Hi, everyone. This is Chris from the Absolutely Killing it podcast. And you're probably like, chris, where the heck have you been? You said every other week in last posting was November for an episode. Fair Life happens. You know, my day job also took a lot of time in December. We also had some recording issues that we kind of. I think we have a solution for now going Forward here in 2026. As you're listening to this, it's 2026. If you're trying to stay up to date, if it's 2030 and you're like, wow, what's all the drama for? I mean, this is right after the last episode, then you can just skip this part. But we're gonna catch up to our posting schedule and hopefully I can get back to every other week posting regularity, hashtag, no spoilers. But we should be almost the end of our mystery at our next recording, which I imagine the episode will go probably February. So expect a few more episodes this month, and then probably the first one in February will probably be the conclusion of the first mystery. So I'm going to ask you now if you like, if you like the show, if you like listening to it, you know, do all the regular Apple podcast stuff as well. But I am curious if people out there, like the. The Tone, want more from the show, have questions for me and. Or the hunters or Mac, who is our producer in the mystery creation. Any. Any question at all. We'll have, like, a mailbag episode if we get it in the mail. Absolutely. Killing a podcastmail.com. send us an email and it can even be just yelling at me. That's fine. So send us a note there and we'll. We'll see if we have enough mail to do, like, a little interstitial between this mystery and the next one. Great. Thank you. Thank you so much. Previously on Absolutely Killing It. Abby had joined your group. It's dinner time. One of those panels, it looks like a wall opens up. Nick Nichols appeared, but behind her were two women who looked just like her. And she said in front of the entire audience, like all the guests here tonight, she revealed how she does her illusions. She's one of triplets. As she was doing that, Ricky stood up and said, no, come on. Here you get hit with a vision, Hollywood Forever Cemetery, and you see it land on a grave. And it says on the gravestone, milo Bumpkiss is amazing.
I know where the line breaks.
Where? What are you talking about? Aiden says as he approaches your table. I mean, did you see that? I'm a Fan of Nick Nichols work. I had no idea that she was a triplet Razor. Nick Handy. It does seem to be targeting the leaders of the council. You're not sure if this is going to be enough.
That's not enough. We've identified who the possessor is, what their motive is.
I don't want any harm to come to you, so I'm just gonna tell you this once. You should leave now.
Ricky. Your vision comes back to your body and the Great Panini says to you, I told your friends to leave.
You try it.
And he starts saying words. And then appearing out of a portal appears a monster.
This isn't the date I expected.
Ricky. You are trying to find where the Great Panini is. Somehow, some way, you find yourself in the room with the great Panini. The great Panini does a gesture and says some words. And in front of you you see a seven foot tall, red eyed, stone skin, sharp teeth creature. They have a little cap dyed with blood and they have like a tunic around their waist. And they. And they are the Great Panini. Like shakes his head. He is freaked out. Roll me. Read a bad situation. Ricky. Okay, you rolled a nine, which is a mixed success on a read a bad situation. That gets you a hold one. If you act on this information, you get a plus one going forward, whatever that might mean. What's my best way in? What's my best way out? Are there any dangers we haven't noticed? What's the biggest threat? What's most vulnerable to me? And what's the best way to protect the victims in this moment? Ricky, I'll just give you a little bit more. There's no audience in here yet. Right now it's the Panini monster. And you which of those questions you want to ask?
Feel like a lot of stuff's pretty obvious. So are there any dangers we haven't.
Noticed in terms dangers we haven't noticed? How about this? Which kind of ties into the other question. The danger is in the room with you. If it goes out that door, the danger will be with everybody. This thing looks like it's a monster creature. That is chaos. You don't know what it's going to do if it goes out into the rest of the palace.
So I'm going to physically block the door.
So you stand up against the door. Panini screams and he runs away as this creature starts chasing him. Anything else?
Panini. Stop. Stop running. We need to keep him in here.
He is screaming at the top of his lungs and they're doing like a little it's like stadium seating. Like a small stadium. Yeah, it is. It's a little Benny Hill, which was a TV show in the 70s that came out of Britain. He's running up the stairs and then around it as this creature chases him around Panini.
Can you touch him? Can you see if he's solid or if he's like a gas. Can you get.
He looks at you and says, I summoned a monster. I summoned a monster. It wasn't me. It wasn't me.
Well, you just said you summoned it. You said you summoned it, but now you're saying you didn't.
That's why I didn't do it. The thing did it.
That thing did it.
Okay, still confusing. Let's keep working. Keep running.
He's running in a circle as this thing's chasing him.
Do you have one of those long handkerchiefs? One of those long ones that never ends? And you're like, ah, I wish this would stop going. But it would be really helpful right now. Do you have one of those? You have got one of those.
I don't do handkerchief magic.
I know. I know you don't. But do you have one?
This thing takes a swipe at Panini, knocks Panini unconscious on the ground.
He's solid. He's just to myself. He is solid. Okay. Okay.
Hal and Chandler, are you just, like, chilling at the. In the dining area? Where are you at? Where you headed?
Just offering you some of my good food since you never got your dinner. I didn't let Ricky box up my food because I'm here. I'm at the table. I'm drinking this water. I'm committed to the experience.
Oh, that's so nice. Oh, but I would love some. I think the trouble is that I'm trying to be downstairs with Janet getting a phone or two.
Oh, okay. Well, I'll save some capers for you.
Thank you.
So, Hal, you're going to Janice.
Yes.
