#223 – Set the Scene 4 - Beyond the Supernatural with Steven Dawes

Breakfast puppies?

This podcast contains adult language and content and is meant for mature audiences. Listener discretion is advised.

I must tell you that there is another dimension that is beyond all of us. It is a dimension infested with supernatural evil, where magic and monsters, ghosts and demons, creatures of myth and legend, and countless other mysteries and dangers are all too real. A dimension where modern man arrogantly denies this reality, creating a shadowy underworld where dark magics, monsters, and the supernatural flourish. A dimension where psychics, arcanists, and ordinary everyday people all wage a secret war against these supernatural horrors, as well as their terrible minions and the human pawns that serve them. 'Tis a dimension that goes beyond science and the paranormal, beyond magic and mystery, and even beyond the light and the dark. 'Tis a dimension that goes beyond the reach of mankind's fears, a dimension that can only be reached through our collective conscience and our collective As your host, I am now guiding you to this dimension. Together, we are now entering this dimension that goes Beyond the Supernatural. There are ceremonies which are all of them important, but some are more delightful than others. Arthur Machen. The white people. Grave Ghouls. Ugly, disgusting, grave-robbing creatures who eat the flesh of the dead. The phrase, you are what you eat, takes on a very disturbing viewpoint as they themselves resemble walking skeletal corpses. They're also one of the most common and numerous supernatural beings on Earth. Left unchecked, their numbers swell and Grave Ghouls are always at their greatest dangers when in greatest Hunting them is not easy, however, as they prefer living underground, safely hidden away from those who would slay them, quietly growing their numbers as they feed upon the dead. Fortunately, they all share a common exploitable weakness. At night, during every full moon, grave ghouls are compelled to roam the surface of the earth.

What?

From this reliable weakness, a tradition has grown concerning the newest members of the Laszlo Society. Every new member's first investigation is hunting grave ghouls during the full moon. This tradition has become known as Initiation Night. Tonight is the full moon, and 3 of the newest members of the SeaTac branch of the Laszlo Society are about to experience their own initiation night. It is here where our game night begins. Location: about 90 minutes southeast of Tacoma, in an area comprised of wooded hills and logging roads, illuminated by what little light the moon provides through the cloudy overcast. Time: 11:30 PM. The weather, drizzling rain with a gentle breeze. The temperature outside is currently 49 degrees. The 3 of you are heading towards your first night of investigating and hunting the supernatural. You're all in Colette's SUV. Colette's been following a black utility van since leaving Seattle together. The utility van, nicknamed the Demon Knight 3.0 for reasons not yet fully explained to you, belongs to a parapsychologist named Dr. Edmund Smythe. Dr. Smythe is in charge of your initiation night. In fact, he's been your main contact since joining the Laszlo Society. The road clearly needs maintenance and should be paved, or at least some gravel placed to improve its structural integrity. And with only your headlights to see anything out there, every so often you're certain that you see a set of eyes in the darkness of the woods.

What?

Glinting as you pass them by. As tall and as large as the eyes are, they're probably common mule deer. Probably nothing to be concerned about. Probably.

Have you ever seen what a mule deer can do to a—

Probably.

About $2,000 in bodywork and a new windshield.

What's your deductible?

$2,000.

Furiously trying the door handle. I'm okay. I can just roll.

Don't worry, Albert. The child locks are on for your convenience.

So yeah, I work as a part-time stuntman. When you go out the door, elbows in, hands around the sides of your heads and tilted towards your nose, and then just tuck and roll. And don't try to stop yourself from rolling. When you feel yourself slow down, just let yourself pancake out. You know, you'll probably have some abrasions and some bruises. And I mean, I've only broken my wrist twice.

And the child locks are on, so they're stuck. Sorry. Someone will have to let you out of the back.

Beyond the occasional road sign and the back of the Demon Knight, all your headlights have revealed out here is an area surrounded by moderate sloping hills and a crowded army of trees and ferns. It creates a feeling of seclusion, if not isolation. Finally, your headlights gleam across a Historic Copper Hills Cemetery sign on the side of the road. You're following the demonite onto a dark gravel-covered parking lot. On your left is a wrought iron fence that goes on as far as your headlights reveal. On the other side of the fence, the cemetery. Neither the parking lot nor the cemetery has any lighting. You'll need your light sources to see anything out here.

Oh, that's cool. I run after dark all the time. I brought my headlamp.

As you put on a little Petzl zip—

Yeah, exactly.

On your forehead.

Albert, you remembered to grab your flashlight, I'm assuming?

Sure.

Just as the Demon Knight passes a set of entrance gates in the fence, it makes a left, parking just in front of the fence line. Time to park, grab your gear from the trunk, and meet up with Edmund.

As we pile out and are opening the back of the truck to get our gear, I go, hey, by the way, can I borrow a tire iron?

Uh, sure.

Thanks.

Uh, as I open the— as I open the door for Edmund to let him out. Uh, sorry about that. They're stuck.

It's okay, I can stay here.

Uh, okay. I go around to the back of the Bravada and I open it back and there's a beautiful, well-maintained fire axe and a, uh, 2 axe handles that look like they're ready to go in case the first handle breaks. Tire iron.

Is it just a fire axe or is it a full set of irons?

No, there's an actual fire axe and then there's one of the half bars, so...

Yeah, yeah, that's what I meant, the full set of irons.

Yeah. And Colette puts on a little backpack, has some supplies in it, has a small flashlight that she's holding on and a big flashlight that's looped in her back pocket. You know, one of the big D-cells, you know, 8D cell, 10D cell, you know.

Probably lasts about 15 minutes.

Yeah, and when you turn it on, it's really bright for about 15 minutes and then it just dies. Right, it's cued to die on dramatic music.

That's how it was designed.

Before Colette shuts that door, I'm just gonna grab one of those axe handles. Just in case.

That's it, that's it! Feel it, feel it!

You don't by chance have any golf clubs in the back, do you?

