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Welcome to A Ravenous Hunger, a second edition Trail of Cthulhu actual play performed by the Twelve-Sided Stories Radio Theater. Now your keeper, Wes Otis.
Hello, my name is Wes Otis and this is A Ravenous Hunger episode number three, a Trail of Cthulhu second edition gum shoe game sponsored by Pelgrane Press.
We are back with our wonderful investigators. Let's meet each of them. Jen.
Hi, I'm Jen, aka Youngels, aka in this game, Mac, who we all go by she, they pronouns.
Hello, I'm Love and I am playing Matilda Mendoza, a medical, that's the word, medical student. We both use they them pronouns.
So those are the pronouns used for them and also for me.
Hey, I'm Michelle and I am playing Dot through Heel and she is a history student. You know, she's just trying to make it through whatever the heck is happening here.
And we are both she her.
Hello, everyone. My name is Candace, also known as Candace Magnificent. My pronouns are they she and today I am playing Lashawn Roberts, the journalist, also they she.
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Head to Twelve-Sided Stories Patreon today.
OK, so I think this is a good place for a recap. The big picture is a huge storm hit right before you were going to sneak in to the cool building that has been closed off since a horrible accident in, I believe it was 1914.
And you are now trying to find your way to warmth. Let's start with the clues first. You found Edward on the roof and he was half eaten and had a bunch of carvings in him.
You noted all of those things down. He came back to life. When that happened, Lashawn tackled him and his head snapped off because it was half on, of course.
And then you took all the information down. You then went back to the kitchen where you found the art teacher, Professor Wilkes, who for some reason who's standing on one of the tables and was muttering something.
You found out later she was muttering something in ancient Greek. Some of the people in your party could figure out what she was kind of saying, but not a lot.
You also noticed she had a carving as well on her chest, and it was very close to the one that Edward had on his. So you drew that one down and all the different markings as well.
So now you have two pictures of two different people that had markings in their chest. Plus you wrote down what they were saying in Greek.
You were able to discern that she was talking about some kind of dark entity or something like that, but because it was ancient Greek, you couldn't make it all out.
You'd have to go to like the journalism and history building to be able to get more information. While you were in there, you did see an entity.
It did chase Mac, but didn't do anything and light seemed to disrupt it. You found a professor and two students in the cooler, and then two students came downstairs.
One was Rob, who was a dick, and then there was Tilly. And then in the freezer, which was not on, luckily, was Dr. Bolan.
And then the others were, I believe, Francis and Jane. Rob, Jane, and the doctor stayed together with Professor Wilkes after you got her off the table.
And then you all decided to go downstairs to where the furnace is. Francis and Tilly were going to go with you.
You open the door to the basement and hear an axe hitting up against wood. Somebody's cutting wood downstairs or something like that.
And that's where we're starting. So they're cutting wood, not sawing logs. Thank you, smartass. Yes.
Did I get my flashlight back from Rob? No. Bitch.
No, it's probably for the best. He keeps it, keeps Dr. Wilkes safe. I have mine. I'm going to shine it in the direction of the chopping.
You shine it downstairs and you see an orange light flickering from the grates of the furnace. You don't see much else.
Can everybody give me a stability roll? I just want to see how stable we all are. You're trying to beat a four.
If you spend points, you lose those points from the pool. Your stability goes down no matter what.
Or you can try to roll without spending any points and hope you beat a four. I'm a risk it.
Okay. Yeah, me too. Four. Excellent. Six. Good.
So the other day we had a Patreon exclusive game for our patrons. If you guys are interested in joining and having some time with the cast members, please feel free to do that.
Join our Patreon and occasionally have some sweet ass games with cast members. I rolled like a champion, like a champion.
I don't know what happened. I barely had to spend any points. It was amazing. And today I am spending two points because I don't believe in myself.
Oh no. All that. I got a five. Cool. Cool.
Just so you know, stability can go all the way down to negative 11. Negative 12.
Uh oh. That's a face, Jen. What'd you get, Jen?
I was like, it's the first roll of the night. I'll be fine. Not fine. Wrong.
That was an incorrect assessment on my part.
One of your knees buckles a little bit and you feel this just instant nope in your heart of wanting to go down these stairs.
You're usually so cool and collected, but right this second you are feeling a bit stressed after seeing all the things that you've seen.
And Francis says to you, are you okay? You you look a bit queasy. Are you all right?
I'm I'm I'm fine. I'm fine.
Okay, so you're going to take just one point of stability loss. Okay. Okay.
Mac, is your knee okay? I can I can look at it if you need me to real quick for a good on the stairs.
