Discover what happens when a high-stakes cosmic horror investigation collides with the clinical grimness of a gritty espionage thriller. In this episode of our Delta Green actual play campaign, Damnatio Memoriae, the sleep-deprived agents of the cell arrive in Seattle at 5:00 AM, pushed to their absolute limits and running on pure adrenaline.

To track an elusive target through a city plagued by a strange environmental contagion that systematically erases human memory, the team relies on a brilliant bureaucratic loophole: tracking the automated data networks that are physically incapable of forgetting. The investigation leads them to a decaying, mold-infested apartment containing a long-abandoned laptop. The recovered digital archives reveal a history of terrifying, desperate biological experiments—forcing the cell to confront a horrific tactical reality to neutralize the threat.

With the clock ticking toward the final incursion, the agents plan a tense tactical stakeout at a street-level coffee shop embedded in a massive, condemned downtown department store.

Made in partnership with Hand on the Door.

Patrick G - Handler and co-writer

Damnatio Memoriae Written by Hank Belanger

Music by Sam Winham - Listen to more of his jams.

Cast

Sam as Mull

Jimmy as Moorison

Jordan as Magpie

Nick as Miles

Listen on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/576NbWAEm1uOBDxlW1F4Os?si=c7228e49ddb94035

Listen on Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/dead-letter-bureau-delta-green/id1826992923

Find us on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@deadletterbureau

Find transcripts: https://dead-letter-bureau.captivate.fm/

Talk to us on Discord: https://discord.gg/2RFYaWHm33

Published by arrangement with the Delta Green Partnership. The intellectual property known as Delta Green is a trademark and copyright owned by the Delta Green Partnership, who has licensed its use here. The contents of this podcast are ©Nick Sayers, excepting those elements that are components of the Delta Green intellectual property.

Hey, it's Nick here, dropping at the beginning of the episode, and I just wanted to thank

the casting crew for this great season.

2

Uh, we only have a few episodes left, and Patrick has done an amazing job running and

helping write Demnotio Memore with Hank Bellinger.

3

I really respect both of them and have loved playing through this scenario, and hopefully

they're both back on the show in some way.

4

I also want to thank Sam and Jimmy from Hand on the Door.

5

They were very generous with their time.

6

Sam helped make all the music for this season as well.

7

And they're just all around great dudes.

8

So if you can follow Hand on the Door, if you haven't already, you should follow them on

whatever podcast platform you listen on.

9

And on that note, if you are listening on Spotify, Apple Music, or whatever other

platform, give Dead Letter Bureau a quick rating.

10

It really helps us reach.

11

a wider audience and I think that especially with season two we wanna get as many people

listening as possible because we think that what we do is really fun and great

12

storytelling.

13

So thank you finally to all the listeners.

14

Appreciate you guys.

15

It is about five AM when you get to your first destination, which was Anthony Hayden's

apartment.

16

Morrison, all of a sudden you crash.

17

You're exhausted.

18

This has been too much for one day.

19

Um you're you're gonna take the penalties for being exhausted until you get some rest.

20

Sure.

21

Or until you do some harder drugs.

22

Take your pick.

23

This app.

24

Hm.

25

I think I'm probably angry enough that I d I'm tired, but I'm like, we're here, we need to

do stuff and I just wanna keep moving.

26

hey magpie, you got any modafinil in there?

27

Which modafinil's like meth methamphetamine light.

28

it's used for people who have like hypersomnolence, which is like excessive sleep.

29

Yeah, sure.

30

Got a little pharmacy to be sure, or do I just hand it over?

31

you've got like a fifty pharmacy, right?

32

Fifty And this is your going to do crimes bag?

33

Crimes.

34

Yeah, you've got some modafinil.

35

Big what is it?

36

You got it, Medaffinil.

37

Alright, yeah.

38

No, you've got it.

39

Does Morrison need to take a con check as he pops these?

40

I think they're schedule three, which means like they are controlled substances, so I'm

gonna say yes.

41

Let me check.

42

I'm curious now.

43

It doesn't matter, but let's say yes.

44

Okay.

45

Give me a contract, please.

46

Uh which direction?

47

uh success.

48

Sixty six under eighty five.

49

Your heart does not stop.

50

Yeah, give me a two D six.

51

Six total.

52

Okay.

53

Very good.

54

Yeah, you have that crazy feeling.

55

You are more alert, but have you ever you you've I'm sure pulled an all-nighter.

56

You know that feeling of having drunk maybe a a uh quart of coffee and the sun is coming

up and your guts are turning over and you're like, this is not what a human should feel

57

like.

58

That's you.

59

Yeah, just running on pure hate and like jitteriness.

60

Like I've keep feeling like I need to clinch my jaw.

61

But you you do focus in uh basically right as you all pull up to uh the apartment complex.

62

It's sort of an older building, it's blocky and in pretty obvious disrepair.

63

There are the cars in the neighborhood are beaters, some of them have boots on some of

them have busted out windows with like plastic bags taped in, that sort of thing.

64

It's a shitty neighborhood.

65

You can the the building is shaped like a horseshoe, so there's a small inner courtyard

and uh basically three front doors that lead to each apartment block.

66

You have his address, so there shouldn't be any trouble finding the place.

67

For as shitty as it is, are there people who are like out milling about, you know?

68

There are, yeah.

69

Not even milling about.