No, there's no golf clubs. Colette does throw on a drop leg holster for a 1911. And, but she looks like it doesn't— it's not very well maintained, but the axe looks beautiful.

After stepping out of a vehicle and into what feels like the scene from a horror movie and collecting your gear, you take in what your headlights manage to illuminate. And being one of the oldest cemeteries in the Pacific Northwest, you see a spattering of trees in odd places. Douglas firs, evergreens, and western hemlocks have grown tall and broadly in peace for more than a century. A layer of mist obscures the finer details of the cemetery. Silence stretches on in the liquid air. The sound of doors closing. Looking at the Demon Knight, after exiting the front passenger seat, Edmund opens the passenger side sliding door. Revealing its interior. A mobile workstation has been installed along the driver's side of the van. His assistant Gregory steps out of the driver's seat and quietly but dutifully walks to the back of the van, opens the barn doors, and pulls out a small portable generator sitting just inside. He's said little beyond hello to you 3 since you've met him, but he's proven to be as diligent about setting up the mobile base as he is quiet. While Gregory goes off, Edmund makes his way towards the 3 of you, his cane carefully placed in the gravel with each step. Well, this is it, you 3. Initiation night awaits you. How are the 3 of you feeling about it?

I'm jazzed. I'm jazzed. I'm down for this. I'm all in. All in.

Can we just get this over, please?

I have been visualizing this all night. All day.

Uh, do I— do I get to burn things now? Um, that's— yeah. Okay. What do we do? What do we do now?

Before you go inside, there are some things about grave ghouls you should know. The first is that most man-made weapons do not hurt them, and they know this, and it makes them overconfident and aggressive combatants. especially in greater numbers. However, they are extremely sensitive to weapons made of bone, and to that end, I've arranged some weaponry for you all. You notice that Gregory has set up a folding table near the back of the van. Placed on the center of the table is a portable LED camping lantern, providing a much-needed light source. Gregory then places a protective case on each side of the lantern.

Well, I'm just gonna dive right in and pop open a case.

The case on the left side of the table has the word BONES stenciled across the lid.

Well, let's start with that one.

Opening it, you find what looks like several roughly honed-edged weapons that have been chipped or carved from bone. 3 of them are the size of shortswords and likely carved from bovine femurs. 3 knives and 6 shivs also lay within the dusty bed of the case. Black anti-slip tape has been wrapped around the sections where you'd hold them.

I throw up.

You throw up?

Oh Lord.

That's disgusting.

I, I kind of holster my axe and go over and grab a couple of the knives.

I don't suppose you have something like fist wraps or something? Or maybe a club?

Gregory simply, again, without saying a word, nods, goes into the back of the van, does a little rummaging, and yes, he comes out with basically a pair of— for the most part, basically they are full-on bovine femurs with the tape at the one end and the big hefty knee club at the other end.

Perfect. I give them a bit of a whirl and figure out which one I feel is better balanced, and, uh, that's what I'm rocking tonight.

Gregory looks over, uh, uh, over— in fact, he probably looks at Albert. He's, he's looking at you, he's like, uh, Uh, big club for you?

I'll pass.

Uh, Collette looks at Albert.

Hey, can I borrow those keys?

No, why would you borrow the keys?

No reason.

Be mindful, they are not the sturdiest of weapons, and they have been known to crumble or fracture or even shatter with, uh, with hard impacts. Also note that ghouls are also extremely sensitive to fire. Your pyrokinetic abilities should prove useful against them.

Okay. If that's it, uh, let's go into the graveyard. Yeah, that's a— yeah, yeah, let's do that. Okay.

Well, while they have a certain animal cunning about them, ghouls are not particularly capable combatants. They're untrained and they're not very agile. They are as opportunistic as they are cowardly and will only attack when they outnumber you. Once you've destroyed enough of them, they'll lose their nerve and they'll flee. But until they do, you'll want to be mindful of their clawed hands and clawed feet. Oh, and also note that they're stronger than they look. Oh yeah, and, and they are known to bite. And now they're known to throw, throw heavy things at you.

Okay.

Yeah, let's see if we can find him, I guess.

Well, neither Gregory nor I will be going in with you. Gregory's not a fighter, he's, he's a tech guy, and you already know my reasons. You recall that Edmund talked about how both his knees have gone bad over the years, hence his using a cane to get around. You also recall him saying that he hasn't entered the field personally since getting a pacemaker a few years ago. But he continues, however, the other case on the table ensures that you can contact me as necessary.

I assume there's a— I'll open the other case and assume there's a radio or something inside of it.

Wow, it's like you've done this before almost. You will find nestled within the individual foam slots are what looks like 4 sets of 2-way radios with PTT headsets attached to them. With a loud With a thud sound, a set of portable lights illuminates the front cemetery entrance. Gregory must have set it up while you've been talking to Edmund. Do you have any questions before you go in?

No, no, nope. I'm, I'm ready to rock.

Then I wish you all good luck and good hunting. Selecting a particular key from a set of keys, Gregory unlocks the gate. The wrought iron gates loudly squeal in protest as he pulls them open, and then he steps aside, Expectingly waiting for you all to enter.

I will kind of lead our group in, holding my— holding a knife in my hand and flashlight in the other hand, and see what I can find. Scan it, you know, basically. Or I will throw my beam across the entire cemetery as I walk in, looking for open graves, flat, level ground.

I follow behind, doing casual club drills.

The illumination from the backlights of the van casts eerily long shadows of yourselves into the cemetery. Taking your first steps inside, the air feels suspiciously heavier than it did outside. In the distance, you hear what's probably the sound of wolves or coyotes howling. Probably. A loud jarring sound, like that of a wrought iron fence clanking shut behind you, is unexpectedly heard. Everyone attempt to make a save versus a horror factor of 8 or higher.

This is so fucked up. Natural 20.

Holy crap.

Albert!

First try.

Brett actually jumps, like jumps in the air and is like sitting there, like waving the club in the general direction of the clang. He passed, but just barely.