No, no, it's fine. I'll be fine. I just I just need to see to do one step at a time and it'll be great.
Okay, well cool. Take it slow, dude. Yeah. If you need to like lean on anyone. I got a shoulder.
It's not like we have a shortage of ice.
Too soon, too soon. Matilda definitely giggles a little bit.
Dorky joke. Okay.
I love it. So all of you, I would imagine unless someone wants to run down are sticking together and kind of taking each step as slowly as possible.
And the noise gets louder and louder. And once you reach the bottom, it's a pretty big basement. There's the furnace, which is not far away.
There's a large generator for the electricity that it looks like it's relatively older and a bit sporadic in its lights.
So you don't know how much longer that's going to go. It is petrol.
There's probably a hand crank somewhere and there is a dark figure next to a wood wall across from the furnace.
There's very little light on them and they are swinging an axe into the wall.
Dot, dot, dot. Lights on the... I shine a light on the person.
From behind, it is, you believe, George the janitor. He hasn't noticed you yet.
Does he look strange at all or like he's just doing his job?
Because technically putting logs into a furnace could be the domain of a janitor.
For sure. But also...
I mean, could he be confused? You know, like is he having a hard day?
May have.
He's, yeah, he's not chopping logs. He's just breaking down this wall.
Now, let me explain what he looks like real quick.
He has relatively fair skin, so pasty like me, brown eyes, brown hair.
He's got to be in his fifties, like late fifties.
And to be clear, 1930s fifties.
So he's very old.
Yeah, I'm 50 right now. I know I'm not the same thing.
Different. Hard life. Hard life has been lived.
Yeah, and you have seen him around. He seems to avoid you all.
He doesn't really get close to any of you for some reason.
He's not necessarily creepy, but he just doesn't really interact with the four of you for some reason.
And he's just slamming away at this wall. So what do you guys want to do?
I look at the others and I say, should we just leave him be?
We're down here for warmth and to wait it out.
And as long as we have eyes on, maybe we can see.
I mean, is there another axe down here?
Maybe we should also kind of try and start that generator.
Yeah. All right. What were you going to say? Is there another axe?
Yeah. Can I look around to see if there's another axe or anything like that?
There is actually. There is.
It's near where he's at because he's next to the tool shed.
So you'd have to sneak over there. Oh.
If you were trying to avoid him hearing you.
I don't know why I feel weird about going near a dude with an axe when he's hitting it into a wall, but I do.
And I'm not saying that for me personally.
I'm saying that for me as in all of us.
And I look around to like the other students behind us as well.
That's just me, though.
No, I definitely understand your hesitation.
But also like we need to do it.
So I guess I'm pretty used to sneaking into places to try and get the scoop.
So if you want, I can decide over there and try to grab it.
And in the meantime, if someone can come help me with the generator, we can try and get it started.
Should we have like a distraction plan?
Like in case he notices Lashon that we like, I don't know, like scare him or something?
Like trying to distract him away from Lashon because Lashon is going to be close with the axe.
And I don't think scaring a guy with an axe is a good idea.
That's yeah, that's so true. You're so right.
Yeah, Lashon like turns around to you and like with a wolfish smile goes, don't worry about it.
I'll be all right. Yeah, right. All right.
I'm going to say when you start pulling away Lashon to go, Tilly was holding your hand and she's like, ah, is this is not a good idea?
I mean, are you sure you're going to be safe?
I mean, I sneak out of my aunt's house and into clubs all the time.
I should be fine.
Does your aunt have an axe?
I mean, she has a guitar.
No, she doesn't have an axe, but she does have a razor sharp tongue that she is not afraid to latch me with.
So understand I am good at dodging.
OK. How about how about this?
And I think Lashon like looks over at Mac and looks at Tilly like as Mac is walking away.
Mac offered to be a distraction.
So as a word of safety, if I feel like I'm in trouble, you or I will scream banana and Mac will come over and do their thing.
OK, that seems fair.
Yeah, that seems fine.
You're sweet to worry about me.
You know, I want to just make sure you're all right.
That's that's all.
Cool. Yeah, I'll be all right.
Francis says, all right, let's just get this over with.
And Tilly is going to actually shadow you a few feet behind and you need to beat a four.
Auto success because I got a one.
Yay.
So you get over there and you start picking up.
So far, he's just hammering away and what you notice when you get close is that there is a tunnel behind where he's cutting down.
There's an opening.
Let's talk about the others.
Let's do the others roll real quick.
All of you are on next to the generator.
Does anyone have mechanics as a general ability?
I do.