Okay. Janice hands you a couple phones. The other two phones you're looking for. Chandler, what are you doing? Are you just waiting with Hal?
No, I'm just chilling up there in the dining room all by myself chowing down on the exact dish that I ordered.
Fantastic. Ricky, you're alone in the room with this creature. What are you doing? It turns its size towards you.
Oh, sorry. Can I. I meant to do something else too.
Yeah, yeah, please. Yeah. Would you like to do.
Hell, I was. I was grabbing the phones. But I did want to. I did want to just do a general sort of like Internet and. Or social media. Search for Milo.
Oh, that's a great question. Roll investigative mystery.
A9.
A9 is a hold one. What happened here? What sort of creature is it? What could it do? What can hurt it? Where did it go? What was it going to do? What was it being concealed here in regards to Milo?
Well, I guess what I. How about what sort of creature is.
It in regards to Milo? I. I will give you. I will give you that. Hold back. He. He was a humid. But what are you. How about this? What are you trying to find out about Milo? Let me put that. Let me ask you that.
Yeah. Okay. Yeah. Thank you. I want to find out. I want to see if there's anything that tells me how he might have used magic or whatever to. To either become a spirit or summon a spirit or whatever beyond the grave.
So it sounds like what happened here?
In touch with.
Sure, sure.
Yeah.
What happened here? You do a search because you did see the name clearly. You do a search. I'm not going to be that particular because what's your search query? You do find that there is a story in the local Los Angeles press of a one Milo Bumkus who. Who died in a car accident tragically a few years ago. In this article, indeed it says that Milo tried to join the Grifter's Guild. Unfortunately, Milo was unable to officially be a magician here in the guild. As part of the Magic palace. It says the reason why Milo was rejected. He was accused of doing magic which the story would probably say. Would probably put it in a way that doesn't ring. Doesn't seem weird to someone who's reading it. Just reading the paper. Like they just accused him of doing magic against their rules, which you would interpret as he was doing what Chandler does. Or at least he was accused of doing what Chandler does. But yeah, he died a few years ago tragically. And that's. That's where you find out what happened to Milo.
Thank you. That's. That's all I was going to do.
That is on your phone, right? Which you determined is. Is powered up and working. Yes. Great. Ricky, this creature is bounding towards you. What are you doing?
Is this the first time I've observed this monster in this way? Does it count if you've witnessed.
This is a for your move. This is a new creature, monster or phenomenon. So you can definitely use your move. Remind us all. What is that move again?
This is the Occult Confidential. The first time in each mystery that I observe a monster, minion or phenomenon in action. I may ask one question from the Investigate a Mystery list. Okay, so I would like to know what can hurt it.
This thing looks tough. You suspect as you look at it. Like it would take. Looks like it is physical, which you determined already when it hurt panini and knocked panini out. You could probably just do normal physical damage. Also, the cap on the top of its head is a little. That stands out to you. That is so that. That you get for free. But the thing is running towards you. Looks like it might try to do you harm.
Is it like a shiner's cap? Like it's got a blood tassel or.
No, it's. It's like. I'm just gonna say it kind of looks like a really, really nasty gnome. But much bigger, much larger. Much more mad.
I'm glad you said it. Somebody had to.
Ricky, what would you like to do as this thing intends to do you harm?
Okay, I have a question.
Do.
Do I have the empath option on my. I see it's there, but I don't know if I'm at a place to use it.
I think I may. I may, I may go back on this. Usually there has to be a reason to give non weird characters a weird move. Like for instance, Chandler can use weird for magic. The idea of the alternative weird move is to give people who don't have weird something to roll weird with. So we haven't given you one yet, but if there is a something that narratively happens here that you would get something weird. I'm down. Why would you. What would happen in this moment that suddenly you would have this ability?
Well, knowing I only thought of it because knowing that the tombstone says not a magician but in our hearts, Milo is a magician. Makes me think from my detective skills that this was a person that really wanted to be here. It's haunting here. Is going through everybody and is really upset. Is like emotionally upset at not being a part of the magic palace and is now has maybe haunted enough to get full explosion in a new form. So I want to. Because I'm not. I don't have any real weapons. I bought a switchblade on me and that's about it. I probably can't punch this thing all too hard. So I want to attack with emotions if possible.
I love that justification. And I want to give you a keeper bargain. Or you should call it the Devil's bargain. Other games called Devil's Bargain. I'm calling it a keeper bargain. The fact that you were possessed, I think. I think it makes sense to me you would be able to use empathy when in Regards to Milo or the entity. Right. Just for this situation. I feel like there is a connection that you two have now because you were possessed by Milo. Unfortunately, the thing in front of you doesn't appear to have anything to do with Milo. Yeah, I mean, in a way it does. So I. You would have empath. But this thing seems to be something that was summoned by panini. Question mark Milo. But that. That is. That is the thing that's threatening you right now.
Okay, I start running.
Okay, so you want to leave. Leave the theater?
No, I'm staying in a theater. And I'm running around the theater.
I love it. Roll me. Act under pressure to foot chase. Do a little. Little loop de loop with this thing.
I want to run around trying to wake up.
We're going to call this the Benny.
Hill the great panini.
So that was a failure. Is this the time, Ricky, where you want to use tattoo? You rolled a five, which is a failure. Do you want to use luck? I think. I think I.
This would be a time where I would like to use luck. Yeah.
I love that. Do you want to read what. What luck does or the. I'm sorry, the luck special. Or do you. Or do you want me to read it?
I would like you to read it because I will take a long time finding it.
