Stories with Dice
Stories with Dice is an actual-play podcast where a fellowship of everyday gamers explores fantastical worlds, distant futures, and parallel realities through tabletop role-playing games (TTRPGs) from Free League Publishing, Chaosium, Modiphius Entertainment, and more.
Join us at our virtual table as we play Mysteries of the Loop, our Tales from the Loop series; explore the Arthurian mythos in The Sword Campaign, the first part of our Great Pendragon Campaign; chart the stars in Star Trek: Magellan, our Star Trek Adventures series; and sail the seas in Dark Blue Sea, our Mutant: Year Zero campaign. Stories from other worlds are coming soon, including The One Ring, The Electric State, Legend of the Five Rings, Twilight: 2000, and so much more.
We’re not voice actors, professional entertainers, or trained performers—just friends from around the globe sharing virtual dice, stories, and a laugh or two as the game unfolds.
Stories with Dice
The Time That Shouldn't Be S2 E3: A Tales from the Loop Actual Play
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In this episode, Susie reconnects with the group after Anders shows her a prehistoric insect at the library. A dinosaur appears in the hideout's garage, Sven’s father goes missing, and Anthony starts to wonder whether these events have happened before.
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This is the time that shouldn't be a Tales from the Loop Actual Play from Stories with Dice. If you're enjoying our actual plays, please subscribe to Stories with Dice so you'll never miss an episode. Don't forget to rate and review us. It really helps others discover the podcast. Follow us on social media to stay updated. You'll find the relevant links in the description of each episode.
SPEAKER_05Hi, as always, I'm joined by Marco, playing Anthony. We have, as usual, the wonderful sexy Tony. Hello, hello. And you are playing? Ben. Cool. We have to my left on the screen Pete playing Anders. Cool. One day we're gonna get that camera fixed for you so we can see your lovely face radiating from No, that's a no. Above me is Douglas. Hi Doug. Last.
SPEAKER_02Hello. How you doing? Not bad. I am Johanna saying it up, as usual.
SPEAKER_05And then.
SPEAKER_03Woohoo! Wait on my Saul! You're muted, of course.
SPEAKER_06I'm muted! Yay! It's been so long. I'm back. What do these buttons do?
SPEAKER_03Yeah, exactly. Saul has been lost in the upside down for almost a year, and we're glad that we're glad that.
SPEAKER_06If we if we call the upside down a LARP, then yes. And various other RPGs, it's just not these ones. I am playing Susie, as I did before. So the gang is all here, as they say. Cool. And just to point out consistency, I missed the first episode of the last season, too.
SPEAKER_05I know, so I think I think this is I think I said if you listened back to the first episode, that you're being fashionably late as usual. So yes, so we have Suzy back along with Sol. Now, go listen to the other two episodes. I'm not gonna like harp on about what happened. What I will do is, like we did in the previous episodes, just something that was happening with the kids over the sort of six months from the last season to this season.
SPEAKER_06So, Sol, what has Susie been up to for the last six months? So, I mean six months ago was was pretty traumatic time, given given the sit the situation that we we uncovered and and everything that happened. So I I I think it's partly Susie trying to distract herself from from some of that, partly her parents trying to basically shelter her. They bought her a new like computer, a new Atari, and she's basically been been learning how to program and has been whistling away on that, has has been really enjoying that. So has has bumped into the the likes of the other kids in these last six months, but it's very much been restrictive. Like Susie has been going back home for exactly dinner time and that those kind of things. Like she has taken tried to take or has taken full control over sort of, you know, we're gonna meet now, we're not gonna meet now, and much less rebellious than before. Cool. Thank you.
SPEAKER_05Last season or last episode, the kids were all messing about on on Monzo while they were trying to figure out how to get into the loop and where the cooling reactors were. Take me through something that Susie might have done around sort of early lunchtime. What's a scene from you and something that you and your family might have been doing around lunchtime?
SPEAKER_06Early lunchtime? That's well, that that is lunchtime in in the household. And I think my mum has been we're six months later, and last time it was Easter, so we're not quite there. Mum's birthday was recent and she loves puzzles, so we bought her a new puzzle. It is one of those sort of garish cat pictures, and we've been slowly working through the thousand piece, and it just tends to be what we you know do in the morning. Mum has uh left me to it, filling in a couple of pieces, which Susie is really happy to achieve, even just the the small ones like Mum, Mum, I've I've completed the pour. Wow, that's nice, dear. As she then, you know, it's dinner time, so puts out sort of sandwiches, sort of cut-up carrots, that kind of thing. Like it's a it's a bit of a picky lunch.
SPEAKER_05Okay. So it's what it's a scene of sort of actually, you're all kind of getting on as a family, and it's a really nice sort of scene. It's kind of relaxing and and chilled out. Okay, cool. Well, we like that.
SPEAKER_06But it still has that air of my mum is sort of being slightly controlling in the fact that it's being overprotecting Susie at this point.
