Episode 39: Fear Itself

## Synopsis

The barely-alive heroes make one final attempt to figure out what's going on in the country club. They see through the illusion and find the creature, blasting away at it and finally killing it. They decompress with some drinking. After, outside the Fort, Bjorn transforms into a werewolf.

## Episode Description

It's the finale of the Nightmare Arc! The heroes are beaten, burned, and far less sane than when they arrived at the country club. But there's still one more battle to win before they can escape. Can they do it?

## Key Events

* The crew finds the illusion-causing nightmare creature and barely manage to kill it without dying themselves.
* All traumatized, they head back to the Fort to try and process what's happened with some drinking.
* Afterward, Bjorn goes outside for some fresh air and transforms into a werewolf.

## Summary

Bjorn is looking for a first aid kit. On his way down the stairs, he bumps into someone. That someone is Sammie. Both of them are unsure whether the other is the real them. Bjorn asks Sammie where the Fort is and gives an answer, that is enough to appease Bjorn for now. Sammie takes a moment to heal Bjorn and herself. Sammie suggests that they just leave and Bjorn reminds her that Henry is still in here somewhere.

They start to hear a low rumble around them. A vine shoots out from a doorway and grabs Sammie's ankle, trying to drag her in. Bjorn is able to stomp on the vine and keep her from being dragged in. They agree to stick together and not go through any doors. They make their way down the hall and find a sitting room, where Henry is sitting in the middle of the room. He is staring straight ahead and not moving. Bjorn goes to shake him but Henry doesn't respond. Sammie pulls him away from Henry and warns him to be careful. Bjorn starts to consider as well that this may not be the real Henry.

Sammie tries to look for way to help Henry with her third eye. That is when she notices something floating above Henry by the fireplace. It looks like a wispy, ghost-like apparition with shadowy black tendrils. It realizes that Sammie can see it and advances toward her. Sammie screams and presses herself back against the wall before shooting a fire ball at the creature.

In the void, Henry is still trying to figure out how to leave. He begins to hear muffled noises. He can't tell where it's coming from, but he hears a scream. It's the first noise he's heard in what feels like ages. He realizes the scream is Sammie. He gets up and starts to search for her.

Sammie hits the nightmare with the fireball, but it doesn't seem to do anything to the creature. The room catches fire. She then sees Henry call for her. Bjorn tries to pull Sammie behind him, but she runs up to grab Henry and throws him behind Bjorn. Bjorn shoots at the creature but it doesn't seem to be effected. Bjorn realizes that the fire around them isn't real and is another illusion. Sammie isn't sure, but she is sure that Henry is real. Sammie begins to shake Henry and shout his name to try and get him to come back. Henry seems confused about where he is. Sammie puts her hand on Henry's head and tries to look into his mind.

Sammie appears in front of Henry in the void and Sammie realizes where he is. Sammie hugs Henry, relieved to see him. Henry hugs back. Sammie then tells Henry that she was in a black void like he was too. She tells him that he needs to try and see through the illusion, that it's a room of pure magic and that he just needs to tell himself it's not real. He asks how. She tells him to meditate, clear his mind, and focus on imagining the darkness is gone. Henry is finally able to see through the void and comes back to himself. Sammie comes back to herself as well.

Sammie still sees the fire, but Henry does not. Henry sees the dark form of the creature itself, with its black tendrils reaching out. He jumps up and runs further away. Bjorn tells Sammie to get behind him, but Sammie is frozen in place, unable to see through the flames. Bjorn shoots at the creature again, this time actually seeming to damage it. He can see black blood pour of the wound. Bjorn suddenly drops to his knees, with blood pouring from his nose, as he is hit with a psychic attack from the creature and pain explodes through his head. Sammie makes a blast at the nightmare creature with her magic and knocks a chunk out of it. The creature controls the fire she can still see and makes a fire hand that grabs her and burns her.

In the background, Henry tries to heal himself. He does, but something pops in his shoulder. His arm goes numb and limp and his gun falls to the floor. He picks the gun up with his left hand. Sammie blasts the creature again, knocking another chunk off of it. The fiery hand that was already holding on to her pulls her and knocks her to the ground. She hits her head hard on the floor and struggles to stay conscious. Bjorn makes one final shot. His hands are shaking. He pulls the trigger and the creatures head blows open. It finally falls to the floor, dead, in a splatter of black ooze.

Sammie is hit with the splatter. Seeing this black ooze on her hands makes her thinks of her recent encounter with the wendigo and the past one. She begins to have a panic attack. Bjorn patches himself up and then Henry after finding a med kit. Bjorn goes over to Sammie, but she flinches away. Henry tries to calm Sammie down, but ends up scaring Sammie more. Sammie starts to crawl backwards away from him. Bjorn approaches her again with his med kit and she finally calms enough for him to treat her.

Bjorn tries to give them a pep talk, encouraging them that all of this wasn't real and to focus on the job and making sure this is done. Henry and Sammie decide to go outside and wait while Bjorn gathers all their things. Bjorn goes through the front door first, just to make sure they're in the clear. They're all collectively holding their breath as he steps through, but nothing happens. The crew visibly relaxes. Bjorn notices some bullet holes in the walls from where he had shot something, another bullet hole in a painting, and a smoke coming from the basement. Bjorn goes down to the basement to investigate and sees that the basement is absolutely destroyed and smoldering. He makes note of everything so he can report it to H.U.N.T.E.R. when they bring in their cleanup crew.

Henry is laying in the grass and Sammie is sitting with her knees pulled up to her chest as it starts to rain. They don't mind. Bjorn joins them. Eventually he says he could go for a stiff drink, even extending the offer to Henry. The crew heads back to the Fort and raids Stanley and Miguel's liquor stash. Bjorn gives Henry a very small portion. Sammie drinks until she passes out on the table. Bjorn drinks until he starts to not feel good and goes outside for some fresh air.

Bjorn starts to feel even more sick once he's outside. The clouds part and the full moon hits him. Bjorn feels his bones crunching and shifting and he suddenly transforms into a giant white wolf.

## List of Appearances

* Bjorn Olafson
* Sammie Overbrook
* Henry Marlowe
* The Nightmare

## Roll Tracker

**Hannah Level Up:** Changed playbook from the Initiate to the Spell-Slinger. Level up from Fear and Frenzy was saved till now.

**Hannah Level Up:** +1 Cool

**Andrew Level Up:** Took "Never Again" from the Wronged. This is level up mentioned in Fear and Frenzy.

## Harm Taken

 Andrew/Bjorn
 Hannah/Sammie
 Hannah/Sammie

## Harm Dealt

\*Hannah does not have the fire effect yet so is only using the blast base.

## Harm Healed

\*The crew treats the "unstable" box as a point of harm, making a full success with medic (stabilize and heal of 2) worth 3 points.