I rolled a natural 1. Oh, great.

Total score of 2. Koledd, already on edge, the abrupt and jarring clank scares the crap out of you. Make a note that for the time being, you're dealing with shaken nerves, suffering a -1 to all your horror factor rolls until you make a successful save. Looking behind you, Gregory pulls his hands away from the now closed Realizing the noise he made, he responds with, oh, um, sorry.

Warn his sister next time.

Well, let's make our way deeper into the graveyard. Let's find these, uh, fucks and, uh, go home for, you know, low-cal beers.

They make— that's gross.

Michelob Ultra, man.

I'll have a Zima.

Colette is horrified.

I'm not sure I could get one of those, but you know, I keep a Major selection of White Claw in stock.

That's why—

Smirnoff Ice?

I can do that. I can do that. Um, Maddie, uh, from my Thursday morning class loves Smirnoff Ice, so I keep those around.

I keep walking. These two disgust me.

Colette and Albert, you both feel an icy chill slithering up your spines like snakes that coil into knots on the back of your skulls. The hair on your necks rise in response. And for a moment, I want you all to hold on to that sensation as I need to do a quick pause to explain what's happening for everyone who's listening who's not familiar with BTS. I'm going under the assumption you all understand the basics of how, uh, of how PPE and therefore how inner strength points for psychics work. If not, certainly you can look up your nearest Palladium, uh, Palladium book and, and read into it. you know, preferably your BTS book. The understanding of how this works— Colette and Albert's current level of proximity to the supernatural has risen to what's called the investigation level. This means they are actively investigating a physical location where the supernatural has been alleged to be present or is known to have visited. At investigation level, their base ISP number doubles. This raised amount of ISP allows psychics to to use their abilities to sense, discover, unearth, locate, and learn more about events, places, people, or items that are linked to the supernatural, the paranormal, and/or magical activity that's occurring at that location. In the case of Colette and Albert, their psychic abilities are not as attuned to gaining intel or psychic insight as other classes, but their abilities will still be of use as the investigations continue. And it's fully sunk in that you are now getting rained on in an unfamiliar, very large, and very dark cemetery with nothing but your light sources to see with, surrounded by strange noises while looking for grave ghouls. What are you doing next?

Brett's going to just start coming— start shouting, come on out, you creeps! Come on out!

I'm looking for high ground and I'm going to climb as high up as I can get.

Gilead will actually be quiet, but be next to Brett because, you know, it's always nice to have a distraction.

Albert, outside of a, uh, kind of maybe like a tombstone or, or a, uh, kind of a, kind of a, just, you know, a crypt spot or something, there's not a whole lot of items that you could go on for the high ground, but you do look. And everyone, while that's happening, then this is a great time to say everyone make a perception roll, please.

I got a total of 4. I'm, uh, doing really well today.

Does it involve injury, illness, diseases, or the dead?

At this time, it does not.

2.

I rolled a 7.

7. Alright, so we have the following. Brett, you unexpectedly shiver as your breath fogs. There is a sudden chill in the air, which makes no sense as there's no wind or even really a breeze to carry it. And you can't be certain, but you think you hear something carried on an echo and fading away quickly. Was that— was that a woman giggling? The chill in the air lets up, and your breath no longer fogs. As for Albert, a flash of white. Your right temple explodes with pain, your vision blurs. Then as quickly as it came, the pain vanishes, your vision returns. What was that? And Colette, you sense something familiar. Fire. No, flames. Tongues of flame. More than a dozen of them. They feel like lit candles. Your fire awareness senses them, but that doesn't make sense. The candles would have to be close for you to sense them, but you 3 are the only ones in the cemetery, right?

Oh God, we're gonna end up beating up a bunch of teenage Satanists.

Oh, that'd be awesome. So Khaled will look around the flame and But it's raining. There shouldn't be candles anywhere near here. That's really kind of bizarre.

It's getting colder out.

I'm gonna find the largest gravestone I can and hide behind it.

Brett, Albert needs a little bit of encouragement. Yeah, I was like—

I just look over at him and go, you know, he'll find himself. He just needs a moment. They need a moment.

I'm right here. I know where I am.

And, uh, Colette, please make another perception roll and add in a bonus of +3 as this is fire related.

Uh, total a 22. So the opposite of all the rolls I've been making so far.

You are, uh, yeah, you are on the fire here. Taking a moment to hone in on the source of the flames, Colette is, uh, whether you're following or not, Colette is real— maybe not even realizing she's doing it, but she's now walking more or less Leading the way towards a small chapel-like structure. You're approaching it from the side, not the front of it. The beams of your flashlight point out that the side door is wide open.

I look back at where Albert's hiding and go, hey, hey, don't want to be out here all alone, do ya?

Oh God, an appeal to reason and fear, my only weakness.

Seems like your natural state, Albert.

I scurry. I do that cartoon thing where I scurry from hiding spot to hiding spot to hiding spot to hiding spot, zigzagging along.

Do you do a Shatter-esque rolling dive to go from COVID to cover?

Oh God, yes. No, I do, but I crack my back halfway through it and then I'm just sort of laying there like, oh God, why did I do that?

Brett's immediately at your side going like, Okay, okay, just, just breathe. Breathe deep. Breathe calm. Just, just breathe it out. Breathe it out.

There you go.

No, no, no, no, no. Pain is weakness leaving the body. It's okay.

It's okay.

You get through this.

I, as the player, hate you.

I leave the, uh, the two— I leave the budding romance behind me. And continue towards the open door.

I had a trainer, a physical trainer, actually say those exact words to me, which is why that person was my physical trainer for one session.

Exactly one.

I am sorry for retraumatizing you, but I know— I know this way too well.

I have my idea for my next horror story.

All right.

I will go towards the door, scanning with my flashlight.

Once I've— once I'm assured that Albert is at least within eyes— eyeline, I'm gonna catch up and back you up going through the door.

