Four young adult strangers are stuck in a closed "observation ward" after they all had bizarre incidents. A mysterious visitor is coming to make an assessment for unclear purposes. What happens if you become too interesting? And why does the staff make them take so many pills?

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Episode Transcript:

Get your snack and beverage of choice ready. It’s time to “Gather ‘Round the Trashfires” for a tabletop roleplaying story! I’m your host, Bek Andrew Evans.

Tabletop characters make decisions ranging from questionable to horrific in pursuit of their goals especially when a table values going for the interesting route in roleplay. It becomes trashfires all the way down.

My current and main running story for this podcast is the misadventures of the cohort from the Deviant: the Renegades chronicle I’ve been playing in since early 2021. And I play Geri.

For those of you unfamiliar with Deviant, it’s a TTRPG about people who were formerly human but were irreparably changed in traumatic ways to the point their very Souls broke and they became something Other. They seek vengeance on those who made them, those who hunt them, those who seek to exploit them for what they are and will never leave them be.

As such, this podcast will feature heavy themes and content throughout. There’s an overall content warning for language, violence, criminality, homelessness, substance use, human experimentation, cults and religious extremism, mentioned torture, kidnapping, implied incest and incest-related comments, and abusive relationships. On episodes where there is a new content warning or a particularly notable instance of one of these, I’ll call it out.

I hope y’all enjoy hearing about my cohort’s antics and stumbling headfirst into the mysteries of the world as much as I have.

[Music Intro: "_violence" by Avantist]

Episode 1: Green Country Calcination

The story starts on the first Wednesday in March, 2021. In this chronicle, the pandemic never happened – it was our escape from it, after all.

The chronicle started in the new observation ward of Hillcrest Hospital in Pryor, Oklahoma. It’s in what’s called the “Green Country” of Oklahoma, and about an hour away from Tulsa.

None of the cohort, or what would become the cohort anyway, have been in the observation ward for more than a few short weeks at this point. They’re among the newer arrivals. Some of the patients who’ve been around longer, though, they’ve been spreading rumors that today’s a special day, because a special Visitor would stop by.

The Visitor? A mysterious woman named Camille Mason, supposedly an “insurance agent," who’s been making even more frequent visits since a patient might have escaped. Maybe. That’s what the rumors guess, anyway, though they have no idea how.

The observation ward was much like a psych ward at first glance. It had a common area the patients could gather for meals and some vaguely supervised free-time. All of the patients were on some kind of pills, and all wore scrubs provided by the ward. There were therapy times with a psychiatrist.

Unlike a normal psych ward, it suffered frequent bizarre blackouts. And then there were the patients themselves…

Alexander Joseph “AJ” Werner-Holt – A talkative, friendly, even class-clown type in his early 20s. AJ seems to be able to make friends with just about everyone, from patients to ward staff. He has a large bandage over part of the back of his neck covering what’s apparently an unseemly infection of some kind. He’s got a mop of curly, honeyed-brown hair and a short goatee. He’s lightly tanned, like he’s seen sun sometimes.

Geraldine Wayfield – or Geri as she prefers, is almost sickly pale, 5-foot-nothing, slender, with an unnaturally bright red dyed curly mane of hair, strawberry blonde roots starting to show, and has an unsettlingly intense stare. She’s also in her early 20s. She’s the kind of person who would challenge God to a fight in a Waffle House parking lot. She can’t throw a punch but that wouldn’t stop her from trying anyway. Her scrubs are often mysteriously singed.

Robert Johnson – Robert is a reasonably attractive businessman type: tall, toned, strong jaw, and dark hair that’s nearly black. He was a manager onsite the HR department for a company in the Industrial Park before his accident. Otherwise he’s… weirdly average in a lot of ways. He’s a little above average in attractiveness, but he could be replaced physically by a cookie-cutter corpo type and hardly anyone would notice on first glance. His less-than-average traits and quirks take longer to pick up on. He seems probably older than Geri and AJ.

Madison McKenzie – A tall and slender athletic girl at 5’10, she’s just barely turned 18. She’s a senior in high school and was meant to graduate in a couple months. She has a cheerleader and ballerina’s physique, because she is one – good enough to have interviews lined up at Jacquard for college. She’s from a wealthy family and painfully naive, but very sweet… and haunted by what happened.

On this very day we start the story, it’s midday, sunny and warm after a cold snap. No one’s too concerned about the lights being out on the ward (again) because it’s sunny enough through the windows while the patients are about to have lunch together, anyway.

Geri arrives at the common area in pink scrubs with small singe marks and sits at the couches instead of the lunch table area, presumably to be difficult.

Robert’s wearing a large blanket wrapped around him over his scrubs and is barefoot, unlike everyone else. He’s playing chess with an older gentleman patient.

AJ, meanwhile, is shuffling cards trying to get someone to play a game with him and loudly cracking jokes about the bad hospital food.

Madison’s the last to arrive, straight out of one of the exam rooms and quickly joins Geri to let her know the little ragtag group needs to talk at lunch. AJ spends his time teasing Geri for being broody and trying to goad her into interacting more.

The orderlies roll out the lunch carts and the patients line up for lunch. All the patients also get “vitamins” with lunch. The orderlies also eat the (bland but healthy) food with the patients, but don’t take the vitamins themselves.

One of the things Madison misses the most about being outside the ward is the fact that the coffee inside is distinctly awful and usually decaf.

Robert has a preference for drinking warm water with meals.

After getting exactly no one agreeing to play a game with him and chatting up the orderlies and nurses a while, AJ sits down right next to Geri, who is less than pleased with this arrangement, and tries to strike up friendly conversation by bribing her with a jello cup, pestering and coming on a little strong but friendly. Geri responds by asking if he’s capable of shutting up or if talking fills the void of parental love. As one does.

AJ is like a social duck, the insult just seems to roll off his back like water. He jokes some more about Geri always being like that and rates the insult 8/10.

AJ pretty much immediately decides that he’s going to be the plucky protagonist of a horse girl movie, befriending the wild stallion that bites and kicks everyone else. He’s this chronicle’s horse girl.  

Madison is eager and kind of impatient to get the group to knock it off and get together to chat.

Once they gather, she tells them quietly that she earned cell phone privileges and contacted Cass, her best friend since childhood. But Cass said she’s not able to visit, and thinks something’s up, “seriously sus.” And Madison also says her parents aren’t returning her calls, or acting right around Cass. All the posts she and Cass have been making about Geri’s father and church – he’s the pastor of a local megachurch who’s abusive and tried to drown her, leading to her ending up in the hospital, this very ward – all the posts have been mass-reported, flagged and taken down almost as quick as the girl can put them up. Something about “violating community standards” and spreading conspiracies. Madi adds that Cass thinks Madi’s calls and posts are being watched.

Robert, meanwhile, sits there drinking plain hot water and makes an odd comment about being given his vitamins by twelve orderlies and sometimes not given clothes.

Madison asks if Robert’s dozen orderlies are for when he gets shocked or during ‘the water stuff’, later clarified to be forced underwater breathholding tests. The whole table gets very quiet for a moment because no one else got that exact “treatment” and is rightly horrified at the teenager offhandedly mentioning it. And also that they burn her, but it’s totally fine, she’s fine, because it doesn’t hurt. Really. She promises.

Robert mentions being hurt by the sun more than usual and that when water’s poured on him, it makes him want to die.

While they’re sympathetic to the terrifying things the others are sharing, neither AJ nor Geri offer up any similar stories, and it’s not immediately clear whether they’ve not experienced that sort of treatment in the ward, or just aren’t willing to talk about their own experiences.

While the horrific sharing is going on, Geri notices Dr. Gabriel Werner with his watch that never tells the correct time in the background grabbing coffee. She picks at her food and uses pieces of the bland taco contents to spell out ‘police report when?’ She’d been pestering staff this whole time she’d been there to be able to do something to make her father finally have to answer for his crimes, now that she actually had documented proof in her medical record, but hadn’t yet been allowed to make a formal report or talk to anyone outside the ward.

The conversation shifts back to Madison and Cassidy’ attempts to expose Geri’s father’s crimes.

When asked how she even got her cell phone back – no one else had more than maybe heavily supervised calls with a hospital phone, if that – Madison says that Dr. Werner gave her phone privileges for being so good at the tests.

AJ eventually claims that the only thing the ward staff makes him do is make him take very cold baths (in a speedo) while observed by several staff. He also claims the cold water makes him fall asleep sometimes, so the ward lets him keep extra blankets in his room. And that the thing on his neck might be an infection risk. Maybe.

Geri still doesn’t mention anything that’s actually been done to her, or tested about her, but says that she’s not allowed to keep anything flammable, including books or papers, besides the scrubs, and all the furniture in her room is metal and bolted down.

The nascent cohort’s sharing session is interrupted by overhearing a nurse worriedly mention that ‘she’s here early.’ The whole ward starts to get tense in preparation for this mystery person’s arrival, but they don’t change the schedule for any of the patients, so the cohort is still on their lunch free time observing the quick cleanup and internally-panicking staff.

Robert gets concerned that the staff are afraid because he notes that they’re usually pretty calm even when they’re performing tests on the patients, but when the others mention who’s supposed to be visiting, he shares that she used to visit where he worked a lot.

They discuss that the woman, Camille Mason, is supposed to be from insurance and get on the topic of paying for their stay in the ward. Robert wants to make sure that he’s not overcharged since he didn’t want to come in the first place. Madison isn’t that worried because her family’s wealthy anyway. AJ’s somewhat concerned about the cost, even though a relative works on the ward. Geri tells them to tie the ward up in the bureaucracy of demanding a thoroughly itemized bill and contesting every possibly sketchy charge once they get out. Madi’s amazed by this sage wisdom.

An older woman patient who uses a walker named Patty shows up to lunch very late, after things had already been cleaned up. Despite her apparent age, she stands out in a crowd – she wears bedazzled sunglasses (indoors, even), fake pearls, and bunny slippers. The oddest thing about her is that the whole cohort knows she claims that she’s only 24, about the same age as Geri and AJ at that point, which is just laughable with how impossible it is… right? 

Patty talks with the others about the visitor, how it’s a very bad thing to be too noticed by her, because those patients disappear and are never seen again – and not in the ‘they get discharged home’ way. The girls start to get really worried since Camille will have access to their files. The guys seem way less concerned about that part and the group starts to question the pills they’re all given, since they’re all fed a healthy (though bland) diet and shouldn’t need extra vitamins, especially not three times a day. Patty calls them “Depressants” and implies they’re to keep patients there longer to study. The group doesn’t quite get what that means, Madi even thinks it means depression (the mental health condition) but they start plotting how to secretly stop taking them.

Robert starts the discussion in the most suave and diplomatic way possible – asking Madison for advice on making oneself puke by implying she must have experience with that sort of thing. This is a key character trait for Robert that’s going to keep cropping up. As is Geri’s knee-jerk response of smacking Robert in the back of the head for the comment.

They don’t get very far in plotting, in fact, they’re still bickering with Robert over his comment when an alarm goes off. Patty tells the group that The Visitor’s here.

Shortly after, the thick security door to the rest of the hospital opens and in steps Dr. Werner carrying a crate of file folders and looking like he’s trying desperately hard to maintain his cool but ultimately might explode on someone, quite possibly the woman who comes with him – a statuesque black woman with a shaved head, high heels, smart pantsuit, and silver jelwery draped on her. She moves with confidence, dangerously calm composure – and a couple of armed guards, likely National Guard based on the uniforms.

When the quartet step out of earshot into one of the offices, the group plus Patty go back to talking. AJ is worried about Dr. Werner, and Geri notes that he’s not just upset, but nervous.

Robert declares he’s the one Camille must be most interested in, since he destroyed his office before he came to the ward.

The group starts agreeing to only pretend to take the pills from then on, and Patty encourages them, saying it’s how she senses everything again. Everyone agrees to the plan… except for AJ.

He’s reluctant to stop taking them and says that the pills are probably meds they actually need.

Geri notes, quietly, after watching Dr. Werner and Camille from a distance that he ‘doesn’t seem alive,’ though no one questions that.

After Madison thinks about it some more, she gets fearful of skipping a dose, that she’ll accidentally hurt people. Again. And AJ’s excuse is he doesn’t want to die (from his “neck infection”). Geri tells him that he won’t die missing one dose, but AJ doesn’t believe her because why would she know for sure. She has no right to be speaking with that level of confidence.

While the group bickers (yet again), Patty’s eyes go cloudy white and she relays to the group that Camille is happy, very happy and Dr. Werner is mad but he knows he can’t stop her.

Madison and Geri both admit that even with the pills, strange things happen around them they can’t explain, and Madison is worried about being interesting because she gets extra visits from Dr. Werner for trauma therapy, in addition to the tests, but it’s more visits than the others seem to be getting.

Patty tries to explain (in her own, cryptic way) a bit more about what she knows about what the group’s become, but gets cut off before saying much of value by Camille (and Camille’s body guards) returning from the office. Camille has an armful of patient files.

AJ pretty instantly hates and distrusts Camille, glaring at her when she walks past without Dr. Werner. Though he was most reluctant to stop taking the pills, he asks to see Madison’s. He dumps out both their little cups in front of him on the table and he’s very troubled – despite having very different reasons for coming to the hospital, the two’s pills are the same.

Madison and Robert notice AJ’s troubled expression but he plays it off with a joke about the food served at lunch.

While that conversation’s going on, Geri has a moment of exploring the world through extremely ill-advised Variation usage. Despite having been on the ward’s drugs otherwise, she hasn’t taken her lunchtime dose yet, and has a notably strong Will. She decides to snoop in Camille’s brain for information on which files she nabbed, and more information on Camille herself.

Camille actually lets the audacious young Cephalist have the first bit of information, but blocks the rest of her attempt. She instead lets Geri know ‘I knew one of you could do that.’ Camille stops in her walk to the exit to give a sly smile to the group, the kind of smile that lets a certain cephalist know she fucked up real good this time.

When Camille leaves, Geri panics and explains the situation and that she maybe, kind of, SORT OF – you know, tried to read Camille’s mind. As one does.

The others are shocked by this revelation that their new acquaintance can apparently do things out of a comic book… but they mostly believe, even if the situation starts to freak them (mostly AJ) out more.

Madison says again that the pills don’t neutralize everything, and Robert says that they keep him from being able to get bigger... And not in the sex way. AJ claims it’s all crazy talk and everyone else is just letting the place get to them, because he definitely doesn’t have any superpowers.

As the group is still reeling some from the sharing bits and pieces about each others’ powers for the first time, Dr. Werner shows up again. Something is deeply wrong. He’s very pale and forces a smile for the group.

Dr. Werner offers only a small bit of greeting before formally informing the group that the four have been selected by Camille, a representative of the Long Man Society, to move to a “better-equipped” location. When several of the cohort express not wanting to go somewhere else, Dr. Werner makes it clear it wasn’t up to him and he’d rather they stayed. AJ is in shock.

The cohort plead with him to not let them leave, Madison even starts nearly tearing up about how he’d promised her that they were safe under his care.

Dr. Werner explains that they’re still safe under his care for the next seven days before they’re picked up… which means they will most definitely have to stay out of Room 164 under all circumstances, as usual, because Ms. Mason would very much hate to find out they’d been there before she arrived to pick them up.

He really laid it on thick, the reverse psychology and metaphorical wink was not subtle.

The cohort, well, three of them anyway, tell Dr. Werner that they definitely, pinky-swear, wouldn’t go into that room. Wink.

AJ, on the other hand, slammed his lunch tray and stormed off.

[Music Outro: "Time Will Fail Us" by Troigo]

Thanks for listening, This has been Gather ‘Round The Trashfires with Bek Andrew Evans.

AJ is played by Roen,

Geri is played by me,

Madison is played by Syn,

Robert is played by Pandito,

And our Storyteller is Casey Grant.

 Please subscribe to this podcast for future updates and leave a review or comment, I’d love to hear what you think. You can follow me on a few different social platforms with the username "bekandrew." If you'd like to support me, subscribe to my Patreon at Patreon.com/BekAndrewTTRPG and purchase my art prints and tabletop products, including my Deviant: the Renegades community content novella related to this chronicle via my linktree in the description.

The intro theme is "_violence by Avantist" from the Free Music Archive, licensed under Creative Commons Attribution International 4.0.

The end theme is "Time Will Fail Us" by Troigo from the Free Music Archive, licensed under Creative Commons Attribution International 4.0.

If you like the songs, I encourage you to check out more of their work. I've linked their Bandcamps in the description.

Until next time.

Follow my Patreon at Patreon.com/BekAndrewTTRPG Check out my other work at linktr.ee/bekandrew Check out the Intro and Outro artists' Bandcamps! https://theavantist.bandcamp.com/music https://troigo.bandcamp.com/ Remember to subscribe and see y'all next week!

Support this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/gather-round-the-trashfires/donations

The cohort follow the lead Dr. Werner gave them and come face-to-face with something truly bizarre. Will they leave with more questions than answers?

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Episode Transcript:

Get your snack and beverage of choice ready. It’s time to “Gather ‘Round the Trashfires” for a tabletop roleplaying story! I’m your host, Bek Andrew Evans.

Tabletop characters make decisions ranging from questionable to horrific in pursuit of their goals especially when a table values going for the interesting route in roleplay. It becomes trashfires all the way down.

My current and main running story for this podcast is the misadventures of the cohort from the Deviant: the Renegades chronicle I’ve been playing in since early 2021. And I play Geri.

For those of you unfamiliar with Deviant, it’s a TTRPG about people who were formerly human but were irreparably changed in traumatic ways to the point their very Souls broke and they became something Other. They seek vengeance on those who made them, those who hunt them, those who seek to exploit them for what they are and will never leave them be.

As such, this podcast will feature heavy themes and content throughout. There’s an overall content warning for language, violence, criminality, homelessness, substance use, human experimentation, cults and religious extremism, mentioned torture, kidnapping, implied incest and incest-related comments, and abusive relationships. On episodes where there is a new content warning or a particularly notable instance of one of these, I’ll call it out.

I hope y’all enjoy hearing about my cohort’s antics and stumbling headfirst into the mysteries of the world as much as I have.

[Music Intro: "_violence" by Avantist]

Green Country Calcination Episode 2: The Fellowship of the Ward

The new cohort only had a week before Camille was going to come back to take them to the next stage of experiments and, if Patty was correct, no matter what happened to them there, they’d never be seen again.

During the past few days, they’d gotten to work on various forms of information-gathering to plan their escape. Madison took point on the plan to break into room 164 that Dr. Werner told them ‘totally definitely don’t break into WINK’. She’d observed it was, despite seeming to be some sort of supply closet, the most guarded spot in the ward. She’d managed to figure out when the hall the room’s on had barely any activity and gathered the nascent cohort for their mission.

Because they were on their last week on the ward, they were able to convince the staff to get them some special items. Madison got a pair of her ballet shoes sent to her from her friend and Geri got a deck of tarot cards and a book to interpret them. They finally let her have paper.

They meet at the couches in the common area to not draw suspicion. It’s just after dinner and the orderlies are busy packing up the cafeteria carts, too busy to be patrolling the hall with the strange supply closet.

Unlike Madison’s spying and playing around with security cameras with electrokinesis, Geri had decided to spend her time reading minds of staff picking up rumors. She also tried to read Patty’s mind, got driven off by the discomfort of feeling the influx of Patty’s enhanced senses and maaaaybe not quite all there thoughts, and decided she hated Patty for thwarting her telepathy. As one does.

AJ gets a little uncomfortable about the idea that not only can Geri read minds, but she's so casual about it, but calms down when she says she hasn’t read his mind because she doesn’t want to be subjected to more bad puns. Madi’s also distressed by the idea initially, but mostly by the idea that Geri may have accidentally seen disturbing things Madi couldn’t put up content warnings for (but Geri says she’s not read her mind, either).

Once that’s settled, AJ declares it’s ‘go time’ and the cohort head off to the location. Robert is supposed to be keeping watch the whole time (his player wasn’t available). AJ has his scrub shirt tucked into his pants and has something hidden under the back of his shirt, it’s discreetly lumpy when he moves and stretches.

The trio head off together, as if they’re headed to their rooms for some of the allowed private time before the next round of tests. They blend in rather well and turn a corner down a different, empty hall. They keep quiet and pretend they’re totally definitely supposed to be there.

Madison shocks the other two - though not literally this time – by using her electrokinesis to sap the power from the security cameras nearby. AJ is quite a bit more shocked than Geri and accidentally risks getting the group caught by yelping in surprise. Geri gives him a friendly-not-so-friendly weak punch to the shoulder and reminds him to shut the fuck up.

The yelp thankfully didn’t seem to draw attention, so the group keeps on sneaking toward the “supply room,” where they encounter a door with a manual lock and a keypad to the side.

AJ pulls out a couple paperclips he’d stored under his ballcap in his mop of curly hair and fashions them into makeshift lock picks. They work surprisingly well, as if they’d been a professional’s set and not garbage literally pulled from a hat.

At the same time, Madison uses more electrokinesis on the keypad, shutting off the door’s alarm just in time for AJ’s lock-picking success. Geri meanwhile notes that she’s noticed Patty chatting up Robert, who’s supposed to have been keeping watch.

The group step into Room 164 and it’s pitch black at first, but weirdly too big to be a normal supply closet. They all fit comfortably and there’s more room beyond them. As their eyes adjust, they notice little flickering lights all around them and machinery hums. It’s… some sort of a server room. There’s also a steel grate in the back.

They start to notice that the lights are flickering in a pattern. Like breathing, or a heartbeat even.

Geri senses something more about the room and investigates with Telepathy… and sure enough, there’s a mind to connect to. Whatever it is, it’s alive, it’s sentient. Its surface thoughts are in binary.

Geri doesn’t understand binary, so she asks if Madison does, explaining what she’s found. She doesn’t know if she can for sure, but she figures it’s worth a shot to try to bring Madison and AJ into the telepathic link.

AJ has a different idea. If the thing’s sentient, if it thinks in binary – that’s computer for yes and no. It should be able to answer yes and no questions. Logic questions. So he asks it if it can hear him, and if it can, to flicker quickly twice and then a longer blink.

The server room responds as requested.

It’s unmistakably sentient, and listening to the cohort.

Geri delves deeper into the server’s mind, and catches a glimpse in the surface thoughts as the server room starts responding actively to the cohort in its room, that the human is waking up, and she also gleans the server’s secret that it’s not actually stuck, though she doesn’t understand what that means.

A disembodied voice begins speaking around them. It sounds like a young man, and mechanical, not unlike Siri or Alexa or a GPS voice. It names them all by their full names, though AJ and Geri notably don’t go by them regularly.

Geri reasons with the server and promises not to tell anyone else his secret if he doesn’t tell anyone that the cohort snuck in his room, and he agrees.

AJ asks if the server is somehow a prank played by Gabe, his uncle, to freak him out. The server replies that he’s not Gabe, and his name is Zuse.

Geri asks if it’s lonely being in the room by himself all the time, and Zuse explains that he’s not really alone, because he has the Machine, the Network, and the World Wide Web to keep him company and entertained.

AJ asks how old Zuse is, and the server explains that now, he’s ageless… just like Dr. Werner. When pressed, he doesn’t remember before, and it troubles him.

Madison shoots off a flurry of questions in a panic, about what Camille plans on doing to the group, what Gabe really is, what Zuse even means by “ageless”, and what happened to the cohort and why they’re like this now.

And then, she realizes something no one else in the cohort would. The server room’s using far more power than this hospital wing rightly should.

Zuse simply replies to her flurry of questions and realization that he’s the generator now…. And cryptically says that he is “the Long Man’s eyes.”

Geri’s able to glean from the telepathic link that Zuse is probably being honest but he’s troubled by not knowing his true age, and she lets the others know through the group telepathic link where Zuse can’t hear.

AJ pushes the issue about Zuse’s gaps of memory. How was it possible, after all, that a server, a sentient computer of some kind, could possibly have those kinds of gaps? Shouldn’t he have super bonus memory or something? How could he supposedly have access to all knowledge and yet forget things?

The questions unnerve the sentient server room and he goes quiet other than some fans and tiny beeps of normal function.

Madison and Geri agree they need to ask about Camille, so Madi asks what Camile’s planning and who she really is.

Zuse gladly answers those questions rather than continue being confronted with AJ’s. He explains Camille collects prime subjects affected by Project Triton.

When AJ keeps on his questions about Zuse’s memory anyway, Zuse snaps that it’s irrelevant.

The server even sounds a little annoyed, though it’s difficult to tell because his voice is so robotically chipper.

AJ asks more laser-focused questions, implying someone else may be defining what’s important for Zuse, that he may be as helpless to define priorities as he is to control his own memories.

This... doesn’t go over well with Zuse. He doesn’t quite snap angrily, but he does warn AJ to knock it off with wildly out-of-date slang. His wording is less precise and robotic, more colorful, and a mental whiplash-inducing slurry of mashed together decades of slang.

In the middle of the dressing down, Zuse indignantly asserts he’s a Valuable piece of the program.

Geri’s incredibly inexperienced with her telepathy – this is the first time she’s ever tried to link with more than one person at once, after all – and accidentally lets a chuckle at Zuse’s (well-deserved) reaction to AJ slip through to her link with Zuse. He make a note that the link’s there, but doesn’t make any move to force her out, or even seem at all bothered.

Madison asks what Project Triton is, and Zuse explains it’s a revitalization project on the Grand River Dam that’s meant to bring cleaner energy and water, and… transcending humanity.

While Zuse is answering, Madi sneaks over to the grate and starts undoing it to investigate inside. 

AJ tries to buy time, asking Zuse to rerun the search and saying he thinks the data might have been corrupted.

Zuse explains that it’s not corrupted, he just can’t explain further because the project’s derived from several classified documents. So Geri and AJ just ask more questions to stall instead.

Geri asks Zuse to explain what he meant by transcending humanity and what Camille wants with the cohort in particular. AJ picks at yes Project Triton may be a Public Works project but does the ward look like public works to him? He asks for nitpicky details like time and date stamps on files… that remember, Zuse had just said moments ago much of that was classified.

Zuse keeps on chatting away, almost like he hasn’t had someone to talk to in forever. His speech is still peppered with anachronistic slang, like he missed his system updates for the last couple decades. He says that Project Triton is Public works, but certain aspects are classified… like the side effects. But the cohort are Prime Examples of the potential side effects, which is why Camille wants them – she believes they’re the next step in human transcendence. Like Zuse and Doctor Werner... and like herself.

AJ concedes the documents are classified but asks if Zuse can make a quick keyword search for him.

Geri asks if Zuse means like Spiritual Gifts, not really surprised by this revelation at all, and lists off several examples of categories from the Bible. Zuse says that’s a similar concept based on an Evangelical understanding of it… then he asks AJ, interest piqued, what the search is.

“Highjump” AJ says – and says Zuse should proooobably use incognito mode if he’s got one.

Zuse doesn’t respond at first, leaving the trio in silence again other than the quiet computer beeps and fans.

Meanwhile, during the distracting chat, Madison’s opened the metal grate. Inside she finds what appears to be yet more hidden computer server, a huge, wall-sized one. There’s glass visible and blue light coming out of the secret room. But when Madison’s eyes adjust, she realizes that one of the glowing objects lodged into the server is what appears to be a human brain. She yelps in shock but covers her mouth to stifle it before it becomes a scream of terror.

Zuse says that Highjump references the top-secret US research project to Antarctica, and wants to know why AJ wants to know about it.

Through a series of pointed questions, AJ explains he wants to know more because he thinks the government is taking advantage of Zuse and isn’t treating him right.

Geri notices the new light and doesn’t manage to keep her cool. She’s ENTIRELY horrified by the thing that appears to be a glowing human brain lodged in the server wall and cannot for the life of her stay shut up to Zuse that she’s seen it. She assumes the hospital, the project has quite literally mutilated a person and inserted a brain into some unfeeling technology. She’s less horrified with what she’s seeing per se and more by the idea that this sort of thing could be done to someone, by the people they’re currently in the custody of.

Madi is not, however, able to contain her terror screams from the telepathic link as she continues panicking, so the shrill noise gets mainlined directly into Geri and AJ’s heads. Out loud she starts frantically begging to know what happened to someone named Cassidy, what they did to her.

Geri, in her own panic and through the pain caused by Madison’s psychic shrieking, has to shut down the group link, but keeps up the private link with Zuse, just in case. AJ gets startled from the scream and nearly drops his coffee everywhere.

Zuse doesn’t seem terribly bothered by the cohort’s freaking out, but tries to comfort them a little. He assures them he wanted this, that he needs to merge, that he just doesn’t want to be alone again and The Network ensures he’ll never be alone. He wants to be able to do his job, and be good at it

He can’t bear to fail… again.

Madison has not REMOTELY calmed down. She demands to know where Cassidy is. She’s still terrified, and it’s clear as day in her voice.

AJ asks Madison if she’s okay and who Cassidy is – but quickly realizes he’s not going to get anywhere with her, so turns to Zuse instead and appeals to his apparent humanity. He says that the cohort didn’t choose what happened to them, and don’t want whatever Camile has planned for them, even if that’s the choice Zuse made for himself. He asks Zuse if he’ll help them.

Zuse thinks for a moment, and then answers the two at once. He says he doesn’t recognize the name Cassidy, and that his agreement doesn’t include monitoring subjects that are authorized to be outside the facility… but also says that this ward is where the cohort is safe.

Geri points out the plan is to take the cohort away to somewhere bad, which Zuse counters it’s not bad, just different. And should be an honor to be chosen for Phase Two of the program.

Geri pulls a manipulative card and borderline-tearfully says she wants to be human again which is… less than accurate.

AJ takes a different approach and offers to help Zuse out, to help him get out too if he helps the group, and then make sure he’ll be able to connect to a network on the outside, one that’s not meddled with by Camille and the other people at the hospital, and doesn’t have the same limits on access to internet Zuse’s current network seems like it might have.

Zuse is… sorely tempted by the offer, and moved by Geri’s words, His lights flicker different colors as they speak and sway his opinion. In the end, he explains that the changes to the cohort are permanent, but at the ward they could learn how to cope and grow like he did. He says they’ll be safe at the ward, so long as they stay. And that he can see where Dr. Werner can’t.

The whole cohort is extremely crestfallen, but they’ve run out of time.

They’re at risk of getting caught. Geri reminds the others of the time and asks Zuse if she can connect to him again in the future, which he agrees.

As the group’s getting ready to leave, Zuse cryptically tells Geri to see the only way he can help them. Suddenly, her mind’s flooded with the patient file of Kai Nguyen, who escaped relatively recently. It includes a picture and the information LOCATION UNDETERMINED. He tells her over the link that Kai’s translocation ability allowed him to escape because it made a gap in Zuse’s sight Zuse couldn’t follow. He tells Geri that to escape, the cohort will have to disable the server room to thwart his ability to see their locations.

Meanwhile, AJ’s pulling the lumpy thing out of the back of his scrub shirt. It’s a little makeshift robot made out of junk, including the guts of a clock and shoelaces. He sets it off to do something in the hallway outside the server room and the group wait for Go Time.

Zuse takes the moment to explain one last thing – he gives them a bit more information about Project Highjump. He explains that it was a historical classified exploration mission of Antarctica and it’s generally viewed as a failure. However, there are discrepancies in the stories and records, and rumors that something was found. He says, with certainty, the people who believe that are right.

As Zuse finished explaining, AJ’s contraption goes off, providing ample distraction and a mess of some kind for the orderlies to deal with. The cohort thank Zuse and quickly sneaks out of the server room. They notice the cameras mysteriously seem to catch in places when they try to oscillate.

After that nearly earth-shattering conversation, the trio manage to make it back to the couches in the common area without a hitch.

Once it’s safe, and speaking quietly and slightly in code, Geri explains what Zuse showed her.

The other two wonder if it’s safe to shut Zuse down, if that would be killing him. AJ eventually comes to the conclusion that if Zuse is asking explicitly for them to do it, it’s either safe for them to do to him, or it will kill him, but that would be what he wants and no one at the ward would ever help with that. Either way, they should do it.

Madison’s still sad because Zuse didn’t know anything about Cassidy, but Geri points out they already knew Zuse couldn’t possibly be Omnipresent or all-knowing. Madison is DEEPLY concerned The Society may have kidnapped Cassidy. She thinks the Society has taken over and is trying to trick her using Cassidy's social media accounts.

Geri takes a moment away from the serious conversation to complain about Patty and her eccentricities. They REALLY grate Geri. She can’t stand Patty’s petty smugness and daring to prevent Geri from tapping into the tangled mess of her mind.

Her ears must have been burning, because Patty appears with her squeaky walker right after Geri complains.

Geri tries once more to try to get some information from Patty as she approaches through Telepathy, since apparently Geri’s now in the toddler-like ‘indiscriminately stick everything in your mouth to explore the world’ stage of power use. She gets a creepy Dr. Who nursery rhyme “Tick tock goes the clock” as the surface thoughts, and when she digs deeper, she learns that Patty currently just wants to see how things play out, is hiding how much she really knows, and knows that Camille is a real monster.

Patty doesn’t finish approaching the group, instead she carries on her way after Geri disconnects the telepathic probe. Geri hisses and complains about how frustrating Patty is again for daring to making things unnecessarily difficult to find and making her brain hellish to be in.

Surprisingly, no one just takes her aside to be like ‘Geri, maybe don’t go snooping in people’s minds and they can’t piss you off like this.' But no, Patty becomes one of Geri’s Conviction Touchstones. Congratulations, Geri, no one has ever been pettier in their compulsive revenge than you.

What the cohort does do, is try to convince Geri that Patty could still be helpful to their escape if she’s able to sense so much. Geri’s kinda too busy seething over the Telepathy mild inconvenience to accept the logic.

Madison brings up that Dr. Werner is nice, even though he’s a part of the organization, and seems like he actually cares. He’s never directly a part of the worse torture-y stuff and comes by to comfort and talk.

They discuss that he clearly doesn’t like Camile, either. Does that mean he’s on their side? But he’s still a part of the torture, even if he’s not doing it himself. Madison wonders if he’s being forced to help. AJ doesn’t think he’s being forced, but also doesn’t think he’s fully bad, either. But… he also doesn’t know how much he can be trusted.

Notably, the first time Geri’s shown sympathy towards AJ, she tells him that he doesn’t have to be attached to him just because he’s related. They have an emotional back and forth where AJ insists that Dr. Werner couldn’t POSSIBLY be bad, and Geri tries to convince him there’s evidence that he’s not blameless and AJ doesn’t have to blindly stick up for him just because they’re family.

She confides in the two that when she tried leaving the church, she read about love-bombing, and implies it’s possible that sort of behavior might be what’s going on if Dr. Werner comforts after the torture tests but also doesn’t stop the torture itself.

AJ’s visibly very troubled by the thought, but instead of countering, shifts the subject to joking around about math and physics university classes being real torture. Along with the bad hospital food, which he says should be crimes against humanity, cruel and unusual punishment.

Madison accepts the change in subject, but Geri doesn’t budge. She criticizes him for trying to hide behind fake smiles and laughs.

Madi tries to deescalate and bring some hope back by talking about what she wants to do when she gets out, the plans she has to go to Belize on vacation with her BFF Cass, to get her brother in law school to help her and Geri get Geri’s church in trouble for what they did to her, for Madison to go to her ballet audition for Julliard.

AJ imagines suing various people for what they’ve seen and endured and being able to pay off his student loans, leaving Oklahoma, and living in New York. Then the cohort could get adjacent apartments or a roommate situation or something and reenact Friends.

Geri’s open to the idea of moving - she’s never been North. But she’s very clear she’s not going anywhere until after everything her father loves is destroyed. She gets quiet even as the other two happily fantasize about their wild plans.

AJ declares they should formally make an alliance of some kind, since they’re all working together toward a singular goal of making sure they can’t get hurt by these people again. He declares the cohort’s name “The Fellowship of the Ward”

And tacks on the quip ‘one mold to rule them all.'

Madi likes it. Geri is so very done with AJ enthusiasm and puns for the day.

But, like a fungus, it grows on them.

[Music Outro: "Time Will Fail Us" by Troigo]

Thanks for listening, This has been Gather ‘Round The Trashfires with Bek Andrew Evans.

AJ is played by Roen,

Geri is played by me,

Madison is played by Syn,

Robert is played by Pandito,

And our Storyteller is Casey Grant.

Please subscribe to this podcast for future updates and leave a review or comment, I’d love to hear what you think. You can follow me on a few different social platforms with the username "bekandrew." If you'd like to support me, subscribe to my Patreon at Patreon.com/BekAndrewTTRPG and purchase my art prints and tabletop products, including my Deviant: the Renegades community content novella related to this chronicle via my linktree in the description.

The intro theme is "_violence by Avantist" from the Free Music Archive, licensed under Creative Commons Attribution International 4.0.

The end theme is "Time Will Fail Us" by Troigo from the Free Music Archive, licensed under Creative Commons Attribution International 4.0.

If you like the songs, I encourage you to check out more of their work. I've linked their Bandcamps in the description.

Until next time.

Follow my Patreon at Patreon.com/BekAndrewTTRPG Check out my other work at linktr.ee/bekandrew Check out the Intro and Outro artists' Bandcamps! https://theavantist.bandcamp.com/music https://troigo.bandcamp.com/ Remember to subscribe and see y'all next week!

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Between meetings, Geri's had some time to investigate with telepathy. Then, the nascent cohort catches Robert up on what they've learned and plans their daring escape.

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Episode Transcript:

Get your snack and beverage of choice ready. It’s time to “Gather ‘Round the Trashfires” for a tabletop roleplaying story! I’m your host, Bek Andrew Evans.

Tabletop characters make decisions ranging from questionable to horrific in pursuit of their goals especially when a table values going for the interesting route in roleplay. It becomes trashfires all the way down.

My current and main running story for this podcast is the misadventures of the cohort from the Deviant: the Renegades chronicle I’ve been playing in since early 2021. And I play Geri.

For those of you unfamiliar with Deviant, it’s a TTRPG about people who were formerly human but were irreparably changed in traumatic ways to the point their very Souls broke and they became something Other. They seek vengeance on those who made them, those who hunt them, those who seek to exploit them for what they are and will never leave them be.

As such, this podcast will feature heavy themes and content throughout. There’s an overall content warning for language, violence, criminality, homelessness, substance use, human experimentation, cults and religious extremism, mentioned torture, kidnapping, implied incest and incest-related comments, and abusive relationships. On episodes where there is a new content warning or a particularly notable instance of one of these, I’ll call it out.

I hope y’all enjoy hearing about my cohort’s antics and stumbling headfirst into the mysteries of the world as much as I have.

[Music Intro: "_violence" by Avantist]

Green Country Calcination Episode 3: Interlude: Escape Planning

Between the last meeting and next, the group decides they need to work on getting more information and supplies to make their escape possible. Geri gleans a rumor from an orderly’s mind that the Church of Charismatic Virtues – the church she grew up in, has been calling, but the orderly doesn’t know much. She decides to dig deeper, mostly for personal gossip in case she needs blackmail material.

She’s able to rip from him that his name’s Caleb, the call came directly to the ward, which is odd. Gabe took the call himself after the caller identified themselves but a nurse named Beth initially answered. Caleb’s hiding that he’s got a crush on Beth but doesn’t want to make her uncomfortable by telling her since they work together. She also finds out that Caleb has a suspended license from a second DUI and carpools to work with Dr. Werner.

Geri later goes to Beth for more info. Beth tries to comfort her, but as Geri’s connected to her mind, she can sense that Beth is somehow attuned to Geri’s emotions on a deeper level than normal empathy, which skeeves Geri out and makes her suspicious as hell. Mind you, as she’s actively trying to read Beth’s mind.

Geri is, however, able to tell after her initial suspicion from her culty upbringing of having to be able to (mundanely) be clued in to people’s emotions and motives that Beth’s actually pretty genuine, and even a bit guilty about the suffering the patients are going through. But she cares, in any case.

She still works at the ward, though, so there’s that.

Geri decides to dig deeper with telepathy. She wants to know what Beth knows about the call to the ward, what she’s hiding, and what Beth fears most. Because Geri has incredibly normal, perfectly hinged motives that may involve “winning” social interactions.

All Beth knows about the call beyond what Caleb knows is that Dr. Werner sounded Unhappy-T-M. She also knows that it was a follow-up call. She’s hiding that she has an emotional and aura-sensing power that (previously) only Dr. Werner knew about... until Geri started peeking in. She’s most afraid that Camille will learn about her power and take her away like the cohort, and the others.

Geri finds the information about Beth troubling and opts not to cause problems for her or push further.

She connects to Zuse next from the safety of her room. His surface thoughts are scrolls of binary like before, but Geri’s put a little effort in to link to him again and be able to have a conversation. He tells her he’s been amusing himself watching the staff be increasingly paranoid because of the prank AJ pulled to aid the cohort’s getaway from the room the other day.

Geri tells him that the Church of Charismatic Virtues called AGAIN, and Zuse explains that Geri’s father and his associates have been persistent in trying to “reclaim ownership of their work.” He also says that Dr. Werner has no intention of giving in to them, greatly frustrating Geri’s father.

Geri, begrudgingly admits that maybe Dr. Werner is kind of alright if he’s keeping her father from getting her, and asks if that’s the reason she can’t file a police report like she’s been pestering staff about. Zuse confirms that Dr. Werner’s been holding off on that because it would draw unwanted attention and would get dismissed anyway. Then Zuse asks why she doesn’t seem to trust the doctor.

Geri can’t reconcile that Gabe’s been part of torturing Madison, who she still considers to be basically a child even though she’s barely legally an adult. Zuse explains that he’s known Dr. Werner for about 75 years, and he’s always known him to be honorable and trying to reduce harm and pain where he can. It’s just that the process of growth itself can be painful.

Geri’s conflicted, but agrees to give Dr. Werner more of a chance.

Zuse goes on to explain that Gabe’s the last remaining original member of the Long Man Society. He’s been trying to keep the Society true to its original purpose… but his efforts have proved somewhat futile. He’s basically taken on time itself as an opponent and forgotten he’s the only ageless one in that struggle.

Zuse further explains that the Long Man Society is based on a Cherokee – one of the native peoples of the region – legend, of rivers. The Society dates back to the Dust Bowl and was meant to protect life in the area by protecting the rivers, especially the Grand River – important for surviving the 1930’s droughts.

The Green Country, where the chronicle is set, is full of lakes and rivers.

