TableTop: Dread (Part 2)
It is the year 1983, you have all decided to go survival, camping in the Grand Canyon. Your guide is this aging hippie kind of guy. He wears this like silver charm. He tells you. This is very special to me in the middle of the night.
You are awakened by the sounds of a struggle, your guides voice. Ah, did you come upon your guide? Okay, he has these giant claw marks across his chest. You can stabilize the guide. You’Ll have to pull from the tower to do that, as you don’t have any medical experience primarily in your education, so you’re pretty sure that that whatever this is it just made you it was looking directly at me.
It’S pretty freaky. We need to get back in the raft and go downriver. There is a shape, that’s on above you, so you look up and, as you are looking up, you see this creature and it leaps over the canyon. What and it locks eyes with you again definitely looked at me. It looked at me.
Okay, I feel like this beast is looking straight at me every single time, but I don’t know why it would be coming after me specifically what I want to know. Why is it looking at you? Why is it looking at me? Why is it looking at you darling, so I know things about Emily’s background and you know things about Emily’s background, and I think that this is probably a time for Emily to maybe discuss a little bit of some of these elements of her background and how this Interaction and is making her feel well, I mean I was raised in a very religious household um. I didn’t necessarily buy into all of that.
There’S a reason you came on this trip instead of doing something else. What is it because of the religious upbringing in everything? I know that you know bathing suits and everything like that is just not my style, so I wanted to get away from that and kind of do something completely different, and I liked being away from you know any way that my parents could contact me while I’m On this trip mm-hmm, but I’m definitely getting a vibe from it, but it’s something bigger than us. If that makes sense, is this something that you’ve run into before we decided to take a trip to the Grand Canyon? I’Ve never seen anything like this before.
I believe me right: I you in that it is bigger than us, but I don’t understand what you’re holding back here about. Why it’s looking at you all the time, we’re not too sure if it’s hunting the group or if it’s just targeting Emily, there’s clearly something going on here and doesn’t look like she’s willing to really say anything about it, which is this concerning? Well, whatever this thing is it’s coming after Emily, I don’t know, maybe it could take her first instead of us and then we can make a break for it or something all right. You can tell us. I don’t know why it’s looking at me: okay, okay.
Okay, all right so alice is being motherly toward you. How does that make Emily feel? Hmm, I guess it would make me feel. Strangely comforted I mean I am kind of always seeking approval from that sort of figure, not that much older than you, but I appreciate it so it’s tense and weird between the two girls in your raft. As you have experienced the strange kind of awkward moment, you realize that that the river is really started to pick up.
Ladies, it’s time to focus, there’s that sort of I’m sorry. We could talk about our feelings later, but it’s Rapids are coming so to successfully navigate these Rapids each one of you is going to have to pull unblocked all right so you’re on the till. So I want you to go ahead and start. Oh gosh, this Tower. Uh-Huh the dread all right, so you come across these Rapids and because of all of the extra water and the river, because it’s spring they are a little bit more swollen and and it’s a little bit bigger and it’s jostling around an awful lot.
How’S Pete, I’m holding on to Pete Pete, just seemed to have hit his head on what some sort of rock in the river oh yeah, and so you are coming around what River rafters call a hole and a hole is a place where the water flows over A rock and it goes flat down and creates a back current and you have to kick over the hole to get through it’s it’s difficult for experienced rafters. Oh, it’s great extremely difficult for the likes of you who, especially because now you see along the shoreline behind you a familiar black shape, stalking on the side of the of the of the will down behind you. Yes, is there anything in the wrap? That’S long that I can just break to have something sharp. You still have your knife: okay, okay and now you you’ve managed to pick up some speed because of the rapids.
Okay, is the creature above us still or is it no it’s on the bank and it makes that noise again that noise that just comes off the walls and goes straight into your soul and but it’s but here’s a good thing. That’S happening. These Rapids seem to have pushed you very quickly down, and now you find yourselves what appears to be sort of like a cave. I believe one of you it may have conflicted feelings about going into a small space. Who is that?
That’S me, okay, alright! So it’s looking at you and you’re afraid of small spaces right all right. Okay, well, Maddox doesn’t have problems going in small spaces, so I’m gon na ask ask you to keep tilling towards the cave. Oh, that’s! Okay!