70

Uh there's people sitting on stairs, there's people there's a couple of people on a

balcony and they are just nakedly looking at you.

71

Not really with hostility but with interest.

72

walk in like we own the place, they're not gonna remember shit anyway, so

73

Yeah, I think um maybe we all come out, right?

74

I think we pull up, we hear Miles say that, and then I think we all file out with the

utmost amount of purpose that we can muster at, you know, three whatever it is, four in

75

the morning, three in the morning, um, hopped up on stuff.

76

and I I'm imagining us as like a group, right?

77

Like form together, move and just go straight for it.

78

I don't think that there's any reason to

79

fuck around with anyone, uh a around all of us.

80

So um I think Mole probably takes front if that's okay with everybody to just front like

get ready to go knock on the door.

81

Sure, yeah.

82

You enter the the you know, the apartment block on the left and like you have to sort of

step around a group of like just kids.

83

Like, you know, just just like maybe fifteen hanging out.

84

They've been out all night.

85

They they sort of watch you as you go in and they look at you and they look at your shitty

van and they look back at you and you go in.

86

Can I while we're doing that, can I roll a human for to get a a sense of w what I'm

looking for is is this a normal amount of watching?

87

Is this are we just being taken in because we're coming into this area, it's their turf,

or is this something outside of that?

88

Sixty five on a sixty.

89

So nope.

90

Whatever it is, you don't like it.

91

Fair enough.

92

Is there mailboxes outside of the units on the way?

93

There are, yeah, for sure.

94

Um and you do spot a mailbox associated with Anthony Hayden's apartment number.

95

It is jammed, jammed full of shit.

96

Like the other it's it's you know, those rows of letter boxes and the others are, you

know, sort of worn out worn out, dinged up.

97

But there are like flyers and letters and

98

All sorts of shit like just crammed in the little vents of this thing.

99

Uh th there's a couple of like just d was that just your Miles Yanking stuff?

100

I'm gonna pull whatever I can out of that and start flipping through it on our walk.

101

Yeah, for sure.

102

some of it, you know, flyers, whatever.

103

Um, you know, pizza coupons and shit.

104

but some of them are pay stubs.

105

Can I open those and look at the dates?

106

Yeah, sure.

107

We'll get to that in a minute.

108

Okay.

109

So that's what you're dealing with on your way up to the apartment.

110

Mul you get to the door.

111

Yeah, I think and again from you guys standpoint, if you don't stop Mole, Mole's just

going to do things.

112

I think you have realized that.

113

I mean, that's just where he's at.

114

so I think we pull up.

115

I think that I'm in a state of mind enough where I give a pause to make sure every

nobody's going to stop me on something, and then I just fucking knock rap on the door.

116

Just pop, pop, pop.

117

Yeah.

118

You knock on the door and um about a minute goes by.

119

Another minute goes by.

120

How long are you gonna stand out here in this hallway?

121

I would give it probably two minutes before he turn uh Mole turns around, looks at the

three of you and is like, Uh, do we just fucking bust it down?

122

Out of the four of us, who is the door buster?

123

'Cause I don't think quite honestly that that would be Mole.

124

I think it's Mike.

125

Yeah.

126

Yeah, what I'm gonna shoulder try to shoulder the door open and see if I can just like do

it quieter than charging it or doing something dumb.

127

So

128

Yeah, to do it quietly I would take um either a stealth or even a criminology.

129

Oh well that's not what Miles will do then.

130

Miles kick it.

131

Tell me about your strength then.

132

I've sixteen or an eighty, so

133

Okay.

134

yeah, you don't have to roll at all because this door was not locked at all.

135

There we go.

136

This is slowly becoming a hand on the door game.

137

You know, I love the idea that Mole's like, all right, what do we fucking do?

138

Turns around, just kind of steps out of the way, and then we just see Miles kick the

fucking door in.

139

It's like a practice thing for us to some degree, but like was not needed.

140

Yeah.

141

I also

142

Mind the idea that that Mole asserted that the door was locked and sent sent you at it,

right?

143

And and now he he's like whoopsie.

144

Yeah.

145

Sorry.

146

Okay, well mm let's see what we can find quickly I guess 'cause I made a lot of noise.

147

Yeah, in you go.

148

this apartment smells weird.

149

And not just musty, although it does smell musty, and not just damp, although it it does

smell damp.

150

Um, it doesn't smell of rot per se, but there is a sharp, almost acidic, acrid odor in the

air.

151

It seems as though someone has uh pasted newspapers over the windows behind the blinds, or

underneath the blinds.

152

the the light of the sunrise w is weak anyhow, but is uh barely filtering through.

153

the yeah, i it's it's not really light enough to get a great view in here.

154

What are you guys flashlights?

155

Try the switch.

156

You try the switch and it does not turn on.

157

Yeah, I imagine that Morrison definitely has like flashlights.

158

Mm-hmm.

159

Yeah.

160

Sure.

161

Yeah, you get your flashlight out and the the first thing you I assume you look at is the

the bulb in the fixture on the ceiling and it's smashed.

162

Yeah.

163

Okay.

164

Yeah, I probably get my flashlight out and also pull out one of my pistols, do the little

like tactical grip.

165

Sure, yeah, tact grip.

166

And kinda look around the room.

167

Any of you can have flashlights or even your phone light.

168

The room is moldy.