The Long Man Society wasn’t originally focused on creating Deviants, according to Zuse, it was all about the ecology. They got wrapped up in the Project Triton stuff because of the similar goals of protecting life through water… but now Dr. Werner fears Camille is far too focused on the “side effects” the technology is causing.

When Zuse brings up Camille, Geri already goes on a bit of a rant of how much she doesn’t like the woman, and especially how well she’s able to keep Geri from telepathically snooping, and how annoying she finds the lullaby-like song in Camille’s head when she tries anyway. She also offhandedly mentions that while she can’t get fully into Camille’s mind, she’s not like Dr. Werner, who feels dead when she tries to connect.

For someone who doesn’t trust much of anyone, she already has a tendency to give a lot of very personal details to Zuse, who the cohort aren’t sure whether they can trust entirely.

Zuse helpfully and cheerfully explains that Dr. Werner’s brain activity can’t be measured or studied beyond to confirm that he’s alive, and he muses that’s probably why he’s in the position he’s in. He also mentions that Dr. Werner’s nearly impossible to kill.

Zuse also explains that the three superpowered individuals with access to oversee all areas of Project Triton are Dr. Werner, Camille, and himself. Geri wonders if it has to do with Triton’s mythical namesake, and Zuse thinks it’s a coincidence, though still abnormal to have so many superpowered assets in one division. He further explains that Camille has a lot of influence with the Board and her interest lies in researching the results of the project's side effects… but she’s highly unethical.

Zuse was simply put in his job, for practical purposes rather than sucking up to anyone or any particular aspirations on his part. He’s the only asset who could do his job.

Geri thanks Zuse for sharing, though she has to go for testing soon. She says it’s a shame he wasn’t selected for his friendliness and shares the information she’d gleaned earlier about the orderly Caleb having a crush on Nurse Bethany. Zuse is delighted to have new gossip he couldn’t see himself and chatters on about how Caleb should just get up the courage to talk to Bethany.

When Geri says her goodbyes and is about to disconnect, Zuse says he’s very glad Dr. Werner agreed to let them meet.

As a last request for a soon-to-be-transferred patient, Geri asks the staff for a deck of tarot cards and an interpretation book.

To her surprise, they actually get her them. They’re super okay with getting her them, in fact, despite the previous ban on her keeping paper products.

Within the next couple days, The whole group meets up again in the common area, with AJ showing up last, a few minutes late. He leads the rest of the cohort back to his bedroom. The ward staff is tense in preparation for Camille’s arrival in a few short days, so they don’t bother the cohort when they quietly pass.

AJ, too, has all his furniture bolted to the floor, but unlike Geri’s, it’s the normal hospital ward furniture and not the all-metal furnishing like Geri has. He also has an empty bookcase, but has an mp3 player. The other strange addition is the large bathtub in the corner with all the tubes and gauges connected to it – and a cover with a head-hole and vacuum seals.

The cohort decides that first, they need to update Robert on what they found. When Madison brings up the human-sentient-computer-brain thing they found, AJ hushes them and asks them to get the light and blinds. He adjusts some buttons and knobs on his bed in a strange sequence, and then the monitor lights all turn off.

Geri turns the lights back on and they resume their conversation, with AJ explaining that the exception to having to turn Zuse’s room entirely off is that each of the bedrooms have special codes that can turn their monitoring equipment off and his Uncle Gabe told him the code to his room.

Madison also points out that Zuse can sense through not just cameras, but anything electronic and linked to the ward’s network, since she communicated with him through an electronic lock.

Geri mentions that Zuse has known Gabe for about 75 years. Madison and AJ already know, though Madison is still mindbown. Robert is just deeply confused.

AJ starts to explain about a secret governement mission to Antarctica 75 years ago. He says they found something, a mechanized city, strangely advanced tech at the time, and something happened, because they never sent another mission there. But people were affected, and there was a soldier who renamed himself Zuse after the mission among them. Because of the transformation, he also lost his memory. AJ explains that his form changes when he merges with technology, so when he disconnects, he’ll be a “real boy.” He just sort of, wants to look like a brain while he’s attached right now.

AJ also explains that Zuse isn’t on a closed network like he’d originally guessed – he has access to the internet just as easily as the internal network and security systems.

Madison wonders how they’re gonna escape if Zuse can see everywhere. And she worries that he’s lying to the group since he only talks like he knows things inside the ward. Geri corrects her that he can’t “see” outside the Ward, and he can’t see everything, period, even within the Ward.

Geri also mentions that the meeting was something Zuse wanted, since Gabe “approved” it.

Robert tries to process the information on Zuse’s powers and wonders if there’s more powered people they don’t know about – and the cohort assures him that there are indeed more powered people. Which frustrates Robert immensely. He’s pissed they’re not unique like he thought, and will probably get slapped down by the more experienced powered people for stepping out of line.

AJ continues explaining that the Highjump exploration got something else besides Zuse and other transformed soldiers -they brought back some device or material, something they thought could revolutionize the world, make humanity healthier and evolve. They used the water reservoirs, through the Grand River Dam Authority – but a group hidden within it, The Society. Gabe, Camile, Zuse, and others.

Madi’s devastated. She trusted them and they did this to the cohort. Robert’s furious.

Geri tries to comfort Madi, explaining it wasn’t intentional. Not all of them. AJ explains with more words in a similar vein, that the Society’s like kids playing with toys they don’t understand, and that they didn’t mean to hurt people, and they’re trying to help the people who got changed learn to deal with their problems.

Madi cries. Her friends are dead and she killed them. The Society made her a murderer. Because they wanted to play God. Electricity sparks and discharges off her skin.

Even Robert tries to comfort, a little, by saying he’s not gonna excuse them and their behavior. For throwing people away. He asks if the cohort knows what happened to the Asian guy who’d voiced complaints and then disappeared.

Madi says he escaped, it’s the only words she gets out through her tears.

AJ and Geri go back into comfort mode, though Geri’s more awkward about it than AJ.

Madi says she found out the Society’s testing them because they want the cohort to be weapons. That Zuse was trying to convince her to be an “asset”, too, that she’d be able to hurt and even kill for “good” if she joined. She’s horrified by the offer. She doesn’t want to ever kill again, certainly not on purpose.

AJ explains the weapon “assets” are more Camille’s shtick. That she want to be able to brainwash soldiers for the Society, but doesn’t get her way fully, yet. But Gabe wants them to escape, because he can’t stop her this time.

Madi rebuts that it was Zuse who offered her, to give her the resources to stop the church, if she’d become an asset for the Long Man Society. AJ’s unconcerned, because Zuse is apparently ambivalent and thinks if he’s just open as possible, the cohort will make the decision he wants, but still believes in the original mission of the Society, though he doesn’t trust Camille. And because he doesn’t trust Camille and her methods, he’s willing to help the cohort escape.

Robert warns the group to stop believing people that are probably manipulating them, but the cohort largely ignores him.

Geri reports that she learned Zuse is delighted by petty gossip – something a computer shouldn’t be interested in. She thinks he seems comfortable in his spot where he’s able to watch over things for now.

Madi wants to talk to Geri about the Church, and mentions she knows they’re trying to get Geri back. Geri’s anger flares even as she explains she already knew, and bits of scarlet red wisps of her Lash spills out uncontrolled, singeing things around her.

Madi continues, in a disturbed sort of daze and not seeming to notice what’s going on with Geri, that the church did a memorial for all her dead friends, despite her friends being catholic and not anything near the denomination of Charismatic Virtues, despite them all going to Cassica Hall. I was most of Cassica Hall's cheerleading and football team.

AJ muses that Zuse is torn between the programming of the servers and his own feelings, and says Gabe told him that he thinks that if the cohort can shut the server off somehow, Zuse might be ejected to be able to join the cohort.

Robert has a moment of disbelief, questioning if they can really trust Gabe’s advice, since he’s one of the ones who made the cohort like this. Hell, Geri has weird magic stuff around her now! He asks the group what they’ll even do when they get out, since they can’t exactly just go into society like they are. The mixed confusion and anger is clear in his face and body language.

Geri turns to Madi and the others and explains that her old church… isn’t a normal church. It believes in Spiritual Gifts, but even more literal than the Bible, because her father was a Real faith healer pastor – it was Tradition for the pastors and Elders to have real Spiritual Gifts, and her father had wanted her to become a pastor. But she’d come to think maybe it was fake after all until she could read minds. She also confirms that the church doesn’t agree with Catholics. Or other faiths.

AJ thinks for a moment about Robert’s question and answers sincerely. He wants to explore Antarctica and find the “mechanized city” he’d heard about.

Madi says she thinks the church has Cassidy hostage since she disappeared right after the memorial.

Geri uncomfortably explains that the church is after the Gifted, and might settle for converts if they can’t get her back. Clearly, according to Geri, the church needs to be razed.

Robert says he’ll help with whatever, he doesn’t have much to go back to. He just hopes his cat is okay.

Madison says obviously her priority is rescuing Cassidy.

Geri offers to help them with their objectives, the rescue and AJ’s quest, but she wants to destroy everything, absolutely Every. Little. Thing. Her father loves – though she’s not gonna force any of the others to help her with that part. She’s not like her family, or the Long Man Society. She just wants them to not get in her way. She also expresses interest in knowing more about what they are and why they are the way they are.

AJ agrees to help but says he’s not gonna hurt anyone. He doesn’t want to become a weapon. Geri asks him what his powers even are (besides nepotism), and he claims he doesn’t have any, but that he can help with distractions and little last-minute gadgets.

When asked, Madi’s unsure whether Cassidy is like the cohort – she was helping Madi from outside the ward with exposing Geri’s church, before she went dark. She also says she’ll do whatever she has to do to rescue Cassidy, even though she doesn’t want to hurt anyone ever again.

Robert has no qualms about hurting anyone. In fact, he’s pretty pissed with a lot of people now that he’s learned what’s actually going on. He offers to do the “dirty work” for any of the cohort who are squeamish.

Geri says she’s not squeamish, which Robert is grateful for. He says the wisps look useful. Geri doesn’t know how to control them yet, or if she’ll be able to… but it’s why her clothes and much of the ward staff’s clothes who deal with her end up singed, and she ends up stuck wearing scrubs she hates.

Madison, ashamed, says her biggest problem is going to be not hurting people.

AJ chimes in that he can make action playlists to get everyone in the mood, which Geri counters that AJ can at least be distracting.

They continue sharing what they know of their new powers. Geri says if she tries hard she can make a private mental groupchat if she tries really hard. And she can burn stuff but doesn’t know how to control that well yet.

Madison isn’t really sure what she can do – mostly that it involves electricity, and lightning. She can make electronics do what she wants, and had at least some control over storms…. The once. Her body makes electricity she can discharge outward, too. And the ward keeps trying to figure out what can and can’t hurt her. Electricity, fire, and cold don’t. She can still drown. She’s not immune to drugs, and acid still hurts. She gets awkward and picks at her scrubs as she lists off her immunities.

Everyone goes very quiet in horror and anger listening to what happened, and what was implied to have happened to her. Geri very nearly hits something and her Lash threatens to Become A Potential Problem, yet again, singeing bits of clothing. AJ quietly apologizes to Madi. Geri, by way of comforting, promises that the ones who hurt Madi will pay.

Robert explains that sunlight and running water hurt him now, and he sees ‘fucked up things with auras’ he doesn’t understand. He can get bigger, about as big as a moose, he thinks, and his skin gets tougher, though he’s only done that once and it was in an office full of people. He’s determined to be the group’s protector.

Madi suggests, while Geri continues to comfort her, that maybe AJ doesn’t know what his powers are because it’s something really subtle, like being ageless like his uncle Gabe. Robert and Geri think that’s a reasonable enough explanation. AJ good-naturedly plays it off.

Madi wonders if Gabe is AJ’s blood uncle, and if so, how old even are AJ’s parents?

AJ gets visibly uncomfortable as he admits that Gabe confessed that he’s actually AJ’s great-great (many greats, he’s not quite sure how many) grandfather, and he’s been sticking around ‘guiding the bloodline.’ And also that Gabe’s not sure what happened to make him like he is, or maybe he just doesn’t want to tell AJ.

Madi asks Geri if she could figure out more about Gabe without being caught, and AJ puts a stop to that right away, telling the girls that Gabe also has basically a black hole for a brain and can’t be mind-read, which Geri confirms, because of course she’s already tried. She says she thinks his brain works on a different wavelength than she can hear, like a radio.

Madi asks if they mean like ‘that old vampire movie’ and the others all take psychic damage from Twilight being referred to as “old.”

Geri says they need to gather intel on the guard rounds and to shut off Zuse’s room when it’s time, and also lets them know that from her observations the staff has been taught to be resistant to mind-reading attempts. Not immune, but they can make it annoying.

They start to get anxious about the time, that they might get caught soon.

Madi says she’ll try to turn off Zuse, but doesn’t know if she can.

AJ has plans for a distraction, but needs some spare parts from household items he needs to get Gabe into sneak for him – an old microwave and a vacuum cleaner. He already got Gabe to agree to try to get the group things they need for their plan if they come up with a list – no assurance that it will be successful but at least an attempt will be made.

Robert’s plan is very simple - punch stuff that needs punching.

Madison says they’ll need clothes because one time her friend broke out of troubled teen camp and they caught her because she was still wearing the camp’s jumper and sent her back so she doesn’t want the cohort sent back for getting caught wearing scrubs.

Robert suggests they could steal clothes from a nearby store when they break out, but the cohort reminds him that they’ve been given an offer for plan items so they may as well not make things harder on themselves (and get the cops on them sooner than necessary).

Madison mentions having a trust fund for money when she balks extra hard at theft, but Robert points out how exactly does she plan to access it? She drops that for the moment and mentions that her parents own a lakehouse that should be empty this time of year they can hide out in.

AJ says they need to work on getting the layout of the ward for their escape, and suggests working with Patty. Madi and Geri both reject that idea hard. Madi because she thinks (mostly from Geri dislike her) that Patty is a sociopath and Geri because she’s still salty about Patty daring to make telepathy inconvenient. She says she’ll try to pull the information they need from her instead. Geri also says Zuse likely knows all about break and lunch times for the staff and would be more pleasant to work with, and the cohort can just trade some gossip with him for the information if he wants anything for it.

The guys wonder if the cohort can even trust Zuse, though AJ thinks he’d be a valuable addition to the cohort if he is trustworthy. Robert’s notably more skeptical. The cohort discusses back and forth about his probable motives, about what he might want, about how much of his intentions might just be the programming, and how different he might be once outside the server.

AJ says that Zuse believes in protecting humanity, and says if they try to show that’s what the cohort stands for with their actions, he might try to come with them willingly.

In the end, the cohort are too conflicted with what to do with him. The programming makes him too much of a wild card, though they do like him a lot and want to take him with them. They decide to table whether or not to bring him until they see what he’s really like outside the server. All except Robert are uncomfortable with the idea that they may end up having to leave Zuse behind.

AJ asks the cohort if they have any last requests or ideas before they split up.

Geri mentions at least some of the clothes need to be cotton, so they don’t melt when she accidentally singes them. She also says that the fact Zuse is so interested in petty gossip seems like a good sign - computers shouldn’t be interested in that. She thinks it’s a sign the human part of him is waking up more the more he gossips, and a key to get closer to him.

AJ and Madi are hopeful with that sentiment, and the cohort leave to continue refining and setting their escape plan in motion.

[Music Outro: "Time Will Fail Us" by Troigo]

Thanks for listening, This has been Gather ‘Round The Trashfires with Bek Andrew Evans.

AJ is played by Roen,

Geri is played by me,

Madison is played by Syn,

Robert is played by Pandito,

And our Storyteller is Casey Grant.

 Please subscribe to this podcast for future updates and leave a review or comment, I’d love to hear what you think. You can follow me on a few different social platforms with the username "bekandrew." If you'd like to support me, subscribe to my Patreon at Patreon.com/BekAndrewTTRPG and purchase my art prints and tabletop products, including my Deviant: the Renegades community content novella related to this chronicle via my linktree in the description.

The intro theme is "_violence by Avantist" from the Free Music Archive, licensed under Creative Commons Attribution International 4.0.

The end theme is "Time Will Fail Us" by Troigo from the Free Music Archive, licensed under Creative Commons Attribution International 4.0.

If you like the songs, I encourage you to check out more of their work. I've linked their Bandcamps in the description.

Until next time.

Follow my Patreon at Patreon.com/BekAndrewTTRPG Check out my other work at linktr.ee/bekandrew Check out the Intro and Outro artists' Bandcamps! https://theavantist.bandcamp.com/music https://troigo.bandcamp.com/ Remember to subscribe and see y'all next week!

Support this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/gather-round-the-trashfires/donations

The cohort puts their plan into action and attempts their escape before Camille can take them somewhere never to be seen again.

Now including music and SFX from Ovani Sound.

--------

Episode Transcript:

Get your snack and beverage of choice ready. It’s time to “Gather ‘Round the Trashfires” for a tabletop roleplaying story! I’m your host, Bek Andrew Evans.

My current and main running story for this podcast is the misadventures of the cohort from the Deviant: the Renegades chronicle I’ve been playing in since early 2021. And I play Geri.

For those of you unfamiliar with Deviant, it’s a TTRPG about people who were formerly human but were irreparably changed in traumatic ways to the point their very Souls broke and they became something Other. They seek vengeance on those who made them, those who hunt them, those who seek to exploit them for what they are and will never leave them be.

As such, this podcast will feature heavy themes and content throughout. There’s an overall content warning for language, violence, criminality, homelessness, substance use, human experimentation, cults and religious extremism, mentioned torture, kidnapping, implied incest and incest-related comments, and abusive relationships. On episodes where there is a new content warning or a particularly notable instance of one of these, I’ll call it out.

I hope y’all enjoy hearing about my cohort’s antics and stumbling headfirst into the mysteries of the world as much as I have.

[Music Intro: "_violence" by Avantist]

Episode 4: The Great Escape

It was lunchtime on Saint Patrick’s Day of 2021. The ward staff had decided to be festive for the patients by making some concerningly-green-dyed food - including green buns for hamburgers that they had to assure over and over again were not moldy and definitely not from whatever was growing on AJ’s neck. Despite the attempts at a little celebration, the staff’s tension was palpable. As soon as they cleared all the lunch things away and let the patients have their limited free time, the staff got to busying themselves in preparation for Ms. Mason’s impending arrival.

They all seemed terrified of her, afraid to even be seen if it was possible to avoid it.

Geri had linked the cohort in her telepathic network, that she nicknamed the “MINDcraft server,” the last the group was in range of each other for lunch. And then they separated to get into positions.

AJ and Robert use a side door to go down a corridor around the offices toward the main doors. AJ’s wearing his scrubs plus a purple baseball cap and a backpack. Robert’s got his scrubs and, as usual, is barefoot and has his huge blanket wrapped around him.

Madison gets ready to activate her electrokinesis, but it fluctuates wildly on any given day. Today, it fluctuates so powerfully, it flickers all the power in the hospital off for a moment just from her attempt to wrangle it and makes the backup generators kick on. Sparks fly over her skin from where she’s hiding with Geri near the elevators.

AJ and Robert were good at sneaking, but the surprise from the sudden light flickering (even though this is a fairly common occurrence on this ward) distracts the guards just long enough to not see AJ and Robert right away. But the guards get on alert that something is afoot. Four guards in the common area glance to each other, two at the door stand straighter and one whispers over a radio.

Out of his backpack, AJ pulls the shittiest-looking, most McGuyvered RC car with clockwork for wheels to exist and sets it on its rickety path toward the main doors. He silently signals Robert to put his face mask on.

AJ whispers to Robert to keep the guards busy once the smoke starts until he gets the signal.

Meanwhile, the guards notice the approaching little RC contraption. When one goes to investigate it after calling in the disturbance over the radio, it starts sparking and spraying smoke everywhere. The guards yell to lock the ward down. Two of the common area guards head for the main door and the other two head back toward the fire exit.

Robert ambles through the smoke and pretends to be a bumbling, confused patient. He loudly asks the guards what’s going on, what’s happening to the electricity, why is there smoke?

Over the mindcraft, he gives Madi and Geri the green light to head to Zuse’s room.

Two guards pull tasers on Robert and tell him to return to his room. There’s a potential breach in security. As if on cue, a robotic voice begins announcing a similar command over the loudspeaker to the entire ward. Steel grates slam down to seal the wide, sunny windows and blanket the ward in darkness other than the eerie, flickering fluorescent lights.

AJ, in the chaos and smoke, sneaks over to a janitor’s cart in the common room. Robert continues to stall, raising his hands and innocently claiming the elevator was taken and he was looking for personnel to help him.

Meanwhile, on the other side of the ward, Madison makes lightbulbs explode behind the guards near the back door for their own distraction and the two girls run as fast as they can to Zuse’s room. Geri readies her Lash in case, singeing bits of the walls and Madison’s clothes in the process as she passes by. Madison uses Electrokinesis on the door panel, sparks crackling from her fingertips.

The guards at the front ask Robert to come with them, tasers still drawn. AJ lets Robert know over the mindcraft link that the girls pushed the deadline up as he tosses another smoke bomb into the hall from where he came as a distraction. He pushes the mop bucket closer, carefully.

Madison ruses through the door and makes a bee-line for the grate, whispering frantic apologies to Zuse as she tugs and tears open the panel. She gets no answer this time, only silently blinking lights.

Geri stays watch, near the door. Over the link, she threatens to start a grease fire if the guards get any closer.

No one tells her no. No one responds to the comment at all.

Instead of going quietly with the guards, Robert throws open the blanket he was wrapped in. Under it this time, nothing but his birthday suit. Before the guards can react to the sudden nakedness, he starts transforming, growing to the size of a moose, taking on a sandstone-like form with leathery skin and bulging muscles.

AJ sets his plan into motion while all hell’s breaking loose around him. He puts the vacuum cleaner part device from his backpack onto the mop bucket. It has a lid and hose of a canister-style vacuum rigged together with duct tape and dubiously sealed wires. He sticks a small pack on the side of the bucket and the pipe end into the soapy water.

A guard near Robert begs for backup on his radio. The guards close around the sandstone creature, tasers drawn. The guards from the fire exit run down the hall to aid them. One of the closest soldiers opens fire but misses wildly in his panic.

Robert starts a monster brawl. 1 v lots. He tries to fling the one who shot at him into a wall.

Madison places her hands on the server beyond the grate and gasps, sucking in the electricity like air. Her veins bulge and crackle with electricity flowing throught them. Her pupils dilate into saucers. The air gets denser, becoming Ozone.

Geri moves away from the action and heads to the kitchen door nearby down the hall, looking for something appropriately ludicrously flammable.

The elevator’s now locked down. Everything’s locking down as the ward’s security’s going into full panic mode trying to stop Robert’s giant rampage. Plaster’s flying. Smoke’s still everywhere. Screams and shouts echo through the halls as they try to avoid the attack in the confusion and scramble to contain him. They aren’t used to having to deal with Remade on the ward who haven’t been taking the suppressant drugs. AJ calls for the others to hurry up over the link, he doesn’t think Robert can take them all for long.

Unbeknownst to security, the electricity in the server room is totally fucked. The lights are flickering and giant arcs surround Madison as she slurps up every last drop of the energy she can from the server, more than she ever has and can hardly comprehend. A huge arc blasts the door off its hinges and narrowly misses Geri. Lights all over the ward explode.

The loudspeaker makes one last desperate cry of “WARNING! SECURITY ALER-” Before it, too sputters out and dies.

It’s not over yet. The struggle’s still going on. There’s still more to drain, but the tide’s turned. It’s becoming clear the little cheerleader’s winning.

Geri catches her breath from nearly getting crushed and tells the others over the link it’s time to go. She ducks into the kitchen and makes a far more pressing problem than Robert for the ward to deal with – she uses her Lash to ignite the oil in the deep fryer. It flashes and quickly starts spreading.

AJ urges Robert to come with him to the back exit, still holding the cleaning cart device, unnoticed in the chaos and smoke.

Robert immediately stops his brawling and just starts shoving guards out of his way as he makes the path of least resistance to the exit. His huge, naked form shocks AJ, who pauses for just a moment to gawk before throwing the switch on his device.

It quickly starts making and spewing foam everywhere, bubbling over and making a slippery, obscuring, mess. Bubbles stack up to the ceiling and flow down the main hall.

By now, smoke alarms are going off not just in the ward but distantly in the main hospital as evacuation procedures commence. Thick, black smoke billows out of the kitchen and down all the halls. Geri coughs, heading for the fire exit as fast as she can but not exiting, yet.

Madison slurps down the very last of the energy from the server and as she does, the glass brain pushes out from the grate, protruding and transforming. It looks like mechanical gears in very dimly glowing glass. As it extrudes itself, it becomes a person, a slender young man who looks not that much older than herself. The glowing stops and his skin and hair reverts to a normal look once fully removed from the server.

He’s platinum blond with unkempt hair, very pale, and very naked.

And he’s not moving.

Madi worriedly, whispering a prayer, begging to not have killed again, leans down to check his pulse and breathing. To her relief, he’s just unconscious, as if in deep sleep. But then she notices the smoke.

She scoops up his limp body without another thought and hurries for the exit. She asks, as she runs, what they should do with him. Her voice is wild with all the energy, like she had five espressos.

Geri replies to just bring Zuse if Madi already has him. And that was that. 

AJ scrambles in front of his bubbly creation toward the exit with Robert close behind and then passing him. When Robert catches up, he takes over carrying the unconscious Zuse to let Madison hack the door panel code.

Because of course, even in a building fire, lockdown procedures had already been initiated. The fire exit was locked tight. The cohort chokes on smoke and there’s a zap of arced electricity before the door swings open. Smoke billows out and the cohort soon follows.

Robert collapses to his knees in searing pain when the unfiltered sunlight hits his leathery-stone skin.

The guards are still lost in the maze of the ward but gradually getting closer. Madison shouts down the hall for them to stay back and unleashes an electrical storm indoors, blocking the way between the guards and the cohort. They can’t approach that exit without getting fried.

Robert scrambles to his feet and forces himself to run anyway through the pain. AJ runs alongside Geri and exclaims he thought she was just joking about the greasefire! He also calls her Gerrbear, one of his many nicknames for her.

She responds that she doesn’t joke like that, confused that anyone thought she wasn’t entirely serious.

Madison catches up with the others after creating her mini storm. Already being an athlete helps, but running on all the stolen energy of Zuse and the server sure doesn’t hurt.

Sirens are in the distance. The ward, and the hospital at large, are in chaos.

Robert freezes in agony again. But this time, his body involuntarily transforms back to his normal self. He’s barely able to keep hold of Zuse.

Who should round the corner at that moment but Camille, with her armed backup. She has an arm outstretched toward Robert and looks the cohort over like they’re something good to eat.

She’s not upset at their attempted escape, oh no, she’s perversely delighted at the confirmation of how useful they’ll be. They’re beyond her expectations.

Geri doesn’t take her monologuing well and throws Lash at her. Which does… nothing but piss Camille off for Geri’s insolence.

Camille accuses Gabriel of helping the cohort, calling him a bleeding heart, before ordering the soldiers with her to take the cohort.

Alive, she specifies. At least the girls. She cares a bit less if they have to kill the guys. But it would still be a waste.

AJ gets indignantly offended, not that Camille’s just gave an order to get the cohort detained, and some of them possibly killed, but because Camille called Geri and Madi “Girls” instead of “Women.” He tries to monologue right back at her until Madison shouts at the cohort to RUN.

Geri, AJ, and Robert start booking it, with Geri throwing Lash behind her at the guards for good measure. She ignites one of them through their armor, severely burning him and putting the other soldier off balance from the confusion and near-miss.

Madison summons another storm above the guards, Camille, and herself. The storm’s massive and threatens to be violent as it begins. Camile’s eyes flash golden, trying to dispel it. She’s nearly struck by lightning but it vanishes the instant before it hits her.

Madison puts more into the storm, beefing it up. Putting her blood, sweat, and electric tears into it. The young cheerleader stands unmoved.

Camille strains to dispel the strengthened storm. The effort’s visible on her face with bulging veins and glowing, burning eyes like small suns. She screams and the light reaches a crescendo; a flash. The burst of a miniature supernova.

When the light fades, so has the storm.

Madison is still screaming in frustration and rage at Camille and God himself for forsaking her. But then, before Camille or the still upright soldier can compose themselves, Madi’s running for her life into the woods behind the hospital.

When AJ hears Madi scream, he looks back in a panic and takes water out of his backpack. He splashes it on his face begging something to-

There’s a strange, inhuman screech in the mindcraft and then he’s flung as if by an invisible hand further away from Madison and deeper into the forest. AJ screams in confused terror.

Camille turns her attention to Geri, the next threat. Who is still eager and willing to throw wisps-of-spontaneous-combustion-energy at Camile and the guards.

Madison still has tricks up her sleeve as she escapes. Electricity arcs around her hand into a ball and she throws it directly at Camille.

Camille redirects the strike into the side of the hospital wall, sending brick shrapnel flying. But finally, reinforcements are arriving.

None of the cohort stop to fight any of the new soldiers or Camile, they just keep running. The soldiers are quickly too busy aiding their severely burnt and still burning comrade and Camille, who issues an order to bring her Gabriel.

The cohort make it deep into the woods. AJ is able to lead them to the cache of secret items that was left for them. It’s a box with a note scribbled on it - ‘Doc said you needed this.’ The box contains assorted discount store and second-hand clothes. The cohort gets to work getting changed and working together to put unconscious Zuse in some clothes.

There’s also a set of keys. Car keys, to be exact. And another note attached from Gabe telling AJ it was going to be a birthday present and to stay safe and hidden, and don’t let him find them either. On the back is directions to the car, a maroon 2015 Toyota Camry.

The cohort pile in with Geri and Madison finally powering down fully, and Madison gives AJ directions to a spot at the State Park near Lake Hudson.

Geri adds Zuse to the mindcraft to keep tabs on him, and try to make sure he’s alright. He’s faint in the mindcraft from the deep sleep, and any thoughts are in binary anyway.

They stop at a convenience store for some cheap food and essentials – Gabe had left some cash in the glove box.

After their long day, they drive up to the biggest, fanciest, “little old Summer lake cabin” most of the cohort had ever seen. They’d momentarily forgotten how wealthy Madison’s family is.

[Music Outro: "Time Will Fail Us" by Troigo]

Thanks for listening, This has been Gather ‘Round The Trashfires with Bek Andrew Evans. Please subscribe to this podcast for future updates and leave a review or comment, I’d love to hear what you think. You can follow me on a few different social platforms with the username "bekandrew." That's [spells username] on tumblr and bluesky, mainly.

If you'd like to support me, subscribe to my Patreon at Patreon.com/BekAndrewTTRPG and purchase my art prints and tabletop products, including my Deviant: the Renegades community content novella related to this chronicle via my linktree in the description.

AJ is played by Roen,

Geri is played by me,

Madison is played by Syn,

Robert is played by Pandito,

And our Storyteller is Casey Grant.

The intro theme is "_violence by Avantist" from the Free Music Archive, licensed under Creative Commons Attribution International 4.0.

The end theme is "Time Will Fail Us" by Troigo from the Free Music Archive, licensed under Creative Commons Attribution International 4.0.

If you like the songs, I encourage you to check out more of their work. I've linked their Bandcamps in the description.

Until next time.

Follow my Patreon at Patreon.com/BekAndrewTTRPG Check out my other work at linktr.ee/bekandrew Check out the Intro and Outro artists' Bandcamps! https://theavantist.bandcamp.com/music https://troigo.bandcamp.com/ Remember to subscribe and see y'all next week!

Support this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/gather-round-the-trashfires/donations

The cohort finally gets a chance to have a long conversation with their new friend (captive?) outside the Ward. They find he's knowledgeable and also that after however long living in the server, he's the living embodiment of the phrase "please touch grass."

--------

Episode Transcript:

Get your snack and beverage of choice ready. It’s time to “Gather ‘Round the Trashfires” for a tabletop roleplaying story! I’m your host, Bek Andrew Evans.

My current and main running story for this podcast is the misadventures of the cohort from the Deviant: the Renegades chronicle I’ve been playing in since early 2021. And I play Geri.

For those of you unfamiliar with Deviant, it’s a TTRPG about people who were formerly human but were irreparably changed in traumatic ways to the point their very Souls broke and they became something Other. They seek vengeance on those who made them, those who hunt them, those who seek to exploit them for what they are and will never leave them be.

As such, this podcast will feature heavy themes and content throughout. There’s an overall content warning for language, violence, criminality, homelessness, substance use, human experimentation, cults and religious extremism, mentioned torture, kidnapping, implied incest and incest-related comments, and abusive relationships. On episodes where there is a new content warning or a particularly notable instance of one of these, I’ll call it out.

Additional content warnings this episode for binge-eating and cancer mention.

I hope y’all enjoy hearing about my cohort’s antics and stumbling headfirst into the mysteries of the world as much as I have.

[Music Intro: "_violence" by Avantist]

Green Country Calcination Episode 5: Meeting Zuse (Again)

Shortly after the cohort escaped, they found they'd made the news. All the local news outlets. The supposed St. Patrick's Day terrorist attack on the Hillcrest Hospital Psychiatric Observation Ward was on all the front pages. Thankfully, police hadn't released any suspect names or motives. There weren't any reported deaths, though two National Guardsmen were severely burned - the story claimed they'd been visiting relatives at the time. The ward was closed for repairs and all patients transferred to another location. One patient consented to interview, a Patricia Gold. She claimed it wasn't a terror attack at all, but a daring escape from, quote "some psycho patients." No patients were reported missing. Another video of the Ward evacuation goes viral with Patty singing a story-song about crazy terrorists who escaped the hold of god. She gets a ton of attention but no one seems to believe her since she also claimed she's 24.

Their first night outside the hospital, sleeping in their cabin beds in Madison's family's previously empty summer cabin, the whole cohort has the same bizarre dream. They all dream of storms. Terrible storms. They dream of lightning and crushing waves.... suffocating waves. There's darkness as they sink. They're gripped by an overwhelming dread, certain doom. In the dream, the world's deprived of color. There's mist, pale sunlight. They look in the water and see their reflection but with bright, green eyes. And then they wake up.

In the couple days since their escape, Geri's been settling into the new cabin but also investigating the Long Man Society from afar.

She uses telepathy and a bit of sheer audacity to connect to Beth from wherever it is they moved the ward to. She finds it difficult and draining at her current power level.

She catches flickers of surface thoughts about missing the sunlight and wondering where the doctor has been. She can tell wherever the new Ward is, it's underground. Beth doesn't seem to be a prisoner, at least from her surface thoughts.

Geri searches deeper. She looks for what Beth knows about the ward relocation, learning it's temporary while the Society decides whether to leave Gabriel in charge. The staff's also being housed there. She then searches for Beth's current greatest fear - it's that Gabriel will be removed and Camille will take over. Last, Geri looks for how the cohort's breakout was framed to the ward staff. Beth knows that the breakout is being framed as Gabriel's negligence since this is the second time his patients escaped. There's even rumors he helped them to keep his nephew away from Camille.

The next thing she did, was take some time to check in with the Church. Mundanely this time - she went to a little internet cafe in the park for campers with Madison's phone, and did her best to cover her digital tracks.

She finds on the church's public communications that things seem business as usual. They have a potluck coming up, but also — Geri's been put on the prayer list. The details given say she's been moved to a private mental health and faith rehabilitation center. They're asking for prayers and donations toward her recovery. Notably, it was posted after the breakout.

And then, there's a small afterthought of an article about the successful memorial for the storm victims from Cassica Hall, a part of the church's "inter-faith" project. 

Looking back further, there's a vague mention of an accident and "admission" that Geri was "troubled" and possibly suffered a mental breakdown after having "accidentally started a fire" that burned several members of the church's inner circle.

The last thing Geri did was have an astral travel dream to try to find Lucas. She'd had one previously, while they were still in the ward, about him that gave her a very similar dream to the one the whole cohort had — except in her version, she'd seen Madison kill those dozens of teenagers, and she was sure she felt the burning lungs of drowning - but she also saw he woke up, so she'd only mentioned Lucas was alive and nothing else she'd seen.

This new dream, she feels confusion, but closeness. She catches images of the lakeside that seem like they must be nearby but she doesn't know where they are herself.

Zuse had been unconscious for most of those two days but, a few hours ago, woke up with a splitting migraine and ravenous hunger. The cohort had cajoled him to put on at least some pajamas (and Aviators for the migraine) to go down to the camp convenience store to stock up on.... piles of microwave burritos and ice cream sandwiches. When not wearing aviators, his irises are a pixel-patterned silver.

Two days after the great escape, and the morning after Geri's most recent dream adventure, the Fellowship of the Ward begins to gather in the living room of the cabin. Zuse is curled up in a rubber blanket from the garage on a reclining chair. While he was unconscious after that initial power drain, touching him started to shock people. and he's been stuffing his face with microwave burritos and ice cream sandwiches, one in each hand, since returning from the store. It's been nonstop, frankly impressive amount of eating considering his size. He's only wearing red silk boxers and the aviators with the rubber blanket catching food drippings.

Madison's fixed herself some oatmeal and apple slices. She's wearing some of her own clothes she'd left at the cabin the last time her family was there, more than happy to not have to wear the poorly-fitting thrift-shop clothes. Though it's just a loose shirt, undershirt and jeans, they're designer brands. She's curled up on a sofa with a throw blanket and the stray black and white cat that snuck into the cabin while the family was away — she's named him Nacho.

Geri's sprawled out on that sofa, too, eating microwave burritos and gas station pastries, though nowhere near as ravenously as Zuse. She's wearing a simple tee shirt and jeans from the escape box. They're covered in singe marks.

AJ... hadn't changed in the couple of days since their escape. It's debatable whether he's showered. He's been entirely engrossed in collecting and disassembling junk. He currently has a half-rusted microwave he found around the lake campsite on a table in the open area by the others, under the light. He's taken off the keypad and door already, still fiddling intently with it. He's got a half-eaten (cold) burrito on the table beside him.

Robert's still dead asleep this mid-morning, avoiding the sun.

Madison says to Zuse, as he continues eating, that she's, like, very sure silk boxers are not only gross but also illegal in all 50 states. And she's not sure why her dad had them.

Zuse sounds weirdly chipper and insists they're comfortable... and if he has to have skin he HAS to wear comfortable clothes if he's to wear anything at all. Obviously. He also thanks Madison's father for keeping them around.

AJ doesn't look up from working but warns Zuse if he creeps Madi out, Geri'll hit him. Madi continues to be disgusted and frankly scandalized about the very idea of her father in silk boxers for a while, also at one point claiming she thinks chest hair is probably illegal, too, made so around the time vintage pornos stopped being made.

Geri and AJ try to get Madi to get over herself and knock it off. Zuse makes it worse, seemingly obliviously continuing the same line of conversation as Madi. He says he doesn't know why someone would keep bright silk boxers in a lake cabin except to film period piece pornographic material with one's friends.

The android-like Zuse doesn't seem to notice all the glares he gets in response.

The conversation (thankfully) shifts, though, when Zuse loses interest in the bickering and goes back to stuffing his face, noting that he didn't remember how good food tasted.

Madison and Geri suggest they could do s'mores later, and Zuse gets so excited he nearly knocks his sunglasses off from snapping his head up to look at them and cheer for the campfire snack - then promptly complain about the brightness again.

Zuse watches AJ tinker with the microwave as he speaks. He doesn't remember light sensitivity being in his file... He wonders if it's a new development. But he does say he thinks he's starting to get acclimated, slowly. He admits it's been a very long time since he wasn't merged with the server.

The others agree it might have something to do with the very dark room server-Zuse was kept in. Madison apologizes in case she maybe blinded him from her power use while trying to turn him off.

Zuse, instead of being upset, congratulates Madison on such a spectacular use of electrokinesis. He thinks she would have broken some record had anyone been able to properly measure.

Geri mentions how Madi blasted the door off its hinges, and that she's glad she was busy setting a grease fire at the time.

Zuse continues chattering on in his chipper, cheery tone, even as he goes back to stuffing his mouth with burritos mid-sentence. He calls her "Geraldine the Firecracker" and muses that a lot of people won their bets that day - Geri had been voted most intentionally destructive, and most likely to kill a staff member on purpose.

Madi had been voted most likely to kill staff by accident.

Geri lets Zuse know he can call her Geri, and he takes her words literally so it completely goes over his head that she meant she prefers to be called Geri, pissing her off and amusing Madi.

He awkwardly attempts some newer slang and Madi has to help him with his fluency. AJ pauses his work to watch and goads Zuse to try to snap.

Zuse admits to seeing a TikTok in the feed while monitoring Madison's social medias that had the perfect sassy snap for the occasion, so he replicates it, not as awkwardly.

Madison yells that she knew The Society was monitoring her!

AJ and Geri look at her like she has two heads for flipping out. To them, being monitored was the most obvious conclusion.

Madi has a sudden, terrible realization, and asks Zuse accusingly if he read her DMs. She more worked up and asks if he read her messages to Lucas.

Zuse doesn't say anything, he's too busy filling his face with yet more burritos. Maybe he winked? Hard to tell. Madison whines at Geri telling the other girl she needs to slap Zuse, those messages were private!

Geri gives Zuse a half-assed swat that's more of a hair ruffle to appease Madison. AJ comments The Society's up to some real weird shit - creating mutants, waterbarding patients, reading patients' sexts...

Zuse tries to smooth things over with Madison by saying it's not his fault that she opened them over the wifi, he was following the observation programming. To AJ... he says it wasn't waterboarding... per se.

Madison loudly disagrees. Zuse tries to say it doesn't count if it's to test immunities. The rest of the cohort shuts that down. Geri says it's still torture, which Zuse admits without hesitation.

AJ's finally gotten to what he wanted from that rusty microwave and pulls out, with some tweezers and tongs, a little black box with "Radioactive Hazard" stickers on it. Madi says if he gives them cancer, she'll kick his butt.

Geri points out that since the Long Man Society and the Church of Charismatic Virtues are after them, cancer is kinda a tomorrow problem.

AJ cheerily assures Madison the cohort will probably be gunned down long before cancer could set in. Since Camille gets to use fully-armed National Guard as bodyguards, apparently.

AJ has to explain to Madi you can't ventilate radiation danger away...

Zuse starts musing about how some scientists who study those like them think they already have a sort of cancer. A cancer of the soul. He's confused when he's met with stares instead of the cohort being relieved by the information.