The 2 of you catching up to Collette, the 3 of you are looking at the threshold of the side door and you see several wet, muddy prints on the cement. They look like human footprints. The tracks are still wet. They appear recently made. A fluctuating red-orange glow emanates from somewhere further inside the building. From here, you can see what looks like a sanctuary, including a table, a row of pews, and a stained glass window on the wall in the back.

I'll go in following the— I actually have tracking, and I will track the obvious footprints that are on the stone.

No skill roll will be needed for that so far. Peering inside, It is indeed a small chapel, likely used for funeral purposes. A lectern, a few rows of pews to make up a nave, an open space for a coffin to be placed, and a few stained glass windows along the walls. From where you stand, the front door is open on the far wall to your right. Like the side door you entered, this door is wide open. The light in the room comes from the lit candles Colette sensed. The candles housed in the chapel are, are all lit up, along with several candles that have been brought to the chapel and are placed around what looks like a blanket. A pushed-aside duffel bag and picnic basket lie on the edges of the blanket. Next to the picnic basket is a set of plates, and upon them are half-eaten grapes and slices of cheese. A wine bottle and a pair of Gothic Gothic-style goblets are placed on the concrete floor just past the edge of the blanket. One of the goblets has been tipped over, splashing wine across the floor.

Did we interrupt goth lovers? Is that what's going on?

We just interrupted the famous Xander Gerrymander and his beloved in a romantic evening.

So I will scan across the chapel with my flashlight looking for the footprints and the people that had the midnight picnic.

Anyone here happen to have like a crime scene investigation sort of skill or just— I was trying to hold back the laugh myself, but this doesn't seem that crowd. But I have to ask. If not, perception rolls would work.

Does a 15 get me anything?

Oh yeah, it sure the heck will.

Does it involve injury, illness, disease, or dead?

As a matter of fact, it does. Add that bonus in, please.

Dirty 20.

Wow, nice one.

A dirty 20.

6.

I have a 6, a 15, and a dirty 20. Altogether, that means you'll find the following. The obvious clues of the room is that the blanket is rumpled, like people got up and ran off quickly. The pew closest to the blanket has been pushed back into the ones behind it, like someone ran into it. The muddy footprints you followed continue towards the front door of the chapel before dying out.

Hmm. Which way do we go now?

Oh my—

I look pointedly at you. Towards home.

Uh, uh, well, uh, um, well, the footprints go that way, but Uh, where did the people go? Or what?

They probably also got smart and went home, where we should be, safe in our beds.

Well, what about the people?

The, uh, the clues given make you believe if you were— if you were a, uh, a gambling woman, Colette— I don't know what you're— you know, I don't care if you're a gambler or not, just saying— if you were, you would suspect, or even you'd probably think That the 2 individuals that were enjoying whatever romantic interlude on the blanket suddenly got up and ran out the front door and were followed by whomever is making the muddy footprints.

Sounds like they've distracted it. It's the perfect opportunity for us to leave.

I will quickly, ignoring Albert, go towards the entrance and follow the footprints to the open doors.

Well, the door is wide open, and looking at the ground, you see drops of blood on the concrete. It's like someone was hurt while running away from the chapel. Albert, looking at the blood drops, your temple briefly explodes in pain again, your vision blurring.

I hate this so much.

Then the pain stops and your vision clears up again an instant later.

I look at Albert and go, come on, the sooner we're done, the sooner we get to go home, right?

Right?

Nosebleed coming down. Sure, dude, sure.

I offer you a weirdly pristine packet of Kleenex pocket Kleenexes.

I was hoping it was a cigarette.

I know that's Colette's game. Oh, but, but I have a cigarette. I, I do have Mango Madness vape if you want to take a hit.

No.

It's very generous of you.

So looking around, uh, there's 3 sets of footprints theoretically, or 3 indents. I'll try to see if I can see where these people went because I don't see a body. So do I see anyone else here? Any tracks in the, the grass or the underbrush?

Or—

Being as you happen to mention that, the trail of blood splotches, uh, blood spots leads to the end of the cement and onto the grass. But as mentioned, as the grass has not been mowed, it looks like in several days, there is something of a trail that you could perhaps follow in the darkness.

We'll follow the trail.

Give me a tracking roll, please.

All right, one second.

And in fact, due to the, uh, somewhat obvious trail, I'm going to give you a +20 bonus to the roll.

You could have given me a much larger bonus, I still would have failed. I, I rolled a 90. My skill is 44 with a +20 would be 64, so I apparently can't track my way out of a blood trail in tall grass.

It is dark and there is a lot happening and the tension has just raised with obviously injured people, but all the same, you're trying to follow a trail and just as you wonder if you're getting lost, you hear the— you hear someone scream in the distance.

That's me.

Albert's back in the chapel screaming.

No, no, no, it wasn't me. I thought I was about to scream, but then I heard a real scream. Now I can't decide whether I should join it or run away.

I will run towards the screaming.

That's the dumbest thing I've ever seen! Why would you do that?

Don't split the party. Follow me.

I look back at Albert following him, going, the sooner we find the scream, The sooner we get to go to Zima time!

I hate you so much.

Perception rolls once more for the 3 of you. We're trying to find the direction of the screaming or the one scream we had, and then everything has gone weirdly silent again.

17.

Oh, good.

I only rolled a 5.

I rolled another natural 1, so I'm not doing anything. I'm like, scream? I'm going for this.

Uh, Brett, Brett, you were the one with the, the 17.

No, no, that was, uh, Albert.

That was me.

That was Albert? Wow, Albert, your psychic senses as a healer apparently really are acute. You suddenly become acutely sharp to the sound of someone, uh, screaming, and it's sharp to you, and you suddenly know exactly where you need to go. The fact that everyone's looking to Albert to lead this crew Well, that's where we're at right now.

That leads me to a conundrum. I'm going to randomly roll this.

Zima time, Zima time, Zima time, Zima time, Zima time.

I lead them towards the sound.

