- 4 hours ago
Dimension 20 S28E03 Part 2 (2026)
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TVTranscript
00:00:00speak this this theory aloud. Nathaniel, now that I have your name, perhaps someday I might be in a
00:00:07situation where you could get your revenge. Would you like that? Would you like that if I hung on
00:00:12to your name? And if I ever found a way for you to express yourself to a descendant of the
00:00:19Whitakers
00:00:19that you would have your chance? The descendants, it's not 1897. It's 2026.
00:00:30And you see that the electricity starts to short circuit in the box here as he goes,
00:00:36A hundred years! Drowned us in the dark! To hell with those Whitakers! If paradise isn't promised
00:00:45to me, I'll drag his kin to hell! And you see the box short circuits and you feel this spiritual
00:00:52force leave this place and move up towards the mine at the edge of town.
00:01:00Okay. I don't know that that was good. I don't know either. It was true. It was true. And it's
00:01:07like,
00:01:07if they're all there, then it's a ticking time bomb when maybe we can say, hey, go now! Go! The
00:01:14dog
00:01:15mayor! We need you all to... Shock the dog mayor! You guys begin to hear
00:01:22of a cop car. All right, let's hit the V-dub. Yeah, let's go. There's a lot of water in
00:01:30this town. I'm just going to put a pin in this.
00:01:32If this is all the water that drowned them, and I would imagine drained out of the mine,
00:01:36I wonder if there's some sort... There's a reservoir here. Yeah, there's a lot of water all throughout.
00:01:40Yeah, there's a river that runs through town that maybe was redirected to the mine.
00:01:43Okay, talk to Willa Kuhn. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Get into this. Yeah, let's go. Click from Fromm.
00:01:47They built the dam that drowned them. Yeah. Damn. That's really heavy stuff. I have a lot to think
00:01:55about. So you guys get in the VW and head out. Zayth, where are you headed to in this moment?
00:02:01And where would you say that I got in trouble? You got in trouble probably right at this intersection
00:02:06up me. Okay. Right across the river. I turn around, I went up this way,
00:02:09and I think I'm going kind of back towards our house. Cool. But I'm gonna try to find... I think
00:02:16around this bridge past the railroad track, if I've created some space, I want to launch the
00:02:22motorcycle into the water. Okay. You just walk, great. Leaping off of it? Leaping off of it.
00:02:29Bam. Motorcycle. Just like... I'm coming out of your shoes as you land.
00:02:34And then just tear off on foot. I love it. As you guys
00:02:39head out, the hour of night grows a little bit later. Mitch, as the strip club closes down,
00:02:46you see a bunch of people start to head out. You see Jeff walk out amongst some other pals and
00:02:53friends leaving Sweetie's for the night. You see the back door opens up that you saw some of the
00:02:58dancers who also double as essentially like runners to go out to the truck stop or the diner to like
00:03:05get drink and food orders for people. You see Kelly leaves. She got a big puffy like sort of
00:03:11Canada goose and some Ugg boots that she gets into her car. Susan takes off as well. And you see
00:03:16Jeff
00:03:17sort of walking out to his car in the parking lot. But it's sort of like, it's a little bit
00:03:20populated
00:03:21because he's leaving with like the rush of people leaving as the place closes.
00:03:23Got you. Can I see like which car he's heading towards? Is there enough space between
00:03:32like where he's going and other people?
00:03:34Potentially. Like enough space is a measure of how stealthy you can be or a measure, right?
00:03:39Like so, but yeah, you think that you have a shot here.
00:03:42Okay. I think I want to try to stealth and I have something called relentless grasp. So I think if
00:03:48I
00:03:48can hang onto his car, I can just like get dragged with it.
00:03:51Cool. Hell yeah. Go ahead and give me a stealth check difficulty of three. Dexterity plus stealth.
00:03:55Okay. I'm going to, I have pretty good stealth, but just in case I'm going to do a rouse check
00:03:59to try to add to it. And I pass it.
00:04:03Hell yeah.
00:04:03So I add two dice there.
00:04:05Hell yeah.
00:04:06Rolling hot.
00:04:07Hunger.
00:04:08And then I do, I'm doing dex.
00:04:10Plus stealth.
00:04:11Plus stealth, which is one, two, three.
00:04:13And how many, how many dice is your pool right now?
00:04:16My pool is three, six, eight.
00:04:20So you could have that for a, to get for sort of like auto successes.
00:04:26Awesome.
00:04:27You go over, you're in the shadows. You move on over. Jeff gets into his car. You get over
00:04:33with that relentless grasp. You can not only drive under the back, you can get under the car.
00:04:36Yeah. I'm just going to like spider under the car and just hang on and follow him wherever he's going.
00:04:42What a fucking nightmare.
00:04:44Just a nightmare.
00:04:45A true fucking nightmare. Such a large, heavy man dragging on the bottom of the car.
00:04:50I love it.
00:04:52Jeff drives actually all sort of not too far away from here.
00:04:56He heads over to Granite Village, which is a large trailer park community over at the edge of town.
00:05:02And you see, he sort of pulls up in this, his car is beat.
00:05:05You kind of have to be careful about not dislodging some of the rusted out bottom of the car as
00:05:11you're clinging to it.
00:05:12You see, he gets out over in Granite Village and gets out of his car and starts walking towards one
00:05:16of the trailers.
00:05:17Oh boy. Man, feel bad for this guy.
00:05:21I, um, oh boy. All right.
00:05:24I'm going to roll out. I'm going to put, I'm going to like grab him and put my hand over
00:05:30his mouth.
00:05:31Hell yeah.
00:05:32So he gets out. You put a hand over his mouth.
00:05:35Sorry. Sorry. Didn't mean to scare you.
00:05:38All right.
00:05:39Ain't you no harm at all.
00:05:43Just had sort of an interest. I just wanted to have a talk with you privately.
00:05:48I'm going to try to not show my face, I guess. I'm like trying to be behind him.
00:05:51So I'm going to say, um, you seem to get excited about something while we were at the club.
00:06:02And then you also acted weird when my friends were talking about catacombs, right?
00:06:11So I'm going to, I just am kind of curious what that's all about.
00:06:18Now, listen, I, you seem like you haven't done anything.
00:06:23So I really don't want to like do anything.
00:06:25So like, I'm going to let my hand go and you're not going to yell and we're just going to
00:06:30have a conversation.
00:06:31Go ahead. Give me charisma plus either persuasion or intimidation.
00:06:37All right. I'll do intimidation. Yeah. All right. Um, I'll do.
00:06:41Difficulty is going to be three. Okay. I'll do another rouse check. Cause why not?
00:06:45Cool. Come on. Failed. All right. So I get hunger.
00:06:49Oh man, this guy's looking tasty. Um, okay.
00:06:52So I add two to that one for charisma, three for intimidation.
00:06:57So that's, it's a three, right? Oh, six.
00:07:00You have six, but this is, this is more urgent.
00:07:03This is a little bit more urgent. Come on.
00:07:04Oh wait, I have two hunger darks. All right.
00:07:06Oh no. Come on.
00:07:08Come on.
00:07:12Uh, four successes.
00:07:14Hell yeah. Um, you take your hand away. This guy goes, Hey, I'm sorry about yelling about the ranch.
00:07:22No, that's okay. That guy was out of line.
00:07:26Sorry, man. Um, it's okay.
00:07:28Okay. You see, he says you and your friends, I didn't mean to judge. You stick out like a sore
00:07:37thumb.
00:07:38Sure.
00:07:38Seeing two, two sort of well-dressed business types with a young French gal that kind of makes sense.
00:07:48And then there was sort of a punk rocker. And then you and a kind of ghost child clown.
00:07:55Like a bat.
00:07:55Who, who, who.
00:07:59Right on. Yeah.
00:08:01I, I just couldn't, I couldn't kind of catch a bead.
00:08:04Yeah.
00:08:04And I'm sorry.
00:08:05No, that's okay. That's cool. And I agree. Like, you know, following you here was weird.
00:08:10Um, what do you do? Who are you?
00:08:14Look, I'm new in town.
00:08:18And I think we're not, we're not talking about me right now.
00:08:22But also, but also you're in, I can't express this enough, zero danger.
00:08:28Okay.
00:08:29Okay. So you, you've got a good head on your shoulders.
00:08:31Is there any other seedy types in town?
00:08:35You seem like maybe you've kind of been through it.
00:08:37You're asking why I reacted when you said the thing about, about brick tunnels.
00:08:42Yeah. Yeah.
00:08:42Well, if you grew up in Granite Village, you just, it's like a, it's like an urban legend about the,
00:08:50my, my uncle worked for Oregon State.
00:08:56He worked on a, a infrastructure project for the government back in the 1970s.
00:09:00And he wasn't ever allowed to say nothing about what it was, but he doesn't live here anymore.
00:09:06He moved out to Medford when I was, uh, first started working.
00:09:10He worked for a lot of years on a project.
00:09:13The government had serious money.
00:09:15It was one of the few things that a lot of guys in town got construction work out of it.
00:09:18A lot of the firms moved out about the time of the late, I'd say, you know, late eighties.
00:09:24It's sort of work dried up.
00:09:26But there was a big public works project, uh, up in the hills on the other side of the interstate.
00:09:31And he never was allowed to say what it was.
00:09:33But, you know, he said it was like, oh, we're working on public parks.