169

There is black mold on the walls and sort of damp and other sort of y you know how uh

cheap furniture, like particle board, chipboard furniture with uh like laminate plastic on

170

it?

171

If you get that too wet it swells and cracks.

172

like all the tables and all the chairs are swollen and cracked and a little moldy and and

it's humid in here and you do actually hear like a an occasional dripping from further in

173

the apartment.

174

Those does it look so I'm imagining this.

175

I can I can picture the the mold, I can picture the the destroyed kind of shitty

furniture.

176

Does it still look like lived in though, or does it look like t like sealed time has

forgotten kind of you know what I mean?

177

I have fuck, I have no forensics, I only have green knowledge.

178

to it.

179

Miles would be looking at that as well, um, be after you looked at the mail and yeah, his

forensics is at sixty.

180

Yeah, so the mail the mail is pay stubs from as as recently as two weeks ago.

181

From the it was like a a coffee.

182

Coffee at 300 Pine Street.

183

Let's go.

184

I know exactly where that's at.

185

Yeah, exactly.

186

It's like where most of the drugs like pass hands in Seattle, so

187

It's the old Bon Marche building.

188

Yep.

189

There's a reason that it's the old Bon Marchais building.

190

Yeah.

191

Well.

192

Yeah, you look at the at them and there's four paychecks here.

193

Two weeks ago, two weeks before that, two weeks before that, back to eight weeks ago.

194

Jesus.

195

And they're all for zero dollars and zero cents.

196

And so the two pieces of information we've gotten about him is this address and that he

worked at this coffee shop.

197

And he's still getting pay stubs from them?

198

that the last time that he paid his taxes was twenty twenty.

199

don't love doing this, so say no if it's if you don't want it.

200

I do have an accounting of seventy.

201

Um and so I guess is there something is there anything that would come to Mole's business

accounting mind for why he would get those pay stubs.

202

Yeah.

203

For sure.

204

Also again, you could say no 'cause you know, if it's like a puzzle oh

205

Totally, that's fine.

206

What's the uh what's your unnatural at?

207

Thirteen.

208

Yeah.

209

I'll let you roll accounting or unnatural, and that'll that'll decide what sort of

information you get off this.

210

If you choose to roll unnatural and you fail, we had this conversation previously, uh

there are consequences.

211

Take your pick.

212

Just the way your eyes lit up when he said you can roll accounting are a natural was

pretty accurate.

213

Yeah, I mean I'm not gonna not roll roll on that when I have a

214

You have a seventy account.

215

It seems wild to me though that I would not re

216

Oh.

217

Something about this seems wild.

218

I think you're right about that.

219

um

220

This is

221

Like rolling this over in his mind and he's like, Hey, but do the practical thing.

222

It's not just you here, Lord.

223

You need to serve your flock.

224

if you say that, I think actually that is a reasonable kind of play into the delusions

that Mole has.

225

I think that's actually a reasonable way to go about doing that.

226

Um that's fine.

227

I ruined one thing already.

228

Let's not ruin two things.

229

but what are you feeling there?

230

Like I mean, I get doing the practical thing, but if there's something that you feel like

231

Ooh, yeah, do I get any sense of any sense of what the unnatural

232

Will let you roll

233

Go with your gut mole.

234

Okay, my gut is unnatural unfortunately for everyone involved here.

235

If I critically fail this, I think I'm kicked off.

236

Holy shit, I got a fucking seven.

237

Are you kidding me?

238

Yes!

239

Yes.

240

uh

241

Seven.

242

Let's fucking go.

243

All that luck at once.

244

Ooh.

245

That's great.

246

Mull, these are automated pay stubs.

247

This is from a payroll system being generated automatically.

248

And yeah, whatever this is, it makes people forget.

249

If the people have forgotten, but the software knows how many hours are worked, then why

wouldn't more pay sh pay stubs be issued?

250

So the people at the coffee shop.

251

I'll forget.

252

I'll also let Mo ask with everyone else's headphones off, you can ask me a question.

253

Okay, now I need to think though for a second.

254

Off the top of my demo pay stuff that are Okay, here's my question.

255

Um, fuck, do we already know this though?

256

It I guess it doesn't tell me.

257

Okay.

258

Yeah.

259

I I guess thinking putting that together, that like people forget to put in things, but

the auto pay stuff is putting stuff in, then I start thinking about the route of like

260

technologically, how can we

261

get to him?

262

How can we see his history?

263

How can we understand something about him?

264

Because it sounds like, right, it's not the it's technology that's allowing this to for us

to do that.

265

So I think my question would be is how can we delve further into understanding him but

using the kind of technological aspect of things because that doesn't forget unlike human

266

memory.

267

Because this seems like very much a human

268

So uh I'll just let you ask that later and like rul a bureaucracy or a computer science or

whatever.

269

I meant ask me something about the unnatural, about the threat you're facing.

270

Oh, sick.

271

Okay.

272

Um

273

I didn't actually say it, but that is what I meant.

274

No, I love that.

275

That's great.

276

obviously feel free to k like cut down to whatever you think.

277

I think that Mole, because the worms, because of this delusional p parasitosis he has, he

has really been thinking over and over that you can't die.

278

This is you you know, this is almost like a Christ like figure in his head that that the

kid who we couldn't kill.

279

So I think the question in his head is, how would you actually go about sacrificing

280

Killing or in killing's maybe even not the right word, but kind of how do you get at this

thing that, you know, in his mind is maybe an outcropping of God?

