Episode 8 - Catching Feelings

## Summary

Things really go to hell in the aftermath of the makeout party at the old camp: Krashlee finds out she might be the only virgin at school after a series of texts and car jumps. Susan tries to navigate her mixed feelings for Chet while also keeping some lovesick students from killing each other. Adam confronts his father and his attraction to bright lights. Shamanda  taps into some scary new powers to try to save the day when WOOP WOOP! That's the sound of the police park rangers! Everybody scatter or you'll be grounded for life!

## Previously On...

This is a live journal entry from Shamanda Felt in the year two-thousand and hmmmm.

So everyone was still kind of upset with me after the make out party that really wasn't a make-out party. Uh, Miss Wexler made me promise not to sell Adam's soul to the Devil without his consent, which is something I would never do. So she tasked me to get all the kids out of the woods because, ya know, there is a Goonch around and they are all lusty or whatever. And so I ran across this kid who's name is Paul and talked to him about selling his soul to the Devil, maybe I can, ya know, trade up? Adam's soul can't be worth that much. I don't know what Damon's after.

Um. Then there was this girl Jordan from the mess hall who I tried to get to sell me her soul but she called me weird, which I don't get. I was offering her, like a really good deal for her soul that she's not even using right now. Um, then later on as we were trying to get everybody out there was all these gun shots. I believe Adam found his dad? I really wasn't there so I honestly don't know. This girl Serena was, uh, she had broken her leg trying to get away, uh, from the flame thrower that Miss Wexler pulled out of her cargo shorts. Again. She's a killer on a canoe if you haven't heard before.

Serena was, like, getting all in Krashlee's face, calling her a virgin. And, you know, no one can make fun of my cousin except me. So, I definitely had to call Astrid and Adriana to get her home safely, because I would have totally ripped her hair out of her head. At this point, honestly, right now, Adam is currently bleeding out, so I should really finish this post and tend to him.

Alright, XOXO Shamanda Felt.

## Plot

### THE LAKE

Fiery red eyes flash in the shadow of Wyatt Vargas. Susan feels them burn into her before they disappear and she can tell that something is wrong. A warm heat creeps through her body, the same heat she felt on Chet and the boy with the gun, but Susan is able to tamp it down by concentrating on saving Adam Miller. Chet urges her to leave with him, saying they can run away together. Having none of that, Susan tells him to sit down, and she picks up a rope. She starts taunting the monster in Wyatt's shadow while preparing to lasso the gun out of the teenagers hand. Having read many a book on lassoing, Susan coolly whips the gun out of Wyatt's hand and into her own.

Susan trains the gun on Chet, safety engaged, keeping him exactly where she wants him. Shamanda and Krashlee join her and volunteer to tie up Wyatt and Paul. Paul is freaked out, having had a gun pulled on him, and watched a man almost drown himself in the lake. Shamanda offers to walk him somewhere to talk, but Paul rebuffs her. He turns to Wyatt telling him that he's under the Gunch's control, and tries to hug him. Wyatt socks him in the face, spitting and saying that he cannot forgive Paul taking Jordan from him.

Krashlee tells Wyatt that Jordan is a person and can't be 'taken' from anyone. Then she mixes up things she heard from Serena and Jordan, is called out, and feels insecure.

### THE PARKING LOT

CEJ is in the locked trunk of a parked car, lying next to a spare tire. He texts Susan on his Nokia T9, "Help. In trunk of car, lmao."

Susan's phone buzzes next to the flame thrower in her pants and she asks for a second to check her phone. She tosses the phone to Krashlee and tells her to text CEJ back with instructions to check his surrounds and to include her full name at the end of the text so he will know it is from Susan Wexler.

CEJ gets the text and replies "There's some nails, also a tire...IDK."

Krashlee relays the text, and while Susan and Shamanda list more things for her to send to CEJ, Krashlee feels that they only way to prove herself is to find him. She runs to the parking lot and jumps on the nearest car. Calling out CEJ's name, Krashlee jumps from car to car. CEJ hears her and calls out, alerting Krashlee to his location. By this time, a crowd has gathered to watch the strange girl jumping on cars and screaming. The teenagers crowding around her start to get upset as Krashlee is jumping on their cars.

Leonard McShafter is especially annoyed that Krashlee is standing on the trunk of his Saturn S series, and as she is protesting that she is too light to cause any damage, the car dents. Krashlee tells him to open the trunk so everyone can see what kind of person he is. As Leonard didn't put CEJ in his car, he does as asked, not realizing that there is a teenager in his trunk.

The crowd starts to turn on Leonard as CEJ is revealed, but at that point, headlights flash in the night. The Lake Mystery Park Rangers pull into the parking lot and the teens scatter. Leonard jumps in his car and starts to reverse in a panic. Krashlee dodges out of the way as he slams into a Ford Taurus, CEJ is thrown to the concrete hard. Peering over him is Jordan, making sure he is okay. Jordan holds out a hand to help him up, and CEJ takes it. Heat starts to form in CEJ's center, but his mind is focused on his friend Krashlee's near death experience from the reversing car.