00:09:37We're working on something else.
00:09:38But there ain't no big public park that takes 15 years to build or nothing like that.
00:09:43So, it's just, we always had a joke about they were building tunnels out in the mountains.
00:09:50Oh.
00:09:51Okay.
00:09:51And it was, you know, dumb kids in the neighborhood would say that, you know, they'd seen it.
00:09:57Or that they was building a nuclear silo.
00:10:01Or they was, you know, they was building something to launch, something to knock Sputnik out of the sky or
00:10:06something like that.
00:10:07But, you know, this was a long, long time ago.
00:10:10Okay.
00:10:11Did you hear any, besides just the hills, did anyone ever suggest where they may have seen it?
00:10:17Or was it just kids talking?
00:10:20There was an area near the interstate that had chain link fence up on it all throughout when I was
00:10:26a kid.
00:10:26That came down, again, in the late 80s.
00:10:30And it's all, you know, it's nature reserved and stuff like that.
00:10:32You know, it's woods and it's undeveloped.
00:10:36But there were old sites out there, you know.
00:10:41So a lot of kids have gone up looking around there.
00:10:43No one's ever found nothing.
00:10:47But in terms of where, if it were ever real, no one ever found an entrance out there.
00:10:53And a lot of people said, because it was built up in the mountains, it was deep underground.
00:10:56But I don't know.
00:10:58I couldn't, it's a legend.
00:10:59So that's all it was.
00:11:00You guys were talking about it.
00:11:01I just, it's like, it's like something from childhood coming back to life.
00:11:04Sure.
00:11:05Yeah, that makes sense.
00:11:06And then it was like, you got really excited at one point.
00:11:09Like, what were you pumped about?
00:11:12Like, you just seemed jazzed.
00:11:13You see, he sort of shrugs and says, I don't know, you know, there was.
00:11:21Look, one time when I was a kid, these two guys came by the park for a funeral.
00:11:27And you see, he points into Cranet Village.
00:11:29And you see that for a trailer park, there is a large bronze statue in the trailer park.
00:11:35You see of a man who's wearing what looks like some kind of like carpenter's jeans and a sort of
00:11:42tight-fitting T-shirt.
00:11:43It looks a little Norman Rockwell-y.
00:11:45And you see that he's got a carpenter's hammer on a loop on his pants.
00:11:49And he's holding a knife in one hand.
00:11:52And there's a plaque on it saying, Zachy Lee Maple.
00:11:56Zachy Le Maple?
00:11:58Zachy Lee Maple.
00:12:00And you see that he says, Zachy's kind of a hero of the trailer park here.
00:12:07He secured a lot of contracts for folks here working on those public works projects.
00:12:13When he passed away, these fellas came to the funeral.
00:12:17I would have been, I don't know, 14 or 15.
00:12:22They looked like government.
00:12:24They looked like G-men.
00:12:26You know, they came.
00:12:27They had black suits.
00:12:29They came and paid their respects.
00:12:30They talked to some of the people in the town.
00:12:33And they, you know, headed on their way.
00:12:37But I swear that I heard them mention something about the, it was a word that I had to ask
00:12:45about at school the next day.
00:12:46They used the word subterranean.
00:12:49Well, again, so sorry about this.
00:12:52You've been great.
00:12:53Thank you so much.
00:12:54This is lovely.
00:12:56Do you want my wallet?
00:12:57No, no, not at all.
00:12:59You asked who I was before.
00:13:01And so I will tell you.
00:13:03I am the darkness man.
00:13:06And then I just fall into a bag of trash nearby.
00:13:10And just go invisible.
00:13:12You go invisible.
00:13:13He whips around to see it and goes, he teleported.
00:13:19You see, he stops for a moment and goes.
00:13:27Yes!
00:13:30I fucking knew superheroes was real.
00:13:33I fucking knew superheroes was real.
00:13:36He starts crying.
00:13:37I fucking knew superheroes was real.
00:13:41Yes!
00:13:42And you see, he clicks his heels and goes back over to his trailer.
00:13:46And he looks around.
00:13:47Looks up at the statue of Zachy Lee Maple and goes.
00:13:52Maybe this place would turn around soon.
00:13:55Salutes it.
00:13:57And walks into his trailer.
00:14:00Well, better jerk off and go to sleep.
00:14:08He's like, the day's been saved.
00:14:12The day's been saved.
00:14:15He's just hiding in the trash.
00:14:19And I think you all wend your way back to your place as the hour draws for you guys early,
00:14:26starting to get a little bit closer to sunrise.
00:14:56Oh, God.
00:14:58Get a little luck.
00:14:59Yes.
00:15:00I also feel like there may be some witches in this town.
00:15:02Yes.
00:15:02Well, you know, also always great to have, especially with such a potent well of evil spiritual energy.
00:15:11Whatever, yeah, what's going on there?
00:15:12Cops might be magical because they seem so aware.
00:15:15There's a lot of cops in this very small town.
00:15:18Cops feel really, like, on it.
00:15:20Where's your bike, dude?
00:15:22Also, your shoes are really fucked up.
00:15:25I kind of, I, I, I, they got kind of burned on the bottom.
00:15:29Oh.
00:15:29Oh.
00:15:30I, um, I lost the bike, but, uh.
00:15:33Okay, you can hop in the, okay, yeah.
00:15:35Yeah, can we send these.
00:15:36I just realized I'm so far.
00:15:37I text the group and I'm like, I actually need to be picked up.
00:15:41Yeah, we can go pick up Darkness Man.
00:15:44Uh-huh, you're just walking down the side of the river.
00:15:47Every few steps fall into trash just in case they don't get caught.
00:15:51Uh, perfect.
00:15:52The Coterie returns to home base.
00:15:54We scooped Darkness Man.
00:15:55Um, uh, and you guys have an opportunity, I think, here.
00:15:58I will also, at this point, reveal to you guys, at the end of your first night, having gotten a
00:16:02bit of a lay of the land,
00:16:05uh, I'll reveal to you guys a new mechanic that we'll be using, which is actually, uh, custom-made for
00:16:10our little game here.
00:16:11Cool.
00:16:12Which is, uh, you guys have the ability, should you so choose, uh, to initiate downtime.
00:16:20Ooh.
00:16:20Because some of you guys have some hunger and some willpower damage.
00:16:22Mm-hmm.
00:16:22Um, the main things that downtime does is it returns your health, willpower, and hunger, uh, and any of spent
00:16:29advantages all the way back to full.
00:16:31Mm-hmm.
00:16:32Uh, so you would all go back down to one hunger, because you guys wouldn't be exsanguinating anybody.
00:16:37Um, and, uh, uh, basically, it's a way for you guys to, if you have longer-term things you want
00:16:43to do, you guys have talked about buying certain places, doing certain things like that.
00:16:45You have the ability to do so, uh, over downtime.
00:16:50It's basically just big group checks, where you're, like, racking up successes to get stuff done.
00:16:54Right.
00:16:55Um, but that's, uh, it's not something that we need to necessarily do this episode, but just putting out there
00:17:00that you guys have the ability to, like, line, get all your ducks in a row.
00:17:05Mm-hmm.
00:17:05And then pull the trigger on, here's what we want to do moving forward.
00:17:08You guys all arrive back.
00:17:10You can see that there are, as it's getting later, some of your herd have actually gone to bed.
00:17:14They try to stay up late, uh, to be available to you guys.
00:17:17Some of them have already started to go to bed.
00:17:18Um, but you guys have some time in the rumpus room before you must retreat to your coffins.
00:17:24Can I go find Ethel, who's the only semi-competent-seeming person that's living upstairs, and I go, Ethel?
00:17:32Yes, yes, sweetie.
00:17:33Can I send you on a little mission for tomorrow?
00:17:37Well, I'd be happy to...
00:17:39It's a shopping mission.
00:17:41Mm-hmm.
00:17:42There are two shops, Witchful Thinking and Precious Blessings Crystal Pillow Shop.
00:17:47Mm-hmm.
00:17:48Both of these will definitely have a weird message board on them.
00:17:51Mm-hmm.
00:17:52If you could look on there for, like, looking for people to join a coven or, uh, spiritual sound bath
00:18:03experience,
00:18:04or, uh, something that looks, uh, like it stands out but is also kind of crumbled and has been there
00:18:10for a long time.
00:18:11Mm-hmm, mm-hmm.
00:18:12Oh, I'd be, I'd be delighted to.
00:18:15I'll try to, I'll try to go get whatever I can.
00:18:17Witchful Thinking and Precious Blessings Crystal Pillow Shop.
00:18:21And if you could get me three tops with sleeves that go down like this, they will have them.
00:18:26Okay.
00:18:27And a rose quartz, some kind of rose quartz, whatever you feel like.
00:18:31Okay.
00:18:33I'll do that all.
00:18:35Ethel, you're the only one we're going to keep alive.
00:18:38Oh.
00:18:38Ooh.
00:18:39Ooh.
00:18:42Ooh.
00:18:43You guys all convened downstairs.
00:18:45Right.
00:18:46Um, so I followed Jeff, and really nice guy, actually.
00:18:50Oh.
00:18:51Yeah.
00:18:51Okay.
00:18:51So he was just kind of freaked out because it was rumored in town, apparently, that there were tunnels under
00:18:57the town.
00:18:58And apparently there was a government thing.
00:19:01Um, there was some strange government project that, uh, was sort of mysterious.