Don’T do it hi? Well, what is our option if we don’t go into the cave? Do we just keep getting chased by this thing is a choice you can tell. Is it keeping pace with us as it seems to be toying with you? It seems to be staying just far enough away from you, I’m I’m forcing my concerns to you very quickly.
We should probably all this you’re in it. Okay, I start kind of panicking as soon as we good. So the current pushes you down into this sort of small, a sort of like an overhang, and you see that it’s like the water has been eroded. Underneath the waters eroded the rock underneath it and, as you come sort of like around this Bend, there’s sort of like a sandbar or you can sort of push the boat up on the main bar. If you want and and potentially kind of make like a make a camp, I’m the sort of situation or sale in the cave right, um yeah – I mean you – can see the other end of it.
Okay, yeah, I’m feeling sleepy. I am in favor of setting up camp all right. Ah man, I wish I had few more beers. No, you still have you do. Have your beer, I’m just gon na down again brunch, it chuck it in the river screw environment at this you’re not like as manly and as beer holding Li.
Confident as you may think, you are right. So you just watch this guy, basically crack a beer kill. The beer and then just like uh and and fall and fall asleep, so who of you plans to take the first watch I’ll, take the first watch all right. I don’t want that. I don’t feel comfortable in here.
Okay, okay, all right! That thing is looking for. You, though, well then I’ll, be aware of it. You know so she’s asleep you’re having the the watch you’re having a dream. What is it of a dream that I’m having is me going and visiting my ex-girlfriend, who has our two-year-old child and I go into the house and she’s actually happy to see me and she actually loves me again.
Instead of just letting me go and not letting me help raise our kid and in the dream you walk past after she’s welcomed you back then into the home. You once shared together and she’s, happy to see you and you go to pick up your son. He, you know he’s here and you go in and you pick him up out of his crib and as you pick him up, he looks up at you and he’s just he’s. Got your eyes and he’s got her hair and he has a mouthful of razor-sharp teeth and he takes his little baby hands and he grabs on to the side of your face and those razor-sharp teeth just sink into your face. Okay – and it is now dark on either side of the cave and – and all you can see – is the reflection of the full moon on the river as the light shimmers up the river and comes into this cave, where you all are, of course trapped in a Cave, of course, peat is breathing heavier and heavier and heavier.
He looks like he’s having like a seizure or something, and one of the things that you notice is that pendant he’s wearing is beginning to glow. Maybe it’s glowing out out on its own and you are losing your mind. Yes, I am. You need to pull a block to maintain your composure in the face of all of this. Don’T fail this okay, okay, okay, controlling everything!
Yes, okay! You managed to okay, okay, okay, all right okay, so you can see that there’s an exit yeah right and it is clearly illuminated in the full moon, and it is enough for you to know that okay can we could get out if we have yeah, we can Get um tell me what’s happening with Alice right now, I’m fixated on that pendant thing. Oh, like what is going on. I don’t want it to choke him. If he’s like, seizing up real bad, so I reached to like remove it: okay possible.
Okay, so you take it off and as suddenly as the seizure started, it seems to have stopped along with Pete’s breathing. Oh no, all right, I’m gon na look at her and say: what did you do? What did you do? Hey? I was worried.
He was gon na strangle himself on the thing I didn’t know, I’m sorry, okay, I wan na I want to like have a look at what she did with me and I just like looking at it and disbelief that it could do it. Obviously, it’s tied to the creature in some way. I can’t determine if this is something I just need to crush and throw away or if I need to just wear it the entire time when we took it off, it killed pea mm-hmm. So what I mean do we you hear that you hear rhythmic splashing in the river, Oh back in the Rao and the rat. Where is it coming from what is coming from all around you all around us?
I can’t hear it again: Oh get in the wrapped and push off we’ll try to let go okay, it’s a cape, it might be outgoing. We should just go okay and we go very Texas, yeah, we’ll get in the RapidEye we’re not weighed down by Pete anymore. I’M gon na take a rock with me. We can’t leave Pete pizza in the rap. We should respect his remains yeah.
Okay, if you want to find a rock you’re gon na, have to pull because you can either get a rock or you can just get in the raft and go I’m gon na get a rock all right. Okay, all right! Oh my! This uh gutter Roy, this guttural growling sound, gets you remember, you could abandon a pole. If you think you’re gon na die, this guttural sound, gets louder and louder.