This is really. This is really interesting. So. So mark a point of luck on your little box there. So you've used a point of luck for those listening. Most. Most hunters get seven points of luck during their career as a hunter. Once you hit that seventh box, it's doomed, which means bad things are going to happen a lot more frequently. You bad luck, essentially luck special for Ricky. When you spend luck. Your next regular case will actually be a mystery for your hunter group. Will actually be a mystery for your hunter group. And the monster will focus their attention on you.
Okay, but I'm running.
I still didn't understand that.
So the next. The next special, the next mystery will actually be about your hunter group as opposed to a thing in the world. And the monster will be focusing their attention on Ricky.
Oh.
That'S back at a scramble as well. That's what happens in this game. Great. So that's a. Using a point unlock. That is a. That is basically a 12. So for now, Ricky, you are basically Benny Hilling again. BBC show from the 70s. As this thing's chasing you around right now, you are its only target. It seems very angry and upset.
Well, guess what?
It's making a lot of noise.
I had some carbs, so I Am set. And every time I pass the great panini, I keep shouting a word in a sentence of, hey, you better wake up up soon, buddy.
He's. He's unconscious there checking in with team Hal and Chandler. I know Chandler, you're enjoying a meal. Hal, you got a couple phones. What do you all. What are you doing?
Yeah, I'll go back up to Chandler and set your phone right there next to you. And I'd be like, how is it? Are there any carbs? I would love some carbs.
Yeah, I saved some carbs for you along. Oh, not just along the side of the plate. No, I know, I know. Capers go best with carbs. So I got some capers for you, some carbs for you.
So nice.
And there's some. There's some bread left over in the basket. So that's. I hear bread has carbs. Oh, my God, they're making it with carbs.
This is why you're my favorite. Don't. Yeah, don't tell Ricky, please.
I don't tell Ricky anything.
Listen. Oh, that's.
I mean, she won't listen to me mainly, but that's mainly why it turns sad.
Well, listen, I. I found an article about this bumpus bunk. I can't say his name right. Milo. And it seems like, like you, he was doing authentic magic, most likely. So his ability to possess people or to summon a possessing thing he might have been working on for any amount of time before he actually died.
He probably.
You don't know anything about. About possessing magic, do you?
No. I mean, I possess magic, but not. No, I don't know anything about possessing magic.
Oh, yeah, that's true. That's true. That's true.
But this could. You know, he probably.
He got.
He must have gotten rejected because they knew he was doing real magic. I mean, this could have been me. This. This. I could have been. I could be Milo. I could have been. If I knew anything about possessing magic. Not possessing magic, I could have been. Well, right, but possessing magic, I could have been me. I could have been possessing all these guys and causing all this mayhem.
Okay, you saved me Scalloped potatoes.
Yeah, I mean, it's probably not even one potato's worth, but I did want you to try it. It's got a delicious. I don't know if that's a cheese sauce or if it's. What's the other one? Hollandaise. What? I don't know how they do it.
I can't tell either. But the contrast with the acid of the capers is really hitting. Well, did you cook it?
No. Thank you for understanding.
Oh, yeah.
Well, thank you for why I liked it and for being able to articulate so well how those flavors were working together. Because you have quite the. The chef's tongue, both for taste and for description, and. Which I don't, and I interview for it. I feel like we're getting off subject. So, anyway, back to Milo. Yeah. Anyway, I'm kind of. I kind of feel for the guy because, you know, could have been me, but it wasn't. It wasn't. So possessing magic. Okay, you know what?
Well, I wonder what he would have done. Like, did he make a plan before he even died that he wanted to be possessing people, or did he make, like, a phylactery or something so then when he died, he was available to just be taken home? He's.
Oh, no, that's a good question as well. Another good question is, what is phylactery? It sounds like a factory where they make, like, you know, like. Like whoopee cushions or something.
Yeah.
Oh, that's not.
Where.
Do you think I was gonna go?
The two of you hear. The two of you hear a boom, like a loud boom. And the building shakes a little bit, and you hear commotion downstairs. What did two of you do?
I should text Ricky.
I guess we better get these capers to go.
Okay, so you don't know anybody that might be able to tell us about what. What kind of magic would make possession available to somebody?
Well, I do have access to the library because of my pen. I could try to.
Oh, yeah?
Why don't you? I'm not allowed there. Right. So why don't you go look, and I'll get Ricky's phone back to her so I can text her what's going on?
Hey, how much battery do you have?
Well, it was just charged, so I don't want to look because I feel like if I look, it'll. It'll be okay.
Yeah.
Don't cheat.
Don't cheat. Okay, so I'll meet you in the basement library with Ricky after you get her and I get.
No, we should meet somewhere else because we're not allowed.
Well, I meant, like, you know, outside the library, but, yeah, you could be.
Oh, okay.
I mean, but you could. You could meet somewhere else.
Wherever. Where?
Wherever you feel most effective.
I like most effective. Most effective. I feel like basement makes me feel effective. It's like the bowels of a. Of a building. Right?
Yeah. Yeah. Plus, also, keep in mind, you know, that there's. The network is horrible down There. So we won't be able to text.
I see points on both side, but it seems like we've got a plan. I'll see you in the basement.
Bye, Ricky. The creature rips a chair out from the floor, throws it at you. What do you do?
I dodge.
Roll, act under pressure for me. Roll, act under pressure. Act under pressure to dodge all the way.
I fly. I throw a pool, stick at it.
