A Weekend in Maine

It’s a normal morning at the Sect -- Wolfgang and Callum are out on a job, Holster finds a file on his desk

## Plot

### Holster's Office

Holster finds a file on his desk from Callum - includes a few photos, a letter from Callum, and a vial of strange purple-ish green liquid

* Pictures include a grey, dead town by the ocean, trail through the forest
* Observatory, in the woods by the town
* Town square -- mosaic in the brickwork, hard to make out
* Photo of the ocean, the water isn’t clear and it’s dark
* TOWN IS CALLED BARNSLEY

#### The Letter

* Callum found something important and needs hunters to investigate
* What has been happening in the town has led to disappearances
* People/cops/search parties haven’t been doing anything
* No hope of the people being found?
* Someone gave Callum the vial?

#### The Vial

* Vial glows a bit brighter upon shakin
* Label on the side, says “For something important”

Holster goes around and briefs everybody, WE GOIN ON A JOB BOIS

### The Drive to Maine

Holster takes the Bentley. Ronny drives Belle after a quick discussion about how Belle does not have her license or learner’s permit (lol) BELLE LEARNED HOW TO DRIVE ILLEGALLY LOL

#### A New Hunter

On the way to Maine, Idris sees someone he recognizes… at a broken down pickup truck

IT’S LAZZYYYYY, Old cowboy dad man, we love him. HE WEARS A LEATHER JACKET

(his boots have spurs, very important detail)

Idris and Holster recruit Lazzy after a brief discussion

### The Town

Ronny and Belle make it to the town first along a typical Maine backwoods road, lined with maple trees, tappers, tapping for syrup babeey. The air smells of salt, fresh ocean water

Things are a bit darker here, more gray, clouds in the sky...

Lazzy gets introduced to Belle and Ronny, it’s a vibe

Town sign “Welcome to Barnsley” -- sunbleached, the paint is chipping off. It's closer to afternoon now, around 4:00-4:30, starting to get a *little* darker

Holster is going to try and find where the center of the mosaic is

Going past dark wood buildings, with each breeze that passes, you can hear the creak of wooden boards. There are *some* people sitting inside their houses just chillin (Sunday chillin don’t @ me). Some boxes labeled “Bill” being brought inside

The mosaic in the center of town is a big fish

### Idris' Vision

GOING PAST THE SIGN, Idris is suddenly *overwhelmed* with a sense of doom and death -- this town is DEFINITELY not something good

What’s going to happen? -- **“What it is is not what it is”**

The mosaic in the center matches the one in the picture…

Holster calls Callum, CALLUM RESPONDS

* Holster does a brief rundown on the SITCH
* Callum says that he have to find his friend Toki
* Callum says to ask people around to find this “friend”
* Looks like: dark hair, glasses, thin frame
	+ MILO FROM ATLANTIS BUT WITH BLACK HAIR
	+ I’M BOUTTA ***SIMP***

* Holster looks around, does not see Toki -- instead, sees various details around the town, the dock, the guy moving boxes, a woman coming down stairs who is taking a look see at the hunters (the strangers with weapons)
* Everyone Holst sees has neutral expressions, nothing much is going on right now

* Holst walks up to the guy moving Bill’s boxes, asks about Toki
* Guy moving boxes is named Robin, says that there was a guy with Toki’s description who walked into town with people that looked like Callum and Wolfgang
* The three checked into the hotel
* Wolfgang went back to the parking lot, Callum and Toki went up the trail into the woods

* The gang decides to go up the trail where Callum and Toki went

### The Trail

* Trail has pine needles all over the ground, rocks and shit
* Tree tappers are here too
* Wind whistles here babey
* The smell of rain suddenly washes over the gang
* WE ARE DRENCHED
* In the distance, the gang sees a little half-orb(??) at the edge of the cliff
* To the left, brickwork path to the observatory
* To the right, more trail