Jordan feels warm to the touch, and sweating is beading on her forehead. She also head to Krashlee to help her up as well. Krashlee also feels a heat creep into her at Jordan's touch, but shrugs it off as she accepts that she is a weird person, and won't let it bother her. She uses dirt to mark an 'x' on her hand, to show she is becoming straight edge.

A girl yells at Krashlee while she is driving away, "You're fucking dead at school on Monday."

Krashlee, unfazed, tells her, "You're fucking dead this weekend. Before school."

### THE WOODS

Adam Miller is bleeding in a clearing in the woods. He can hear Ranger Ilong on a bull horn trying to clear the teens out from the camp. Knowing that he is very badly hurt, Adam start to form a protective cocoon around himself. As Adam is in the midst of forming his cocoon, Lazlo Marquetti, another teen from the party, runs into the clearing, trying to get away from the park rangers. Adam sees an opportunity and mentally dominates Lazlo, forcing him to give Adam his clothes, and makes Lazlo come into his cocoon, so that he can begin to drain away part of the teens life to bolster his own. The cocoon continues to form around the both of them.

### THE LAKE

In the meantime Susan and Shamanda hear the park rangers arrive and Susan, sick of Chet's insistence that they leave together, tries to knock him out. Chet grabs her arm hard, causing a point of harm, pulling her close to him. With the almost intimate proximity, Susan can't help but be reminded of how it felt to be held by him. A fever starts to build in her body, causing one additional harm with the painful heat. The red eyes in Wyatt's shadow flash again. Susan needs to cool down, but Chet is holding her tightly, and she is unable to move. She tries to trick him into letting her go, saying she has something for him.

Chet believes her, and gets down on one knee, saying he has something for her as well.

Shamanda, incredulous at what is taking place, reaches out to Chet's mind with her telepathy. A new ability that came to her when she was defending Krashlee from her bullies, she has imperfect control, and when trying to control Chet to incapacitate him, she accidentally takes control of Susan.

Susan collapses to the ground, sitting on her hands, unable to move.

Meanwhile, Jordan spots Wyatt fighting with Paul, and starts to rush over to them. Krashlee tries to seek the wisdom of a past life, and in doing so, is taken over by the spirit of Goodie Stevens, a 42 year old accused witch. CEJ is fairly unconcerned about the sudden change in Krashlee, thinking it was just one of her weird moods and follows Jordan to the fighting teens.

Jordan tackles Wyatt, who pushes her down.

"Get off me, you slut!"

Everyone within ear shot gasps at the vitriol. "Absolutely NOT, my dude!" CEJ yells while grabbing Wyatt by the hair. Wyatt punches CEJ square in the gut, causing one harm, knocking the wind out of CEJ's lungs. CEJ falls to the ground, unconscious, but as he tumbles, his grip on Wyatt's hair pulls a hunk straight out of the scalp. Jordon tries to wake up CEJ while screaming at Wyatt, and breaking up with him.

### THE WOODS

Adam Miller is playing a delicate game of syphoning off the life force from Lazlo, without killing him. A long proboscis unfurls from Adam's mouth and enters Lazlo's mouth. Pain and terror causes Lazlo to pass out, and Adam quickly drains two harm worth of life from Lazlo, who becomes very pale. Feeling much better, Adam breaks out of the cocoon to check on Lazlo. Confirming that he has a pulse, albeit a weak one, Adam drags the unconscious teen to the parking lot.

While heading to the parking lot, Adam runs into Krashlee's body, under the control of Goodie Stevens.

"The Devil is real, the Devil is real. It's all been true, it's all been true."

Goodie Stevens starts speaking in tongues, startling Adam. Trying to figure out what is going on with Krashlee, he incorrectly thinks that Krashlee may be trying to help him by causing a distraction. Goodies sees Adam coming towards her, dragging the body of Lazlo behind him and believes that he must be the Devil. Goodie pleads with him to take her down to hell.

Adam tries to copy what Goodie is doing, and Ranger Ilong finds them all as Adam and Goodie continue speaking in tongues. Ranger Ilong calls for help and reaches for Adam, touching him, and feeling the magic fever begin to spark.

### THE LAKE

Paul pleads with Wyatt, saying that everyone around them is infected with the Gunch. Shamanda is offended and tries to confront the two young men in front of her, wanting them to cool off. Unloading her guilt, Shamanda makes Jordan into a scapegoat for her feelings. She blames Jordan for not knowing what or who she wants, making the situation in front of them so much worse than it had to be.

Jordan bursts into tears, and Shamanda feels better for the moment, having acted out. As Jordan stands up to run to Wyatt and Paul, she rests CEJ on the ground from where she was cradling him. He begins to regain consciousness. When he sees Wyatt's hair grasped in his hand, he is surprised, "Who's hair is this?"

He looks at Jordan, losing his focus for a moment while he sees her going to the two fighting teens. Feeling hopeless that he won't ever mean much to her, as she left him right away after he almost died for her.