That's a mixed success. So you rolled at eight. That's a mixed success. So on a mixed success, worst outcome, hard choice or price to pay. So I'm gonna give you. I'm sorry, Ricky. Either the chair hits panini, who will really make sure he doesn't wake up but avoids you entirely. It'll hit graze your foot. You're gonna take a minus one going forward to, like, move quickly. Like, you. Basically, you'll hurt your foot, or you just take the full 2 harm of the chair hitting you, avoiding either of those consequences.
Do you have to ask? That chair is hitting panini.
Okay. So it looks like the chair, like, bounces off another chair, hits panini, and you see blood, like, all over his face now.
Hey, good aim. You're really good at that.
He lunges toward you. Aha.
Also, that's a really great tunic. Where'd you get it?
What do you do? Is about ready to try to, like, claw at you?
I dodge.
Give me another act under pressure with a minus. No, no, no. Not a minus one. Just regular act under pressure. Because you. You let panini take the full chair.
So glad I raised my cool.
That's a nine. Another mixed success. He'll barely scrape you, so take half harm. I'll just tell you his scrape. Yeah, it'll be one harm, but you'll be able to, like, get out of its grasp. You can take no damage, but it basically grab you and, like, you'll be in their clutches. Or you could flee the room, like, safely and take no harm, but it's coming out the door with you.
I'm frustrated. Okay. The first one was take half a harm. Take what?
So it would scrape. No, it would scrape you, but you wouldn't be grabbing you. Second one, it was no harm, but it would have you, like, grab. It would grab you. Yeah. The third option is to flee. No harm, but it also. It'll be able to flee as well. It'll be right.
All right, I'm gonna. It's gonna graze me.
Great. So you just take a point of harm as it, like, scratches your amazing coat. I'm Gonna have to get that fixed. And it kind of stumbles a little bit. So you have a moment here, Ricky, to choose another move or, you know, what do you want to do in this moment? You got a moment?
I wish I knew. Small magic.
You are in a magic palace.
It's true.
You are not a fort, not a dungeon, and definitely not a castle.
Magic chateau, huh?
Exactly. Yeah.
Can I investigate for any sort of magic I'm able to use, like a magic hat that I could jump into or magic crystal ball that I could see. You know, is there anything that. That actually has more magic than just a kit you can buy at the corner store?
I'll let you roll. Read a bad situation. I'll let you roll that again because this is gonna be a bad situation very quickly here.
I'm just trying not to get this monster out to everybody else. Read a bank.
Everyone's just eating. I'll be so slow.
Wish my boys left with me.
Oh, by the way, you don't have any armor for harm, right? Do you have any armor or. Let me look at your sheet really quick.
Yeah, take a look.
Let me look at your items. Because there are things that reduce harm you do not. Okay.
No.
That's another mixed success. What I have, you do read a bad situation. That's right. On the eight, you get to hold one. Best way in, best way out. Dangers we haven't noticed. Biggest threat most vulnerable to me. Best way to protect the victims.
I feel like I know the answers to all these. I just go through that door. I just go. I just leave. That's my best way out.
Well, you get a plus one going forward if you act on that information. Keep in mind.
Okay. I mean, well, what if the answer.
Is like, what's most vulnerable to me is. Well, I. Maybe you were asking about the room instead, but I was just saying maybe. Maybe something besides salt would. Would hurt it make more than other stuff.
Or.
Oh, they could take its cap off and it would wither up into a regular sized gnome.
I didn't picture it like a gnome. Okay. Is there. Because he's seven feet tall.
Okay, picture like the Hulk, but a gnome. Hulk with a hat. Little hat on.
Yeah. And this blood red cap you can cut. You have.
How about. How about. No, no, I. I love. Well, we probably will cut it out, but no. Ricky, how about this? What is your primary objective right now? This monster is a lot of danger. It is currently contained in the room here with you. Panini's been twice. Twice docked out.
Oh, yeah.
So he's a little incapacitated. What is your. What is your. Is your. Are you concerned about your own safety? Safety of the people outside?
I guess I want to know what's the best way I can get to this hat in this room without having to take this monster outside to harm civilians.
So what's the best way to protect the victims?
I guess so. I know I reveal so much.
You gotta get. You gotta clear the palace. This thing is gonna be in the room for a little bit longer. If it knocks you out, it's gonna go through the door and start killing all these guests. So if the best way to protect the victims, I'll. I'll just. I'll say there is a handy dandy fire alarm in here. This place needs to be cleared out as soon as possible.
Oh, I didn't know there was that in the room. Oh, I'm gonna trigger that for sure.
Great. Roll me. Act under pressure one more time.
Goodness.
Now I'm using that move. It's like you're lunging towards it. This creature's coming after you. Mixed success. Once again. A seven. Boy, this is. This is always trickiest for the keeper. Worst outcome, hard choice or price to pay. I'll say this. You can pull the alarm, but it's gonna get another swipe at you. So take another point of harm and it's. And you're gonna so that. So I'll say you. But you'll be able to flee. Right? You can get to the alarm and pull it, but it'll be between you and the door. You're gonna have to find another way around this thing.
Mm.
Which of those two are you gonna go with?
Oh, only two options this time.
I only thought of two.
Swipe.
May.
I'm.
Another point of harm. Not this time. It's your other arm, so both sleeves need. Taylor, the alarm goes off. Cool.
Look, though.
Hal and Chandler. The fire alarm goes off. What do you do?
I'm quickly packing up this food so it doesn't get ruined.
Great.