281

And he obviously has taken it in and said, I have this in myself.

282

even whether he does or does not.

283

His question really is do we have this inside of us and can we get this put inside of us?

284

Ooh.

285

That's that's his fucking question.

286

Okay.

287

Yeah.

288

Yeah, you you have a moment of clarity, a very brief moment of clarity for Mul.

289

And you know that the woman whose head you saw explode, she had to work pretty hard to

memorize the chant, and she had to work pretty hard to memorize the shapes and the forms,

290

and to the extent that after two weeks of practice, she didn't even do it right the first

time.

291

And and it failed right then and there.

292

So it might be a little harder to accidentally trigger than you guys are imagining it to

be.

293

Right.

294

Right.

295

It it's

296

isn't to say that it's not dangerous.

297

Right.

298

But you may be you obviously are infected, but they might be clear.

299

Sure.

300

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

301

No, I think that he gets that that moment of clarity does not involve himself, right?

302

No.

303

It does not involve himself.

304

Because that is core to his identity now is that he is Yeah, yeah, exactly.

305

Yeah.

306

He's taking on that uh Christ like feeling.

307

Okay.

308

Okay.

309

So

310

Alright, I'm gonna get everyone back in.

311

Yep.

312

Mull, you have all those insights.

313

Feel free to express them or don't.

314

Yeah, you're in a moldy apartment, guys.

315

Forensics wise.

316

Well I don't know if mole expresses a whole lot to you guys as it stands right now.

317

He may be moling things over a little bit.

318

You can give don't forget, you have two pieces of information here.

319

The first being about the pay stubs.

320

Yeah, I guess that's true.

321

Um, I guess uh looking at the the pay stuff stuff, he is he so looks like these are

automatic payments.

322

Okay, so I mean looking at this place, looking at the black mold, this looks like a dead

end, but we can let's keep searching it.

323

Can I get that forensics to see it gleam sixty.

324

Yeah, I'm gonna say you don't even need to roll you've got some sciences too, right?

325

Yeah.

326

Biochemistry, chemical engineering and chemical physics.

327

Yeah.

328

one, this is black mold, uh, heads up.

329

yeah, you put on a like an you get an N ninety five out of your bag and put it on.

330

yeah, two, no, this is a serious amount of mold, but somebody was living here uh with the

mold.

331

Um this is a lived in space.

332

how far into the apartment are you going?

333

You enter into the living room.

334

There's a probably a bathroom and a

335

Maybe a small bedroom further in?

336

I imagine that I just hand the pay stubs over to Mole and just start walking through after

I tell him to trust his gut and am just going deeper and deeper.

337

Morson.

338

pass the bathroom, you glance into the bathroom and the the tub is full.

339

It's at the overflow.

340

The chromed overflow is rusted almost all the way through.

341

Some lot of water damage here and decay from the water and moisture.

342

That is where the dripping is coming from, is the bathtub tap occasionally drips into the

tub.

343

Magpie, do you think let's say he's living here?

344

Like I mean, what shape could he be in if he's like in this environment?

345

I know black mold is extremely deadly over time and it looks like he's been here for

years.

346

Now that isn't to say that it looks like anyone has been here recently.

347

it's pretty hard to tell.

348

Uh okay, actually do give me that forensics.

349

Can I Yeah, please, both of you.

350

Fifty nine under sixty.

351

Hell yeah.

352

Forty three over forty over.

353

Not quite.

354

with your success, yeah, uh the mold has been here for a while.

355

This is this is like uh ruin a building levels of mold.

356

This has spread, it's in the walls, it's in the ducts.

357

This is like a huge problem.

358

Um, but it's been here for a while, and it doesn't seem like anyone has been here in at

the very least a couple of months, possibly longer.

359

It's it's a little hard to tell about that.

360

Yeah, guys, I mean, the way I can see it, it looks like somebody hasn't been here for a

few months.

361

I think maybe we can pick up a trail from here, but we're not gonna find him right now.

362

but the pay stubs I mean it's the only other place we got on him is the coffee shop, so if

we're feeling thirsty later, I think we hit that before we talk to our handler.

363

While they're doing that, can Mole be searching for anything that may give him any idea of

where, you know I mean, I know this is too obvious, but like, you know, like the brochure

364

for an apartment somewhere else or something like that.

365

But just anything that may tell you, you know, maybe he left for something else.

366

No.

367

But you do find his laptop.

368

It's in his bedroom.

369

It's under his bed.

370

Okay.

371

Uh does it look like it is it look like it hasn't been used in a long time?

372

It does look like it has not been used in a long time.

373

You'll probably have to plug it in.

374

Uh I found the the the the kid's computer.

375

You find a charger too, no problem.

376

from you mall and say, let me see.

377

And I'm not gonna plug anything in this apartment though guys.

378

Like I don't wanna get electrocuted, so

379

Yeah, it's all wet.

380

Makes sense.

381

I think Agent Morrison looks for like a a broom or something long and he wants to poke the

water in the tub.

382

Kinda poke around with the broom.

383

He doesn't want to, but he's like

384

Yeah.

385

Yeah, you find a you find a broom, maybe it's the same broom that they use to s smash out

the light bulbs, but you dip it in the water and sort of part the the sort of fatty scum

386

layer on the top.

387

Mm-hmm.

388

And there's nothing in there.

