uh
Danny we should probably go to the sheriff's to you. All right, let's all let's all go to the sheriff's
We'll calm down a little bit. We'll we'll we'll hustle. We don't need to stop, you know running
But you can just calm down a little bit Maxwell. It's nice. Nice to see you. Sorry, it's a
weird circumstances, but you know as
You were just standing here having this conversation. You see several cop cars go flying by
Outside the bookstore they might already know
Well, I guess that they heard do you guys know who those those girls were they haunt our dreams?
Yeah, they like bully you in school and our well, they are in school. They talk to you yet
Are they children? No, yes, they're children. They have not talked to me. They're the new students. Nobody talks to me
Like you would be if you went to school, but you don't go to school
What did you just apply that I wouldn't talk to you if I was in school?
I don't know what imply means. Okay. Well, I'm glad we're talking
I'm sorry again about your girlfriend. Oh shit. Jamie. Oh, I hope Jamie's okay. Wait that bastard
Brian he can pay attention to make sure she's okay. It's not my job anymore
I wonder if the twins will push him in the fire. Oh
Wait, should we tell somebody we gotta get so we gotta tell somebody it I think I need to go to the sheriff's
I think I need to go to the hotel room. It seems like an important email to fill my parents in on I
Think we could probably skip this town. It was kind of more about historical learning and
History always kind of bumps me out. Anyway, I'd rather go back. Maybe I can do another business thing in another town. Oh
It was really nice meeting you. All right. Okay
Danny what do we do? We we gotta still go. I mean do you think there's someone still at the police station?
Should we go back to the school now where they're all headed? You're the old one. You tell us
I don't want to go back to the school. The twins are there. Okay
The fire will go to the police station. Someone's still got to be there Maxwell immediately returns panting through the woods guys
It's real crazy out there. There's people all over there's cars zooming down the street. I don't think it's a good thing for me
I
Strayed the numbers. I'm back. Sorry about the bail. Uh, I
That's good. That's a relief. We need numbers on our side this
Anyways, what did you guys say happened? There was no roar on our end. No roar on your end
Just no we we heard we were going to look at the bookstore that's shut down
And we heard a scream in the woods. Your breath smells funny, man. Don't worry about it. Okay
I'm trying brushing. Well, why do you smell like his mom and she smells like my dad and you both kind of smell grassy?
Are you sprayed by a skunk?
We did have to cut through the woods there was we might have got we might have went through a skunk path and something happened there
anyhow, we got to get to the
Sheriff's office. Let me just kind of spin around a little bit before we get there get the skunk smell
Good call. Good call. Good call. I heard we have to take a term to meet you have to take a tomato bath now
All right, I'll put that on my list of things to do later
It doesn't smell as bad as I thought it would that's weird
It must not have got him all the way. Maybe it was a baby skunk. I didn't even see it
Yeah, the sheriff's office. Yep. We go see if anyone's the sheriff's office the five of you burst into
The sheriff's office and that's where we're actually gonna pause it for today
We will pick up in Bethlehem PA next time and until then we will see you next next Tuesday
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I told you I told her she meant I told well
What do you need no, that's not his voice that's so bad