I've been headed. Well, I don't really know where to look for Ricky because she didn't know where she was looking for Panino. And so I'm gonna start directing everybody to the exits as best as I understand.
Great.
I'm gonna ask, where's that penito guy?
People are shrugging their shoulders. The people. You're directing Hal to the door. They're trying to, like, open it, and it's not opening the very front door. They're like people trying to freak out. The door's not opening.
It's cool. I know Stu. He doesn't spell his name with a Y. Just hold tight for a moment, and I will find us some answers.
Stu.
Stu comes out of the security room. He says, a car crashed into the front of the. Of the palace. We gotta get that car outta the way. We can't get out the front door. And he rushes past you to try to figure what's going on.
Are there better exits?
There's only the employee exit out the back. I guess we could kick people out through there.
I'll take some people that way. Good luck with the car. Do you know where Pinino is?
He's probably prepping for his show, where he would have been. Downstairs.
Downstairs.
Thank you.
All right, so every other person that I'm passing on the way there, I'm saying, like, there's an employee exit in the back.
I want to have you roll something here, Hal. So you want to find Panini or direct traffic or both?
I'm kind of lazily directing traffic on the way downstairs to Panini.
Let's do act under pressure to see if you can command. You can make sense in the confusion. What's going on. How about that? That's a failure. That's a five. Do you want to use luck, or do you want to roll that? So that's a point of experience. Yeah, there's just a lot of confusion. You're able to go downstairs, Hal, but, like, no one's really heard you. There's just a lot of confusion with the people. Before I check in with the other two people. Chandler, you're packing up your. Packing up. You see everyone is rushing down the front.
Yeah, because the. The sprinklers came on, right? Or no, the.
They might not yet. The alarm. You. You. Because you. You. You've been to the palace, right? Smoke would have triggered the extinguishers and the, you know, the sprinklers, whatever. The alarm's just been pulled, so you. And everyone's just getting.
All right, so I've just finished packing up my food. It's all good. It's safe. Obviously. No sprinklers yet, but just in case. All right, so I got a bag. And while people are running toward the exit, I'm running against the current.
Toward.
The stairs down to the basement library and apologizing. After I hit everyone, I hit with the bag.
So you. So there is one stairwell that goes down, but then you can. You can kind of follow Hal. So, like, if you go down the stairs, everyone's crowding down. Then you can kind of like make a right away from where everyone's crowded. Is that what you want to do?
Or.
Or do you want to find another way to the ground level?
Yeah, I'm fine to scooch to the side and let everybody pass if Great.
Roll me. Act under pressure to. To fight through the crowd and get to trail behind. Hell, that's a four. That's a failure. Do you want to use luck, Chandler?
Was that a total failure? Do I? Do I.
That is a total failure. Four is a total failure.
Do I experience that?
What that means is you are. You do get experience. Mark, point of experience. Thank you for reminding me. Be sure Hal, you did the same. No. Did you use luck?
No.
Be sure you use Mark point of experience, Hal, for that failure earlier. Basically, you're caught in the wave. Chandlers, you're kind of in the mix of people right now. You can't, like, get. Can't get past them unless you want to spend a point of luck. This is not me tempting you. I'm just. Yeah, I'll wait.
I'll wait it out. Because I don't think it's a. You know, I don't really necessarily think it's the kind of emergency they do. I mean, I think. Well, I think we got it.
Liam behind the bar, looks up at the stairs at you. Chandler says, I told you all to leave. And he lights something on fire. Hi, everyone. It's Chris McGowan. It's me again. I'm sure if you've been listening to the show, you know, we do commercial breaks in between our episodes. Part of that is to. Spoiler alert. Give a little more context to our world. Give you some information that the hunters don't necessarily know, but kind of fills out maybe the bigger mystery going on. That's a huge hint, by the way. I gave that to you for free. But we also decided in 2026 to start doing partnership. So Mars, the parent company of Eminem, they haven't necessarily reached out to me, but I reached out to them and I pitched them this idea to. To hawk a product of theirs and, you know, kind of pitch, you know, give us some funding for the show. You know what I mean? What they came back with to me was, how about empty M M wrappers? Yeah, I know this sounds like, you know, why would you. Why would you hawk products that is an empty wrapper? But that's why they're great, you know. You know, 2026, this is a new year for those listening in real time. And we all have New Year's resolutions, you know, chocolate and sweets. Maybe trying to give that up for the new year. Maybe you. You. You pass by the shelves with chocolate and candy, and you can't just help yourself. Right now with these empty M and M wrappers, you actually scratch that itch that you have eaten them, but you didn't have the calories. So what this product is. They're empty M and M wrappers, but they are actually full, factory sealed. So they look from the outside like they're full of candy. And then you open them up, and there's nothing in there. So they have the plain chocolate, peanut, almond, peanut butter, dark chocolate, caramel. I think there's a crisp. There's the minis. I think there is the fudge swirl. There's also the candy cane ones. They're all. They're. They come in individual small serving packets. Reading the copy here. You can stash them at work, put them in the glove compartment of your car, even your gym locker, because they don't melt in your mouth, not in your hand. So when you open it up, it's like it's in there. You smell like candy should be in there, but there's nothing in there. Not even a smear of chocolate to be found. So you can toss it in the trash. Recycled, potentially. And your hankering for the snack has been quenched. So empty M and M wrappers from Mars. Candy melts in your mind, not in your stomach. All right, back to the show, Ricky. So you pulled the fire alarm. It slashed you. Are you. What's your next step here?
It's the best thing I could have done. I guess I'm leaving this room.