The moon seems to be brighter uh Maddox uh. You convinced Maddox, to get into the raft he’s very. He seems to be almost like stupidly happy to have like a like that. Look like me like a cantaloupe sized Rock okay, you push off the the full moon is above you in the sky. Okay, I’m gon na keep rowing uh-huh.
You notice that Pete’s leg is starting to move. Okay, I’m gon na put the necklace on impulsively and go and check on Pete. He started moving like he’s. Like he’s regaining consciousness. Yeah, you sort of like his arms and his hands are sort of like beginning to move.
A Pete opens his eyes, and these are not human something’s really super wrong. Pete’S leg! That’S moving around next to you, rips through his hemp pants and it’s starting to grow. Lots of fur as he begins to become like this beautiful of sorting someone could reach for that rock. Oh, the rock you have a candle, sighs Ryan.
Are you uh is, is Maddox attempt to use this rock as a weapon, and I don’t think he could do it. I actually don’t think he can do it. He wants to do it really bad yeah because he wants to save all the people involved here, but this is a situation he’s never done before. I don’t think he can do it. Maddox is just dude dude, like he’s not a cold-blooded killer like that’s.
Not him was used to be Pete, it was a cool guy. Why is it got ta be Pete, but he’s gon na try. Okay, Maddox brings this rock up over his head and, as he begins to bring the rock down Pete rears up and his hand grabs that rock pulls the rock out knocks Maddox to the side. He stands up and looks at you, okay and just with a withering monstrous look, and he launches himself into the air off the raft onto the side of the of the river and as the raft is pulling away from him, howls Maddox is left on the bottom Of the of the raft and muttering I couldn’t do it, I couldn’t do it, I couldn’t do it. I run up in and hug you, okay, okay and also kind of for protection, because he’s still over on this out.
Okay sure. What are you doing else? I was about to jump out of the raft and then Pete left, so I’m just a barf over the side. Okay um, I think that’s fairly good. Okay, I don’t know if Alice is gon na, make it um.
This is the most peril she’s ever been in, and probably the furthest from home she’s ever been alice is thinking that she might make this into a book if she survives, maybe not like a memoir, but you know some interesting kind of novel, so the raft is, Is cruising down through through the river, you managed to put a little bit of distance between you and what used to be Pete and the raft just comes to an abrupt halt in the middle of the river and what’s happening? Is these big, weird humanoid hands are pulling up onto the front of the raft and as they reach over the top of the raft? What comes up behind them is a monstrous black and gray, and brown head with two bright green eyes that seem to glow with, like eldritch fire. Now Maddox and Emily see this thing coming up to get into the raft. It looks at you, you know, and, and it starts to get close to you and then spins away from you and it comes toward Emily um.
You are close enough to Maddox huh that you could pull to get his knife. Ah, that’s smarter than what I was gon na do. What were you gon na? Do it’s gon na reach behind me and grab for a flare and try to shove it in its face? You can do either one of those things it’s up to you, but I’m gon na go with my presence.
Think. Okay, all right it’s hot breath is, is on you. Okay, it’s looming over you as you pull the flare out. You grab that flare and you uh. You go grab or grab the cap.
Do you take the cap? You take the cap off the flare on the on the top of it um sort of like so loose before and now it’s no okay, I’m stopping I’m stopping I’m stopping it’s gon na fall. If I abandon the pool, what happens really bad stuff is gon na happen, but I don’t die necessary. Are you sure I don’t know you have to do this poll? You can do this.
I think you’re gon na get. You know how much it doesn’t want to come out. I can’t wait. No no wants to. Oh god.
No, I’m Anthony I’m Amanda. This is not working. Okay, oh no! Come on it’s a flare against a werewolf. You managed to pull that flare out yeah.
You strike the flare and in your efforts to move it up to this creature, you actually put it into the side of the raft and it burns a hole in the side of the raft and the creature leans down, and it puts one of its big claws Down on on top of you, neither one of you guys want to try to try to save her. Ah, you got a knife: odd, yeah, yeah, I’m right next to her, I’m gon na try to snatch out of my catatonic state huh and instinctively help her huh. Any way I can so it’s leaning its bearing down on her she’s just gon na try to grab her a car on the side. Uh-Huh, you managed to jump up. You get your knife into the back of this thing: oh okay, oh yeah, all right, yeah and then grab Emily and roll out of the raft.