SPEAKER_05We want anything to happen. So Susie is aware that Rick's energy and through the the company that was making the robots has basically paid out a bunch of money for issues that might have happened with anyone who got chipped or anything like that. But they are absolutely not responsible for anything that's happened. As is all the legal paperwork that says so, with all the stuff that's backed up behind it. So it's kind of like now left under the radar, so it's the thing that happened, but no one really talks about it. There's NDAs all over the place, you know, that kind of thing. So yeah, it's actually quite it's it has that feel of slightly overprotectiveness, but actually at the at the core of it, it's actually quite a nice homely scene, which is nice because it's kind of lacking elsewhere at the moment. Okay. Cool. Well, that evening, all of you felt something change. You don't know what to put your finger on it. You don't notice anything, you don't, you know, or anything like that. There is a something happens, you're not really sure what it is, but something has has changed, and you don't know quite how to put your finger on that or anything like that. The next morning, you kind of all wake up and there's some hubbub around the tables, or wherever you happen to get up in the morning if you watch TV or if you listen to the radio. In fact, it's probably on a radio, it's not on a TV. There's basically a radio thing to say that there was some kind of weird thing that happened in the local area, and there were some eyewitnesses to say that something weird had happened that this must have something to do with the loop, and there was a large noise that broke some windows that all happened sort of along the coast of the Langfarmen Strait. So that whole area from if I look at it, if I show you on the map, everything that goes from Stenhamra, which is down the south, all the way up to Staubsborg, which is sort of like up that coastline. If I just kind of like highlight it for you, all along the strait. There were loads of like little little incidents that people have kind of mentioned or said there was like a strange energy or a strange light or a noise, and that's kind of like come to you. In whichever forms of form of medium, either your parents might have like listened to it and told you in in the morning, or you caught it on like the the local news radio broadcast, whatever it is, that's kind of like kind of come to you, which obviously is of key concern to some of you because of the things you were doing. So, this morning, what does it see you all doing? So, I'm gonna go to you first, Anders. What what what is your plan for the day? It's a Friday.
SPEAKER_04Yeah, gonna head to the library to see if I can find out something about this insect. I'm not too serious about it, but would like to be able to uh pass some information on to the others. Sure. And then after that, it'll be on to the hideout and start fashioning some bits of equipment for maybe uh bypassing an electric fence.
SPEAKER_06Is it a local library? Yeah, there's a there's a local library in town. So I'm just thinking of routes that Susie could get caught up in some things like this. Is it possible that, you know, my mum has decided, yeah, today is the library day, or or maybe I've decided I want to go to the library.
SPEAKER_05Susie, you want to be in the library?
SPEAKER_06My mum has, or you know, taken me to the library, she's talking to the librarian, and then I notice Anders there. I've got a cool book on dinosaurs and Egyptians, I think is another one that I've picked up. Like she's got she's got she's overflowing with books, just trying to like pick them up, and then she sort of sees over the the pile that she's carrying, I guess. Anders! Walks over and kind of pumps them down on the table. How are you? How's it going? What are you up to?
SPEAKER_04You're a bit of a brain box. Look, I found this, and I get out of this plastic bag with the slightly damaged dead insect in it. Ugh. Looks like a really large mosquito. Yeah, hu a huge mosquito kind of creature. Any idea what this could be?
SPEAKER_06It's a bit spindly. Yeah, but look at the size of it. You wouldn't want to be bitten by that. Hang on, I'm I'm sure there's a Right, then there must be a book over here. I'm gonna start like fingering through down the different aisles, like trying to, you know, find a section on, I guess, like natural history and in the insects and those kind of things. Trying to find a book to help and does out.
SPEAKER_05Well, I think this sounds like it could be a roll, right? Boy, already. Already, straight in there, we're not gonna mess around today. Would that be an investigate role? That'll be an investigate role, and I tell you what, you're in the library, so you can have an extra two dice.
SPEAKER_06Whoa, I have. Yeah, and you know, any good library has the Dewey Decimal system helping us out here. So I have a mind of four, investigate of one, plus the two extra gonna be rolling seven dice. And none of those are oh no, one of those is a success. Excellent.
SPEAKER_05So you and Anders kind of like have a wanderer through some of the books and kind of look around everything, and you end up doing eventually find up sort of a whole couple of books on insects. You first start off with your sort of like local insects in in and around Sweden and and Norway and that kind of thing, but that doesn't kind of show anything. There's some similarities, but you're not really 100% sure. Maybe a mosquito, but you're not really, again, sure. It could be something a bit like definitely nothing this big. So then that kind of like you start kind of thinking, and other roots, you know, maybe something has kind of like escaped from a zoo or a like an insect thing or something weird. So you kind of like start looking at some of those. So it takes you a little while, but you eventually find that this insect actually is an insect from probably a couple of hundred thousand years ago.
SPEAKER_06So so we've got all of these books laid out, like natural history, like probably the insect book, whatever. And then you know, we we we're starting to give up, and then I'm just I see sort of one of these gigantic insects on the cover.
SPEAKER_05It's a drawing. So it's like a drawing of it rather than like a picture.
SPEAKER_06No, but I I see a giant insect on the cover of like the prehistoric book that I picked up earlier, and then sort of flick through, and then we Does it do you think it looks like this, Anders? Vaguely, sort of the right scale. Did you bring it? Yeah, yeah, it's in a plastic bag. It's yeah, so so surrounded in a like a horseshoe of open index books. We have this plastic bag in the middle, and we're we're all trying to eye it up.
SPEAKER_05It's like a little lunch sandwich bag, and there's a slightly smushed large I mean we're talking sort of like this sort of large insect. Uh yeah, so it's probably about the same size as like an adult's thumb. And you're just like, right, this is a big insect. Yeah, it matches pretty similarly to that.
SPEAKER_06Well, I don't know what to say to that. Could it could it really be a be a something as old as dinosaurs, do you reckon? Is this a fossil?
SPEAKER_04It's fairly alive when I first found it.
SPEAKER_06Again, I think Susie raises her eyebrows questioningly at that fact. Right. Well, I should probably go and check these books out, but it's uh it's been lovely to see you, Anders. I hope you you have a a bit better luck finding out wherever your fossil is from. Sort of Susie sees her mum, like sort of darting eyes over as she's talking to the the librarian, sort of as if to you know beckon her over.
SPEAKER_04Thanks for your help, Susie. Maybe you'll see you out at the hideout sometime?
SPEAKER_06Yeah. Well, I'll have to ask mum, but but sure. Is everyone still there?
SPEAKER_04Yeah. Yeah, we've we've been hanging around all summer.
SPEAKER_06Not been getting up to trouble, I hope. Really? No. You sure?
SPEAKER_04Yeah, yeah. Oh, no toy robots this time.
SPEAKER_06No, but maybe giant insects?