Okay. You just want to, like, get past it and. And. Or just leave the room with this thing trailing behind you or what can.
You describe to me? Can I investigate what this theater looks like? Are there. Are there curtains hanging on the sides of the stage?
There's curtains, sure.
Can I investigate to see how they're hung up? Are they. Is it an older theater with ropes? Is it chains?
Maybe there's a. Yeah, a cage that is set up to drop down on something right in front of the door.
Yeah. I would say you'd have to get to that location. And I will let you definitely roll investigative mystery. But currently you're near the alarm near the door to flee.
Yeah.
So I'll give you a choice. You want to get towards the stage. Roll me. Act under pressure to not get attacked by our new friend here.
Oh, that's sweet. He considers himself a friend.
My Empathy did work. Okay, act under friend.
Sure.
That's another failure. That's a five. I cannot believe all these field rolls.
Remember that time we rolled so many great rolls?
We were on a roll.
Do you want to use luck? No, you've already used one. Luck. Great. I'm going to use my move again, which maybe I'll reveal after our mystery. You get teleported again. Now you're standing next to Chandler.
Oh my God.
Liam, the bartender says, this is what you get. And he throws the fire onto the ground and a fire starts in the main carpet area.
That wasn't water.
Hal, you're headed downstairs. What do you do? Everyone's leaving. So, like, it's pretty empty down here at the moment. What are you doing as you run down here downstairs?
Well, I'm presuming that he's in the room with finito. So I'm cracking the door to check in that. What should be that theater.
Yeah. As you approach, the door blasts open and you see a seven foot tall gray figure with a little red cap on roar in your face. What do you do, Hal? Ricky?
There's no response.
No, it roars and it looks like it's about to hurt you.
Okay, I'll give this.
I'll give this to you for free. You do see the very well described outfit of the great panini. You see a body near the front, like at the base of the stage. Like they're not moving. But you do see what looks like panini over there.
I'll try to hit it with my flashlight. Am I, can I throw it or am I so close that I have to swing it?
Oh, you can swing it melee style if you would like.
Well, my preference is to keep a difference, but I don't actually know if that makes a difference in terms of what happens. Trying to do harm.
Well, I guess here's the good news. It's right in your face so you don't have to throw it. Sure.
That can be good news.
This would be. So this is a very important question. What is your. What is your intention here? Are you trying to do this thing harm or are you trying to distract? Like what do you. What would you like to have happen here?
Oh yeah, I'm trying to. What's the term? To. To like. Yeah, like put it unconscious. Like take it out of commission.
Absolutely. This is our first kick some ass roll. So please. Roll kick some ass. In monster of the week when you roll kick some ass, you exchange harm. So my friend's going to hurt you too.
Your friend Now I understand it's your.
Friend that is a 10. That is a full success on kick some ass on a 10 plus on a 7 plus you and whatever you're fighting with whatever you're fighting inflict harm on each other. The amount of harm is based on the established dangers in the game. That usually means you flick the harm rating of your weapon and your enemy does the same to you. On a 10 + you choose an extra effect. So tell me what you would like to pick here. Since you did roll a 10, you gain the advantage. Take plus one forward or give a one forward to another hunter and we would decide what that means. You inflict terrible harm. That's another plus one harm. You suffer one less harm. Minus one harm. You force them where you want them. Which of those options do you like?
Well.
The thing I would tempting force them where I want them except I don't feel like I have a good sense of what like what is around me. So I don't know if I have a place that I want them right now.
Well, you can. We can decide what that is. If that's the one you want to pick, you can kind of tell me your idea and I'll tell you. Because you rolled a 10 plus, you get it, you know.
Huh. Here's my other question. Yeah, I do. I. Yeah I assume I do like one harm or whatever with the flashlight. But is there, is there any way that I fit figure out like how much harm this monster has or how much health or whatever it's called?
That is a fantastic question. And you have no idea.
And that like in the future, I mean like in the, in the short term, like I wouldn't have a way of seeing that either, right?
I don't think so. There might, there might be a hunter move that I don't know that does tell you that kind of stuff. Unfortunately I don't think I need the three of you had that and just from keeper to players, you know, I may change that stuff up anyway. But there might be moves or ways to figure that out. You can tell just by its size. It's going to take a few flashlight hits.
Yeah. Okay. Then I do want to force it where I want it and where I want to force it is like any box, telephone booth or seat that seems like a trick, you know, trick space that it would. It has a trapdoor or it swivels around so that it might be confused about where it is or not know how to get back to the main.
The space with most people so. Well, let me Ask you answer question with a question. We'll say that there's probably like a false floor in the middle of the stage. So you could in theory push it back to kind of get it stuck for the short term. Or if you want to leave it trapped in this room, you can maybe lodge the door shut to give you a little bit of time as well. So that's two options. So what is preferable to you?
I'll be more straightforward then. And I'll try to get it in the room and barricade the door.
Okay, so how do you feel about this? And feel free to tell me no about. You knock it with your flashlight and you can kind of like jam that flashlight into the door so that it. It's gonna take it literally destroying the door to come out. How do you feel about that? Yeah. Yeah, Great. That's good. You though you do smack. It kind of stumbles back. Giving you. Giving you that opportunity you take.
Yeah.
He's gonna bite you for two harm. He's gonna bite your arm. Do you have any armor as well, Hal?
I don't believe so.