389

Okay.

390

Like corpse paste fatty?

391

No, this is now corpse wax.

392

Thank you.

393

I'm sorry for giving a description that made it sound like it was.

394

I was really hoping.

395

I was really hoping.

396

You found Anthony.

397

He's dead.

398

Aye, that would be pretty cool, but that is not what we're doing here.

399

I mean, I guess w we we should definitely power up the laptop, take a look at things.

400

it would probably be good to my concern with going to the coffee shop is nobody's gonna

remember him.

401

Um but maybe we could get camera footage or something like that, and see if we see anybody

that resemble well, we do do do we know what he looks like for yes, we

402

We've seen do Yeah, we burned them alive.

403

Burned him alive in a boat.

404

It's also possible that there are more extensive electronic records within their system,

right?

405

Something else that might give us another clue.

406

And

407

oh Just staking it out a little bit and seeing.

408

So yeah.

409

okay.

410

Yeah, I'll go see if there's a haul plug.

411

If not, I might have a power inverter I can use in the van to plug this thing in.

412

There's a there's an outlet in the hallway.

413

Yeah.

414

I'll plug it in, boot it up, sit down cross legged, have my pistol under the laptop just

in case n one of these people comes around to fuck with us.

415

Who's joining Miles in the hallway?

416

I'm probably standing at the front door like waiting for the cops or to see if anyone else

comes.

417

think I am just loosely turning over debris uh in an unsearched room.

418

Sure.

419

Mole is on his phone trying to look up more information about the coffee shop itself.

420

Yeah.

421

See if he can find like an owner or a manager or some name that maybe he could once we go

there, if we wanted to go in there, he could drop

422

Yeah, absolutely.

423

Miles, you can give me a computer science with a plus twenty.

424

Be an eighty one and I got seventy-six.

425

So thank you for that plus twenty.

426

Alright.

427

Yeah.

428

You find a a a couple of files that you think might be interesting.

429

Um they're the two most recently accessed files.

430

You know when you open up the file browser and it's like, look at your recent shit.

431

these are the these are the two most recent files.

432

They're from twenty twenty two.

433

They're both videos.

434

And they Yep.

435

They're both videos and they're both dated twenty twenty two.

436

you can either watch them now or you can like watch them with everyone else so I don't

have to describe it twice.

437

Yeah, I mean I would pull everybody around and show them.

438

Guys, check this out and I'm gonna play the most recent file.

439

Whatever makes sense for you, like.

440

No.

441

Take your pick.

442

First or second.

443

The first Okay.

444

You you you're able to see the stills of both of them, the previews, you know.

445

And they both look like they are in the bathroom.

446

You open up the video and it is uh a shot of Anthony Hayden.

447

It looks like he's put the laptop sort of on a maybe on a low table or something, so that

uh

448

He can see it in the mirror, but he's got it set up so that it's recording him looking

directly into the camera with the mirror behind him.

449

And he he doesn't look good.

450

He's kind of he's gray-ish, but in an unwell way, not in like an alien way.

451

He's he's ashen, he looks sweaty,

452

He looks like he has not slept.

453

He's got those enormous circles under his eyes.

454

He looks he looks cadaverous, frankly.

455

And he looks into the camera, and he pauses for a second, and he takes a Phillips head

screwdriver, pulls his eyelid down, and slams it through his eye socket and screams.

456

He screams and screams, and as he screams, he takes the screwdriver and wrenches it

towards his nasal bone in a way that that would shatter the temporal bone of his skull.

457

Instead of watching bone splinter, you see his skin distend as the screwdriver presses on

it from the inside before.

458

Of the screwdriver sort of slides and slips out, allowing him to s pull the entire

screwdriver sideways out of his head with a sort of squelching noise, and wrapped around

459

that screwdriver are dozens hundreds of thin, filamentious, wriggling tendrils.

460

Anthony screams and grabs at them with both hands and pulls and yanks.

461

But they they slip out of his fingers and slap back into his head like a like a like a

measuring tape almost.

462

That's video one.

463

Okay guys.

464

We we found him, definitely.

465

Uh

466

you hear mole mutter under his breath, not all crosses are wood again.

467

Yeah.

468

Okay, mull we'll see what this next cross bears and I'll play the other file.

469

Yeah.

470

It's Anthony again, and he is trembling.

471

Um he's got his laptop at a much lower angle now, so that you can uh get a get a good

angle sort of behind his head.

472

And he's got a an X sort of an inch and a half behind his ear marked with a Sharpie.

473

And there's n there's no sound in this one.

474

Um like maybe the mic is broken.

475

But uh briefly you can see something wriggling.

476

under his skull.

477

You can see the fresh the flesh rise.

478

Um from out of frame, he pulls out a uh bright yellow corded electric drill with shaking

fingers, and he fastens a half inch bit into the chuck.

479

he has to use both hands and turn his head all the way to the right to position the drill

the way he wants it.

480

and about two inches behind his left ear, the bit

481

digs into the skin and he pulls the trigger and you watch him scream silently.

482

Briefly before the entire drill plunges uh deep into his head.

483

Uh and it looks like Anthony is able to keep it there for a few seconds, before he he sort

of seizes up, um, begins to shake and falls out of frame.

484

Uh and the the the frame is empty for about a minute before he very shakily pulls himself

back up and turns to check.

485

He gingerly checks behind his ear and there is no blood, no mark, no hole.