SPEAKER_04I only found that one yesterday.
SPEAKER_06Is Anthony is it Anthony? Is he the one driving this again? Is he okay?
SPEAKER_04No, no, no, he's he's he's He's uh up for making uh an expedition across to the other island at some point. Yeah, maybe maybe you'd come with us day out. Oh boy trip. Monson Island?
SPEAKER_06That sounds great. Yeah. Sure. Again, I'll I'll have to ask my mum, but well, I and I I mean I can bring my own canoe as well if we need.
SPEAKER_05That'll come in handy. Thank you. Right. So, Tony Douglas, what is Sven and Johannes up to? Obviously, they they met with your contacts last night. And this morning, what's the plan? I mean, what did you what did you guys end up doing with your contacts?
SPEAKER_02Well, me and Anders that would have been, let's just say we're getting a hold of some bootleg VHS or something like that. Then we're hoping to fob off on someone at some point. Uh it'll probably just be Janice, at least, he'll be probably taking it easy this morning, so he's probably just gonna hang around to hide out, like around or some stuff, read some magazines.
SPEAKER_05Okay.
SPEAKER_02That's and uh Tony, what is it up to?
SPEAKER_01Yeah, my case I will be checking if my dad is home. Because I kind of remembered that he was not around the last night, or at least in the morning when I arrived last time, he was not around.
SPEAKER_05So So while Johannes is uh kicking back reading some magazines, you are sort of frantically trying to figure out where your dad is.
SPEAKER_01He's not at home, I'm guessing.
SPEAKER_05He is not at home again.
SPEAKER_01It doesn't look like he's been at home. Do I have a telephone number I can use? Yeah, there's a there's a telephone number. I'm guessing he left it. In case of emergency, please call work at nine. Yeah.
SPEAKER_05It's stuck on the um it's stuck on the fridge with loads of other doodles and stuff on.
SPEAKER_01So we'll basically yeah, so I would call the number and see, you know, you know, he's a janitor in the loop. So I want to know what happens.
SPEAKER_05Okay. So you uh you phone the number in in itself is uh a Rick's energy generic number, and then you were asked to speak with one of the people that he works with, which is a guy by the name of Anders Yalson, is the uh is the contact that he's given you to speak to. And uh the the lady on the line says, yeah, please hold, I'll put you through to uh to Mr. Yalson, and you wait, you wait five minutes, you get some like very uh bad sort of elevated music, and then a uh a man says, uh, hi.
SPEAKER_01Yes, this is uh this is this is uh Yelson. Hello, Spen Larsson, kind of looking for my dad. Have you seen him? Your father?
SPEAKER_05Sorry, you say your your your what's your dad's first name?
SPEAKER_01Lars Larsson.
SPEAKER_05He says uh Oh, you're Lars' kid. Is is he not alone then? No, he well, I don't think so. Let me check and see if he's signed out. Hold on. Thank you. You hear like sort of like the receiver get put down, but like kind of like clonk clonk clonk as and then you hear sort of like the sound of boots walking away from somewhere. You can hear just in the background some people talking, like in an office, or it's not close enough to the phone, but you can hear like stuff going on. And you kind of hear just just slightly just out of just just on the edge of the hearing, Jarlsen says, Anyone seen Daos? Has he been in? He was. Alright, sure. And then you hear sort of like foot footfalls coming back to the phone, and there's that clunk clunk noise of the phone being picked up. Hi, Sven. Yeah. He should have been home. In fact, he should have been home by now.
SPEAKER_01Okay, so he was there yesterday?
SPEAKER_05Uh yeah, well he was here yeah, well, this even this evening and into this morning.
SPEAKER_01Because he works at night, yeah.
SPEAKER_05Yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_01But he left. Is his car can you check if his car is right there? I'll check to see if his car's in the car park.
SPEAKER_05Are you at home?
SPEAKER_01Yes, I am.
SPEAKER_05Okay, well if you give me if you give me sort of fifteen minutes, twenty minutes, I'll go and see if I can find the car and then I'll give you a call back. Okay, thank you. He wanders off, uh well, he puts the phone down, and sort of like 15 minutes go by, 20 minutes go by. How are you feeling?
SPEAKER_01Because it's not the first time he hasn't come home like this. Well, I'm thinking perhaps he has an accident, he drank too much, or he drank on at work. Um I don't know, I'm worried.
SPEAKER_05Half hour goes by, 35 minutes goes by, then the phone rings. Really loud, kind of like ring, ring noise. And you pick up the phone, and uh it's um it's Anders Jelson. He says, Hi Sven, it's it's Jelson here. We've got him signing out, and his car is not in the car park. Okay. So I've contacted some people that work for me to go and check down by the uh South Gate. They'll kind of like check the road just to make sure he hasn't had like an accident. He could be like sort of sitting on the side of the the street or something, and he he might need to be picked up or anything. So I'm gonna send out a couple of cars to go make sure they're okay, and I'll keep you updated. Okay, thank you so much. Okay, just stay by the phone.
SPEAKER_01Okay, so yeah, I'm kind of nervous about it. I put the TV on, I guess the local news or the radio, whatever I have at home at this moment, just checking the news, you know.
SPEAKER_05You get that same same thing about the talk about the sound of the large noise that kind of echoed across the um the waters, and then people sort of like saw strange things in the sky, and or they heard sort of like a weird sort of like buzzing or a shimmering on the lake. So you hear all that, which kind of presumably sends your imagination into override to sort of like see what's going on.
SPEAKER_01And I will fix myself up some breakfast while I'm waiting, because you know I'm kind of nervous, but uh just thinking about what's going on. You mean when you're nervous? Exactly.