00:19:07And he said that there was an area that had, uh, near the interstate, like, fences around it.
00:19:13And he thinks that could be an entrance or something.
00:19:16This place does sort of have X-Files vibe.
00:19:19Mm-hmm.
00:19:19Yeah.
00:19:20The mine's here?
00:19:21Yeah.
00:19:22The mine's here.
00:19:23The mine's here.
00:19:23The mine's here.
00:19:24And Dolly's here.
00:19:25The interstate's over here.
00:19:25Yeah.
00:19:25Do you think he got washed all the way down there?
00:19:28Oh, maybe.
00:19:29Could be.
00:19:30Or maybe his home was on Canal Street.
00:19:32That was another thought I had.
00:19:34Oh, yes.
00:19:35Wow.
00:19:35Um, okay.
00:19:37I really want to know more about these Whitakers.
00:19:40Were they involved with the government?
00:19:42Where are they're, like, where do they live now in the town?
00:19:45Are any of those buildings, the, like, retirement communities?
00:19:47Yes, one of them is.
00:19:48One of them is Whitaker?
00:19:49Yeah, yeah.
00:19:49It's, um...
00:19:51Is that the one that has, like, um...
00:19:53Silver Meadows Senior Center.
00:19:54It was Dignity, Golden Bounty.
00:19:57Golden Bounty is under construction.
00:19:59It's a new one.
00:19:59Dignity is the other one, but Silver Meadows is the one owned by Whitaker.
00:20:03But our soon-to-be business partner, Suze, also mentioned, I mean, when those names came
00:20:07up, seemed to have a very ill reaction to them with regard to the city council.
00:20:13There's also someone named Zachy Lee Maple that has a statue to him over in the trailer
00:20:19park.
00:20:19We met an older gentleman named Willie Coop who has been in the town for a long time,
00:20:23could probably help us catch up.
00:20:25I'm going to send him a text and we should go to lunch with him.
00:20:27A long, long lunch.
00:20:28A long, late evening lunch.
00:20:31It's 8 p.m. lunch.
00:20:32If you wanted, I could, because I can't eat anything here, um, I could go to the biohazard
00:20:40bags of the retirement community and just try to feed off of that and see if that gives
00:20:45me any information about what they're doing to the old people.
00:20:48Because you can do a toxicology report, like, within.
00:20:51That's what I'm hoping.
00:20:52I have something called iron gullet, which means I can, I can drink spoiled and rotten
00:20:57blood.
00:20:58We think they're doing something to the seniors?
00:21:00I'm, there's too many senior centers.
00:21:02I know everyone's dying, but.
00:21:04See, that's my thing is I think that this is a community that is on, that doesn't see
00:21:10itself as thriving.
00:21:11And it's investing rather than in its potency and it's in, in, in its ability to grow in
00:21:17its, uh, in what it believes is its kind of terminal desire.
00:21:21It's farming old blood and we should be farming young blood.
00:21:24Exactly.
00:21:25Well, I mean, honestly, I, I think that it's okay to be a senior citizen.
00:21:29I think that we could, you know, I, I think I'm worried that maybe they're doing something
00:21:33to this.
00:21:33Yeah.
00:21:34Well, there's a new startup is by what's his face, right?
00:21:38Mm.
00:21:38Oh.
00:21:38The new senior center is a startup.
00:21:40One that's under construction?
00:21:42From like these like appy kind of things, right?
00:21:44Yeah.
00:21:45Well, the, the, the, the parking app is also.
00:21:47Mover, meter.
00:21:48And by Seraphim.
00:21:49So dignity, dignity, uh, living solutions is the national chain that appears to be owned
00:21:54by a large, like multi-national.
00:21:55Oh, dignity is already built.
00:21:57So the under construction one is.
00:21:59That was the one that seemed connected to the Douglases.
00:22:01The Douglases.
00:22:02I'm sort of vaguely wondering because, um, I have a food intolerance to anybody who
00:22:07isn't of noble lineage.
00:22:08Oh yeah.
00:22:09Whether in the context of this town, I wonder if the Whitakers and the Douglases are somebody
00:22:16that I could maybe eat without puking.
00:22:18Yeah.
00:22:18Sounds good.
00:22:19I think to this moment, guys, uh, you, uh, you look and realize you have a couple hours
00:22:23of night that, first of all, you do see us.
00:22:28As you get back to your car, there is still a police car parked outside of that house on
00:22:32the other street.
00:22:33Um, the one with Beth.
00:22:35The one with Beth.
00:22:36Does that better?
00:22:37We're really aware.
00:22:38Well, there's no caution tape yet because there's no body.
00:22:41That's right.
00:22:42So that's silver lining.
00:22:45It's pretty buttoned up.
00:22:46That's great.
00:22:47Oh, habeas corpus.
00:22:50I'm going to go up to the wall that we used as a whiteboard earlier and on to wrote,
00:22:54bat eats trash.
00:22:56Bat eats trash.
00:22:58Um, you guys also have the ability, if you want, in this moment, uh, you sense that,
00:23:02like, man, the town has gone quiet.
00:23:04It is at 3 a.m.
00:23:06To, you, you can hear a car driving down a road, like, two streets over.
00:23:11So maybe we should, maybe we should go to bed.
00:23:14Yeah, we got to be careful.
00:23:15Yeah.
00:23:16Oh my God.
00:23:16It's so early.
00:23:17Um, long term goals.
00:23:20Do we want to own Mike's bar?
00:23:22Yes.
00:23:23I want to own it all.
00:23:25All right?
00:23:26Right now, Purpy, Oregon is nothing.
00:23:28And I think by the time we're done with this place, New York City, Los Angeles, Rome, Italy,
00:23:38Paris, France, Purpy, Oregon.
00:23:42I love it.
00:23:42I love it.
00:23:43My goal, long term, would be to open a zoo, have the second largest geodesic dome in the world.
00:23:51Here it is.
00:23:51Maybe have sort of like a senior citizens pageant.
00:23:56Right down Main Street.
00:23:58Excuse me.
00:23:59God, I love that.
00:24:00Oh, I just think that there's so many senior citizens here.
00:24:03Celebrate them.
00:24:04Celebrate them.
00:24:05Some of the hottest senior citizens.
00:24:06Yeah.
00:24:07Oh, yeah.
00:24:07I'm sorry, are we all focused on staying here?
00:24:10Yes.
00:24:10Yes.
00:24:11Um, I'd love to visit Nebraska again, go Huskers, but I'm also happy to be here for a bit.
00:24:18I love that.
00:24:19That was some blue skies.
00:24:20There it is.
00:24:21Goals.
00:24:22I don't want to tell anybody.
00:24:25Oh, all right.
00:24:27I'm still thinking about it.
00:24:29Okay.
00:24:29Yeah, no, no, that's cool.
00:24:30Goals.
00:24:31This place is...
00:24:31Goals.
00:24:32Long term goals.
00:24:33Okay, I think in general, I'm going to try to be a little bit more careful and not jump
00:24:37on people's roofs and stuff.
00:24:39Yeah.
00:24:39I love that.
00:24:40I love that.
00:24:41Well, if we're speaking...
00:24:42Less bodies.
00:24:43Self goals.
00:24:45Darkness Man, I wrote you a letter, but since we're allowed to talk to you, I'll just say
00:24:51I'm really sorry about how I mishandled that situation earlier.
00:24:54I tried to be there for you, but I did it in a way that you didn't need.
00:24:58And then I felt like a failure.
00:25:00And then I lashed out at you, which is, again, my fault.
00:25:03No, it's okay, bad child.
00:25:05No, this is the reason that you're the hero and I'm the sidekick and I still have so much
00:25:08to learn from you.
00:25:09That's...
00:25:10I mean, you're the one who found the mysterious spirit.
00:25:13So maybe part of being a sidekick and part of being a superhero is, you know, learning
00:25:19to spread your bad wings.
00:25:21Sometimes part of being a friend is telling your friend that they have perfect vibes.
00:25:25And so maybe they can work from that for the future.
00:25:28AJ's trying so hard not to join them.
00:25:30How do I support you?
00:25:31Just tell me.
00:25:32You just say stop.
00:25:33Stop.
00:25:34Stop.
00:25:34Stop.
00:25:39Okay.
00:25:40Go for it.
00:25:41Careful.
00:25:41I'm half fat, but I will suck you like a vampire.
00:25:44Kumite.
00:25:46Kumite.
00:25:47Long-term goal?
00:25:49Okay.
00:25:50All right.
00:25:50Well, that's it, team.
00:25:52We got there.
00:25:53We've got some really good goals in the hopper.
00:25:56Yes.
00:25:56I also would think that, I mean, opening sort of public spaces and maybe I was thinking
00:26:03because, like, bats, one of the pro-social things, or two of the pro-social things they
00:26:08do is food sharing and mutual grooming.
00:26:12Is there some way we can marry that into, like, a...
00:26:15Maybe the seniors are kind of...
00:26:17A senior spa buffet.
00:26:19Like, I eat someone while you brush my hair.
00:26:21Close.
00:26:22Really close.
00:26:22A buffet.
00:26:23When you go to the gym, the old guys...
00:26:27I was thinking this could be for the young people, too, though.
00:26:30Just sort of a general buffet bathhouse.
00:26:32I assume your buffet would smell crazy.
00:26:36We're going to keep them at the beauty patron.