Susan tries to tell everyone to cool down, and Shamanda goes to her to grab the algae out of her pocket. She creeps with it toward Wyatt. Wyatt is burning up. He sees Shamanda coming for him, and lashes out. She flips him over her shoulder and tosses him to the ground. He lands hard, but during the exchange, the algae is knocked out of Shamanda's hand.

Trying again on a different target, Shamanda scoops up the algae and shoves it in Chet's mouth. His fever starts to break and he slumps to the ground.

### THE PARKING LOT

Feeling completely overwhelmed, Goodie shoves her butt in the air, completely giving up. Ranger Ilong tries to help her up, and Goodie shifts so that her butt is facing him, making the ranger very uncomfortable. He calls Ranger Katrina over to help out, unsure of how to handle this strange girl. Adam grabs Krashlee's hand, and takes off, dragging her behind him and leaving Lazlo with the rangers. He heads towards the lake and the sounds of his friends.

### THE LAKE

CEJ looks wistfully at Jordan, setting off Wyatt, who tackles CEJ. Before Wyatt can hurt him, Adam Miller barrels into Wyatt, and forces him into the lake. Krashlee is pulled along behind Adam, and all three of them end up soaked in the dark water. Wyatt tries to charge out of the lake towards CEJ, who draws his nunchucks. Adam Miller grabs hold of Wyatt and holds him back, grappling him. As CEJ looks from Wyatt to Jordan, something clicks. He asks Krashlee for the promise ring they found together. The initials W.V. carved into it standing for Wyatt Vargas. Krashlee hands the ring to Wyatt, and suddenly, he changes. His fever breaks and he looks at Jordan, horrified at what he's done and the fact that Jordan discarded his ring. She walks away, done with him, and all the fight drains out of Wyatt.

Having come back to himself, Chet steps between Susan and Adam, shielding her. Susan's mind is still clouded with lust, and she is scared of her feelings for Chet and how they are affecting her and the teens she needs to protect. She turns to Shamanda and tells her to knock her out, and to also take the algae. Shamanda puts Miss Wexler in a sleeper hold and once her mentor is unconscious, Shamanda throws Susan onto her back like a backpack.

Chet tries to stop Shamanda, but she kicks him in the nuts. He scraps her arm with his dirty fingernails. Adam helps shove Chet away from Shamanda, and Chet passes out. All the Clubmates are feeling out of sorts, Krashlee in particular, having a lust for revenge against all of the high school students that were making fun of her. For just a moment, a flash of red eyes appears in Krashlee's shadow. It is gone in an instant, and she isn't sure it was really there at all.

Meanwhile, in the parking lot, Marcy Garland begins to burn. As the rangers start sounding the alarm, more teenagers begin to catch fire. Adam starts to head toward the flames, compelled by his moth instincts. Shamanda lassos him, keeping him close, but as she holds him back, Chet steps forward and slices the rope with a knife. He then turns to Adam, ready to stab him. CEJ jumps in front of the blade and he turns the knife around, trying to deflect it, but moves too far and stabs into Chet's chest.

CEJ's eyes go wide. "I-I'm sorry. I'm sorry."

Adam stares at Chet as he starts to bleed out. Chet looks back at him and says, "I'm so disappointed."

And Chet dies.

## Characters

**Main Cast**

* Rashawn Nadine Scott as Shamanda Felt
* Jeff Murdoch as Adam Miller
* Erin Rein as Krashlee Grenadine
* Claire Linic as Susan Wexler
* Alan Linic as CEJ
* Tyler Samples as Chet Gibbons, Susan, Paul DeBello, Jordan Vincent, Serena Ladd, Wyatt Vargas, Ranger Ilong, and everyone else.

## Introductions

Tyler:  Welcome everybody to Mystery County Monster Hunters Club, a Monster of the Week actual play podcast. I'm Tyler Samples, your keeper of monsters and mysteries. And let's meet our players this week.

Rashawn: Hi everyone, I'm Rashawn Nadine Scott. My character is Shamanda Felt, the Crooked. And I cannot tell you how excited I will be to get these braces off.

Jeff: Hi, I'm Jeff Murdoch and I play Adam Miller, the Monstrous. Although he's a little rough around the edges, he's still *straight edge*.

Erin: Hi, I'm Erin Rein. I play Krashlee Grenadine, the Flake. Who totally knows what a virgin is, like, duh.

Claire: Hi everyone, I'm Claire Linic and I play Susan Wexler, the Expert. Uh, school janitor, expert, monster hunter. And looking for the perfect quiche recipe.

Alan: Hi, I'm Alan Linic and I play CEJ, and yeah. The C does stand for Cody.

## Notable Quotes

* "I'm staying calm, I don't know about you idiots." - Susan Wexler
* "You're about to kill a man over love." - Krashlee Grenadine
* "Yeah, actually Adam, this situation is the opposite of toisty." - CEJ
* "I got two hard rules, I don't eat Mossimo and I don't eat Kirkland -- That's just me." - Adam Miller
* "You look like you've been digging for potatoes, you nasty." - Shamanda

## Links

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