[SPEAKER_01]: The way of the hollow stars, a tame candle's horror story, please take care of yourself and check the content warnings for each episode.
[SPEAKER_02]: The thunder believes it has a song to say, and the distant shore doesn't feel so distant, and we see brother Reggie rising from the mud like Adam.
[SPEAKER_02]: As mother Holly looks on, the garden is not good.
[SPEAKER_02]: In the distance, the reporters O'Reaklass is getting further and further away.
[SPEAKER_02]: Reggie is holding a cell phone.
[SPEAKER_02]: Like an original sin and everything else and all of creation feels like it's ever present, ever watching.
[SPEAKER_02]: A cloud of witnesses whispering softly, not like this.
[SPEAKER_04]: Brother Reggie?
[SPEAKER_00]: It's a mother-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-
[SPEAKER_00]: Yes, I can, okay, look, it's my job to make sure that we're safe and sometimes I know it's against the rules, we're not supposed to have contact with people from the outside, but fact in the matter is the people from the outside want to interact with us and so sometimes, you know, I just, I'm doing my best to try to keep them out, but right now we...
[SPEAKER_00]: No, no, absolutely not.
[SPEAKER_00]: It's just, it seems like the new year, so... Because that little rat keeps trying to come into here, like this is not the first time he's tried to sneak in.
[SPEAKER_04]: Brother Reggie, I think you're right.
[SPEAKER_04]: I think we need to talk to Cathedral.
[SPEAKER_02]: Mother Holly, if you could roll me 96 and an attempt to glean an insight into Brother Reggie,
[SPEAKER_04]: No, six is no one's.
[SPEAKER_02]: These things are true.
[SPEAKER_02]: The world is dark.
[SPEAKER_05]: There are noises coming from below the ground.
[SPEAKER_05]: I was mysteriously absent from dinner last night.
[SPEAKER_00]: There's a flock of soldiers just outside the compound.
[SPEAKER_00]: I have the missing gun.
[SPEAKER_02]: There is a bunker beneath Cathedral's cabin.
[SPEAKER_05]: Cathedral saw me secretly about a week ago.
[SPEAKER_05]: Sister Henrietta was supposed to be the light-bringer.
[SPEAKER_00]: And we...
[SPEAKER_02]: Reggie, what emotion are sense?
[SPEAKER_02]: Are you trying to convey with your words as you are hiding what you are hiding?
[SPEAKER_00]: I know that there's a lot that I do.
[SPEAKER_00]: That is secret for reason.
[SPEAKER_00]: Out of necessity to be able to protect these people.
[SPEAKER_00]: And honestly right now, I cannot get into the complex web.
[SPEAKER_00]: that helps hold all of this together, no matter how much I respect from other Holly, but right now, this could potentially fuck everything.
[SPEAKER_00]: We need to focus and we need to focus on
[SPEAKER_00]: Mother Holly, you just gotta listen to me, y'all, right?
[SPEAKER_00]: We can talk about this as much as you won't let it go.
[SPEAKER_04]: We're going to talk to Cathedral.
[SPEAKER_00]: Okay.
[SPEAKER_04]: Let's go.
[SPEAKER_00]: Okay.
[SPEAKER_02]: Sister Angela, brother Laramie, where do we find the two of you?
[SPEAKER_05]: I think we're walking to what we know to be sort of the main cabin.
[SPEAKER_05]: It's where Sister Henrietta will see us and take audiences from members of the community, those who have to speak to or want to convey things to father cathedral.
[SPEAKER_03]: Laramy holding the piece of wood above our heads until we get there.
[SPEAKER_03]: I imagine the cabins have like a porch area, a covered porch area, and so once we're underneath it, as you continue to sort of step forward towards the door, Laramy stops.
[SPEAKER_03]: deliver this letter to you on me to uh, wait for you here or Do you not want to come inside?
[SPEAKER_03]: I don't, I don't, I don't think a cathedral wants to see me.