00:26:38Does the buffet have to get to?
00:26:39You're a special kind of pervert.
00:26:42Stop.
00:26:43You're a motorcycle pervert, okay?
00:26:46Yes, I am.
00:26:46Jack, I had that written in my notes.
00:26:48You would have sex with a motorcycle.
00:26:50Yes, I would.
00:26:51Yeah.
00:26:53What do I do if he loves it?
00:26:55I look scared.
00:26:58Yes, I would.
00:26:59Wait, hang on, okay?
00:27:00Yeah, I am a pervert.
00:27:02Whoa.
00:27:03We all just quietly go into our coffee.
00:27:05Yeah, exactly.
00:27:06Wait, you know?
00:27:07No, hang on.
00:27:09Wait.
00:27:10What are you doing?
00:27:11I'm not going to jack off in my freaking coffee.
00:27:14No one said you are.
00:27:16And I'm not going to.
00:27:20Swear to me.
00:27:21Swear to me.
00:27:23Mitch, you're going to wake up Tevin, and then we're never going to hear the end of it.
00:27:28Yeah, we're going to hear the end of it.
00:27:33On that note.
00:27:37I at least make eye contact with you.
00:27:39That's good.
00:27:40Team building.
00:27:41We did it.
00:27:42Hey, you did it.
00:27:44You did it.
00:27:44You did it.
00:27:45Will someone hang my umbrella from something so I can roost?
00:27:48Sure.
00:27:49Yes, of course.
00:27:50Hang your umbrella in the rumpus room.
00:27:51All of you, for the first time, go into slumber in the town of Purpy.
00:27:59Darkness Man stays up for three hours.
00:28:01Just so fucking pissed.
00:28:03You're tapping your toe anxiously.
00:28:06Madeline is loudly listening to TikToks.
00:28:10The sun rises over Purpy.
00:28:13All of you in your coffin.
00:28:14All of you in a state of death.
00:28:17As you wait once again for nightfall, your vampiric forms.
00:28:22Your vampiric forms.
00:28:24As the next night begins, I'm going to need everybody here to give me a...
00:28:28Hunger.
00:28:29Check.
00:28:29Give me a rouse check.
00:28:30Rouse check.
00:28:32Yes, bitch.
00:28:33I failed.
00:28:34Does that mean I get hunger?
00:28:35You get hunger.
00:28:36And do I wipe out my hunger from yesterday?
00:28:38I had one hunger from yesterday.
00:28:40Yeah.
00:28:40No, you don't wipe it out.
00:28:41So you...
00:28:41Okay, so now I have two.
00:28:42Now you have two.
00:28:43You just don't get more.
00:28:44Yeah.
00:28:44Two hunger.
00:28:46I've got three.
00:28:47I'm on three as well.
00:28:49Wow.
00:28:49Hungry, boys.
00:28:50Let's figure that out.
00:28:51I really need to eat.
00:28:53Awakening the next night, as you do, you see upstairs, Ethel looks and says,
00:29:00Ah, hello, Madeline.
00:29:02Yes.
00:29:03I got some tops.
00:29:04You see she has some sort of witchy looking tops on them.
00:29:06Right.
00:29:07And you wanted from the message boards?
00:29:09You wanted...
00:29:11I got as much as I could.
00:29:13What were you looking for exactly?
00:29:14Anything that seemed authentically witchy?
00:29:19Oh?
00:29:20Or like maybe a group of hot teen girls who were wearing a lot of black fishnets in places you
00:29:25don't normally wear black fishnets?
00:29:27Well, I'm afraid I don't...
00:29:29I'm afraid I can't...
00:29:31You know, you said authentically witchy, so I got this.
00:29:35And you see that she has a plastic pumpkin.
00:29:39It's a pumpkin.
00:29:40That was on the message board?
00:29:42No.
00:29:43What was on the message board, Ethel?
00:29:45Well, there were some messages about...
00:29:50Oh, in the one shop, witchful thinking, there was a message board item about tinctures and
00:29:59such from a food coop.
00:30:02There was a food coop.
00:30:03A food coop?
00:30:05What'd you say?
00:30:06A food coop?
00:30:09Your accent is so beautiful.
00:30:12Okay.
00:30:13A food coop?
00:30:15Yes, a food coop.
00:30:16Or food cool, I guess, as you would say.
00:30:18Oh, okay.
00:30:19But the...
00:30:20I take the...
00:30:21As we're talking, I take the plastic pumpkin and I just very obviously put it in the trash.
00:30:26You see that written down in this very painstaking handwriting is Perpy Natural Food Co-op.
00:30:33Okay.
00:30:34There was a...
00:30:35There was...
00:30:35That was one of the messages on it.
00:30:39And there was also...
00:30:42Oh, there was a crescent moon with some sparkles.
00:30:47That's...
00:30:47Yes.
00:30:48With what information?
00:30:50Or just a picture?
00:30:51No, what was...
00:30:52Well, that's...
00:30:53It's a crescent moon hostel.
00:30:56A sort of misspelled hotel.
00:30:59Okay.
00:31:00Ethel, did you grow up in a box somewhere?
00:31:03You never met anybody before in your life?
00:31:05What's that?
00:31:06You don't know things?
00:31:07Did I grow up in a box?
00:31:10Yes.
00:31:11Yes.
00:31:12Absolutely so.
00:31:15Well, I grew up...
00:31:16I was a little girl during the Great Depression.
00:31:19They all had...
00:31:20Everyone had to pack up their houses and move to boxes.
00:31:23The original box cow kid.
00:31:24Yes.
00:31:26Oh, car.
00:31:26La-di-da.
00:31:27Okay.
00:31:28Hostel.
00:31:29Why when everyone else leans into it, it works and it doesn't work.
00:31:33Like, Ethel just freaking destroyed you.
00:31:39Like, we're laughing.
00:31:41We like Ethel more.
00:31:43You're destroyed.
00:31:45Darkness Man, I think it's because you look afraid as you're doing it.
00:31:50You did have fear in your eyes when you went, I'm going to jerk off tonight.
00:31:54I said, I'm not going to jerk off tonight.
00:31:56It's tough when you're reading.
00:31:57It's still reads in my ear as the last thing I heard you say.
00:32:01So, that's what I found there, too.
00:32:04Thanks so much, Ethel.
00:32:05It sounds like you did an amazing job.
00:32:07That's it?
00:32:07We really appreciate it.
00:32:07Just the two things on the message board?
00:32:09Yeah.
00:32:09No guy trying to teach guitar or...
00:32:12Oh, well, there was some places like that.
00:32:16I couldn't write down everything you saw on the message board.
00:32:19There's that...
00:32:20You're going to kill her.
00:32:23You see, she says, uh...
00:32:26But, uh, and, uh, oh, uh...
00:32:29I mean, you can do it if you want.
00:32:30No, no, no, no.
00:32:31Your questions are going to kill her.
00:32:33Yeah.
00:32:34And, uh, uh, uh, and Tevin spoke to a young man earlier today who knocked on the door.
00:32:41Oh, we go to Tevin.
00:32:42Tevin looks up in the kitchen and says,
00:32:45Evening.
00:32:46Good to see y'all.
00:32:47How you doing?
00:32:47How's your first night?
00:32:49It was pretty good.
00:32:50Productist, really good.
00:32:51Who knocked on the door before?
00:32:52Yeah, we heard someone came by.
00:32:54Oh, yeah.
00:32:56Uh, young fella came by who was...
00:33:00He had a clipboard and he was, uh, asking people about some neighborhood stuff,
00:33:04about development in the neighborhood.
00:33:06He asked if we were residents.
00:33:08I think he was trying to scope out if it was an Airbnb.
00:33:11He was a handsome young fella, I'll say that.
00:33:14Did he leave a flyer or anything like that?
00:33:16No, he said he'd come back another day.
00:33:19I think he was trying to snoop out if we was an Airbnb or not.
00:33:22Do you know if he was trying to snoop out if we were an Airbnb or not?
00:33:26Did you tell him he was an Airbnb?
00:33:28No, I didn't.
00:33:29I said...
00:33:29Did you ask him his name?
00:33:31I said his name was Aaron.
00:33:33Aaron.
00:33:34And did he say which company he was with?
00:33:36Was it like, uh...
00:33:37What did he have?
00:33:38He had a little, a little power, a little, like, power company thing on his clipboard?
00:33:44Okay.
00:33:44What's the name of the power company here?
00:33:46PG&P is the name of the local, uh, Perpe, uh, Perpe Gas and Power.
00:33:53Okay.
00:33:53And he says he had a PG&E on his clipboard.
00:33:58Okay, so that's not actually, that he wasn't actually from the power company, unless they're...
00:34:04Well, he had a little, like, a little lightning squiggle on it.
00:34:07Yeah, but a PG&E...
00:34:09You can just print those out now on the computer.
00:34:12Interesting.
00:34:13A lot of times...
00:34:14Well, sometimes they pretend to be the power company because they're casing your house to steal from it.
00:34:19But I'm wondering, too, if they're trying to privatize it and they're scouting out how much people are paying on
00:34:26their bills.
00:34:26Here's my question.
00:34:28In this little cookie-cutter area, and they're already pricing everyone out, and there's all these different apps and everything
00:34:36moving in,
00:34:37why are they, why do they care so much about Airbnbs?
00:34:40Yeah.