Albert, every— all of your psychic senses are screaming at you saying somebody is injured and is in need of your help. It's winning out at this point, apparently. Congratulations, There it is, Albert. I knew you were— it was in you somewhere.

I follow Albert. I'm not sure why, but—

I follow Albert very closely because like years and years of training people, you know, when someone finally finds it within themselves to like go beyond their limits.

Follow the sound. Yeah.

Albert believes he knows exactly where that sound came from. And I don't know if charging is the right word, but he is Leading the way. Several trees and flora obscure your lights, but there's enough space to run between the trees, taking you further into the cemetery. And breaking through a line of trees, Albert, you are now entering what's more or less a large clearing, around 100 feet in radius, give or take a few feet in places. Beyond the tall grass and a spattering of sword ferns, the area only has a handful of gravestones spread across it, far less crowded than other sections of the cemetery. Around the center of the clearing, you see a large hole in the ground, maybe 20 feet in radius. And as your light glances around the hole, you hear a feminine voice shouting out, hello? Is someone up there? Help us, please!

Brett breaks into a dead sprint towards the hole, going like, I'm coming!

Well, OK, I follow Brett.

Al doesn't.

Moving close to the edge of the hole and looking down at it, you realize that the hole is not a dead drop, but more like a sharp incline. Bits and pieces of rock and tree roots poke out of the edges of dirt in places. The hole bottoms out about 20 feet or so down to what looks like a section of a cave. There are 2 people at the bottom. A, uh, a girl in her early 20s with raven black hair and wearing what would be considered goth attire. Tears stream down her face, furrowing streaks in both her makeup and dirt. She's sitting cross-legged on the ground, nursing, uh, nursing a young boy— a young man, I would say— in her lap, cradling his head in her arms. The man is also in his early 20s and dressed in a similar gothic fashion. Blood cakes the entire right side of his head. He looks unconscious, Albert. The girl holds up a hand to block the light of your flashlights to look up at you all and say, please help us! My boyfriend hit his head and he's bleeding, like, a lot. He passed out.

I'm gonna— as I come up and see this scene, I see What is clearly a possessed woman attacking a man, and I'm gonna exorcise her.

Oh God.

My gut reaction.

Exorcism!

Just fucking hold my hand out.

Earlier today, there was a riot at the local Hot Topic as an individual charged in an attempt to exorcise all the clientele. News at 11.

Exorcism, you say?

I don't expect it to do anything. thing, but whatever. 10 PVE or 10 ISP.

She responds while looking up at you like, what are you doing?

I'm going to just charge down and like hurdle the body of her boyfriend and like guard the door of the cave going like, come on out, come on out.

It is a 20-foot leap down. You could try climbing it, which there, you know, it looks kind of Or you could try your luck with an outright leap.

I leap.

All right, we'll treat this with a, uh, roll— roll a d20 and add in your physical prowess attribute to it. We'll see how this turns out.

Does— do I get to roll with Punch Fall?

If you fail, certainly.

Okay.

But you may not need to.

Oh, maybe, maybe not.

We'll see. You're feeling oddly inspired, and this is kind of in your wheelhouse of abilities.

That is an 11. Yeah. Nope, nope. My apologies.

That is—

what are you adding?

Your physical prowess attribute. Add your PP attribute to the roll.

Oh, the whole PP?

Yeah, the whole thing.

Oh, my apologies.

I know my apologies here.

I misunderstood. I thought it was a bonus. My apologies. Uh, that's a 26.

All right, so 26 versus the number I've rolled over here. And yes, you safely land with a, with an almost superhuman amount of precision. There is no, uh, no roll required. This was your wheelhouse. You somehow basically ninja jumped this 20 feet down and land perfectly. Holy fucking shit! Yeah, baby!

Just like in Witch Hustlers 3 when I did that Stunt off the back of the beer delivery truck.

Wait, wait, which, which Hustler? That, that's, that's a— I am, uh, okay, that was on like Lifetime Network or some bullshit. I mean, what, what? That was amazing, but okay.

Could have been a college film too, you know, kids making movies. You never know, but that's irrelevant right now.

I'll try to climb down, uh, See here, uh, and I— oh, I got a 17. So I scrambled my way down the side of the hill there to check out and see what's going on with the big Dunderson here.

Well, Albert, you are standing at the edge of the pit is where your friend just ninja launched himself down, and the other climbed himself down safely.

Yeah, that was dumb.

Now you're by yourself, Albert.

I could either be by myself in a graveyard or be by myself— yes, by myself in a pit in a graveyard. So I think I'm gonna take option A.

All right.

Be alone in the pit in the graveyard rather than be with other people in the pit?

I'm closer to the sky up here.

Uh, I, I have paramedics, so I will, I will check out the poor boyfriend.

Well, down in the hole for you two, standing in the pit with a reliable light source, looking around, that's when you realize that you're not only in a cave, but you're in a section of a natural cave system. There are 3 separate tunnels that go off in different directions, and all of them large enough to drive a sedan through if needed. Looking at the mound of dirt and floor you're standing on, the kids were lucky. The ground simply fell in and slid down to the bottom in one place. Had it crumbled, they both would have likely suffered serious, if not life-threatening injuries. However, as it turned out, neither one of them was injured, and neither were you two for that matter.

So like, yeah, you do the fire stuff, right?

Yeah.

Like flamethrower? Flamethrower tunnel? Flamethrower?

I don't have a flamethrower. I mean, if I saw something, I could burn it. Sure.

There's a flame— there's a tunnel entrance. Can you burn it?

No, I'm not like Drew Barrymore. Like, no, it takes me a bit more than that.

Are we sure those aren't grave ghouls?

I look at the kids, make sure they're not grave ghouls.

We could wrap this up pretty quickly.

Give me your paramedic skill roll.

Brett turns.

Into a ghoul.

And like looks at the 2 like he's considering clubbing them like seals because Albert suggested the possibility, and at some level he does know that Albert's smarter than him.

I rolled a 38 out of 50 for my paramedic.