OK, cool.
I'm going to say because you have Mac and Matilda with you.
They're going to help you out.
So I'll give you a two pull point of two that you don't have to spend from your mechanics if you want to spend more.
But I'm also going to let you know that this is difficult.
So I'm going to say you need to get at least a five for this.
OK, well, then I will spend two.
OK, plus the two you're already getting.
Right.
All together.
OK, and I'm glad I did.
I rolled a two.
So that makes it a six.
So you fix the generator.
It was a little low on petrol.
There were some fuses that weren't working properly.
And you fix that.
And suddenly all the lights in the basement come on and the janitor stops, looks over at you guys at the generator.
He goes, you fix that?
I mean, I grew up on a ranch.
Oh, well, I didn't.
Oh, well, I didn't know how to get the damn thing back up.
I just I kept sitting there trying to figure it out.
And then he turns around and sees Tilly and Lashawn holding an axe and he goes, I'm sorry.
What are you doing?
Oh, I'm trying to make sure that I have an axe for firewood.
We're hoping to get the generator powered up, but it's real cold outside.
I figured it would help to have something.
Well, yeah, if actually if we can get this wall down, we can get to some of the other buildings.
There's tunnels all underneath Miskatonic, but these ones lead to the medical building and the you know, all around our little part of the campus.
And we don't have a lot of petrol.
That generator is probably going to last another maybe maybe 20 or 30 minutes at most.
And as you can see, the wood is not very high either.
Is it just the six of you or are there more people upstairs?
There's what, three, four, three more?
Three, I think three maybe.
Yeah. Yeah. All right.
Well, anyway, if you want to stay here, you can, but I want to check the other buildings to see if there's people and possibly more petrol and wood that we can use to at least keep one building warm while this storm is here.
Do you mind if we go with you?
No, of course, of course not.
You can come with me.
And if you spend the next 10 minutes helping him out, the wall comes down relatively easily.
And there's this smell in the air.
It was just everyone stay close to each other.
Be cautious.
I should explain what he actually looks like, you know, with his face.
One of his eyes has been damaged.
It's completely white and he's got a scar down the right side of his face.
Like I said, he looks relatively old, you know, like for modern eyes, he probably would look like he's in his 70s or 80s, but he still looks relatively strong and stocky.
He goes, I've got a lantern.
And does anybody else need a flashlight?
I mean, I'll take one.
I left mine upstairs with some of the others.
All right. Here you go.
And he hands one to you and Tilly and Francis says, stay close to each other.
There are some things in the tunnels that are best left avoided.
Well, you can't say that and then just leave it, George.
What does that mean?
People don't believe me when I say that there's things under this town and they call me a crackpot.
So I've stopped saying, but you're all kids and I don't want to get in hurt.
We've seen some crazy shit already today, George.
Yeah, I don't think you're a crackpot.
Well, underneath there, there are things that I think were once human, but are now these monsters that eat the remains of humans.
And they sometimes get into these tunnels.
They usually live just underneath the cemetery or in the graveyard.
During the winter, though, the ground freezes and so they come over here where the generators are a little closer.
That's that smell you smell this of those things.
I've seen them a few times.
Fascinating.
Lovely.
George, how long have you worked here?
I came here in I think it was 1890, something like that.
So I've been here almost 40 years.
That's a long time, man.
Yeah, I started when I was like 15 or 16, dropped out of high school.
That was a mistake.
But, you know, I enjoy my job, except for the I was able to stay out of the war and and it's it's been a decent life.
Yeah.
Except for the monsters.
Yeah, except for the monsters.
And he looks at you, Matilda, just with this like hesitation.
And he's like, yeah, the monsters.
And he goes, anyway, we should get going.
Where do you all want to go first?
So there's the the history building, the art building or the medical building.
Now, the history building is also the same as the journalism building, just so you know.
So that's where most of the like the secondary library and stuff is.
Where do you all want to go?
You said it was the medical building.
And what else?
The medical building, the art building and then the history and journalism building.
Those are the three that he's he says.
Well, Sean knows that they've hidden joints in the journalism building.
So they're good. They're going to be partial to that.
But don't let them choose.
OK. Can Mac ask him a question?
Absolutely. Because he said that he was there since the 1890s.
So he would know stuff about stuff.
So I think Mac is like, yeah, as everybody's remembering about, like, where we should go or whatever, Mac is like, yo,
I'm going to go to the library.
So you remember when like a bunch of people died?
There's been quite a bit of death at anisotonic over the years, unfortunately.
Right. Yes. More specifically, do you remember the time when, you know, for no reason, no reason at all.