SPEAKER_03Anthony, what are you up to? For our careful listeners who have probably memorized every single episode from last season and are building out a wiki, I hope. That would be very cool to see. They're probably wondering after what after listening to the last two episodes, what happened to the device in Anthony's brother's jacket. So, Ed, what happened to the because I forgot myself, what happened to the device? I'm imagining that his because I imagine that his brother wasn't supposed to have it. And so after he told his father, after Anthony told his father what had happened, that his father confiscated the device and where it went from there is within the realm of the adults, is kind of what I'm thinking.
SPEAKER_05But you can you know I that's a very nice get out clause for me. Thank you very much. Kind stuff.
SPEAKER_03I'm happy to give you a get out clause for free. You only get one free get out clause from me, so the next one will cost you.
SPEAKER_05So, yes, your dad would have taken it because it was sort of like proof, obviously, about what happened.
SPEAKER_03Right, and it's probably loop property or whatever.
SPEAKER_05Yeah, so your dad probably took it, and the last time you remember it, it was locked in your dad's study in one of the drawers that he has. Okay, perfect. That was the last time you saw it. You've not seen him take it out or mention it ever since. Okay, so in the morning, he could well be there.
SPEAKER_03Yep. So what day is it? Uh this is Friday. It's Friday, okay. And we're still not yet in school time. Yep. So then after his father goes to work, so he'll be a good boy in the morning, because they got into an argument uh, you know, in the last episode. Mom makes breakfast, everybody sits down, you know, he's reading in the newspaper, he goes off to work, mom's cleaning up the kitchen. Anthony goes into his father's study and tries to break into that place that the that that uh safe that he saw his father put the device into. I mean, this boy is a liability. He really is.
SPEAKER_05I have no idea what I would need to break that into the tinker brute force, or do you want to try and like he's a weak the lock kind of thing?
SPEAKER_03Yeah, he's gonna try to pick the lock. Yeah, yeah. Yeah. Is it uh is it a combination lock or is it a key lock? It's a key, it's a key lock. Okay. Yeah, I'm I'm actually happy with Tinker.
SPEAKER_05Tinker seems fine to me. Tinker, okay.
SPEAKER_03I know I'm am I using like uh uh what do you call those clips, those clippy things?
SPEAKER_05You can try and use a paper clip. Paper clip, thank you. Uh it's not gonna give you any extra dice, I'm afraid. Unless you've got some logic sticking around. I do not. No. Fair enough. Apparently the thing. You've been watching on TV, it's not that simple.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, yeah. He's like probably watching, I don't know, Magnum PI or something. McGyver, yes, exactly. Thank you. So you guys know your 80s shows better than I do. So he's yeah, so he, you know, he's like sneaking into this his dad's study, and he's got the paperclip, and he open, you know, he opens it up and he's getting in there, and he probably gets its the paperclip like jammed into it, and now he's trying to frantically get it out.
SPEAKER_05There's a snap noise, and you're left with half a paperclip left.
SPEAKER_03So then I go rummaging around the house looking for pliers so I can try to like yank it out. Okay.
SPEAKER_05So you kind of like do that, and it's sort of like then you're having to find the next thing to kind of like do. And your mum's like And mom is like, have you cleaned your room yet? And I'm like, I'm busy. Come here, young man, and think about. Don't talk to your mother like that. What are you doing anyway? So I can come out with a pair of pliers. Nothing, and I hide it behind my back.
SPEAKER_03Anthony, what are you doing? I I'm just fixing something that broke, a toy. And that's it. Well, do I have any of those robot pieces? Yeah, you probably got some of the pieces. Yeah, so I'll go like I'll go back to my room for a minute, grab a couple of those pieces and show it to her and be like, see, I'm not lying. Okay. And then she wanders off leaving you to it. So then I'll when I when I think the coast is clear, I'll go back into the study, try to yank out the broken piece of the paper clip, so hopefully dad is none the wiser.
SPEAKER_05Okay. Make a uh let's see if you fuck it up even more roll. So if you make a false roll for me, please.
SPEAKER_03Lovely, I have nothing in force.
SPEAKER_05But you will get an extra dice for the for the pliers.
SPEAKER_03Okay. Bonus die. Yay! One success. Look at that, those pliers came in handy.
SPEAKER_05Yeah, you basically end up ripping it out. I mean, you've scratched all the sort of like wood and metal around it, whatever. But yeah, you've got the like little bit left of the pli or of the of the thing, and you're just like, oh shit.
SPEAKER_03Is it one of those safes that are like in the wall, or is it like it's not a safe, it's just a a drawer.
SPEAKER_05Okay. That's it's in the desk. Okay. And you just basically put it in there and then locked it. So you spend all this time kind of doing all that, and then your dad eventually sort of like comes back and he needs to use his study, and he kind of like comes in. Wait, he comes back from work? Uh yeah, in the middle of the day? In the middle of the day, he comes back from work.
SPEAKER_03That's unusual, isn't it? And yeah, it's not normal. And was I in the study when he came back? Or did I hear his car coming? I'm like, oh, get out of it, get out of here.
SPEAKER_05I like that. Yeah, you saw the car pull up. It's one of those kind of like pulls up next to the house and you're like, shit.
SPEAKER_03Yep. I hightail it out back into my room and hide out there for an appropriate period of time.
SPEAKER_05Cool. You hear your dad come back, speak to your mum. She asks if everything's okay, and then he goes into his study and shuts the door. But don't worry, Johannes, I haven't left you out. So, you're sitting in the hideout with your uh feet up, looking at your magazines. What do you read it?
SPEAKER_02Probably just sort of like the young adult sort of like teen magazines, you know. Remember those sort of like what would be the word to describe them? I think we mentioned this last time. Like like the culture ones that are just like this is what kids.
SPEAKER_05Okay. OK E J was yeah. It was uh wonderful magazines which have got in fact you're looking at one that's got a picture of a sort of like goth kind of woman on, and then there's a whole load of sort of gumpf around what's Marilyn Monroe's look, the kind of look you're looking for, and then the Rocky Horror Picture Show, something that you've always wanted to see coming to Stockholm near you. And then there's also sort of like a one of those, is she the right is she the right girl for you? Please answer these like 20 questions, that kind of thing.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, that yeah, that kind of magazine.