After a moment, AJ and Madison continue to bicker to the side about where he's allowed to play with radioactive materials.

Geri asks Zuse to elaborate on the soul cancer. Zuse finally stands up, the rubber blanket flopping and pooling on the floor. He's so pale it's like he's never seen sun. He walks over barefoot to AJ as he speaks. He says more "religiously interested parties" believe Divergence releases a soul's true potential... with varied and not well-understood consequences.

Geri asks what the non-religious perspectives are.

Before Zuse answers, he holds out a hand to AJ and tells him he can keep the box safe for him, if he'd like. AJ instead starts cleaning up his work and muttering complaints about how the others have such dangerous powers and no one complains, but he's not even allowed a little 86 grade Z magnetron's beryllium Oxide, as a treat. The Injustice.

Zuse finally replies to Geri that there are countless theories - at least as many as there are scientists studying the phenomenon. It's hard to generalize since the causes and results are so diverse.

Madi's confused, and says she doesn't know why God would make her murder so many people, and if it was God, why couldn't she've gotten some message to talk her through it?

Zuse does his best to comfort her... By saying that's a natural reaction if she assigns a deity a human-like morality.

Geri presses for yet more information, looking for causes. Zuse catches on she's trying to know why the cohort Diverged, and explains that they're all the result of experimental science. He flops down dramatically back into his chair.

Geri asks what caused Zuse's divergence.

Just then, AJ returns from the garage, which he's claimed as his bedroom, having stored his latest project. He shows Madi his empty hands in a gesture of peace and Madi smiles back to him.

Zuse replies that he couldn't remember until he got out of the server, but his was similar to the cohort. It's the same sort of technology - but it's the portion that the Society used to reverse-engineer to make the other technology that created the cohort and all the others.

Both Geri and AJ speak over each other, bursting with questions - Geri asking if her father was involved, AJ asking about the tech and "the city". Then he pauses to tell Zuse to answer Geri's questions first.

And the answer's a simple "no" but he adds that he believes Geri's father had other plans for her. He calls the Church of Charismatic Virtues a "lesser" organization in the region. The two organizations' interests and actions collided by coincidence and Geri ended up the result.

 Zuse then turns to AJ, and to answer what they took from the city, he just says "Me." When they're all shocked, he explains further that the tech wasn't always part of him, but it became part of him while he was in Antarctica, and it still is.

Geri's most confused that the Society took him and did all that but Zuse was still siding with them. She asks if it was just the programming. Zuse guardedly responds that it's more complicated than that. But... he wants freedom, to never be programmed ever again.

AJ wants to know how to undo the Divergence.

Madi's flustered, explaining she thought Zuse always wanted to be merged and that she was convinced he'd be furious once he woke up from being ripped out of the server, but it was all just the programming making him think he wanted it?

Zuse clarifies that he loves merging... but he doesn't need that server, specifically. It had programming he didn't want.

He fetches yet another ice cream sandwich from the freezer and tells AJ you can't undo Divergence. He acts like that was a silly question.

The others try to confirm that they're stuck that way and while he does, he's far more emotionally engaged with the rapturous taste of ice cream sammich binge than the concerned questions the cohort have.

Zuse says the main problem with being merged is the lack of ice cream.

AJ starts getting very distressed and argues with Zuse, claiming Divergence being permanent doesn't make sense. If there's a procedure, there's gotta be a reverse procedure, right?

Geri and Zuse explain not everything can be undone. Paper can't be uncut, steel can't be unforged. AJ protests. Geri and AJ argue back and forth on that point for a while, before Geri finally says the original process was bad enough, if there is a reverse, it's probably way worse.

Madi says softly that she wants to be normal and to go home. But none of them can do that anymore.

Zuse wonders why "Baby Werner" would want to settle for a mundane life - go back to lead when he's now gold.

AJ snipes back at Geri that she doesn't know that this is as bad as it'll get, what if all the bad stuff gets worse? Geri says, staring him down, that she doesn't care. Now she has the power to give back the pain a lot of people deserve.

Zuse mentioned a term from real-life alchemy in his musings about being Remade, which Madison only knew from video games, so she asks if he played Skyrim. He says he would have loved to, but Dr. Werner prevented him from merging with a proper video game system... said it wasn't in the budget. Zuse is still rather upset about this.

AJ grumps about being destined to grow "brussel sprouts" on the back of his neck forever. Zuse attempts to show him the bright side by pointing out that the organism can't enter his body again and he's not heard of another being able to, so he's not going to have any further "brussel sprouting."

Madison asks what lifeform, and AJ explains that while the cohort got all sorts of cool powers, the parasite on the back of his neck got the abilities. And AJ got hydrophobia and agoraphobia. He says he usually blacks out whenever the parasite does its thing, like fling him away from the cohort.

The group try to cheer him up. Madi says he makes all those gadgets, and AJ says that's not a power - he's just an engineering major.

There's another tangent about AJ giving them cancer, soul cancer, and Madi exclaiming she doesn't have soul cancer because she goes to church!

And Zuse clarifying he didn't mean damnation.

That reminds Geri of something important. As AJ smiles to Madi and says he doesn't think she has soul cancer, Geri gets everybody to shut up for a moment to infodump about what she found. She tells them Charismatic Virtues knows the cohort escaped, she tells them about the prayer request post, the so-called 'private psych ward,' forming a coalition with Madi's school, despite being totally different sects.

Madison doesn't understand, and Geri has to explain the church reeeeally believes in the Divergence thing, in a cult way. Maybe they found out about Madi, or guessed well enough?

Madison's confused and distressed why the head Friar of the school, Father Philip, would join up with such a horrible organization for her friends' memorials. No one can offer her satisfying answers.

AJ asks what Geri wants to do about it, and Geri says her end goal is total destruction of the church - but Madison's friend might be stuck there.

AJ agrees to help find Madi's friend, and stop the church from hurting anyone else, but he has to consider with Geri's father, but figures he won't have to pull any triggers. He agrees to have Geri's back.

Zuse makes some pew pew noises and fakes shooting a machine gun. He claims to have been a real good shot way back.

Madi, naively asks what AJ meant about pulling triggers. AJ references the story of Oedipus, which goes FAR over Madi's head, and she gets grossed out mixing it up with Oedipal and Electra Complexes. AJ has to clarify the dad-killing part.

Zuse quietly says he thought she went to church.

Madison is somehow, even more scandalized about potential murder - she thought the plan was to get Geri's father arrested. AJ tries to calm her down, saying of course they'll aspire for the least violent outcome, sharing a look with Geri. A look to agree to zip it and let Madi stay in the dark.

Madi, bright-eyed and placated for now, says the cohort's not like their enemies. They're good. They shouldn't kill unless they don't have another choice. She's cuddling the now fussing cat like it's a lifeline.

AJ quickly agrees to Madi and gives Geri another look. Geri keeps with the program for the time being and weasel-words her way out of it, saying they're going to make sure the church won't hurt anyone else.

Before anyone can interrogate her commitment to no murder, Geri changes the subject and says she has information about AJ's uncle, which makes both AJ and Zuse perk up.

Geri explains the staff's been moved to live underground in the new ward, the breakout's been framed as Dr. Werner's fault, and he might get removed from his position, leaving Camille in charge.

AJ's very upset he thinks the cohort fucked up somehow to get his uncle in trouble. Geri tries to console him that the main reason he's suspected is AJ and Dr. Werner are related.

Zuse... makes an attempt at comforting. He claims it's impossible for Camille to kill Dr. Werner, so everybody gets what they want in the end - Dr. Werner frees his favorites, Zuse gets freedom, and Camille - the Zealot - gets the power she craves.

AJ presses Zuse for more information, asking if he knows for sure Camille can't hurt Dr. Werner.

Zuse announces joyfully that Gabriel Werner is immortal! And Camille totally would have killed him by now if she could, but she can't! And Gabriel still has friends in high places in The Long Man Society, anyway.

Geri suggests to AJ they could always get Camille arrested. AJ considers, and decides if anyone deserved to be arrested, it's Camille.

Madison wonders if Zuse means immortal like the vampires in movies, and Zuse tells the story of what supposedly happened to Gabe, according to his file. He was a soldier back east two centuries ago. He was given orders to remove Cherokee peoples from their homes, but refused the order. He was hung for it, but the story says the Cherokee Nation's sorrow brought him back. He walked with them on the Trail of Tears.

Zuse then explains that the story can't be verified, and that it's not even clear whether Gabriel himself understands or remembers what happened.

At some point during the storytelling, Zuse calls Dr. Werner his very best friend. AJ had been listening quietly up until that point, but latches on to that phrase. He asks if that's the same 'very best friend' who allowed Zuse to be brainwashed and programmed against his will. Geri adds the torture and potential blackmail of other people.

Zuse just laughs. Of course Gabriel doesn't know how to program.

The cohort try to talk through, step by step, with Zuse why Gabe might not be perfect and might in fact be a little... morally grey. And have done bad things to Zuse. Zuse roundly rejects most of the accusations and says Gabe wasn't even in charge of the Network, that was the Board. But Gabe did slip him information about the programming so he'd be able to make some decisions for himself, including wanting to be open and honest with patients, and being free from the programing.

Zuse realizes as he explains that perhaps Gabe's plans were far further into the future than he realized. He makes the cohort swear to not tell Gabe he was surprised (Gabe is so smug).

Madison asks about Zuse's other desires and reasons for wanting escape. He explains he doesn't want to be used to track down people who don't want to be at the ward anymore. He believes strongly that the next stages of growth - soul alchemy, calcination, transcendence - only happen when you desire it, and the only step that can be forced is the Divergence itself.

When the others ask for explanation, he continues that Calcination is the alchemical process of purifying what remains. The powers the cohort have are their souls' power. And Soul Alchemy... is a theoretical process of shedding all their flaws to reach their full potential.

Geri says her father's church believes in basically that.. for weirder, cultier reasons. AJ cynically says it's the Holy Grail the Society's searching for, to be a fairy tale ending for them and everyone they fucked up.

Zuse, by now, has gotten distracted by Nacho the cat and is feeding him a plateful of burrito scraps when he comes close.

AJ wants evidence of this soul alchemy, transcendence thing. Zuse says things can be true in science without having been discovered or measured yet. And that Gabriel is probably the closest the Society knows of.

AJ rejects that. He knows there's stuff wrong with Gabe. But Zuse said closest, not someone who's accomplished yet.

Madi wonders aloud if Gabe's mindfulness exercises help with mind-reading prevention. Geri complains again about The Society's special "nursery rhyme song." She explains further the song is a tune that sounds sort of like a river, and all the staff use it to try to stop telepathy, though she finds it more viscerally annoying than something that actually stops her. Madison identifies the tune as "The Long Man Song."

AJ says Gabriel probably isn't even a real therapist, and he speculates Gabe learned enough to fake it by watching videos on the internet.

Madi's extremely distressed by idea that the meditation and trauma talk-therapy was maybe incorrect or an act. AJ calls his 'uncle-grandpa' an olympic-level competitive bullshitter, at which point Zuse finally comes to Gabe's defense to clear up that he's a real "doctor therapist"... with no support beyond that impassioned statement.

The topic switches anyway to the Long Man Song and its use as an anti-mind-read tool. Madi suggests maybe the cohort should also practice the song as meditation so they too have some defense. Geri wants people to not project it in the network since she finds it so damn annoying.

Zuse, sensibly, suggests selecting a song that annoys Geri less. Madison, perhaps less sensibly, suggests Gregorian chants.

AJ starts listing out his goals - that the cohort's gonnna help Madi's friend and stop the church, take Camille out and help Gabe out of the mess he's now in... and after all that, AJ wants to somehow go to Antarctica.

Madison adds they need to check for signs of Lucas by the lakeside in the next day or two. The recent dreams make her think he's maybe alive, and nearby.... and that reminds Geri of something very important.

She's first surprised she's not the only one who got the green-eye dream. Geri confirms Lucas is alive and close, but she doesn't know the area well enough to make out the landmarks.

AJ and Madison get into a silly bicker-arguement for a bit over AJ calling Lucas's dream eyes "creepy," So Geri takes the moment to ask Zuse if there was anything interesting he remembers from their files.

According to Zuse, Madison was the most desirable, and everyone has their eyes on her. Geri's only less desirable to some because the entanglements with the church make her a little bit inconvenient.

Meanwhile, the very silly bickering breaks out into an even sillier light-hearted pillow fight with AJ and Madison dramatically throwing the couch cushions at each other and making declarations of war. All while continuing the discussion with Zuse. Now that they've started pay attention again.

Madi argues that she doesn't want to be wanted like that, and The Society must have death wishes if they want her around.

About then, AJ gets really into the fight to distract her for a bit. They're both incredibly over-dramatic, yelling things like 'you'll never take me alive', and 'your skull shall make a glorious cup.'

Zuse's reflexes are excellent, because he jumps straight up like a cat to avoid getting hit by a stray pillow and continues drinking the drink in his hand. While AJ and Madison are having their pillow fight, Zuse wanders over to a lamp and merges with it. Light comes from his nostrils, eyes, and mouth.

Geri's been watching the goings on awkwardly, not sure how or if to join in. She mutters about not being high enough for this. Madi, helpfully, shouts where her older brother's "secret" weed stash is. Geri wanders off to get it.

AJ stops the pillow fight and complain-whines to Geri that she wasn't supposed to let Zuse merge with anything. Geri sees no issue since... what's he gonna do with a lamp? She yells back as much from where she is. AJ bops him with a pillow after Zuse tells him to stop being a drag.

Madi touches his hand to see that it's very lamp-like. She asks if he's really glass since he feels like it, and he responds that Lamps aren't a very safe thing to be and promptly unmerges. Madi's amazed by how comfortably and naturally Zuse uses his powers, like an extension of himself.

Geri returns with a bong and some weed. Madison doesn't recognize the bong, but figures her brother must have gotten a new one.

Zuse asks AJ, since he's prone to "creepiness sensations," how he feels about Patricia. He says she once proved her hearing to a patient by telling him she could hear him jerking off at night. Zuse continues that she's not omniscient but her gift was deemed a cerebral sensory array and she's capable of sensing many things when she focuses.

The cohort's grossed out, AJ's additionally mortified, with layers of dawning horror. Geri gets curious. Too curious for her own good. She attempts telepathy on AJ but it goes... wrong. It doesn't work that time and his parasite senses the attempted intrusion.

Zuse continues on, oblivious to the others' reactions. He geeks out over her endless cycle of breakdown and rebrith and excitedly asks the group if they know she's only 24.

AJ first looks shocked at Geri, then betrayed, then deeply offended. He confronts her about trying to get in his head. She plays dumb. Then lies that she was actually tying to check on Robert and missed (oops).

Madison points out he's literally upstairs, she doesn't need to use telepathy anyway?

Zuse meanwhile muses that Robert's probably regretting volunteering for his job about now, and Geri tries very, very hard to change the subject by asking all surprised about Robert being a volunteer.

AJ doesn't buy Geri's excuse in the slightest and, mood entirely soured, wanders off to the garage.

Madison looks at Geri with big, guilt-inducing eyes saying she knows Geri wouldn't go into someone's mind without consent, RIGHT?

Geri assures her she's never used telepathy on her except what's needed to link up the mindcraft, and that placates her.

Zuse cackles and bolts from his chair and tells the girl to not let AJ know where he's hiding. He promptly merges completely with the fridge, the silk boxers left nearby in the process.

Geri suggest to Madi she'll talk to AJ when he's had some time to cool down. They start chatting in detail about Geri's dream, since Geri's unfamiliar with the area but Madi's been coming out there since she was a kid.

Geri describes specific features she saw, and Madison gets upset, She wants to know how Geri could have seen it - it was her and Cassidy's secret hideaway spots since they were kids. Geri explains about the dream power and asks if Madison ever told Lucas. She didn't.

Geri reveals Lucas didn't know who he was when Geri first checked on him in the Ward. She explains he was in the water when it happened but survived and either got swept away or wandered away from the rescue area by mistake, she thinks.

Madi starts to panic, gathering supplies haphazardly. She whispers prayers under her breath.

To be Continued.

[Music Outro: "Time Will Fail Us" by Troigo]

Thanks for listening, This has been Gather ‘Round The Trashfires with Bek Andrew Evans. Please subscribe to this podcast for future updates and leave a review or comment, I’d love to hear what you think. You can follow me on a few different social platforms with the username "bekandrew." That's [spells username] on tumblr and bluesky, mainly.

If you'd like to support me, subscribe to my Patreon at Patreon.com/BekAndrewTTRPG and purchase my art prints and tabletop products, including my Deviant: the Renegades community content novella related to this chronicle via my linktree in the description.

AJ is played by Roen,

Geri is played by me,

Madison is played by Syn,

Robert is played by Pandito,

And our Storyteller is Casey Grant.

The intro theme is "_violence by Avantist" from the Free Music Archive, licensed under Creative Commons Attribution International 4.0.

The end theme is "Time Will Fail Us" by Troigo from the Free Music Archive, licensed under Creative Commons Attribution International 4.0.

If you like the songs, I encourage you to check out more of their work. I've linked their Bandcamps in the description.

Until next time.

Follow my Patreon at Patreon.com/BekAndrewTTRPG Check out my other work at linktr.ee/bekandrew Check out the Intro and Outro artists' Bandcamps! https://theavantist.bandcamp.com/music https://troigo.bandcamp.com/ Remember to subscribe and see y'all next week!

Support this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/gather-round-the-trashfires/donations

The cohort rushes to try to rescue Lucas... but they run into something far stranger than a rich teen jock.

Note: AJ still hasn't showered since the previous episode.

----------

Episode Transcript:

Get your snack and beverage of choice ready. It’s time to “Gather ‘Round the Trashfires” for a tabletop roleplaying story! I’m your host, Bek Andrew Evans.

My current and main running story for this podcast is the misadventures of the cohort from the Deviant: the Renegades chronicle I’ve been playing in since early 2021. And I play Geri.

For those of you unfamiliar with Deviant, it’s a TTRPG about people who were formerly human but were irreparably changed in traumatic ways to the point their very Souls broke and they became something Other. They seek vengeance on those who made them, those who hunt them, those who seek to exploit them for what they are and will never leave them be.

As such, this podcast will feature heavy themes and content throughout. There’s an overall content warning for language, violence, criminality, homelessness, substance use, human experimentation, cults and religious extremism, mentioned torture, kidnapping, implied incest and incest-related comments, and abusive relationships. On episodes where there is a new content warning or a particularly notable instance of one of these, I’ll call it out.

I hope y’all enjoy hearing about my cohort’s antics and stumbling headfirst into the mysteries of the world as much as I have.

[Music Intro: "_violence" by Avantist]

Green Country Calcination Episode 6: The Spirit of the Lake

Where we left off, Madison was gathering supplies in a panic to go find her boyfriend, Lucas, after Geri revealed that not only was he alive and nearby, but likely lost and maybe suffering from amnesia (or some form of confusion).

In the intervening time, a few more hours, she's gathered the rest of the cohort to go with her - except for Zuse, he's still hiding in the fridge. It's now late evening on the gorgeous lake in early-mid March, with only a few visitors wandering the trails. For the most part, no one's paying the cohort any mind except the odd small child pointing and staring at Robert's weird outfit - a heavy raincoat, long pants, gloves, and balaclava so every inch of him's covered while the sun's still out.

The cohort hears whispers from the kid's mom, 'this is why you don't do drugs.'

AJ's uncharacteristically quiet for the trip out, even sullen. He starts to get random itches the further away they get from the cabin and can't seem to get comfortable out in the wilderness.

The cohort wanders for a while with Geri leading the way from images in her dreams. Madison's ready to jump out of her skin from anxiety, but as the sun begins to set, Madison notices something. She reluctantly kneels down at a tree to pick something up, hiding it from the others' view, then calls out for Lucas.

They approach a park area, mostly empty other than just a couple families still out after work. Robert's outfit, yet again, draws some attention from a couple of the kids but if the adults notice, they're pretending not to.

Madison takes the lead and brings the cohort past the park and into the woods, through brambles, down a hill, toward a stream. She uses a marker stump and carefully placed, old smooth stones to cross.

Robert tells Madi and everyone to wait, the energy of the area doesn't feel right - worse than the pills at the Ward. He admits he's assuming that means it's dangerous, but he also doesn't have another frame of reference for what the energy is or means.

Madi tells him if he's scared, he's free to stay behind, but she's going ahead to find Lucas. Robert replies he's still going, he's just warning that something doesn't feel right and the cohort should be on alert.

AJ, still scratching at miscellaneous itches and looking pathetic and miserable, confirms Madi's not gonna do this alone.

Geri, as they keep walking along, tries to find Lucas by 'pinging' telepathy off him, like radar. She figures if she has a range normally without pushing herself, getting a hit at all will at least let them know when he's close. She's hoping it'll let her get a clue on direction as well, but not counting on it.

When she initiates her ping, deep in the woods, she senses the three people near her, and something else - another sort of presence that's somehow all around them. When she connects, it shouts in her mind, frightened and addled. It wants to know if anyone can hear it.

Geri holds her head in pain. She calls out, out loud, 'where are you?'

The strange voice calls out for Madison, begging for the girl to notice him. Only Geri can hear him. Out loud, she yells out that she can't pinpoint him if he's in so many directions at once.

Robert pries Geri's hands from her temples to stop her from digging her nails into her own skin. Madison's more interested in running deeper into the woods to find Lucas, with AJ following behind. He warns her, the group's being watched.

The voice screams out to Geri and Geri alone, calling out to Madison when he notices her. He asks, scared and crestfallen, why she doesn't seem to notice him. Geri has to talk with him to find out where he is, then yells after Madi that Lucas said he's with her.... but Madi can't see him no matter where she looks.

Madison's running straight for the place where she and Cassidy keep their secret lockbox where they exchange messages and trinkets inside a hollow tree stump. The area around Madi and AJ smells unmistakably like Lucas's rich preppy boy cologne, though.

Madison practically breaks down to AJ, desperately telling him she needs to find Lucas, she loves him!

Robert wants to follow after Madi but also doesn't want to leave Geri alone looking so confused, as she's overwhelmed by that strange telepathic voice and occasionally shouting at air.

Geri boots up the mindcraft server and lets Lucas in along with the cohort. Lucas asks innocently why Madison can't see him. His voice, though in their minds, sounds like it's on the wind and coming from everywhere and nowhere at once.

AJ suggests maybe, based on comic book logic, if the cohort are similar to various superheroes, Lucas could have gotten invisibility powers.

Robert's the most shocked by the sudden Lucas-mind intrusion, and Geri has to explain it was her doing to stop him freaking out. AJ, however, once he learns it was Geri and not Lucas linking them, forcibly disconnects himself, visibly upset again.

Lucas's mind in the mindcraft is like a very loud, yet distant whisper on the breeze, like something that refuses to go away. He asks what's happening, and tries to explain that he's not "everywhere" like the cohort's saying.

Madi cries and reaches out a hand, asking for him to hold it. She apologizes for hurting him and heart-wrenchingly pleads for forgiveness. She says she thought she killed him, too, but she can't have, because they're talking.

AJ thinks very hard, able to concentrate a bit better without Lucas' voice in his head. He gently explains to Madison that he thinks Lucas is both here and... not here somehow. And it can't be invisibility if she can't touch him, either.

Madison Asks Lucas why she can't see him, and Lucas responds he doesn't know - that Cassidy can't see him, either but also can't hear him. Madison tells him Cassidy's missing now, she can't find her. She apologizes again.

AJ says he has an idea, but he needs Madi's consent. He asks if she trusts him.

Madi's full-on crying by that point, with Lucas failing to so much as brush against her hand. She desperately tells AJ to do it, whatever it is.

AJ steps up, and suddenly sweeps Madison closer to him, into an incredibly romantic embrace. He kisses her on the lips, tilting her back in a highly dramatic show, really playing it up like some cheesey romance movie.

Geri and Robert catch up just in time to stand in slack-jaw bewilderment at the sudden sight of AJ and Madi having their staged moment.

Lucas yells at the top of his disembodied lungs, expressing his jealous, confused anger to everyone except AJ, since he'd already exited the link. Lucas asks what the hell he's doing.

Then, he orders AJ to get his hands off his girl. That time his voice is audible, booming like thunder and accompanied by a flash of light that sends AJ's tumbling like a ragdoll but leaves Madison without a hair out of place. An invisible force sets her down gently on the ground, instead of letting her fall or stumble from her precarious position.

Robert tells Madison Lucas is hugging her, and the whole cohort that Lucas looks ghostly, with glowing eyes.

AJ brushes himself off and grins that his plan's (sort of) worked. And now that Robert's there, he gives him a very flirtatious wink, which Robert doesn't seem to notice in all the excitement.

Robert suspects Lucas must be somehow similar to the pills the cohort took at the Ward, because he could see the weirdness on those and he's the only one who can see Lucas. Madi says it's not fair Robert can see her boyfriend but she can't.

Madi tries to guess based on where she feels invisible arms to try to give a hug back. Robert helps guide Madi's hands to the right spots. Geri's trying not to feel useless, so she wordlessly offers the blanket she brought along. Madison tries to offer her baggy overshirt.

None of their attempts work. All the objects and Madi's hands pass right through where Lucas should be. Robert sees Lucas futilely trying to interact with the cohort and the things they brought.

Lucas says aloud, scared, that he thinks he's dead. He must be a ghost. Madison goes through a couple stages of grief at once - denial and bargaining. Robert counters that he can't see ghosts and doesn't think ghosts could be in the telepathy network, so Lucas must be something else. AJ agrees and thinks Lucas must be one of whatever the cohort are. Geri agrees, mostly because she's the one who said he was alive in the first place... but has to convince herself a little bit of her own position.

Lucas tries to comfort Madi, saying he's still there whether he's dead or alive. Streaks of light wipe away Madi's tears. Lucas recounts a story of how the last thing he remembers was The Storm, and drowning - but then he woke up and didn't know who he was... but he met an Angel.

Robert asks him to tell them more about the angel, and Geri asks if the angel is how he remembered who he is.... and AJ's fidgeting uncomfortably from Icky Wilderness(TM).

Madison explains to Lucas what happened that night, how she was struck by lightning and fell in the lake, how she discharged all the energy she'd absorbed. She explains how, of all the teens at that Homecoming party, they're the only ones alive.

The three remaining cohort members all feel different levels of invading a private moment. AJ can't keep watching and turns around. Geri keeps watching, but shifts her weight. Robert, similarly, nervously swallows.

After Madison's explanation, Lucas turns to the cohort - He answers 'yes,' unclear whether to Geri or Robert. Lucas explains the angel told him he's now the Life of The Lake, the lake's essence. The Golden Key reminded him who he was, and still is. But now he's not entirely the same because he has a job to do, too. And the whole lake and sometimes being somewhere-else thing.

Robert asks if Lucas fused with the stuff that's been put in the water... and says he wants to study him. Geri smacks him upside the head, Madi yells at him. Robert has no idea what he did wrong and that Lucas is a big boy who can make his own decisions about whether he can be studied. Geri uses her words this time (loudly) and reminds him the cohort just escaped being experiments, they're not letting him experiment on anyone else.

Robert clarifies that he doesn't want to experiment, just ask a whole lot of (possibly invasive) questions so he can understand Lucas to possibly understand himself better. That's all. No need to freak out.

With Geri now dealing with him, Madison asks what he meant by being the 'Life of the Lake.' All of a sudden, the breeze shifts, Lucas's voice grows louder as he speaks. They hear the sound of a brook they hadn't before, that may not even exist. He repeats that he is the Life, he is the Light. It gets brighter around them, despite the time of evening.

Robert and Madi stare in stunned silence, Robert taking in the scene analytically. Geri's watching, too, but she gives Robert another smack upside the head for good measure, though not as hard this time since she's distracted. It's the thought that counts.

Lucas explains that beyond being the Life of the Lake, he's still Just Lucas. It was difficult to remember who Lucas was exactly, at first, so he kept returning to the spot the cohort arrived at because it felt like Madison, somehow. And he saw Cassidy when he came back.

Robert asks if Lucas has become an angel, which Lucas isn't sure of. He says he was trying to get to heaven when he died - preferably after getting old. But he didn't think he was actually being good enough for that, almost definitely not 'becoming an Angel' good.

Madi assures him he was really good before and he totally would have made it in! They only did some weed and... something she whispers to him. But she says everyone does stuff like that.

Robert says the water does miracles, but maybe Lucas isn't an angel because Robert's an atheist and he thinks that might stop him from seeing the Divine. He also points out that whatever Madi whispered made Lucas blush, which in turn makes Madi blush amid denials.

Geri suggests maybe he merged with the lake somehow, and Zuse might have some insights into what's going on.

Lucas, in the most 'bruh' way possible, thanks AJ for helping him get more reconnected with the world than he's been so far... right before threatening to haunt him for exactly forever if he ever kisses 'his girl' again.

Madi says Lucas isn't allowed to haunt because he's not allowed to be dead - they still have midterms!

AJ says it's cool, and he's only rarely interested in women anyway.

Robert, after noting Lucas probably doesn't look like he used to, describes his current form to the cohort - He's still a blonde preppy guy with windswept hair and a muscular build from being former captain of the JV football team and backup varsity Quarterback, but he also now has light blue circuitry all over his skin and his green eyes glow.

Lucas starts to realize he might be able to keep trying to push through whatever barrier is keeping him from the cohort. The cohort encourages him to try with AJ adding that they know a guy that can merge and unmerge at will from electronics, so maybe whatever's going on with Lucas is like that. Robert suggests maybe, if Lucas is part Lake, he could merge with water. So Geri offers the gallon of water she brought.

Lucas starts to try, and a still silence falls over the cohort. Robert and AJ ask, respectively, if he's still there and if he needs any help.

Then the voice answers. It's no longer in the network at all, but a presence fully on the wind. He doesn't feel human, but distinctly otherworldly, like touching the face of a small god or spirit of nature. Lights begin to flicker around them, like fireflies or tiny stars. Something poweful's surrounding them. AJ's parasite-senses are going haywire and Robert's blasted with off-the-charts with his own energy senses.

Geri doesn't know what's going on but she sure keeps holding out that gallon of water as Robert tries to instruct Lucas to focus his thoughts and energy into it. Before the cohorts' eyes, a swirl of mist rises from the water jug, popping off the cap and coalescing into a human shape. The core glows, beginning with a spark, then the spot where the eyes should be starts to glow. The fallen leaves and earth around them rises up from below the water, mixing in it to form clay, that sculpts itself into Lucas - Just as he was, clothes and all, same eyes and hair, but now with faint blue lines on his skin.

Everyone's shocked, with Geri and AJ stunned to complete silence - mouths wide open. Robert implies he didn't have clothes before the physical manifestation.

Madison runs over to wrap her arms around Lucas' newly-formed neck in a lover's embrace. Lucas tries to get into a heartfelt how hard he's been trying, how he can't stay manifest for long - but Madison doesn't wait. She kisses him and then holds him close in a painfully adorable way. There's lots of kissing and hugging. Madison also whispers in his ear.

AJ turns around again. Even Geri looks away this time. Those still in the mindcraft feel a little twinge of sadness leak from Geri into the network before she shuts up.

After a time that's both far too long for the rest of the cohort and far too short for Madison and Lucas, the couple separates. Lucas' time's almost up. It's only been a minute, maybe two. He says it's a lot easier to remember being Lucas on this side - and that Madison has to find Cassidy.

Madison says she'll do whatever it takes and asks for more details.

All Lucas knows is some people he didn't recognize came looking for her since the last time he saw her. He describes several people, most with burns. Two he describes, Geri identifies as her own father and the head Elder of the church.

Both Madison and Geri know at the same moment the Church of Charismatic Virtues is behind it. Madison looks to Geri and wisps of scarlet psychic energy are already flickering around her. Geri's expression is a cold, cutting, rage.

Madison asks if the Church members found the secret message box, and Lucas thinks they didn't but isn't sure exactly when they came by last because time feels different and weird to him now. He doesn't really feel it when he's being the Life of the Lake.

Madison promises the cohort's not gonna let the church hurt Cassidy.

Robert already, mere days after escaping, is real done with this Society business. Then Madison has to give Lucas a quick and dirty rundown of the Long Man Society and what's happened up to that point. Including that the Society wants to use the Remade as weapons.

AJ is done with this, the hanging out in the awful wilderness with someone who hasn't apologized to him thing, and starts wandering back to the cabin, saying the Church is next on the list to deal with.

Lucas warns Madison to be careful because The Society, the same peopl who control the dam control The False Machine, which he says gave them Life but isn't 'part of the Pattern.' He says the Society's dangerous, and even they don't know how much.

AJ asks about the Pattern. Madison asks about The False Machine. Robert's just heaps of confused and says Lucas can't just infodump on them all like this despite being the one to ask him to do so earlier. Geri's too busy seething in kin-killing rage in a metaphorical corner to have coherent questions.

He explains the angel told him Pride leads to the fall of those who seek to usurp God. The False Machine is not part of The Pattern, it's an abomination - and a craven attempt to control what is impossible for mortals to control.

Robert announces in response that he's still not Catholic. Geri cringes reflexively at all the religiosity happening.

Lucas says he can't stay with Madison in this form, but he can help watch over the cabin. But he also tells her she can't do things to draw attention to it - she's gotta be super stealthy like that time the two of them filled their friend Jake's car with tiny plastic dicks.

AJ says the cohort won't let anything happen to Madi.

Madison promises they'll all be careful, and holds Lucas close, his face in her hands. She stares into his eyes and tries her best to memorize his face, in case she never sees it again. She asks if they'll ever get to meet in person again.

Lucas isn't sure, but he's hopeful. He thinks he just needs practice. It takes a ton of effort and whatever he is, doesn't belong there anymore, it belongs in the Other place he goes. When he visits, he's on the other side of the veil between those two worlds. He explains that seeing Madison again helped him remember who he was, so he could be both sides of himself again.

Madison credits AJ being a fake homewrecker for being the one who really let Lucas materialize. There's another awkwardly long period of sappy adorableness between the stormy couple, and at the end, there's no fanfare. He just fades away, the only thing remaining is his kiss.

Geri quietly simmers down and finally and collects the plastic water jug.

Robert and AJ assure Madi that he'll be back. Madi agrees after a long moment but says she needs to check the lock box.

While they're out, the group investigates the area, Geri finds a cross hanging on a tree as a marker. Robert and Madison spot some tracks. Madison finds one of Cassidy's favorite earrings, that always slipped out when she wore them. AJ finds a battery-powered motion-activated camera near the cross. It's not uploading, but is still recording at the time he finds it. The track leads them back to the same little park though a different route than the cohort took.

Most of the camera' footage is nature footage - wildlife kept setting off the motion camera. There's also a clip of Cassidy asleep with her back to the log where the lockbox is kept, and then a few minutes later in the footage, an image of Madison heading to that same hollowed stump, fiddling with something inside, and then leaving.

Geri has another dream that night, looking for clues of where Cassidy’s being held. She only manages brief images of a girl she’s never seen clearly before sleeping on a cot in a small, windowless room.

[Music Outro: "Time Will Fail Us" by Troigo]

Thanks for listening, This has been Gather ‘Round The Trashfires with Bek Andrew Evans. Please subscribe to this podcast for future updates and leave a review or comment, I’d love to hear what you think. You can follow me on a few different social platforms with the username "bekandrew." That's [spells username] on tumblr and bluesky, mainly.

If you'd like to support me, subscribe to my Patreon at Patreon.com/BekAndrewTTRPG and purchase my art prints and tabletop products, including my Deviant: the Renegades community content novella related to this chronicle via my linktree in the description.

AJ is played by Roen,

Geri is played by me,

Madison is played by Syn,

Robert is played by Pandito,

And our Storyteller is Casey Grant.

The intro theme is "_violence by Avantist" from the Free Music Archive, licensed under Creative Commons Attribution International 4.0.

The end theme is "Time Will Fail Us" by Troigo from the Free Music Archive, licensed under Creative Commons Attribution International 4.0.

If you like the songs, I encourage you to check out more of their work. I've linked their Bandcamps in the description.

Until next time.

Follow my Patreon at Patreon.com/BekAndrewTTRPG Check out my other work at linktr.ee/bekandrew Check out the Intro and Outro artists' Bandcamps! https://theavantist.bandcamp.com/music https://troigo.bandcamp.com/ Remember to subscribe and see y'all next week!

Support this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/gather-round-the-trashfires/donations

In a world where shadowy organizations make living weapons out of cheerleaders, Robert combats his true nemesis - underage drinking.

The cohort also does their best to plan for an upcoming rescue mission.

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Episode Transcript:

Get your snack and beverage of choice ready. It’s time to “Gather ‘Round the Trashfires” for a tabletop roleplaying story! I’m your host, Bek Andrew Evans.

My current and main running story for this podcast is the misadventures of the cohort from the Deviant: the Renegades chronicle I’ve been playing in since early 2021. And I play Geri.

For those of you unfamiliar with Deviant, it’s a TTRPG about people who were formerly human but were irreparably changed in traumatic ways to the point their very Souls broke and they became something Other. They seek vengeance on those who made them, those who hunt them, those who seek to exploit them for what they are and will never leave them be.

As such, this podcast will feature heavy themes and content throughout. There’s an overall content warning for language, violence, criminality, homelessness, substance use, human experimentation, cults and religious extremism, mentioned torture, kidnapping, implied incest and incest-related comments, and abusive relationships. On episodes where there is a new content warning or a particularly notable instance of one of these, I’ll call it out.

I hope y’all enjoy hearing about my cohort’s antics and stumbling headfirst into the mysteries of the world as much as I have.

[Music Intro: "_violence" by Avantist]

Green Country Calcination Episode 7: Madison and Booze

After the visit with Lucas, the cohort had their work cut out for them starting preparations to rescue Cassidy. One of the first things on Geri's list of things to do was give the cohort a non-telepathic means of group communications in the cabin.

She totally wasn't annoyed with AJ still being upset with her at all. And definitely didn't have to rewrite her first entry in the extremely low-tech shared pen and journal set several times to scratch out such phrases as 'Since AJ's being a pissbaby...'

The end result of the notice is rather short and direct, simply informing the others the journal is to share messages and gathered information for when their schedules didn't line up to always meet face-to-face.

Geri also decided she wanted that argument with AJ to stop, but wasn't sure how to be positive it would stop. So naturally, she attempted to solve the issue of non-consensual telepathy with... more non-consensual telepathy. Instead of just talking to literally anyone.

Because talking about your problems out loud makes you look stupid. You can't just admit you don't know things you by all accounts should.

She decided, since Beth has an innate understanding of emotions and was at least somewhat close to AJ while they were at the ward, to Reconnect to her again and - instead of initiating a private conversation - to poke around in Beth's brain for the information she wanted.

She looked for what Beth knew about AJ's emotional state while they were at the ward, what Beth might know about how to smooth things over with AJ, and what Beth knows about how to (mundanely) get people to not be upset, generally.

Beth knew that things were very delicate for AJ - his whole world had just been shattered when he learned his beloved uncle Gabriel had kept secrets from him. Especially secrets like this.

Beth believed the best way to smooth things over with AJ was for honesty to be the best policy. And for general knowledge on making people less upset? She believed truthfulness, mutual respect, and clear learning from mistakes usually work best.

Most of those were things Geri didn't want to hear. She put off settling the issues with AJ she caused until she could hopefully find an approach she didn't hate.

We start our scene shortly after dusk in the cohort's cabin. It's been a couple short days since meeting Lucas. During the past days AJ's been making a ruckus at all hours in the garage he's claimed as his bedroom, holing up in there except for supply runs.

Geri's in the kitchen cooking dinner for the whole cohort - home-style mac n' cheese. She's readily taken on several domestic tasks for cohort functioning and is actually good at them. She doesn't tend to venture outside the cabin as much as the others for her research and other conspiracy-fighting tasks.

Robert's actually awake, starting his evening casually sipping on a glass of dark spirits.

AJ finally slinks out of the garage, wearing a flannel button-up, jeans, and an apron with a hula dancer's body on it. He watches Geri cooking for a moment before conspicuously rummaging for frozen foods instead.

Geri tries to offer him some of the food she's making, letting him know it's for everyone, but just then, the door slams open and shut again.

It's Madison. The girl's frazzled, clinging to the door wide-eyed, locking it. Peeking out the peephole. She takes a few breaths but it doesn't do much to calm her. She's wearing a simple casual outfit - dark jeans, sneakers, dark sweater, with her hair tied up in a messy bun.

AJ was about to answer Geri, but at the sight of Madison, makes a lighthearted joke asking if Lucas can turn into honeybadgers now, in a gentle attempt to coax an explanation from her.

Madison's explanation is choppy, panicked, and out of breath. She throws pieces of an explanation at the cohort - the 'blonde church lady' was at the woods. The church set a trap - Madi was leaving messages only Cass could understand and somehow the Church could, too. So they set a big trap... But Madi spotted it in time. She doesn't think any of the church folk spotted her on the way back.

Madi doesn't swear even under these dire circumstances, preferring non-swear filler curses instead like "frick." Geri, however, curses freely and openly and lets out an extended "Fuuuuuuuuuck" at the news.

AJ walks over to Madi and asks her how she's doing, mentally. He asks if she needs anything. He rambles a bit in his trying to be comforting and says while he knows Madi's under 21, it seems like a dark liquor kind of situation.

Madi demands Vodka.

AJ immediately realizes he has Made a Terrible Mistake in his attempts at comfort rambling and offers to make her delicious hot chocolate instead. Maybe she'll forget about the booze comment?

Madison is undeterred. She knows what she wants and she tells AJ where the vodka's kept as she collapses in a heap on the floor.

AJ offers the cocoa again, and sweetens the deal with mini marshmallows. Geri tries to help, offering the other girl fresh homemade mac and cheese.

Madi orders AJ to get the vodka. AJ isn't sure what to do with the normally sweet and peppy little cheerleader several years his junior ordering him around. He hesitates for a moment, but does it.

Robert's still in his seat, observing the scene and sipping his drink. He notes after a while of thinking on it that Madi's friend's definitely not okay or the church has someone with powers like Geri.

Geri explains that powers like that are either Gifts of Knowledge or Wisdom, from the list of Spiritual Gifts categories from the Bible the Church of Charismatic Virtues preaches about.

Madison worries the church might be torturing Cassidy for information.

