Sky's the Limit

**Sky's the Limit** is the fifth episode of Season 1 and the fifth episode overall of Act 2.

## Episode Description

As trust parts amongst the guests’ clouds, rain sneaks through and they know one thing: the storm is gathering and the night has only just begun. When a mysterious hand beckons them to investigate a top secret project, who will take to the skies, and who will brace for impact as they come crashing down?

## In the Lounge

The guests discuss Xalvadora's statements and discuss whether she can be trusted. Lynne creates a close friendship with Scarlett, inviting her to join MAGE if she escapes and alluding to other secrets in her past; others, however, still do not trust her. Elsewhere, Joanna, Jasmine and Davian form an alliance due to their similar backgrounds and promise to look out for one another.

## Episode Summary

Joanna and Jasmine pulled the hand through the mirror, a woman who incoherently and incorrectly screamed to destroy the 'window'. A shadowed figure with many tendrils advanced towards them through the reflection, so Nathan shot at it. It shattered and the lounge was quiet once more. Buck, a mega fan, identified the woman as Amelia Earhart, the famed aviator who went missing in 1937. Amelia reveals that she and her co-pilot, Fred Noonan, were attacked during their flight by the tendrilled creature, who the guests suspected was Croatoan. Xalvadora exclaims that they're wasting time with Amelia and the guests ask about the Soteria's Stones, which Amelia recognizes. She reveals Project Stormbird, a top-secret military project which, following the rise of Hitler in Europe, planned to use two stones to power a new line of warplanes. One of these stones was taken by General Margrave to the military bunker, while the other was leaving by convoy. The guests soon pick symbols from an oily barrel: Team Alpha or Team Beta. Buck is Team Alpha's leader, with Jasmine, Nastasia, Davian, and Scarlett, while Xalvadora is chosen as Team Beta's leader, with Joanna, Nathan, Naomi and Endou.

They set off to track down the military convoy, and the two teams battle to get inside. Jasmine decides to distract the convoy guards while the other teams advance on the main truck. They fight: Davian punches Nathan straight in the jaw, Buck and Xalvadora compete, while Endou sneaks through and claims the box for Team Beta, winning them the first challenge. Inside the box is the Soteria's Stone. The guests quickly agree that they shouldn't celebrate too early, a fact confounded by the stirring winds around them. Suddenly, a face appears through the clouds and strikes the military guards with lightning, charring their bodies. It pulls the box and Endou into the air and though Nastasia runs to help her, the box is ripped from her hands and the two women are thrown back against a tree.

Reeling from the attack, the guests search the surroundings for anything that they could find. Davian finds a top secret folder revealing the the Stormbird planes could pierce the storm's winds, but they were left behind at a camp. The coordinates for said camp are engraved into the dog tags of the soldiers, which were now scattered across the convoy due to the violent winds. The teams are given their second challenge: compete on who can find the most dog tags. Joanna immediately searches the charred remains of the nearest guard, heaving as she did, but eventually recovered multiple dog tags; however, Davian was unable to find any, until he opted to climb the tallest tree and claim the dog-tag there. In the end, Team Beta have found the most dog tags - at 18 - while Team Alpha are on 16. Team Beta were in the lead with 21 points, three from the first challenge.

The groups put all their dog tags together, revealing a series of coordinates that points to a location past Bear River, crossing the bridge by Aaron's waterfall. Without wasting any further time, the guests set off across the river. They arrive at a large field in front of the camp and continue walking across, until Amelia demands that they stop. Using a rock, she detonates a mine; it explodes, releasing a shock that isn't enough to kill, but incapacitate. The teams are given their third and final challenge for ten points: they must cross the minefield. As Xalvadora opened a cursed Pandora's Box, her team leadership is revoked and given to Joanna, and she must cross first. They are to decide the order in which their team crosses. Joanna makes a single decision while Buck deliberates with his team. He asks for volunteers, prompting Jasmine to reply that nobody would do so. He decides to send Nastasia across first, hurting the lunatic, before settling on his order. As Xalvadora received a disadvantage, Team Beta will cross first.

Xalvadora sets off first and successfully navigates around a first mine but gets stuck between two others, which shock both her and Nastasia, their hat rolling between them both. Nathan goes next and efficiently finds a long route through the minefield, until being surrounded by them. He is knocked out, followed by Joanna, Davian, and Jasmine who are all eliminated on their first attempt. Endou goes next and manages to escape the trap Nathan accidentally walked into. She forges a long path until she is just metres away from the end of the minefield; however, she takes a wrong step and is suddenly shocked, crumbling to the ground. Buck follows and, with the coast now mostly clear, he crosses the finish line and wins the third challenge for Team Alpha, propelling them into the lead.