SPEAKER_05Yeah, so you're you're basically uh listening to that, and then as you're doing that, you're sort of like sitting, presumably on the upstairs, I'm guessing.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, just sort of like feet on the table, seat chair with back on the two legs, or just like vicariously balancing.
SPEAKER_05Yeah. You're sitting up there, and then you hear a noise downstairs.
SPEAKER_02I'll probably just assume that someone's come in or whatever, and just be like, just carry on. Just sort of like look up a bit and then go back to reading.
SPEAKER_05Yeah, you can hear someone like knocking something over downstairs, and you can hear definitely someone rummaging around rather than sort of like someone coming in and going, hey, how's things going?
SPEAKER_02Well, if I remember, downstairs is usually Anders' domain, isn't it? Because that's what tools and the car is.
SPEAKER_05They used to be his old Volvo there, and that's where he keeps all his tools and stuff.
SPEAKER_03Didn't we end episode two with someone with hearing noise downstairs? I can't remember if we were all in the hideout or not. Or if some of us were. Yeah, because I just edited them like a couple of days ago, so I'm like, I feel I did. I can't remember.
SPEAKER_02I I assumed we were retconning that because back at the Tenth The Borde.
SPEAKER_05Yeah, yeah, so that's fine.
SPEAKER_03So, yeah, well Somehow there's a little bit of a time loop happening. Yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_05Yeah, I like that. I was like, I I could have sworn everyone was here or sort of but. Yeah, you kind of like have a little bit of deja vu to sort of think, actually I'm pretty sure. Usually you're pretty sure that you heard like noise, but wait, what? Until you feel like there's something a bit funky.
SPEAKER_02Marco, fix in post, fix in post. Okay, I'll just be like, Anders, that you? I'll just whatchamacallit. Turn over the corner of my page of my magazine so I'll remember where it was and put it down and kick off from a seat and to stand up, and I will go and see what Anders is up to downstairs.
SPEAKER_05You um you open the door to go downstairs. As you start going down the stairs, the stairs creak underneath your feet, and sort of like all the sort of like dried paint that's kind of peeling off, and you've tried to kind of tidy up as best you can, but it's still sort of obviously what's left of an old factory kind of thing. You can smell something like a musty or musky, sorry, stench coming from downstairs. Kind of a bit like I mean you've yeah, you know, you you you've you've smelt the poop of foxes and pine martens and stuff like that. It's that kind of like smell, that that pungent odour that that excretes out of predators.
SPEAKER_02Just be like, oh that's like, and there's more are you bringing in some shit?
SPEAKER_05It's at that point you hear a growl from downstairs. Like a low guttural growl.
SPEAKER_02Okay, I will peer into the is it like anywhere I can see from the stairs into that area?
SPEAKER_05Like like that, the the moment the stairs kind of like twisted on themselves, we're gonna go down, you kind of look over the stairs and down the street.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, I'll go down until I can see whatever this is.
SPEAKER_05Yeah, you can see that Adaza's tools are scattered all over the floor. You can see there is this like brown and white muck all over it, which looks like oil, and you can make out just out of the corner of your eye, around the corner where the car would be, a shadowy figure, sort of hunched over, doing something, but it's difficult to make out. Because the only light that's coming in from downstairs is probably from one of the open doorways.
SPEAKER_02Anders, are you working on that car again? Anders? Is there anything just like lying around loose on the stair? I could just throw it in.
SPEAKER_05Yeah, you kind of like try and give them a surprise.
SPEAKER_02I'll try and like bounce it off like the bonnet, sort of make a clang noise, the surprise.
SPEAKER_05Yeah, there's like one of the other kids uses sort of like um like a they roll a pot down. Uh probably so there's like an old pot that you kind of like have and you throw it. You throw it and this thing turns around and looks at you. You see a a large lizard with sort of like this blue and brown colouring, almost like a camouflage. It's got a shed load of rows of sharp teeth. It probably stands maybe five feet at the shoulder and it looks around at you, and that is the sound of the guttural noise that it's making, and it kind of makes a sort of like noise as it sees you, and it kind of like starts to go back on its haunches. You've seen dinosaur films, it looks like a dinosaur.
SPEAKER_02I will just sort of freeze as a minute for a minute while my brain tries to comprehend there is a dinosaur currently trying to fix the Volvo. It's got a bandana on, it's got like a monkey wrench in his hand. And then eventually, when reality reserts itself, he will just flee upstairs again.
SPEAKER_05Yeah, run like hell. You can hear the sound of it running towards the stairs, and by then you shut and lock the door behind you.
SPEAKER_02I'll I'll grab whatever I can, like push stuff against the door. Okay, cool.
SPEAKER_05Well, that's everyone's morning. Great. So we'll go back to you, Yannis, because you know, you're you're the one in mortal danger while everybody else is doing their thing. Okay. So yeah, you hear the sound of something on the stairs, said dinosaur perhaps, and then it goes quiet.
SPEAKER_02Can I put my ear to the door and see if I can hear anything?
SPEAKER_05I just have this image of you sort of like putting the ear to the door as the camera cuts away to a dinosaur putting its ear to the door. What's that 50-50 shot where like hands over and there's seconds? Um yeah, you listen, you listen at the door, you can't hear a thing. Actually, you can hear.
SPEAKER_02You can hear doom doom doom doom doom doom doom. And it's your heartbeat. Okay. Is there I assume there is like a a door down there that the car used to be able to get in and out of. Yeah, yeah, there's like a garage door that can go come out. Did I When I was down there, was that open?
SPEAKER_05Yeah, that's usually sort of like open. I think I think adders usually leave it like a quarter open because it can't shut all the way.