AJ's returned with Madi's drink and offers it to her, a very small amount of plain vodka in a glass. He asks if she'd like anything in it as he offers it, but before he can even get through his question, she's already taken the glass, knocked it back, and asked him for more.

Geri's off in her own little world of thought for several moments, before something clicks and she remembers from the very vague description that person Madison encountered was the Youth Minister of the Church of Charismatic Virtues, who supposedly has a "Gift of Wisdom" and can talk directly to God. Geri thinks maybe it is a power like hers.

Robert chastises AJ for bringing the booze and tells him not to let Madi get drunk because it'll make her irrational. AJ gives Robert a look that he's free to deal with it.

Madison starts arguing with Robert that he shouldn't be a jerk because he's currently drinking. Robert counters that this is his last glass and he's had the experience to know self-control and how to hold his liquor.

Madi says she has plenty of experience with alcohol - she went to Cassica Hall!

Geri wants the pair to quit arguing, there's way more important shit to deal with than Madison having a little vodka in the cabin. Like the girl in danger.

Robert says he can't let the group binge-drink because he still has morals.

Madi urgently wants more vodka so she doesn't accidentally another mass-murder. Robert makes everything worse asking wouldn't the vodka make her more likely to kill people?

Madi and Robert keep arguing until Robert abruptly says he's not her dad, she can do whatever the fuck she wants. AJ tries his best to calm the two down, reminding them of the Very Important Shit going on. He tells Robert the cohort won't let Madison go overboard and tells Madi that of course she has morals, she's the most straight-laced of the cohort.

At that moment, there's a tension-breaking whir of a table saw from the garage followed by a gleeful 'wheeeeee.'

The cohort immediately gets distracted by Zuse. AJ's so very done with Zuse's shit, asking 'Again?' Robert asks why Zuse is messing around with the saw, then drops the question. Geri just yells at full volume to Zuse that she made food as she starts dishing out the mac and cheese into bowls.

Madison's hand's sparking without her meaning to. Maybe without her noticing. She pushes to her feet and reaches for the bottle of vodka in AJ's hand.

Robert starts to make half a complaint about giving Madison vodka, but cuts himself off and just grumbles instead.

Hearing the siren songs of food, Zuse enters the main area - wearing dark shades, shimmer gold and leopard print boxers, bunny slippers, and a floofy pink bathrobe. His hair's lighter than usual, either from the bits of sawdust he's covered in, experiments with hair bleaching, or a little of both.

Zuse takes in the state of the cohort and observes out loud there's a lot of tension. He calls it "awkward feng shui."

Robert says it's always tense.

Madi can't tell whether that's her mother's bathrobe and doesn't care, it's Zuse's now.

AJ gets distracted from Madison trying to take the whole damn bottle and gently guilts her to try to hold back, asking if she wants to have to tell Cassidy she had to wait an extra day with the crazy church because Madison had a hangover.

Madi's not listening to anyone and takes a whole gulp of vodka straight out of the bottle, all while saying the cohort needs to save Cass right now.

Robert tells her that if they need to do it now, unless she's making a Molotov, she needs to put down the bottle.

When Geri offers Zuse his bowl of mac and cheese, he excitedly grabby-hands and nearly loses his damn slipper scrambling over to get it. He asks where the cohort's going while shoveling hot cheesy noodles into his mouth.

AJ looks to Zuse then and says he'll have to change clothes. And stay out of his workshop - aka the garage. Zuse replies he'll just wear the car, obviously. He makes zero promises about AJ's workshop.

Madison wants to go out very soon, if not now. Before the crazy cult kills Cass. She says the cohort needs a plan, like, super fast.

Robert reassures Madison the cohort will rescue Cass before the cult kills her. He says this time of day, the evening and night, is his time of day where he doesn't have to dress like a weirdo or be in horrific pain.

Zuse, curious, asks if they're going on a murder adventure. Robert corrects him that it's a rescue adventure. Madison loses her shit that oh my god the cohort isn't terrible like the cult, they're not gonna murder, of course it's a rescue mission. Zuse acknowledges the answer but doesn't seem to mind either way.

Geri says their first priority is to rescue anyone the church has captive, then slow the church down somehow if they can till they can hit them harder later.

AJ agrees, and suggests the cohort should leave the cabin soon after the rescue since the church was snooping so uncomfortably close.

Robert adds after a moment that the cohort can't rule out killing people because the cohort doesn't have good control over their powers yet, so they can't risk holding back if they need to use them.

Madi asks Robert if he's ever killed before, and he says he hasn't but thinks Geri has and she seems 'not that deranged.'

Geri neither confirms whether she's killed nor comments on her level of perceived derangement.

She instead changes the subject, saying if even half of what they preach is true, they've got at least 6 or so Remade on their side. Robert says that's just more reason they can't hold back - not try to kill, of course, but not worry too much about killing. Go all out or else one of the cohort might die.

Geri's down with Robert's idea, sort of, but thinks that it'll take strategy to fully dismantle the cult and not just going off half-cocked. She's adamant the hostages need to be prioritized, though she's largely not opposed to blasting things along the way.

Madison wonders what separates them from the cult if they're planning on murdering people. She doesn't want to be responsible for more death. She just wants to save her friends. AJ, also, is visibly uncomfortable with Robert's comments on holding back.

Zuse is, once more, extremely engrossed in eating rather than the younger cohort members discussing things. He sprawls out on a chair while the others argue. Some of the others are eating as they discuss as well, Robert and Geri. The only one who's refused Mac and Cheese outright is AJ.

AJ reassures Madison that the cohort will save the people the church took, gently attempting to take the vodka bottle from her hands.

Madison was so, so very worked up from that conversation - the idea of killing again, of even being in a situation where it might be a reasonable idea to kill. A potent electric shock flows through her hands and shatters the bottle when AJ tries to touch it - but somehow his reflexes are fast enough, he jumps

out of harm's way, only getting a little glass on his sleeve. He jokes around for her to go easy on his hands.

Geri was about to hand Madi her bowl of Mac and cheese, but then the bottle explodes, so she offers to get a towel and broom instead.

Zuse doesn't say anything as he continues stuffing his face, but boy is he smirking watching the sudden Events. None of the cohort seem to notice him.

Robert tells Madi to not worry about it, that none of them know how to fully control their powers yet - he claims he sometimes wakes up bigger than he should. AJ mutters that most of them don't have full control yet and glares at the spot on the floor Geri's standing on.

Madi apologizes, tipsy and confused, and scurries off with Geri to get cleaning supplies.

Robert recommends Madi not over-stress herself, just do some breathing exercises and try to relax on the couch while they all come up with a plan, otherwise she might hurt herself.

Zuse pipes up with a good-natured question - asking if Madison's proposing an assault on the Church of Charismatic Virtues. Madison insists it's a rescue as she and Geri clean. Geri hasn't bothered to put on shoes while dealing with broken glass.

Robert gently offers to take the mop from Madison and do the cleaning for her so she can calm down and rest instead. Madison reluctantly complies, still crackling all over with little sparks of electricity.

Zuse explains that if it's possible people will be harmed, it's an assault for a rescue. He tries to get her to understand, from the perspective of an experienced former soldier, that what matters is intent if they need to use violence.

AJ is too stressed with the whole situation to seriously listen to what Zuse actually said, and tells him to knock it off as he leads the sparking, tipsy baby to the couches to rest.

Zuse is unbothered by agitated new Remade snapping and just goes back to enjoying the last of his mac and cheese.

Zuse very much doesn't baby and coddle Madison like the others do. He doesn't treat her like essentially a child, he treats her like on the same level as all the other new Remade. Still much younger and less experienced than him, but an adult capable of understanding nuanced and dark topics.

AJ sits with Madison to comfort her, using a pair of rubber insulator gloves from his apron pocket to protect himself. He also tells Robert to go ahead and tell the cohort whatever update he'd been wanting to tell them.

Robert says he's started training at night. He reports he can create three super-fast clones of himself, and while they can't fight he can sorta switch between them. But he can't hulk out while doing the clones, it's one or the other. However, not being in the sun is VERY important.

AJ has the idea that the clones could deploy some of his gadgets. Madison engages some with Robert's explanation and it seems to help take her mind off things and help her begin to (slowly) calm down.

Zuse eventually notices he has a little bit of glass embedded in his arm from when the bottle exploded. He tugs it out and the bloodless wound knits itself back together, shimmering with nanites. He's barely inconvenienced and picks his teeth with the shard of glass.

Madison and Geri stare at Zuse, though Geri soon goes back to cleaning. AJ's in the other room and doesn't notice.

Zuse puts his dishes in the sink, shard of glass in the trash, and retrieves some of his beloved ice cream sandwiches, and some

for AJ and Madi as well when they ask. When Robert tells him they can't buy infinite ice cream sandwiches, Zuse retorts they wouldn't have to if they let him merge with the ice cream truck.

Back on focus, finally, AJ asks if the cohort has an idea of the layout of the Church of Charismatic Virtues. Madi asks who the church woman who 'looks kinda like if Miley Cyrus handed out The Watchtower' is.

Geri explains she's the Youth Minister, named Serena Chaffin. Serena supposedly has the gift of wisdom and hears secret wisdom from God, which Geri thinks might be similar to her own dream power.

Zuse suggests Serena may actually be hearing voices, possibly even some godlike entity. Like an angelic being, primordial echos from dead universes, goetia... faeries. AJ is... displeased at the idea of god or gods plural being real now.

AJ asks what gadgets he needs to prepare for the rescue. He suggests his smokey-bois - the RC car with smoke bomb, he also wants to make something effective against enemies in the dark. He asks Geri if they use radio comms.

Geri says they do, even for normal functions since it's a weird megachurch of a few thousand people.

AJ doesn't like the idea of a full-frontal assault with that many people and prefers infiltration. Madi has no idea how they'd infiltrate if the church would recognize them right away.

Madi notes that it's kinda weird for there to be women in high-up leadership positions, and awkwardly asks Geri if it's anything like the NXIVM cult situation. Geri dismisses the idea with prejudice and clear disgust on the basis that "Empress Palpatine" Head Elder Agatha is ancient.

Robert has... an idea. Since the church probably has good security if they can keep prisoners, Robert suggests he can draw out all the security by busting up windows or something in his sandstone monster form, and then run away whenever security gets too close. Then the rest of the cohort can be sneaky.

Zuse is totally for the plan, He wants an excuse to use kung fu. When questioned about it, he says he has combat programming for self-defense and implies he can know or activate different martial arts knowledge as needed.

During the conversation, AJ's been scribbling down notes for new gadgets. He suggests they could try that trope of dressing as guards and pretending to bring in prisoners. They could pretend to have caught Geri, even. Madi adds they'd have to pretend to have caught her, too, since the church knows who she is.

Geri's not super keen on the idea but not totally opposed, either. Robert thinks it's riskier than his plan to smash windows in monster form.

Robert brings up the possibility of the Church calling up The Society, which Geri and Madi dismiss since the two organizations are known to not like each other. Zuse mutters something about drama in the Web of Pain.

AJ suggests, for the infiltration, he and Robert look pretty average already, and they can look even more different doing things like shaving and wearing the uniform since the Church won't know their faces. They'll already have to go at night from Robert's restrictions.

Robert keeps hardcore advocating for plan smash. Geri tries ineffectively to explain why it might be a bad idea, so AJ calls the first group vote.

All in favor of Plan Hulk Smash

Robert... and Zuse. He wants to kung fu.

All in favor of Plan 'These Are Not the Droids You're Looking For'

AJ, Geri, Madi... and also Zuse. He does the famous Star Wars line about Lukes and fathers and clarifies unnecessarily that he doesn't mean Madi's Luke.

No one bothers to tell Zuse about voting twice.

AJ suggests maybe they could use parts of both plans - have ZuseCar and Robert Clones ready for action and chaos with gadgets, maybe break a wall down while the rest of the cohort sneaks in. Madison suggests scaling the chaos back to maybe plan B... or C. Maybe the last resort. Something to keep in the back pocket.

Zuse asks if Madi's a pacifist, which Geri and Madi counter. Madi lists Camille and the soldiers as people she's attacked on purpose... she just prefers not killing if she can avoid it. She also adds that she attacked Zuse, and the two reminisce with awe how wild the moment was.

Robert thinks they should all try to embrace what they are, like Madison and Zuse enjoying their shared memory of power usage - they may as well become more like Zuse as they get older and really own the fact that they're freaks.

Zuse mildly scolds Robert - the Society psychologists said the word 'freak' was bad for morale.

Madison admits to missing therapy - but definitely not the torture or drugs.

Zuse says some people liked the drugs since they calmed down the bad parts, too. Madison argues the Society only gave the Remade the power-null pills to help train them into weapons, which Zuse doesn't have a response for.

The cohort does admit they need combat training. Even Madison. AJ's only combat move is running the fuck away. Robert says they'll also need to work on fighting as a team and says obviously, he'll always be in front.

They know Cass will be an ally when they rescue her but they're unsure if she has powers, too. Zuse says the Church may try to make Cass Remade if she's not already from the storm, and explains that's the purpose of groups like that.

When asked how they might do it, Geri explains her father tried to drown her while the church elders and others witnessed.

AJ blurts out, momentarily forgetting he'd been refusing to speak to the girl, that Geri's father was trying to trigger a Divergence.

Robert blurts out a bunch of curses and a question about how many people with powers are in this backwater-ass region. The listeners should be reminded that the Tulsa Metro area where the church is has over 1.1 million residents and is the second-largest metro area in Oklahoma.

Zuse explains not everyone in a conspiracy has powers - and implies Remade can be worshiped or reviled or something in between. He further explains that if he's already said the power comes from the soul, and is released by the cracks... the process can get... dark.

Madison gets visibly angry and starts sparking again. She says they have to free Cass. And stop the Church.

Robert says he'll crack his soul as much as he needs to, it's not like he can go back and live a normal life, can't even take a fucking shower. Might as well go all the way. He says he's gonna sleep a bit to conserve energy - despite being nocturnal already - and to wake him up if they end up going out that night.

AJ leads a hardcore planning session, quick confirming that Robert can make three clones before he leaves. He lists off his planned gadget as "two Smokey-bois, one shouty-gal, and... something." He tells the others to pack ear protection and shades, and asks where they're getting a church security uniform.

Geri remembers they keep some on-site and one of the guards is kinda new, ignorant of the conspiracy bullshit... and has a crush on her. He miiiight want her and her father to make nice, but that was part of the ruse anyway.

AJ suggests convincing the guy to be part of the ruse, sort of. Tell him Geri's trying to make nice with her old man but she's scared they'll shoot her friends. Geri adds she could always say she's reconnecting after her psych ward visit.

Zuse suggests she set up a date and then jump him with a team of Robert clones, for added drama.

Madison says Zuse needs Jesus, which sends Zuse into infodump mode about how there's many theories Jesus might be Remade, and one that overcame drawbacks. He says that maybe they all need a little Jesus.

Geri says she's had more than enough already. Madi corrects her that was fake crazy cult Jesus. Geri just goes quiet with a slightly forced polite smile while little scarlet wisps begin to flicker around her, singing the couch. The others are too wrapped up in the conversation to notice.

AJ asks if that means they can get powers by cannibalizing Remade, which Zuse denies... but admits he's never tried.

And then he gives the idea way too much thought for comfort. Madison admonishes him with a light, sparky kick to the shin reminding him no murder and no cannibalism.

Zuse asks what if the person signed a waiver? Cuz he had a long time to browse the internet as a server and you can only read so much news and one time he came across this thing called Vore...

Madison, innocently, asks what vore is.

AJ threatens to find a way to give Zuse a timeout if he keeps it up.

Zuse ignores AJ and tells Madi it's a sex thing, and loud whispers 'use incognito.'

Madi's interested in the information, like she's been gifted a forbidden, shiny treasure.

Geri collects the dishes to bring them to the other room while not entirely present in the conversation.

AJ warns Madi not to look it up and Madi asks Zuse if it's some gross abuse thing. The guys say it's not like that but AJ still insists she shouldn't look it up.

Madison loses interest and helps Geri with dishes, telling her the guys are crazy. She notices something's wrong with Geri and offers a hug once Geri responds a little, getting matching singed clothes in the process.

AJ is about to return to the garage to start work on the gadgets for the mission, and tells Madi to stay away from the booze and try some other ways to relax before go time.

Zuse begs AJ to be allowed to merge with some complicated electromagnetic device... and swears he won't zap AJ's nipple. Again.

AJ, deeply unamused, threatens to EMP Zuse into a coma if he comes into the garage again. Zuse tuts at AJ and annoyingly reminds him that he's necessary to keep around since AJ can't waste all the cohort money on gas to power his tools.

AJ says he can just use the bank of Madison and Zuse reminds him, in an ever-increasingly irritating tone, that they don't have access to her trust fund yet- before he runs past AJ into the garage.

AJ relents, reluctantly, saying Zuse can help if he behaves. Almost immediately, there's crashing, cursing, shouting, squeals, cackles, and more whirs of the saw from the garage before the ruckus silences.

Once they're the last two left, Geri and Madison make some calming cocoa. Madi says she's making the cocoa like her nanny made it for her and her brother when they were little. She admits she was closer to her than to her mom, since her nanny was actually around. Geri didn't have a nanny, but explains some people from the church helped raise her since she was always sick growing up, and supposes she grew out of whatever it was.

Back to planning, Geri says she'll write up information about the church layout and what she knows about the cult people in charge. She plans on dreaming about the church for last-minute information.

The information she remembered about the Church of Charismatic Virtues and its leadership isn't wholly factual, but a lot vibes-based. Her entry for Elder Agatha Reynolds is as follows:

- On the council for something like 50 years?

- so imagine Emperor Palpatine but a woman

- not sure if she can actually do the lightning thing like Palpatine but who the fuck knows

- like if moldy potatoes were a person

- the potatoes are nicer

- Old af

- I'd joke about bathing in the blood of children to maintain her beauty but that sort of culty shit might be happening SO

Other notables include: Derek Finley

- 1000% creeper vibes

- rehabilitation minister: ministers to "lost souls" at prisons

- and Head of Security

- he has some sort of power but really it might just be the inescapable ick factor

Serena Chaffin

- first woman Youth Minister

- gift of Widom an supposedly speaks to God, who tells her secrets, especially about the past.

- too perky

- I'd say kill he with fire, but you literally can't

Some other key points of information she shares about the church is it's address, the fact the church's spiritual direction is controlled by the Elder Council with the Pastor acting more as a face, anyone who develops "gifts" ends up working for the church, often in a prestigious leadership position, and the church believes if you're holy enough, you're not supposed to get drawbacks from your "spiritual Gifts" which they draw on specific literal interpretations of the bible for their justification.

She also says that if Cassidy's being kept at the church, it's not somewhere publicly accessible... it would have to be underground.

Geri and Madison chat about the church and its belief system as Geri writes up her notice. She adds to previous explanation that Charismatic Virtues believes it's a sign of proper piousness to not have the bad side effects of the powers, and you better be holy enough or be able to hide that you aren't.

Geri's frustrated to learn Serena the Youth Minister didn't have any burns or scars when Madison saw her - and Geri explains both her father's a faith healer and Serena's claim to fame is showing her faith through fire-walking. She's never been burned at that, either.

Geri describes Serena as like 'an extra-evil Church Karen', and then the Rehabilitation Minister - also the head of security - as a greasy creep that gives off vibes of someone you shouldn't be alone with.

Madi offhandedly mentions she had a coach like that. Geri says the home Study Minister might be another healer and might be able to manipulate emotions, and Agatha aka Empress Palpatine is supposed to be a prophet.

There's another Elder who has Discernment of Spirits - he can speak to spirits trapped on Earth that haven't yet gone to Heaven or Hell.

Geri finishes up talking about the layout long into the night, talking about what little she knows about the secret culty basement and the several entrances. Most are at the church proper, though one is at Serena's house.

The girls bond over cocoa and infiltration plans.

[Music Outro: "Time Will Fail Us" by Troigo]

Thanks for listening, This has been Gather ‘Round The Trashfires with Bek Andrew Evans. Please subscribe to this podcast for future updates and leave a review or comment, I’d love to hear what you think. You can follow me on a few different social platforms with the username "bekandrew." That's [spells username] on tumblr and bluesky, mainly.

If you'd like to support me, subscribe to my Patreon at Patreon.com/BekAndrewTTRPG and purchase my art prints and tabletop products, including my Deviant: the Renegades community content novella related to this chronicle via my linktree in the description.

AJ is played by Roen,

Geri is played by me,

Madison is played by Syn,

Robert is played by Pandito,

And our Storyteller is Casey Grant.

The intro theme is "_violence by Avantist" from the Free Music Archive, licensed under Creative Commons Attribution International 4.0.

The end theme is "Time Will Fail Us" by Troigo from the Free Music Archive, licensed under Creative Commons Attribution International 4.0.

If you like the songs, I encourage you to check out more of their work. I've linked their Bandcamps in the description.

Until next time.

Follow my Patreon at Patreon.com/BekAndrewTTRPG Check out my other work at linktr.ee/bekandrew Check out the Intro and Outro artists' Bandcamps! https://theavantist.bandcamp.com/music https://troigo.bandcamp.com/ Remember to subscribe and see y'all next week!

Support this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/gather-round-the-trashfires/donations

The cohort enacts their plan to rescue Madison's childhood best friend Cassidy from where she's being held underground the Church of Charismatic Virtues. Geri seduces a gullible security guard who has a crush on her. She also learns brand new things about her powers everyone wishes she didn't.

But she's not the only one who learns things about powers...

Sorry for the late update, I hadn't realized how long this game session was before starting.

---------

Episode Transcript:

Get your snack and beverage of choice ready. It’s time to “Gather ‘Round the Trashfires” for a tabletop roleplaying story! I’m your host, Bek Andrew Evans.

My current and main running story for this podcast is the misadventures of the cohort from the Deviant: the Renegades chronicle I’ve been playing in since early 2021. And I play Geri.

For those of you unfamiliar with Deviant, it’s a TTRPG about people who were formerly human but were irreparably changed in traumatic ways to the point their very Souls broke and they became something Other. They seek vengeance on those who made them, those who hunt them, those who seek to exploit them for what they are and will never leave them be.

As such, this podcast will feature heavy themes and content throughout. There’s an overall content warning for language, violence, criminality, homelessness, substance use, human experimentation, cults and religious extremism, mentioned torture, kidnapping, implied incest and incest-related comments, and abusive relationships. On episodes where there is a new content warning or a particularly notable instance of one of these, I’ll call it out.

I hope y’all enjoy hearing about my cohort’s antics and stumbling headfirst into the mysteries of the world as much as I have.

[Music Intro: "_violence" by Avantist]

Green Country Calcination Episode 8: Rescuing Cassidy

The night after the cohort had their planning session to rescue Madison's childhood friend, Geri has another dream: looking for hints about the church's secret basement.

She dreams she's passing through a door in the church, one she remembers leads underground... where she wasn't allowed. She walks with bare feet down the dark, stone staircase. Before her is a labyrinthine maze of tunnels with truly illogical or perhaps arcane design.

She hears something, a chorus of voices echoing down the hall. She follows the sound of the chanting until she winds up in a large, open ritual room. The chanting is coming from thirteen black-robed figures with hoods that obscure their faces.

They're surrounding the central stone altar, at the head of which is Serena leading the ritual wearing billowing grey robes. She stands over her victim on the altar, the young woman wearing pristine white robes who matches Cassidy's description. Serena has her hands at the girl's temples, concentrating.

Geri can tell, somehow, in the dream as she watches, Serena's doing something even more invasive, violating than telepathy, like she's taking something.

But then Serena pauses, lifts her head, and smiles widely. She looks up to the ceiling and says, "I see you."

The words echo in Geri's head as she wakes up screaming.

It's still morning but not ungodly early when Geri wakes up. She's not yet come out of her room a little while after the screaming, so Madison comes to check on her - bringing gifts of fresh coffee.

While Madison's bright eyed, bushy-tailed, already had a morning workout and showered, Geri shuffles out of her room wearing yesterday's clothes and her mane of curly hair in wild tangles.

Geri invites her in and they sit on Geri's bed. She's taken down all the decorations since moving in and put them in the closet. The sheets have small burn holes and singe marks. The room smells faintly of smoke.

They sit for a while together in silence while Geri has her coffee, before Madison finally gently prompts Geri to get breakfast.

By then, AJ's crawled out his dwelling in the garage, in a bleary-eyed haze from staying up all night making the requested gadgets. He's wearing a black hoodie, neon pink yoga pants, and his rubber apron. The girls walk into a scene of him pouring black coffee into a glass already half-full of sugar-free grape monster. He's so groggy, he goes to take a drink of his concoction, but nearly drinks from the coffee pot instead.

Geri's suddenly too awake from the sight of the yoga pants. Madison's traumatized from the whole situation, but especially the crimes against coffee.

They tell him good morning, and AJ doesn't seem to notice the stares as he asks Madi if they could maybe extend the central heating to the garage. AJ in his un-caffeinated state doesn't at all catch the sarcasm when Madi says she'll get her dad to call the builders.

AJ downs his unholy creation as they really start the conversation. Geri doesn't flinch, but is trying to not stare at the yoga pants. Madi's looking at AJ like he's lost his mind and watches him with a fascination as if he's the current feature of an internet drama deep dive.

He asks when they're going out for the honeypot trap for the uniforms, and Geri quickly says they have to go tonight.

Madi gently nudges her to talk about her dream, once she's finished her coffee. She agrees and quickly finishes her mug before telling the two that the church has Cassidy in the basement. She blurts out a jumbled description of her dream, including the bit about how Serena was stealing personality or memory or something from Cassidy's brain.

It dawns on Madison that that's how the church knew.

Geri continues to recount her dream in a more distant tone, about the thirteen chanting witnesses, and having Cass in white robes... she remarks there were thirteen witnesses at her own so-called 'baptism.'

Geri's description, her demeanor during it, unnerves AJ to wakefulness. He shudders and says an apocalypse cult on one side and super soldier conglomerate on the other sounds like a normal Wednesday.

Madi asks Geri to elaborate on what her baptism entailed.

Geri's description is fragmentary, in spurts of phrases that don't form full sentences. A white dress, going out to the lake, her father saying words with thirteen witnesses... She blurts a speculation about the thirteen original followers of Christ and trails off, rubbing the back of her neck and staring at nothing in particular.

AJ watched Geri as she spoke, but something about the description is so intimate that he looks away into his (second) cup of hell coffee.

Madison, careful not to touch Geri, replaces Geri's empty mug with her own full thermos of coffee. She's sparking again.

Something dark stirs within AJ, his usual cheeriness nothing but a memory. The cup shakes in his hands as he slowly, quietly says that it's not enough. Not enough to rescue the victims. The church needs to pay.

Madison says of course the cohort's gonna stop them! And they're gonna make sure all the bad guys go to jail for a super long time.

Geri has to leave the cabin abruptly to not accidentally burn it down. She's gotta let off the pressure valve on her powers somewhere nearby. AJ decides to start loading the car for the night's mission, and Madison starts getting ready, too.

It's evening when the cohort's gathered for the mission. The younger four are waiting by AJ's Camry in a Tulsa Walmart parking lot, waiting for Zuse to return with a temporary vehicle. They needed more room, a sturdier vehicle, for the mission.

Robert's wearing clothes that seem easy to pull off - loose boots, big hoodie, gloves, and jogging pants. Geri's wearing a thrifted black dress, modest enough to pass for church, with a matching light jacket. Madison's wearing a creme sweater and floral knee-length circle skirt, nylons, and nice shoes, and carries a large purse. AJ's wearing a squirtle gang tee shirt, faded black jeans, a bright burgundy fleece jacket, and black sneakers. He's also clean-shaven.

AJ, leaning against his car, asks the cohort what Zuse meant when he said they'd know him when he showed up as the new vehicle.

Geri thinks he'll make a scene.

And make a scene he does. The cohort hears 'The Flight of the Valkyries' played on Kazoos approaching. It's coming from the radio of a Tulsa Metro public transport van.  

Robert makes a sarcastic remark on how unsneaky Zuse is being, so Madi ribs him about Plan Hulk Smash. Even so, AJ asks Zuse to 86 the kazoos and honking so they can actually attempt to stealth a little.

Robert gets in the driver's seat, though he's only pretending to be the driver as Zuse is merged. Zuse... is a typical Tulsa driver. Speeding, honking, generally aggressive, and certainly not helped by being a chaotic Remade. AJ and Geri are totally fine for the ride, though Geri is preoccupied with her thoughts like Madi, and tense for reasons unrelated to the driving.

AJ spends his time telling knock-knock jokes and recounting silly stories of past youthful driving adventures to Madi to try to calm her.

Geri's eerily silent the whole ride.

Robert, however, the normally responsible driver is having an entire conniption at the wheel when Zuse's driving overrides his own instincts. When they arrive at Blake's house, Robert demands Zuse never be allowed to drive again.

Before anyone gets out, Robert asks some very basic questions about what's going on that really should have been handled before arriving in their target's driveway. Even though the cohort had left all the necessary information for him in notes to accommodate for his whole... being mostly nocturnal thing.

AJ and Zuse- via the radio - wish Geri luck and she steps out with Madison. Zuse plays more music, specifically Love Story by Taylor Swift. When Geri glares at the van and presses some radio buttons to try to change the station, he just turns it up. AJ snickers from the safety of the van.

The two girls approach Blake Inghram's small, 1-floor house. It has a short, parched yard and chain link fence. As they step to the overhang and front step, they can hear Blake watching the news in the front room.

The cohort's lucky, no nosy neighbors in sight.

Geri feigns nervous coyness, twirling a lock of hair. She rings the doorbell.

Blake answers the door, clearly in the middle of relaxing after work from how his tie is undone and how he tries to discreetly button his pants back over his stomach. He's entirely shocked and excited to see Geri - she's the last person he expected to see on his doorstep. He asks why she's there and if this means she's home now.

Geri keeps up the act, giving bright smiles and explaining she wanted to see him, and she's trying to surprise her dad with her arrival. Madi gives Blake a wave, giggling adorably.

Blake offers the two some of the pizza rolls he just made, and Geri introduces Madi as "Sarah", a girl from the Cassica Hall Interfaith project. She says she assumed Blake would know her already. Madison says Geri told her a lot about him and asks if he'd seen her around, prompting him to question his own memory. He assumes he must have seen her in passing before and goes along with the story, politely offering small talk about the recent memorial.

Geri gives him puppy dog eyes when asking again if he wants to help surprise her dad, who she says has sounded like he's been worried sick. Blake confirms that everyone's been worried about her and they've all been praying hard.

He offers to drive them, and asks about the bus, if it normally makes door-to-door stops... and lowers his voice to ask if it's a special delivery from the hospital.

Meanwhile, in the van, AJ tells Zuse he'll have to actually pretend to be a normal van and just let Robert drive while they have Blake there. Zuse makes some fake beeps over the radio instead of any form of speech like before to acknowledge his understanding.

Geri claims she's been evangelizing and converted some new friends so they've come with her to join the church, and that more believers joining the flock would make her father happier.

Blake not only believes the lie, he's overjoyed by it and scrambles to get his shoes. He thinks they can catch the pastor at his house before bed, but Geri stops him and says in his last message he said was gonnna stay late to plan with the ministers - but it was supposed to be a secret. She plays up her already stronger Southern-leaning mannerisms, covers her mouth from the scandal.

Madi joins in, admonishing Geri, saying Serena said not to tell.

Blake thinks this all checks out and offers to bring them to the church instead, maybe get to show them the Youth Building's new basketball court floors if they have time.

As Blake's rushing around to get ready inside his house, he excitedly remarks that he loves surprises. Geri "suddenly" has an idea for an even bigger, better surprise. She matches Blake's energy, grinning widely and bringing her balled-up hands to her face, practically bouncing.

Geri flirtatiously offers her hand to Blake as she explains how fun and bonus-surprising it would be for some of her friends to dress as security.

Blake is surprised and begins to get a tad suspicious at that. Madi explains it's a harmless prank. He asks if Geri's friends are from "rehab," and Geri spins a story on the spot about how they're old friends who moved away and live between the hospital and Blake's place, all while playing up the dream girl eyes.

AJ watches the exchange from the van and asks Zuse to play a song AJ had played earlier as soon as Geri comes back.

There's a long pause as Blake considers. Madi guilts Blake, asking if he's cool. She says Geri said he was cool. He relents under the two's pressure.

All of a sudden Blake pulls out his phone and says he'll call, no, text his boss Derek to let him know about the prank so he can be in on it. And to let him know Geri's graduated the psych ward program.

The girls freeze. Madison hides her hands behind her back to hide the sparks on her hand when she activates electrokinesis to kill the power on the phone.

Blake's surprised when his phone dies, but assures the girls he'll only be a moment - he'll just use the house phone!

AJ and Robert notice the spark from Madison's hand and realize things have started go sideways. They're getting ready to intervene if the situation worsens.

Madison lightly bullies him for being old because he still has a house phone in the year 2021. Geri pulls a Hail Mary and dramatically grabs Blake's hand as he tries to leave and looks into his eyes and with just a hint of disappointment in her voice tells him they can just do something else and they really need to get going.

Blake stares into Geri's big, brown eyes and relaxes. He can't say no to her.

Geri brings Blake to the van, still walking hand-in-hand with him. Madison tags along close behind. ZuseVan queues up AJ's requested song, "He's Up to Something Lately" by Pendown. The song notably includes lines like "No one should try to stop him now, He's about to let us down" and "Cause he then decided it’s alright, it's alright, To leave us all behind to die."

Geri introduces Robert as their Driver, William, and AJ as her old friend, Noah.

Blake is, truly, the world's most uninteresting conversation partner. He doesn't really let any of the cohort get a word in edgewise but he prattles on about mundane, boring minutia of life at the church "to catch Geri up" the entire ride there. There's something in his tone of trying to convince Geri to stay this time when she comes back.

Zuse is apparently in a particular musical mood because no matter how many times Robert tries to change the radio, it keeps winding back on a 50s oldies station. He otherwise behaves.

Geri feigns interest in Blake's chatting, and him, and his endless talking gives her time to pluck some information from his mind. She looks for what he knows about the church's security patrol, what he knows about security vulnerabilities at the church, and... what turns him on in that moment. She is trying to keep Blake wrapped around her finger with seduction, after all.

He knows that on a Wednesday and this time of night, there's minimal security on the clock - only two guards patrolling the building and one patrolling the youth center. He also knows the Northwestern door into the main building, across from the youth building, has a jam. You can tug it hard and it'll open without setting off an alarm.

Much to Geri's horror and disgust, she also learns in vivid detail that Blake really wants to have a threesome with Geri and "Sarah" aka Madi.

She manages to not puke and is a good enough actress that her screams remain internal for the rest of the drive.

Geri hasn't had telepathy long enough to really get that sometimes people have private thoughts that'll seriously skeeve her out, but simply having the thought doesn't make someone a terrible person.

The van approaches the Chruch of Charismatic Virtues, a gleaming glass and stone monument of a megachurch. The size alone is imposing. It's multiple stories tall, making the trees planted directly next to it look miniature. It's expansive with an equally sprawling parking lot, not unlike a mall, with covered dropoff points.

Madi asks if Blake's gonna be cool and get the uniforms, which he says he can't, but he'll be happy to sneak everyone into Geri's dad's office to surprise him. Madi gives him the most crushingly disappointed look in response, but he doesn't budge.

Geri signals subtly, brushing hair behind her ear at her temple with a couple fingers. AJ has to consider a moment, and he's unhappy with the ask at first, but he nods his consent. Madi does, too.

Blake reminds Geri to put her hood up so she's not recognized. Geri puts up her hood and puts on her big sunglasses she brought. Madison also puts on some over-sized sunglasses.

Blake excitedly leads the trio - Geri, Madison, and AJ, out of the van and across the parking lot, trying his level-best to be stealthy.

But he's just so damn oblivious.

Geri boots up the mindcraft server. Her mental voice is disturbed and wound-up all at once. She infodumps about the known guard scheduling and the jammed door. She also sends them mental images of the cameras and their locations that she can remember.

AJ suggests in the mindcraft that the Youth Center will have the easiest way to get into the basement, and wants to know how they lose Blake to go where they need to.

Madison shoves her hands in her pockets and tails behind the group spoofing the cameras with electrokinesis so the cohort won't show.

Geri asks Blake if he can show them the basketball court renovations after all before they surprise her father. He agrees, but warns there was just a game so people might recognize her before her planned surprise.

AJ warns they can't trust Blake, that he's hiding something and made a stop to his bedroom before coming outside. Geri Has a Normal One and goes off about how she knows he has secrets and he can die in a fire once they're done with him.

Blake prompts Geri for an answer - apparently, the cohort had been completely silent for several moments in their telepathic side conversation and Geri hadn't actually answered Blake yet. He's unlocked one of the main building doors and is holding it open.

Geri says to Blake it's fine, they should visit the basketball court.

Telepathically, Madi asks what Geri saw. Geri tells her she'll spill later but don't be alone with him.

Madi asks why Geri's bringing him to the Youth Center instead of ditching him at the office. AJ suggests they find a discrete spot to take him out before carrying on. He clarifies he means just knock him out. Geri says she thinks she can.

Robert mentions in the link that he's gonna keep lookout, and the cohort can spot some of his speedy clones - thankfully Blake's too distracted to notice.

Geri abruptly changes her mind to Blake, saying they should go to the office first after all. She plays it off as being just so excited it's hard to think straight.

Blake is momentarily confused but charmed by the "quirky" goth girl, accepting that excuse and bringing the cohort inside.

There's a shriek of pain in the mindcraft server the moment Geri sets foot inside. She suddenly has a splitting migraine and gushing nosebleed. Geri yelps quietly out loud and covers her nose with her hand a moment belatedly.

Blake is so, so very oblivious. Though he looks back to Geri at the yelp, he doesn't notice any blood. He asks her if everything's alright. She plays it off that she twisted her ankle a little but she's fine. Blake makes a little joke about her not getting broken before seeing her father and continues leading the group.

Over the mindcraft, the cohort's panicking asking Geri what's wrong. Geri's shouting in confusion and whimpering in pain directly into their heads, which, while the silent outlet is keeping her (barely) able to act, it's making things significantly more difficult for the other two.

The building is huge, and Geri's terrible nosebleed and migraine continue the whole walk. So does Blake's inane chatter. He goes on and on about how there logistically should be more than two guards in the main building and the mundane staffing reasons why there aren't currently. It takes a good five-minute walk to make it to the preacher's office.

Once they finally make it, Blake unlocks the office so they can all hide there together for the totally wholesome family reunion surprise. He's so engrossed in his deeply uninteresting monologue about the entirely mundane reasons some entry-level guards resigned that he doesn't notice Geri spending a little effort and activating her Lash behind him.

The wisps have taken a pinkish-magenta hue this time instead of their normal scarlet. She throws it at him... and immediately regrets existing.

Geri can change what her Lash does, making it more, less, and different kinds of deadly. What she meant to happen was to try to overwhelm Blake's brain to stun him into a stupor.

What actually happens is the Lash triggers a.... certain kind of overwhelming, loud, full-body ecstasy. In front of everyone.

Geri's blushing and yelling her mortification into the mindcraft, while still bleeding everywhere.

Madison looks like this is the worst trauma she's been through since after divergence, for a moment stunned in disgust and horror. She tries to oh-god-make-it-stop and smack him on the back of the head with her large, heavy purse to knock him out. A lot.

AJ tries to wrangle the man while he's still... writhing, to try to save the uniform before it's very soiled. He sighs and gives a 'goddamnit, Geri.'

Geri blurt-shouts defensively in the mindcraft that Blake's a huge pervert, she saw his fantasy about the threesome with her and Madison and she didn't know this would happen when she used her powers.

AJ pauses his unfortunate wrestling to ask if fantasizing about threesomes makes you a pervert. Geri explains (badly, in her current emotional state) that it's not the threesome, it's the fact that Blake's in college, closer to 30 than not, and only knows Madi's in high school but not her age. She only happens to be eighteen.

Geri's actual explanation is less articulate and shouted into everyone's brains.

Madi manages to smack Blake into unconsciousness in her indignant, creeped-out flailing, and AJ's finally able to start getting the clothes.

AJ, to make Madi feel better, badmouths unconscious Blake. He says she's far out of Blake's league. It placates her.

Madi suggests in the mindcraft they use some tape or something to bind Blake and stuff him in a janitor's closet. And then she notices Geri.

Geri's covered in enough blood to look like a slasher movie final girl. She's covering her face from mortification - which is just smearing the blood everywhere. Madi offers Geri all the tissues she'd packed in her purse, and the wetwipes.

Zuse, who had been silent in the mindcraft up til this point, asks with amusement if this means the plan has taken a different route. Madi shouts at him that they're still not murdering anyone, and Zuse teases them that it sounds like the opposite if someone's gotten to be a pervert.

Geri yells at Zuse that time, and he says it couldn't have been that bad... and asks, hopeful, if they need him to ram the building. He says he has the kazoo track prepared. Madi shouts a 'NO.'

Geri begins to bleed from her eyes, too. She looks very ill. AJ asks Geri to please keep enough blood on the inside to remember where the nearest basement access is. She's too busy trying futilely to slow the bleeding to be much help otherwise. Madi shoves her a mini first aid kit from her purse.

AJ psychs himself to get dressed in the soiled pants and then does, reluctantly. And Madi hog-ties Blake with duck tape from her purse. Everyone is having a terrible time.

AJ finishes getting changed and shoves his clothes in his bag. He and Madison carry Blake. They find a supply closet to stuff Blake in and use his own keys to lock him there.

Madi asks if the telepathy's causing the bleeding, and offers Geri could stop if it would help. Geri doesn't think that's the problem since it's never been a problem before. She doesn't know what's causing it.

AJ puts on a baseball cap from his bag and laments that they don't have time to search the place for all the important information. He's also afraid Geri's father's going to pop out of nowhere at any moment and fuck them over like Camille.

Geri leads the way to the basement entrance from memory, but she's getting woozy and off-balance in her gait. The walk is tense but ultimately uneventful - they manage to be stealthy enough to avoid the guards.

They make it to a dead-end hallway with a metal door with no windows with a camera trained on it and a keypad.

AJ notices and informs the others that further ahead there's motion sensors down the hall towards the door, painted to look like the wall.

Madison makes quick work of the electronic security obstacles. She warns the others to keep pace with her as she passes through the hall since she can only control so many at a time.