The guests run to the hangar doors and, despite competing in teams, work together to heave the metal doors open and enter. There, are two magnificent, Stormbird planes. Maxwell steps forward and sets his cane down, so he can brandish the voting cards. They must vote on someone from the opposite team to enter the planes and fly into the storm to claim the stone it stole. As Team Alpha won the challenge overall, those eliminated on Team Beta - Xalvadora, Joanna, Nathan and Endou - each have an extra vote. The teams argue over who should be voted, as some of them realize how it is a kill-or-be-killed environment, and Maxwell ultimately pulls two names after all have voted: Buck and Xalvadora.

The team leaders approach Maxwell for the challenge. To pierce the main funnel, they must weaken the storm by shooting at its strong points. They will be given codes to decipher which will reveal two locations; the first to do so can choose, while the latter must go to the unselected location. Once they have weakened all the strong points, they will be told what to do next. Maxwell offers to give someone an advantage with a toss of a coin, like he did before, but Buck refuses, so Maxwell tells them not to wait and to enter the planes. Buck deciphers the first code and heads back to the military convoy, where he finds a strongpoint. He fires at it, destroying it. He deciphers the next two; however, he only chooses the correct location once. Xalvadora was now catching up to him. She deciphered the next two locations and went to the correct place both times, pulling into the lead. Once the final strongpoint was pierced by machine gun fire, the main tornado's winds parted, and they flew in.

Back on the military camp, Lynne stepped out of the hangar to stare at the storm. Due to it, rain pooled at her feet. As she looked down at the puddle's reflection, she saw a tendril reaching for her. She fell back and screamed to the other guests, and they ran out. Tendrils were now crawling out of the puddle as an alarmed Amelia frighteningly exclaimed that it was Croatoan. They rushed forward and disturbed the puddle, water splashing at their feet, but the creature continued to climb through. Joanna attempted to stand directly atop it to block its way, but it simply tied her up with its tendrils and lifted her into the air. Jasmine screamed for Lynne to fire at it with her crossbow, but the terrified helper was glued to the spot. Fortunately for Joanna, Scarlett fired an arrow directly into its tendril, and it dropped her on the floor. Jasmine, Nastasia, and Scarlett then worked together to block the reflection and stop Croatoan's entrance.

Inside the eye of the storm, they found the fourth stone suspended mid-air. The two competitors were given a final choice: either shoot at the storm, or at each other. Buck and, uncharacteristically, Xalvadora both fired at the storm and weakened it together; however, Buck did more damage, and he pulled into the lead once more. With the storm's dying gusts, it pulled at Xalvadora's plane. As her cockpit was being torn apart, she said her goodbyes to her sister, Dukinea, and reflected on her time in the mob, as well as with the other guests. She was then dragged into the air and held there by conflicting winds. Lightning rained down on her, burning her from head to toe, as her hat blew from her head. Buck could only watch as she dropped to the ground, so he returned to the camp.

In the aftermath of Croatoan's attack, Amelia theorized that since she escaped it, it wanted her, and now, all of them too. Jasmine and Joanna didn't care about the reasons, instead turning furiously to Lynne. They demanded to know why Lynne refused to help and, despite Lynne's frantic apologies, reminded her that she was the helper, and it was her duty to protect them. Instead, she had done was run behind them and lie about what she knew. Scarlett came to her friend's defense and the three argued, as Lynne sorrowfully stared into the distance. Buck's plane soon emerged from the storm and the storyteller clambered out of the cockpit onto the runway, where he was greeted by the guests. Some were happy, especially Scarlett, while others like Nastasia mourned Xalvadora's death. Nastasia then saw Xalvadora's hat floating down on the winds, so she wore it to honor her late ally. Not wanting to waste time where reflections were forming and Croatoan was watching, they ran back to the lounge.

Buck placed the fourth stone down amongst the others and the second he did, a box appeared next to him. As he did last time, he decided to open it. It glowed green and Buck was presented with a crystal ball. It revealed the voting session: Xalvadora picking up his card, and then Nathan. Buck confronted Nathan over his vote as the troublemaker explained that it was between him and Nastasia, hurting the latter as she left the lounge. Joanna soon came to his defense, while Scarlett stood by Buck. The storyteller started to question whether Nathan had voted him into the first challenge (something Nathan had manipulated Xalvadora and Reggie into doing), prompting Maxwell to excuse him of being in league with the evil, due to surviving twice. Endou suggested that everyone reveal their votes publicly. Jasmine cut them off, exclaiming that petty arguments and votes didn't matter, only survival. As the lounge quietened, Davian realized Lynne was missing. In the chaos, she had slipped away into the night.

## Characters

* Buck Channing - The Storyteller
* Davian Rhoades - The Courtesan
* Endou Chiaki - The Rock Star
* Jasmine Winters - The Burlesque Dancer
* Joanna Garcia - The Serenader
* Nastasia Delacroix - The Lunatic
* Nathan Pierce - The Troublemaker
* Naomi Hollister - The Opera Singer
* Scarlett Wilde - The Supernatural Hunter
* Xalvadora Marchesi - The Enforcer
* Lynne
* Maxwell Smythe