#sf35

Austin: There is a banjo playing, and then people are slowly picking up fruit, and one at a time throwing. The fruit are like, sort of like peaches. They’re stone— they're various stone fruit. They're fruit that have pits in them. Very ripe, overripe, I would say. Like, you can see someone reach to grab one of them in their hand. Their fingers depress into the flesh of the fruit very easily. 

Keith: Ew.

Austin: You know what I mean? Like, without much force. And you get the sense that the pit inside is bigger than it should be.

Sylvia: I think like when someone near me starts doing this, I'm just like:

Sylvia (as Hazard): [outraged] What are you doing? 

Austin (as crowd person): Shhhh. Shh. Can I help you? 

Sylvia (as Hazard): [quieter] Why are you throwing fruit at them?

Austin (as crowd person): Because they're doing a poor job. Are you okay?

Sylvia (as Hazard): [loud again] I'm fine. I'm apparently the only person here who has—

Austin (as crowd person): Shhh. 

Sylvia (as Hazard): [hushed] I am apparently the only person here who has a normal reaction to not really liking music that much!

Dre (as Chine): [hushed] Hey! Hey! Do you have a— do you have an extra fruit? 

Austin (as crowd person): Yeah, of course. 

Austin: And hands you the one in their hand. 

Dre: Okay.

Austin: I mean, there's a box— there's a crate filled with these things.

Dre: Cool.

Austin: Like, on top of a barrel not too far away.

Keith: They do this a lot.

Dre: Yeah, no, I'm gonna— I'm gonna throw it directly at the person. 

[0:50:00]

Sylvia (as Hazard): Chine!

Austin: Directly at the person. 

Dre (as Chine): [quietly] I'm blending in!

Dre: Yeah, I wanna hit…I wanna hit the banjo out of their hands. 

Austin: Ooh. Okay, give me a, um…that sounds like a Hunt to me. 

Dre: Sure. 

Austin: Give me a Hunt. 

Dre: What’s—

Austin: You don't have Haven, do you? 

Dre: No, is the domain—

Austin: Again you could use any domain you want. If it's not Haven, it's Risky, but— and that's a bad trade on the math, for what it's worth. So I would just use Hunt, if I were you. Without help, Risky— I mean, Risky’s always just very scary, but… 

Dre: Oh, so Hunt and then just leave the domain blank?

Austin: Yes, yeah. Yeah.

Dre: Okay. 

Austin: Which means it— and it shouldn't be Risky if you aren't trying to call on something else. I mean, you can try to call on something else, and that will color what happens, is what I will say. I…Chine, you can use Cursed.

Dre: Hmm. That's probably fine. It’s probably fine.

Austin: Yeah, it's fine. Don't worry about it. 

Dre: Yeah, don't worry about it. [Sylvia and Dre laugh] 

Austin: Uh huh. You got a six, which is success at a cost.

Dre: Mm-hmm.

Austin: You, again, are gonna take D6…

Keith: That's lucky that you had that, by the way.

Austin: Oh my god. 

Dre: Whoo.

Austin: Take six to Echo, here. 

Sylvia: Boy.

Dre: What's the, uh…what's the tier that we're at?

Austin: Oh, we're on tier three, my friend.

Dre: Okay.

Keith: You have rollen— you have— “rollen,” Jesus Christ. You've rolled—

Austin: Uh huh?

Keith: —18 possible damage and hit 17 of them for stress.

Austin: That’s true. I'm killing it tonight. 

Keith: Us. You're killing us. 

Austin: I'm killing you. Go ahead and give me that Fallout test. [Sylvia laughs] No Fallout. And guess what, Chine?

Dre: Mm-hmm? Yeah? 

Austin: You knock the banjo out of his hands, and doing so fills your chest with a sort of warmth and confidence. Clear Vulnerable. 

Dre: Ah.

Austin: You've wandered onto one of the Haunts of this place. And I think the person who gave you that stone fruit…and again, if you picked it up, you could tell the pits in these, it's like they've been bred to be bigger than they should be. [Keith and Dre laugh] Like, it's big, heavy, like… [Sylvia laughs] The banjo clatters, and one of the strings breaks, and the person who handed it to you puts their hand on your back, like “well done,” you know? 

Dre (as Chine): It's called deescalation, Hazard. [Austin laughs softly] 

Sylvia (as Hazard): Wh— [frustrated but resigned] fine. 

Austin: I mean, people are continuing to throw at this point, and the person is just standing there.

Keith: You said that Chine stumbled upon a Haunt. Does that mean that the Haunt is having hit this person with a fruit?

Austin: Mm-hmm. This is a place you can heal. 

Keith: You can heal at hitting with a fruit. 

Austin: Yeah.

Keith: Okay.

Austin: Yeah. It’s a Mind Haunt. 

Dre: Feels good to break things. 

Austin: Mm-hmm. You feel yourself, as you throw it, Chine, connecting to something— and you used Cursed, right? 

Dre: Mm-hmm.

Austin: You feel yourself connected to something here in a deep way. Not just the people around you as you let go, but like, you feel rooted. You feel good. You feel like this is…this is a good town. [with unnerving conviction] This is a good town.

Keith: We are having very different times. 

Sylvia: Yeah.

Austin: What are y'all doing at that point? I mean, this person, I think, again, uh…they put their hand on your back, and they're like:

Austin (as crowd person): Ah, damn good throw. Here, you should throw another one.

Dre (as Chine): Yeah, yeah. 

Austin: And they pick one up and throw another one and, you know, hit the person. The person is just standing there, just taking these hits at this point. 

Dre (as Chine): Hey, uh, you haven't seen a tall demon with one horn anywhere, have you? 

Austin (as crowd person): Demon, mm… 

Austin: There's like a little bit of, um…they look arou— they like shake their head, but there's clearly something being hidden here, or there's currently being held back.

Sylvia (as Hazard): [quickly] Hey, hey, hey. Hey. You know something. What have you seen? 

Austin (as crowd person): [stammers]

Sylvia (as Hazard): You've seen the— hey, tell me. 

Austin (as crowd person): Hey.

Dre (as Chine): Listen.

Sylvia (as Hazard): Tell me, and I will throw as many fruit as you want at this guy.

Dre (as Chine): Listen, you tell us where that person is? I’ll— 

Austin (as crowd person): Shh.

Dre (as Chine): [hushed] Hey, hey. I'll nail this guy wherever you want me to. 

Austin (as crowd person): It's not about what I want. It's about what you want. [hesitates] Quiet. Come with— come— you stay here.

Austin: Pointing to you, Chine. And looking at you, Hazard, and saying like: