Season 2 - Episode 61: If A Tree Falls in the Forest…

## Synopsis

A tree crashes across the road in front of their car. Bjorn stops in time before he and Sammie get out to try and move it. Sammie makes herself stronger with magic and they are able to rotate enough to get around it. Bjorn is then snatched off the road by a skinwalker. Sammie immediately gives chase. Henry, taking his chance to get everyone out of their, speeds off down the road. Bjorn manages to free himself from the skinwalker and grab Sammie out of harm's way. They make it back to the road and try to catch up with Henry. Henry drives for some time. Oliver reassures him everything is going to be okay before he checks on Helena, who is still unconscious. Anthony says she's feverish and might be sick in some way. Once they have cell service, Henry pulls over and starts to do research online. He finds out he'll have to talk to someone who is more knowledgeable on the Navajo and willing to talk about the creatures. MonsterHunter69 sends him an article about a professor who got in trouble for speaking too much about Navajo legends.

## Episode Description

The heroes deal with a roadblock in their investigation.

## Key Events

* Bjorn is snatched by a skinwalker and Sammie chases after him. Bjorn gets a good luck at the creature before escaping - it is a large and gangly with long arms that makes it look four-legged and its body looks like it's made of a slimy surface you would see under primitive skin.
* Henry, still in the car, takes off down the road. When he has service to do research, he finds that not much is known about the weakness of skinwalkers and he'll have to speak with someone from the Navajo tribe.

## Summary

Sammie explains, through her phone, that she told her mom that he might be in trouble and she went to go look for him, then they got an address from her and came to investigate. They then start to discuss what their plan is to get rid of these creatures - going over everything they know about the skinwalkers and how it could be connected to the soul's trapped at the inn. On Bjorn's suggestion, they drive out to cell service range to do some research.

As they are driving down the road, they hear a loud crack and a large tree crashes to the ground in front of them, blocking the entire roadway. Bjorn screeches to a halt before he can run into it and asks Sammie if she has any magic powerful enough to blast it out of the way. Sammie gets out of the car and Bjorn tells Henry to lock the doors before he joins her.

Sammie tries to use magic to make herself stronger and feels her body physically bulk up. Bjorn helps her push the tree so that one lane is at least open. Sammie turns to look at Bjorn just in time to see him grabbed and taken into the woods. Sammie looks back at the car with a panicked expression and then take off into the woods after Bjorn. Henry starts to get out of the car but Anthony grabs his arm and tells him he can't leave them here alone. Henry realizes that they need more information to stop the creatures and decides to trust Bjorn and Sammie can handle it. He jumps over into the driver's seat and takes off down the road.

Sammie is bolting through the woods trying to catch up with the skinwalker and Bjorn. Still bulked up from her magic, she is able to run faster than she normally would. She is able to track the magical essence of the creature and is in hot pursuit. Bjorn is trying to break out of the skinwalker's grasp. It attempts to crash him into a tree to knock him unconscious but Bjorn is able to break free. Bjorn gets a good look at the creature for the first time - it is a large, gangly creature with long arms that makes it look four-legged, its body looks like it's made of a slimy surface you would see under primitive skin.

Bjorn, now out of its grasp, manifests his wings and flies into the sky to get away from it. He flies up through the trees and knocks down a branch that crashes into the creature. Sammie comes into the clearing as the skinwalker is picking itself up. Bjorn shouts at her from above to climb up a tree and he'll grab her. She starts to climb, but the creature grabs onto her ankle. Bjorn grabs onto Sammie and pulls her away and out of the creature's grasp. He isn't able to carry her for long though as the magic she used to make herself stronger is making her exceptionally heavy at the moment. Bjorn flies back toward the direction of the road as long as he can before landing and putting Sammie down. They run the rest of the way and find no car there.

Henry is driving down the road, trying to get to a service area so he can use his phone as a hot spot. He is talking to himself out loud that everything is going to be fine. Oliver puts a comforting hand on his shoulder and reassures him that Bjorn and Sammie can handle themselves. Oliver then leans back in his seat and checks on Helena. She is still unconscious and Anthony says that she's feeling feverish, that she might be sick with something. Henry tries to get more information out of Anthony but Anthony says he can't talk about it and scratches at his tattoo.

Back down the road, Bjorn and Sammie try to figure out where the car went. Bjorn asks Sammie if she can make herself less dense again but Sammie doesn't know how. She then makes a running gesture and Bjorn figures out she's saying she can run really fast. A bit embarrassedly, he asks Sammie if she can carry him since he can't fly her the way she is. Sammie agrees. Carrying Bjorn, she runs down the road for about 15 minutes before she feels the magic begin to wear off and she has to put Bjorn down. Sammie's body begins to shrink back down to it's normal proportions and she feels a wave of exhaustion roll over her. As the magic making her stronger wears off, so does whatever was blocking her voice. She's able to ask Bjorn to fly them the rest of the way and he does so.

In the car, Henry finally sees that his phone has service. He immediately pulls the car over to the side of the road, uses his phone as a hot spot, and starts to do research on his laptop. He poses a 'theoretical' question about what the weaknesses of skinwalkers would be online, however instead of an answer he gets several comments saying he needs to talk to a Navajo source to find that kind of information. He then gets a message from MonsterHunter69 who has sent him a link to a news article from nearby about a Native American Studies professor that got in trouble for talking about Navajo legends.

## List of Appearances

* Bjorn Olafson
* Sammie Overbrook
* Henry Marlowe
* Oliver Allen Evans
* Anthony Overbrook
* Helena Overbrook
* MonsterHunter69

## Trivia

Chainsaws are now known as "rotating swords."

This was the FIRST time since the show started in 2019 that an episode was NOT released on time and/or delayed. The whole crew managed to get COVID at the same time, despite living in completely different parts of the country.