486

And uh you watch him uh scream again silently into the recording and sort of slam the

laptop.

487

And that would be consistent when with what we dealt with before and that when we caused

him harm, it seemed to heal immediately, right?

488

I just want to make sure there's not been a change in that at all.

489

Yeah.

490

Okay.

491

I don't know that I would call it healing, but yeah.

492

Yeah.

493

Sure.

494

Was like there was just no damage.

495

Y yeah.

496

Yeah, fair, fair.

497

But in the the body is influenzable.

498

Yeah, no, that makes sense to me.

499

That they're it it I I I know what you mean.

500

Um and so that's not that doesn't look like that's become more intense, worsened or

something like that.

501

Like

502

It doesn't look good.

503

Yeah.

504

I don't know about more intense.

505

Sort of up to you.

506

I would like a sand check.

507

Yeah.

508

Just

509

From everyone, I'm assuming.

510

Yes.

511

What about those of us that believe the worms are good?

512

Do y No, I don't.

513

This is the well, I mean, I am forced to assume what freaks you out about this is the

unnatural, rather than the violence.

514

I dunno.

515

I think that would get me a bit more.

516

Maybe it doesn't do Miles quite like that.

517

Fail.

518

Fail twenty four on a twenty.

519

Past.

520

Twenty one, Agent Morrison.

521

We'll get you to that breaking point someday.

522

Uh I'd like a D six from everyone else for witnessing a violent supernatural act.

523

One for Magpie.

524

Two for Mull.

525

Three for Miles.

526

Alrighty.

527

Miles, do you have any disorders?

528

Can you give me that uh follow up sand check?

529

Hey, Mull.

530

Give me a follow up sand Pass.

531

Yep.

532

Well you can

533

Continue to be in the throes of your acute episode.

534

Not that you've stopped role playing that yet.

535

Yeah, I think the biggest thing for that though for us is that Mole can no longer um do

some of his persuasion stuff 'cause we had allowed that, right?

536

Because we were back like outside of the megalomania instant.

537

Now we're kind of back into that.

538

I do think that you guys would at least notice that glint in his eye that is like he's,

you know, t getting further back into the religious bent.

539

Uh

540

And so I I wouldn't say that you guys would not know that he maybe can't be trusted for

the social skills that you're used to.

541

As long as you're cool with that, Patrick.

542

Yeah, totally.

543

And they should not have eaten that really, really crunchy cookie just now.

544

No, you're good.

545

Um, okay, so that was weird.

546

And I mean, we kinda witnessed this already, two thousand nineteen, but I mean it doesn't

get us any closer to him.

547

This was this bathroom and it's been a little bit since he's been here.

548

Again, we only have the coffee shop.

549

Like we need to figure out something and get it exposed to this gas.

550

Was there a timestamp on those videos, or like a date on the files?

551

Yes.

552

mid twenty twenty two.

553

twenty two, that's right, yeah.

554

So years after we first saw him, so

555

And he did reconstitute into a human after he turned into a mass of worms and dispersed

into the water, which is interesting.

556

Isn't that what happened at the end or no?

557

Did he just burn and I thought he was all like wormy and like No?

558

Okay we

559

he didn't that was just a yeah, that was just a people.

560

Okay.

561

I thought that like the worms like came out of his skin and like swam off.

562

I misunderstood the end.

563

that's horrendous.

564

Yeah.

565

Well, I don't know.

566

That's how you remember it now.

567

So Yeah.

568

I think that's a good assumption to operate under.

569

No, um somebody spotted one wriggling out from under his eyelid and then he turned to dive

overboard.

570

Okay.

571

That's when you tackled him and doused the ship in gasoline.

572

Yeah.

573

So that is you saw a worm, but you didn't like see them evacuate or anything.

574

Okay.

575

I guess I misunderstood that.

576

Got it.

577

Cool.

578

Mole good.

579

Magpie, go ahead.

580

I just hate that that's the word you do.

581

I really like that.

582

He evacuated his worms.

583

I apologize.

584

Who has the highest medicine and the highest unnatural?

585

I think I have the highest unnatural at thirteen, but my medicine is zero.

586

I have sixty medicine and twelve on natural, so not too far behind.

587

Jesus

588

I would let you roll either of those for some information uh from these videos.

589

Yeah, all right.

590

I guess you know what we're doing.

591

Yeah.

592

Wait, I what are we doing?

593

Okay.

594

That is not any good.

595

we'll get back to that.

596

Can I roll in a natural?

597

Oh, it's not good.

598

Zero?

599

Alright, then really no.

600

Okay.

601

S I mean th I mean, we only have the coffee shop, right?

602

Or unless I'm missing something.

603

Yeah.

604

Who's gotta navigate?

605

Morrison, fifty-three.

606

Although feels weird to be doing that when there are two people who actually know these

locations.

607

Help ya.

608

Yeah, if you're looking at the map and you're looking at the Bon Marche and you check out

that map I gave you guys, yeah that spiral?

609

Yeah.

610

Is that the metal?

611

Is yeah.

612

Huh golly

613

And I'll you know, I'm a therapist and pick up on language stuff.

614

I notice that you don't say the coffee shop name, you consistently say the Bonmarche, so

615

Because I'm a fool.

616

Okay.

617

But so besides the point.

618

Valerie's coffee is Valerie.

619

Damn, damn.