SPEAKER_02So it was open when I went down. I'd be like, crap, the other door on the outside. So I'll go go run to the outside door, because I think there's a door that goes to like a five-scale.
SPEAKER_05So if you're on the top floor, well you're on the on the top floor, and that's underneath you, so you've got some stairs that go between you. There's the rest of the factory that's kind of broken and dilapidated that you don't really use, you know. So hit the other door and you run to the other door. You look down, you can't see it. You kind of look over looking down into sort of like where the where the workshop would be and stuff. You can't see that it's there anymore.
SPEAKER_02Take the fire escape? Well, that's the thing is do uh am I smart enough to try and outrun it? Or will I just hold myself up here and hope that something you know, he's he's yeah, he's he's just gonna haul himself up and hide out. Makes sense. Okay.
SPEAKER_05Well, Sten, about two hours goes by and there's a knock on the door.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, it goes on open. And off an arrows, I I get there because uh, you know, I'm wondering who could be.
SPEAKER_05And you see this gentleman at the door. He is sort of in his mid-30s, fairly well built, so sandy brown hair, and he has a security officer's uniform on of Rick's Energy. You can see it has a namepad, and on the name pad it says Security Officer Yeltsin. And he says, Hi, Sven, I'm Anders. Hello. We spoke on the phone, right? We did. We're trying to find your dad, and we we are we're trying everything we can to find him, but we can't seem to find his car, and we can't seem to find him. We are doing everything we can to look for him, and I just wanted to uh tell you in person that we're gonna do our best to make sure that we get him. Have you talked with the police? Well, we thought before before anything happens that we would kind of deal with it ourselves. Normally it takes 24 to 40 hours to kind of report someone missing. So we thought we'd we'd get ahead of start on the police just in case. And then obviously we'll do all the necessary paperwork that is required. You haven't found anything? No, it appears that he left in the early hours of this morning, according to his login sheet and his logout sheet. So he should have been home by the time, you know, by seven o'clock this morning. But obviously that's not the case because of your phone call. So we're checking the route between here and and home, his most likely route. But so far we haven't found anything. But I've got a couple of officers looking to see if we can find anything at all. But I just thought you'd like to hear it from me rather than just sort of just anyone.
SPEAKER_01I appreciate that. So why should I don't?
SPEAKER_05Obviously, if you if you want to let us know if your dad comes home, he might still come home, he might be elsewhere, he might just not have contacted us, uh or you. But there was nothing out of the ordinary that we could notice at work, so he might have just gone off to see a friend. I don't know. I don't know what your dad would normally be like.
SPEAKER_01He will come home. He's working tomorrow, right?
SPEAKER_05As far as we're aware tonight, yeah, he'll be working. So you might just turn up to work later on, in which case it won't be a problem and everything will be fine and we'll be able to let you know.
SPEAKER_01But it's you're calling me.
SPEAKER_05Of course, yes, of course. I'm working until this afternoon, but I'll stay at work just until his shift works starts, and then I'll let you know. Okay, okay, okay, okay, so stay home. He says, if that's okay, he says, um He says, um, do you mind? Can I just uh pop in and use your Lou, is that okay? He kind of comes in and he goes to the toilet or goes to the bathroom, and as he goes to the bathroom, he goes in, leaves the door open, and then turns on flushes the toilet, then turns on the tap, and he kind of waves at you to come into the bathroom to him. That's all.
SPEAKER_01He's a crying to myself. Yes. Okay. So I go to the door, but they don't come in.
SPEAKER_05He leans really close to you and and whispers, they could be listening to us. Rick's energy. Listen to us. Don't understand. Dad didn't come home last night because he never left work. Okay. Have you seen him? I haven't seen him. He was involved in something, but I don't know what. I'm gonna have a little look, but I don't I don't really know. He caught got caught up in something, but I just wanted to let you know that I'm sure he'll be safe, but he's I have to go through this whole process with you. He kind of looks at the window to the bathroom and says, they could just be listening. I can't tell you too much because it'll be weird. This is already very weird. I know I'm very sorry. But your dad said if if anything happened to him, I should come and make sure you're okay. So as soon as I know anything else, I'll let you know. I'm really sorry to have to burden you like this, but we just have to keep it under wraps. So just continue to act like you're upset. You're really good at that.
unknownOkay.
SPEAKER_05You can see he's trying to find the right words to tell you, but he isn't quite sure how to mention all this, and then he kind of like pushes you to sort of like go back outside. Go back outside. So he uh he opens and shuts the door again and says, Thank you so much, Sven. As soon as we know anything, we will let you know. And he hands you a piece of um paper with a telephone number on. And he pocket it does the kind of like tall the cool thing, and then he uh he leaves. It is a telephone number. With his name on it or it's just a piece of paper with a telephone number on, that's all it is. Right, so Susie and Anders. You've kind of like got an idea of what this uh this insect is. Is there any kind of plan?
SPEAKER_06So uh So what's your plan? And as you see me leaving with my my mum at the time.
SPEAKER_04Yeah. Well nobody's looking. I tear the relevant page out of the book and fold it up and put it in with the plastic bag. Okay. Yep. Then probably head off towards the hideout.
SPEAKER_05Okay. Cool. As Johannes is busy sort of like looking around frantically to see what's going on. So Susie. Where is Susie gonna go? Just gonna go home?
SPEAKER_06See Susie's going home. If uh for all intents and purposes, there's not really been anything to to drag her away from, you know, sort of a and I think, you know, my mum is still very protective, especially hearing things on the news, probably a little bit more so. So we've gone home with the the large pile of books that I was checking out. Except, oh, where's the one on dinosaurs? I must have left it with Anders. So I've already got home by this point, all of the books are on the table. I feel like Susie's really become quite I'm trying to think of the right word here, but very OCD about things now. So has like goes through the pile and is is basically right, right, I'm gonna read Egyptians on Monday, and I'm gonna read and that's how she realizes that uh Yeah, well, where's where's the one on dinosaurs? I must have left it at the library. Mum, can I can I quickly I think I left one of my uh books back at the library. Okay, we'll come back as soon as you're as soon as you're done. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. I promise. Be careful. She's like trying to put a coat on or a jacket on or whatnot. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I'll be right back. I'll be right soon. What what's for dinner?