Okay, they splash out of the raft. This thing rears up and now it turns around and now it’s pissed and it turns on you and you have one second to decide what you do Hey. What is it my back, I try and like poking in the face with the radio cuz. That’S all I that I’m aware that I have um you’re gon na have to pull to not die. Okay!
Oh no! Are you in the water or not, I’m probably in zero in the raphe that is falling apart, obby carcass of the raft? Oh, I’m astonished that you managed to survive that okay, it bears it comes bearing down on you and you pull out, and you pull out this thing and as you’re pulling it out, you just lose your balance and fall off the raft land into the water. You guys don’t know what happens because you’re all underwater swimming scrambling away, but you make your way to sort of like the shallower part of the water and when you turn around again, there’s the beast and the Beast is standing on two legs and Maddox’s. Knife is sticking out of the back of its head and it starts to just sort of pace back and forth, and then it drops down to four legs and it walks around in a circle.
Can I do try to find a big branch or anything around us? You’D have to pull for her. I don’t want to pull for anything. You hear twigs breaking behind you. Oh no!
So creature, circling in front of us, Oh big, break behind us, okay, um! No, I’m gon na instinctively grab the pendant. Okay then hold on to it. Uh-Huh, it is so shaky you uh! You look quickly to your right and sort of then back down to your left, and you see that there’s there’s some there’s some actually pretty pretty pretty decent-sized piece of pine wood that, as it turns out, is kind of the same size and weight in shape of, Like maybe like a baseball bat and you reach down and you pick it up and and you pull it back and you and you wield it and where are you I’m trying to find some bush to hide in interesting choice?
Okay and you’re standing there holding your you’re holding your pendant, I’m gon na I’m gon na just ask the creature: I’m just gon na yell at it. Okay go ahead at it! I’M just going to go wipe eight at that moment, another beast similar to the one that is now pacing in front of you comes crashing through lumbering on for less eggs and comes running up toward you. Why another one? Really?
We have to contend with another one. You want to try to hit it with your stick. You’Re going to have to pull your pulling for your life is what you’re doing great it’s sort of like, breathing and snorting and and kicking up dust, but there’s no robot the top. How do I scoot them? All right, it’s bearing down on you.
It’S running up the path you reach back, it’s so hard and with superhuman strength, yeah hit it in its head and knock it unconscious. Oh you’re, confronting the monster, as it said anything to Mike it’s a monster. It doesn’t really talk, Oh monster, but it, but it looks at you and it runs right up to you and it backs up and it fixates on the bush that they’re hiding in and begins running toward that bush and now it is on that bush and now You’Re pulling for your life, okay. Can I actually take like a heroic failure and try and like lead the monsters away from my? If not friends, at least my fellow students you can.
Why would Alice do that? She knows that she’s gon na die at this point. She’S kind of figured and she’s read enough books that she knows that you know there’s not a lot of ways that this could turn out. Oh, this is real life Alice um. This isn’t a story.
I thought she wanted to do. I want to try to save her like it’s just if it’s not charged, there’s really no way for you to know that. That’S true, you know it’s all happening inside. I’M not saying like I’ve read books, guys I’ve got this yeah. You can make a heroic sack.
Okay, I’m gon na make a dash and try to lead the dudes away. So when you make a heroic sacrifice, mm-hmm you just topple the tower. Okay Cheers all right, Alice! Well, good! You ran into the river Alice Accession Alice explodes out of this bush, where she’s been hiding, it runs with her.
She leads it off into the river. The next thing you hear is um Alice screaming, followed by what can best be described as a blood-soaked howl. Well, I feel like Alice was not very thickly characterized and her sort of horror, movie tradition. You get a slight attachment to a person, but not really a lot. I felt like she was kind of this flimsy character and it seemed like the most appropriate thing for her to do so that the more developed characters could continue.