00:34:41Doesn't it seem like everything's already gone to shit?
00:34:44They probably wouldn't buy it all.
00:34:45I don't think they were looking for Airbnbs.
00:34:46I think they're looking for maybe us, or looking for, I don't know, something.
00:34:52Yeah.
00:34:52I think they're looking for something else.
00:34:53Do we know the...
00:34:54You see, as you guys say that, by the way, you recognize, that's a great point.
00:34:59There are actually, like, a quick look on this, like, Airbnb thing that you guys are looking at reveals there
00:35:07are way too many here in town.
00:35:09Yeah.
00:35:10Like, looking on them, it's a, there's an unusual, there's something that is not making sense.
00:35:14Like, what is the draw, necessarily?
00:35:18Right, this is not a tourist town.
00:35:19Yeah.
00:35:19Well, you don't know, you would have, I mean, you could probably look into that and see what's going on.
00:35:23But, yeah, you see that there's just, there's a weird amount of them.
00:35:27Something is getting gutted from this town in service of some other thing.
00:35:32Like, a conspiracy of werewolves or something like that.
00:35:35Let's click through and see, are there similar hosts?
00:35:38Are there hosts with multiple properties?
00:35:40There are a handful of super hosts.
00:35:43What are their names?
00:35:44Let's write down some of these names, even if it's front names.
00:35:48Also, do we know the name of the person who's the owner of the dog?
00:35:53That's the dog mayor?
00:35:54Oh, interesting.
00:35:55Can I ask Tevin that?
00:35:58Tevin, since you've been around during the day, have you heard, like, who is technically the owner of the dog
00:36:03mayor?
00:36:04Oh, you can find her.
00:36:05She linked her personal Instagram to the dog's Instagram.
00:36:09Okay.
00:36:09Who does that follow us?
00:36:11The dog, sweetie.
00:36:12What do you think?
00:36:13Who's trying to see an old nurse?
00:36:15You see, he goes, uh...
00:36:18You see...
00:36:19He says...
00:36:19That tells immediate demographic.
00:36:21Immediate demographic.
00:36:22Look, I love a phlebotomist, okay?
00:36:25They're no nonsense.
00:36:26He says, uh, her name's Tina Bunders.
00:36:29Goddamn right it is.
00:36:31Tina takes care of Rufus.
00:36:33You look up.
00:36:33One of the super hosts has, like, the most properties.
00:36:37There's two women that seem to be the biggest super hosts in the area.
00:36:40One of them is named Ana Lopez.
00:36:44And the other one is Rachel Whitaker.
00:36:49Motherfucker.
00:36:50Anyone who wants to make some investigation checks around this.
00:36:52This would be either intelligence investigation or intelligence finance.
00:36:56I'll do intelligence finance.
00:36:58Hell yeah.
00:36:59I'm gonna do intelligence...
00:37:01Can I go bite the podcast editor?
00:37:03Yeah.
00:37:03And reduce my hunger a little bit?
00:37:05Uh, yes, you can.
00:37:06Reducing your hunger by two.
00:37:09I have, uh, a couple dots in technology.
00:37:12Could I give it to...
00:37:14Could I give a dice to Batchild for us to, like, look stuff up on, like, the internet about this
00:37:18maybe or something?
00:37:19You have a dot in what?
00:37:20Sorry?
00:37:20Technology.
00:37:21Yeah, so you can give two dice to Batchild here.
00:37:24Right.
00:37:24I'm gonna take out, like, a vintage iMac desktop.
00:37:28Like, a candy-colored one.
00:37:30Cool.
00:37:31This thing's huge.
00:37:32Oh, my God.
00:37:33I roll, like, such shit.
00:37:36By the way, remember, new knight, so everyone gains either your composure or your resolve to your willpower.
00:37:41Okay.
00:37:42Four successes on finance.
00:37:44Four successes on finance.
00:37:45Did anybody else get four successes on a roll here?
00:37:49No.
00:37:49Okay.
00:37:50Levante, opening up a computer and diving in real quick.
00:37:53You look at all these Airbnbs.
00:37:54It's a Palm Pilot.
00:37:55Just a Palm Pilot.
00:37:56Just shooting around.
00:37:58You look at all these Airbnbs going, like, what the fuck is the deal?
00:38:01The Airbnbs do a little bit of business.
00:38:05You see that you go to, like, Kirby Tourism and see the Caroline Vine Trailhead.
00:38:11Caroline Vine Trailhead is over the river, over in that part of town.
00:38:15And you see it is right next to none other than the Crescent Moon Hostel.
00:38:19The Trailhead is rated on a bunch of, like, crunchy websites as one of the best hiking trails in the
00:38:25Pacific Northwest.
00:38:26You see this actually does have some degree of draw to the town.
00:38:30There's some, like, climbing stores with some bouldering stuff around there that appears to attract some, like, actual traveling hikers
00:38:37that come through.
00:38:38Because it's right off the interstate, but it actually has some beautiful nature.
00:38:40However, that's not, unfortunately, that's not the real Airbnbs story.
00:38:45These Airbnbs, many of them either 5 or 10x their value during the month of May.
00:38:56And you discover that Purpy, Oregon, for all of its backwoodiness and all of its, you know, defunctness, is home
00:39:04to the week-long Laurent Horror Festival.
00:39:09Ooh.
00:39:10As Purpy State University, a small, no-account state university, happens to have, in its spring semester, notable English professor
00:39:20Estelle Laurent, who is one of the world's most famous horror authors.
00:39:26She is a, everyone here would have heard of Estelle Laurent before.
00:39:31She's written The Shimmering, Legends of Terra Woda, The Sanguevor Duran, like, she basically does, like, a book every year,
00:39:39and some years are, like, Irish twin books, like, two books come out in the same year.
00:39:43And they're all set in the same world?
00:39:45The vast majority of them are contemporary, modern horror.
00:39:50Most of it is supernatural bent.
00:39:52A lot of them are some form of supernatural horror.
00:39:54How do we feel about the vampires in these books?
00:39:56There are definitely some vampires in these books.
00:39:58Are they hot?
00:39:59Are they accurate?
00:39:59They are not necessarily accurate.
00:40:03Purposefully inaccurate?
00:40:04Go ahead and give me, give me investigation, uh, investigation wits.
00:40:10Okay.
00:40:12Okay, I gotta do two.
00:40:16That's one.
00:40:17One.
00:40:17Oh my god.
00:40:18I don't think on that, I don't know that anyone here has necessarily read an Estelle, unless you think you
00:40:22have, unless you've read an Estelle Laurent.
00:40:24I read The Shimmering.
00:40:25Yeah.
00:40:26I was high when I read it.
00:40:29Blood cocaine to the eyeball.
00:40:31Yeah, exactly.
00:40:33On a Kindle.
00:40:34I read it in 45 minutes.
00:40:35I read it.
00:40:37Those are big boys.
00:40:39Yeah.
00:40:39Yeah, no.
00:40:40I've been listening to it on three times.
00:40:42Yeah, exactly.
00:40:46So indeed, yeah, you see that there is a, one of the things going on with the Airbnbs here, it's
00:40:52not a full explanation.
00:40:54Like maybe there is something still sinister that's happening here.
00:40:56However, yeah, there is a big festival every May here.
00:41:00And I think, Levante, looking at the town, in the series of the town, there is something.
00:41:05In other words, something happens here in this town that is a big deal.
00:41:11Lots of people come from all over the world for this horror festival.
00:41:14That downtown is popping.
00:41:15Witchful thinking.
00:41:16Like some stores make 80% of their money during Christmas time.
00:41:21There are stores in town that make 80% of their year's haul in that month.
00:41:24How many, how, what time of year is it?
00:41:26How much time do we have until that festival?
00:41:28It is currently October.
00:41:29Oh, so we've got a few months.
00:41:31Yeah.
00:41:32But EstƩe Laurent here the whole time.
00:41:35On the inside of a book jacket, it says the author lives with her cat and dog in Perpee, Oregon.
00:41:40Great.
00:41:41And I can't help but notice.
00:41:42That's a French-ass name.
00:41:44It's a French-ass name.
00:41:44Is this a real name, do we think?
00:41:46In her author's bio, she claims Haitian, Ashkenazi Jewish, Irish, Iraqi, and Shasta Native American ancestry.
00:41:54Fascinating.
00:41:55And you see that her book, she looks like the most old, confirmed bachelorette.
00:42:03She is wearing an enormous, comfy sweater, spectacles, sort of short haircut, a very Gertrude Stein type.
00:42:15She has sort of like a heavy set and in an office chair looking very serious and worldly.
00:42:21Like Judith Butler.
00:42:22Yes.
00:42:23Yeah, yeah, yeah, for sure.
00:42:23Is there any chance that there's some sort of vampiric movement here that's operating outside?
00:42:29There's definitely a chance, yeah.
00:42:30Definitely a chance.
00:42:31We're supposed to expel all...
00:42:33There's freaking catacombs.
00:42:35Yeah.
00:42:35Catacombs, right?
00:42:36Feels like maybe a visit worth making.
00:42:40Yeah.
00:42:41I'm feeling more and more like I'm ready to get aggressive.
00:42:44We have a poo-poo platter's worth of leads and I'm ready to eat.
00:42:48Yes.
00:42:49But maybe checking in with Estelle before I go whole hog, you know, might save us some damage down the
00:42:55road.