### The Observatory

* The door has a darker looking large scratch on it, and lots of smaller scratch marks
	+ Five claws, BEEG amount of distance between each claw
* The doorknob is broken in pieces on the ground
* Whatever came here WANTED IN, so it broke the door down
* The door is cracked open, and we can hear wind whistling through the door
* Holster takes a peek inside
	+ The interior is a complete mess, flipped over table, papers strewn across the floor, broken windows, broken microwave, drawers pulled out with silverware everywhere
	+ On the other side of the room there is a door, ajar
	+ There’s entryways going down on either side of the door??? (Idk if I misheard this)
* Holst picks up the papers , reads that whoever wrote the papers was investigating this town, most of the papers are covered in blue-green bioluminescent residue
* This guy was studying the behavior of the town citizens, why they weren’t doing shit about people disappearing -- and *what was taking the missing people*
* The monster in **amphibious and is unknown to any of the Sect’s records oh god in heaven**
* Lazzy goes and kicks down several doors
	+ THE FIRST ROOM: It appears to be a regular old bathroom, the sink is slammed down with porcelain all over the floor, shower curtain is ripped, but the toilet is intact! Yay!
	+ THE SECOND ROOM: Within, it’s a larger room, on the left wall there is a steel workbench, on the right, there is a ladder and small stairs that lead to a library -- books all over the floor. Past the workshop is a (what Bryce can only describe as) small centurion holder from Skyrim
	+ THE THIRD ROOM: A bedroom, wahoo! The bedsheets are pulled out, the windows are shattered, the closet in the corner is wide open, cabinets and clothes everywhere on the floor. **There is a knife on the floor*,*** with bioluminescence on it, and a trail of that leading to the closet
	+ In the closet, the bioluminescence stops under the computer desk (that’s in the closet I guess)
	+ Under the desk, there is a small amphibious creature on all fours, just breathin, with little bioluminescence stuff coming from a cut in its side
	+ Belle can tell it’s definitely hurt, but it’s not an animal... it looks like an amalgamation of a bunch of creatures
	+ Belle: “So guys, it’s definitely *not an animal…**”*** Lazzy: “So what is it then, a toothpick?!”
	+ HOLSTER ROLLED A SIX ON DARK PAST, IT’S ALL HIS FAULT **AGAIN**
	+ Holster’s phone has SEVEN MISSED CALLS from an unrecognized number
	+ Holster calls back -- under the papers in the observatory, you can hear a something buzzing
	+ THIS HAPPENED RECENTY OH GOD OH FUCK
	+ Does Holst know anyone from the current mystery? No, he knows nobody
	+ The buzzing is an old flip phone, burner phone, which is halfway covered in the blue and green bioluminescence, some of the paper is sticking to it
	+ BELLE USES MAGIC TO LOOK BACK IN TIME - what happened here?
		- Someone screams, loud stomping, things being hit, hear the shattering of the window, metal screeching the sound of a bunch of books falling, sounds like someone dodging and the monster going in the bathroom
		- Toki runs in, behind Toki is a HUGE amphibious type monster
		- Toki pulls out a knife while tons of the smaller amphibious things attack Toki
		- Big momma monster MUNCHES into Toki’s shoulder, monster leaves with Toki in tow
		- From the workshop, a pipelike robot mechanism reaches out of the door and looks around (it has a lightbulb as a head with red smoke swirling around inside of it), leaves the same way the monsters did
	+ The gang goes to the window where Toki was taken out of, it’s a straight drop to the ocean
	+ Holster starts fokin TALKING TO THE SMALL LIZARD CREATURE
	+ Lazzy investigates the metal frame (what sort of creature is it?) -- bro it’s a sort of robot; there are pipes with water in them, it’s just regular old water
	+ Belle helps Holst talk to the small lizard creature
		- Holst has to roll +Cool, rolls a 10 THANK GOD
		- The little lizard creature only thinks “MUST GATHER FLESH FOR THE HIGHER ONE”
		- Holster: “tf why”
		- Lizard: “FOR. THE. RITUAL.”
	+ Ronny asks “Are there any dangers we haven’t noticed?” -- *That fog is rolling in*
	+ Lazzy asks (about the metal man) -- “What can it do?” ROLLS A FIVE
	+ Holster is searching the papers and books in the library (Ronny is helping)
		- What is being concealed here? - There are schematics for a robotic arm kind of thing, it’s gotta be part of the robot. Also, a small scribbled letter from Toki. The letter is about:
			* Toki left most of his study stuff in town, had to quickly rush Callum out of the town
			* Most of his files are down at the hotel
			* He’s gonna try and get his body back through “whatever is going to happen next” (?????)
* **What’s being concealed in the bathroom? (Thanks Lazzy and Idris)** - a large scale embedded in the door, Lazzy takes it
* ooOOOOOO WILLOW GETS A DM

* MANY emotions suddenly pass over Lazzy’s face after touching the scale -- fear, sadness, etc etc
* Lazzy slips the scale into his pocket and is like “You saw nothing, don’t tell anybody”

* At this point, it’s starting to get darker, maybe around 5:30-6:00.