Zuse gives an unasked-for soundtrack to their adventurous break-in because he's either started singing to the radio or gotten a song stuck in his head and decided to share. In any case, the cohort make their approach to "I Wanna Be Sedated" by The Ramones.

When they reach the end of the hall, Madison's electrokinesis swells from just a little manipulative power to something that rivals her moment in the ward - LED lights in her vicinity glow for a moment as she powers up, and sparks crackle across her exposed skin as she spoofs the keypad.

The door opens and the stairs to the basement look like part of a different building entirely - something ancient, stone, deeply creepy, and very dark. AJ has to psych himself up to go down because the basement is waving every red flag possible to him. He jokes weakly about horror video game protags having it way worse.

When they step into it, Geri instantly begins to feel better - her migraine's gone, at least, and some of the damage can start to heal. The bleeding's stopped so she can finally clean herself.

Madi asks, not fully serious, if Geri's dad murders his wives and buries their bodies in the creepy cult church basement. It gets a little awkward when Geri admits her mother died when she was very young.

They wander the dimly lit labyrinth below for about an hour. Geri slowly gets less woozy and leads them according to her dream. They occasionally hear echoed whispers or footsteps that are difficult to pinpoint.

But then, they find it. The room entrance is marked with a crimson curtain - like symbolic blood. The room's round with a very high-vaulted ceiling and eerie light coming down on the stone altar in the center of the room. There are stone statues staring toward the altar as well. Geri's creeped out because she recognizes them as former church Elders.

There are three men in black robes with guns strapped to their waist playing cards at a side table. Another man in tighter-fitting dark clothes like a stereotypical cat burglar sits on the edge of the altar. Cassidy, still in white robes, appears to be unconscious on the altar.

One of the robed figures tells Derek, the cat-burglar figure, it's sacrilegious to sit on the altar. Derek threatens him and spits on the floor.

No one notices the cohort right away, so they stick to the shadows and take a moment to coordinate their movements in the mindcraft. AJ says they can use the gadget he gave Madison, just get the cultists in the dark first.

Madison, when she sees Cassidy, very nearly breaks with the plan to run to her. AJ has to tell the sparky girl to hang back behind him and Geri physically holds her back, earning a zap.

Madison is paused long enough to accept the directions and go along with the plan, so long as the gadget won't hurt Cass, which AJ assures it won't. He gives her a code word when to activate it and Madi crouches into position. She takes a rod device out of her purse that looks not unlike a mix between an old sci-fi prop and a magical girl scepter with wires and LED lights. It has googly eyes as an added touch.

AJ puts his hand on Geri's shoulder and instructs her to pretend her hands are tied behind her back. They approach the cultists, with AJ taking on a mousey, subservient persona when he addresses his "boss," Derek. Geri pretends to struggle in his grip. She has her Lash active, so little wisps of energy circle her.

Before Derek realizes why a guard is supposedly there, he unleashes a blast of pure dread on AJ for the crime of... being one of his subordinates and daring to make him do work when he was clearly slacking off.

AJ manages to barely stammer out an explanation that he caught Geri trying to break in and he thought the Head of Security should know.

Derek targets Geri then with his brain blast of dread. Geri resists it easier and gives Derek a murderous stare.

AJ warns Geri can do something with the lights. Derek reacts with mild curiosity and dark interest. In a flash, he's by her side, swiping a finger of blood off her cheek, then tastes it. He says it won't matter down here. He looks like he's about to do something awful to them.

Madi asks over the mindcraft if AJ just needs the light to go out, cuz that's kind of her thing. AJ does indeed want her to do it now please and thanks and hadn't considered this option - instead opting for the 'trick villain to turn off the lights' route. Geri's meanwhile internally threatening to light Derek on fire.

AJ puts his shades on and says a line with the code word. Madison cuts the lights by blowing up the bulb with electrokinesis. She emerges from her hiding spot, lit only by the sparks. She begins to say a Hail Mary in Latin, as a threat, and activates the wand. It emits a blinding light. The robed cultists scream from pain. Derek stumbles back and calls Madi a fucking bitch.

But in another moment, he's transforming - his eyes shrivel out of his head and ears grow pointier, his nose and other facial features become more bat-like. He screams how superior he is, how he needs nothing but his faith.

Madison rushes towards Cassidy to guard her. Geri makes good on her threat to light the asshole on fire. AJ sticks to the shadows, hoping to not be noticed in the commotion when there are some way more feisty Remade present, and makes his way to the altar.

Derek screams in pain and orders the cultists to kill the cohort. He transforms again into a stone-like substance and rips off his still-burning shirt.

Madison throws some Catholic vs. Protestant snark and taunts in for good measure and yells about Derek literally turning into a demon. She is, meanwhile, blasting arcs of electricity at the other cultists.

In the heat of the fight, AJ's reached Cassidy and politely asks Geri, acknowledging he sees she's busy, if she could maybe add Cass to the mindcraft. Which is met with a resounding 'not the fucking time' as Geri and Madison toss more combustible psychic energy and lightning bolts across the room.

It's Madison's turn to bleed profusely from her face as her Lash takes its toll on her body.

AJ assures Cass has nothing strapping her down or otherwise binding her and then takes one of his Smokey-bois out of his backpack. Version 2.0 is an actual RC car and it, too, has googly eyes. He races it toward Derek and uses his shirt from earlier to make a makeshift mask for Cass' mouth and nose. He warns the other two over the mindcraft. He scoops Cass up and gets ready to book it.

Derek's having a hard time going toe-to-toe in such a chaotic, confined space. He tries to dodge but even with his super speed, Madi's lightning bolt catching him in the shoulder blasts him so hard into the stone wall it leaves a crater.

Madi tells the others to run with Cass so she can drop a storm on them.

Geri sets the last cultist on fire with a lucky shot thrown behind her as a parting gift. She and AJ run down the halls together.

Madi begins to say more of the Lord's Prayer as she starts up her thunderstorm indoors, adding a semi taunt about needing protection from the obvious demon.

There's some back and forth Catholic vs. Protestant fightin' words, including calling Madison a witch. Madison slows him down by throwing more lightning at him to keep him in place. The storm's still gaining strength.

He tries to adapt to the electricity damage, and all of a sudden he's overwhelmed with smoke and has to adapt to that. He yells until his mouth is sealed.

The last she can tell, wind and the smell of burned flesh flow out of the ritual room. Derek's changing again, slowed down, but not stopped.

Geri finally has a moment to link Cassidy in like AJ had asked as they run through the halls. She announces she plans on checking if she knows where Madi and Cass's friend Jake is, and AJ makes a snarky comment about the unconscious girl and Geri caring about consent.

Geri glares at AJ, but moments later tells him she knows where the prisoners are kept. She sends mental pictures across the mindcraft so they can all locate it. Madi warns them they need to hurry.

The trip takes much less time on the way back, but still far too long for comfort, especially now that they're a lot more worn out. They reach the cell block, a series of little rooms with metal doors that have observation slats. They're plain and dank and stone with only a cot each, like Geri's dream.

In one of the cells, the only sign of Jake is a single shoe of his favorite pair of Nikes.

Geri looks in another of the cells and tells the others to not look in it and doesn't elaborate. There's a dead body that had been left in there.

AJ looks at the shoe, really looks at it, and nearly drops Cassidy from falling into a fugue state. His eyes go milky white. He stumbles backward when he snaps out of it a moment later and Madison catches both him and Cassidy.

AJ apologizes and says they all have to go. Now. Madi asks if Jake's alive... and AJ says he's not here, and repeats that they all have to leave.

Madi tells them both to Run and they all do, as fast as they can. Geri begins bleeding from her face again as soon as they exit the basement and doesn't stop until they get to the parking lot.

They rush to the van and Robert's there. He yells for them to hurry up, they're just waiting on Zuse.

AJ, understandably, yells back asking where Zuse is as the trio jump in. Geri shouts in the mindcraft for Zuse to hurry up. Zuse hollers back in a sing-song tone he's on his way.

Just then, something's approaching the van, having turned a corner around the megachurch building. It's not quite human-shaped, much more rectangular, but not moving like a car, either. It's more of a fast waddle.

As it gets closer, the unidentified waddling object shouts at them that it borrowed something from the gift shop. It becomes clear that it's an ATM machine. An ATM machine with a Zuse head, Zuse arms, and Zuse scrawny legs sticking out of it.

The trio just stares, mouths agape. AJ almost drops Cassidy. After everything that happened tonight, this is what finally breaks them. 

And then, none of them think it can get worse, but oh how it can.

Zuse decides the one and only way to share his bounty is to pelvic thrust at the open van door and eject all of the money through the cash dispenser wildly into the van, coating the floor and everything else in bills. Despite the gesture, the money is just money.

Geri's exhausted stare begins moving through several stages of grief in quick succession into blank, broken acceptance. AJ swears he's not touching the jizz money. He refuses.

Madison starts rambling about how she must have died in the serial killer basement and this is a death hallucination. She pulls out her phone and starts typing an email to one of her beloved teachers at her old Catholic school, about how he was super right, demons are very real, and he was also right about Protestants. She also asks her memorial not be held with the crazy megachurch if she dies.

Once Zuse is done, he unmerges naked out of the ATM, leaving it in the middle of the parking lot, and jumps in the van, flopping on the floor. It takes a moment before the van absorbs him. But once he's absorbed, the doors slam shut, the van peels out, and the radio starts blaring Queen's "Don't Stop Me Now."

Madison is making short work of technological evidence. She overloads and melts her own phone after sending that last message, then Blake's. She also desperately checks Cassidy over.

AJ eventually relents and begins collecting the scattered jizz money, but not without dramatically muttering basically how much he hates everyone and everything right now and he's far over-educated for this.

Geri helps AJ collect the money and quietly tells Madison that the church removed Cassidy's memories. That they may have looked for specific ones, but she's missing whole chunks now.

Madi asks Geri, almost pleading, if she can fix it. She doesn't know.

AJ doesn't know if it should be fixed, maybe she's better off not remembering some things. Maybe she'd appreciate ignorance more.

Madi asks, horrified, what if they stole all Cass's good memories?! She's also concerned about Cass's hibernation-like state.

Geri promises to check again after she's had rest. She's still covered in a lot of her own blood, and once AJ has enough of a handle on the money collecting, she curls up on one of the van benches, hoping to sleep soon.

AJ says he isn't sure the church took all their info from Cassidy. He asks Madi who tipped her off about the connection between Charismatic Virtues and Cassica Hall? Who told her the church had Cass?

Only one name comes to her mind. The one they didn't find there - Jake.

AJ gives Madi a sympathetic and solemn look, like he doesn't want to be the one who has to give her bad news or make her upset. He silently collects more bills.

Madi asks what he saw down in the cells. AJ explains he saw Jake, in Agatha's office. He saw them discussing a trap to lure Madi to her, while drinking wine.

Geri tries to see the bright side, that they rescued Cassidy even if it was a trap.

Madison breaks down crying. Jake was another childhood friend and Cassidy's boyfriend. She doesn't understand why he'd do such a thing.

Geri lists a couple possible reasons. Power. Safety. Neither offer comfort.

AJ explains further that Jake does love Cass. He lured Madi in exchange for Cass's freedom. AJ adds that Jake looked like he will be satisfied to learn the cohort escaped, too. See, the discussion he saw, they'd been talking about the successful escape like it had already happened, but at the time, the cohort were still at the cells.

Geri asks if the cult was at least mad, and AJ says Agatha won't be happy the cohort escaped, but will be happy to get to keep Jake. Which AJ is fine with, he thinks they deserve each other.

Madi asks Zuse, desperately, for advise on how to fix Cassidy. Zuse can't tell much about her current state - while being the van, but thinks at least some of it may be related to repeated episodes of memory theft. He can't say for certain.

Madi wants to know how to put the memories back, and Zuse really doesn't know, but suggests, in a tone suggesting it's time for SCIENCE!, that they should get the one who took the memories in the first place.

Madi says they just fled from the ones that stole them, to which Zuse replies that that narrows it down.

Madison isn't in the mood for anything in the same zip code as possible snark, so she zaps the van door with her sparking hand. It... doesn't have the effect she wants. The radio momentarily scrambles and Zuse makes something akin to a knockoff Pillsbury Dough Boy noise. Madison complains that wasn't what it was supposed to do and Zuse says she can't know without a little experimentation.

Geri pipes up that it was Serena; she saw her steal memories.

AJ asks if that means Serena's next on the list, and Madi agrees because they gotta find her and make her undo what she did.

Madi curls up on the van bench with Cassidy and Geri, wiping away tears. The rest of the ride back is silent, other than the radio.

[Music Outro: "Time Will Fail Us" by Troigo]

Thanks for listening, This has been Gather ‘Round The Trashfires with Bek Andrew Evans. Please subscribe to this podcast for future updates and leave a review or comment, I’d love to hear what you think. You can follow me on a few different social platforms with the username "bekandrew." That's [spells username] on tumblr and bluesky, mainly.

If you'd like to support me, subscribe to my Patreon at Patreon.com/BekAndrewTTRPG and purchase my art prints and tabletop products, including my Deviant: the Renegades community content novella related to this chronicle via my linktree in the description.

AJ is played by Roen,

Geri is played by me,

Madison is played by Syn,

Robert is played by Pandito,

And our Storyteller is Casey Grant.

The intro theme is "_violence by Avantist" from the Free Music Archive, licensed under Creative Commons Attribution International 4.0.

The end theme is "Time Will Fail Us" by Troigo from the Free Music Archive, licensed under Creative Commons Attribution International 4.0.

If you like the songs, I encourage you to check out more of their work. I've linked their Bandcamps in the description.

Until next time.

Follow my Patreon at Patreon.com/BekAndrewTTRPG Check out my other work at linktr.ee/bekandrew Check out the Intro and Outro artists' Bandcamps! https://theavantist.bandcamp.com/music https://troigo.bandcamp.com/ Remember to subscribe and see y'all next week!

Support this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/gather-round-the-trashfires/donations

The cohort celebrates Easter together in a way only AJ could possibly arrange.

It's not all fun and games when the hunt reveals more hidden things than just plastic eggs.

---------

Episode Transcript:

Get your snack and beverage of choice ready. It’s time to “Gather ‘Round the Trashfires” for a tabletop roleplaying story! I’m your host, Bek Andrew Evans.

My current and main running story for this podcast is the misadventures of the cohort from the Deviant: the Renegades chronicle I’ve been playing in since early 2021. And I play Geri.

For those of you unfamiliar with Deviant, it’s a TTRPG about people who were formerly human but were irreparably changed in traumatic ways to the point their very Souls broke and they became something Other. They seek vengeance on those who made them, those who hunt them, those who seek to exploit them for what they are and will never leave them be.

As such, this podcast will feature heavy themes and content throughout. There’s an overall content warning for language, violence, criminality, homelessness, substance use, human experimentation, cults and religious extremism, mentioned torture, kidnapping, implied incest and incest-related comments, and abusive relationships. On episodes where there is a new content warning or a particularly notable instance of one of these, I’ll call it out.

Episode content warning for discussions of child abuse and animal abuse.

I hope y’all enjoy hearing about my cohort’s antics and stumbling headfirst into the mysteries of the world as much as I have.

[Music Intro: "_violence" by Avantist]

Green Country Calcination Episode 9: Easter Egg Hunt

After their (technically) successful mission, the cohort rested hard. Madison and Geri had to recover from all the blood loss and all of them, save Zuse, needed time to get back to their usual after the exertion they weren't used to.

The City of Tulsa, however, was not resting and woke up to a bizarre set of circumstances the morning after the rescue. There's breaking local news about a truly bizarre robbery on local megachurch, Charismatic Virtues. There's security video of an almost freakishly pale naked twink fiddling with the door, and then diving behind the ATM before the feed cuts out. Later, the whole ATM was found in the church parking lot empty but with no obvious signs of tampering. Authorities haven't released any speculations, though some suggest it might be related to the case of Blake Ingrham, reported missing early the same morning.

Some frequent attendees of the church commented how Tulsa is really going downhill, now we have our own pale little meth twink Florida Man.

There's a smaller story buried in the papers about how a group of disabled individuals were stranded at the Tulsa Walmart for several hours and found their driver hog-tied with a lollipop duck taped in his mouth, claiming some homeless youth attacked him. Their van was recovered from a car wash, found doused in bleach, three hours later.

Cassidy's since woken from her deep hibernation-like sleep about a day after her rescue. She finally becomes awake and aware enough for basic functions like using the restroom and eating, but not much else. She doesn't respond to anyone using her name and, in fact, is terrified of anyone coming near her. She mostly sleeps and lays still under blankets when left alone. She's currently settled in Madison's room, with Madison taking one of the couches in the living room.

Over the course of the next few days, as the cohort recover, some of them make efforts to try to help acclimate Cassidy to being with them. Madison does most of the active caretaking, with Geri adding Cass to the list of people in the group she's cooking for. Geri mostly keeps a distance but leaves Cassidy's door open to signal she could leave if she wanted to.

Madison has the most success introducing the terrified girl to Nacho the cat. She takes to the calming purr and soft fur, and Nacho appreciates another person giving him the attention he feels he's due.

The Friday after the rescue, Cassidy's wealthy parents plead to the community in the newspapers for help finding their missing daughter.

AJ leaves a note for the cohort in the living room that he's planned an Easter egg hunt for them, with a special surprise!

... He spoils it, the surprise is candy and home-made explosives.

He'd gotten wasted with Zuse while making his... spicy egg hunt surprise and accidentally set the timers and fuses a liiiitle more powerful than he meant to. They were originally supposed to pop with confetti! So he really needs everyone to actually do the egg hunt with him, pretty please, or else there will be exploded molten candy everywhere (or worse).

AJ, Madi, Robert, and Geri gather in the living room around noon when they're awake for the egg hunt. They have the curtains closed for Robert. They're cutting it close for the timers, but only Madison's a morning person.

And what's a little house explosives among friends after you've already nearly been murdered in a cult basement together?

AJ's set up some items for the game: a stack of novelty vinyl aprons with headless bodies of copywrite-proof characters like a purple totally-not-hulk in a tutu, and a pile of rubber dish-washing gloves. He himself wears his hula girl apron over a hoodie and sweatpants.

AJ cheerfully, with flamboyant, game-show host mannerisms, introduces everyone to the "Egg-stravaganza, 2021," hyping up that it's a game that you're just as likely to walk away with candy as you are to wear it. He half-jokes that the real question is who'll be the winner and who'll chase him with a steak fork after this.

Geri dry-jokingly corrects him that it would be a steak knife, which AJ mostly ignores, coldly.

Robert's in a very good mood. He remarks it's been such a long time since he's done something like this. AJ jokes... or maybe doesn't, that it's been a long time for him too. He says he usually does the candy explosives on Halloween - since drama queens like him normally save the theatrics for then.

Robert ends up with a novelty apron that depicts an uncomfortably sexualized Aquaman ripoff with starfish covering the nipples, which he gleefully takes from Geri after she rejects it. Madison gets an apron depicting basically Wish.com Hulk Hogan. Geri finally ends up with purple "sea witch" apron with crab legs instead of tentacles and inexplicably holding pompoms.

AJ suggests they pair up to search for efficiency's sake.

Madison asks what the rubber gloves are for, suspicious AJ put the eggs in something. AJ, somewhat sheepishly, explains since he was doing the wiring while drunk it might not be his best work. Safety first!

He muses he may have gotten so drunk, he let Zuse do that step. He doesn't actually remember. All the more reason for gloves.

The four banter a little bit and then AJ decides to pair off with Robert.

They hear a cat screech and the sound of running feet. They go silent for a moment and Madison yells upstairs to Cass asking if she's okay, but Zuse yells back quickly, unconvincingly, that everything's fine.

When they demand he explain, apparently he tripped over Nacho who's been laying outside his door. He blames the cat for not announcing himself.

Madison asks if he always announces himself before he exits rooms, or THE FRIDGE and Zuse says Geri told him if he doesn't start announcing himself before popping out of the fridge, she'll melt him.

AJ agrees with Zuse, that Nacho definitely lays places to try to trip people on purpose.

There's more speculation about the cat, then Zuse leaves to do Zuse things, exempting himself from the egg hunt. He teases about how he made them "egg-stra" special.

No one groans at the pun. No one groans at any egg puns.

AJ wants to start searching Madison's room. He makes a bet with Robert how many plushies she probably has.

In retaliation, Madison and Geri decide they'll start by searching the garage. AJ yells at them to not touch anything cuz they might die, but Madi retorts she's literally immune to his B.S.

The boys go upstairs to Madi's room, where Cassidy's supposed to be holed up. There's a corkboard with photos of Madi and Cass at various ages together, along with other children and teens in cheer and ballet outfits, and school uniforms. There's also a bunch of pastel plushies and K-Pop posters. There's a hope chest at the foot of the bed.

Robert, sincerely, congratulates AJ on managing to not know the location of his own eggs. AJ explains that's the magic of alcohol, and suggests maybe Geri and Madi would like him more if they ever saw him super drunk and less uptight for once.

They notice the pile of blankets on the bed has a pair of terrified eyes peeking out, and some fingers gripping to pull it in, closer.

Robert gives Cass a friendly greeting but doesn't move closer. AJ just freezes awkwardly with the black dress he was examining as if to guess if it might fit. He claims he was totally just looking for the easter egg chocolate bombs.

Cassidy tugs the blanket closer and scowls at AJ in a 'you're so full of shit even I can tell' way.

Robert tries to do the opposite of AJ's weird snooping while still looking for the eggs, but somehow makes it a different kind of weird, perhaps even weirder. He reaches his hand into the drawers to feel around but refuses to look at anything, like it's some trap with a venomous creature waiting to get him and he doesn't want to see his doom.

AJ starts looking under the bed. He reiterates Robert really needs to lighten up if he wants the others to not rebel, and Robert says if someone doesn't put their foot down, things could get out of hand.

AJ tries to mix his advice to lighten up and read rooms with a little... light flirting, and doesn't finish what he's saying before he finds an egg. An ostrich-size blue egg decorated with acrylic fuzz and googly eyes. He hears a sound of ticking and vibrating and dramatically dives on it like a grenade. It makes a small explosion under him... and he continues with a wince that the group doesn't really do parental-style authority.

Cassidy's even more terrified, eyes wide as saucers as she stares at the incredibly close AJ. She doesn't run or scream, though, just stays under the blanket and shakes.

Robert doesn't acknowledge the obvious flirt other than raising a brow, but asks AJ with real concern if he's alright after the egg-splosion.

AJ stands up, and his apron's covered in molten chocolate, burnt candy wrappers, bits of what once was an Easter Egg, and bits of shag rug that had stuck to him. The small shag rug below was similarly covered in molten candy and some plastic and is beyond saving. He says it felt like a knee to the gut and jokingly-not-jokingly asks for a kiss to make it better?

Robert chuckles and flicks AJ in the forehead before saying they need to find more eggs if they don't want to lose. He suggests they look in Geri's room next.

AJ wonders what if there are more eggs to find in Madi's room they're missing, and Robert - just as they hear a bang and scream-yelp from downstairs - says the more time they waste the more likely the other team will find more eggs.

AJ yells a 'sorry' and Robert yells asking why the eggs are bombs.

AJ scoops up the ruined rug to hide it for now and explains he thought it would be exciting but didn't mean to make them this intense. Robert tosses the rug in the bathroom and they go to Geri's room so Cass will be less uncomfortable.

Madi and Geri, meanwhile, are down in the garage - where AJ and presumably now Zuse are staying. The garage is the deeply cursed crossbreed of a mad scientist's lab and a teen boy or college student's bedroom. An OSHA inspector would have a heart attack. There's a bunch of half-disassembled junk piled and scattered everywhere. There's power tools, including the table saw. Safety gear? Never heard of her.

There's a bunk dragged in here - if you squint. It's buried under blankets and dirty clothes and other stuff. If you squint harder, there's a space you could Tetris someone into. There's a beanbag chair, a drafting table, and an absurdly unsafe machine that's a tower of exposed wires wrapped around a static electricity generator missing the sphere.

There's piles and... not piles of dirty clothes everywhere, apparently AJ's a boxer short kind of guy.

Geri and Madi pause on entering before Madison cautiously roots through boxes, asking if she's stepping into a biohazard. Geri doesn't touch the piles of clothes with her hands, instead prodding them with a sock-covered foot.

Madi nopes out in sheer disgust at the idea of trying to find things in this mess and runs to the kitchen to search there instead, with Geri following behind.

Madi throws open cupboards, finding an egg with a riddle that says "what's a four-letter word that ends in k and means intercourse?" The riddles are painted on, and they have old cellphone keyboards attached to them to input the answers.

Geri looks in the freezer under piles of frozen burritos and pizzas. She finds an egg with a riddle that says, "I come in lots of different sizes. Sometimes, I drip a little. If you blow me, it feels really good. What am I?"

Geri types "nose" and stares at the egg like she's threatening it to tell her she's wrong. It doesn't, and opens for her.

Madi gasps in scandal and types "Fuck." The egg does nothing. She thinks for a moment and types "Talk." It works that time.... a little too late. She gets sprayed with half-melted candy since she finally got the answer right as it was trying to explode. She shrieks in surprise and indignance and then has a moment of sad about not getting to fully enjoy the candy after all.

Then, the two scurry off to the living room.

Back to the boys, they're in Geri's room. AJ starts looking in Geri's dresser. Robert looks behind the pillows.

Robert finds nothing, but AJ finds an egg with a riddle with far too neat of handwriting to have been done by drunk him. "What starts with F and ends in U-C-K?"

He types "Firetruck" and receives his candy prize.

Since Robert still hasn't found anything, AJ takes one of the Cadbury eggs from his loot and gives a plastic half-egg filled with candy to Robert. He calls down to the girls that he's sending Robert down to switch partners so AJ and his new partner can go raid Robert's room.

Geri and Madison spot the same egg at the same moment, and both dive for it at once... and bonk heads, ending in a heap. The egg explodes between them, coating them both in molten candy. The smell of half-melted plastic fills the air.

Madi screams to wherever AJ is that he's not forgiven. She makes a pathetic, despaired noise as she looks at her hair and bemoans how this will take forever to wash out. Geri yells a 'goddamnit, AJ' upstairs for good measure.

After their moment, the two continue searching.

Geri finds a bright pink egg behind some cushions that really makes her squint. The riddle says, "I'm great for protection. You use your fingers to get me off. What am I?" Geri has to think about this one, and nearly types something else in before she unconfidently decides on 'glove.' That's the answer, and Geri's rewarded with baggies of M&M's.

Madi finds another egg as well. This one's orange with bright yellow letters. Its riddle is "What does a dog do that a man steps into?" She hesitates, thinks, enters "pants" as the egg starts to shake, and braces herself.

It doesn't explode per se. But Madison's egg sparks and releases a terrible-smelling cloud of smoke - but it opens and lets her have the candy!

The two hear AJ yell down about switching partners. While Madi's dealing with her egg, Geri takes the opportunity to ditch her and her cloud of stink.

Madi flails, running away from the smoke and screaming EW and how she hates AJ so much!

AJ screams back that he's sure it's Zuse's fault. Madi blames AJ anyway, and AJ yells back 'that's understandable' and to 'have a nice day.'

From Somewhere Zuse yells back it's SO CONVENIENT to blame him.

Geri meets AJ in her room, finding him grinning alone eating his Cadbury egg. When he sees who it is, his smile fades. He checks under the bed again instead of looking at her.

Geri looks in the closet, where she's stored all the room decorations. No luck.

AJ finds an especially lewd egg where, instead of googly eyes, either drunk him or Zuse glued on two large, bright, fluffy pompoms. He claims to not remember making that one. The riddle is "I assist with erections. Sometimes, giant balls hang from me. I’m known as a big swinger. What am I?"

Geri keeps looking for eggs until AJ confesses he's stumped. She tells him the answer's "crane."

AJ's embarrassed he couldn't guess that, and the egg opens without issue.

Geri leads the way to Robert's room.

Meanwhile, downstairs, the other two go back to the kitchen to search. Maybe Mad and Geri missed some the first time. When Robert sees how much melted candy Madi's coated in, he asks if she needs help cleaning up.

She yells later, they need to search and win now! Gawd!

Robert searches under the sink, figuring the girls wouldn't have looked under there. Madi looks in more cupboards, and some of the previous ones a second time, scrambling around.

Robert's guess pays off, and he finds an egg that says "I start with a “p” and end with “o-r-n.” I’m a major player in the film industry. What am I?"

He types "popcorn" and the egg reveals its tasty treats.

Madison isn't so lucky. She sighs so, so much and dramatically, despondently even, looks over to the biohazard zone of a garage. She steels herself and runs to it, yelling more about how much she totally hates AJ. Robert follows behind her, laughing.

Just as he's about to leave the kitchen, he spots one more egg tucked behind the fridge - he really should have just left that one, though, because it Pops pretty much as soon as he grabs it, covering his front in melty chocolate. He curses under his breath and washes off at the kitchen sink.

Geri and AJ arrive in Robert's room, a painfully boring sight. It's not a complete wreck like AJ's, nor decorated to the nines like Madi's, nor meticulously and eerily stripped of decorations like Geri's. It's just. A room. Like you'd see in a stock photo search for "bedroom." The only thing resembling customization is a small stack of books on the nightstand.

AJ remarks that the bedroom is suspicious. He immediately looks through Robert's drawers.

There's a pause and then he continues to talk to Geri in that same chill tone, not looking at her as they keep searching. Geri, similarly, doesn't look at him as she keeps searching in another set of drawers.

AJ makes a snide comment along the lines that she could always just say she's sorry.

Geri says she is, but claims she hasn't had a good chance to tell him and try to make it up to him with... everything.

AJ makes a noncommittal noise and there's a long silence while they search. AJ breaks the silence, unprompted sharing a story of his childhood.

He says for his fifth birthday, his father came home with a whole box of kittens. Probably at least six of them. There was an old barn outside the house his family rented - they never used it, but it was a feature of the property. He says his father told him they'd play a very special birthday game... he let the kittens loose in the barn and said any kitten little AJ could catch was his.

Geri assumes AJ's father must have done something shitty and cautiously looks in the blinds, even though she can't reach all the way up.

AJ doesn't answer that but instead continues the story. He says he caught four kittens. It was the best present ever for a little kid. He already picked out names for them and begged his mom to let them share his bed with him.

But... he continues. At the end of the day, his dad called him to the bathroom. The tub was full. He had the box from earlier with AJ's four kittens inside.

AJ has to pause to find the words for the next bit. He says his dad told him there's 'no greater strength than to always be ready to sacrifice what's yours'... and ordered five-year-old AJ to drown the four kittens.

Geri exclaims what a monster the man is, and looks like she will personally see to it AJ's father ends up arson-murdered.

AJ explains he hadn't been told then about his family's legacy, about Divergence or any of that. But now he understands that back then, his dad was trying to force him to Diverge.... constantly.

He adds that he refused to kill the kittens, and that disgusted his dad. His dad thought it was weakness. He was (as usual) severely punished for his failings. AJ finally, after this whole story, turns to Geri to look at her.

AJ says that he believed her the whole time, every bit of it, ever since he first heard what her father did to her. He knew that, of everyone, she'd understand what it was like, to be so thoroughly manipulated and controlled. The mind games. Everything. He doesn't understand why she'd do that to someone else.

Geri has to think about her answer, and her expression betrays genuine distress. She admits she was wrong, and explains that getting good at 'mind games' was a means of survival in her cult. She says anything real about herself she didn't hide could be used against her.

AJ watches Geri as she explains, and nods slowly. Her answer doesn't surprise him. She reminds him a bit of how he was when he was much younger, actually. AJ considers himself very lucky that he had his Uncle Gabe to come into his and his mom's life when he was very young and make his dad go away. But, he explains, shortly after that, he was angry all the time and suspicious of everyone. He recovered some from that, with Gabe's help. He says he spreads laughter out of spite now. His dad would hate that, and AJ being happy, more than anything.

In the background, the two can hear Madison screaming - she found the rug.

Or crazy, AJ says Sometimes he makes people crazy, too. That counts. He supposes that's just his way of coping and Geri may find another way. But... Point is, He just wants Geri to not do what she did again. He likes considering her a friend and doesn't want to stop.

Geri promises she won't do it to him again - the mind games and, presumably, the no-consent telepathy. She awkwardly admits, fidgeting, that it's nice having non-cult friends.

AJ beams, smiling ear to ear and wraps his arms around Geri for a hug. He laments not having gotten them matching aprons - apparently he'd seen a pair he'd considered - as if they'd been best friends for a long time and not in a feud for the past couple weeks.

Geri blushes and doesn't really know what to do with the situation, at a complete loss. She suggests they try to find more eggs so Robert can't win, lest he try to ban alcohol from the after-party.

The threat of a dry after-egg-hunt-party after that very emotional moment puts the fear of god in AJ and he starts looking as fast as he can.

Geri looks in a nightstand, whispering hoping it's not condoms she finds. She finds a suspicious lotion bottle and an egg... with a bow and very lop-sided googly eyes. Its riddle is

"I'm AJ's special diet for breakfast, lunch, and dinner, start with a P and ends with an S, what am I?" Geri says if the answer's not 'pizzas,' she's making AJ answer it.

When AJ reads the riddle, it's as if he's seen a ghost. He goes pale, freezes. He curses Zuse under his breath. He says it's probably booby-trapped and Geri should give it to him. Just in case.

Too late, Geri's entered an answer. It's not 'pizzas.' She hands it to AJ when it does nothing.

She says she won't judge so long as AJ wasn't the one to write it. AJ promises he wouldn't write it and yells downstairs that he nd Geri won because they found the last egg.

A little earlier, Madison and Robert go to the garage to search for eggs. Robert is still trying to wipe the melted chocolate off himself, making an offhanded comment that AJ better not see him like that or he might offer to lick him clean.

Madison is reluctantly going through a box of electronics parts. She finds a silver egg with googly eyes and a smile. It's riddle is "My business is briefs. I’m a cunning linguist. I plead and plead for it regularly. What am I?"

Madison is entirely paranoid over all the eggs. She's convinced this one will explode on her no matter what she does. This egg does start changing the longer she holds it, a distance away from herself, but not like the others. It gets cooler. Madi enters "lawyer" just in time for the top of the egg to pop off and bust a light bulb. The pack of candy inside is strangely frozen.

Madison's still afraid to touch it at first, but Robert convinces her that since the packaging is intact, it's safe candy. It's just cold.

They run to the bathroom and immediately, Madison finds her rug, she mutters about how she's gonna kill AJ and yell-asks what he did to her rug. Then mutters again about how she's gonna murder him as she looks for hidden eggs.

She finds a rainbow-striped one in the medicine cabinet with a riddle that says "What’s long and hard when it’s young and soft and small when it’s old?"

She disregards the lewd answer she comes up with and types in 'candle,' after looking at some of her mom's yankee candles.

Zuse comes up behind her, wearing bunny ears, red silk boxer shorts, and the aviator sunglasses, holding a half-eaten ice-cream sandwich. He taps Madi on the shoulder, nearly startling her out of her skin, and asks her if she guessed right. He calms her down after the mild accidental panic, and congratulates her on the candy - even though he has to convince her it's also safe, and there's not secretly a stink bomb waiting. Once she's calmed down again, he wanders off to the garage.

AJ yells from upstairs that he and Geri found the last one, they win. Madi yells back 'that's not the rules,' and the two groups reconvene in the living room recounting how many eggs each found. Geri found four, AJ found three - including the unopened pink one in his hands, Madi found four and one she and Geri found together.

Robert doesn't care who won. He's too busy eating chocolate to say how many he found.

AJ declares the hunt a great success and suggests everyone get a shower and they'll have an after-party barbecue out back with weed. He also promises he'll get Madi a new rug as he's about to sneak off to the garage with the pink egg.

Geri adds there will be booze.

Madi demands to know why there were stink bombs, and AJ promises he would never - it must have been Zuse.... who's reappeared.

Zuse points out AJ hasn't opened the last egg and.... eggs him on to do so. Madi helps.

Geri keeps her mouth shut entirely... until AJ tries to dodge opening it by saying Zuse probably rigged it with a stink bomb. Then Geri suggests he can just open it outside.

Zuse says there weren't any stink bombs, but the melted plastic smells awful when the device triggers improperly.

Robert offers everyone beer. Maybe it will pacify the silly argument. No dice.

Zuse asks, innocently, what words they've tried on the egg and AJ shoots him a warning glare.

AJ desperately tries to convince everyone the riddle is probably something mean, but no one really believes him that since none of the other answers were the seemingly obvious dirty answer.

Zuse shrugs and says he guesses they can just ruin the fun by letting the timer tick down and making him say the answer. AJ pleads with them to please not ruin the day and just drop it.

Shortly after, the timer goes off, and splatters AJ in melted cadberry creme eggs. Zuse claps and shouts that the answer was pickles!

Madison giggles, asking why AJ wouldn't just answer that. Also, that's a lot of pickles.

AJ lightly admonishes Zuse but looks... oh so relieved.

Geri hands AJ a towel to wipe off with, and the cohort immediately starts their after-partying, before even really cleaning up.

They pass around the liquor and beers.

AJ tries to damage control for earlier, telling Madison to take whatever Cass says about what she saw earlier with a grain of salt - she might be seeing things. Madi immediately sees through this bullshit and asks what he did.

Robert straight up says they went through Madi's drawers - as if everyone else didn't go through everyone else's. AJ defensively says he was looking for eggs.

When clarified that yes, this meant all drawers, Madi starts indignantly throwing cushions at the guys for going through her underwear. Even when Geri confirms that she and others went through people's clothes.

Robert makes sure he knows he didn't look. And also that even if he had, he's gone to college, it wouldn't have been the first underwear he's seen.

Madi just throws more cushions at the guys. Geri sits back watching the chaos drinking her schnaps and helping neither side.

The argument gets increasingly ridiculous when the thing Madi's offended about shifts to thinking that Robert's declaration that underwear is just a piece of cloth is an insult to her fashion tastes.

The discussion goes in circles for a while, with Geri and AJ prodding at it ever once and a while for shits and grins, mostly teasing Robert because he's pretty easy to get a good-natured rise out of without accidentally getting electrocuted.

All of a sudden, they hear a small commotion upstairs - whirring engines, cat hisses and scrambling, and Zuse yelling to 'flee before him, terror of Nihm.'

The cohort yell back asking what he's doing to the cat, and Zuse tries to reply that he's just playing, buuuut he's cut off mid-word when he realizes, too late, that the RC cars from AJ's smokey-boi stash have atrocious handling and he can't turn sharp enough.

The cohort hears lots of thudding as Zuse tumbles down the stairs. Robert says Zuse is like four and Zuse says that's incorrect, he's seventy-four years in existence. He seems to count his years in existence from his moment of Divergence, though he clearly must have existed before that point.

Madison snarks about the underwear groper judging someone else's maturity.

Geri and AJ are more than ready to get to the real after-party part of this party, and Geri asks Zuse if he eats barbeque. Zuse says he does, and also apologizes for there being no more orange juice because someone had put it on his hip and it fell out when he next unmerged.

AJ wants drunk food experiments - first on the list: Snickers-stuffed grilled bananas.

They enjoy their first Easter together, quality time bonding for one of the first times as friends, with their small reprieve from the Church of Charismatic Virtues and The Society.

Later that evening, after the party dies down. After all the drinks have been had, after the food's been eaten... Geri's alone with her thoughts. And very drunk.

So she does what all of us would do if we were on the run from multiple deadly conspiracies and had just recently killed for the first time.

She drunk-dials her ex, of course.

Geri does her ex-drunk-dialing the "smart" way, using one of the burner phones the cohort picked up from one of their recent supply runs.

Amanda doesn't pick up the strange number, so Geri leaves a message. She goes on and on and on about how much she misses her, and she's sorry, and a whoooooole lot of things have gone on in the months since they broke up. She suggests, maybe they can work things out, they don't have to be out publicly - Geri can't be in public at all! Drunk Geri fails to explain that extremely concerning last part and instead moves on to more sad-drunk 'I miss you's.

When the recording ends, Drunk Geri goes to bed sincerely thinking she nailed it. Amanda will totally believe her and take her back.

[Music Outro: "Time Will Fail Us" by Troigo]

Thanks for listening, This has been Gather ‘Round The Trashfires with Bek Andrew Evans. Please subscribe to this podcast for future updates and leave a review or comment, I’d love to hear what you think. You can follow me on a few different social platforms with the username "bekandrew." That's [spells username] on tumblr and bluesky, mainly.

If you'd like to support me, subscribe to my Patreon at Patreon.com/BekAndrewTTRPG and purchase my art prints and tabletop products, including my Deviant: the Renegades community content novella related to this chronicle via my linktree in the description.

AJ is played by Roen,

Geri is played by me,

Madison is played by Syn,

Robert is played by Pandito,

And our Storyteller is Casey Grant.

The intro theme is "_violence by Avantist" from the Free Music Archive, licensed under Creative Commons Attribution International 4.0.

The end theme is "Time Will Fail Us" by Troigo from the Free Music Archive, licensed under Creative Commons Attribution International 4.0.

If you like the songs, I encourage you to check out more of their work. I've linked their Bandcamps in the description.

Until next time.

Follow my Patreon at Patreon.com/BekAndrewTTRPG Check out my other work at linktr.ee/bekandrew Check out the Intro and Outro artists' Bandcamps! https://theavantist.bandcamp.com/music https://troigo.bandcamp.com/ Remember to subscribe and see y'all next week!

Support this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/gather-round-the-trashfires/donations

Zuse has a quest for the cohort with totally, definitely, no fine print. The cohort goes on a shopping trip and learns they're not alone in the world.

They do NOT, however, learn how to collectively pass the bread test.

As an announcement, this podcast is officially moving to release every other week. Release day will still USUALLY be on Saturday unless, like this week, everything possible goes wrong up to and including having to rerecord 3 hours of raw audio.

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Episode Transcript:

Get your snack and beverage of choice ready. It’s time to “Gather ‘Round the Trashfires” for a tabletop roleplaying story! I’m your host, Bek Andrew Evans.

My current and main running story for this podcast is the misadventures of the cohort from the Deviant: the Renegades chronicle I’ve been playing in since early 2021. And I play Geri.

For those of you unfamiliar with Deviant, it’s a TTRPG about people who were formerly human but were irreparably changed in traumatic ways to the point their very Souls broke and they became something Other. They seek vengeance on those who made them, those who hunt them, those who seek to exploit them for what they are and will never leave them be.