620

Magpie.

621

These are both bizarre and fairly unsuccessful um examples of trepanation, which can be

used to uh either ritually, uh it has been anthropologically people think it was used to

622

let the gods in, but it can also legitimately be used to reduce swelling on the brain, or

uh if there's a potential brain bleed.

623

you might survive it if you crack the skull instead.

624

what the function of this is is hard to say, but you think that maybe if you can expose

Hayden's brain, it might give you more access to the thing inside him.

625

And metagame wise, that is a consequence for a failed unnatural.

626

What?

627

How did that not come into my fucking head?

628

That's wild to me that I have not had the idea to just cut this guy's dome off and look

inside his brain.

629

Uh, metagame wise, that is the consequence of a failed unnatural check.

630

So that may be either incorrect or dangerously misleading or completely correct based on

uh how things are going to go.

631

There you go.

632

You have a meeting at ten.

633

Valerie's coffee is fairly nearby.

634

Bainbridge Island is not.

635

Yeah, I mean, we can't be everywhere at once, right?

636

Like, do I mean I don't want to split up and go to Bainbridge and we don't even know like

if these threats are real.

637

You got the phone call magpie with a threat to do you think I mean maybe she's still in

contact with El Cell, right?

638

Agent Liam?

639

Like maybe she can send El Cell or something like that.

640

Or we have to like, I don't know, figure out a way to prioritize this.

641

So

642

Coffee is right proper nearby.

643

We've got at least an hour or two before we gotta shove off for Bainbridge, right?

644

I say we go over, get the lay of the land, see what we're dealing with at the centre of

this thing, and if it's not the right time, we come on back.

645

Yeah, agreed completely.

646

I wanna see what's inside Anthony's head.

647

He had that unnatural insight, not you.

648

I still think with the worm pick coming like out of his head.

649

enough.

650

Okay.

651

Okay.

652

I Magpie, has Magpie told anybody about his revelation?

653

Yeah, I think that's why Mole's on it.

654

Yeah too.

655

Okay.

656

It just it g it lat he latches onto that like, Oh, well why didn't I think of that kind of

a thing?

657

Yeah.

658

Sure.

659

Yeah, I I do think actually Mole in his kind of like this delusional parasitosis, you

know, megalomania stuff is just like I don't even think he's like, Why didn't I think of

660

that?

661

He's like, huh, of course.

662

Thanks for pointing that out.

663

I was just there.

664

Um, we need to get inside that man's head.

665

In fact, I did think of this.

666

Right.

667

Came to it at the same time.

668

It's almost my idea, even.

669

Yeah, for sure.

670

Yeah, that sounds like a good plan.

671

A second magpie.

672

Let's get on it.

673

No time like the present.

674

But how do you guys want to approach it, I guess?

675

Do we wanna stake out the coffee shop?

676

I've looked up a couple um people that I could try to throw around their names to get

access to records.

677

I mean what are what are we thinking about doing if we we should optimize our time here?

678

I mean, one of us goes in to get coffee and just gets a vibe check, I think.

679

And then like maybe somebody else like spills coffee and asks for a manager or whatever,

right?

680

And then somebody else works the phone.

681

I don't know.

682

Or is that too complicated?

683

Like

684

Sounds like it.

685

Wanna say that we got ripped off by Anthony and we'd like to see him.

686

Yeah.

687

Go for it.

688

In the instance where the people that we're talking to aren't as much hope ha aren't as

much help as we wish they were, do we need somebody kinda taking agency into our own hands

689

if there's a distraction?

690

Is there somebody who could go back and access the records on their own?

691

Uh do you think you'd be up for it?

692

From a player standpoint, I am a in my fit, so I'm probably not gonna be great at doing

things with human beings.

693

Excuse you, you're a megalomaniac, you can be great at this.

694

Correct.

695

So from a PC standpoint, I am the one.

696

Yeah, I'll go ahead and talk with them, uh, if you guys wanna sneak back there.

697

Yeah, I think that sounds like a great idea.

698

And I kinda wink at the other two and mouth.

699

Yeah, could I could I roll a humid to see how well Mole seems like he's carrying himself?

700

No, you may not, uh in that you do not have to.

701

he is he's doing that thing again.

702

He's uh diving back in on his old habits.

703

I think you see Mole um picking at himself quite a bit when this starts to to pick up.

704

It's like the religious fervor dips and you notice he's not scratching at himself, he's

not pulling out hair, he's not doing stuff.

705

And then now the religious shit's coming back and the physical tell is him picking at

himself.

706

He's picking at his, you know, the hairs that are the

707

five o'clock shadow, he's picking at his head hairs, he's kind of grabbing at stuff.

708

I mean he looks I think he looks pretty unstable at a sanity of eighteen, so

709

Probably watching the video didn't help much.

710

I think that Mo I I'm going to try and convince Mo that he doesn't want to be recognized

because there is something um of of additional s significance uh being on these people's

711

radar in particular.

712

And I'm going to posit that using his diset disheveled nature to make him appear as though

he really does belong on Third Avenue.

713

Um, and we're gonna try and find him.

714

An outfit that would make him look like a raving lunatic.

715

Just a just a regular old person looking for a cup of coffee on Third Act.

716

How's Mull's suit doing?

717

He's already bled through the f back?

718

How dirty is this suit?

719

I mean, we're getting there.

