Season 2 - Episode 39: Riftlands

## Synopsis

Sammie isn't able to snap out of Jadis' control and jumps into the open Rift. Bjorn and Angelina hold the portal open long enough for the crystal worm to disappear through it. Henry is pulled into the goo by a crystal worm but manages to free himself from the worm and pull himself back onto solid ground. Once the crystal worm is fully through the Rift, Bjorn jumps in to save Sammie. Sammie is fighting for control of her body from Jadis. Jadis takes Sammie's knife and stabs her in the thigh. Sammie is attacked by another Rift creature before Bjorn is able to swoop in and pull her out. After going to Miguel for some healing, Sammie goes home only to be confronted by Elise about what she's been hiding in her room. After a brief argument, Sammie allows Elise to throw the super magnet away.

## Episode Description

Content Warning: Suicidal ideation. Our heroes wander into dangerous new territory.

## Key Events

* Jadis takes control of Sammie's body and throws her into the Rift. Jadis stabs Sammie with her own knife before she's also attacked by a Rift creature.
* Bjorn and Angelina hold the Rift portal open long enough for the crystal worm to disappear through it before Bjorn jumps through after Sammie. He's able to grab her and bring her back through.
* Elise finds out Sammie has been hiding a super magnet in her room as a failsafe in case Jadis takes over. After a short argument, Sammie agrees to let Elise destroy it.

## Summary

Angelina and Bjorn have created the portal across the floor of the tunnel. Bjorn is able to see across and sees Sammie walking toward the portal, eyes glowing green. Angelina asks her what she's doing but Sammie doesn't snap out of it. Henry tries to pull himself out of the goo. He manages to free himself from the small worm but doesn't break the surface. Bjorn shouts at Sammie to try and break her out of her trance, but it has no effect.

Bjorn holds the portal open with one hand and pulls out his pistol with the other. He shoots Sammie in the shoulder to try and break her out of her trance but, again, it does nothing. Henry breaks through the surface of the goo just in time for them to both watch Sammie walk over the edge of the portal and disappear through the Rift. Bjorn wants to close the portal to try and cut the creature in half but Angelina tells him to wait. Bjorn does so.

Henry breaks free from the worm and out of the goo, but feels something pop and break in his leg. He moans in pain on the shore as Bjorn and Angelina wait for the crystal worm to disappear completely through the portal. Bjorn asks Angelina what to do, if they can even go in after her. Angelina says she has no idea, no one has ever gone into the Rifts before. Bjorn tells her that he has to go into the Rift after her and Angelina warns him that he doesn't know what's waiting on the other side. Bjorn says he can't close the portal and leave Sammie inside. Angelina finally agrees, saying she'll keep the portal open as long as she can. Bjorn immediately runs and dives into the portal.

Sammie steps into the portal. For a moment there is no sensations of any kind - just pure darkness. Then, she feels herself falling through the air. She lands on a dusty red surface. The environment around her looks similar to Mars. She finds herself in the middle of a dust storm, having a hard time breathing through the red dirt flying through the air. The ground is shaking beneath her feet and she knows that she's not alone. Sammie is back in control of her body, but hears Jadis loudly in her head. Jadis comments that she is back home and Sammie asks her what she's done. Jadis says she's brought them to somewhere where she can have a little more fun.

Jadis fights for control of Sammie's body. Sammie fights back, but Jadis still manages to force Sammie to grab her own knife and drive it into her thigh. Jadis twists the knife and Sammie drops to her knees. Sammie contemplates plunging her knife into her chest and pulling out the knife shard to remove Jadis once and for all. Jadis hears this thought and tells her she'd love to see her try. Sammie suddenly looks up through the swirling red sand of the dust storm and sees a pair of glowing, red eyes staring at her.

Sammie pulls the knife out of her leg and tries to run away from whatever creature is staring at her. Sammie's leg quickly gives out on her. Something lands on her back and shoves her face first into the hot, red sand before ripping open her back with its claws. Sammie cries out in pain and rolls over onto her back to hit whatever has attacked her with a blast of magic. Sammie knocks the creature off her and gets a good look at it for the first time. It is a strange armored creature, almost bat-like with large ears on its head, the rest of its body covered in sand-colored armor. Its claws are dripping with Sammie's blood. The ground begins to shake beneath her and suddenly the crystal worm shoots out of the ground to swallow the creature whole.

The crystal worm shoots about 40 feet in the air before it becomes to fall in Sammie's direction. Sammie quickly picks herself up and begins to run out of the impact zone of the worm. Sammie gets out of the way just in time. The worm hits the ground and a shockwave hits her and knocks her off her feet again.