I'm just generally curious because I read it in a book somewhere.
I remember a pool party incident and a bunch of people drowned, like for, again, no reason.
Matilda shuffles closer.
He looks down at the ground and says, I remember, I remember that.
But I that's that's a painful.
That's a painful memory.
I don't feel comfortable talking about it with them around.
It kind of points towards Matilda.
Why me?
Because I was one of the people who was there.
How do you know?
Because you look a lot like her.
I can just tell that you're family.
Well, I have a right to know then, don't I?
Yes.
Look, I found the people and they did not drown.
There's a reason why we don't go into that building anymore.
Why?
It's, I can't explain it and I wish you'd just trust me and try to let it go.
It is not worth it.
I can't.
I can't let it go.
So if you can tell me or I'll find out myself eventually.
They did not drown.
They were doing some sort of ritual or something.
It wasn't just the swim team.
They had somehow gotten 40 people jammed inside there with this.
I guess they were saying it was a party or something.
And they cast some kind of spell over them.
The pool was more blood than water when we got in.
And the swim team had thrown all the bodies in the pool.
Well, they left that out of the press release.
Oh, yes. The other thing they left out was that the pool team was floating four feet above the pool,
talking in Greek and covered in these carvings on their chest.
And once we grabbed, I grabbed one of them to pull them down back to Earth.
I must have broken the spell and they all fell in the water too.
At the end, there were 70 people at the bottom of a half Olympic pool full of blood.
The doctor said there's no way that that many people could fill that whole pool with blood.
But I saw it.
I know it was blood, even though they keep telling me I didn't see it.
So I'm asking you, please don't go to that.
It's still bad.
Why haven't they just bulldozed the building?
They can't.
There's something about the pool.
You try to drain it and it refills and the people are still at the bottom.
They can't remove them.
They're trapped.
Yeah, they are trapped.
I know exactly where your aunt is and I know exactly who you are.
It's why I've avoided you is because I didn't want to get into any of this.
It's a horrible thing.
Do you think that's the same thing that's affecting us now with this storm?
The Greek, the carving.
Yeah, it doesn't seem like a coincidence.
It's not.
This happens.
It happened in 1914 and I believe it happened before I got here, 20 years before that.
So it seems to be on some strange cycle.
I don't know anything beyond the rumors.
There are so many dark corners in Miskatonic that I have avoided for my own sanity.
And the school hasn't thought to, I don't know, look up a counter ritual or something to free these people so they can get rid of that fucking pool?
I am not privy to what the faculty does.
No, that's true.
Thank you for telling me.
I know that wasn't what you wanted to do.
You're right.
You deserve to know, but it's pretty terrible.
Now, I'm going to say that that's enough of a mythos thing that everybody has to take a point of sanity, which is different than stability.
You don't get to roll and you just lose the point.
So everybody loses a point once you make the connection that it's been happening every 20 years and it's bad.
He goes, now, if you are able to move on, we can go to one of the other buildings.
But if you really want to see the pool building, I will take you there right now.
But you will not like what you encounter there.
It is up to you all because this GM does not railroad his players into one way or another.
You don't know. I might like what we find there.
I might have a grand old time.
I don't know.
I don't think it's a wise idea when this stuff is happening again to go now.
I want to see the building.
Don't get me wrong.
But if it had to do with these symbols and the chanting in Greek and everything, would this honestly be the best time?
I don't think so.
I do not know the answer to that question.
Unfortunately, it's been a little while since I've been in the building.
I don't know if anything would change on this date because it is the anniversary.
I mean, it happened on this day.
So I don't know.
We can go to another building first and then go back.
It's not like the tunnels are going to wait a minute.
I'm not going to finish that sentence because who the hell knows what's going to happen.
I mean, I'm all for going to the history building.
There might be information we could use.
Right then you start hearing horrible screams coming from upstairs and they last for 30 seconds.
Francis turns to run and George gently grabs his wrist and goes, you don't want to go up there if they're screaming like that.
And a moment later, the basement door opens and Rob stumbles down the steps and he's covered in blood.
And he goes, that thing you were talking about, it came into the hallway and it grabbed the doctor.
And I got separated from Wilkes and they ran the opposite way.
All of these mouths came out of the mist of it and it just bit into the doctor and he just exploded everywhere.
We need to go. Oh, yeah, we need to go. Let's go. OK.
Yeah. Where are we going? Just follow us, Rob. OK, I will do that.
LeSean looks at the dot. I agree. We need to go to the history building. We need to stick together.
All right, cool. You guys go through the tunnel. You have your flashlights.