00:42:56Well, perhaps me and Batchild as students of the university.
00:43:00Oh.
00:43:01Oh, that is true.
00:43:02Throw a backpack on each of you.
00:43:04Yes.
00:43:04It would be incredible to go finish my backpack before.
00:43:07Oh, you're going to really join school?
00:43:08Sorry, we were just lying.
00:43:11Oh, yeah.
00:43:11I thought maybe I could just finish my degree.
00:43:13Oh, yeah, let's get you guys enrolled.
00:43:15You can take night classes.
00:43:16I was thinking we should check out the business center.
00:43:19I mean, I think we need to head to City Hall.
00:43:20I mean, I think there's a lot that we need to catch ourselves up on about how business is done
00:43:25here in Burpee.
00:43:26Tapping in with some of these business students, though.
00:43:28We can get stuff done during the day if we need it.
00:43:30I think, yes.
00:43:31If we get some interns.
00:43:32Exactly.
00:43:33Start a scholarship program.
00:43:34Yeah.
00:43:34Yeah, yeah.
00:43:35Okay.
00:43:36This is great.
00:43:36This is great.
00:43:37Okay.
00:43:38I pull out some ranch.
00:43:40Yeah.
00:43:41Is anyone good at forgery?
00:43:43Because I realize me and the countess aren't going to be able to get in with my 2002 high school
00:43:50degree.
00:43:50I'm pretty good at shoplifting.
00:43:52Okay.
00:43:52Could we shoplift a student ID?
00:43:55You don't have to be, like, matriculating students.
00:43:58You could just go to the lecture.
00:43:59Again, I got confused.
00:44:00And, like, if you're wearing a backpack, I think, yes, we can shop on a hoodie and just look sort
00:44:07of confused and go, I don't know where I'm supposed to go.
00:44:10Purpose state hoodie.
00:44:11They're actually really beautiful.
00:44:13Yeah.
00:44:13I think you feel in this moment, Levante, you've said exactly it.
00:44:17You guys have a lot of leads.
00:44:18And it's time to get aggressive.
00:44:21Looking out, you have, this is your second night in town.
00:44:24But there's plenty to move on here.
00:44:27Learning about Estelle is a big deal.
00:44:29And the shape of this town is coming into play.
00:44:31Sources of information, you have aplenty.
00:44:35You know, Darkness Men, you saw this guy Jeff over in Granite Village have a very positive reaction to the
00:44:39idea of a superhero.
00:44:40You have Willie, who seems to be an old, tried-and-true hand in the town at your disposal.
00:44:46You, Madelaine, look exactly the part for a town who some double-digit percentage of the population is college students.
00:44:53And I think that there is a lot of ground to cover here.
00:44:58And you guys are really, you're waking up, it's about 8 o'clock at night.
00:45:01You have, the candle is burning, right?
00:45:04It's time to get them because this town closes early.
00:45:06What is it you guys want to kick in and do?
00:45:09Because I think you realize that if this horror festival is in May, it's October right now, even for immortal
00:45:17beings, time is of the essence.
00:45:19There are many leads here in town.
00:45:20You guys are starting to get a picture.
00:45:23Yeah.
00:45:25Purpies.
00:45:26You know, Madelaine said X-Files.
00:45:28Something weird going on in this town.
00:45:30Madelaine, you've lived long enough to know that typically the supernatural, vampires and the like, forms almost centers of gravity.
00:45:43Something happens like whatever happened in that mine.
00:45:46And it's like a weight, a spiritual weight.
00:45:50And other supernatural things tend to roll and conglomerate towards those.
00:45:54Weird little pockets of the supernatural tend to seek each other out so they do not fade away or get
00:46:00lost in the vast tapestry of the mundane world.
00:46:03Something roils under the surface of Purpy.
00:46:08A mine filled with river water.
00:46:11Brick tunnels filled with government secrets.
00:46:13Who knows?
00:46:14There's something going on here.
00:46:16And more so than that, whatever's happening magically here may not even be as sinister as what is happening in
00:46:22broad daylight.
00:46:23The businesses moving into this place, the families that seek to control it, whatever's happening with city council, an urgent
00:46:29care shut down, other places shut down.
00:46:31You guys see before you a vast canvas.
00:46:36This town has forces at work in it.
00:46:39And as you have started to size it up, you begin to see what were dim shapes in the fog
00:46:45emerge as levers of action.
00:46:48There's stuff for you guys to do here.
00:46:50Some of them are very near and purposeful.
00:46:53Like, Ethel's not a great gopher for daytime tasks.
00:46:58You guys need some people to fucking help you out that can actually help you out.
00:47:01Maybe this Airbnb has some weird guy knocking on the front door.
00:47:04There are cops investigating not quite a murder, but a hole in a roof and a missing husband for sure.
00:47:10And within that, there are ways for you guys to potentially lay low, but also moves you guys want to
00:47:16make if you are not damned to an eternity in a dying town.
00:47:21What do you guys, are any of you heading off, like, on an away mission right now?
00:47:28And are some of you staying to, like, get started on moving and shaking?
00:47:34I think, looking over to H.J., I think the Biz Kids is a good idea.
00:47:39I think we'll head to the university, see if we can talk to a few people, understand who might be
00:47:44excited by an opportunity to work with two incredibly significant new players in town.
00:47:51And I think we make a stop by City Hall, you know, perhaps we go in the back way if
00:47:55we need to.
00:47:55Maybe. And hear me out.
00:47:57I'm always open.
00:47:58A way to meet some of these kids. We do a movie screening, and we do American Psycho.
00:48:05This is why I love you. This is why I'm absolutely in love with you.
00:48:08Let's go hang up some posters.
00:48:09Let's go hang up some goddamn posters.
00:48:11I don't know. I don't think they'll be here yet. It's the very next day, but I ordered two electric
00:48:14scooters.
00:48:16And I ordered them delivery.
00:48:18You see there are two electric scooters waiting out in front of the house.
00:48:21You dog.
00:48:21My God.
00:48:22You dog.
00:48:23They're charged, according to Tevin.
00:48:24Oh, my God.
00:48:26You guys get on two little...
00:48:27We're sitting up so straight.
00:48:29Me and my child...
00:48:30I just want you to picture Daniel Plainview from There Will Be Blood on a bird scooter just whipping down
00:48:36the street.
00:48:37Anyone is welcome to join us.
00:48:38Posters from American Psycho.
00:48:40You will have to ride on the back of a scooter, but you are more than welcome.
00:48:43Hop on.
00:48:44I kind of want to do a bit of a scouting mission. This is a one-horse town. I want
00:48:49to talk to the horse.
00:48:51He's just talking into his own reflection in the bathroom here.
00:48:55Nothing. There's nothing there.
00:48:57You guys head out to the university.
00:48:59Are you guys going to pretend to be students tonight?
00:49:01I have to come clean. I do have a flaw, which is that I'm knowledge-hungry for zoology.
00:49:09So if I go into the university, it's going to be a lot of willpower rolls.
00:49:14Okay.
00:49:14Okay.
00:49:15That hunger is maxed out?
00:49:17I just have to make willpower rolls whenever the idea of learning about zoology is floated by me.
00:49:24Totally understandable.
00:49:25Yeah.
00:49:25Yeah.
00:49:26Maybe we can do like a double mission where you are learning about zoology, but maybe it's like a crypto
00:49:33-zoology type situation.
00:49:35Yeah.
00:49:36Oh, it's like I try to outsmart my flaw.
00:49:38Yes.
00:49:38Yeah.
00:49:39So you guys are going to go meet the teacher, right?
00:49:41Yes.
00:49:41That's the dream.
00:49:42See if she's on campus late at night.
00:49:44I'm going to get a big hoodie and I'm wearing a slip dress underneath it.
00:49:46The biggest hoodie you've seen, the smallest slip dress you've seen.
00:49:50Nice.
00:49:51Fantastic.
00:49:51I think you need a big hoodie too.
00:49:53I'm sorry.
00:49:54And I've got belt book on this.
00:49:55I put my double katanas under my huge hoodie.
00:50:00Perfect.
00:50:00Perfectly hidden.
00:50:01I'm ready.
00:50:02They're like dangling out.
00:50:04Awesome.
00:50:05That's awesome.
00:50:06Hell yes.
00:50:07Who's with me?
00:50:10You guys head over to the university for Darkness Man and Zayt, where are you guys headed off to?
00:50:18Hey, um, I feel like I'm not going to fit in at the school.
00:50:22I don't think school's for me right now.
00:50:25Should we see if the tunnels are real?
00:50:27Hey, all right.
00:50:29Fuck it.
00:50:31Is everyone cool if we go check out tunnels?
00:50:33You guys going to go together?
00:50:34Yes.
00:50:34That's very sweet.
00:50:35Maybe I should go with Darkness Man rather than be tempted by...
00:50:39I actually think it would be great if Darkness Man and Zayt really got some kind of bro time in,
00:50:44you know?
00:50:45Bro time.
00:50:46It might be reparative, you know?
00:50:48Okay.
00:50:49Bad Child, I mean, do you...
00:50:53You love being a superhero, but you also love zoology.
00:50:57Yeah, but only one of them is possible in my life anymore.
00:51:00Well, I think this is an opening for zoology as well, right?
00:51:04It's a very optimistic way to listen, to look at it.
00:51:07Okay, I'll go.