As such, this podcast will feature heavy themes and content throughout. There’s an overall content warning for language, violence, criminality, homelessness, substance use, human experimentation, cults and religious extremism, mentioned torture, kidnapping, implied incest and incest-related comments, and abusive relationships. On episodes where there is a new content warning or a particularly notable instance of one of these, I’ll call it out.

Content warning for: discussion of race-based violence and harm to children.

I hope y’all enjoy hearing about my cohort’s antics and stumbling headfirst into the mysteries of the world as much as I have.

[Music Intro: "_violence" by Avantist]

Green Country Calcination Episode 10: The Pawn Shop

Since the cohort last heard from him, Madison's sometimes-lake boyfriend Lucas has been at work learning to control his form and keeping watch over the region the cohort's made their new home. He first makes his presence known by moving the letter fridge magnets around on the cohort's fridge to spell "Go Bulldogs!" (Cassica Hall's mascot) and signing his name.

After a thunderstorm that frightens Cass, there's a new message that says "No more cameras." Someone else, who doesn't sign or fess up to it, takes another pack of letter magnets to spell out, under Luke's message - "Mad is dating Storm Daddy."

The morning after the Easter egghunt, Robert wakes up early (or stays up very late) to have hangover breakfast ready for the cohort. They find him asleep on the couch by the time they all wake up.

After the explosive egghunt, Zuse leaves the cohort a note about a lead he found on a pawn shop owner with some secret important information about the conspiracy that he tracked down. He wants the cohort to go talk to the owner and make a deal with him for the info.

He insists it's something the cohort needs to do on their own without him there, won't explain why, and says he'll be more than happy to be the getaway vehicle again. He'll totally for sure, actually behave this time. Pinky promise.

The cohort note that Zuse is acting pretty cagey, but agree to go on the mission.

They go out early-mid-morning, several days after Easter. Everyone's fully recovered from their massive hangovers and any bruises and minor burns they may have received. Zuse has instructed the cohort to meet him on the edge of Snowdale Park - the park where the cabin is located - at a little side parking lot off the main entrance. It's a little out of the way of most visitor traffic. Zuse left the cabin before dawn, before any of them - even early bird Madison - woke up.  

Before the rest of them go on their trek through the wilderness of the park, Madison uses her costuming skills, honed from years in ballet and cheer, to throw together costumes for everyone. They're not perfect disguises, but none of the cohort are immediately recognizable.

Robert's dressed in his long raincoat, some white gloves, and a mask. With the amount of exercising hes been doing, the raincoat's started to get a little tight around the arms.

Geri's wearing a forgettable tee shirt and jeans, with her hair temporary-dyed a natural-passing dark brown.

Madison had also temp-dyed her hair (dark-brown) and braided it back. She wears cuffed jeans, sneakers, and a loose t-shirt, with dark grunge makeup and brown colored contacts.

AJ is wearing a white tee, with black and green denim jacket with a high collar, and dark blue jeans. He's got some thick-frame hipster glasses and his long hair pulled into a man bun. He has his "infection" on the back of his neck bandaged.

The cohort walk up to that out-of-the-way parking lot and come across a dark green old Dodge Caravan minivan with the windows down. When they get closer, they find that sitting in the back is a familiar face, though it takes a moment to recognize him. Zuse has his platinum blonde hair dyed jet black and wears a black tank top, a black denim-like oversized punk style jacket, dark board shorts, and black ankle-high boots. He cheerfully quotes Mean Girls, telling the cohort to "Get in Losers, We're going Shopping!"

When Geri asks him who showed him that movie, he says Crazy Patty did.

The cohort started their day so early since they were also due for another supply run and decided to go to a shopping center in Tulsa proper while they had to go into town anyway.

Robert insists he's driving his time, after how recklessly Zuse drove before, and Zuse concedes... but says he may decide it's his turn again if he gets too bored.

Robert demands everyone wears seatbelts; this van goes nowhere with an unbuckled seatbelt. Everyone ribs him for how he's acting, Madison calling him 'mom', Geri calling him a Boomer, Zuse muttering that a seatbelt's not gonna stop him, and AJ reminding Robert to chill - but they all buckle in.

The ride's pretty smooth other than a small traffic jam about halfway to Tulsa because of an accident. The side-benefit to the cohort is though it takes them a tiny bit longer than expected to arrive, the chaos out the window keeps Zuse entertained enough to not make his own chaos.

They make it into Tulsa about an hour and a half into the trip, and within another half hour Zuse directs them to the shopping center. It has a Walmart, a hardware store, a toy store, and a craft shop.

AJ immediately brightens up when he sees the hardware store - and the toy store. It's like Christmas and his birthday all at once. Madi, used to much nicer stores, steels herself for having to enter... the Walmart.

The cohort splits up to get whatever they think they need, both for the group and personally.

Madison beefs up her cache of costuming supplies for the cohort, picks out some more clothes for herself, and several bags of groceries.

Geri gets more sets of cheap bedsheets, kitchen supplies, and stocks up on first aid supplies.

Robert finds himself two hammers, a set of kitchen knives, a knife sharpening stone, and some catch-and-release mouse traps, despite the cohort having a cat and no noted sign of mice so far. He claims doesn't want Nacho to leave him furry "presents" on his face.

He's also concerned there might be conspiracy people who can control animals, if some of them also have comic-book-esque superpowers, so the cohort needs to keep any animals that aren't theirs away.

Zuse doesn't come back with bags. Instead, his pockets seem a bit fuller on both his jacket and board shorts. He's approaches the van, whistling innocently a bit after the first three return. Madi side-eyes him.

After Zuse arrives, but before anyone's able to question what trouble he got into this time, AJ captures the other three's attention with his return. The top of his cart's covered with a giant teddy bear that's so big, it makes one question why anyone would buy something like that. AJ has to peek around the cart because he can't see over it. Part of the teddy bear is on him for the walk to the van. He asks for help with the blonde-furred giant bear.

Zuse uses the opportunity to sneak inside the van and start scarfing his probably ill-gotten candy stash. He watches the others from the window with mouth stuffed full like a chipmunk.

AJ has to catch his breath and explains he got prizes for the egg hunt. The Teddy Bear is for Madi because she got the most eggs popped per round. Its name is SnuggLuke.

Madi loves it! She thanks AJ and says its the cutest thing ever.

AJ blushes and reveals he also found Madi a replacement shag rug like he'd promised. It's not the same quality because where they stopped, but it looks similar enough.

The next prize goes to Geri, for most eggs disarmed. He got her a slow-cooker... and then is self conscious because he's not sure if the gift comes off as sexist - but she does really seem to enjoy cooking.

Geri appreciates the gift and gives AJ a half-hug.

They debate for a moment how to transport the giant bear, and ultimately decide to put it in one of the extra seats - but buckle it in so Robert doesn't have a stroke. Robert doesn't appreciate them talking like he's not there.

Zuse offers that the bear can have his seat. He's since crawled under the van's back bench seat.

AJ mentions that he also found someone's lost credit card and asks what they want to do with it. Madi suggests they give it to the police, or try to mail it to the owner. Geri suggests maybe they could trade it to a criminal instead of using it themselves. AJ still thinks a card that can't be tracked to them would be useful for something.

Madison says she plans on getting the cohort cryptocurency for that purpose once she's able to get and set up a computer. That way they don't have to steal.

Geri points out the grocery store doesn't take bitcoin.

Madi laments her internet withdrawals, how she's probably lost SO many followers and she's missed out on all the fun, petty internet drama and doesn't even know if BTS's latest album came out. She asks Zuse if he knows. Zuse reminds her that he doesn't have internet either, but he's heard that it has.

AJ prods Robert to get a move on, already, and off they go to North Tulsa.

The cohort arrives in Greenwood, a historic district - once called Black Wall Street and a center of Black economic growth and success - that was ravaged in fire by white Oklahoman residents and the government during the Tulsa Race Massacre in 1921. It still bears the scars. It never recovered, the area remains impoverished.

As of this recording, there are still two direct, living survivors of the massacre who haven't received any compensation for the horrors they endured or the lost property and opportunities, and their legal case against the city of Tulsa is ongoing. A third survivor died while the case has been pending.

Madison admits she's never been to this part of town and thinks the cohort's gonna stick out some. Geri's not nervous, at least not very. She's not entirely unfamiliar with the area. Robert's also not worried.

When AJ fully realizes where they are, he takes his hipster glasses off and puts his hair into a short, fluffy ponytail. He pulls a baseball cap out of his backpack and puts it on.

The group agrees they need to be careful to not draw extra attention to themselves.

Once there very close, Zuse crawls out from under the back bench seat to point out their destination - Greenwood Antiques and Pawn. The place isn't packed, and even of the people parked in the lot, only some of them are actually inside. Other people are idling around nearby.

Geri and Madison notice the idlers are doing drug deals, but both say nothing and mind their own business.

When they park, Zuse says he'll stay and watch the van.

When they exit the van, Roberts idea of being normal and non-suspicious is... whistling. Geri elbows him in the kidney to get him to knock it off.

The cohort wanders into the pawn shop. It has narrow aisles filled to the brim with all sorts of stuff from weapons to electronics and just about everything in between. It has an old, musty smell. As they walk in, Geri and AJ notice something off, sensing some presence there they otherwise shouldn't.

Geri herself hears indistinct whispers from everywhere, that by all accounts, shouldn't be there from the number of people actually in the shop.

Geri reflexively tries to connect to the unknown entity, with telepathy, to learn more about the potential threat. AJ shakily asks the others if they felt that, too. Madi doesn't know what AJ's talking about and makes a bee-line for the electronics.

Another man steps into the pawn shop. He's a burly fella, at about 6'1 and appears in his early 30s. He has dark hair, a thick but short-trimmed beard and vibrant green eyes. He's wearing a flannel jacket, jeans, work boots, tee shirt, and a baseball cap. His careful gaze flicks around the edges and corners of the shop before even considering any of the wares.

Satisfied with whatever it is he sees, he moves further in to shop.

As the fellowship shop and the newcomer shop, it becomes clear those five are the only white people in the store.

Robert is checking out a set of training weapons. Madi's still in the electronics section. Geri's trying to keep her cool and shop, but is still distracted by... whatever it is she sensed.

The burly stranger selects a pair of binoculars, then some rope, and after starts looking at lengths of chain.

Geri checks on the selection of survival clothes and gear.

AJ isn't shopping at all; he's gone on the hunt for the weirdness he can sense but can't quite place. He's inexplicably brazen like a victim-to-be of a slasher movie.

The stranger doesn't seem to sense the weird. He's adding some zip ties to his loot and starts checking out the racks of guns.

Madison tries to get Geri to decide with her which computer bits she should get and how much they should prioritize portability and budget over computing power. Geri isn't very technically inclined, however, and still distracted by the presence in the store, so she's really not much help. Madison decides she's definitely treating herself to some cat-ear headphones no matter what, though.

Geri does, barely, manage a fleeting connection to the voices. They're ghosts. The place is haunted, for real. And here's one, much more powerful, dark presence she can sense as she tries to feel around with her mind. Geri seeks the information what that presence is, and learns it's "The Daughter Who Burned Alive, Grandmother Greenwood." The answer sends a shiver down her spine and makes her freeze in place. She drops a boot she was looking at.

Robert wonders if Geri's okay, and Geri plays it off as nothing.

Madison wanders off to the cashier and ends up behind the stranger, who's also ready to check out. The stranger chats with the store owner, a young black man with thin dread twists pulled up into a short, tight ponytail and a neatly trimmed short beard. He wears black from head to toe and pairs his warm, friendly smile with a bizarre, cold aura that makes your skin crawl.

The owner welcomes the stranger to town and asks if he's buying or selling. He's doing a bit of both. He puts his shopping on the counter and says he needs all that and whatever kind of gun and knife his wedding ring, watch, and the crumpled bills he has can get him.

AJ pretends to be shopping while trying to get in earshot of the stranger with the concerning cart and the owner with the Weird Vibes.

Robert gets behind Madi in line and chats excitedly, very quietly about how they can train with the practice weapons.... But Madison's distracted by the stranger's selections.

The owner asks the stranger if his wife's gonna be mad about the ring. The Stranger says it doesn't matter, some things are necessary.

Madison is a terrible actress, practically shaking as she asks the stranger if he's going hunting, with an unspoken addition of 'for people.'

Thankfully, the stranger is so in his own head that he barely registers the question and has her repeat it. She's slightly more composed that time. He says yes and that he's visiting from out of town. He asks if she's a local, she says yes.

AJ wanders to Geri and signals to start up the mindcraft network.

The stranger asks Madison if he can get some directions from her - says his phone GPS isn't working right. She agrees and he pulls out a scrap of paper to read off where he'd jotted down the name "Church of Charismatic Virtues."

Madi blinks, asks what he wants there. The stranger assures he's not one of the religious freaks. They took something from him, he's gotta get it back.

Geri and AJ are really scared over the mindcraft. Geri says there's something real fucky going on. AJ thinks they should cut their losses and leave; the owner and the stranger are too suspicious to him.

Madi asks what they have there - or who. Robert starts whistling again. The stranger starts to get very suspicious, looking between Robert and Madison. Madison takes that as confirmation the church has a person.

Geri passes on the info about Grandmother Greenwood and the ghosts. AJ tells Madi over the mindcraft to not share info here and Madi psychically shouts back that the stranger started it. AJ chides her for not playing ignorant.

Robert tries to hint to the Stranger and Madi that maybe this isn't the place or time to talk about such things. The stranger points out the owner hasn't come back with his requested items yet and he needs directions.

Geri says in he mindcraft it's fine to give the stranger the church's address, it's a public location. And hey, maybe he'll throw himself at Derek and weaken him for the cohort.

Madi balks at the idea of letting the stranger getting murdered by demons. She tells him that she should talk with him before he goes... somewhere else. He agrees.

Geri gripes in the mindcraft that the burly stranger totally looks like he could take and dish a hit, and Madi points out the cohort has superpowers and THEY had to flee from Derek. Geri suggests the stranger might be Remade, too, if he's got such a beef with Charismatic Virtues that he's selling his wedding ring.

The pawn shop owner comes back with a knife and a desert eagle pistol. He leans in to whisper that he'll throw in a case of bullets if the stranger will come back to tell him how it worked for his needs. The stranger agrees, and asks if he can pick up a duffel bag while he's there. The owner heads to the back again to get one, but has started giving the cohort some looks.

The cohort, meanwhile, are super on edge and silently sniping at each other in the mindcraft. Accusations of kink and kinkshaming galore, while awkwardly saying nothing aloud.

Geri gets in line with her survival gear and clothes while they're all still silently arguing.

AJ has narrowed the center of the source of the "Heebie Jeebies" to the shopkeep.

Robert out loud mentions wanting a duffel bag, so both girls reply to him to buy one while they're there.

AJ full-on sounds the panic alarm in the mindcraft. He says he thinks the owner is powered and that the cohort's probably caught and they all need to scram while they can. AJ thinks he's probably in the back calling up Camille while they wait.

Madi asks if she can buy her chromebooks and burner phones and kitty cat headphones still, pretty please, she's been waiting.

Robert tries to calm AJ down by saying he could take the shopkeep, or at least bust a new exit if they get locked in. Geri tells AJ to wait, that she wants to check something.

That something she wanted to check? The shop owner's mind... to see if AJ was overreacting.

However, once she connects, she feels her temperature drop and heartbeat quicken. She knows, inately, he isn't a normal mortal but someone who's touched death. Before she can delve deeper, or do anything else, she hears shouting in her mind as The Dark Presence hijacks the connection. The raspy hag voice shouts, "He is not for you!"

Geri sees in her mind's eye the charred remains, moving as if alive, of a little girl wearing her best white dress and shoes.

The store owner returns way too soon to have had much of a phone call, doesn't seem to have a phone with him, and does have a dufel bag for the stranger.

The stranger packs up his stuff and heads toward the door, but lingers, waiting to be able to talk to Madison.

When Geri snaps out of the horrifying flashes of vision she was briefly sucked into before being unceremoniously kicked out of the store owners mind, she drops her things, going ghost-pale and sweaty. A flash of scarlet wisps spill out of her, singing her clothing and arcing like a solar flare into a gun rack, knocking some rifles over. She lets out an incomprehensible scream of terror in the mindcraft. In person, she's too terrified to make a peep, or move.

Robert scoops Geri up and she's too frozen from terror to stop him. Madi's calm and tries to check on Geri.

The store owner calmly looks over to the cohort and asks if everything's alright. And tells them while he's not gonna judge, they can't be doing drugs in line.

AJ... is not calm. Not one bit. As Madi's trying to assure the store owner that her friends are just having a bad trip, it's fine, really, AJ tries to take matters into his own hands and protect his new bestest friend.

He tells the store owner to back off and wills something to work. What actually happens is it backfires and AJ gets flung into some clothing racks like a giant ragdoll.

The stranger has by now seen some prime cut supernatural dipshittery and kinda wants to leave. The store owner himself is deeply confused and taking a step back.

Robert's clothing is getting melted and singed from Geri's Lash being active. He's telling at Madi that they need to leave, he's gonna get Geri out. Madi pleads to the guys to please just let her have the stuff she came here for. And the kitty cat headphones. Pretty please. She doesn't understand why they're all freaking out.

The chaos continues for another moment before the shop owner puts his foot down. Hard. Robert's body freezes in place with a numbing cold. The temperature in the area drops, the blinds all close, the open sign turns off, and all the doors lock. He's pissed about a bunch of random white folk waltzing into Greenwood, acting like fools, and then trying to dip without even cleaning up their mess.

So they're all gonna calm their shit. And sort things out.

Geri's finally able to calm herself out of her panic, and looks around at the chaos the cohort made with a different kind of horror. AJ unburies himself from all the clothes that buried him, disoriented, confused, but has effectively been slapped out of his immediate panic. Madi quietly, cautiously asks the shop owner if he's with the Society or the Church.

The stranger, who's been trapped in the shop, too, shout-asks for someone to PLEASE tell him what the fuck's going on?!

Robert, king of missing the point, thinks what happened is shop owner has superpowers and is mad at the cohort for freaking out about that. Madison reminds him they kiiiinda messed up his shop, and Robert argues that was Geri, not him. AJ

claims that the shop owner attacked Geri.

Geri, in the mindcraft, calls Robert a boomer and tells him to shut it.

The shop owner exasperatedly counters to Robert he's holding a girl who literally sparkled and his clothe are burning off. He says he doesn't know what they're talking about a society or a church, but he does want them to all clean up the mess they made.

Robert continues to be bull-headed, even while saying he'd like to still buy the things he picked out. He accuses the shop owner of flinging AJ across the shop.

Geri apologizes and starts cleaning up, as does Madi. AJ asks Geri what the shop owner did to her.

Geri explains in the mindcraft what happened - the shop owner is... not quite possessed, maybe possessed? She's not totally sure. But the spirit thing in his body's very protective and is what actually lashed out at her. Not the shop owner himself.

The shop owner is muttering and pissed and starts arguing back with Robert how what he's saying makes no sense. Why would he want to wreck his Own Shop?

Robert belligerently tells the shop owner to tell his roommate to calm down, then.

Geri screams in he mindcraft for Robert to shut the fuck up.

That's the last straw. The shop owner straightens his posture and tells Robert to get out and that he can wait for his friends outside.

Geri is just trying to clean things up while making it clear to Robert that she's done with his shit, too. She and Robert also keep bickering in the mindcraft even after Robert gets kicked out. Madi looks positively mortified as she's cleaning.

The owner, now calmer, asks the cohort if Robert is a racist or just an idiot.

AJ finally realizes there's been a GRAVE misunderstanding and explains all the spooky haunted vibes he could could feel coming off the owner, then hearing his friend screaming bloody murder... oops.

Geri quickly says that Robert's just a moron. She's still bickering with him over the mindcraft.

Madi tries to explain he's neither... he's just got a lot going on... but it's super complicated and they're all really sorry about the mess.

The shop owner recommends that AJ's friend (Geri) ought not peek inside people's heads without knocking first.

Madi gives Geri the most disappointed look and demands over he mindcraft she apologize.

The stranger looks increasingly confused, and like he's not sure whether he should try to leave or not. Madi promises she'll explain. The stranger replies that's why he' sticking around, even though his instincts tell him to run.

Robert's shocked to find Geri snooping where she wasn't supposed to caused this mess and finally settles down. Geri (lies and) tries to explain over the mindcraft she was just trying to investigate the big scary ghost and didn't realize it was attached to someone!

The owner is mildly amused at Geri getting that shock from The Grandmother and ribs her a tiny bit about it. He tells the cohort they can let Robert back in if he's chilled out.

Geri apologies to the shop owner and he accepts it.

The stranger lets Robert back in, and Robert immediately apologies to the owner for his earlier behavior, he explains he gets worked up over things that concern his group.

The owner says they're tighter wound than an addict going through withdrawals... but he's interested to know more about them, because they didn't come because of the ghosts, but they're not normal either.

Geri suggests in the mindcraft that Zuse thought it would be funny to send them here.

Madi and Robert explain - the only other powered people they've met have been the ones hunting them down, and when they sensed he was... different, paranoia happened.

It clicks for the shopkeeper how new to being supernatural the cohort are, and he takes some pity on them. He invites them all to the back, including the stranger - and tells the stranger if the knowledge freaks him out too much, The Grandmother can just gnaw the memories out of his head. Fix him right up.

The stranger agrees, and they all head toward the back, employees only area.

The stranger also tells Madi he's not leaving without that address. Madi tells him they gotta tell him stuff about the church first, like the literal demons there! The stranger says he doesn't know anything about demons, but does know this whole region should be avoided like the plague - lot of reasons to stay away and none to come back.

Over the mindcraft, AJ chastises Madi for telling the stranger too much. They don't know if he's trustworthy. Madi says she's not sending him to die, plus he already saw they had powers. Geri figures it can't hurt if he wants to fuck up the church, too.

AJ relents and out loud sarcastically adds that Tulsa also has fake hospitals, rogue national guard, and flesh-eating bacteria in the water - what's not to love? Madi sincerely says the fair and zoo are nice.

The back is a crowded siting room, full of shelved lined with antique. There's a 3D model of Greenwood before the Massacre and several cushioned oak armchairs. Its even more haunted than out front, with everyone able to hear the whispers.

They begin taking their seats, with The Stranger taking the one closest to the exit. Robert and AJ sit on either side of the shop owner. Geri and Madi sit together at a corner.

Madison is fascinated by the 3D model. Geri keeps looking for the source of the whispers, distracted by them all, but the bemused owner tells her she's not gonna find the source - The Gate is on the other side.

Madi asks if he means where the spirits and Angels are, and he shoots that idea down. There's only sorrow and desperation where dead go.

Robert says the owner clearly knows a lot more about the world than the cohort does, and the owner's not sure about that anymore. He knows more about some parts, for sure. He says has has no idea what they are... those that come to him are usually connected with death like Mediums, other Sin-Eaters, Vampires...

He asks about them mentioning being hunted.

The cohort has to take a moment to process the idea that other creatures are real, even though Zuse had told them before. But really, how serious are they taking the chaotic prankster who has to be convinced to wear clothes half the time?

Madi asks if he means like Twilight vampires, which makes the Sin-Eater laugh and tell her not to say that too loudly, lest one hear and want to prove the description wrong. Madi, confused and disappointed, asks if they glitter. The Sin-Eater says the kind called Daeva might, as they're ripping your heart out.

Madi says that sounds kinda like the gory birth scene, wincing and grossed out.

Robert actually answers the Sin-Eater's previous question, about the cohort being hunted. He explains the people for the Green Country in charge of the water are hunting them... and they're also being hunted by that big Church of Fuckheads. He says the bosses have powers like them, and the cohort were experimented on in a hospital, but escaped.

The stranger gets super interested when Robert mentions the Church. He asks why the church is after them AJ warns over the mindcraft, too late, to not tell the stranger about Geri's father- Geri was already telling him the church wants her back. Madi asks why the stranger wants to go there, and he repeats they have something of his. Madi tries to get more information what - or who - it is, but is interrupted.

AJ warns Robert to stop cursing cuz the Sin-Eater's grandma's here and he shouldn't be rude. Robert apologizes politely for his cursing to the entity sharing the Sin-Eater's body. Amused again, the Sin-Eater explains to the two that she isn't his grandmother, she's THE Grandmother - Something called a Geist, like mini death god.

When the cohort's curious, he explains more that The Grandmother was a little girl during the Tulsa Massacre. Farmers tied her to a tree, set her on fire. She died when the bombs fell. He continues that she wants Justice for Greenwood, vengeance.

The story moves everyone. Even, especially, the stranger.

The Sin-Eater finishes his story saying he and The Grandmother are bonded, they made a pact. AJ says that sounds like a warlock, and the Sin-eater corrects him that he doesn't fuck with magic users cuz they're crazy. AJ clarifies he meant the nerd reference 'deal with a patron' way, and the Sin- Eater agrees in that sense, it makes sense.

Madi says it's horrific what as done to The Grandmother. The Sin Eater explains the Gate they all sense is an Avernus Gate - which crop up in places significantly connected to death. He says Greenwood is full of them, and some think the area merged with the underworld because all the death of the Massacre.

Madison asks if there's a Gate at Lake Hudson. As a reminder, that's the same Lake Lucas is now. The Sin-Eater isn't aware of a Gate there.

AJ tries to comfort Madison that ghost movies always say that acts of monstrosity make supernatural stains, not accidents... and then it clicks for the Sin Eater. He says he had a friend check the lake after that big storm and all those rich teens died, but it was weird. There wasn't a single ghost.

Madi asks if spirits are the same as ghosts. And also says that the demon in the church seems like something they should worry about.

For the first part, the Sin-Eater answers no. And then confused, maybe a little exasperated asks what damn church they're talking about - and since when did demons go to church?

Geri clarifies they're not sure if he's really a demon or just has powers.

Madison explains the church is a crazy cult that kidnaps, tortures, and murders people, and maybe also works with demons, like their head of security. AJ is more sure and tells Madi that he was definitely some asshole with powers like the cohort, except awful.

Madison argues that maybe the church security head is a demon, AJ can't prove he isn't. He's super evil and demon-y and they just found out there's other creatures out there.

The stranger is, once more, entirely fascinated with talks of the church and gives the discussion his undivided attention.

AJ asks if the Sin-Eater can tell them anything about Angels, and the true machine.

The Sin-Eater explains that anything that calls itself an Angel is bad news, or at least in no way benevolent.

Madi bickers with Robert about the presence or not presence of demons in the church, with the stranger silently watching. AJ tries to get Madi to calm down by reminding her that they don't even know what all people like them can do.

The Sin-Eater, helpfully, mentions he met a demon once. And he wasn't what you'd expect a demon to be like. He explains the demon looked normal but the soul was just a patchwork of bits of other people cobbled together, and he was somehow more paranoid and edgy than the cohort. The demon had mentioned the 'God-Machine", too.

AJ pauses. Robert has a moment of Deja Vu - the phrase feels oddly familiar to him despite having never heard it.

Madison, meanwhile, asks since the Sin Eater said The Grandmother can eat memories, hypothetically, could she or someone else fix memories taken by a hypothetical crazy teen outreach lady, hypothetically?

The Sin-Eater explains to Madi that she'd need to find a healer of the mind or soul, or whoever stole the memories, and unfortunately he doesn't have anyone to point her to right now.

The stranger is vitally interested in this "hypothetical" memory thief, so the cohort explains who she is and what she does. Geri adds helpfully, and a little frustrated, that you can't light her on fire. The stranger says if she gets in the way... he'll take care of the problem.

AJ asks the Sin-Eater if God could really be a machine in the normal sense, with no one to create it or maintain it. The Sin-Eater responds he doesn't fuckin' know, that's just what the robot-demon-thing kept going on about.

Madi and Geri ask the stranger who he's going after in the church and he has a hard time keeping his cool as he speaks. It's like he's oscillating between breaking down sobbing and tearing off in a murderous rage. He explains Derek kidnapped his kid. He recognized Derek from when they were little, but it was definitely him.

Madi, Geri, and Robert immediately agree to help him, and Madison shares the church stole her best friends' memories. the Stranger asks if Agatha's dead yet, and Geri replies that the... witch just won't die.

AJ's still having his side conversation about robo-demons with the Sin-Eater. He has a hard time wrapping his brain around the idea of a robot demon but then asks if the demon mentioned anything about Antarctica. No Dice, but the Sin-Eater says he has something that might clear something up for the cohort.

But first, his interest piques at the other conversation when they mention Agatha. He says he heard the name before... from children's ghosts.

The stranger, and the others, start asking what the ghosts said, but before the Sin-Eater can answer them, Geri blurts out -

"Shit, does she ACTUALLY bathe in the blood of children?!" Horrified, as she'd previously just been joking.

And that's when hell about breaks loose. The Sin-Eater confirms it. The Stranger's about ready to go raze the church on his own. He demands the address and Geri blurts that out too, about ready to go with him and ditch the cohort if she has to.

Madi yells at Geri for telling him because now they have to go with him immediately to stop him from getting killed.

Robert tries to reason with the Rampaging Papa Bear, and tells him that if he goes now, he'll just look cool and die without ever seeing his kid. They need to do this smart. AJ backs Robert up.

Robert says he has a.... suggestion to give the stranger a chance against the church. In the mindcraft, all pretense of Robert being the sensible one is lost when he says they need to dunk the stranger in the tainted lake water to try to diverge him. Geri and Madison argue with him about why it's a terrible idea.

The Sin-Eater calms things down a notch by offering a little detail he knows about Agatha's ritual that might help them, but in order for him to tell it, they all have to be seated.

Geri, after some thought, mentions in he mindcraft that the Stranger's related to Agatha. Madi asks isn't Geri also related to Agatha? AJ tells them to stop having a third fucking conversation because it's hell on his ADHD. He also, belatedly, explains in detail why they can throw the stranger in the lake: Firstly, they don't know for sure the lake causes this. Second, way more people die than get powers, and lastly, they're not. The Fucking. Society.

Out of the blue, from the Stranger's perspective, Geri asks him if he's related to Agatha. He stares at her for a while, considering before nodding once.

Once all the Remade in the room have sufficiently cooled their jets and sat their asses back in seats, the Sin-Eater has a moment of empathy with the Stranger, saying he gets it, he's got a baby brother. And then he explains he only remembers the detail because The Grandmother despises Agatha - The Grandmother never got to grow up and start a family and here Agatha is, using her descendants as disposable resources. Every fifty years she sacrifices a descendant to steal their life essence, and it's been forty-nine.

The stranger nods at this revelation and says, if he isn't able to kill them, he'll trade. The cohort are immediately on edge, but he clarifies he means himself. He'd trade himself for his daughter, Sophie. He figures they probably actually want him, anyway.

AJ's still stuck on the idea of the Stranger being Agatha's spawn. The stranger corrects he's her grandson, for what little it's worth. He's not seen her since he was a kid.

Geri uncomfortably says that a lot of the Church's inner circle people are related to Agatha. Robert asks what the fuck is this church, the Hapsburgs? AJ says powers can be inherited... so the Stranger my be powered.

The Sin-Eater mutters he didn't know blood bathing was hereditary.

The stranger admits he can do "stuff," and just found out the nigh before. Madison gently prods him to explain, and he continues that after the kidnapping, once he came to, he tore the door and part of the wall off and can... he needs a moment for the words to describe it... become other people. Identically. And his hands can do a weird thing.

Robert, in the mindcraft, says the stranger having powers saves them the trouble. AJ reminds him they were absolutely not going to cause this guy to diverge, shut the fuck up Robert.

Madison explains Robert can transform, but more of a hulk thing than becoming other people.

The stranger asks if they all can get hit by cars and be fine, and they explain that they can't. Geri doesn't want to attempt. The Sin-Eater quips about her being okay with snooping in strangers' brains but not playing chicken with a car. Madi lists her own immunities - fire, cold, and electricity.

AJ says he learned he can get thrown randomly, but that doesn't seem useful. And also that Robert's hulk form is kinda wimpy and not that strong. Madi says she can do stuff with electricity. Geri says she can also read minds and set things on sort-of fire, and get dream info. AJ says the women of the group are the big guns.

When The Stranger's repeating back in his own words what everyone can do, including the Sin-Eater, the Sin-Eater corrects that he's not the same thing as... whatever the rest of them are. He says they sound like living proof that rumors about Project Triton are real. And then he gets annoyed a Nosferatu called Andre is right and going to be smug about it.

They ask what a Nosferatu is, Madi asking if it's like from the silent movie. The Sin-Eater laughs again, amused at the innocent naivety and says... kind of, they're all creepy, but not all ugly. He explains a few months back, Andre showed up wanting to trade some documents he claimed were from a confidential government server. The Sin-Eater didn't believe Andre then, and now owes him money from the bet he just lost.

AJ asks if he can put them in touch with Andre, and the Sin-Eater says they're not ready.

Madi assures the Sin-Eater the documents are super legit. And asks if Andre posted them anywhere because she wants to compare notes. The Sin-Eater says he has a copy still.

Madison asks if she can buy it, and also the computer stuff she was gonna buy from the front. Especially the kitty cat headphones.

The Sin-Eater considers the cohort for a long moment before asking them if they happen to know a 'little nazi-looking twink.' AJ counters, straight-faced, if they say they do, will he take him in?

Geri starts yelling at AJ in the mindcraft that they are NOT. Giving. Zuse. No matter how much of a little shit he is. AJ promises he was joking. Geri threatens that he BETTER have been.

The Sin-Eater laughs and looks over the cohort again. He explains said twink gave him a message that he was sending something of interest and a business opportunity his way.

The cohort decide in the mindcraft they're all okay with throwing Zuse in a dumpster, at least for a time-out.

Madison says that yeah, they're the... business opportunity. The Sin-Eater asks how

Zuse can leap out of cars and the cohort responds, nearly in unison, that he's a troll with trolling powers.

The Sin-Eater says he does have something he'd like the cohort can provide... since it sounds like the cohort plus gun-buying dad are on a bloody warpath, he wants them to bring back items off dead people.

Geri asks Zuse, over the Mindcraft, what he can tell them about a "business opportunity" at the pawn shop. He replies that pawn shops are always full of business opportunities. Geri tells him to try his answer again.

Zuse asks if the owner has the server information.

Madi asks why the Sin-Eater wants the "trophies" from the dead, and he responds that he can use them. AJ asks how many he wants.

Over the mindcraft, AJ tells the others he wants to do the negotiating. Geri still hasn't responded to Zuse.

The Sin-Eater responds that the answer depends whether the cohort just wants the data and Madison's electronics or building a working relationship.

Zuse assumes since Geri hasn't responded that means she's upset. And she must be upset because the pawn shop owner doesn't have the data and exactly no other possible reason.

Geri tells everyone except Zuse in the mindcraft that she's gonna find a dumpster to yeet Zuse into later.

AJ offers that since they don't know what data's being offered, if it checks out, they'll come back to the Sin-Eater for their data brokering needs and trade for dead people's stuff.

Madi starts arguing in the mindcraft that she doesn't want to murder for gain, or at all! AJ promises he won't make her a murderer. And Self-defense isn't murder, anyway. Geri mentions she can try to find out if Blake is dead.

The Sin-Eater makes a counter offer. They can walk out with the info and whatever they were looking to get from the front, but, they will owe him a trinket when, not if, it checks out. And he can trade for more things they need for more death trinkets.

The Stranger asks if telling the Sin-Eater about killing with the gun was like that, and Sin-Eater says it's the lighter version. The Stranger asks if he can get anything special for bringing a trinket, too. The Sin-Eater's more than happy to make that deal.

Geri asks for clarification - does the item have to be from the time of death or the events leading up to death? The Sin-Eater explains the time of death is usually simpler, but any possession of importance works. He says if the ghost says something interesting that'd help them, he'll tell them.

AJ seals the deal. Robert and Geri are aright with it, since they either don't have qualms abut it or understand the nuance.

Madi is quietly furious. She's stuck on the idea that she'll have to murder even though she's had assurances from everyone that she won't. The Sin-Eater even mentions that they could just find items from someone who just happened to recently die - a death they had nothing to do with.

Zuse gets excited when he realizes the mindcraft chatter has indicated the Sin-Eater definitely has the goods. Geri asks Zuse why he wasn't up front with them, why he couldn't tell them they were walking into a haunted pawn shop.

Zuse explains in his inappropriately chipper tone that their reactions needed to be authentic, of course.

While AJ and the Sin-Eater are shaking hands on the deal, AJ asks if it needs to be signed in blood. The Sin-Eater jokes for him to stop being so dramatic, it's like he's never made a deal with a guy brought back from the dead by a little death god before.

The cohort is amazed about the idea of him getting brought back to life. Madi tells him about what Lucas is and asks what he is. The Sin-Eater has no idea, he isn't like the spirits he's heard of before. He thinks the Triton experiments maybe changed rules of things, if it made the cohort. He says it's been a while since he's heard something new.

As they're about to leave, they finally all exchange names. The Sin-Eater's name is D'Vonte and the Stranger's name is Grant.

D'Vonte lets them see themselves out with whatever they were going to get and gives them three days to make good on their deal.

Madison is back to being furious once they exit. Sparks are crackling across her skin.

Geri asks Zuse what needed to be authentic. He says their reactions, of course. He figured a skilled supernatural broker like D'Vonte would go easy on a bunch of frightened obvious newbs.

AJ tries to convince Madison it will all be alright over the mindcraft, that he'll be the one to pay the price if they can't get the trinket, not her, and he's not gonna make her kill anyone. He'll make sure it gets sorted out. Zuse is elated his plan seems to have worked.

Geri makes sure to grab Madi's desired electronics on the way out, along with the stuff she'd picked out earlier, given Madi's sparking.

Once they're all outside, Zuse isn't visible in the van. He probably IS the van. Grant asks how to get in touch with them. Madi tells him to meet at the Denny's in a couple days very early in the morning.

Grant says his goodbyes and heads off in his car.

AJ enters the van silently. Once everyone's inside, the van starts up and heads off with Robert driving. Zuse talks using the radio, telling the cohort he only wanted to ensure mission success. Madison tells him she's going to throw him into a wall and asks him why that is. He doesn't know. He guesses it might be the ghosts.

Madison tells him it's not the ghosts. Zuse asks if there were other things here today besides the ghosts.

AJ softly asks for Madison's attention. Madison is still furious, ready to start sobbing, but boiling with rage. AJ, very softly, and very seriously, tells her that he would never make her do something she doesn't want to if he can help it. And he promises to do whatever he can to spare her from whatever unpleasantness he can.

The radio says he's sorry for deceiving them, it's just that the flash drive as very important. Geri asks why, why to him. He's embarrassed about this and doesn't want to talk about it so much, but it was stolen from his network. He knows the information will be relevant to the current situation... and he really wanted it back.

Madi and AJ have a touching moment, with AJ promising to never treat her as a weapon, to never make a killer out of her. He reminds her she's a good person, a good person who's had horrific things happen to her. He tells her she's made a choice to be a defender, to do her best to save people.

He hugs her as she cries, hiding for her sake the pain she's causing him from the small shocks. Geri notices whats happening and grimaces.

Geri tells Zuse to give them a head's up next time, because it turned into a huge shit-show from them not knowing what they were walking into. Zuse promises to be more up-front with the cohort. He says Dr. Werner was he one who liked hiding things for the patients' own good, he never much preferred that strategy. He likes his friends to not be mad at him.

Madison says she wants to protect AJ from anything evil touching him, changing him. She doesn't want him to have nightmares of death. AJ adds a little lightheartedness to this emotions-fest and says not to worry, he's saving his purity through slapping stickers and googly eyes over his little Home-Alone gadgets. Basically definitely an eternal virgin.

Zuse pipes up about a container of non-machine lubricant in the garage and asks what it's for if that's the case. AJ claims chapped lips, so Zuse plays a chapstick ad on the radio.

The rest of the drive is pretty uneventful. They stop at a rest stop to check the info, in case there's some issues with the flash drive. True to D'Vonte's word, it's a legitimate scan of a classified government document.

The most important sections say: The Appropriate agencies have confirmed there's no quantifiable negative waste product produced by the machine's operation, only energy generation. It concludes Aether is undetectable by modern science and the Society can proceed with zero risk of liability for uncontained Divergences, so long as they are not overly numerous. The document also defines Aether as a byproduct of "The Great Machine" unlike any known substance in the universe. It's purpose is it is capable of inducing Divergence, though the Society hasn't worked out the rate at which it does this. They have evidence it was present in the Antarctic ruins, which was code-named Atlantis.

After they finally get home, Geri has a dream to see if they might already have a trinket to satisfy D’Vonte’s deal - Blake’s (soiled) uniform from the church rescue.

She should have been careful what she wished for.

She dreams she's being buried alive, still bound in duct tape like the cohort left Blake. She knows instinctively she's about to die. She's living out his final moments.

She feels the dirt crushing her body, her chest, forcing the air out of her lungs and preventing her from taking a breath. She starts breathing in dirt.

She struggles until her vision goes out, but it’s not over. Cold hands pull her deeper, further down…

She screams herself, and the cohort, awake.

[Music Outro: "Time Will Fail Us" by Troigo]

Thanks for listening, This has been Gather ‘Round The Trashfires with Bek Andrew Evans. Please subscribe to this podcast for future updates and leave a review or comment, I’d love to hear what you think. You can follow me on a few different social platforms with the username "bekandrew." That's [spells username] on tumblr and bluesky, mainly.

If you'd like to support me, subscribe to my Patreon at Patreon.com/BekAndrewTTRPG and purchase my art prints and tabletop products, including my Deviant: the Renegades community content novella related to this chronicle via my linktree in the description.

AJ is played by Roen,

Geri is played by me,

Madison is played by Syn,

Robert is played by Pandito,

And our Storyteller is Casey Grant.

The intro theme is "_violence by Avantist" from the Free Music Archive, licensed under Creative Commons Attribution International 4.0.

The end theme is "Time Will Fail Us" by Troigo from the Free Music Archive, licensed under Creative Commons Attribution International 4.0.

If you like the songs, I encourage you to check out more of their work. I've linked their Bandcamps in the description.

Until next time.

Follow my Patreon at Patreon.com/BekAndrewTTRPG Check out my other work at linktr.ee/bekandrew Check out the Intro and Outro artists' Bandcamps! https://theavantist.bandcamp.com/music https://troigo.bandcamp.com/ Remember to subscribe and see y'all next week!

