Characters
Daytona, misunderstood, quiet loner with a secret heart of gold
Panthalassa, do-gooder who loves to meddle in others personal affairs, a bit of a nerd
Pendleton, self-medicating overachiever teetering between valedictorian and total burn-out
Garazi, unusually outgoing art student
Raoul, goth, rich kid, theatre kid
Events
The characters' transportation options had narrowed since the last session. Raoul had his keys taken away by his parents after his arrest. Alie won't be around to drive them places because she's looking after an injured Sera. Daytona busted the radiator in his truck during the car chase.
Daytona went to take a look at how bad the damage to his truck was, but found that someone was already working under the hood. His mysterious benefactor turned out to be Kassidy Durango, the woman who owns the local hunting and fishing shop. She explained that she couldn't stand to see a vintage truck like his out of commission at the side of the road, so she went to Gary's U Pull It and got a replacement radiator. Daytona offered to work the cost off at her store, but she told him to just apply for a job--it would beat working at the gas station, at least.
After picking up Raoul and Pendleton, the boys went to Laura's bookshop to see if she knew anything about "the Screaming Place" that Sera had dreamed of on the operating table. Laura knew that the Screaming Place was a concept from local Waronak native folklore: it was a liminal space between the world and the afterlife. She also pointed them to an old book written by a parapsychologist; the book's thesis was that the Screaming Place was a Waronak name for similar concepts such as Limbo and the astral plane. They looked into ways of accessing the Screaming Place, such as ecstatic dancing, occult ritual, drug use, etc.
In the book, they also saw a primitive device that connected a living woman and a skull as an experimental means to enter the Screaming Place. This explained both why Emily and Imogen Garner's skeleton was missing. It did not explain why Emily may have been abducted for that purpose.
Later that night, Garazi and Panthalassa went to the practice space to help Alie load up her guitar and amp. Since she had broken her hand, she wouldn't be able to participate in the Battle of the Bands at the Freedom Warehouse. Before they left, Alie had to use the lady's room. Following girl code, Garazi and Panthalassa went with her. While they were in the bathroom, the lights went out. And then they were attacked by the same knife-wielding masked figure who had slaughtered kids in the woods.
Garazi and Panthalassa got stabbed up trying to escape, until Garazi hit the killer with a fire extinguisher and got Panthalassa on her feet. Alie got her Firebird started and they peeled out. Since two of them were now badly wounded, they went to Doctor F's house. Doctor F patched them up and gave them some strictly off the books medication for the pain.
Speaking of off the books medication, when the group reconvened at Panthalassa's apartment, they burned incense, put on Emily's favorite music, and took Pendleton's hallucinogens in an attempt to reach the Screaming Place. Most of the teens had a bad trip, hallucinating a menacing version of Siouxsie Sioux. Garazi, on the other hand, hallucinated that she was the beloved queen of nature, sat upon a throne of living wood, and found Emily in the Screaming Place. Emily told her that she couldn't remain in the Screaming Place much longer, but Garazi did return from her trip with more clues for them to follow.
After the final day of classes, Pendleton was obligated to clean Doctor F's lab. She asked him if he had seen two "helmet-like devices" because they were now missing. Remembering the illustration in the parapsychologist's book, he verified that the missing items were part of a similar apparatus. (Doctor F admitted that she had done some work for the US government on accessing the Screaming Place for the purposes of remote viewing.) Pendleton was also told that he would be contacted by "scientists with unusual accents" after graduation and offered an opportunity to study science at the fringes without government oversight.
The group then patterned up again with the Graymalk sisters. (To get their aid, Daytona had to agree to go on a date with one of them.) The Graymalks were able to clear up some aspects of the mystery: someone was using a device to summon and control the murderous ghost of Judge Mason Powell. Imogen Garner's skull was being used to fuel the "death" part of the equation; Emily was likely being used as fuel for the "life" side. Why was Emily chosen for this? She was a distant cousin of the Graymalks, so she had the blood of witches running in her veins.
Panthalassa also went on a sailing date with Thomasina. It went well! Thomasina agreed to hang out again; they'd rent Bound and watch it together.
One of the things they learned about the place Emily was being held is that it had wood-paneled walls and bowling trophies, indicating a basement. Panthalassa looked into it and discovered that the trophies could be connected to Erasmus Feist's family. The group hatched a plan to pay him a visit: Raoul and Daytona would arrive at the front door on an "apology tour," while Pendleton and Garazi would find a way to sneak in and explore.
It didn't quite go as planned.
For one, the door was answered by Erasmus's older sister Severina, who led them into a very dimly lit living room and offered them bottles of Crystal Pepsi. Raoul excused himself to use the bathroom, opened the window and let Pendleton and Garazi in. Unfortunately, someone grabbed Garazi's foot and pulled her back outside!
Meanwhile, when they had an opportunity to flick the lights on, they discovered that Severina was keeping it dark so they wouldn't notice the bloodstains in the living room. The jig now up, she attacked them with a knife--the same knife she had been using in her attacks to throw the group off her brother's trail.
Outside, Garazi and Pendleton had to deal with Erasmus Feist. Bargaining with him availed them nothing; ultimately, Garazi had to bum rush him. Erasmus hit his head on a rock and was incapacitated.
Back in the house, Severina was cutting the teens to ribbons. (For reasons that will never be explained, Daytona did not make use of the taser he had.) On the way back to the living room, Raoul stopped to grab a knife from the kitchen--which he used to murder Severina.
They all ran downstairs to the wood-paneled basement and found Emily on a cot, her head cradled one of Doctor F's stolen helmets. The skull of Imogen Garner was connected to another. A third helmet was currently vacant. Pendleton wisely stopped Raoul from disconnecting Emily. (That would have killed her instantly.) Instead, Garazi put on the third helmet and found herself within the Screaming Place. One there, she was able to "lead" Emily out--and get her consciousness back into her body.
The group heard the sound of people prowling around upstairs. They braced themselves for the worst and ran up the stairs--but they discovered a coalition of Dr F, Laura, Vanessa Laurant, and Helena Graymalk. The women who dealt with the killings that happened back in the 80s!
The adults took over. Dr. F treated their wounds while Helena destroyed Erasmus's machine. Vanessa and Laura emptied cans of gasoline in the house and set it ablaze to destroy all evidence. (Including Severina's corpse.) Erasmus was bound and loaded into a car; he would never be seen again.
The group was sworn to secrecy about what they had discovered. Really, they should just be happy to be alive, even if prom was canceled.
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