309: Boom Goes the Dynamite

Synopsis

The episode picks up where 308: Infestation left off. Billy races the truck away from Motley Hill Sanatorium as the dynamite goes off behind them. From the tailgate, Tallahassee sees that the front entrance has collapsed, with debris and a few still figures in the grass, but no creatures are chasing them. About ten minutes down the road, Percival Warthrop bangs on the cab and has Billy pull over. Percival says that Goodman Gray's men found the creatures' lair and stirred up the nest. Dr. Simeon reminds the group that there may be about 43 creatures and insists that they warn New Jerusalem before nightfall. Tallahassee admits that he panicked on the stairs despite his diamond skin. Dom finds that he has a few bottles of booze left for more Molotov cocktails.

Percival has a theory and asks the group to check the farms along the road. At the Adams farm the grounds are torn apart, and Percival and Dom find a severed hand. Percival judges that this farm was hit before the Russell farm, which means the creatures are moving from Motley Hill toward town. The Kedridge farm, the last before New Jerusalem, has also been hit, and the carnage there looks fresher still. Percival notes that the creatures are territorial and insatiable and are eating their way across the countryside. He warns that after the attack on their nest they will probably come soon. The group argues over plans, including Tallahassee's idea to lure the creatures into a tunnel and collapse it, before agreeing to head back to town.

The group arrives in the town square at around 5 p.m., and Billy leans on the horn. Dr. Simeon dumps the dead infant creature onto the cobblestones. Mayor Jedediah Marsh comes out of the town hall, annoyed, but a Psychology roll shows that he is genuinely shocked by the corpse. He calls out Constable Zeke Dawkins, a tall, composed man with gray hair and a prairie hat. Billy introduces himself and explains that the creatures are nesting at Motley Hill, that the farm families have been wiped out and that the horde is probably coming that night. The mayor goes pale and says that none of this was supposed to happen and that "they" had assured him it would not reach the town. Dawkins remarks that things have gotten more out of hand than Goodman Gray suggested they would. The mayor sends him off to fetch Gray.

An elderly couple from the bakery, Ishmael "Ish" Graves and his wife Martha, offer to help. Martha goes to gather her brother's boys to run messages. Ish suggests that the tavern, Denny's, is newer and in better repair than the town hall, and the group settles on fortifying it. Dr. Simeon gives Ish one of the creature's teeth as proof. Billy's speech earns a bonus die on his Persuade roll, and he spends Luck to pass it as word spreads through town. Dr. Simeon then asks the Keeper how his summoning spell works and decides to start casting.

When Billy presses the mayor about Goodman Gray, the mayor brushes him off. Major Bakersfield draws Old Reliable, and after two successful Intimidate rolls the mayor cracks. He says that he met Gray only a few weeks ago and suspects something was going on between Mordecai Shep and Corbitt. He admits that a powerful man paid him to keep an eye on Corbitt and help Gray, with promises of advancement in Arkham. Bakersfield lights a stick of dynamite to make him talk. Before the mayor can name his patron, a voice says "stop" and the mayor freezes in place. Goodman Gray walks up with the constable and says that none of this matters now. He proposes a partnership against the horde, explaining that most of his men died at the sanatorium but that he has a few left. When asked, he says that yes, he has a flamethrower.

Funny Moments

The table plans to throw banana peels and red turtle shells at Goodman Gray's car.
Bakersfield tries a ninja flip onto the roof of the moving truck to man an imaginary .50 cal.
"Fumped" becomes the word of the episode, with "cluster fump" and "fump-nado" following.
Tallahassee's photos from the stairwell turn out to include diamond-skin selfies and a shirtless shot.
Asked to roll a D6 for how much booze he smuggled, Dom proudly reports six bottles, and the Keeper overrules him.
The Keeper realizes he named a farm "Adams" while playing with a table of jokers.
Dom announces "I crouch with him," then "I looked at the ground with him," while shadowing Percival.
Tallahassee asks whether he can have Double Diamond Skin.
Dom theorizes that Gray is a monster arms dealer, or maybe a dealer in monster arms.
Bakersfield puts out his lit dynamite by licking the fuse.
Gray answers the flamethrower question with "Oh, I have a flamethrower."

Notable Quotes

"Oh, shut up, Percival. You've never been fumped before." —Simeon Kantstandyerbitz
"I couldn't even kick a piece of dynamite down the stairs. I was so scared." —Tallahassee Turner
"That means they're moving toward town." —Percival Warthrop
"These creatures, they have no mercy. They just have a hunger." —Billy McConnell
"Maybe he's some of kind of monster arms dealer." —Dom Druncard
"This wasn't, none of this was supposed to happen like this." —Mayor Jedediah Marsh
"I'm not a fighting man. I'm a politician for crying out loud." —Mayor Jedediah Marsh
"Before this fuse runs out, we're all going to die." —Major Bakersfield
"Oh, I have a flamethrower." —Goodman Gray