Uh, yeah, he's, he's taken— he is taking one hell of a hit to the side of the, uh, of the, of of his temple. Albert noticeably realizing that, yeah, the pain he was— that bizarre phantom pain he was feeling was roughly about the same place that it was on this poor guy. But yeah, he is unconscious. But yeah, he's lost a lot of blood. He needs help, Albert.

Bring him up here.

When Albert says that without saying a word, Brett throws his femur over to Colette. You know, just—

I thought you were about to say Brett throws the guy up out of the hole.

Wait for it, wait for it. No, no.

Catch, Albert!

I grab the femur out of the air.

Yeah, and picks up the skinny little goth dude like he's a sheet of paper and just sprints up the incline.

Um, the, the girl's just like, oh my God, as you, as you grab him. And now you're hauling ass up the sharp incline. Since there's not really a good skill for this, give me a d20 and add all together your speed attribute. Let's see how this fares.

How does a 33 sound?

By what I have over here, that is a success.

As I'm Like picking up her boyfriend and sprinting up the hill, I just turn and look at her and go, and just get a little bit of a wink and head on up.

I don't show much of that, that much skin. I got really bad burns. Uh, your outfit looks nice. As Colette tries to make— as Colette tries to make small talk with the poor girl at the bottom of the pit, basically, and just kind of looks around making sure, wondering if there's Gonna be a surprise zombie attack.

Yeah, and so, like, Brett gets to the top of the incline over to Albert and, like, sets him down, weirdly enough being very careful to avoid neck injury or anything, you know, possible fractures. And he goes, OK, man, it's showtime.

All right, so I'm gonna spend the requisite 2 minutes hewing and hemming and hawing and I'm wringing my wrists, looking at this guy and thinking whether or not I wanted to touch him. And then finally, once the 2 minutes have passed, I'll use the Healing Touch. Just shuddering. Ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh.

2 minutes. The 2 minutes time has passed. As the 2 minutes are happening, the girl who introduced herself to you as Layla, coincidentally, Colette, she's, you know, she looks like she's She's trying to brave to get up the incline. And yeah, it's kind of a muddy mess and she's slipping as she's trying to climb, which is making it all the more impressive that Brett got him up the way he did.

I will, from behind, I will help shove her up as I go up to try to help her get up to the top, 'cause I don't want to be down here by myself.

As you're helping Layla get to the top, This is your opportunity, Albert. You have— I need you to roll your healing numbers here.

I did. I got a 6.

Excellent.

6.

And see here, making a quick note. You have healed for 6. You do see the wound almost miraculously closing up as if it didn't happen.

It's It's okay, Albert. I'll, uh, I'll, I'll clean him up, but, uh, you, you did a good thing there. And I pull out some, some 4x4s and, uh, basically big bandages, put some isopropyl alcohol and kind of clean off the side of the poor dude's face. And, um, as like any paramedic, I leave a trail of detritus and disposed and used medical equipment in my path as I clean the poor guy off.

Meanwhile, Brett, like, lightly punches Albert in the shoulder and goes, I knew you had it in you, man.

I just fall over.

I mean, admittedly, his physical strength is 26, so a light punch from you is potentially—

Albert will have a charley horse for days in his arm.

Mine is 7.

Yeah, yeah.

So, like, with a concerned expression, Brett looks between the other 2 and he goes, guys, I, I know we're here to, like, put down some ghouls and stuff, but we, we got hurt people here.

We really should get them to a hospital right now.

Yeah, yeah, I mean, you know—

Give me your keys, I'll do that.

And, and it's then, as Brett's saying what's probably the smartest thing he might have actually said all day, uh, it is at that point that You know, well, you all hear the sounds of hissing from all around you.

Oh my God, there's snakes here. My other weakness.

Wait, it's cold outside. There shouldn't be snakes. That's weird. Colette shines her flashlight into the clearing and turns in a slow circle.

Stepping out from the dark shadows of the tree and flora around you, several ugly human-sized creatures resembling animated Skeletal human-like corpses dressed in torn and dirty suits and dresses are coming at you from all directions.

Well, this is an easy one. Totally forgetting that, you know, you need to use bones and stuff.

Which you handed me.

Which I handed you. Brett's going to run up to the nearest one and punch him.

Wait, crap.

Well, as you're running up to him, this is a good time for everyone to please roll to attempt to save versus a horror factor of 15.

Well, Brett is apparently dumb and stupid— dumb but brave. So it's a nice 16 over here.

Natural 1.

Oh, well, I didn't get a natural 1. I mean, I did get a 9.

On point. I think I'm playing my character here.

Albert, you are so in character right now. And well, frankly, so is Brett.

Yeah.

Unfortunately, Colette is not in character. She got a 9.

The benefits of being dumb as a box of rocks.

He's too stupid to be terrifying. Alright, so, uh, Briv, as you're the one who saved, you may be, uh, well, you may roll for initiative and then get ready to slug this, uh, yeah, slug this guy or this, this one you're coming at.

Uh, that's a 21.

I can promise you ghouls Yeah, I do not have those kind of bonuses for a ghoul, so my number is a whopping— looks like 4 with bonus.

Yeah, I rolled a natural 20 and I have a +1 from being a physical.

So as for Albert and Colette, the sight of several hideously ugly skeletal people coming at you along with a palpable rotting stench that you can taste as much as you can smell You are— both of you are overwhelmed with fear, too frozen in horror to move. You do not roll for initiative, nor are you even able to so much as defend yourself, losing your first action as the ghouls come at you with slashing claws and gnashing teeth. And a quick note to the psychics and for everyone listening, before combat starts, I want to point out that the psychics now— psychics now realize that the threat level has raised to lesser threats. And this means that the psychics are responding to the direct threat of incoming supernatural creatures and are now boiling with inner strength. To determine the raised amount of ISP, the psychics will take their base ISP number, or their current ISP number if it's lower than your base, and you will multiply that number times 4, and every one of your abilities are now available to you. And with that, Brett, you can go up and try to slug the heck out of the grave ghoul.