I don't think you do either. But you do jam your flashlight in there. So your flashlight is temporarily out of your hands. But you can tell this thing can't get up for the time being. Ricky and Chandler, there is a fire that started upstairs. And then Liam kind of shakes its head. Shakes his head. And he's like. He's like his hands on his head like, oh, shit. What do you do?
Liam, are you.
You.
Because I think you were possessed. Otherwise you wouldn't risk your job throwing fire like that.
Where's an extinguisher?
Where's Liam throw water. I got water.
Liam throw ice.
I'll let you do act under pressure or manipulate someone. Chandler, to like get. Get through to him. And Ricky, if he doesn't roll. Well, you might be able to do a help out or something. But I'll let Chandler go first here.
Either one. Yeah.
Act under pressure or manipulate someone. Your choice. That's a mixed success. What did you roll? Manipulate someone or. Oh, right here. Pressure. Sorry. Act under pressure. Mixed success. You can get through to Liam, but you feel like the spirit may come towards you Now, Chandler. Or you don't get through to Liam, but you think you could probably get yourself over the railing and like do it yourself.
Okay, let's do it myself.
Great. So you kind of hop over the railing and you're down next to Liam, who's very confused. Ricky, what are you doing in this moment? I'M Chandler does that.
I'm looking around. Can I investigate for a fire extinguisher or. They have to be here. There's food. There's food. There's. It's.
Well, you're protect the food.
You're on the stairs. The problem is there's a, A panic happening. People can't get out the front door. That's the, that's the problem, Ricky. Of course. And then of course the fire that starts.
Is there an ax with a fire extinguisher? I can ax down the door. I can.
I'll say. I'll say there's one. Up, up, up front. How do you want to deal with that?
I. I have to body surf over the people to get to the front.
Act under pressure to body surf. Like you're at a concert acting under.
Pressure to body surf. Come on.
That is pre failure. I cannot believe these roles. Do you want to use another point of luck? No.
So wait. That I have not been marking experience. So I.
So mark experience for that. Yeah, mark experience for that.
Okay, that's at least three today.
Yeah, but I used luck on one of them.
You did use luck on one of them. Correct.
So I'll go back when we're done and I'll. Don't put this in there. And I'll mark.
Yeah, because you did just level up. So you might have missed one. One or two. I'm going to check in in a moment with you, Hal. But I want to check in with Chandler. Chandler, are you just putting out the fire?
I'm throwing ice and cups of water. Or just cups of anything that's non flammable trying to put out the fire.
Great. I'll just say you do that. One of the people who's near there turns around at you and says, you are all to blame. All of you. Not just the council. You. Chandler. Everyone here makes this an exclusive club. You all die tonight. What do you do?
It is an exclusive club. That wasn't my decision.
You see that? This person starts to look for some other flammable thing to set fire, what do you do? And Ricky, what do you do?
Wait, this new guy who's yelling at us. Yeah. He's w. Is trying to set fire too.
Oh yeah? What do you do?
Can I try to manipulate him? I want to manipulate Milo.
Yeah, well, that's. I'm glad you said that. Unfortunately, manipulate someone doesn't work on the bad guys on the, on the monster creature phenomenon. So. So, which is funny because that kind of. I mean, you knew that. But it does kind of reveal that, yes, this person is possessed by Milo.
I mean, look, I was. I'm. I could see the entrance to the library across the room if I could just, you know, hop over. What little fire is left on the floor? I don't know.
Well, you're on the first level. You're on the first level. Chandler, just to. So you got to go one level down.
Forget it. Forget the library. It's not going to help. It's too late for that. What are we gonna do in there anyway? Am I gonna read Chandler?
What magic can you do?
I know.
I need some big magic or mall.
That's gonna take too long.
I know.
What, the magic or the big magic or the reading? Because I think they're both.
That was a big.
Yeah, big magic.
Both of them. I'm thinking right here, right now, friend, let's.
Let's some little mini magic.
As my former lover, can you just pull it together.
Before former or otherwise.
The person has a candle in their hand. What are the two of you doing?
How close am I to that person?
You're still on the stairs because you couldn't get your way through. But you could throw something at them.
Okay, what's around me on the stairs? I take a shoe off. I take a shoe off and I throw it.
Roll me. Act under pressure or kick some ass. I'll let you do kick some ass, actually, because you're trying to do harm. So roll. Kick some ass for me.
Where is it? I've never. There it is. I see it. I see it. I found it. You can cut that out.
Come on. That's a failure. That's a six. However, this is the perfect time. Chandler, if you want to do help out, you can roll to see if you can bump that up. Okay. And just tell me how you help out. When you roll.
Okay, well, I will also take off my shoes and throw them.
Okay, sure. We're all help out. Actually, that would be kick some ass if I'm being letter of the law. That would be kick some ass if you want to throw your shoes.
I. I already helped out. But you know, they're just like peripheral throws.
Oh, well that's.
So.
So both of you. Shoes go flying way off target. You rolled a five. Ricky rolled a six.
Five is fail.
If you don't help out. Five is fail. So Mark experience. Ricky, Mark, experience. This person lights another part of the palace on fire. Hal, what are you doing downstairs?
Okay, now I'm making a concerted effort to not let anybody else go to the Front, I'm saying, like, follow me. Let's get to the. Let's get out the back through the employee exit.
Every. You're in the base. You're in the basement level. There's no one down here but you and the locked door where there's pounding, everyone is cleared out. You're shouting into the void.
Okay, are there any wardrobes or armchairs that I can reinforce this barricade with?