George kind of knows where he's going. Just in general. Look, these tunnels are boarded up for a reason.
We don't want students down here smoking pot and getting attacked by whatever those things are.
So you make it to the history building. You know, those of you who want to help, help him take down the wood.
You go in. He says, all right, I'm going to stay down here and see if I can get myself the petrol and other items we need.
Why you all go upstairs and look around.
Rob is a bit shaken up, obviously, from his experience. So I think that he should stay with me and anybody else who would like to stay down here.
You can. Wait, we need Rob. Rob needs to come with us. You need me? He knows Greek. Yeah, you know Greek.
I know Greek, too. You do? Great. Fuck off, Rob. That's fine by me. I have ancient Greek. Of course you do. You're incredible.
Wait, I'm incredible, too. I know Greek. Are you incredible? No, you're not. That just kind of goes. Thanks.
Sit down, Rob. All right. Fine. You guys go upstairs and the first thing you notice is it's colder up here.
The furnace is not working in this building. So you don't have a ton of time.
You hear the sound of someone knocking on one of the doors upstairs. So the bottom floor is where the library is and then the top floor is where classrooms are.
So what do you all want to do? Do you want to stick together? Do you want to go check out the knock or do you want to go into the library?
I mean, I'd say the library to go research. Yeah, I'd say the library. OK.
I feel bad not being overly concerned about the noise, but priorities. The sooner we can get to the bottom of this, the sooner we can figure out what it is.
All right. So you all go into the library and start looking around.
I believe most of you have some sort of history or library use or something that would help out notice or any of those things.
Does anybody want to spend any of your points? You can spend investigation points to get bonuses.
You'll get the core clues no matter what. But if you spend points, you can do extra things like find out extra information or do something cool.
Does anybody have a point in an investigation skill they would like to spend in the library?
I'll spend a library use. OK. OK. Mac and Alessianne, do you want to spend anything notice or anything like that?
I'll spend a point of notice. All right. Can I spend a point of history?
Absolutely. So what I'll say, Mac, is you're our art student.
I'll say that you're looking up that painting that was in the dorm room that had a similar figure as the creature that attacked in the dorms.
Mac finds several articles about a woman named Rachel Harper, and she founded the One Light Community in 1834.
It was these five buildings. So the dorm, the medical, the art, the history and journalism building and pool building were all once part of this church.
She died in 1854 under strange circumstances.
But you don't find anything else about that in particular.
It does look like she had, including herself, the church had seven hundred and seventy seven members.
And there are different accounts of her being a pillar of the community, bringing God's light to the world.
Some of it definitely reads as fluff, like, you know, maybe not the most journalistic thing.
All right. Lev, what did you spend your point on? I spent my point on library use. OK, cool.
You read some articles about Jeremy Stone, which I believe I mentioned Jeremy Stone before.
It was believed he was the one that might have done the original painting in the dorm room in 1874.
He went on a rampage through the dorm and killed eight people with his bare hands.
They don't say how he did it, but you as a medical doctor, you're guessing maybe he snapped their necks or suffocated them.
But you know that it takes strength and time, a lot of strength.
Yeah. Well, even breaking someone's neck takes a lot of strength.
So, yeah, it did. He was either really strong or he had a lot of time.
Right. Most people believe that he was on some kind of narcotic and was obviously not in his right mind.
He was shot by Professor Wright, who had heard the screams coming from the bedrooms.
Professor Wright, unfortunately, couldn't forgive himself for shooting a student and basically drank himself to death within a year.
So, Michelle, what point did you spend? Library use.
OK. You find in one of the books a drawing of the positioning of the students floating above this half Olympic pool.
It's crude and there's actually a spot of blood on it.
But you now know how they were configured.
If you took the drawings of the two symbols, you might be able to figure out something from it.
But that's up to you. Can I use a point of occult also? Sure.
All of the things overlay the first symbol on Edward overlays on the symbol that was on Professor Wilkes.
They look like they're missing one more symbol. So there's three altogether.
And when you're looking at that, it really starts hurting your head.
Bad. Give me a stability roll, please. Five. Did you spend any points?
I forgot to ask. No, not on stability. OK.
You do take two points of sanity, just so you know. Yeah.
And do I get like a general feeling of, hey, this is going to stop this thing or, hey, I shouldn't be putting these symbols together?
Because you spent the point, I'm going to say that you get the feeling of, hey, I shouldn't put the symbols together.
OK. And usually just for our listeners knowledge, if it's a longer campaign, you hold on to your sanity a lot longer.