* The gang heads back down through the woods towards the hotel, fog is rolling in
* Leetol flavor moment
	+ Holst talks to Ronny and Belle to check in, boohoo ensues
	+ “Toki is *totally* alive probably hopefully”

* The gang sees people start to go back into their houses, synchronized
* Down by the hotel, there is a dock, and a younger fellow tying up a boat
* A larger fellow walks out of the hotel and starts yelling at the younger man
* Hotel owner urges the gang to get inside

### Inside the Hotel

* A young man comes into the hotel after the hunters
* IT’S FOKIN BRYCE GDI
* Hotel owner’s name is Grover Middleton, time for introductions
* Grover explains that a long time ago, he was on his boat with his wife. While he was below deck, the fog rolled in. Grover came on deck, and he saw his wife being grabbed by something in the water
* He was blamed for his wife’s death when he got back to shore
* **People go missing when the fog rolls in**
* Looking around the hotel -- stairs on one wall, netting and buoys as decorations, couches and chairs in the lobby. Cozy atmosphere
* Photo on the wall of a woman and two young men (one is holding a marlin) -- something is *off* about the photo
* Ronny investigates the photo, there’s some dust stuck on it, she rubs it off, **the photo was taken in 1926** -- one of the men has a medallion with a weird symbol on it
* Holst talks to Grover, asks if he knows Toki
* Wolfgang, Callum, and Toki came and left. Toki looked in an anxious hurry while Callum and Wolfgang were confused
* They went to Room 3
* Idris asks Grover what the date is, Grover isn’t sure
* Grover doesn’t know what year it is
* Grover was born in 1900, thinks he’s around 50

#### In the Rooms

* The gang goes up to investigate the rooms
* Small conversation with Bryce. Ronny shows him her demon scar to make him believe she’s seen demons, Holster shows him that his eyes glow, and fucKIN STANDS ON THE WALL FOR FURTHER PROOF THAT HE’S SEEN SHIT
* Bryce reveals that he has as skeleton arm
* Belle investigates, finds a small little letter in a desk drawer
* The letter talks about literally everything
	+ “To use the vial on the main source:” the rest is etched out
	+ Talks further upon the monster -- it isn’t as it seems, “what it is is not what it is”,
		- “not something to be easily messed with”
		- Disappears in water
		- Weakness would be to burn it
	+ On the back of the letter is a scribble of the same symbol in the photo downstairs
* Holst investigates using a hold, asks about the vial and what can it do
	+ The vial turns things back to a previous form
* Holst goes to check the other two rooms, they seem normal
* Holst tries to go outside and check out the fog, Grover tries to stop him, but they make a deal: if anything gets Holster, Grover will lock the door
* Holster investigates: the fog won’t do anything, it’s the effect of something else
* Smells heavily of salt water
* Belle thinks of using wind magic to dissipate the fog, asks Idris for help
* They go outside, Holst comes with
* Belle draws her arcane symbols, eyes flash with magic, Idris’ staff glows with magical wind energy, and both Belle and Idris shoot wind into the fog
* The fog clears, the three can now see around 7 bioluminescent monsters climbing on the town buildings

*At this point we had been playing for like 4-5 hours and we decided to split the session into two parts*

##### Break

* Belle asks if there are any beach caves or hidden places along the water, Grover says that he thinks there is a system of tunnels underneath the water
	+ Belle: “Is there any way to get into the tunnels?”
	+ Grover: “*Swim.”*
* Ronny goes to check in on Bryce, he’s fine
* Grover mentions that he thought there was one more of us, and explains how he might be insane
* Grover talks about a expedition to recover a sunken ship, found caves underneath the water-- claims he was in his 30s, and he’s in his 50-60s now
* More about the caves: it was an entrance into the water, you go down, come back up, and there was a pocket of air where one could breathe. **Don’t need diving gear to do it**