Yeah, yeah, I'll say there's a kind of stuff. Roll me. Act under pressure to fortify this door a little bit better. That's a seven. It's a big success. So I'll say you can find something to make the door more sturdy on your side. You're going to. You're going to drop something, probably that you don't want to drop. You're not going to really find anything that's sturdy enough. But you'll have bought yourself some time if this thing were to burst through to be out of its field of vision. So you'll have, like, another moment to do something else. Or. I love this option. Or you stay where you are, let this thing burst through. But panini will have come, too.
I don't like that option. Okay, so the first. So the. The first one is. It's not a great barricade.
They'll give you, like, another moment to do something, but it's. It's going to burst through any moment. The second one, you don't find anything, but you can kind of run and hide. So it's not going to see you for a little bit.
Yeah, I'll hide.
Great. Boom. Door burst open, and you hear a roar. But you. You have. You have a few moments here, Hal, to decide how you want to handle this. This team fire, it's starting to get a little smoky up here, and people are starting to cough. They can't get out the front door. What are the two of you doing? Hal. Sorry? Chandler and Ricky. You know what? Chandler? Read the bad situation. All right? This seems pretty bad.
Yeah. I mean, are we even fighting this creature, this monster? Are we just trying to put out fires? Literally?
Might be the same thing. I don't know. That is an 11. A full success. That's a hold three. Best way in, my best way out. Dangers we haven't noticed. Biggest threat, most vulnerable to me. Meaning what? You could do the most damage, you know? Where are you most effective in this situation? Best way to protect the victims. Get three on an 11.
Okay, three. Well, most vulnerable. Semi.
Most vulnerable to me in Milo or this Person who's setting the fire. That's not necessarily the same.
Okay, well, let's just deal with this fire guy first.
We gotta knock him out. Get the spirit out of. Good spirit out of his body. Literally. If you had hit with a shoe, that would have been enough, but you just missed. Okay, you obviously have a lot of magical abilities too, so that's one.
Okay, what's the best way out?
So the best way out. You had the right idea. Well, I'll give you two. I'll give you two answers to that. You had the right idea. Just no one heard how you got to get everyone to go out the employee exit, which is literally. You're on the ground floor. It's back. It's. It's near the bathroom area where you heard handy and panini. You just got. You just got everyone to turn around and go out the other way, because whatever the obstruction is, is not. Is blocking that door. Or you got to get outside and get that whatever isn't blocking that door out of the way. One of the two. Okay. And then you got one question left.
What's the best way to protect the victims?
What do you mean by best way to protect the victims? Get them out of the situation or get rid of the threat altogether? Maybe I'm giving you too much with that.
Well, I was thinking the situation, but maybe get rid of the threat altogether if that will get rid of the threat altogether.
Well, actually, maybe I should. Maybe I should clarify my clarification. Who are the victims in your question? Is it the council? Is it people being possessed? Is it these people here?
Oh, I mean, I was just thinking. Any bystanders who were just running around still trying to get out of the building.
Okay, let me answer that question. This thing is clearly gone beyond the council. It's trying to burn this place down with everyone trapped inside. Right? So the best way to protect the victims is to draw this thing away from whatever it thinks it's doing. Like get it out of these people and stop it from trying to set this fire. Barring that, getting them out of the palace, but that is more urgent. Or more. More. That'll get it quicker. How would you draw this thing away from this person?
Well, maybe with some magic, which would be. Okay, I don't know if we've asked this question. Seems obvious, but I don't know if we've had the option. How. How of could we contain it? Or in what could we contain it?
That is a fantastic question. You do have the ability use magic to bar a place or Portal to a specific person or type of creature. That is an option. Trap a specific person, minion or monster. The problem right now is that it is in a body. But that is a use magic effect.
So maybe we can just. Can we find more shoes and other things to just throw at it to see if it'll.
You can also throw marshes knock the.
The monster right out of him. Or maybe we just.
That's an option.
I mean it could be anything. You could throw glasses, chairs.
Throw chairs. Ricky, I want to offer you an opportunity to do something here too. This person is. Has set this on fire. And they're kind of like just looking at the fire. So this person probably is still possessed. Do you have any ideas or anything you want?
I have another shoe I got to throw.
Great.
To manipulate the crowd.
I always wear three shoes.
So your choice. Manipulate the crowd or throw a shoe and try.
I gotta have a success in here somewhere. I'm gonna try to throw a shoe before I start to really freak out the crowd. I'm rolling. Act under pressure to throw the shoe.
No, this is. Kick some ass.
Okay. There. I found it. I found it. Not as far away as I thought.
That's a 10. Full success. You throw a shoe. So here's a few things happen here on a 10 plus. Oh, yeah. Choose one extra effect. You gain plus one forward or give a plus one to someone else. Inflict terrible harm, suffer less harm, or force them where you want them.
I gain the advantage.
So you have a plus one forward. Okay, so be sure we'll write that down. Plus one forward for Ricky. This person drops like a bag of potatoes. We'll say the harm. Technically they're supposed to inflict harm on you. So they throw something at you. Take a point of harm. They just throw some like, debris at you. Kind of gets in your eye. That kind of hurts a little bit. So take a point of harm. Mm. The person drops. And because I did this last time, Chandler, I think it's fair that I do it again. You. Your. Your third eye opens when I have your act under pressure. And sure enough, you see the shape, humanoid shaped form lift out of this person who just got knocked unconscious. Go through the floor and down to the basement. Hal, you're hiding down the basement, right? You hear boosh, right? A roar. And then. Ah. This body will do nice.
I think he means nicely.