You don't usually get maybe less points taken away. It's a slow burn.
But this is a short campaign, so we're going to burn through them a little bit quicker. All right.
So cool. You know, why not? Candice, what point did you spend again?
Notice. OK, cool. You notice that through looking through all the different books and everything else, you're watching what everybody's doing.
You notice a strange marking on each of the walls in the original wood beams.
And when you get closer to them to take a look at them, the entire building was gutted probably during the Civil War and rebuilt.
But for some reason, these particular beams were left up and they look pristine.
They look like fresh cut wood with a little stain on it. And it's got weird markings.
I look at you dot. Can you make heads or tails of this? I don't understand why it's so fresh.
Yeah, I can read what it says. Looks like it's like map coordinates. Is there a map in here? Do we have a map? Can I look for a map?
Yeah, absolutely. No, you can't look for a map in the library. There's no map. There is none.
I'll just kind of slam it down on the table and spread it out so everyone can see it. OK, cool.
You're looking and for one thing, you know there wasn't, you know, logitude lines and all that good stuff back when this was a language that was used.
And so that's kind of weird to you. The second thing that you notice is that it doesn't correlate to anything on Earth.
This is like one of them fantasy maps. What's going on? I mean, that would that has to be it, right? It's a fantasy map.
I'm like they have a very sarcastic look on their face and they're like my aunt's fuck with those tarot cards and stuff.
And they're always talking about space. And I seen that like John Carter of Mars stuff.
But I mean, that's that's not a fantasy book. Like how are you going to have coordinates for a place you can't get to?
Eventually, we'll be able to get there. I love you, Mac. But sometimes you're far out, Mac. I love you. But you say some far out shit sometimes, man.
That's why you like me, though. That's why it is. But I'm not stoned enough to have this conversation with you right now about going to space.
I mean, what? How would you I mean, going to strap some wings to your back? Like, how are we going to I bet in the next few decades, there's going to be someone on the moon.
Yeah, right. That's a wild assumption. I bet. I'll throw some skin in the game for that. Mars is next. I'll bet you two dollars.
Damn. Hey, that's that's big money right there. That's big, big money. That should show you how serious I am.
OK. All right. Is there anything on the sigil that we found that looks like it matches up with the sigil on the chest or the sigils that Dot found or the way that the pool is set up?
Since George kind of got all this information out, Matilda has been really quiet. But in that way of someone being really manic in their head and not wanting anyone else to know, I think Matilda starts just flipping past like all the things that Dot gathered and all the things that they gathered and trying to find any kind of static.
When you look at it all, it definitely has some of the same coordinates and extra coordinates in it. And some of the coordinates, I'm going to be honest. You have to lay the paper and get all three of the signs on each other.
I figured the pool had to be on top, too. Yeah. To be able to figure out because there's a place on Earth that it's referencing and a celestial place that it's referencing.
So I'm going to hold up like the finding as they're talking about Mars and shit. I don't want to put these together because usually when you say the Latin word, something bad happens.
And I'm feeling like this is the same thing that happens with weird symbols that get overlaid. But and I'll just like draw all the lines to the others, not crossing the streams, but just like this is here and this one is here.
It's it all kind of lines up. Yeah, yeah. I'm glad you didn't put those together. I had put them together and gave me a really bad headache. And there's one missing.
The pool and the ones that were on the bodies. What's the last one? Is this the last one? Like pointing up at the sigil that's on the beam. Could that be like the last thing? Is it?
Is it? Oh, you're talking to me. Yes. I didn't want to interrupt the good roleplay. The sigils on the wall, there are like six of them in this room.
The way that they're angled, if you put the paper in the right order, you can line the papers up to where the sigils are and they match the sigils that are on the wall that are on the paper.
So is this the third thing? Is this is this the third thing that needs to be lined up for us to figure out what's happening now?
Without the third thing, it would be very hard. But this is definitely interesting. You just to decode it, you would need the final thing.
Okay, then we just have to find the other thing so we can break this sigil ritual thing and then everything will stop being bad, right?
If we put them together, I think it could make things worse. We don't know that for sure. I kind of think I know that for sure.
Oh, sure. Okay. So we find the third thing and we destroy all of them and that fixes it, right? Yes.
I just like raise my hands, my shoulders up like, eh? God, you're the smart one. You're supposed to know.
Well, I'll put this out there. All of the information, all of the clues that you have right now, you have found all the clues because you spent a lot of points in here.
So you found all the clues in this particular building. The only thing you haven't checked out and it's getting really cold.