* From behind Grover, there is a quick flash of light, and knocking noises up the side of the wall
* Grover jolts around with his harpoon gun, dims the lights, tells the gang to keep it down (“they might know we’re already here”)
* The room is completely dark save for a flash of light
* A crash sound, the rain is pattering against the walls and the window, taps here and there

* Ronny and Holster go upstairs
* Belle and Idris are near the stairs
* Lazzy is following Grover
* Holster reads a bad situation, asks how to protect the victims (everyone in the building)
	+ Turn off the lights, stay quiet, and keep an eye out (creatures are attracted to light, noise)
* Ronny goes to turn off the lights upstairs, has to roll to act under pressure, ROLLS A 13 LET’S GO
* Ronny turns off those lights like a total badass😎

* In the house we can hear soft thumping sounds???
* Holster goes to check on Bryce, he’s making noise and has lights on, Holster tells him to CUT THAT SHIT OUT AND TURN THE FUCKING LIGHT OFF
* Ronny and Holster bring Bryce downstairs

* Grover is moving a bunch of furniture in front of the windows
* Lazzy obtains his harpoon gun for like one (1) minute
* Lazzy sees out a window that someone across the street left a light on
* A flash of lightning, then the lights at the house are off, and the green and blue lights have disappeared
* Lazzy: “can the lizards TELEPORT?”
* The lizards start to crawl back away from the window
* Grover is about to leave, Lazzy calms him down and convinces him not to

* Gang decides not to do anything else tonight, so everyone goes to sleep and takes turns keeping watch
* EVERYONE rolls a sharp check
* Idris rolled a 1 so YIPPEE
* Holster takes first watch, rolls a 10-- doesn’t see too much
* Holster spends a bad situation hold, asks “What is most vulnerable to me (outside)?”
	+ The small baby bioluminescent creatures!

* Holster also takes the picture on the wall out of the frame
* On the back is written “Fishing with the friend and my wife” and a date

* Holster uses holds, asks “What happened here (about the picture)?”
	+ The symbol is the symbol for a cult, and has appeared in the sect files, but the sect hasn’t been able to catch any of its members
	+ Not a lot is known about this cult-- there was some sort involvement where they did get caught by the police while trying to summon some monstrous thing
	+ They call themselves “The Rebirth”
* Also asks “What was it going to do (the cult)?”
	+ The cult needs bodies to create what they want to create-- it seems that this town has been here for a while, and each and every night people are taken from it
	+ **The town is a “battery”**

* Ronny’s turn to watch-- sees pretty much everything Holster saw, nothing happens
* Idris’ turn-- he doesn’t see anything
* Belle’s turn-- Compared to when the first time the gang fell asleep, there are less green and blue lights, and more of an *emptiness.* It’s close to 2-3am. Don’t see too much
* Lazzy’s turn-- doesn’t see anything either, but the sun's coming up. On all four corners of the window there seems to be a glowy substance(???)
	+ Lazzy investigates a mystery-- rolls a 4 :(
	+ When Lazzy moves up to the window, he TRIPS OVER IDRIS
	+ Hits some of the barricades, and the glow starts to brighten
	+ LIZARD BABIES CRAWL ALL OVER THE WINDOWS OH NO (five total)

* Everyone is awake now (thanks Lazzy)
* One is on the ceiling, one is at the door, another is at the window
* Holster spends a hold, asks what the best way out is
	+ “KILL”
* Ronny swipes at the one on the ceiling with her axe, but it bites her (RONNY IS NOW BERSERK OOPS)
* Lazzy wants to nunchuk the one at the door, rolls a 10
* Inflicts terrible harm upon the creature, kills it babeeyy
* Grover shoots a harpoon at one of the lizards, but misses
* Holster runs over to the lizards and tries to stab it, rolls a FIVE and stabs the couch, the lizard scratches him and runs away
* The lizard from the ceiling drops down, Belle uses magic to force it to splat on a wall lol
* WE’RE LEAVING