[SPEAKER_05]: I'm just me, you know, just brother Larry me and so Brother Larry me I, there is no such thing as just you, you are just as important as any one of us
[SPEAKER_03]: uh... i think his eyes like a shoot to the ground when you say that uh... and he sort of half turns on the porch thank you Angela uh... sister Angela thank you uh... i think just uh... today is so it's it's just so big and i uh... i'm sure i could be a better i'm sure i could serve a better purpose i'll serve right now but um
[SPEAKER_03]: maybe I can go find a better way to keep us out of this rain other than this piece of wood.
[SPEAKER_05]: Alright, if that's what you want to do, I'm not going to stop you.
[SPEAKER_05]: It's fine.
[SPEAKER_05]: I'll be alright on my own.
[SPEAKER_02]: The lightning flashes again as sister Angela turns to head inside.
[SPEAKER_02]: Brother Lairmy, you see it light the color in her eyes.
[SPEAKER_02]: Why the fuck are you here at the distant shore?
[SPEAKER_03]: Lairmy is here right now because he desires distraction.
[SPEAKER_03]: I think that every minute that passes every hour is just an increasing sense of pressure.
[SPEAKER_03]: pressure that maybe some might call spiritual, maybe some might call emotional or maybe it's just something that he has self-imposed but he feels it and he does not want to process that or deal with it so he just wants to be distracted and he wants to be distracted by the
[SPEAKER_03]: Sister Angela go inside and he stands on that porch.
[SPEAKER_03]: I think that as he's standing there and hearing the rain, he... I think he hears something, a sound that doesn't make sense.
[SPEAKER_02]: But before you roll 86, are you looking for a distraction from yourself or for yourself?
[SPEAKER_03]: Eight candles.
[SPEAKER_03]: That's not the name of holy shit.
[SPEAKER_03]: Uh, I rolled four sixes and one one one.
[SPEAKER_02]: So that is a success and our dice pull moves down to seven for the scene.
[SPEAKER_02]: Why don't you describe the sound to us and what it could mean?
[SPEAKER_03]: It is the sound of scratching against wood.
[SPEAKER_03]: in the sound of Wimbledon talking, and he's looking around because outside of the port she's standing on, it is soil on the floor and rain on the roof, and that sound should not belong in the direction that he is looking.
[SPEAKER_02]: Mother Holly and Brother Reggie see you and begin to approach.
[SPEAKER_02]: As Sister Angela steps inside, Sister Angela, you see Sister Henry Edda, or Hen, as she bustles through the space preparing for tonight's breaking of bread.
[SPEAKER_05]: Sister?
[SPEAKER_02]: Blessed day to you, Sister Angela, doesn't the rain feel different knowing we are filled with joy and purpose?
[SPEAKER_05]: and to get it done, but are you in need of any assistance?
[SPEAKER_05]: I'm happy to help.
[SPEAKER_02]: Nothing but grace, but I have twice my share of blessing to know this journey will soon and and also begin.
[SPEAKER_02]: Do you have any news of brother Reggie?
[SPEAKER_02]: I've been waiting for the vegetables for the feast tonight.
[SPEAKER_02]: We'll need a splendid meal this evening for we still have bodies to
[SPEAKER_05]: Yes, I suppose we do, but I do come with news, but it's, it's father Cathedral.
[SPEAKER_05]: I know he must be very busy in preparation with tonight, but I do have news to share that might be of interest to him.
[SPEAKER_02]: I'm sure all your news is of interest to the father.
[SPEAKER_02]: If you'd like, and you fill it appropriate, I could be so bold and step into his quarters and ask if he would like to be disturbed by you today.
[SPEAKER_05]: Could you?
[SPEAKER_05]: I mean, would you mind that it is important?
[SPEAKER_05]: I wouldn't ask otherwise.
[SPEAKER_05]: I hate to be a bother.