Oh, just hauls off and punches this dude with a STRIKE roll of— hold on 30 seconds. Oh yeah, a nice solid 15.

It's like this ghoul's moving in slow motion as it tries to put up its hands to block, but no, you, uh, yeah, you, you, uh, You just completely clock this thing and give me some damage, please.

So anybody remember what a punch does?

It is 1d4 at level 1 for you, plus your, plus your PS bonus. As I know— Oh yeah. Oh yeah.

I like that 15.

15 points of damage, you say?

I rolled a 4 plus 11 from my physical strength.

Well, as it stands in meta terms, you actually, even though it will not do any serious damage to it, you still hit him harder with more damage than what his PE is. So you basically completely knocked it off his feet and onto its backside.

Come at me, bro!

Come at me!

Unfortunately, let's see here, one each will be able to— one ghoul each will be able to reach, uh, the 2 who can't do anything this first action, because as Brett's ghoul has just been knocked on his ass and can't— he'll have to take his, uh, his turn getting up. The first one comes at you, Albert, and altogether rolls a natural 7, which means he will unfortunately connect.

Ouch.

Claws rake across your shirt. Altogether, that was— looks like it was kind of a lame hit, which I'm sure you are just tore up about. And altogether, it only did 8 points of damage. If there are any gods looking over your shoulder, Albert, they've just smiled upon you.

8 points closer to death. This will all be over.

And let's see here. And I— holy crap, I actually rolled a natural 1 for Colette somehow, so automatically missed.

Awesome.

There you go. I'm putting that one on the bench for a while. You're going back to the farm, pal. Another die out. That's all I got for the first actions as the other ones are still working its way to you, whistling, howling, moaning, or what have you, as ghouls do. Brett!

Yeah, no, one of them attacked and injured my new closest friend ever, Albert.

Kill me now. Just kill me, please kill me before he gets here.

And I charge over, launching into a power kick.

Oh my Lord, the ghoul won't even see it coming. Give me a, uh, give me a STRIKE roll.

Oh, that's not as good. I only rolled a 7.

But you know what? You only need a 4 or better with bonuses to make, uh, to make such a strike.

Well...

Hey, it may not— it may not have looked necessarily impressive, but frankly, the ghoul didn't see it coming. So it doesn't matter if it did or not.

So purposes for effects, please note that this is the power kick from kickboxing, not the power kick from hand-to-hand martial arts.

So you're saying he's going to extra feel this?

Oh, he's going to extra feel this.

Why does it sound so gross when you say it?

That's 18 points of boot to the face.

Boot to the head.

And that boot to the face sends him flying and eating dirt like his— you like the one you just let have moments ago.

Are you sure it's kickboxing and not Taekwon Leap?

Maybe you just invented Taekwon Leap for your, uh, for your gym.

Ooh.

Think on that.

Ooh, Taekwon Leap classes. Albert will be the first enrollee.

The first ghoul is spending time getting back to his feet. The one that would have struck, uh, that would have struck Albert has just been sent flying and eating the dirt as well. And we, uh, let's see, and that brings it to Colette. You have a ghoul in front of you hissing menacingly, holding out its claws like it's ready to just rip you to shreds.

I'd rather you not hit me if you could go away, please.

And that's your attack. You're going to plea with it?

No. Uh, oh, I actually did the attack. Uh, I will, uh, I have these bone things in my hands. I don't really, uh, actually, I will with my offhand, I will Firebolt it at point-blank range because I can.

I say yeah, every psychic sense is telling you to light this thing up.

And I roll a 3rd natural 1 for the session, uh, with my bonus, that's a 4, but I don't think I hit still.

Ah, that's unfortunate. On the bright side, the ghoul, being as they are extremely sensitive to fire, seeing the bolt shoot right past it, it actually had to make a minor save against horror factor itself and it failed. It stepped aside, lost its action.

I don't feel bad about that.

And the other ghouls that were closing in on you suddenly kind of all stop and reflect, seeing the smoking— or basically what we'll have here is the tree that you had hit Is initially on fire, but is quickly steaming out in the rain. But all the ghouls stop and just stare at the fire, leaving us— leaving an opportunity to strike. So, Brett, you have another ghoul that's trying to come after Albert.

Oh no. Oh no. Oh no. Not my buddy Albert. Not my buddy Albert. We're going to just go for a punch and roll a 5 on that.

5 is enough. Give me some damage.

Uh, again, just punching them off with— and so it's a 12. It's a big—

it's a bad hit. You're not really hurting them, but you are knocking them the hell around as the other ones are still slow to get up. Albert, you have another one coming at you though. Your action.

I didn't— we didn't roll initiative though, did we?

Didn't have to. When you fail your horror factor, you don't get to. You just basically, you, uh, You get dropped to the near bottom of the chart.

I want to run away.

Oh, OK.

Running the hell away.

Got to cover my friend's retreat then.

Run screaming. Ahhh!

Brett fortunately has knocked enough bowling pins down that you have a clearing for Albert to run through is what it sounds like.

Good. Thank you.

Collette, you're realizing that Albert is running. And Brett is running after him, leaving you with the, uh, with the, uh, 220-somethings here, scared out of their minds and screaming, what the hell is going on?

It's okay, just burn them all, burn them all.

Actually, actually, uh, uh, Colette will turn on her Burning Touch. Her entire body, kind of her hands and her body erupts into flame, um, and she will punch at the nearest one, see what happens.

Go for it!

Finally roll a decent roll and I get a— actually a 19 to strike.

I need some damage, please. It tries to parry, but yeah, it is not fast enough for that.

And my punch damage with the fire, so I do— not sure if it's broken up, but I do 11 fire with— and the punch would be a total of 8 points of regular physical damage with 11 fire. I don't know if it's all fire or not, but it adds to punch damage is what it says.

It does, and since it is considered a fire, uh, still considered a fire ability, you will get double the amount of damage that your Burning Touch does upon the ghouls.