I thought that would make for a better story, and I also just wanted to knock the tower down in all of this confusion. The thing formerly known as Pete is gone. We just need to run. We just need to run all right, we’re exhausted, but we just need to keep moving yeah grace fast, as we can, because alice is gon na turn into one of those things yeah. Here’S the thing, though, it’s like it, wanted to come towards me, but it, but it didn’t, and I haven’t think it has something to do with Pete’s necklace.
So I don’t know it seems to make it so they won’t attack me. But now I don’t know how to share this with you. I don’t know how to like. You know make this so that we’re both protected together, I’m gon na give it to her for the time, though, like I’m gon na have her hold on to it. So and yeah at least for the time.
Okay, having rebuilt the tower now clearly, there’s no ambiguity: alice is dead. No and you have elected to push on down the river. What I need each of you to do is pull two to survive until the Sun comes up, you pull one up one. Then you put one the number one, Oh care plan. So, as you work your way down, some of the ground is very, very uneven and is a really a treacherous.
You have to scurry up over a couple of like rock cliffs that are up above the river. Did you use 250 hands on that they’re often cheats a lot? Oh I’m! So sorry uh put it back. No.
I just want to make sure that everybody knows that I saw you do that you are you’re making your way along the banks, and you can see that the moon is still incredibly fat. The moon almost looks like a Blood Moon which is we’re eight, because it really shouldn’t look like that. Just cuz blood was spilt. This not yet well just slid right out and as uh as you you go on through the night. You finally reach a point where you simply cannot continue uh, so you find a spot where you are going to make camp okay.
I just guess I’ll. Do first! Watch: okay, okay, I’m pretty exactly and take a nap with one okay, so you take first watch I’d, say: probably an hour goes by, the sky is lightning a little bit. That’S still dark! You hear labored rhythmic, breathing, labored, rhythmic, breathing and coming from coming from near the river, knowing that I’ve seen everything up to this point that could possibly be crazy.
I will stoical II go investigate, it’s okay, you head down and what you see standing in the water is a trio of creatures looming up out of the water, and one of them immediately Springs out of the air and comes toward you Alice, hi, guys yeah. Ah, oh hey guys, how’s it going. I’M a werewolf now make a pull please to avoid being attacked. Oh, Oh uh-huh, um Alice, make a pull to leap up and sink your fangs into the face of that tasty human. Oh geez, my hands are sore.
I’M gon na be a very effective. I fell deep in you, guys you’re, effective yeah, my natural okay. Let me just a while, with my hands a little more uh-huh, okay uh, you get knocked to the ground, but I not killed you awaken to the sounds of a struggle, and you see that you’re alone. What do you do? Um?
I I peek my head out of the bushes and I don’t make any noise uh-huh all right. So you see that Maddox is down surrounded by these three big terrifying creatures, and one of them is on top of him and and the other two are sort of like pacing back and forth really agitated. I run out of the bushes clutching the pendant and yell. Stop like it’s gon na it’s gon na yep, okay, um and uh Maddox. Why don’t you pull again to see if you can throw this werewolf off of you, okay and then I want to run towards her.
If I hear her scream uh-huh, I want to run toward her and hope that the protective field of the pendant yeah, so you are trying to kick this thing off. You kick and you fight like you’ve never kicked and fought before and uh and hahaha. The claws of this creature, just flayed, the skin from maddoxes body and Maddox in the final moments of his life, is presented with this vision in his head of his ex-girlfriend and their son and him together in Central Park. Okay, all right, it’s a nice way to end my dying breath. Maddox falls to the ground, yes and the beasts pouts, okay and they begin feasting feasting on him.
Okay, they are not interested in you at all. I turn a run. I mean what am I gon na do you’re out of there, okay about a day and a half later, you have run down this stream. You have not seen or heard these things since you saw Maddox fall. You make your way downstream and you see the the landing for the ranch and you get there.
There are Park Rangers and state police and EMTs, and they bring you in and you quite frankly sound a little crazy. You dabble about all of these things and in the film of this we come in on Emily. As she’s saying I survived, I survived I survived and then we pull back from Emily’s face as she says I survived as I survived. She was in a state mental hospital where she has been committed for the murders haha of Pete the guide Alice, the English, major and Maddox the fashion designer. That’S awesome.
It was me I killed them, I’m in a mental institution – oh yeah, and she just clutches a pendant around her neck and says I survived. I survived, I survived roll credits.