Bjorn feels the same sensation of nothingness before a feeling himself pulled through the Rift. He keeps himself from falling with his wings, but is buffeted by the sandstorm - 30 MPH winds burn hot sand into his skin. He can feel the sand getting through his scales and biting at his skin. Bjorn finally spots Sammie. He dives down to grab her and fly her back up to the portal. Sammie, who hadn't seen Bjorn coming, screams and tries to twist out of his grip. Bjorn tells her its him and Sammie goes limp. Sammie feels Jadis try to take control of her again, but Bjorn flies them through the portal before she can.

Bjorn and Sammie fly through the portal and slam into the ceiling of the cave. Angelina closes the portal and Bjorn lowers them to the ground. Bjorn's skin is bright red from the force of the sand hitting his skin. He is holding a bloody and limp Sammie in his arms. Sammie drops her knife and it clatters to the ground. Sammie quickly says that it wasn't her - meaning it was Jadis that pushed her into the Rift. Bjorn says that he understands and Angelina rushes over to magically heal Sammie a bit before they try to make their way out of the tunnels. Bjorn puts her down on the floor of the cave and begins to patch her up with a med kit. As he does so, Sammie tells them what happened to her in the Rift before Bjorn arrived.

Angelina goes over to Henry and stabilizes his leg the best he can. She puts his arm around her shoulders and helps him to stand. Angelina asks if Bjorn is okay and Bjorn says that he is, just that they still have a lot of work to do down here with taking care of the smaller worms and stabilizing the ground that's been torn apart. Angelina says her team can take care of the worms and Bjorn adds he can call H.U.N.T.E.R. in as well. Angelina helps Henry walk and Bjorn helps Sammie as they make their way out of the tunnels. They head back to the hotel and Miguel fixes them up magically the best he can.

At the hotel, Sammie gets another text message from Elise, telling her that she's waiting. Sammie asks if it can wait and Elise asks if she's coming home. Sammie says she will eventually but she's not sure when. Once Miguel is done healing her and Sammie feels well enough to leave, she heads home. Elise can tell Sammie is injured and asks what happens. Sammie says its been a long day and she'll tell her another time. Elise tells Sammie that she needs to talk to her about something she found. Sammie agrees and Elise walks to Sammie's room. They both enter the room and Elise explains that she was trying to help Sammie out and clean her room when she found something and that she knows what it's for and they need to talk about it.

Elise pulls the blanket away that Sammie had hastily thrown down to cover something in the corner of her room. She reveals an electro-magnet. The same kind of super magnet Miguel had made to pull the shard out of Sammie's chest. Elise asks Sammie to tell her this isn't what she thinks it is. Sammie sighs and tells Elise that she doesn't want to use it and Elise cuts her off and tells her it's not an option at all. Sammie disagrees, saying they can't let Jadis get out. She starts to tell Elise what happened to her today - how Jadis took control and threw her into another plane of existence. Elise protests, saying that if it comes down to it one of her other friends are more than capable of killing her, she doesn't need to do it preemptively. Sammie says she wasn't planning to do it beforehand, only as a failsafe if Jadis took control. Elise asks her if she can get rid of the magnet - it's not an option she's willing to leave on the table because it makes it 'easier' for Sammie to get rid of Jadis and Sammie won't try harder to find another solution. Sammie finally agrees.

Elise wraps Sammie in a tight hug and then tells her to get some rest. Elise covers the magnet with the blanket again as Sammie lays down in bed. Elise takes the magnet outside and meets up with Oliver, who seems to have been waiting for her. He checks with her that Sammie let Elise take the magnet willingly and Sammie nods. Oliver is relieved and thanks Elise. Elise tells him she's going to go throw the magnet into the ocean and she walks away. Oliver takes out his phone and replies to Sammie's earlier text asking if he'd found anything out about the Blackout Society. He says, "you're never going to believe what I found out."

## List of Appearances

* Bjorn Olafson
* Henry Marlowe
* Sammie Overbrook
* Angelina Ripley
* Jadis
* Miguel Rodriguez
* Elise Romano
* Oliver Allen Evans

## Roll Tracker

**Andrew Level Up:** Erase 1 Used Luck Point

**Hannah Level Up:** Took +1 to Cool

## Harm Taken

\*At 11:57, Susannah says to take "another" 3 points of damage. I listened through at least 3 times and couldn't find the first 3 points that Henry allegedly took. At first I thought Susannah might have just said 'another' because the worms do 3 harm, but then Wesley says he's unstable. Also listened to EP38 again and couldn't find it. So there must have been another 3 points done at some point that accidentally got cut or I just keep missing. Added in a worm bite to make up for this as I'm assuming that's what caused the first 3, but I couldn't actually hear it in the audio anywhere.

## Harm Dealt

 Hannah/Sammie
 Hannah/Sammie