Oh well, in that case it's 22 plus, uh, yeah, 22 plus, uh, 8, so 30 points of total damage.

Placing your hands upon the ghoul, it starts steaming where your hands are placed upon it, and it lets out one of the most painful howls you have probably heard in your life. The other ghouls all stop in their tracks, and holy crap, they are realizing that, yeah, they were not— the shameless cowards is starting to come out as they realize you're launching fire, you're causing ghouls to go up and and steamy pain and screeches, and they all— looks like they all start turning and they are going the directions that they came from, back into the, uh, the clearing, as it were.

I will, uh, put a hand on— because I'm not a weakling myself— I will put a hand on each shoulder of the 2 individuals and kind of try to drag them out of here with me and try to figure out where Albert and Brett went.

Well, I'm still In the general area, and I'm going to, like, cover your retreat doing the, you know, the wah wah wah.

This is so fucked up!

Yeah, we're making our way back to the gate following the shouts of Albert screaming about unlock this damn gate now.

Who does this to people? What is wrong with you all?

Didn't you read the brochure?

Well, I—

there was punch and pie.

Oh yeah, that was it. And then we like, okay, well.

And as we're standing next to the gate, I like look over at Colette and go, that's hot. I mean, it's really, really hot.

My hands are still probably on fire because last round. I'm like, are you making a I'm very confused right now.

It's Frett, you don't know.

Actually, I hope I turned it off or else I would have killed the poor kids when I grabbed them.

Albert, all right, here we go. Going through a, uh, running through the trees like, uh, like you're probably like a half a maniac, as I'm sure you're feeling about now, because you know that the, uh, the— you've— that, that's gotta be the way to the entrance, right? And running, Albert. Coming into a, uh, coming into a patch with, with, uh, with far more tombstones and, uh, and mausoleums and such. It's rather crowded. Uh, so just a second here, gentlemen, make sure I'm telling this correctly. Um, Albert stepping in, you're, uh, you're, uh, you're believing in the distance. That's got to be the direction where you need to go to get to the entrance. And a perception roll, please, Albert.

4.

Uh, Albert, you're realizing too late, uh, into the middle of your running that holy crap, you're You— this— none of this looks familiar to you.

I keep running.

Albert, in your flusteredness and running, you realized, yeah, you were going completely the wrong direction. You don't realize— you didn't realize that you've suddenly put yourself into a dead end. Right behind you comes Brett, and then right behind him comes Colette and the, uh, and the 2 20-somethings. You are now in a dead end, and you hear— you hear more howling and moaning and creatures behind you. And Brett, as if that's not bad enough, you see a sight that completely catches you off guard, Brett.

Oh God.

You see what looks like a ghostly image of— well, frankly, it's like a pioneer woman would be the best way of describing her. Like a gal who stepped right out of the, uh, right out of the pioneering age of the 1800s. She kind of steps out from behind a tree, kind of gives you this blushing giggling, like she— I mean, like, like she's totally into you, almost kind of flirty. And, and she says something to the effect of, howdy, stranger.

Brett's brain short circuits for a moment. He goes back to—

I'm going to push my new best friend out of the way and exercise.

While he's pushing me out of the way, I'm going like, hey, pretty lady.

And as you're giving a hey, pretty lady and get in the shoving, which kind of threw you off balance.

It was a very, very weak shove.

But still caught him off guard. And his attention's now on the pretty ghost lady looking at him, to which, yeah, uh, uh, Brett, suddenly you feel that cold sensation. Your breath fogs again as you see a man just to the right of her kind of appear out of nowhere, a pioneer-looking individual much like her, but he's carrying in his hand what looks a really mean-looking pickaxe, giving you this absolutely horrible hatred stare, saying, hey, you looking at my wife? And he starts coming towards you. And behind him, while you two don't see the ghostly imagery, only Brett sees the ghosts, behind him are another dozen some-odd grave ghouls. And that, everyone, is where your game night will conclude.

Sadly, there would be no horror factor roll for Brett when the ghost with the pickaxe comes for him because angry husbands are well experienced.

Either living or dead.

I got this.

It's cool.

This is cool. Oh, I'm sorry, man.

I can talk them down.

And it is here where your game night concludes. It seems the team's troubles are far from over, and the night leaves us with more questions than answers. Will they get Layla and Doug to safety? Will they manage to survive the onslaught? Will Brett survive the attack of a jealous and angry ghostly husband? And will the team survive their initiation night at all? These questions imply serious, if not horrific, consequences for failure. Questions that we will attempt to answer the next time we go back to a world that goes Beyond the Supernatural.

Starships, magic, mystic martial arts, romance.

All of these can be found in A Cloak of Blades by Isaac Sher.

You might have heard my name before. I've done a lot of voiceover work for Breakfast Puppies, and I've recently released my first novel.

I'm Isaac Sher.

It's available on Amazon as an ebook and paperback, and you can get it for free if you have a Kindle Unlimited subscription. I do hope you'll support my work as you're supporting Breakfast Puppies, and it's been a pleasure talking with you today. Have a good one. You've been listening to the Glitter Boys, a Palladium Books fan podcast. Glitter Boys, Rifts, the Megaverse, and all other such topics are the property of Kevin Sembida and Palladium Books. Please buy all their stuff and help keep them in print and making more games. You can order directly at palladiumbooks.com, and their entire catalog is available digitally at DriveThruRPG as well. Our opening music is 8-Bit Bass and Lead by Furbyguy from freesound.org. This closing music is Caravana by Philip Gross, available at freemusicarchive.org. All sound effects used are self-made or acquired via Creative Commons Zero license. If you like what you have heard, find us on Twitter and Facebook as The Glitter Boys— that's B-O-I-S— and check us out online at breakfastattheglitter.com. breakfastpuppies.com/glitterboys, and also join us on the Breakfast Puppies Network Discord at breakfastpuppies.com/discord. And if you want to help us out, please spread the word and help us build a community. Thanks again for listening. We'll catch you next time.