Between meetings, Geri's had some time to investigate with telepathy. Then, the nascent cohort catches Robert up on what they've learned and plans their daring escape.---------Episode Transcript:Get your snack and beverage of choice ready. It’s time to “Gather ‘Round the Trashfires” for a tabletop roleplaying story! I’m your host, Bek Andrew Evans.Tabletop characters make decisions ranging from questionable to horrific in pursuit of their goals especially when a table values going for the interesting route in roleplay. It becomes trashfires all the way down.My current and main running story for this podcast is the misadventures of the cohort from the Deviant: the Renegades chronicle I’ve been playing in since early 2021. And I play Geri.For those of you unfamiliar with Deviant, it’s a TTRPG about people who were formerly human but were irreparably changed in traumatic ways to the point their very Souls broke and they became something Other. They seek vengeance on those who made them, those who hunt them, those who seek to exploit them for what they are and will never leave them be.As such, this podcast will feature heavy themes and content throughout. There’s an overall content warning for language, violence, criminality, homelessness, substance use, human experimentation, cults and religious extremism, mentioned torture, kidnapping, implied incest and incest-related comments, and abusive relationships. On episodes where there is a new content warning or a particularly notable instance of one of these, I’ll call it out.I hope y’all enjoy hearing about my cohort’s antics and stumbling headfirst into the mysteries of the world as much as I have.[Music Intro: "_violence" by Avantist]Green Country Calcination Episode 3: Interlude: Escape PlanningBetween the last meeting and next, the group decides they need to work on getting more information and supplies to make their escape possible. Geri gleans a rumor from an orderly’s mind that the Church of Charismatic Virtues – the church she grew up in, has been calling, but the orderly doesn’t know much. She decides to dig deeper, mostly for personal gossip in case she needs blackmail material.She’s able to rip from him that his name’s Caleb, the call came directly to the ward, which is odd. Gabe took the call himself after the caller identified themselves but a nurse named Beth initially answered. Caleb’s hiding that he’s got a crush on Beth but doesn’t want to make her uncomfortable by telling her since they work together. She also finds out that Caleb has a suspended license from a second DUI and carpools to work with Dr. Werner.Geri later goes to Beth for more info. Beth tries to comfort her, but as Geri’s connected to her mind, she can sense that Beth is somehow attuned to Geri’s emotions on a deeper level than normal empathy, which skeeves Geri out and makes her suspicious as hell. Mind you, as she’s actively trying to read Beth’s mind.Geri is, however, able to tell after her initial suspicion from her culty upbringing of having to be able to (mundanely) be clued in to people’s emotions and motives that Beth’s actually pretty genuine, and even a bit guilty about the suffering the patients are going through. But she cares, in any case.She still works at the ward, though, so there’s that.Geri decides to dig deeper with telepathy. She wants to know what Beth knows about the call to the ward, what she’s hiding, and what Beth fears most. Because Geri has incredibly normal, perfectly hinged motives that may involve “winning” social interactions.All Beth knows about the call beyond what Caleb knows is that Dr. Werner sounded Unhappy-T-M. She also knows that it was a follow-up call. She’s hiding that she has an emotional and aura-sensing power that (previously) only Dr. Werner knew about... until Geri started peeking in. She’s most afraid that Camille will learn about her power and take her away like the cohort, and the others.Geri finds the information about Beth troubling and opts not to cause problems for her or push further.She connects to Zuse next from the safety of her room. His surface thoughts are scrolls of binary like before, but Geri’s put a little effort in to link to him again and be able to have a conversation. He tells her he’s been amusing himself watching the staff be increasingly paranoid because of the prank AJ pulled to aid the cohort’s getaway from the room the other day.Geri tells him that the Church of Charismatic Virtues called AGAIN, and Zuse explains that Geri’s father and his associates have been persistent in trying to “reclaim ownership of their work.” He also says that Dr. Werner has no intention of giving in to them, greatly frustrating Geri’s father.Geri, begrudgingly admits that maybe Dr. Werner is kind of alright if he’s keeping her father from getting her, and asks if that’s the reason she can’t file a police report like she’s been pestering staff ...