The furnace is not working and you still hear the knocking going on upstairs. So your choice is check out the knocking, which you don't have to do, or go back down into the basement,
reconnect up with George and Rob and see if you want to go to the medical building or the art building to see if there's anything there.
Or you can decide to go to the pool to look at what's going on in that building, even though Rob was like, don't do that.
The choice is yours. George said not to do that or that it's not a good idea.
If I'm being honest, that knocking is very unsettling and I think I want to go.
Leshawn Hefts the axe in their hand. I got your back. When you say go, you mean leave the building? Yeah. Okay. That's what I thought.
Oh, that kind of go, not check on it kind of go. Oh, go. No, no, no, no, no. I don't. No, no, no, don't check on it.
We it's it's too cold in here. Nothing's going to be alive up there if they've been up there for a while.
Shouldn't we check and make sure that there's someone that doesn't need help? Francis goes, yeah, I guess we do.
What's the fucking Hippocratic oath or whatever? Do we? I am not a medical student. I am also not a medical student.
Nor am I. I mean, I can go then. OK, then I'll then I'll go then I'll go and I'll check on it and and it'll be fine.
It's not going to be it's someone who needs help. You can't go by yourself.
If you go, we all have to go. I grabbed Matilda's hand and I go, what knocking? I don't hear any knocking.
I think we need to go back in the basement. Francis goes, no, no, I Matilda's right.
We should go up there and see there. They're correct. Why don't the three of you go downstairs? I'll go with with Matilda up and see what the knocking is.
OK, and we'll meet you downstairs in 10 minutes. It's probably just some dumbass whose door not broke.
If it's some dumbass whose door not broke, you don't need to go investigate.
They they're going to freeze in here if we leave them. Then they you know what? Natural selection.
That's all I have to say. I'm just at this point. I I you can.
That's fine. You're an art student. I'm supposed to protect the sanctity of life or some bullshit.
That's true. But you're not a full doctor yet. So Tilley says you're not a full doctor yet.
So it's you. You could bend the rules a little bit this time. It seems like a bad idea to separate.
OK, I'm I'm I'm at the point. I just need you guys to know that I'm at the point that I'm going to start making really bad decisions based on knowledge that I have now.
So I'm going to really lean on you guys to tell me what's smart because I probably shouldn't be allowed to make the decisions for everyone right now, because if I do, they'll be bad.
So that's where I'm at. Just being really brutally honest. Respect. I agree. Yep.
That's why we should leave that knocking alone. Francis goes.
But what if it's a kid that's dying up there? How are we going to save him? Fuck you, Francis. Francis, you are not helping.
Well, we could just take them back through the through the through the tunnels and then they could go to where it's warm.
OK, fine. You know what? Is this going to be like a thing where you're just going to stare at the knocking like you stare at the building unless we go into the thing?
Is that is that what's going to happen? I don't know. I don't know anymore, Mac.
I'm really I'm really I feel like I'm losing it a little bit.
Let's just go. Tillie says, Matilda, look, I think we should just go downstairs. It's this is all too much.
I know. I don't know what the family connection is that George was talking about, but you're obviously overwrought right now.
And I understand that. But we I think we should stick together and and we can come back for the knocking after we figure out what's going on.
Oh, after they're dead and frozen in the room. I thought it was just some dumbass who didn't jiggle his door handle right.
No, I know. I'm sorry. Matilda's right. We should go up there and check, Francis says.
I'm pausing for a moment just to say that Wes is evil. Yeah.
What do you mean? I'm just playing two NPCs on the opposite end of the argument. I don't know what the problem is.
LeSean looks at Matilda and says, listen, we're good friends. I trust you.
How sure are you right now? What's your gut saying? I don't listen to it a lot, so I need to do that.
Hold on. I have to call it is saying I don't know what it's saying.
I don't know what it's saying. LeSean, it's saying, hi, Matilda. I'm your gut.
We probably shouldn't separate the party and go off in different directions.
There, problem solved. I mean, that's good enough for me. OK, yeah, I'll say that's fine.
That's good enough for me. Fine, fine, fine, fine, fine. I told you guys to make decisions.
You make the decision. This is this is for the best. I'm going to make I'm going to get us killed.
So someone else make the decision. LeSean puts their arm around Matilda and just starts walking toward the basement.
So whether you go to the Noct or whether you go downstairs, you know what's their plot.
All right. So you guys go downstairs. I hate you guys.
You know, I'm having fun. So you go downstairs.
George has collected up stuff with Rob and he goes, did you find anything interesting that you need?
Was it helpful at least? Yeah. All right.
Where would you like to go next? Art or medical?