### To the Caves!

* Holster and Grover lead the way-- it’s the beginning of the morning
* Don’t see any lizards outside
* Running down the main street to the cars, there seem to be lizards searching for us
* Grover stops for some reason?? He seems to be stuck
* Ronny and Belle stay behind to talk to Grover
	+ Grover reveals he had a friend who tried to get him into *something*, but Grover was never interested
	+ It was PROBABLY the cult
	+ Keeps calling his friend an “asshole” and he was “the reason his wife was taken”
	+ Belle tries to dispel the curse from Grover, but it doesn’t work
	+ In Belle’s mind, a woman’s voice reaches out and says “Help”
	+ Belle apologizes and gives a hug to Grover, and it’s like hugging a big teddy bear
* Holster, Idris, and Lazzy are at the cars
	+ Holster starts talking about “Invasion of the Body Snatchers” the 1956 film
	+ Holst investigates using Lore Library, asks “What is being concealed here? (What are we missing?)
		- The town is stuck in a magical aura area-- time here is neither delayed, going back, or going forward. People are being taken every night and being used for something
		- The baby lizards are gatherers, and there is a bigger one that is most likely creating the smaller ones
		- **Their weakness is likely fire, and probably have a bit of armor to them**
* Holster rifles through his armory looking for a blowtorch, finds a lighter and a squirt gun with holy water in it
* The gang decides to tunnel down into the caverns, Grover leads them to the center of town where Belle can use magic to dig the tunnel
	+ Holster is probably explaining the plot to the “Invasion of the Body Snatchers” the whole time
* Gang is going down the tunnel, Belle slips and slides all the way down the tunnel into a pile of dirt
* Small chamber in an underwater cave, behind is a small pool of water, on the rest of the walls there are six large tunnels. Some with glowing bioluminescent vegetation, some with some water we’d have to wade through, some with both. All are dark and we can’t see much further into. The air is humid, wet, chilly, and smells a little like gelatin and salt
* The rest of the gang yells for Belle and rushes down the tunnel-- their yelling voices echo throughout the chamber
* Idris is extremely drawn to the sixth tunnel-- the furthest to the right. Idris feels like this tunnel is the opposite of the doom and death he felt at the beginning of the mystery
* Lazzy inspects the walls, floors, and vegetation
	+ WILLOW GETS A DM!
* Holster asks, “What’s the safest way in?”
	+ The FIRST TUNNEL, all the way on the left
* Idris rolls a weird check, rolls an 8-- something cold and wet grabs his arm and pULLS HIM CLOSER TO THE TUNNEL. Feels like a nail is pushing into his consciousness, hears a woman’s voice say “help”, and then nothing
* Idris shares, Belle says she heard the same thing earlier
* Ronny rolls for a bad situation, rolls a 5 :(
* Holster rolls to investigate a mystery, rolls a 12-- “what is being concealed here (the furthest tunnel?)”
	+ Doesn’t really hear anything but silence. The tunnel is completely blank until like 12 feet in, where there are the cult’s carvings on both sides of the walls
* Holster also asks, “what can it do (tunnel)?”
	+ The runes don’t seem to have any runic power, it’s basically just there for decoration. It is non-magical
* Gang decides to check out the sixth tunnel, jesus christ
* Going down the tunnel do do doooo
* There seem to be more and more symbols as the tunnel goes on. There is a very bright light at the end of it
* Opens up to a small room
	+ In one corner there is a small broken bed, a bookshelf beside it. Chains hanging from the side of the wall. Books are strewn about but most are wet and damp. The shelves are stocked with vials of the blue and purple liquid that was in the letter at the beginning of the session
* Idris picks up the diary of MARCY MIDDLETON
* Idris shows Holster, Holster opens it and reads it
* The diary talks about what has happened.
	+ She remembers being on a boat with her husband, and the next moment she knew was chained to the wall in this room
	+ People came in and out of the room, they were wearing robes
	+ A scale was placed on her shoulder, and it slowly started to consume her mind and her body
	+ Talks about the ritual and the town being used as a battery, and the creation of a “gatherer”
	+ Marcy is the gatherer :(
* Holster talks to Grover about Marcy, promising to get her back
* Lazzy is now picking at the wall, and is very stubborn about it
* Ronny joins Holster at the tunnel entrance, talks about how strange (and kind of untrustworthy) Lazzy is
* Belle takes a vial of blueish-purple liquid
* Gang continues down the tunnels-- further down the walls and the air have gotten a lot more wet, and there is a LOT of echoing
* The tunnel opens up into a big area