SPEAKER_05She says uh I'm making a pot roast.
SPEAKER_06Well, you know that's one of my favourites. Of course I'm gonna be back for that, mum. Okay. I'll be fine. What's the worst that can happen? Anders has already checked it out, I suppose. Door slams shut as I rush out.
SPEAKER_05Yeah, as you kind of like, well, in fact, Anders and Susie. Can you please make a just an investigate role? Okay, well. So both of you separately notice something that there's a lot of white vans kicking around the neighborhoods. It just is like odd, right? You just like there's another one. There's another one, and they seem to be driving around the neighborhoods. They're very they're they're they're very plain, they don't have any kind of like logos or anything on. Both they all seem to have two two men in the vehicle. And some of them are parked up, some of them are sort of like just driving around. But you notice that as you are going. And as you go to the hideout, and Susie is going back to the library. Right. Well, Susie, you were you cycle back to the library, you're in the library.
SPEAKER_06I'm just in the library, I'm looking for Anders and sort of seeing the table where we were at before Anders not being there. Has Anders tidied up the books that we called? They're all there. No. So all of the books are there. I'm at Oh. Anders must see your page. Well, yeah, I guess. You've just taken the page. So my book's still there. Or the one I checked out. I quickly like fold it up, put that in my bag, close it up and put that in my bag. Boys! Can't take them anywhere. She looks at the rest of the books, and I better go and find it. I've got some seller tape somewhere. It'll be fine. It'll be fine, Susan. You've got this. And then she's gonna about to leave, and then starts tidying all of the books away, thumbing through, finding the right places to put it. 17 weeks later? Yeah. No, so she's gonna spend probably the next, you know, 10-15 minutes tidying this up. She's gonna sneak out, well, she's gonna head out with the the the ripped page, and she's gonna try and go find Anders. So the page Anders. Sorry, the book without the ripped page. She's gonna head basically, she's gonna go and try and find Anders, because we need to fix this, because it's already been checked out by me, and my library card is clean. Can't be having that.
SPEAKER_05No points on your library card whatsoever. Okay. But you know that Anders was gonna be going back to the hideout, so. Yeah, so that's that's yeah.
SPEAKER_03Halmhead there afterwards. Marco, what's Anthony doing? I wonder if Anthony Remember at the beginning of the episode you said something felt off. I don't know if those were your exact words. Something felt strange, something felt off. Yeah, yeah. So I wonder if Anthony is now having this just to sort of close the loop, no pun intended, on whatever time inconsistencies m may be afoot. Totally planned, of course. Naturally. Yes. So I I wonder if he is having like a deja vu moment. And he's like, goes to his dad's study, knocks on the door. Yep, your dad uh opens the door and asks. Hey, dad, hi. Did you got a minute? Sure, come in. I so I go into the study, shut the door behind me.
SPEAKER_05You can see there's a whole load of paperwork on the desk and stuff, which he sort of like tidies out, puts folders, vanilla folders closed and stuff.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, yeah, I'm sure I imagine he's got like a sofa or something in his study. So he's he plots plops down on the sofa. For her and he's like, do you What's up, Matt? Is something weird going on? What do you mean? I feel like I feel like we've already had this morning, but it's a little different.
SPEAKER_05Can't say I have that feeling. I know there's some stuff going on at work, but we've all been asked to work from our offices today. Your home offices. They usually do that when they're testing something out.
SPEAKER_03Well, do you think that they're messing with time?
SPEAKER_05Well, he kind of looks at you and says, I suppose anything is possible. Considering all the things that has happened in the past, I mean it it wouldn't put it past them. I'm not really sure they're they're that that advanced as to what they're doing. I mean if he if if anyone is doing anything like that. It's them damn ruskies, no. It is the 80s. Um he says I could ask Dr. Holt if anyone's doing anything. She'll uh she'll know.
unknownYeah.
SPEAKER_03I mean, yeah, it if you would mind that that would be great. I mean, I really feel like something weird is I feel weird. I feel strange. Like we've had this conversation before, but it was different. Like maybe we we weren't even in your study when we had it.
SPEAKER_05Okay. Well, I can definitely have a look for you. I just want to make sure that you feel safe, and he kind of puts his hand on your shoulder, and we want to make sure that you know you feel like you can trust me.
SPEAKER_03I sh like shrug his shoulder his hand off my shoulder, and I'm just like, don't make this about Joe. Okay, Dad? No, no.
SPEAKER_05But suddenly there's this like weird awkwardness that happens between you. Yeah. And just like straight away, it's like, it's like, well, look, if if if you need anything, I've got some work to do. And you know that's that shortcut for uh shorthand for like get out of my office, because I'm I I I I'm not talking about anything now, thank you very much. You just shut everything down.
SPEAKER_03Yep. He's like, yeah, okay, cool, Dad, cool. You know, I'll check in with you later after you talk to Dr. What's your name? And I'm just gonna go hang out with the guys. Can I go down? Yes, you can go. Cool. So he goes, grabs his bike, and he's gonna go to the hangout.
SPEAKER_05Which hadly gets you all to the hangout at the same sort of time. As you will start to arrive, Johannes, you're sort of like still kind of like, where the hell is this thing? And you hear you hear Anders pull up.
SPEAKER_02Okay, can I can I see him from my little Yeah, you see?
SPEAKER_05Yep. You can see sort of like the there's that path that goes through the trees.
SPEAKER_02Yeah.