Well, you forgot the pool. That's also a possibility.
I was really trying not to think about the pool, George.
Thank you so much. George didn't say that. Evil West did.
Oh, yeah. Across universes, Matilda says to us.
Pool. Fuck you. Which one do you guys want to go to?
I told you I'd follow your lead. So I'm I'm out for decision.
I mean, I don't know what's going to be in the medical or the art building.
You know, will there be anything? Medical building will mainly have medical supplies, which are helpful.
The art building might have some stuff.
I am. I did drop a clue a while back that I think you guys kind of brushed off and didn't realize was a clue.
So I will remind you now because I'm not completely evil.
There is a large dance studio at the top of the building.
Right. And sometimes they hear noises up there, don't they?
But you also know that if the generator is working and all the lights are on, it's one of the brightest rooms in in any of the buildings.
They have to light up the floor and the mirrors and everything else. So it's a very bright room.
So which way would you guys like to go? Not for nothing, y'all.
I'm not trying to be away, but our art professor was just sort of like chillin in a place that I didn't expect to find her.
So part of me wonders if the art building is where we should go, considering that's where she might have been before we ran into her.
I mean, there's probably nothing in the art building except for art, art that maybe nobody wants seen.
So maybe the art building isn't the greatest place to be, you know.
But there's the studio on the top. It'll be bright in there.
We can have like a headquarters or something where that shadow thing can't find us.
That's true. I think that's a good idea.
OK, I have a point. Don't worry, Mac, we're not going to look at any specific art.
There's no art. I don't know what you're talking about. I don't even who mentioned art.
Oh, I will be specifically looking at art. I'll be looking at names, Mac.
Mac just like glares at it.
All right. You all are heading towards the art building.
And I actually think that this is a really good place for us to stop.
I don't know if it's a lot of big cliffhanger or anything like that.
But thank you guys so much for playing. It's been a lot of fun so far.
And yeah, let's find out where all of these wonderful people are.
Let's start with Lev. Hi, I'm Lev.
I'm reeling from revelations of this episode and the implication of what is to come.
And I have been Matilda.
I'm on socials at Lego to the number two RS. That's only on Twitter.
If Twitter's still alive when this comes out, you can find me there.
If it's still alive, if you can't, if it's not alive, find me at Lev.Rs23 on Blue Sky and Instagram.
You can also hear me over at Mayday Roleplay where I play similarly distressed characters.
Hi, I'm Jen. I played your annoying sidekick Mac today.
And you can find me similarly where Hal is freezing over at Jen Geeky and other places at Young Lulz.
I would just like to shout out that a year ago when we started recording Book Hound Bounty Hunters,
Has it been a year already?
Yes. Yes. Next month will be a full year.
And when we did that, all of us were like, yeah, I mean, Twitter is probably going to be in the trash.
So find me these other places. And we're here like Twitter's still probably in the trash.
Twitter's probably in the trash. But you can find me at the Candice Marie on Twitter and Blue Sky at Candice the Magnificent everywhere else.
You can hear more of me on the Patreon exclusive Beyond the Outer Mothership podcast right here in 12 Sided Stories,
as well as the three Black Halflings new AP City of the Black Rose, Herald of Shadows and on the upcoming Wayward Autumnal.
And if you are interested in hearing more of me with Mayday Roleplay, shout out to Lev,
check out the episode that I do with Eli called Ghostfy, which is based on their original game Ghostfy,
as well as Ebony Belafonte, a callback to Otherworld Hollywood.
Hey, I'm Michelle. And you can find me on the socials as at Michoulu. That's M-I-C-H-U-L-H-U.
And you can find my music and Wes's amazing sound effects if you go to Drive Thru RPG and look for Plate Mail Games.
And I'm Wes Otis. You can find me at Plate Mail Games on all the different socials.
You can find the show on all the different socials at 12 Sided Stories, the number 12 and then Sided Stories,
or on our website, 12SidedStories.com, all words, all written out, no numbers, just 12SidedStories.com.
Also, you can join us on our Discord. Come talk to us. Let us know what's going on.
Like Candice said, you can join our Patreon and be part of games that we do for our Patreon listeners and other cool things.
We have a ton of extra stuff on our Patreon and because it's been six years,
so there's a lot on there to listen to and check out. Finally, if you can't do that,
definitely give us a shout out or review on your favorite platform.
Thank you so much for listening and thank you to Pelgrim Press for sponsoring the show.
And check out their backer kit for the second edition of Trail of Cthulhu, which is up if it's October when you're listening.
It's up right now, so check that out. Bye, everybody. Bye.