720

I honestly think that if we took you know, if we go back to the van, um, montage obviously

721

We see you guys ruffle rifling through the van for like, you know, soy sauce packets from

Panda Express and like mustards, you know, from the like from various like from Sonic or

722

something.

723

His suit is already fucked because he's bled through everything.

724

It's ruffled.

725

It he's been sleeping in it.

726

It looks like trash.

727

I think you could get him there very easily.

728

Combined with the mannerisms, not gonna be a problem.

729

Wasn't there stale or no, it just smelled like stale milk, never mind.

730

Cheese box.

731

I imagine we all vaguely do now.

732

Sort of scent that really seeps in.

733

Does it lives with you?

734

Okay, so so I think there is like a little bit of an attempt to convince Mo that he's

really putting on a show, and we're not just kind of kicking regular bedraggled himself

735

out there, that maybe he goes in not putting himself on display and he's he's trying to

play a character a little.

736

Sure, yeah.

737

You and your goal is to get him to go in there and do you want him to be a distraction or

not, I guess to be clear.

738

We you think that you are acting like a normal person of the street and we think that's

not gonna hold for very long.

739

I have a question for Sam.

740

You're playing a local millionaire?

741

How famous are you?

742

It's a c

743

question.

744

I think we kind of we we brushed on it, but I'm not sure we fully talked about it.

745

Famous do I think?

746

Honestly, I kinda want him to be at least a little bit like um I I wouldn't say like you

would know his name, um, Leon Tusk, but you may potentially have seen his face somewhere.

747

It's not billboard level, right?

748

It's but it's like maybe in magazine level, I would say.

749

You know how cities of decent size have like their own little like commerce magazines that

are like for their metropolitan area?

750

So like if you magazines you'll be like, yeah, this guy

751

People occasionally protest outside his house.

752

That sort of thing.

753

Yeah, there's there I got I had a shoot last year that had me smiling, turning around from

my computer desk and it just had eBay on there and there was just all of my chotch keys

754

like lined along my little basement.

755

Little.

756

It's a fucking hanger.

757

It is a hanger.

758

Yeah.

759

Yeah, right, exactly.

760

Would I like it bigger?

761

Yeah, sure.

762

Yeah.

763

you guys can drive to the location of Valerie's coffee.

764

Are you gonna like drive around the block or something?

765

No.

766

ah I don't see a need.

767

No, I mean to like scope out the to do recon, not to like lose a tail or anything.

768

Is it

769

Yeah.

770

So get to the three hundred block and then start looking around.

771

Yeah.

772

so Valerie's Coffee is sort of tucked inside the Bon Marchais building, which is an old,

uh defunct flagship like Macy's store.

773

Or it didn't used to be a Macy's, it was like a uh a department store that was converted

to a Macy's and then uh went broke and uh eventually was essentially abandoned.

774

Valerie's Coffee is still limping along at this location.

775

They are uh on the corner of the building, so you can access it from the outside.

776

Uh as you drive around the whole building, you are able to see one Valerie's coffee, two,

an entrance on every side of the block, three on the easternmost side of the block is a

777

loading dock with what looks to be a loading elevator, maybe.

778

Uh

779

You also uh if you can all give me alertness.

780

Teen success.

781

Eighteen as well.

782

Sixty three over twenty, so

783

twenty five under twenty eight.

784

Hell yeah.

785

Well, three of you are able to spot a light on in the Bon Marche, uh, which is probably

indicative of a security guard, although it doesn't appear to be a flashlight doing a

786

patrol, so who's to say?

787

Okay.

788

Weird.

789

Building's supposed to be condemned, like or shut down.

790

Um, it's funny there's a light on.

791

Can I use the scope of my rifle to look up at that building and see if I see anything?

792

Yeah, sure, you could use your binoculars too if you wanted.

793

Yeah, sure that sounds great.

794

My gun's just so beautiful.

795

Wha what are you looking for?

796

I just I mean, there's a light on.

797

It is there anything happening there?

798

Yeah, um there's a light on.

799

Uh you can't make out any people in the room, but there's yeah, there's a there's a

flickering, uh like a like a television.

800

Possibly multiple televisions going on.

801

Alright.

802

And it's just a regular light on.

803

It is what, five thirty AM?

804

So Valerie's is open for business.

805

Do you wanna stagger our entrance?

806

Maybe uh somebody go in first, buy coffee, sit down, someone else comes in five minutes

later.

807

Like that, you think it's gonna take five minutes.

808

Yeah.

809

Yeah.

810

Mind I don't mind being in there before mull.

811

To to get eyes.

812

so I I'll gladly volunteer if you want me to be the first customer.

813

Okay.

814

Maybe you and Miles go in together that way, uh w whenever things happen kinda nah and

mull, I'm like you're you're already in position to sneak back.

815

Yeah, magpie can definitely do that.

816

But yeah, I'll go and hold hands, Magpie.

817

Yeah, sure.

818

Um, I think, you know, there's a little bit of like, well what do I need in order like

just if things are really going sideways and I think there is a a sedative in a syringe

819

just in case mole can't be calmed by normal means.

820

Um and there's a pistol, but I think that's about it.

821

Okay.

822

where are you leaving your SMG?

823

Pose it's in the divan and

824

Yeah.

825

Um, I will just go in without my gun.

826

I mean, maybe I still have my knife, but that's it.

827

So, yeah.

828

Uh