[SPEAKER_02]: Of course, Sister Angela, father is ever gracious.
[SPEAKER_05]: Thank you sister.
[SPEAKER_02]: I'll be just a moment.
[SPEAKER_02]: Clean off your shoes a little if you would.
[SPEAKER_04]: Hello, brother Laramy.
[SPEAKER_03]: Hello, mother.
[SPEAKER_03]: Brother Reggie.
[SPEAKER_03]: to see you again this morning.
[SPEAKER_03]: I was just heading off.
[SPEAKER_03]: I just helped walk sister Angela over here.
[SPEAKER_04]: Well, I think it might be better if we stick together and Holly's eyes shift over to Reggie.
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, there's some...
[SPEAKER_00]: There's just some stuff we need to talk about, you know, a big day in everything, and just some stuff that I think the father should know, and I imagine we'll just, just come with us.
[SPEAKER_03]: He considers defiance.
[SPEAKER_03]: his foot slides away from the building for a moment and he looks down at the ground and then looks back at Reggie and thinks better of it for the moment.
[SPEAKER_03]: Sort of fixes his his waistband on his pants pulling up his hands kind of go behind him
[SPEAKER_03]: I'll follow you in, I guess.
[SPEAKER_04]: I imagine that this cabin has a bit of a step up into it.
[SPEAKER_04]: She with one hand resting upon her belly raises the other for assistance to take the step into the building.
[SPEAKER_03]: Yeah, Larry, me offers this hand, and helps you up.
[SPEAKER_02]: That is a success and our dice pull moves down to six for this scene.
[SPEAKER_02]: You hear the same sound of a rough scratching and a whimper over the thunder in the rain.
[SPEAKER_02]: It would appear to be coming from behind one of the many empty cabins.
[SPEAKER_00]: I look around to tracking the sound and once I have a general sense of where it is, if I had more time, I'd look at it right now, but we don't have that time so it goes on a mental checklist, on a long, long list of shit that needs to be done today.
[SPEAKER_03]: I think Laramie, after helping Mother Holly up the stairs, sees you and sees your eyes sort of go in that direction.
[SPEAKER_03]: Brother Reggie, I noticed it too, but I'm sure it's nothing and I'm sure it's something that I can handle.
[SPEAKER_03]: You have more important things to do just, you take Mother Holly inside, I'll go figure out what that is.
[SPEAKER_00]: I take a moment to look you over a praising you.
[SPEAKER_00]: I have a little, damn it, all right, that'll, okay, just go check it out, you know, there was God damn journalist around here, not too long ago, it might be same one, maybe a different one, maybe just one of those damn squirrels, just
[SPEAKER_00]: Check it out.
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, just stay safe.
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, of course.
[SPEAKER_02]: Brother Reggie and Mother Holly enter the community center and see sister Angela waiting to have a private moment with father Kethi Troll.
[SPEAKER_02]: brother Lairn, how do you move through the rain as you investigate?
[SPEAKER_03]: I think that Lairn me in this moment is just chasing distraction again and so he doesn't.
[SPEAKER_03]: He's not concerned with being stealthy or being careful.
[SPEAKER_03]: He is just gonna go luck.
[SPEAKER_02]: and you find mell Cassidy.
[SPEAKER_02]: Here's coming down his young faithful face as a rusty hacksawed his hand is red and moving and he's trying to break a body down to smaller sections.
[SPEAKER_02]: There is a broken camera nearby and he is whimpering to himself.
[SPEAKER_02]: I'm sorry, I didn't mean to.
[SPEAKER_03]: Laramy stands in shock for a moment.
[SPEAKER_03]: His hand, his right hand, his dominant hand moves back towards his, the back of his waistband again, and he says, what the fuck Neil?
[SPEAKER_02]: He tried to climb into Cathedral's cabin, and I hit him with a rock, but he fell there, and he just fell.
[SPEAKER_03]: So you're fucking cutting him up.