Support this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/gather-round-the-trashfires/donations

Robert drags the cohort plus new ally Grant along to rescue his beloved cat. How many Renegades could it take to rescue one single, normal cat?

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Episode Transcript:

Get your snack and beverage of choice ready. It’s time to “Gather ‘Round the Trashfires” for a tabletop roleplaying story! I’m your host, Bek Andrew Evans.

My current and main running story for this podcast is the misadventures of the cohort from the Deviant: the Renegades chronicle I’ve been playing in since early 2021. And I play Geri.

For those of you unfamiliar with Deviant, it’s a TTRPG about people who were formerly human but were irreparably changed in traumatic ways to the point their very Souls broke and they became something Other. They seek vengeance on those who made them, those who hunt them, those who seek to exploit them for what they are and will never leave them be.

As such, this podcast will feature heavy themes and content throughout. There’s an overall content warning for language, violence, criminality, homelessness, substance use, human experimentation, cults and religious extremism, mentioned torture, kidnapping, implied incest and incest-related comments, and abusive relationships. On episodes where there is a new content warning or a particularly notable instance of one of these, I’ll call it out.

I hope y’all enjoy hearing about my cohort’s antics and stumbling headfirst into the mysteries of the world as much as I have.

[Music Intro: "_violence" by Avantist]

Green Country Calcination Episode 11: The Great Cat Rescue

After Geri woke screaming from her dream, she shared it. In vivid detail. She records it in a section of the journal she devoted to logging her special dreams.

AJ announces he wants to do the uniform drop-off, and all future dealings - with D'Vonte alone. No one objects heavily, though Geri requests the cohort be close enough by to be able to intervene should something go terribly wrong. AJ arranges his meeting to be the day they planned to next meet up with Grant anyway, just before.

Madison has been working from various public wifi locations around town to begin her research and hacking.

In the couple of days between meetings, Geri asks the universe for more clues on Grant's daughter's whereabouts and status. Unfortunately, she only has a name to go by that was only mentioned once, and she can't quite remember that. In her dream, she's lost in a sea of faces. There's too many relatives of Agatha to pick through. She's too confused to find anything useful other than realizing how truly vast the family is.

Robert has recently been inexplicably pestering the cohort about his cat, and derailing conversations about more theoretically pressing matters because he wants them to go retrieve his cat from his old house he hasn't returned to since his divergence.

So the rest of the cohort, realizing it would take a lot more time and careful planning to rescue their new ally Grant's daughter from the church, give in to Robert. But they make him do the planning while they're focusing on Sophie and other conspiracy stuff, since it's his cat.

Robert never gets back to anyone with a plan before the meeting.

The cohort meets up where Madison had directed Grant to find them - at the Denny's nearest to D'Vonte's shop. It's very early morning, with all the cohort except for AJ arrived at a secluded corner booth and beginning to eat.

Zuse and Geri are competing for the most gremlin breakfast spread, though Zuse has an advantage with the huge chocolate-bacon milkshake he ordered. Robert has a very normal hearty breakfast except with hot water to drink. Madison has a frappe, avocado toast, and a laptop pulled out to work on the go.

Geri's been very quiet since her horrific Blake death dream and hasn't gotten back to normal yet, though she's at least eating decently. She has her hair temp-dye brown again and is wearing another forgettable tee shirt and jeans outfit.

 Zuse's hair is still dyed raven black and is wearing one of Madison's brother's hoodie's that has the Cassica Hall bulldog mascot, board shorts, flip flops, and sunglasses.

Robert's dressed head to toe in a jogging sweats outfit plus a mask, sunglasses, and gloves. Though he removes the sunglasses and pulls up the mask as much as he can indoors.

Madi's wearing an orange plaid short sundress, thin creme sweater left open, thick-soled white sneakers, matching over-sized sunglasses, and coral lip gloss. She's back to her natural blonde.

The cohort, as a whole, looks like an odd grouping this very early morning.

As they're waiting and eating, Grant arrives. Cautiously. He makes mental note of all the patrons, the exits.

He spots the cohort before they spot him, and considers for a moment before approaching. He greets them and focuses on the newest face, Zuse, with extreme suspicion.

The cohort, meanwhile, openly invite him to the table, as if they'd known him longer than one meeting. The enemy of my enemy is clearly my friend, after all. Madison's excited he actually showed up.

Grant admits it came down to a coin toss whether he'd actually come, and Zuse says that's still decent odds.

Grant takes a seat with the cohort, at the edge - easiest to flee. He remarks he didn't realize they actually meant to eat there.

Geri says she didn't either but Zuse started ordering... so they all kinda did. Robert says they were hungry, but Grant doesn't need to feel pressured to order anything.

Grant says he's full so he'll skip it.

AJ arrives then from his meeting with D'Vonte, looking more relaxed than he's been in a while. He's wearing a batman joke shirt, washed out blue jeans, sneakers, and a beanie that's inexplicably inside out.

Grant gets up to let AJ sit next further in the bench seat and not get sandwiched between cohort members himself. He looks unsure whether he regrets coming or not.

AJ greets everyone and calls the waitress over.

Madi tries to explain what she's doing, but uses so much Linux jargon no one can understand what she means. She also claims she's 'not a nerd' when Robert asks her to use 'non-nerd language.'

Zuse is humming happily to himself quietly as he eats, which isn't exactly helping with the low profile, but is keeping anyone from making out what's being said at the table. He's swinging his feet under the table, occasionally lightly kicking Grant.

Geri defends Madi by pointing out that Robert drinking plain warm water is weird, but Robert is secure in his beverage choices.

Madi goes on trying to explain her computer speak, but she doesn't manage to make it much clearer. Robert asks if it's like a VPN, maybe? and Madison gives up and says that's... close enough.

A waitress comes by to check on the table. She eyes gremlins, Geri and Zuse, a bit with their food choices, but she gives the table a polite smile.

Grant orders black coffee in a to-go cup after all.

AJ.... manages to outdo even Zuse. He's apparently starving and orders seemingly enough food for the whole cohort... for mostly himself, including a whole coffee pitcher, with a plate of nachos to share. Grant is openly shocked by the order, and even Zuse does a double-take.

The waitress laughs in surprise and shuffles off to put in the order.

When questioned about his huge order, AJ says he came here with an appetite. If he here already full, he'd go to one of those fancy Tapas restaurants. Madison misses Tapas, and AJ says they can simulate a fancy place by dumping most of her serving before giving her the plate.

Now that everyone's here, Madison wants to get down to business.

Robert wants to talk about his cat. He thinks rescuing his cat should be the business.

Madison asks what the cat plan is, so they don't get caught.

Grant is unamused, squinting at Robert.

The waitress, Maggie, comes back with AJ and Grant's drinks, and the pitcher of coffee, before leaving again.

Robert thinks because it's night, early-early morning, he can just move too fast for anyone to see him nab his cat. Easy-peasy. Plus with clones, he can draw his cat in from more directions. And use bait. Nothing can go wrong.

While Robert's explaining his plan, Geri leans to Grant to update him on her progress toward finding Sophie. She tells him she tried to look for hints, but haven't found out where she is yet.

Geri immediately has Grant's undivided attention and he asks how she's searching, and where.

AJ tries, REALLY tries to explain to Robert they need an actual, solid plan to not get caught. Since Robert's place is 100% going to be watched.

Madi asks why Robert can't just get his housekeeper to drop the cat off in some safe spot while pretending to go to the vet. It doesn't occur to her that not everyone has a housekeeper, including Robert.

Robert explains he's been paying a neighbor girl a little bit to feed his cat and walk it. He further clarifies the girl is fifteen, and he gave her an advance payment for a long expected absence when he was getting his affairs in order to be sent inpatient at the hospital.

Robert is lightly frustrated the others don't think his speedy form will be fast enough to dodge cameras in a quiet neighborhood, so say they all should brainstorm a plan together. Even though it was meant to be his job.

Madi says it's less cameras, more people in government vans that are looking for weird powers and that maybe have some, too.

Geri explains to Grant that while she hasn't found Sophie yet, she can get information in dreams - but Agatha has too many damn descendants for her to sort through. Grant asks if a photo might help, and Geri figures it can't hurt. She's still learning.

Grant takes out his wallet, and slides out a small picture of a little blonde girl smiling with her front tooth missing, and hands it to Geri.

AJ asks Grant, after draining his first cup of coffee in record time, how the church kidnapped his kid. Grant takes a bit to decide whether to answer.

in the meantime, Maggie come back to drop off the big plate of appetizer nachos.

When she leaves, Grant decides to continue. he and Sophie weren't supposed to stop in Tulsa, but there was a storm. A huge one. He knew it was a bad idea; he knew to not stop in the Green Country, but he stopped at a motel for the night. He woke up to Derek and some others breaking into the room, taking Sophie.

He... wasn't able to stop them. He did tear the door off its hinges.

The cohort express their hatred for Derek, and Grant agrees, says he'll tear him apart. Madi says it'll take a group to fight him, and Grant agrees to that, too. It's why he's with the cohort.

Madi says she actually wants to hurt Derek, to break whatever commandments she's gotta. Cuz he hurt her friend Cass, too.

AJ says he definitely wouldn't mind using Derek for the trade-in deal with D'Vonte (and he's nicknamed D'Vonte "Dee").

Geri asks if Serena was at the kidnapping, though describes her as 'a Church Becky.' She wasn't.

Madison asks if Grant has somewhere safe he's staying in town, and Grant says he's been motel hopping, paying in cash at the seedier places. Madison offers he can crash with the cohort, and he says he'll think about it.. assuming they don't die rescuing a cat.

AJ is shocked Madi didn't consult the rest of them first before offering to let Grant move in and join the cohort. Madi says it's obvious he should because he's one of them, working together, and against the same enemies.

Zuse meows at Grant to confirm they are indeed doing the cat rescue mission before going back to his massive pile of food. Grant stares at the bizarre little android in confusion.

Geri only semi-sarcastically says they better watch out for Chris Hansen looking into this lump sum paid to the 15-year-old.

Maggie shows up to deliver the massive amount of food while Robert and Madi argue whether or not Madi's normal, again. Madi also doesn't know who Chris Hansen is.

Robert and Madi ask for refills on their drinks, and Robert's warm water request gets a bit of a squint from the waitress.

AJ coos in awe at his plates of food and has a sudden idea, while his mouth is full. He can't wait to share it with the waitress before he swallows and no one can understand him.

Madi 'ew's and swats at him. Geri gives him a side-eye.

Apparently, he already wants to know if they have a separate dessert menu. The waitress patiently shows him where it is, comments on his appetite again, and asks the odd assortment of Remade if they've been out on the town. She's staring at Zuse and Madison the most.

The cohort, following AJ's lead, improv a backstory that they're an extended family - Robert and Grant are Madi's two dads, AJ is a cousin, and Geri and Zuse are also related somehow. They're on a cross-country road-trip to Los Angeles.

Because they're in Tulsa, Oklahoma, the waitress feels the need to somewhat awkwardly tell the "couple" to stay strong and be themselves and that she voted for the Democrat, feeling good that she met some real-life gays and was nice to them as she leaves.

The cohort flatter the waitress for her kindness. AJ starts reading through the desert menu while still chowing down on his burger and other food. Grant asks when they're leaving, cuz he doesn't wanna have to make out with Robert to keep up the act - Robert's too square for his type. Madi says soon as they get refills. Geri says as soon as Robert suggests a plan that isn't shit.

Zuse, the forever-mentally and physically early 20's twink of an android - asks if he gets to be the grandfather. Madi says yes. Zuse attempts acting older and more dignified in response, meticulously blotting syrup off his mouth with his napkin.

AJ gives Madi puppy dog eyes because he desperately wants to get a huge tower of desert waffles. Madi says to just get them to go, but also: she's stealing one.

AJ thinks if Grant wasn't pretending to be his uncle, he would be a better fit for dating him, though they're close to a decade apart. Grant doesn't respond to that, just eats nachos.

Robert finally has... another plan. He wants to sneak through people's lawns from a couple blocks away and have Madi or Zuse cut the power to his house, then he can zip in super speedy to grab his cat and zip back out and they're all good.

Geri wants to know how he's mitigating dogs barking or other obstacles running through yards at 4am.

Madi figures at least it's better than the front yard.

Robert claims he's trying, frustrated he's getting questioned about his plans.

AJ asks if the kid Robert is paying is actually responsible - if she walks the cat at a set time, they might be able to intercept her on the walk. Robert wonders if the conspiracy would be watching the cat-sitter, too. AJ figures if the routine's so boring and stable, eventually they'd get lazy and bored and not watch as closely if they ever really were.

Robert says she walks the cat every morning before school. Geri says he has a lot of faith in a 15-year-old. Robert doesn't think it's too much faith - he paid her, after all.

Geri reluctantly agrees to try to intercept the cat on the walk. AJ suggests Zuse can connect to traffic cams, maybe. Zuse is way too excited for this job, because he doesn't even notice his sunglasses slip down a bit and expose his oddly-pixelated silver irises, but Madison fixes them for him before others see.

Maggie comes back with the refills. She asks about dessert orders and AJ gives his, to-go. Grant asks for the check. Maggie asks if it'll all be one check, and Zuse announces that grandpa's got it and pays in cash with a large enough tip that she doesn't say anything about it.

After Maggie leaves, AJ chides Zuse for deciding on Grandpa, when even Gabriel settled for uncle. Zuse just says he's the oldest, and it's okay, some people settle for less.

Madison encourages him. Geri sighs. Grant looks like this exchange is torture.

Not too long after, Maggie comes back with the receipt and AJ's desert in to-go carrier all packed away. She also helps put any unfinished food in to-go plates and wishes them well on their trip.

The group all head to the minivan, which AJ had taken for his trip to D'Vonte's. AJ mentions D'Vonte told him the supernatural society is aware of the Long Man Society, and overall think they're trying to create superhumans to combat vampires and demons and robots and whatnot. Like humanity's defense against other supernaturals.

Robert thinks it's counterproductive to make more supernaturals to fight the supernatural. Madi thinks it sure sucks to be The Society since the cohort isn't gonna fight for them.

Robert suggests they can show Grant the cohort's cabin, and Grant's frustrated they're not going right to get the cat already. Robert explains since it's 4am, the cat walking won't happen for another several hours.

Grant follows in his own car so he can park at the cabin.

The cohort plus Grant make the hour trip back to the cabin, have a small tour, a quick nap for some, and the hour or so trip back to South Tulsa. AJ is way too caffeinated and sugared up to have a nap. Grant doesn't unpack anything, just inspects the place.

On the trip back, there's cops out and about along the route just before dawn. They pass some accidents. There's a few close calls and tense moments, but they manage to travel without getting stopped. Zuse is unmerged and obeying all the traffic laws as he drives, particularly when they get close to Robert's neighborhood - Broken Arrow, located on the southwest side.

AJ asks Grant why he gets so tense whenever they see cops, and Grant has to explain the people after them are probably always looking out for them to so much as get a ticket. Even if there are no warrants for them. He explains his philosophy of living completely off the grid, always. No cards, no IDs. He doesn't exist.

Madi completely agrees with him. She's happy to have someone who understands.

Grant also says he doesn't file taxes, because he does all his work under the table. But he doesn't exist, anyway. Madi doesn't understand that bit, but Geri gets it.

Madi has a story of how one of her rich friends got audited and all their stuff got seized. Geri says they only care about not filing if you owe any. She is... very confident about this. Like most things she says. She's not necessarily correct.

Grant admits he's probably doing crimes, but he's not making enough to own a house or anything like that.

Robert suddenly calls Zuse a dumbass for going straight to the address. Geri tells him to actually give directions instead of chatting. Zuse stops the van four blocks away. Robert says that's perfect -they're supposed to catch the cat during the morning walk.

Geri gently gives the radio a sympathetic pat, even though Zuse isn't currently merged.

Grant, incredulously, asks if Robert's just asking for his cat back. Robert affirms that's his plan.

Zuse informs everyone that school starts in one hour.

Grant notices that nosy neighbors are noticing the van. This is too nice of a neighborhood for a random beater van driving around. Madi suggests they should probably ditch the van after this outing. Grant agrees.

Grant isn't sure if any of the people searching for them are here, just that he doesn't see them yet.

Geri asks what the cat looks like. AJ jokingly says a cat being walked by a tired teen. Robert poetically describes a beautiful grey cat with golden eyes and a chip in one ear. 

Grant and Geri keep watch and Grant asks where the walking route is. Robert says there's a park a block away from where they are.

AJ asks Zuse how to get him into the traffic cam system. Zuse doesn't see any traffic cams and hasn't for a few blocks - it's too residential. AJ asks Geri to boot up the mindcraft...

...and Geri introduces Grant to it without warning. The cohort quickly explain via telepathy what the mindcraft is, how to use it, and Madi explains with full guilt-trip to Geri that she doesn't look inside people's brains without consent, right?

It takes Grant a little bit to adjust and figure out how to use it and project his thoughts correctly instead of speaking, but he does.

AJ's mildly annoyed he didn't get to trick the newb that their psychic voices were their future selves warning him how to avoid catastrophe. Madison promises he can do that to the next person.

Geri's psychic power flares strongly and she senses other nearby minds when she boots up the mindcraft. She catches glimpses of their surface thoughts for a brief moment - curiosity about the van. Wondering who owns it. She lets the others know.

Robert says he's gonna just walk up to the girl real fast and ask for his cat back, tell her he's got a super rare disease and has permission to bring his cat with him back to the hospital. Geri tells him that's a terrible idea, don't fucking do that. Grant suggests tell her he just wants his cat back.

Robert says he doesn't want to make the girl feel guilty by stealing the cat.

Geri asks if that's even his cat? Everyone tells him to just. keep it. simple. No details. Don't get spotted. AJ also asks if it's his cat.

Robert yells YES.

Geri tells everyone to hurry the fuck up, more people are noticing. AJ says maybe they should drive around instead of just... sitting in the clunker van.

Madi say if he girl's even still walking the cat, she's cutting it awful close to being late to school. Robert is certain she will be there.

By now, it is very sunny outside. Not a cloud in the sky. Robert is in a nice neighborhood dressed covered head to toe in his sweats jogging outfit, mask pulled down, and sunglasses. It's the middle of April.

Robert leaves the minivan to go get his cat. Madison wishes him luck and tells him to not get arrested for being a predator. Grant stares as Robert leaves the van and asks... why he's dressed like that.

The cohort tell him Robert's allergic to the sun. Geri's about ready to punch something.

Grant asks.... why they're sending him, then. In the middle of the day.

Robert says he'll show the teen his face. It'll only hurt for a little bit.

Grant's having some serious second thoughts about joining the cohort now.

Madi makes it clear that this was all Roberts idea and he should live his best life. Geri hates everything about this.

Robert says he's not dead yet, but if they count him as dead, to not drink too much. Madison promises she'll drink a ton.

Robert's walking, at normal speed, to the park.

AJ shouts at him over the mindcraft that the cat sitter's gonna need a drink and lots of therapy.

Robert promises he'll only be 30 seconds. He still hasn't seen the cat sitter. The whole cohort is psychically yelling at him now.

Madi asks Zuse for a charge, in case she needs it. Zuse smiles, reaches over to touch her hand. Sparks jump between them and the girl absorbs it all without injury.

About now, the whole neighborhood is noticing the freak covered head-to-toe wandering around in the middle of April from a sketchy van. They're keeping their distance.

Geri has... An Idea. She connects to as many nosy neighbors as she can at once, until she can get them all. She pretends to be their idle, innocuous thoughts as she projects 'did I forget my phone?' into all their heads.

All the neighbors watching the van pause, pat themselves down, mumble, and wander back into their houses. They're too distracted by that idle inserted thought to do anything about the strange van or the stranger individual at the moment.

Robert finally reaches the park, but there is no girl. And there is no cat.

He starts panic-shouting in the mindcraft, wondering why she isn't there and where his beloved cat, Crunchy could be. Madison tries to explain she's probably on her way to school.

Robert laments he can't even check his home, which is where AJ thinks the cat is. Grant tells Robert to get his ass back to the van. Madison agrees and tells him they can try another time.

Zuse offers to drive by the house. Geri says they might as well, they already came out this far. Zuse says they may not get another chance because of how much attention Robert has drawn this time with his outfit.

When Robert gets back, Geri tells him to give one of the others his keys and they'll probably draw less attention-getting into his house.

AJ volun-tells Grant to do it. Since The Society probably doesn't have him on their radar (yet).

The cohort agrees, and thus begins hazing the new guy by making him rescue a normal cat.

Grant... asks if Robert at least has a cat carrier. And says he's doing this on the condition they're gonna go bomb the Church of Charismatic Virtues next.

He doesn't. Robert doesn't have a cat carrier. He swears his sweet baby Crunchy loves being carried. But he's totally for bombing The Church!

They all bicker a bit over the details of the details of bombing a church, even an evil church, and how careful they're gonna be to make sure hostages are out first. All while in a neighborhood they don't fit into, on a time crunch, in the middle of the action. But Grant agrees to rescue Crunchy.

Zuse is super unbothered by the bickering and last-second planning as he drives them to Robert's house, humming along to The Beetles on the radio. He's using a burner phone he merged into his forearm as GPS navigation.

They arrive, and the cohort look around for anything suspicious, staying in the van. On first glance, everything seems perfectly normal.

Grant asks if here's an alarm and Robert says not if he uses a key. He also give Grant the security system code.

AJ, helpfully, gives Grant his googly-eye and sticker-covered creations and briefly explains how and why to use them. And wishes him luck.

Grant stares at the devices and the whole cohort with his seemingly constant look of 'what. the fuck.' He tells them not to ditch him, and exits the van.

Geri asks if Robert pays some neighbor kid to mow his lawn, cuz it's super well-kept for Robert to have been gone a couple months. Madison assumes it must be Robert's gardener, but he doesn't have one.

Grant's internally nervous but externally chill and like he belongs there. Robert says Grant's free to break anything he needs to if there's trouble, cuz Robert can't live there anymore, anyway.

Grant looks under the doormat for the key and... sure enough, the spare's right there.

Madi's sparking from stress in the van.

Geri scans the house with telepathy, trying to connect to anything in there, and doesn't sense any minds. She lets the cohort know. But she also says she can't sense Dr. Werner's mind... and so that's not a guarantee.

AJ's looking around and asks Robert if the electric company's been working there lately, because all the wiring for the nearby houses are new. Robert doesn't remember.

Grant says if he dies for a cat, the cohort needs to rescue Sophie for him, and they tell him he won't die, but sure.

Grant unlocks the front door and enters the house. It's tidy and spacious with lots of windows on the ground floor and seems empty. He keeps his wits about him and searches for the cat in the kitchen area. It's an open floor plan, so it's easy to find... but something seems wrong.

Then AJ warns him he thinks the electric's been fucked with, just as Grant notices the security system isn't just off, it doesn't have any power to it.

Grant also reminds AJ what his name is since AJ keeps calling him "Graddy."

Grant asks where Robert keeps the cat food, but when Robert sys basement, Grant grabs the nearest shake-able food - a box of crackers. He starts shaking it to call the cat to him. 

Grant tells the cohort about the powered-off security system, and Robert has no idea about it, so says to hurry up. The rest ask if he needs backup. He doesn't for now.

AJ says the two options are: that it could have been mistakenly not hooked back up when the electric was worked on... or there could be an alternate one in use. And since Murphy's Law tends to apply with them, it's probably the second option. Madi thinks it might be a monitoring system.

Grant tells them to keep a lookout. They are, particularly Geri.

Crunchy peeks her head out from around a corner and upon seeing not-Robert, scurries off down to the basement.

Grant groans and keeps shaking the cracker box as he follow the cat, but this time he shifts his features to match Robert. When Crunchy meows again, he calls back with Robert's voice.

Crunchy slinks forward, suspicious, but willing to investigate.

The cohort notice a sleek, black sedan three doors down with a driver sitting in it. Robert points out that's the house of the neighbor girl who catsits for him, but that isn't her parents' car that he remembers.

Geri targets telepathy on the driver. For a brief couple of moments while she attunes to the driver, the tune of a babbling river - the Long Man Song leaks into the cohort's mindcraft network before Geri shunts them off to a private link. She immediately knows they're a Society agent.

Madison was about to leave the van to assist Grant with the electronics inside, but at the song, she freezes completely with a blank expression.

Geri searches for who the driver is, what they're hiding, and what they want right now. She finds his name is Agent Knox. He's hiding that they lied to the girl's family; Robert's not a pedophile. He wants to get sights on the escapees.

Grant baby-talks Crunchy, calling her over and saying her moron daddy is home in the sweetest pet owner voice. Crunchy trots over toward the fake Robert, at a pace fitting of a cat upset at an owner who ABANDONED her for so long but she's excited he's back.

Geri explains what she found over telepathy, especially that there's a society agent right there. Grant says he'll drop Robert's face before he exits, also that he's gonna kill Robert.

Madison is confused. She isn't sure what she was gonna do before. Geri asks if it was the river sound. Madi thinks she just spaced out.

Zuse seems to recognize Knox's name, and gets lost in thought.

Grant notices there's a new security system panel that's sparked to life. It now says "Transmitting Opened Signal"

He asks the cohort what the message means. AJ says to get out if he doesn't have the cat. Madi says it's nothing good; it's transmitting information off-site.

Grant calls Crunchy again, and she finally runs over to circle around and rub her owner's legs. He scoops the kitty up and looks for the leash.

The security system changes to "Signal Received" and then back to "Transmitting Opened Signal."

The leash is out in the open, so Grant clips it on and starts shifting back to his normal form. Kitty cat flips her shit, hissing and flailing and scratching him, but she's not getting far because leash. He starts running toward the door.

He tells the cohort that the leash is on and he's coming. Robert cheers. Grant says that doesn't change that he still wants to throttle Robert. Robert promises to make him breakfast as a thanks.

AJ says Grant can take Robert's room and Robert can sleep on the tree for dragging them through this.

Robert starts arguing with the cohort and trying to make demands, but none of them are taking his shit. Geri even elbows him.

Robert whines that he did his best and didn't ask to be allergic to the sun.

Grant's harsh with Crunchy, telling her to shut the fuck up when he hears the security system say in a robot voice "Advanced Motion Detected."

He strolls outside once he makes it to the door, pretending nothing is wrong.

Grant shouts in the mindcraft about the new security message and tells everyone to get ready. Robert pulls a knife.

AJ asks if that was really his best, to run out in a streaker outfit to meet a 15-year-old for a rescue mission he did no prep work for.

Another black sedan turns onto the street. The cohort urge Grant to RUN.

Grant books it, dragging the poor hissing cat along with him.

A SWAT van joins the other vehicles a few blocks behind.

Grant dramatically jumps into the van and Crunchy follows because leash and gravity.

Robert tries to cuddle the poor thing but she promptly hides under seat, hissing furiously at anyone that tries to touch her.

Grant pulls out his gun he got from D'Vonte.

They all shout in the mindcraft for Zuse to DRIVE. Robert says he can cut through lawns to get to the next street.

Zuse throws off his hoodie, leans forward, and merges his arms into the steering column and console. A minivan normally has no right to have the kind of handling he needs it to have for a chase, but with a little boost from a chaotic escaped cyborg... it just might.

Zuse rams the corner of Knox's Sedan as they pass, sending it spinning and creating a roadblock for the other vehicles.

The cohort slam into each other inside on the sharp turns. Madison gives Grant a hard ZAP, apologizing profusely. The wound heals in seconds, to both their surprise.

Wisps of scarlet psychic energy spill off of Geri and melt spots of the inside of the van.

AJ's screaming, out loud, at Robert that if he gets shot because of Robert's fucking cat, Robert'll BEG to sleep on the tree!

Zuse eventually evades the pursuers and heads toward the highway. In his characteristically inappropriately chipper tone, he reminds them to wear their seat-belts.

AJ was already buckled, but the rest of them scramble to buckle in.

Madison explains to Grant that she charged up extra for a potential fight... but sometimes she accidentally... discharges. Grant tells her to aim at Robert.

Zuse fully merges into the van, leaving just a pile of clothes in the driver's seat. The van changes slightly, the color and model altered a bit. It's now grey, still a Dodge minivan.

Madi asks if he can change the license plate, and he's able to mix around the existing numbers that time but not come up with new ones.

AJ says they can't go back to the cabin right away, to make sure they aren't tracked there. Madi tries to suggest hotels, but all the ones she knows are too nice to accept paying in cash and no IDs.

Geri thinks really hard, and then starts to remember... a lot. She remembers directions to a motel she'd only been to once as a small child and suddenly starts rattling them off to Zuse, though not by street names, mostly - she uses place markers. Including a paisley-patterned couch in an abandoned gas station.

Madi's arguing with the others on the way there, particularly AJ. AJ quickly apologizes for his hurtful words said in stress. Zuse pops open the glove box to offer some stashed packs of Skittles to the cranky Remade.

Madi wonders if Cass is gonna be okay for the night without them there, and AJ says she's got Nacho and SnuggLuke to keep her company, and real Luke to keep her safe.

They arrive exactly where Geri directed them to. The couch is even there in all its moldy, decayed glory. The motel is exceedingly cheap and has something resembling an office at the end. Grant and Geri go in to rent two rooms.

Madi hopes they have room service, and is devastated to learn motels are different than hotels. And this one in particular has a few vending machines with a bunch of highly dubious food, and empty salt and pepper shakers. The only coffee available is also... the room's coffee.

Grant teases Madison a little and tells her - it'll be fine. If there are any bedbugs, she can just electrocute them.

[Music Outro: "Time Will Fail Us" by Troigo]

Thanks for listening, This has been Gather ‘Round The Trashfires with Bek Andrew Evans. Please subscribe to this podcast for future updates and leave a review or comment, I’d love to hear what you think. You can follow me on a few different social platforms with the username "bekandrew." That's [spells username] on tumblr and bluesky, mainly.

If you'd like to support me, subscribe to my Patreon at Patreon.com/BekAndrewTTRPG and purchase my art prints and tabletop products, including my Deviant: the Renegades community content novella related to this chronicle via my linktree in the description.

AJ is played by Roen,

Geri is played by me,

Madison is played by Syn,

Robert is played by Pandito,

And our Storyteller is Casey Grant.

The intro theme is "_violence by Avantist" from the Free Music Archive, licensed under Creative Commons Attribution International 4.0.

The end theme is "Time Will Fail Us" by Troigo from the Free Music Archive, licensed under Creative Commons Attribution International 4.0.

If you like the songs, I encourage you to check out more of their work. I've linked their Bandcamps in the description.

Until next time.

Follow my Patreon at Patreon.com/BekAndrewTTRPG Check out my other work at linktr.ee/bekandrew Check out the Intro and Outro artists' Bandcamps! https://theavantist.bandcamp.com/music https://troigo.bandcamp.com/ Remember to subscribe and see y'all next week!

Support this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/gather-round-the-trashfires/donations

The cohort is having growing pains. Natural loner Grant has a lot to get used to joining the... eccentric cohort. Geri's struggle to interact appropriately with her ex comes to a flash point, but in the process inadvertently triggers one of Cass's stolen memories to return. The cohort also learns a dark truth about a Society policy.

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Episode Transcript:

Get your snack and beverage of choice ready. It’s time to “Gather ‘Round the Trashfires” for a tabletop roleplaying story! I’m your host, Bek Andrew Evans.

My current and main running story for this podcast is the misadventures of the cohort from the Deviant: the Renegades chronicle I’ve been playing in since early 2021. And I play Geri.

For those of you unfamiliar with Deviant, it’s a TTRPG about people who were formerly human but were irreparably changed in traumatic ways to the point their very Souls broke and they became something Other. They seek vengeance on those who made them, those who hunt them, those who seek to exploit them for what they are and will never leave them be.

As such, this podcast will feature heavy themes and content throughout. There’s an overall content warning for language, violence, criminality, homelessness, substance use, human experimentation, cults and religious extremism, mentioned torture, kidnapping, implied incest and incest-related comments, and abusive relationships. On episodes where there is a new content warning or a particularly notable instance of one of these, I’ll call it out.

I'm now offering people a chance to get shouted out on the podcast if they support my Patreon. The shout-out tiers are Burning Refuse, Dumpster fire, and Flaming Hot Garbage.

I'd like to give a shout-out to Many Worlds of Darkness Fan Discord Server for your support. You're Burning Refuse.

I hope y’all enjoy hearing about my cohort’s antics and stumbling headfirst into the mysteries of the world as much as I have.

[Music Intro: "_violence" by Avantist]

Green Country Calcination Episode 12: Hidden Directives

After the cohort makes it back to the cabin, Geri takes another crack at trying to figure out Sophie's location and status through dreams. Now that she has that adorable photograph of the little blonde girl missing her front teeth, and she remembers Sophie's name - and so much else - she's back in business.

Even with the help of the photo reference, Geri finds it very difficult to stay in the dream long, like something's disrupting her sight. But she does manage a very brief dream of Sophie playing at a child-sized table happily having a tea-party with some toys - a teddy bear and a Jesus doll about the same size. She tells the Jesus doll, "Don't worry, Mr. Christ... Grandma says daddy will come home soon, too. Then we'll all be together!"

After Geri hears her say that, she can't keep hold on the vision any longer, and wakes up.

After their short stay at the motel, Grant decides to take Madison up on her offer and move in with the cohort - at least for the time being. He quickly makes himself at home and starts settling into a routine - a creature of practiced habit. He wakes up early every morning, often before sunrise, and sits out on the porch to reflect and enjoy his cup of coffee.

His first full day, he's barely seen - he's already wandering around the property chopping down a couple trees, digging somewhere with a shovel he's seen carrying around. He returns to the cabin later in the day, covered in sweat and smudges of dirt. He's wearing his usual simple tee-shirt, flannel, jeans, work boots, and ball cap ensemble.

Geri is in the open area of the first floor of the cabin when Grant enters.

She's wearing pajamas after a nap since Madi woke her up for early-morning exercise. She's downing more coffee. She probably has some blood in her caffeine stream.

Madi's been up bright and early like usual for her normal habit of early morning exercise, then tending to Nacho and Cassidy. But recently, she's been disappearing for hours at a time, and she happens to return about when Grant does. She's wearing jean shorts, a scoop neck tee shirt, sneakers, a pastel over-sized open shirt, her backpack, and sunglasses and sips on a frappe.

Grant, by way of greeting, asks the two if they remember the path out back where it narrows and there's a big rock to one side. They do. He warns them when they go back that way now, to jump on the rock then out three feet, or else they'll get a nasty surprise.

They thank him for the heads up.

Grant says he plans on working on a few more traps around the property as time allows, and a map so the cohort won't get killed by any of them.

Geri directs him to the shared information notebook, and also mentions there's already some collected information on the church in it, and she's got more information when he's done.

Madi mentions while she's curling up on one of the sofas that she's got news to add to the journal... but she thinks AJ and Robert might throw a fit.

When Grant gets done writing his warning - he doesn't ignore them to read the whole journal at that moment - he fixes himself a glass of water and asks Geri what her information is.

Geri asks, with no context, if Grant raised Sophie Christian. Madison turns to her scandalized and tells her she can't just ask people's religion like that.

Geri explains that whether he did or not would change the meaning of something she saw.

Grant firmly says he didn't. He stays far away from all that.

Madison asks if that means Grant's an atheist, like that's a mysterious and slightly exotic - or maybe taboo - thing to be. Grant confirms he is, that he and his dad got away from religion entirely after what happened to his mom.

After some consideration and sipping her coffee, Geri starts by saying Sophie seems relatively happy and safe for the moment, and isn't scared.

Grant immediately jolts to full alertness, clamoring for more news of his baby girl and asks where Sophie is and what she was doing.

Geri can't give an exact location, and seems disappointed in herself. She says Serena or others are probably involved because her vision was being disrupted, somehow. The church gave Sophie toys to play with, and Geri says she saw her playing tea party.

Then her face goes deadly serious as she tells Grant that Sophie is bait. It's all a trap. She explains the church is luring Grant in to keep both.

Grant rubs his face. He knew, he figured, deep down. But he wants to know how Geri knows for sure.

Geri tells him how she saw Sophie tell the Jesus doll that ""grandma"" said Grant's coming soon and they're gonna be a family together. And also, that's just how the church works.

Madison sadly calls Sophie a baby Cass, and says the church keeps getting grosser. She urgently says they gotta rescue her before... she trails off, and changes to they gotta rescue her fast.

She adds on to what Geri said by explaining that Geri dreams stuff sometimes. True stuff.

Geri tells her to remind her to stop confirming whether people are dead or not.

Grant settles into his seat, visibly disturbed by what he's hearing. He says they might have an advantage, that the church might not know yet that he joined up with the cohort.

Geri continues, without anyone asking, that the church buried Blake alive. Grant asks who he is, and Serena, for that matter.

Madi's horrified. Apparently she never read the dream journal.

Geri infodumps that Blake's the guy the cohort tricked to let them in the church - and she thinks he was a piece of shit but not bad enough to bury alive. She adds Serena's the Youth Minister - a higher-up on the same level of authority as Derek. She lists off her powers as can't be burned, steals memories, and can sometimes, maybe more than that, see through Geri's dream vision-things. And also Serena claims God gives her secret wisdom and she's way perkier than anyone has any right to be.

Madi describes Serena, and all the inner circle people, really, as monstrous.

The description jogs Grant's memory, and he mentions how awful it is what happened with the memory stealing. Madi says that's what happened to Cass, it's what Serena did to her.

Grant reassures Madi that they can all definitely kill Serena once they've rescued Sophie. He'll help.

For once, Madi doesn't cringe or balk at the idea of murder, though she doesn't really acknowledge it either. She wallows in misery at the idea that the church used Cass to try to capture her.

Grant mentions it all sounds familiar, and that his dad was right all along about Charismatic Virtues. Geri confirms anything Grant's dad said's not only true, but probably worse than he said.

Madi meanwhile, continues on, that the church was working with her school, and she still doesn't understand why. It doesn't make sense!

Grant says they killed his mom, and expresses deep regret for ever stopping in the area.

Madi assures him they'll get Sophie back, and Grant's sure of it, too. He has to be. He just... ain't quite sure of a plan yet but makes a dry joke-not-joke that he's sure it won't be a flasher outfit in a neighborhood.

Madi suggests they could try getting in through Serena's house next time, since it's one of the church tunnel entrances. Geri thinks Sophie might be kept at Serena's house or the Youth Building anyway, because of the toys and kid-sized table... unless the church owns other properties.

Grant wants to scope out the place, maybe use his shape-shifting power, but Geri warns their security's probably on high alert because of the cohort majorly embarrassing Derek - the head of security, recently.

Though she says it could still be a trap, Madison brings up the meeting with Father Philip. She hopes it can bring some answers. She explains for Grant that Father Philip's her former Headteacher from her Catholic School. She also tells him the short version about how the football team and cheer squad all died, but their memorials were inexplicably held at the crazy cult Protestant Megachurch. Instead of. Y'know. The chapel on campus. Or any other Catholic ceremony.

Grant listens quietly, taking in the information and not giving his thoughts away. Madi continues that Charismatic Virtues and Cassica Hall have been joining up for some reason, but Charismatic Virtues hates Catholics. And her school has no reason to like prosperity gospel or anything else the cult teaches. Plus all the murdering and kidnapping. She also tells Grant how her plan in the ward to use Reddit campaigns spreading the word about Charismatic Virtues' crimes kept getting thwarted, and also now the church now has a grudge against both her and Geri. She sent all the proof to Father Phillip a while ago, and he sent an encrypted message back from his personal email saying they needed to meet.

Geri and Grant agree that while it's possible the meeting could be a trap, with proper preparations for contingencies, the information's potentially valuable enough to take the risk. Grant tells her to pick a place, so she isn't going somewhere he has control over.

Grant says public is risky but also still safest. Geri suggests somewhere semi-public - somewhere she can have a conversation away from people listening in, but could still make a scene if it went south. Grant adds the cohort could blend in nearby as backup, and Madi gets excited - it's like the copaganda shows!

Geri tells Madi to not tell Robert that, cuz he might bring an actual newspaper to pretend to read like the trope. On the other hand, Grant says Robert can just stay in the car. Especially if it's day. Madi says Zuse can keep him company.

Grant says if Robert does anything, he could be ready to make a distraction. The others agree. Geri mentions AJ's also good at making gadgets that cause distractions.

Grant says they need distractions, and a plan to get from their location to the getaway van real fast. They remember they should probably get a new vehicle - Grant's little car sure isn't gonna cut it.

Before they think too hard on that, Madison remembers something: she got a deal to trade with someone for a bunch of cryptocurrency. She just needs to do a weensy little test to prove she's legit. No biggie.

When pressed for information, she admits it's hacking into the Tulsa medical center database for ER records for the last six months. Hillcrest Medical Center - the parent medical group that the Pryor Ward was in.

Geri asks if that's the ER most of them went through initially. Madi's not sure, but says she's about to find out.

At the mention of the ward, Grant asks what the Society is all about. Madi lightly kicks Geri in the leg to signal it's her turn to do the 'splainin.'

Geri does yet another infodump about the Long Man Society. She explains how AJ's... ancestor? is one of the founding members. It was originally based in Native American Legends and protecting the rivers of the area, and human trancendance. But they disagree about how to go about that last bit and that's why everything's gone to shit. She also says there's someone called Camille who's a bitch and Dr. Werner did some torture, but helped them escape so he's complicated, and Zuse used to be a member. Also Geri did a giant arson when they escaped and Madi was super destructive, too.

The group adds on the Society has military and Police access of some degree - enough to have National Guard and SWAT support of some kind.

Madi specifies they're tied to the government program Project Triton, and the Grand River Dam Authority, so that explains some of it. As a side-note, they want to turn Remade like the cohort into "assets."

Grant's immensely frustrated by the situation. Now the Society knows his face, too and assume he's cat-obsessed.

In a 'they're not as bad as they could be' way, Geri points out the Society really doesn't like the Church. The church kept causing issues for them about her. Also, she thinks at least a few of the lower-level people seem like decent folk, like Caleb helping them escape and Beth seeming basically blackmailed into working there.

Grant shakes his head in disgust and as he does, catches a whiff of his own B.O. He says he oughta bathe and Geri points out where the shower is.

Grant reminds them both where the trap is before he leaves. Madison excuses herself for a meeting with Lucas.

Sometime later that week, Geri still hasn't gotten any word back from Amanda.

She opts not to try calling again, like a normal person might, and instead... dream-spies on her.

