Episode 7

The seventh session of the campaign.

## Summary

Despite being in the dark, Mags is not alone. Drinking from their thermos, walking an impossibly shadowed landscape, they read over Ward’s book. Something stands out in the text, the dark is one of the older fears, seen as brothers almost to the hunt, the end. Old, possibly sentient. Running with that, Mags attempts to communicate. Blacker than black, humanoid shadows manifest themselves. Bargaining to get out, to get back to Rye, they’re told to take a pouch from them, dark leather containing inky black sand, to toss that in their eyes or take the door and let lies twist their existence. Looking for more information, Mags presses the dark’s manifestation, asking what they desire. They’re shown two paths, one of the safe opening and the books being distributed to individuals who are made stronger by their presence, and one of Tall Nick being slain. With their options dwindling, and the offer being near retracted, Mags takes the sand, casting it into their eyes.

Across Rye, Mischa’s van pulls up to the hospital. Levy helps tend to Mischa's wounds in the back as Abby and Fletcher help carry a half-conscious Danny inside. They make their way through the waiting room past a few less-than-dire cases, and reach the information desk. The nurse is alarmed and a bit suspicious given the incredibly odd circumstances, and goes to phone the police. With web-infused words, Abby convinces the nurse that Danny is her husband who’s been missing for a week, that they’d already contacted the police so there was no need, and to keep Danny’s name off the books, as bad people were after him. The nurse complies, under her thrall. Inside the van, Blair has the realization she’s been inadvertently cavalier with her family’s documents and has a minor panic attack getting them back. An oddly pink folder catches Fletcher’s eye as they leave the hospital, nothing, surely.

Inside the shadows, Mags is being changed. Inky black tears drip down their face as the sand seeps into their eyes, solidifying and changing the very properties and material of their eyes. Blinking their vision back, struggling against the pain, Mags finds they can see through the darkness, see Rye again, though with all color drained away. Otherwise unharmed, but different at a core level, Mags has been marked by an entity, they can never take that back. Stepping out of the shadows into Rye they’re thrust into light as the headlights of Mischa’s van illuminate them.

Rushing forward, the group checks over Mags for injuries, asking about what happened, if they feel alright, where they were. Frustrated by care received all too late, Mags pushes them aside for the most part, explaining only the most important things, the desires they were shown by the dark, and what happened to them. The group discusses what to do, where Ward might be found, with Fletcher pointing out that Ward had only been taken about twelve hours ago. This prompts a realization as the group looks down at their respective devices. Despite it having felt like a day at best, a week has passed. A week has passed, and no one has really noticed their absence. Levy eats well.

It’s determined they can’t keep running themselves ragged, everyone needs sleep. But given the kidnappings and safes in their possession, no one feels safe to do so alone. After some deliberation, Fletcher reaches out to Ziggy on his smart watch (since his phone was smashed by Tall Nick, who owes him a new phone. Xen, if you’re reading this i– /silly) and the group is permitted to stay there. They drive over, seeing a figure smoking on the balcony of the third floor, and head inside. Setting the safe in a guest room closet, Fletcher and Blair go up to look for Ziggy.

Ziggy isn’t in the best state when they find him, high but with a fucked tolerance. He asks if the two are real upon approaching him, and double checks by touching them both in turn, and confesses that things have been rough lately. Having just lost a week of their lives, the two agree, and Fletcher and Ziggy share a tender moment. Worried about his friend spending the night alone in his current state, Fletcher offers to share a room with him, which is declined due to the emotional state Ziggy’s in. As the two descend the stairs they can hear Ziggy lamenting over the situation and agree they heard nothing. Blair asks Fletcher what happened there, and Fletcher admits that he doesn’t fully understand his own feelings, but she was right in that there was something there. Pressing him further Blair is told that despite being aro and them having a largely platonic comphet relationship, Fletcher has never actually dated anyone else.

By the time they reach the first floor, Mischa and Levy have decided to share a room, with Blair catching the tail end of it and assuming the two are romantically or sexually involved. Abby and Mags are making hot cocoa in the kitchen, and the smell drives Fletcher and Blair over. The four sit as the milk simmers on the stove, Mags occasionally stirring the pot. They discuss what the Dark had shown Mags again, and after a discussion determine to go after Tall Nick, as that should both serve the dark, take out a threat, and eliminate someone working with Howell. Fletcher meddles between Abby and Mags, but with both Fletcher and Blair being uncomfortable rooming with Mags, it becomes a necessity. Taking on Mag’s job as pot stirrer in the metaphorical sense, Fletcher points out that Abby could use her web abilities to make a monster harm or kill itself, partially to see her reaction before quickly leaving to deliver a mug of hot chocolate to Ziggy.

The session ends with a hunt, with two figures leaving the house, their fates intertwined as much as their prey is. Levy holds on tightly to Mischa’s fur as they cross the moor, the moon their only witness as the two descend into the crowd. The woods is alive with scents, and there’s so much that’s familiar, so much that’s wrong and reeks with the scent of the entities. A doorway opens, pointing the two towards Jacob, and the two set off, their prey determined. When a marked and an avatar are so determined, there’s one thing that can stop them from their bloodlust, and that is love. The pull of their anchor, deep in their chest, is a feeling that Levy will never mistake, nor the blend of parchment, ink and blood that they know to be Ward. There is a moment of clarity, and all of the sudden the scents of the woods, their inhabitants don’t matter as much. Because Ward is alive, beneath their very feet, and they don’t have long.

> Next Session: Episode 8
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Episode Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oAvjI5ewdI4