[SPEAKER_02]: I don't know.
[SPEAKER_02]: I thought we could bury it or throw him in the ocean.
[SPEAKER_02]: I don't know.
[SPEAKER_03]: Grabs kneel by the back of his shirt collar and like stands him up.
[SPEAKER_03]: You fucking moron.
[SPEAKER_03]: This, do you know what Rich is gonna do when he finds out what you didn't have to know if he doesn't have to.
[SPEAKER_03]: You're fucking taking pieces and putting them in different places.
[SPEAKER_03]: Neil, that's not quick work, that's not smart.
[SPEAKER_03]: You are covered in blood right now.
[SPEAKER_02]: How deep you could help me.
[SPEAKER_03]: I'm not fucking helping you.
[SPEAKER_03]: This is your mess, and you will clean it, and you will do it right.
[SPEAKER_03]: Today is Cathedral's fucking birthday.
[SPEAKER_03]: We are about to travel, and you have the blood of some innocent person on your hands.
[SPEAKER_03]: What the fuck do you think is going to happen?
[SPEAKER_02]: I'll be forgive him.
[SPEAKER_03]: Forgive this.
[SPEAKER_03]: Fix your mess, Neil.
[SPEAKER_02]: I will.
[SPEAKER_02]: and he saw a way, the rain heavy, the pull around him light pink and filled with parts that shift and parts that spread.
[SPEAKER_03]: Let me go around the corner and just truckles and just in disbelief, like what the fuck?
[SPEAKER_03]: And tries to consider what to do
[SPEAKER_03]: Reggie has not looked calm or safe or approachable one time today.
[SPEAKER_03]: And Laramie doesn't want to test his luck, but he also doesn't want to deal with this.
[SPEAKER_03]: This is not something he wants to be a part of.
[SPEAKER_03]: I mean, we would absolutely like to forget with everything else that's going on.
[SPEAKER_03]: He just considers he stands up for him and he considers because he knows Reggie knows where he went.
[SPEAKER_03]: He told him what he was going to go check.
[SPEAKER_03]: He's going to ask for an answer.
[SPEAKER_03]: He's going to want to know what's going on.
[SPEAKER_03]: And so that'll best solution he can think of is just to tell him the truth.
[SPEAKER_02]: Would you like to roll me 66 before we move into the community realm?
[SPEAKER_03]: Two-sixes, no one's.
[SPEAKER_02]: A full success, you definitely recognize the sound of a drone, and we move into the community room mother-holly UC sister Angela sitting in the chair waiting for cathedral in the same chair where you usually sit when you're waiting for cathedral.
[SPEAKER_04]: I feel like seeing this makes me feel oddly uncomfortable, and I think that causes a weird twist within her chest.
[SPEAKER_04]: She never liked being the light-bringer, but knowing that that's her spot.
[SPEAKER_05]: Sister Angela, um, oh, our mother mother Holly.
[SPEAKER_05]: Oh, um, do you do need to sit?
[SPEAKER_05]: Are you feeling well?
[SPEAKER_05]: I'm, um, I'm fine.
[SPEAKER_04]: Um, is is everything okay?
[SPEAKER_05]: Um, I, I, I have some news to share with Father Cathedral.
[SPEAKER_05]: It seems we all do.
[SPEAKER_02]: Oh, look how you've all gathered.
[SPEAKER_02]: I'll go back and let the father know that all of you were here.
[SPEAKER_02]: One moment.
[SPEAKER_05]: Thank you.
[SPEAKER_05]: Are you all right, brother Reggie?
[SPEAKER_00]: Oh, I'm...
[SPEAKER_00]: No, no, I'm not, I'm gonna be quite honest with you, sister Angela, things are not great right now.
[SPEAKER_00]: And there's a situation that is rapidly getting worse.
[SPEAKER_00]: I'm afraid that we should deal with sooner wrath than later.