00:51:09Bad Child, if he's dumping you, I love having a sidekick.
00:51:13Doing the opposite of dumping.
00:51:15Being supportive.
00:51:16Sounds kind of like maybe he's dumping you.
00:51:18Yeah, let's go.
00:51:18Do you want to be my sidekick?
00:51:20Not at all.
00:51:23Come on, little guy.
00:51:25I'm literally thinking about going to this zoology class, okay?
00:51:31So, Darkness Man, Zayt, where do you guys head off to?
00:51:34Well, to go to the, near the interstate.
00:51:36I'll go to where Jeff described seeing fences and stuff, where there was, like, construction.
00:51:40Hell yeah.
00:51:40Go ahead and give me intelligence plus investigation.
00:51:44Whoop.
00:51:46You smart?
00:51:47Can I do a rouse check to try to roll more?
00:51:49Yeah, yeah, you can do a rouse check to try to roll more.
00:51:52Oh, shit.
00:51:53What else do you have?
00:51:54Your other mental stats are wits and resolve.
00:51:58Yeah, so go ahead.
00:51:58It's going to be intelligence plus investigation.
00:52:00Okay.
00:52:02One success on my one roll.
00:52:04Okay, nice.
00:52:04I got three successes.
00:52:06Okay.
00:52:07You guys go near the interstate.
00:52:09Basically, looking out across the interstate, it's just, you know, public land.
00:52:15It's like forest.
00:52:16It goes off the interstate a little bit.
00:52:18It might be someone's property up there, but it's undeveloped.
00:52:21The two places of interest to you are the Truckaroo, which is this big 24-hour truck stop.
00:52:29You guys stop in here.
00:52:31And then a place called Mama Angie's, which is a diner.
00:52:35Yeah, Mama Angie's Diner.
00:52:37So those two, the Truckaroo looks much more frequented.
00:52:40It's one of those big, like, you walk inside, there's a Cinnabon.
00:52:44There's a couple other different places in there, right?
00:52:46It's like a full 24-hour rest stop.
00:52:48There are already some semis that are parked here, refueling.
00:52:52And you see there's Mama Angie's Diner, which is a true old classic diner off the interstate there.
00:53:00And you sort of, looking around the interstate, you know, you can get up on your feet and kind of
00:53:04move around,
00:53:05but you don't see anything except maybe an old post of that kind of chain-link fence that Jeff was
00:53:12talking about.
00:53:12Does it look like, because he said in the 70s is when it seemed like there was construction.
00:53:18Yeah.
00:53:19Does it, just looking at, like, the architecture of these two buildings, does it look like they were built after
00:53:23that?
00:53:23You both look, and I think as you're looking around, Zayt, on those three successes, as Darkness Man says that,
00:53:29you see, as diners often do, it says, proudly serving since 1973 on the diner.
00:53:37Oh, so just right after.
00:53:39Maybe there's tunnels under these buildings.
00:53:42I think we should go in.
00:53:43All right.
00:53:44You walk into Mama Angie's and see an older Mediterranean-looking woman smiling.
00:53:51There's a couple truckers who are, like, at the counter actually getting coffee and stuff.
00:53:55She comes over and says, hey, sweetbees, how's it going?
00:53:59Come on, take a seat.
00:54:00Oh, you're, what are you, a musician?
00:54:03Yeah, we're a band.
00:54:05Okay, a couple of rock and roll players.
00:54:08Yeah.
00:54:09Okay.
00:54:09We do, like, a lo-fi thing.
00:54:11There's just two of us.
00:54:12We don't have a bassist.
00:54:14Okay.
00:54:15Hey, well, don't rock too hard in here.
00:54:18Okay, you're going to break the booth.
00:54:19And she moves you over.
00:54:22Sweeties, little sweeties, puts you into this booth.
00:54:24What can I get you?
00:54:26Black coffee and a newspaper.
00:54:33Okay.
00:54:33And I'll have a boiled ham sandwich and three sprites.
00:54:43Hey, hon, try again.
00:54:45Okay.
00:54:47All that.
00:54:48Darkest man, hurry.
00:54:49I'm trying.
00:54:50I'm just trying to see what's going on.
00:54:50Three sprites?
00:54:51I can get you three sprites.
00:54:52I'll have six sprites, actually.
00:54:55And a side of toast.
00:54:58And nine sprites.
00:54:59Nine sprites.
00:55:02I'll pour three to start, okay?
00:55:05Okay.
00:55:07Same trip.
00:55:09She goes and starts pouring it.
00:55:11Where is your bathroom?
00:55:13Yeah.
00:55:14Oh, bathroom?
00:55:15Yeah.
00:55:15You see that she goes and says,
00:55:17here, there's a key on the ladle over here.
00:55:20And you see that there is a staircase in the back that has a small railing that seems almost like
00:55:30it has a little, almost like, you know, curtains will have like a little monorail track that like they can
00:55:34move along.
00:55:35There's just an old, greasy ladle with a key taped to it, but it's hanging from a little railing.
00:55:41So you've got to follow the railing?
00:55:43You've got to follow the railing into the back.
00:55:45What?
00:55:48Is she looking?
00:55:49No, she says, like, she says, yeah, sweetie, just go back down the hallway.
00:55:53It's down the steps.
00:55:55Take a left.
00:55:57Just follow the ladle.
00:55:58Okay.
00:55:58Great.
00:55:59Okay.
00:55:59Let's go.
00:56:00Yeah.
00:56:00Do people try to steal the ladle a lot?
00:56:02Oh, yeah.
00:56:03Yeah, yeah, yeah.
00:56:04Just don't steal the ladle, right?
00:56:09Zayth, are you guys heading to the bathroom together?
00:56:11Yeah.
00:56:11Yeah, we went to the, we drink a lot of the crate.
00:56:13It's all buttoned up.
00:56:14You guys walk down this little hallway.
00:56:18See, there's like a couple crates of like the fountain drink mixes.
00:56:23You get to a part of the railing where there's a staircase that goes down and there's a door to
00:56:29your right.
00:56:29The ladle is moving down the staircase.
00:56:32The ladle is going past the door.
00:56:33Past the door, yeah.
00:56:35I'm going to give you the ladle because I'm going to rip it off because I'm very tempted.
00:56:39I'm going to try to open that door.
00:56:41Door opens, little diner office, just like some papers and stuff like that in here.
00:56:44I put some papers in my pocket and keep going.
00:56:47You guys head down the stairs.
00:56:49The railing moves around a corner.
00:56:51You see that there is a, what looks like a walk-in.
00:56:54And then there's another door that is closed.
00:56:58And then there's a door past it to a men's room and a ladies' room.
00:57:01We open the doors that are men's room and ladies' rooms.
00:57:05You open the fridge.
00:57:06Fridge looks like just a walk-in.
00:57:07And take something.
00:57:08Take something, put it in your pocket.
00:57:09You open the other door.
00:57:10It looks like a sort of little cement hallway.
00:57:13There's a mop up against it.
00:57:14This is now away from the railing with the ladle.
00:57:16At the end of the hallway with the mop,
00:57:18you can see that there's another wooden door
00:57:21that has a little caution sign on it.
00:57:23Let's go proceed cautiously.
00:57:25I take the mop.
00:57:26And I go into the...
00:57:27Poke the, use the mop to poke the door open.
00:57:31You poke that door open.
00:57:33This looks like a larger kind of boiler room.
00:57:36There are about four industrial-sized boilers.
00:57:39This room is slightly larger.
00:57:41And you can see at the back,
00:57:43there are two larger kind of heavy wooden doors
00:57:48that one of them has sort of like a,
00:57:52what looks like a crossing sign on it.
00:57:56And you see that the other one
00:57:58has a sort of danger electricity on it.
00:58:01Let's go danger electricity.
00:58:02Yeah.
00:58:03Go ahead.
00:58:03Great.
00:58:04Open danger electricity.
00:58:05You open danger electricity.
00:58:05By the way.
00:58:06Yeah.
00:58:06I'm sorry I've been giving you such a hard time.
00:58:09It's because I respect you.
00:58:11Okay, yeah.
00:58:11Stop stealing stuff and we're going.
00:58:15All right.
00:58:16You open this room.
00:58:18There is a small seat to the side.
00:58:20It looks like there's like a small kitchenette,
00:58:22coffee maker in here.
00:58:23There is a large electrical panel.
00:58:26It's very dust covered in here.
00:58:28Large electrical panel.
00:58:29Multiple different screens and gauges.
00:58:32It's about a 15 foot wide console panel in this room.
00:58:37In the floor to the left,
00:58:39you see that there is a small,
00:58:41almost like the garb of a spiral staircase,
00:58:43but with a circular hatch door in the floor.
00:58:46Awesome.
00:58:47Open the door.
00:58:48Let's go.
00:58:49And I'm going to text Batchild and take a video.
00:58:53I'm going to FaceTime you so that I can show you.
00:58:55There's some really neat stuff.
00:58:57We think the tunnels are under the freaking diner.
00:58:58Whoa, that's so awesome.
00:59:00Are you going to go in?
00:59:01Yeah.
00:59:02Holy shit.
00:59:02Zaythe, I think, is going to crack it.
00:59:04Hey, Zaythe.
00:59:05What's up?
00:59:06Hey.
00:59:06Follow the ladle.
00:59:07See, you can be a sidekick and still pursue your education.