### The Final Battle

* Along the walls there are very large eggs with the townspeople inside stuck to the walls, the floor, and the ceiling
* On the far wall the metal centurion is attached to the wall with membrane
* **In the center of the chamber, surrounded by water, is a giant version of the little lizards**

* Holster asks “what sort of creature is it (robot)?”, it was the robot Belle saw in her vision
* Holster rolls for a bad situation, asks “what’s the best way to protect the victims (egg people)?”
	+ Properly dissect the membrane of the egg and pull the person out

* Holster spends a hold, “what’s most vulnerable to me?”
	+ The leetol lizards

* Holster asks “what’s the best way in (to get the vial on that diddly dang monster)?”
	+ Holster peels off the sticker on the vial of blue-purple liquid, it says “must be ingested or applied to a wound”
* Belle and Grover sneak over to the front of the monster, and Grover softly speaks to it. Belle channels the words using magic, trying to communicate with Marceline
* There is nothing left of Marceline’s thoughts
* Grover keeps speaking, but Belle squeezes his arm and slightly shakes her head
* Marceline rears back, and shoots a scalding hot spray of water at Grover, knocking him back into a wall
* The fight begins

* Lazzy rushes in using What Could Go Wrong? and shoots the beast with his shotgun, and hits
* Holster yells to harm it, starts running towards Belle
	+ “GIMME THE FUCKING VIAL”
* Ronny fires at Marceline, but the bullet ricochets off her scales. However, Marceline is pushed back a bit
* Ronny gets bitten on the ankle by a little lizard
* Holster shouts “BELLE JUST SHOOT FIRE AT IT OR SOMETHING”
* Belle shoots a fire blast at Marceline, doing a grand total of six damage
* Marceline’s scales are now all burned off and a couple burn wounds appear on her body
* Belle tosses Holster the vial
* He uncorks it with his teeth, and HUCKS it at Marceline while Lazzy cheers him on (“THROW IT!!!!”)
* The vial’s liquid spills over Marceline’s burn wounds, and the empty vial “kerpunks!” into the pool of water below
* Marceline begins to morph from a 50-foot long, scaly creature back into a small, humanoid creature
* The baby lizards shrink down into they disappear, and white wisps of energy come out of each one and “pop” in air
* Lazzy’s arms and hands start to come back, and a bunch of scales fall off of him
* Apparently he wanted to put scales on him for a while lol
* Grover starts running straight to the center, and places his coat around a now human Marcy
* Battle is over!

### Conclusion

* Ronny is tending to her wounds, and Idris cuts off a piece of his scarf to give to Ronny
	+ I like to think they go scarf shopping later
* Belle and Holster are near the wall, processing, and Holster gives Belle a pat
	+ “Good job, kid”
* Belle and Holster have a nice interaction :BOOHOO: and it’s revealed that Belle hasn’t ever been in the Bentley!
	+ “Have you ever been in the Bentley?”
	+ “I can’t remember a time.”
	+ “Do you want to be?”
	+ “....*yes*”

* Lazzy and Idris start to cut open the pods, white orbs come out of them like with the little lizards

[there was some stuff in here but I was so focused on writing notes I wasn’t listening, help later]

* Everyone is back up to the surface, everyone’s safe
* Holster asks Toki if it was a “Invasion of the Body Snatchers” situation or a [???]
* More talking to Toki
* Hhh the town’s gonna be fine maybe hhhh
* We start to go home
* As the gang turns to leave, we realize we’ve forgotten Grover and Marceline-- we look back, and the town is now decrepit. A ghost town.
* On the ground, is a letter.
	+ The letter is handwritten. It’s a thank you note.
	+ As we touch the letter, we hear the thank-yous of lots of townspeople
	+ Two clear voices, that both say “thank you”

* OH SHIT WE FORGOT ABOUT THE KID
* He was sleeping in the car lol
* Ronny’s gonna drive him to the nearest gas station to meet his parents
* Holster: “You’re a weird kid, but sometimes that’s not a bad thing”

* We all go home!

THE END