[SPEAKER_05]: Brother, you always work too hard.
[SPEAKER_00]: Oh, everything I do, you know, I do for us, but no, but seriously, there is a rather troubling incident that.
[SPEAKER_00]: I think the father would rather much, again, sooner rather than later so that action can be taken.
[SPEAKER_00]: And so that is such catastrophe could be avoided if, you know, possible.
[SPEAKER_04]: Do you need to sit down?
[SPEAKER_04]: Like a dark thought escaping her mind, you hear Holly say out loud.
[SPEAKER_04]: Should we delay?
[SPEAKER_00]: Well, you know, I mean ultimately, that's gonna be up to your father.
[SPEAKER_00]: I'm hoping not, but, um, again, this is kind of, your time is checking.
[SPEAKER_02]: Hello, yes, Father Cathedral knows you're all here, and he would like to spend time with you first, Sister Angela.
[SPEAKER_05]: All right.
[SPEAKER_05]: I'll be quick.
[SPEAKER_02]: You'll be as long as he wants you for.
[SPEAKER_00]: I'm so sorry, sister.
[SPEAKER_00]: I'm sorry, sister Angel, sister Henrietta.
[SPEAKER_00]: I'm truly the situation that I'm dealing with right now is perhaps.
[SPEAKER_00]: Like a higher priority, I'm sorry, sister Angela.
[SPEAKER_00]: I'm not saying that anything that you're saying is not important.
[SPEAKER_00]: But there is a particular matter that does involve the safety of all of us.
[SPEAKER_02]: Brother Reggie, just so I can be clear and spirit and clear and intention, you would like me to go tell Father Cathedral on his birthday that he should prefer your company to that of sister Angela.
[SPEAKER_00]: Well, it's, so what do you frame it like that?
[SPEAKER_00]: It feels bad, but I'm not necessarily saying that he's just been telling me.
[SPEAKER_00]: It's more that there's a, there's a situation that doesn't fall off all of us.
[SPEAKER_00]: And if action isn't taken immediately, um, the repercussions could be a rather bad for all of us, the feds know the feds know when they're on the way.
[SPEAKER_05]: What?
[SPEAKER_02]: and outside we hear the sound of a drone moving through the trees, while life is following it with their eyes, brother layer me, you hear it over the saw, bone, and intestines, as someone else begins a journey tonight.
[SPEAKER_02]: Why don't you roll me 66 to see what you see?
[SPEAKER_03]: One one and no sixes.
[SPEAKER_03]: So I am going to burn my advice.
[SPEAKER_03]: So Laramys' advice is that he's arrogant.
[SPEAKER_03]: And I think his arrogance shines through because he feels like he can find anything.
[SPEAKER_02]: If you could re-roll that one brother layer me, that's a four.
[SPEAKER_02]: These things are true.
[SPEAKER_02]: The world is dark.
[SPEAKER_02]: All of this happens at the same time, Sister Henry yet a returns looking scolded and shamed and guides you all into Father's private quarters.
[SPEAKER_02]: Brother Lairly, there are things you do not see, but you do see a single drone, hovering above the community hall, taking its time, taking everything in over the sound of Neil's
[SPEAKER_04]: When we enter this room, cathedral first looks at Angela.
[SPEAKER_05]: The reporters' body isn't the only one that litters this campus.
[SPEAKER_00]: Father Cathedral already knew about the feds.
[SPEAKER_03]: Neil will quickly become a danger to us all.
[SPEAKER_02]: The drone does not belong to the feds.
[SPEAKER_04]: Everyone believes that Father Cathedral is telepathic.
[SPEAKER_05]: and we are alive.
[SPEAKER_02]: The camera fades and returns to not too far away, a field just a few miles out where two bodies lay face down in the mud.
[SPEAKER_02]: Their suitcases fall in an open nearby, as it does in figures and trench coats and Kevlar vests take pictures, and look to the west and the direction of the distant shore.