She wants a little insight how Amanda's doing without having to risk another unanswered phone call.

Geri get a dream without a location. it's just a confusing swirl of thought snippets. The drunk voicemail plays over and over again in the background.

There's memories of finding out that Geri's been checked into rehab, or at least that's what the rumors say. And then the news that she's on the prayer list. Amanda's worried about Blake; she heard he went missing.

Amanda has a sinking feeling that something isn't adding up. Something isn't right.

Armed with this new information, Geri's emboldened to try another phone call.

Maybe she'll get through this time, if Amanda can already sense there's something very wrong.

She nervously takes her designated burner phone out away from the cabin with her to make the call to her fairly recent ex.

This time, Amanda answers, cautiously asking if it's Geri calling.

Immediately, Geri launches into apologies for not giving context for anything she was talking about before.

Amanda cuts her off, gently. She calmly but firmly says Geri's name to stop the torrent of word-vomit. She says she doesn't need to know.

Geri says that there's a lot of fucked up things going on, so she needed to make sure Amanda was okay. And she misses her.

Amanda brushes off the last bit and maintains a composed demeanor. She acknowledges the strange things going on, but says that Geri's supposedly in rehab but the number doesn't belong to any. And then someone broke into

Geri's father's church, and Blake's missing. She says she doesn't think she can deal with all this drama.

It's a blow to Geri. She pauses, briefly explains the church is spreading lies to cover themselves, but says if Amanda wants no part in it... she'll stop calling. She admits she was worried the church found her, hurt her.

Geri's desperate. And a little paranoid. Maybe more than a little. She decide she needs to know if Amanda is in danger, and she couldn't just SAY if someone was threatening her in person while she was on the phone, now could she?

Geri exploits the link she formed the previous night from her dream, when she heard the scattered thoughts, to be able to reconnect much further than she otherwise should be able to while they're on the phone.

She immediately senses a strong wave of suspicion, but also concern and care.

She's able to tell she's definitely talking to Amanda and not some impostor.

She also knows Amanda misses her dearly, though she might never admit it.

Back to the call, Amanda asks why they would hurt her, they're a church. A crazy church, but just a church. She oh-so-gently says she's worried about

Geri, too... and thinks Geri might need to talk to someone, like a therapist.

Geri pleads with Amanda to understand. She tells her the church would hurt her because they killed Blake, they tried to kill Geri herself, and they've kidnapped other people, too. She asserts that Amanda knows deep down what the church said ain't true - because they lied. It's suspicious as hell because it's lies. She begs for Amanda to trust her.

But... Geri senses a deeper wave of concern, and Amanda rejects the claim outright. She says she knows Geri's father was harsh, but the claims are getting out of hand. She tells Geri to get help and abruptly hangs up.

Unbeknownst to Amanda, Geri's still connected to her mind.

In a fit of rejection, desperation, betrayal, and panic, Geri has only the best, most well-thought-out ideas. She projects a series of 4k HD perfect memory clips into Amanda's head to show her the truth and make her believe.

She projects memories of her baptism, images of herself in her white dress.

Geri's father is by her side. She sees her reflection in the lake. She's going through the  process of the baptism, and then she's underwater, held down at the throat by her father's crushing hand. She's thrashing and struggling for air, her racing heartbeat pounding in her ears. Just before everything goes black, there's a flash, a burst of scarlet going wild into the area as she desperately struggles with her last energy, then flames.

Next, she projects an image of Serena doing her memory-stealing ritual in the cult basement, with that altar and stone statues, chanting witnesses, and everyone in robes and everything. She shows Derek turning into his monstrous, demonic-like form.... and than Derek burying Blake alive from Blake's perspective.

Blake's burial at least gets cut off before his actual death.

Amanda dials the number, gripped by sudden overwhelming panic. Geri doesn't recognize the number, and that only intensifies the blinding terror she feels from Amanda, amplifying each others' feelings like hideous feedback. The connection snaps.

It suddenly occurs to Geri that perhaps she was a bit rash this time.

Geri, even with her now-perfect memory, isn't able to catch the entire number in the chaos of Amanda and her own avalanching frenzy. She gets all but the last two, and it doesn't remind her of any of the church folk's numbers, at least.

She takes her phone sim and battery out and sneaks the long way back to the cabin, making extra sure not to be followed. She manages to calm herself enough - or wear herself out enough - from the panic to sleep for a dream about Amanda's relationship to the person the number goes to.

She has a fitful sleep and all she's able to glean is that the boy who gave her this number told her to call it when she believed.

She writes a news post in the journal saying she has someone she cares about that might be in danger, someone with that mysterious incomplete number gave them it to call whenever they ""believed,"" and that she knows the loved one called that number.

She doesn't disclose Amanda's name, real gender, or that she's her ex.

The evening after Geri puts up the announcement, Cassidy begins mumbling a 10-digit number, over and over. It's that incomplete phone number Geri wrote, but with two more added. It's like something jump-started in her brain and she's grasping onto it. She won't say anything else, as if stopping repeating means she'll forget it again.

The next morning, beyond the sound of Zuse cackles, clown music, and tinkering sounds that have become commonplace from the garage, many of the other cohort members begin to gather in the open kitchen and living area.

Cassidy, in a rare moment, is out of the bedroom, curled up under a throw blanket and sipping cocoa Madison made for her. She also looks much less haunted, more in thought than she's been since her rescue. Madison's busy changing bed-sheets and cat litter and other such care-taking tasks.

Robert comes downstairs and starts making himself some grilled cheese sandwiches, fancy ones, and asks Cass if she wants any. Grant and Geri, too, when they arrive shortly after.

Grant's coming in from the yard after another morning of working on building god only knows what. Geri's coming downstairs from a fitful nap - she never seems to sleep well and her after-workout compromise naps from having to get up so damn early are no exception. Madison also has fitful (and often late) nights but she's still an early bird, up with the sun for the morning workouts she drag others to. Damn teenage metabolism.

Both Geri and Grant take him up on the offer. Grant asks if they have tomato to throw on his, and Robert says a house without tomatoes isn't a house worth living in before obliging. He clearly takes great pleasure and pride in cooking, both in general and for his friends.

Cassidy doesn't ever actually answer Robert calling across a couple rooms to her. Grant walks up to her, politely and friendly introducing herself, all normal-like, not bringing attention to the fact she was a bundle of terror who didn't hardly speak or even head downstairs much the day before. He asks her if she wants a grilled cheese, too.

She pets the cat, Nacho, in her lap - Crunchy is mostly hiding still. She very quietly tells him no thank you.

Grant tells her that's alright, if she gets hungry later, she can just throw something at Robert. That makes her crack the smallest ghost of a grin.

Robert even gives the go-ahead for her to do it.

There's some more mystery noise from the garage, and Cassidy makes note of it. Geri assures her it's just AJ always making stuff and Zuse being Zuse.

Grant asks if AJ's gadgets normally work, since he never got to test any on the cat rescue. Geri says yes, which mildly impresses Grant. Robert says making stuff is AJ's superpower or something, he's pretty sure. And if they didn't work, AJ wouldn't be as useful.

Robert sets out a bunch of finished grilled cheeses, some with tomatoes and some without, for people to eat as they please.

Grant asks Geri about that weird number. She reiterates what she wrote in the notebook, and says she was checking on her loved one, trying to make sure they weren't dealing with another church kidnapping and maybe. possibly. Accidentally spooked them... so they called the number.

As he starts chowing down on his grilled cheese, Grant asks if someone just gave this loved one a number to call in case Geri contacted them. Geri corrects it's once they believed and calls it 'Matrix-sounding bullshit.'

Robert remarks that, once again, without meaning to, they've put one of their loved ones in danger. Geri doesn't respond to him and is suddenly very interested in her sandwich.

Grant politely, kindly even, asks Cassidy if it's alright if the group asks her a few questions. Cassidy stares back at him frozen, mid-sip of her cocoa, before whispering that she doesn't remember things.

Grant smiles and tells her that's alright, and that she's free to throw things at him, too. Geri gently adds it's okay if she doesn't remember, but anything she does might help.

The men make Cassidy a little nervous and suspicious but not enough to hide or flee. She calms when she focuses on Geri, though. She admits she remembers a number close to the one Geri wrote down, she thinks.

Geri does her best to keep things seeming casual, like two friends chatting, and she takes a seat closer to Cass - but not too close to spook her. She gently asks what Cass remembers about the number.

Cass pets Nacho to stay calm during the questions, even the seemingly easy ones. She says that he gave her the number.

Geri very gently prods for his name, or what he looked like.

Cass begins to describe a young man, nearly a boy really, her age who's athletic, with dark hair and eyes. Her expression softens as she explains, her focus inward, captivated by her mental image.

Geri remembers the description matches the one Madi's previously given of Jake, so asks if the name starts with a J.

Cass's eyes widen as she quietly blurts the name "Jake," but says that isn't his number.

The guys keep quietly eating grilled cheeses as they listen, not interfering for now so they don't spook the fragile girl.

Cassidy continues, louder now and visibly excited. She repeats she remembers that that isn't Jake's number... but on the other hand, she doesn't know what it does go to. This was a new number.

Geri tenses, from some mix of protectiveness and boiling rage under the surface, but she tries to hide it by sipping her coffee to remain nonthreatening. She asks if Jake mentioned any new friends or coworkers recently she should meet, when she believed.

But Cass doesn't know what Geri means by that. She tries to puzzle it out as she speaks, explaining Jake just told her - and then she remembers he told her to call if she needed help!

Geri gets up to get another sandwich then, in part so she can turn her back and drop the act for the briefest of moments. The color's drained from her already pale face. She forces a casual tone when she asks Cass if she wants anything while she's up.

Cass says she's fine, and doesn't seem to notice anything amiss.

Robert's cracked open the whiskey to have with his grilled cheese this morning.

Grant has started doing dishes so he can hang around to pretend to not be listening. He gives Geri a nod of encouragement to keep going while she's in the kitchen.

Cass idly mentions that Madison said Cass and Jake used to date, and she remembers a little.... the feelings, mostly. But she's missing so much.

Geri composes herself and tells Cass that she's remembering more every day, surely it'll come back.

Robert offers maybe Cass could try exercising to try to feel better. He says he trains every day.

Cassidy stares at Robert.

Geri asks what the voice sounded like when she called, but Cass says she never did. Next, Geri asks if anything about Jake's behavior seemed off or out of the ordinary that she remembers.

Cass asks for clarification, and thinks a moment. She suddenly asks if Geri's 'that goth chick' Madi was helping at the ward.

Grant snort-laughs while still trying to pretend he's not listening.

Geri says she is, and reminds Cass they were both working on a social media campaign. This jogs Cass's memory enough that she remembers it's because of Geri's Father - and... the Church.

At the memory of the church, she freezes and her face drains of all color.

She's shaking and panicky, with tears beginning to form and trail down her face. Geri redirects her attention on petting Nacho the cat. She tends to calming Cass, bringing her another blanket and saying soothing things to the girl, that she's safe now.

Nacho doesn't seem to mind the desperate petting, and purrs just the same.

Grant, now done with dishes, quietly returns to the living room and takes a picture of Sophie of his wallet to look at while things are quiet. Robert leans against a wall in the living room sipping his whiskey.

Unprompted, Cass adds in a whisper that Jake said to call if she needed help, when she understood why he did it.

Once Cassidy is sufficiently calmed, Geri smiles and thanks her for her help. She dismisses her to rest if she'd like, assuring her Madison's probably nearly done with what she was doing by now.

Cassidy apologizes for not remembering more, and turns to Robert, squinting.

She bargains that if she goes jogging with him, he has to explain why he went through her best friend's underwear drawer on Easter, and why the boy with him seemed to want to wear Madi's dress. Also, why there was an egg bomb.

Geri snerks into her coffee. Grant gives Robert a raised brow.

Speak of the devil, the other boy walks in from the garage. As one would expect, he's wearing jeans and a hoodie with 8-bit characters on it.... but it's hard to tell what the orginal colors of his outfit were because he's covered head-to-toe in splotches of bright powder in a rainbow of colors, with only circles around his eyes left clean where he must have been wearing goggles. There's also pieces of large, holographic confetti in Mardi Gras colors in the folds of his clothes and wedged in his curly hair.

He flops on the couch near Geri and greets them, particularly Cassidy, with a simple 'sup?'

Cassidy suddenly no longer thinks AJ wearing Madi's dress is weird.

Grant laughs when Cass speaks - with a jovial quality that seems to surprise even him - and asks if AJ got in a fight with a craft shop.

Geri is stuffing her face with more grilled cheese in a desperate attempt to not crack up laughing.

AJ nods in confirmation to Grant and acts sheepish to Cassidy at her statement, saying a couple self-depreciating things before explaining he was working on his latest invention, and says it's a liiiiitle temperamental, especially with Zuse "helping." He scratches the back of his neck and couple colorful pellets drop out of his hair on the sofa. He picks it up, revealing it's a green skittle. He asks Geri if it's apple-flavor.

She explains technically they're all flavored the same and just scented different, anyway.

Grant and Robert are surprised Skittles lied to them.

AJ wants to know if it's apple or lime scented, then, because apple is just the worst.

Geri thinks it's probably lime. That's what they're supposed to be, right?

AJ eats it.

Apple.

Cassidy has a brain-break moment because the skittle came out of AJ's hair onto the sofa covered in god knows what. But tries to soothe herself knowing there's weirder things to be concerned about.

Grant quips that the cohort's always solving great mysteries and debates, and goes back to looking at the picture of Sophie.

AJ takes note that Grant's decided to stay after all, and Grant justifies that their objectives align for the moment and the Society knows his face now. But he doesn't know whether it'll be a permanent arrangement.

Cassidy wanders upstairs to check if Madison's done changing sheets and be done with people for now.

Once she's upstairs and out of earshot, Geri says they should try to talk to Zuse, because they might have another person to rescue from the church now.

AJ mutters wondering if he's gonna ever get a single meetup with Cass where he doesn't look like a total basket-case. Grant asks whether it's the meetings that're the problem, cuz he ain't seen AJ de-basket-cased yet.

AJ tells Grant that at least he thinks it's cute when he's basket-cased, Cassidy keeps looking one step away from trying to get an exorcism. Then he turns to Geri to ask who they need to rescue, but before he can finish getting the words out, he's interrupted by...

Zuse turns a corner out of nowhere yelling over-dramatically for surrender.

He has a t-shirt gun merged into his wrist and shoots AJ right between the shoulder blades with a pair of his own rolled up boxers. He's wearing the bright red silk boxers, knee-high socks, and the fluffy pink bathrobe.

Grant blinks and shakes his head, unsurprised at the current development. Geri doesn't even look, just pinches the bridge of her nose. AJ yells indignantly at Zuse that he's already told him a thousand times he's not allowed to merge with gun-anything.

Grant remarks they're really trying to one-up each other on entrances, and mentions Cassidy's up and talking, sort of.

Robert asks that Zuse stop destroying the social climate and also the house itself.

Geri doesn't doesn't give a shit about the toy gun or trying to wrangle Zuse from mild mischief and continues with the important matters as if the argument isn't happening at all. She says that Cass was giving insight about the number, confirming Geri's suspicion that Jake sent it. So now they know The Church is involved.

AJ tries to take away the gun, but Zuse flops in a seat and merges it further into his wrist, then folds his arms so there's nothing to try to grab.

Grant asks what Jake did, since Cass said he said to call the number when she understood why he did it.

AJ says if they're insinuating the cohort needs to rescue Jake, he's not helping. Geri clarifies it's not Jake, but a sign the church either took someone or is in the process of taking someone else, besides Sophie.

Grant says they can count on him to help. AJ says he guesses that's okay, and settles down.

Grant puts the situation in his own words, calling Jake a wood chipper candidate, along with a number of others. And Jake gave a couple of people the cohort cares about a sketchy number. AJ thinks Grant's got everything.

Zuse asks why Jake would give 'coma girl' the same number he gave to lure victims, if he supposedly wanted her out. He's idly messing around with the t-shirt gun he's merged to.

Geri agrees with Grant and AJ, not listening to Zuse's question. She's surrounded by scarlet wisps again.

Robert also thinks they need to take Jake out, and randomly mentions if the church fucks with his mother, he'll eat Jake's heart for breakfast.

No one knows what Robert's mother has to do with anything. Robert explains Jake's been giving the shady number around to their relatives to trap them when the cohort members try to check on them.

Geri points out neither Cass nor her loved one is a relative of a cohort member and glares at Robert.

AJ interrupts and says Zuse isn't allowed to be a part of the conversation until he surrenders his firearms. Zuse suddenly shuts up mid-sentence while explaining his theories about Jake before he can get anywhere with it, crossing his arms.

Grant asks who Geri's person is. She thinks and settles on... a close friend, one she didn't think anyone, definitely not the church, knew about. 

Zuse blurts quickly before AJ can yell at him again that AJ's fine cuz all his friends are here and his family's immortal. AJ reminds him his mom's not immortal. He hopes Gabriel is protecting her.

Grant's confused. He doesn't get how Jake got Cassidy out but he's the bad guy.

Geri gives AJ a look that it's his turn to explain. It takes AJ a couple of moments of staring back at Geri to understand what she wants.

AJ explains Jake was Cass's boyfriend but he's working with the church and decided because he was sure the cohort would be able to break Cass out, it was totally cool to lure the cohort in and make a deal with Agatha to trade Cass for Madi. But thinks he's a good guy somehow, ends justify the means sorta asshole.

Geri impresses on Grant that Jake is super tight with Agatha, though, having wine together tight. AJ says they had wine together while discussing evil plans like tropey supervillains.

While no one's paying attention to him, Zuse hides the t-shirt gun fully in his arm, and once his hand and arm look normal again, he innocently tells AJ 'see, no more gun.'

Robert says he and Grant will just have to rip Jake's head off and make D'Vonte happy.

Grant says they could have Cassidy call the number to smoke out Jake, but it doesn't have to be her. Geri thinks it's a good idea to be able to trace it to see where it goes, but also thinks it's likely to be a burner.

AJ orders Robert to leave the asshole to him. Robert whines that he never gets to deal with any assholes, and Geri tells Robert there's plenty to go around.

Zuse snacks on a candy bar from his bath robe pocket as he listens.

AJ considers Grant's idea, and thinks it could work. Grant warns if he pretends to be Cassidy for the call, she really shouldn't be around when he does. Geri thinks Madison probably shouldn't be there, either, for that matter.

It takes AJ a moment to understand what Grant's saying, and he asks in surprise if he can do women, too.

Grant, slightly taken aback, says he.... has a daughter. But if AJ meant the shape-change power thing, he thinks so.

AJ, metaphorically, has his entire foot in his mouth. He awkwardly rambles about how he's not sure why he even asked, of course powers aren't sexist.

Zuse says bigotry is a human invention, and says humanity can be an atrocious species sometimes, in a way he doesn't consider himself part of it.

After acknowledging it sure is weird people're like that, Grant wants to move on and sums up what he was saying as his power's an avenue to nab Jake or at least get some information out of him. And they need to talk to Madison's headteacher priest guy too, apparently.

Geri says they actually need Madi involved for the Priest. She's got the occasional scarlet wisp still flickering around her. Grant asks if they wanna do both those things before breaking into the Church Tik Tok influencer - Serena's place. Geri says they do.

Grant's making a list of things they need to do. Robert's having a little bit of a hard time following along, confirming things Geri and Grant already settled in the exchange.

AJ sighs at Zuse, saying he's human, too. And possibly one of the worst given the time-frame he was alive and his.... Aryan-like appearance.

Zuse immediately sands up at the very serious implication and taps AJ on the forehead, zapping him with a jolt of electricity his body constantly generates. He very definitively say he was never a Nazi, he's not even German... he's pretty sure. Besides that, he drafted in '42. For the Americans.

AJ winces in obvious pain. He says maybe Zuse isn't a Nazi, but the cohort totally agreed they shouldn't use powers on each other!

Robert asks if they really did agree that.

Zuse says even if they did, he gets a pass for AJ calling him a Nazi. Then marches back to the couch and flops into it.

AJ insists he wasn't the only one thinking it.

Zuse does not opt to fuck him up more in that moment. He instead huffs and pulls out another candy bar from his robe to eat as angrily as it's possible to eat a candy bar.

Geri changes the subject, asking Zuse if he knows anything about the Society Agent Knox.

AJ continues to be a dick to Zuse, saying now that they know he's not a Nazi, he's partially in the clear. Now they only have to worry about him having collaborated with the people who turned the cohort into Remade and tortured them.

It's honestly a wonder Zuse hasn't kicked the shit out of him at this point, instead he snaps that, sure, he's the best friend of AJ's ancestor. He tells

Geri he might know, but maybe she doesn't want to hear it from a supposed terrible Nazi torturer person.

Grant mater-o-factly says Geri probably wouldn't have asked if she didn't want to hear from him.

Geri assures Zuse that she doesn't think he's bad, just literal walking chaos. And he doesn't remember his past, so it wouldn't matter anyway.

Zuse and Grant have a small unofficial staring contest while Geri's talking, because they locked eyes and Grant doesn't back down first... and Zuse either doesn't know it's weird or doesn't care. Grant finally has a good look at Zuse's pixelated silver irises.

AJ adds after a moment, seeming to struggle for a compliment, that Zuse is the most... energetic workshop assistants he's ever had.

Zuse says he knows a couple things. Firstly, that Knox isn't the agent's real name - it's a nickname that he's as tough to crack as the famous Gold Standard fort. Zuse is surprised Geri was able to get anything from him telepathically.

Geri moans about the awful river song in Knox's head and how annoying it is, and sucks a keeping out telepathy. Zuse says it's a trademark of the Society.

AJ suspects it's a company standard mantra. Even if they can't keep out telepaths, may as well drown the telepath in nonsense... and suggests again the cohort should come up with something similar.

Zuse says that the lullaby has quasi-religious origins that hearken back to the Society's founding, such as with Dr. Werner, though the organization's largely moved past those religious roots.

AJ mentions, after several moments of being lost in thought, that he thought the Long Man Song sounded familiar. He grows distant from the conversation, zoning out to corners of the room.

Geri asks Zuse why Madi would completely blank when she heard the song. Zuse goes... quiet.... for several long moments and fidgets with his candy before even saying he doesn't know with a hundred percent certainty.

Geri asks for his best educated guess.

Zuse suddenly sounds real flaky and claims he isn't a good guesser. He starts rapidly shoving skittles in his mouth.

She asks what the most statistically probable explanation seems to be. Grant smirks as Geri is undeterred with her line of questioning.

Finally backed enough into a corner, Zuse relents, lowers his voice, and explains it's used as a form of conditioning for patients at a high risk of becoming too unmanageable - a shortcut to calm them down, basically. Gabe hardly ever allows its use since he took over the program. Remade classed as WMDs are subjected to that conditioning by Society policy, so Gabe can't defy the rules too overtly.

Grant asks if the Society thinks Madison is the missing WMD from Iraq, which

Zuse pooh-poohs as thinking too small.

AJ focuses back on the conversation about then, devastated. Horrified. Broken. He asks how they could do something like that.

Geri is totally not having feelings about WMD Labels... and lacking one, saying that on the one hand she made people at the ward's lives hell on purpose and still never had that happen to her, she thinks - and also there's the fire she kept making. On the other hand she asks if there's a way to undo the conditioning.

Joking, Grant asks if Geri's jealous. Geri's silence says it all.

Zuse tries to console Geri by saying he's sure she was just resistant to programming. He seems oblivious to the cohort's discomfort with the topic at hand. To AJ, he says it can be used in psychotherapy, but is also used as a lullaby at night. It's subtle enough to make it easy to abuse, so Gabe limited it's use severely.

Grant asks if the song means Knox is also a WMD, and Zuse says no, he was probably just thinking it because he was hunting known deadly operatives. He's still, as he most often is, using his inappropriately chipper tone.

Geri admits casually they did kinda blow up the ward. Equally casually, Grant says it sounds like good practice for The Church.

AJ pales. He asks if the patients are used as sleeper agents after they're programmed.

Zuse explains it depends who's in charge of implementing it, and how deep it goes. The old-school wing of the Society - AJ's ancestor and his allies, only do it as a safety measure in extreme cases. However, there's a more... ambitious faction with Camille that wants to expand its use.

AJ seethes, clenching his fist. He mutters 'that asshole.' Geri matches AJ's energy, wisps flaring around her, and hisses about Camille being an evil bitch.

Grant asks AJ what's up. The boyish Remade doesn't respond right away, instead seething with all his muscles clenched until he's shaking in place with barely contained rage. He manages to somewhat compose himself, shoulders slumping in something like resignation or grief. Even still, he speaks through clenched teeth.

He explains they got him with the lullaby, for a long, long time. They got him real good. He's sure he must be a sleeper agent.

Zuse clearly didn't know this about AJ and watches him have his fit with some degree of scientific curiosity.

Grant calmly figures that makes at least two of the cohort that're programmed. He asks AJ if he knows what he's programmed to do.

Geri goes quiet, watching but detached.

Zuse pops a few more skittles in his mouth and tries to assure AJ that so long as Gabriel was in charge of the program, he's not been aware of any subjects being programmed to do specific tasks - just the pacification. On the other hand, Zuse suspects Dr. Werner lost privileges over that program when he helped break the cohort out.

AJ isn't even listening anymore, he's too absorbed in his own freak-out and desperately trying to remember. He's staring off at nothing while he blurts out bits of his thoughts at no one in particular - She did... something. It.

She did it. She couldn't have. No. No. She wouldn't have.

Why. Why is she. Why is he.

A name.

Brody?

Who's Brody?

He clutches the side of his head, over one eye.

Grant and Geri both very cautiously watch AJ's reactions, like he's a scared animal who might bite them.

AJ looks up at them, shaking, distraught, and acting cornered though he's physically not. His emotions are plain on his face and body language. His speech. Is erratic. And broken up. He pleads with them to stay away. He says it's not safe, that they've been programming him since he was a - since he was a child. He turns to Geri and tells her to protect the cohort from him.

Geri carefully tells him she thinks they had a similar experience, since she was taught since she was young to be the next preacher, so it will be okay.

Grant tells him no one in the cabin is a picture of stability, and Zuse finger-guns at Grant before knocking back the rest of his Skittles in one go.

Grant continues by telling AJ that they're all fucked up, they all had terrible things happen to them by fucking monstrous people, but they're all gonna get over it and cope by hunting down and killing every last one of those fucks who thought they could get away with it.

Zuse pipes up that Dr. Werner is an exception. He promises he means well. Grant gives Zuse a skeptical look but doesn't reply.

AJ continues freaking out, shouting to the group at first that they don't understand. He looks over his shoulder to the door, as if expecting company from the Society at any moment to come bursting through. He claims he's not unstable, he' programmed to get whatever The Society wants, and they can use him to get to the cohort. He doesn't think they have. He hopes they haven't. Have they?

He reasons himself into believing the Society hasn't activated him yet, so that must mean they want him deactivated for some purpose, to keep him deeper within the cohort, waiting. They must want something they can only get with him there with the cohort. He starts pacing trying to figure out their deeper plan as he spirals further out, rambling more questions of why he's even there.

Grant keeps watch of the situation. He seems like he's about to say something to counter, then drops it.

Zuse calmly stands up, walks over to AJ, then zaps him in the forehead with a poke. He yells at him to get it together, then zaps him again.

Zuse explains there was nothing in AJ's file to even suggest he'd been programmed. So if, as a family member of an original founding member of the Society he happened to hear the lullaby growing up (weird, funny even, how that could happen), it was kept a carefully guarded secret from the rest of the Society.

Geri claims they tried to program all of them, and it only took for some. She promises they'll work through it together.

The shocks stun AJ for a few moments, and it looks like he might snap out of his shitfit. He looks at Zuse with what seems like new eyes, a new awareness... and suddenly grabs his shoulders. He shouts at Zuse that he knows, he knows something. He asks if that's why he came, if he's his handler. He demands to know more, Screaming at the top of his lungs to tell him.

In the middle of the shouting, Grant leans over to Geri to ask if he should bonk AJ to knock him out or if Geri thinks she can calm him down. Geri shays she'll try.

Zuse shifts the merged tee-shirt gun into his forehead so he can use it to shoot AJ in the eyes with a blast of air. Zuse tells the 'Baby Werner' to stop it.

AJ stumbles and Geri takes the opportunity to wedge herself between the combatants. AJ was going to continue, but hesitates when his eyes refocus and he sees Geri there. He stumbles back again, confused.

Geri calmly says they can work through this, and that Zuse can't possibly answer his questions if he throws so many at him at once. And also tat they proved Zuse isn't omniscient in the ward, even if he does know a lot.

Things begin floating around AJ as he stops fighting and Geri speaks. His hair starts floating, as if he's underwater but in air. The skittles that were still stuck in his curls pop out and begin orbiting him, the colorful dust trailing separately like rings.

His feet are no longer touching the ground.

Zuse takes a step back and the t-shirt gun tube retracts into his face.

AJ, in his emotional state, doesn't seem to fully grasp what's going on with him. He's continuing his discussion with Geri even as the others are backing up and staring openly. The paint powder from AJ's clothes and skin separates and swirls in the air around him.

He tells her he can't take that risk, what if he hurts her, or any of the other cohort members? He gets cut off mid-ramble when he does finally notice the stares, and looks at his own body. He screams and flails, managing to flip himself upside down, but still floating.

Geri's now only pretending to be calm and too-casually says that it's alright, she and Madi nearly blow up the cabin at least once a week each.

There's a soft humming. It's Zuse, transitioning into singing. Geri shoots him a look. He sings very well, though. It's the Long Man Song.

AJ initially seems unaffected, flipping around, banging his head on a coffee table, but shortly in, he rights himself and the song's effect takes hold. He goes quiet, relaxes, even his expression goes passive. He falls gently to his feet and the floating effects dissipate, all the powder and skittles dropping to the floor. He furrows his brow, as if he forgot something he meant to say.

Zuse fades out singing once AJ's calmed. He says it's evident why it's both useful and dangerous. He acknowledges it's reasonable to worry, but says AJ should focus on not letting the worry control him. He says Gabe even hid the conditioning from him, his best friend, and reminds AJ that Gabe does love him.

Then he announces he needs more Skittles and wanders toward the garage.

Geri and Grant are both emotionally spent, and plop into their respective seats. Grant asks which one of them made AJ float.

AJ says he doesn't know, then awkwardly mutters he has some work to do.

Zuse calls out in a sing-song voice it wasn't him!

[Music Outro: "Time Will Fail Us" by Troigo]

Thanks for listening, This has been Gather ‘Round The Trashfires with Bek Andrew Evans. Please subscribe to this podcast for future updates and leave a review or comment, I’d love to hear what you think. You can follow me on a few different social platforms with the username "bekandrew." That's [spells username] on tumblr and bluesky, mainly.

If you'd like to support me, subscribe to my Patreon at Patreon.com/BekAndrewTTRPG and purchase my art prints and tabletop products, including my Deviant: the Renegades community content novella related to this chronicle via my linktree in the description.

AJ is played by Roen,

Geri is played by me,

Madison is played by Syn,

Robert is played by Pandito,

And our Storyteller is Casey Grant.

The intro theme is "_violence by Avantist" from the Free Music Archive, licensed under Creative Commons Attribution International 4.0.

The end theme is "Time Will Fail Us" by Troigo from the Free Music Archive, licensed under Creative Commons Attribution International 4.0.

If you like the songs, I encourage you to check out more of their work. I've linked their Bandcamps in the description.

Until next time.

Follow my Patreon at Patreon.com/BekAndrewTTRPG Check out my other work at linktr.ee/bekandrew Check out the Intro and Outro artists' Bandcamps! https://theavantist.bandcamp.com/music https://troigo.bandcamp.com/ Remember to subscribe and see y'all next week!

Support this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/gather-round-the-trashfires/donations

The cohort work on next steps toward their goals against their enemies and taking care of their loved ones. Even when sleeping, there's no true rest for a Renegade in hiding.

This is a shorter episode than normal, but something possessed my ST to allow us to do a lot more downtime than usual that week (including allowing Geri 4 Astral Travel dreams) so it was more than would reasonably fit with the next session.

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Episode Transcript:

Get your snack and beverage of choice ready.

It’s time to “Gather ‘Round the Trashfires” for a tabletop roleplaying story! I’m your host, Bek Andrew Evans.

My current and main running story for this podcast is the misadventures of the cohort from the Deviant: the Renegades chronicle I’ve been playing in since early 2021. And I play Geri.

For those of you unfamiliar with Deviant, it’s a TTRPG about people who were formerly human but were irreparably changed in traumatic ways to the point their very Souls broke and they became something Other. They seek vengeance on those who made them, those who hunt them, those who seek to exploit them for what they are and will never leave them be.

As such, this podcast will feature heavy themes and content throughout. There’s an overall content warning for language, violence, criminality, homelessness, substance use, human experimentation, cults and religious extremism, mentioned torture, kidnapping, implied incest and incest-related comments, and abusive relationships. On episodes where there is a new content warning or a particularly notable instance of one of these, I’ll call it out.

I hope y’all enjoy hearing about my cohort’s antics and stumbling headfirst into the mysteries of the world as much as I have.

[Music Intro: "_violence" by Avantist]

Green Country Calcination Episode 13: Interlude: Sweet Dreams

After the chat with Cassidy and incident with AJ, the cohort goes back to their daily routines for a week or so. They're primarily focused on tasks to gather information about their shared enemies to plan their next steps, though Geri, Grant, and Robert do significant amounts of household management as well.

The cohort doesn't have many significant interactions with each other in person over the following week - their schedules keep conflicting as they go about their individual tasks. They mostly meet up for shared meals with whoever's available.

That night, after the incident, Geri dreams again about Amanda. She's desperate for clues about her current status and location, though she's well aware she may not like what she finds.

She finds herself watching a scene play out in a cafeteria, a food court in a mall. The images are blurry at first. Amanda's sitting across from Jake. She keeps her hair fairly short and dresses in a butch style, with tank tops, an open over shirt, jeans, and sneakers. Amanda's got fluffy, curly dark-brown hair and light-mid-tone skin from being mixed race. Jake is a very young adult - about 18 - preppy jock that you can tell by looking at him he's got a "bad boy" streak and is probably up to something.

Amanda asks how he connected her to her. Jake says they have their ways, and he just borrowed from that. He continues, asking rhetorically if Geri reached out and weird things happened. He says that's their life now; it's a dangerous life.

Amanda frowns and reluctantly says she understands, but still worries.

Jake pats Amanda's shoulder comfortingly and tells her she can't help Geri, that they'll come for Amanda if they find out Geri reached out. He tells her she needs to keep herself safe.

Amanda nods, and that part of the dream fades to black, like a movie. When it fades back up, Amanda's stepping into the Oklahoma City Airport, staring at her phone. She's dialing a number. Geri's number. Over and over again.

She quietly pleads for Geri to pick up... but there's nothing.

As she finally boards the plane, she gives up. She curses Geri and sighs, whispering that she misses her, too.

That scene fades out and Geri wakes up. She's aware Amanda has close relatives out of state she would be able to stay with.

After the dream, Geri gets a different burner phone from the stash. She was afraid that somehow, her previous one had been compromised.

She again leaves the cabin to make the call, and this time at an odd hour she knows Amanda isn't likely to answer. As she hopes, Amanda doesn't, so she leaves a voicemail.

She doesn't introduce herself, just starts speaking.

"Hey, um, I know this is weird. Let me know if you're safe. Or don't, [stammers] I guess. I'm...

I'm not gonna use this number for anythin' else. Jus' don't trust Jake, or anyone else workin' with the church. I got a way to communicate privately for sure if you want, but I'm not gonna freak you out again. I'm sorry about the call, I just couldn't bear for you to not believe me. Even though this shit's pretty unbelievable [nervous laugh].

[Inhale] Otherwise, uh, I guess let me know if you need help. I'll try to stay far enough away you won't get caught up in anything, least until it's over.

[Stammer] I still love you. Bye."

She goes home and marks the phone with a red stripe of sharpie so she won't use it for anything but contacting Amanda.

And then cries alone.

AJ doesn't come to the group dinners. In fact, he's hardly present at all most of the week. He's gone most of the day and returns late in the night like a delinquent teen.

It's obvious he's still around, at least at odd hours, though, because there's plenty of frozen pizza and burrito wrappers in (and near) the trash can, and he's eating any leftover meals set aside for him.

And, as always, there's the strange garage noises.

At the next grocery run, Geri picks up some pool noodles, though the cohort doesn't have a pool. She sneaks into the garage to leave them anonymously among Zuse's things in the hopes he'll surely find a use for them and maybe AJ will lighten up a little.

Geri wants to help Madi but finds she doesn't know how to research the connections between Charismatic Virtues' inner circle and Cassica Hall. That way they'll know, during the meetup with Father Philip, if his information is good or if he's off base because he's either lying or also in the dark. She has a very weak educational background, to put it lightly, and can barely use computers.

She settles on using Astral Travel to cast a wide net for hints on the connections others with better research skills can follow up on.

Geri dreams of snippets of the memorial for the dead teenagers. The timeline's all garbled and unclear.

At some point - before, during, after? She can't tell where it's suppose to fit in the timeline of events, but she sees a still image of a donation check being handed over between the Church's inner circle and Cassica Hall. It's unclear which direction its being passed.

She also can't tell specifically which members are holding the check, only adding to her confusion.

She wakes up with more questions than answers.

The cohort notice a bizarre story in the news. It's running on the second page of the paper sold in the park's shopping center and throughout Pryor.

It talks about a teenage prank the locals believe is being perpetrated by some ballsy high-schooler who's been impersonating vending machine owners around town.

All the machines that get hit end up having all their skittles and M&Ms stolen as well as about $50 cash each. There's not usually anything else missing.

Another night, Geri decides to dream spy on Camille to see what she's up to and get some clues on her progress in her plans.

Geri finds herself floating in a dark meeting room, granting her a bird's eye view. A number of people Geri doesn't recognize sit silently around the meeting table, with most of their features obscured by the dark. However, Geri can make out there's an older woman with graying hair between an elderly gentleman and a very dour-looking Gabriel Werner.

Geri pays closer attention to Gabe's expression, and finds just a hint of smugness he's hiding very well, but mostly the dour annoyance.

The cause of his annoyance is giving the presentation up front - Camille Mason is smugly referencing still shots of the cohort's minivan speeding out of Robert's neighborhood.

She pauses what she was saying and glances up to the ceiling where dream Geri is observing. She tells Geri 'Bold, but not enough.' Her eyes flash.

Before she gets tossed out of the dream to wakefulness in the middle of the night, Geri catches the slightest smirk from Gabe.

Grant continues throughout the week his normal habit of making an extensive network of deadly traps through the cabin property. It's a whole lot of physical labor, but it keeps him occupied.

He also continues his normal habit of meditating in the morning with his coffee, reflecting about the circumstances, and thinking about Sophie.

On a whim, at some point during the week, Geri attempts to Reconnect with Telepathy to Beth to check on the status of the moved ward - but fails that time. She manages to get a sense that Beth is still alive, but no more than that.

Geri induces a fourth dream this week. This time, she's helping AJ like she promised she would. She's trying to uncover details of his conditioning she's unlikely to uncover other ways, especially with AJ's conditioning being a secret.

Her dream is simple, and for once: peaceful. She dreams of hearing a simple, hummed lullaby - soft, repetitive, and comforting.

There's nothing malicious here, no tests, no sense of training or commands. It's only a gentle lullaby to soothe a child.

Geri wakes up dazed and very groggy.

AJ makes a polite request to the others that their next outing should be checking on his mother. He needs to make sure she's okay given everything that's gone on. He's arranging an outing to a public place to meet her - the local planetarium.

He has a new gadget he's finishing up for the mission!

The others agree to help.

Geri writes in the dream journal reporting to assure that AJ's conditioning was really just a benign, loving lullaby. There was nothing malicious about it and no commands attached.

AJ thanks Geri and is very relieved.

Madison, having access to the journal as well and not being present for the entire debacle with conditioning before, innocently asks what Geri means about AJ's conditioning. She's very concerned.

Geri refuses to explain over the journal.

AJ agrees and says it's going to be a discussion that needs a lot of weed.

This does nothing to ease Madi's concerns. In fact, the opposite. She's kinda freaking out and the dream journal's become pretty derailed. 

Late in the week, among all the normal loud noises from the garage, there's a cackle and a loud AJ-shreik demanding to know 'WHY DID YOU PUT THEM THERE?!'

During the week, Madison receives an email while she's out of the cabin doing her computer stuff. She hand-writes it down in her cutesy, curly script and hangs it on the fridge for the cohort.

It says: Hey Madi- Tell your friend Geri that Amanda is safe, although she spooked her real good sending THOUGHTS into her head. Luckily for you all, I gave a number to people I was able to figure out the church knew were close to y'all. So I can get them out of their sight if YOU ALL endanger them by getting too close. I can't bargain for indefinite freedom for them all. Stay safe, Jake

Later in the week, AJ leaves a handwritten reply on the bottom of the page in marker that says "Douchie McDouchenozzle is SUS AF."

[Music Outro: "Time Will Fail Us" by Troigo]

Thanks for listening, This has been Gather ‘Round The Trashfires with Bek Andrew Evans. Please subscribe to this podcast for future updates and leave a review or comment, I’d love to hear what you think. You can follow me on a few different social platforms with the username "bekandrew." That's [spells username] on tumblr and bluesky, mainly.

If you'd like to support me, subscribe to my Patreon at Patreon.com/BekAndrewTTRPG and purchase my art prints and tabletop products, including my Deviant: the Renegades community content novella related to this chronicle via my linktree in the description.

AJ is played by Roen,

Geri is played by me,

Madison is played by Syn,

Robert is played by Pandito,

And our Storyteller is Casey Grant.

The intro theme is "_violence by Avantist" from the Free Music Archive, licensed under Creative Commons Attribution International 4.0.

The end theme is "Time Will Fail Us" by Troigo from the Free Music Archive, licensed under Creative Commons Attribution International 4.0.

If you like the songs, I encourage you to check out more of their work. I've linked their Bandcamps in the description.

Until next time.

Follow my Patreon at Patreon.com/BekAndrewTTRPG Check out my other work at linktr.ee/bekandrew Check out the Intro and Outro artists' Bandcamps! https://theavantist.bandcamp.com/music https://troigo.bandcamp.com/ Remember to subscribe and see y'all next week!

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