00:59:11You can have it all.
00:59:14Do you guys open the hatch?
00:59:16I'm going to open it.
00:59:17The hatch goes 280 feet straight down.
00:59:20I go like this.
00:59:21I just jump down.
00:59:23You see that there are-
00:59:24Still on FaceTime.
00:59:25A ladder goes down.
00:59:27There's like 11 stories that have different steel doors in them.
00:59:32You get down.
00:59:33Four from the bottom is a steel door that is slightly ajar.
00:59:37Nah.
00:59:38I'm a little scared.
00:59:40Let's go.
00:59:40Yes, we got it.
00:59:41Yeah, let's go in.
00:59:42You go in.
00:59:43This is a locker room filled with discarded hazmat suits.
00:59:48Across the lockers, spray painted, are the words, end it, end it, please.
00:59:55Huh.
00:59:56Well, that's no good.
00:59:58Batchad, what do you think about all this?
01:00:00You do not get service here.
01:00:03We're going to jump down the-
01:00:04It's just my frozen face.
01:00:06Yeah.
01:00:07My education.
01:00:09She's thinking really hard.
01:00:11I'm going to try to hotspot.
01:00:14Yeah.
01:00:15Wow.
01:00:16End it.
01:00:16End it all.
01:00:17At the end of this locker room, you can see that there is a old, it feels very Cold War
01:00:24era, but a massive vault door.
01:00:27Interesting.
01:00:28Got to crack it.
01:00:31You open it.
01:00:33You are looking at an airplane hangar-sized subterranean place.
01:00:39There are two rows of three crucibles each.
01:00:44These crucibles have vents where something like molten steel would have poured out into them.
01:00:49It is now completely defunct in here.
01:00:52Both of you feel a hollow staleness to the air down here.
01:00:57No one's been down here in a long, long time.
01:00:59It's like, you see that this vault was vacuum sealed.
01:01:02There is a corrugated steel catwalk that goes out about, I don't know, a good 60 feet above the floor
01:01:14up here, like fully over these massive crucibles towards a central silo that looks like the base of a radio
01:01:23tower that is at the far end of the crucibles that appears to have-
01:01:29Nothing is lit in here.
01:01:31Everything is like either lights from your phone or your own vampiric sort of seeing in the dark.
01:01:35But you look out and see that there are some dull, very dull red lights on the exterior of this
01:01:42central radio tower column.
01:01:44Can I make an awareness check?
01:01:46Yeah, go for it.
01:01:47Yeah, I actually have pretty good awareness.
01:01:48Would I add anything to that?
01:01:50Intelligence or wits or resolve or anything?
01:01:52This would be awareness plus wits.
01:02:00Damn.
01:02:01Okay, and I got two willpower back from sleep.
01:02:03Yes, you did.
01:02:04Okay, I'm going to use-
01:02:05Oh, yeah, I'll use the willpower as well.
01:02:07I got one success.
01:02:10Okay, there we go.
01:02:11I got four successes.
01:02:12I got three successes.
01:02:13You look and see this radio tower at the far end of this room.
01:02:19You can-
01:02:19An underground radio tower.
01:02:22Yes, an underground radio tower.
01:02:24You look as you approach off in the corner, you see as you- on that awareness check, you move
01:02:30forward.
01:02:30There is definitely some form of energy moving here in this space.
01:02:34It's hard to tell what.
01:02:35So you approach the tower.
01:02:37You look down and see that over on one of the walls covered in cobwebs is a smiling portrait of
01:02:42Richard Nixon.
01:02:43As you-
01:02:44I don't think I've ever seen Richard Nixon smiles.
01:02:47I'm getting a picture of it.
01:02:49Teeth out?
01:02:50Teeth out.
01:02:51As you approach the radio tower, you see that there is a final sort of, like, moment before you cross
01:02:58over this little threshold into the circular walkway that surrounds this radio tower.
01:03:04There is a door here that just has, it's just a normal metal door with a latched handle.
01:03:12It has been locked, but it leads you into the interior of the radio tower where you can see that
01:03:18there are several sort of casements that have keys turned under glass compartments.
01:03:26And you see that of them, only one of them is turned on and is glowing red in there.
01:03:36Pulsing with energy.
01:03:38I'm feeling like I'm really having to stop myself.
01:03:41Yeah.
01:03:41I'm definitely going to turn that key.
01:03:42It just seems like whatever they were doing here was bad.
01:03:46Darkness, man.
01:03:47It's not good here.
01:03:49Yeah.
01:03:49You're going to have five seconds to stop me from turning that key.
01:03:52Okay, I don't know.
01:03:53Can I do a technology check to see if I can sort of figure out?
01:03:57Give me intelligence plus technology.
01:03:58Zayth, go ahead and give me a strength plus larceny to just bust through the lock on this door.
01:04:08That's three.
01:04:09Three successes.
01:04:10You fucking one hand, bam, potence, you're through there, no problem.
01:04:14What'd you get?
01:04:14I got three on technology.
01:04:17On your technology, Zayth, you move forward.
01:04:19You can feel the energy pulsing off of this thing.
01:04:23It is an annoying, noxious buzzing.
01:04:27The energy pulsing off of here is a truly like wheedling.
01:04:32There's something foul about this energy coming off this thing that you hate.
01:04:36On that technology, you begin to look at the other casements and see several other things here.
01:04:42One of them appears to be a sign for radiation.
01:04:44Another one appears to be a sign for biohazard.
01:04:47There are a couple different like cases being turned on here for some kind of,
01:04:51it's either like an alert system or something else like that.
01:04:54Zayth, what do you do as you enter the room?
01:04:56I lower my sunglasses.
01:04:58You didn't?
01:05:00I'm going in.
01:05:01Okay.
01:05:02I'm wondering, is this, did somebody like release radiation?
01:05:07Is this, has this been happening over and over again in Purpee?
01:05:09that there's workers being killed by the people in power?
01:05:15What?
01:05:16But there's, there's radiation released or something, right?
01:05:19And there was flooding in the other thing, right?
01:05:30Zayth, what do you do?
01:05:31Come in here and let's talk.
01:05:36I, I think, I mean, it's, it's just, it feels like someone didn't want something to get out.
01:05:43Or they wanted it in.
01:05:46I think they might have killed the people in here.
01:05:49Just in the way that they flooded the mine.
01:05:51Oh, yeah.
01:05:53Huh.
01:05:54So maybe we can turn the key.
01:05:56Because maybe the radiation is released right now.
01:05:59So if we turn the key, it would turn the radiation off?
01:06:03That's the working theory.
01:06:05Let's test it, baby.
01:06:08You turn the key that has been in here, pulsing in this energy for decades, deep under the ground.
01:06:15The key snaps in your hand, breaking off in the lock as the energy dies.
01:06:21As it dies, you hear darkness.
01:06:31All of the vents that lead into the crucibles, exhale debris, dust, and rubble.
01:06:39At the same time, and you hear two colossal thuds.
01:06:50Both of you, your vision leaves this place.
01:06:53Somewhere far from here, you have drawn the attention of something ancient, profound, powerful.
01:07:05You know that something that was kept from this place for ages may now return.
01:07:15As you look down at the symbol in this last compartment, no longer drowned out in red light, and see
01:07:23a single footprint.
01:07:26That's all for this episode of Dimension 20, City Council of Darkness.
01:07:32He'll even stop.
01:07:35Yeah, yeah.
01:07:36Standing up is so straight.
01:07:37I did not die here in Granite Village.
01:07:41I died across the interstate when this place was young, building that silo.
01:07:49When its protector came to stop us.
01:07:52Well, thank you for that clarity.
01:07:54Now go, be at peace.
01:07:57What?
01:07:57Did you have another...
01:07:59What were you reading about?
01:08:01About South American anacondas?
01:08:03Reading about creatures that can consume their prey hole.
01:08:07Oh, like, it almost seems like their mouth turns into a portal to the abyss.
01:08:13It's a weirdly specific thing to say.
01:08:16But who are the real monsters?
01:08:19Oh?
01:08:20What these books presuppose is sometimes it's a beautiful teenage boy who's actually 400 years old.
01:08:28Okay.
01:08:29No more government agents!
01:08:32Stay out!
01:08:33You're a dreamer.
01:08:33Yeah, Mr.
01:08:34You believe?
01:08:35Yeah.
01:08:36You eat what you kill?
01:08:37You kill it every day.
01:08:38Congratulations, you're hired.
01:08:39Eat it every...
01:08:40Yep, eat it every day.
01:08:41So I'd love to give myself a really botched facelift.
01:08:46Great.
01:08:46So that I can go to this party.
01:08:47I do not look away.
01:08:49It looks good, H.J.
01:08:50It looks really...
01:08:52Jesus.
01:08:52Those lips.
01:08:53You guys never drink.
01:08:55Can I bring that up?
01:08:56Yeah, but we tip so well.
01:08:59We tip so well.
01:09:00What are you looking for?
01:09:01You know, it's like...
01:09:02Are you a different guy?
01:09:03Fucking insane, bro.
01:09:04Now, are we going to that party or what?
01:09:06This is how they do it in San Francisco.
01:09:10Oh, shit!
01:09:11Call 911!
01:09:12Call 911!
01:09:13No joke!
01:09:13He's dead!
01:09:15And I joke.
01:09:16Straight up in the air with him.
01:09:18I didn't want to go to this party!
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