SPEAKER_05Through the forest towards you, and you kind of like, if you sort of lean down one of the windows, you can get like a roughly a straight sort of like path down there. And you can see you can see Anders sliding.
SPEAKER_02I'll just wave to him and gesture to like get up here quick.
SPEAKER_05Well, so you kind of like call him to come up, and Anders like shouts at you from where he is, like sliding in, and goes, You'll never guess, as he sort of like cycles, and as he gets to sort of like the downstairs, and as you come into your sort of like into your area, and you can see all your tools and all the things that you had on your desks are on the floor, and there is oil or some kind of nasty like stuff all over it, and you get that smell of like that that musky scent. You're like, no, that's terrible. What what the hell's happened down here?
SPEAKER_02Anther's get out of there! There's a big lizard figure there, cabier.
SPEAKER_05We see on a bell. Yeah, you can't uh which case you can hear the sound of Susie. In fact, probably Susie and Ant are probably gonna met each other on the on the little pathway going towards the uh the factory.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, I'm coming down I'm coming down one road, she comes down the other, and I'm like, hey Susie, and I'm waving at her.
SPEAKER_06Hey Ant, how's it going?
SPEAKER_03Oh, you know, weird shit's going down.
SPEAKER_06Yeah, the usual then. Do you reckon Anvers is gonna be at the hideout? He ripped a page out of a library book. Who does that?
SPEAKER_03Yeah, so I look, there's this bike right over there, and it's like, you know, leaning up against the side of the garage or whatever.
SPEAKER_06Let's go get this sorted. You wouldn't rip a page out of a book in the library, would you, Anthony? Hell no, that's like sacrilegious. Anders did that, he's a he's a heathen. Right, let's go speak to that heathen.
SPEAKER_05Okay, so yeah, you sort of shout as you kind of get there. So, Sven, what are you gonna do?
SPEAKER_01Well, knowing that my dad is not coming back home and I shouldn't, you know, that I don't need to wait for him. I guess I will go to the hideout too to tell the rest, basically, and and brainstorm. Because apparently, you know, besides Aunt's brother, my dad is also stuck in the loop now.
SPEAKER_05Hmm. Okay, yes, you also make your way as you sort of like make your way to to to join the rest of them as they're sort of about to get ripped apart by some creature from millions of years ago. You you're cycling through the town, and again, you can make an investigation roll from kids. So I get nothing. Okay. Yeah, so you sort of like you kind of you you also see sort of like there's there's more of these sort of white bands kicking around town, and you sort of go past a few of them. As you're sort of like passing one of the houses, you can hear a child, or like a younger kid, going, Tinkers, Tinkers, where are you? Come here, Tinkers. Hey kitty, hey kitty.
SPEAKER_03And then the mum says, I'm sure we'll be back. Don't worry. Don't you dare harm a cat in this episode. There are no cats being harmed in this episode, I don't know what you want about.
SPEAKER_05And then we we move swiftly on to the rest of them. Okay, so hey Johannes! Hey Anders, says uh Susie.
SPEAKER_03Carry on from where you left off. So yeah, so we'll get into the garage, I guess. We're like drop our bikes off right in front, and like you see the same thing scoot underneath that half open garage door. And I'm like, oh whoa, what happened in here? Hey Anders, what I heard you ripped the page out of Susie's book.
SPEAKER_04Yeah, that that's by the way, that's that's just the bee insect. We found it in a book. But what's happened here?
SPEAKER_06And what's that what's that stink?
SPEAKER_04Right.
SPEAKER_06Somebody farting here? Anders, have you got that page? I've got the seller tape, we're gonna fix this book immediately.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, you're gonna get Susie in trouble with the library, you know.
SPEAKER_06My card is spotless. It's the only way I can take out ten books a week.
SPEAKER_04Yeah, I'll I'll get the page out and unfold it. It's got got a bit of bug juice on it now, but I can't do it here, let's go.
SPEAKER_06I sh I think she storms she storms up the stairs.
SPEAKER_05Okay, you go up the stairs, you go to open the door, it's shut and locked. We start p knock, knock, knock, knock. Hey! Hey! It appears that they're not ripped apart.
SPEAKER_02Okay. Johannes, I guess we'll just you hear the sort of things game moved around, and then the door unlocking.
SPEAKER_06Hi, Johannes! I just sort of bubble in. How are you? It's you. What are you doing here? I've already I've walked past you, I'm like at one of the tables in in sort of the hideout room. I'm getting the book out of my just fixing the this criminal damage that Andes has done.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, sure. Joannes just sort of like looks through the door down into the garage and is like, you see anything like large lizardy dinosaur thing in there. Is that why you had the door locked? Yeah. Must have just run off into the forest. Sure, it wasn't a bear. No, it didn't look like a bear. Although it was dark. Anyway, so uh has anyone left snacks around?
SPEAKER_03We got loads of snacks, Susie. There's a bag of chips. Well, crisps or whatever. This wouldn't be the DD hangout without loads of snacks.
SPEAKER_06But could it have attracted the bear? Or the possible bear.
SPEAKER_03Well, seemed more interesting Andre's car than anything. At this point, Ann has opened up a bag of potato chips, you know? Or you open up a bag of potato chips. Crisps, as as as you folks call them, and he hands you one and he starts like, you know, eating them. Before you do that, you open up the bag.
SPEAKER_05The crisps, potato chips, float up out of the bag. Are you guys are you guys seeing that? Everything that's kind of like not nailed down starts to sort of like levitate, including yourselves.
SPEAKER_06Well, I've got like a piece of tape like stuck between my fingers. I've got like the the the page that I was just about to What's going on? Put me down!
SPEAKER_05Sven, you're you're riding along this um path towards the hideout. You see a shimmer in the air. The shimmer air, the shimmering in the air starts to coalesce just in front of the hideout, and there is this large crack noise. And it's Friday morning, and you've just got up. What's your plan for the day?