"One Night" Amanda - Found Family 3

This was streamed at https://www.twitch.tv/eise_where for Extra Life on behalf of Children's Miracle Network Hospitals!

Spoiler Warning for The Path to Carcosa: Curtain Call

Amanda fidgeted in the audience, worrying about her outfit, her hair, her ability to make small talk. She thought back on what her therapist and mother figure had said–in between all the squealing about Amanda's first date since the two had known each other–and tried to relax and "be herself". A few small problems: herself was deeply anxious, romantically inexperienced, and (as of a few months ago) a burgeoning werewolf.

Next to her sprawled a girl about her age, dressed in motley clothing, daydreaming about heelies, and looking entirely at ease with the situation. Wendy had started hanging out around Miskatonic University's campus a few weeks back and she and Amanda had hit it off, going on walks and sitting on the quad in the Autumn air. Now, a few weeks later (and with extensive encouragement from Carolyn), Amanda had gathered up her courage and asked the cute urchin on a date. Wendy said yes, Amanda bought them theater tickets, and here they were in the Ward on opening night of the King in Yellow.

Carolyn was in fact also present in the theater as the lights got low, a fact Amanda would've been mildly put off to discover. The therapist, alcoholic, and minor sorceress ran through an extensive list of justifications for why she was sitting in the back of a theater essentially spying on her patient's first date, then let herself admit the truth; she just really wanted this to go well. For Amanda. The girl deserved something nice.

Next to her sprawled HER date. Pete and Carolyn went back years. Sometimes he and his best friend Duke would drift through town, and he'd spend a few days with Carolyn–usually in a motel or something. They drank, they reminisced, and they had...adult fun. Then he'd drift on. At the moment, he was intrigued; he'd happened to be in town at the right time and Carolyn had, with MUCH enthusiasm, insisted he come to the theater with her "for absolutely no reason but also to make sure her baby girl did ok".

Pete happened to be a master Shakespearean actor, so he didn't mind the theater at all; getting Duke past the ushers had been the real trick.

Then the lights went down. And things got weird.

All four awoke in the theater to find it mostly empty and the few patrons still present suddenly deceased. Wendy, strangely unperturbed, grabbed a set of keys off a dead usher and wandered into the Lobby, looking for a "refund". Amanda fought down mounting panic at the mess her date was being turned into and followed. Nearby, Carolyn began systematically checking for vital signs in the audience, growing increasingly concerned by the corpses. Duke caught the scent of something amiss backstage and trotted off with Pete in pursuit waving treats.

Amanda checked the Box Office, encountering Tiffany, the girl she had saved from a similar curse to her own some months previously, working there for work-study. Tiffany didn't know what was going on either, but she agreed to come look around. The two returned to the main Lobby only to find Wendy and Carolyn swarmed by strange hovering specters that Wendy was referring to somewhat flippantly as "The Managers".

Amanda leapt into action, using some of her recently-learned arcana to banish the spirit assaulting Wendy, but her date seemed suspicious...or perhaps jealous...of Tiffany and left in a huff, after accidentally calling Amanda her "girlfriend" and then cutting herself off. Amanda hurried after her to reassure her, her anxiety replaying the comment in her head over and over again.

Still in the Lobby, Carolyn took a swig to free her mind and neatly banished the other geist. Telling Tiffany to wait there in the lobby, she hurried up the stairs to the balcony and prepared to reach out with her mind and figure out what strange magics were at play in the warped theater. She was confronted immediately with a terrifying vision of a hooded and cloaked figure, realizing that whatever they were facing was no minor working but a true alien threat.

Fidgeting in the Lighting Box with the equipment, Wendy accidentally turned on several of the lights and produced a bizarre effect resembling glowing towers bursting from the stage. Amanda rushed in and, with her theatrical expertise, shut down the enchanted equipment and stopped the phenomenon. In that isolated place above the balcony, close beside one another, both girls were a little nervous. Wendy muttered something about "pretty girl" and "tight space" and booked it for the door again, tumbling down the stairs outside.

"I'm okay!"

Then she went to hide in the box office. Once again, Amanda's mind replayed Wendy's words on loop, and she began to realize how stressful romance can be.

But she didn't have much time to think as a strange man burst from a closet in the lighting booth and immediately attacked her. Furious over the ruined date, emotionally torn over Wendy's equivocation, and exhausted, Amanda let loose and transformed into her werewolf form, mauling the man. She quickly shifted back, wiped her face and hands on her jacket, prayed that Wendy hadn't seen, and rushed down the stairs and out into the theater. Anxiety filled her heart.

Wendy saw her go, and in some turmoil herself over her feelings for the quirky college student, quickly found the Box Office's lockbox and, to steady her nerves, decided to help herself to a generous refund for the tickets–after all, the play was turning out terrible so far! But seeing the expression on Amanda's face, the money didn't seem quite so important. As she turned she bumped into someone coming out of the Green Room–her old friend and unofficial father, who had been auditioning for a part in the play earlier that day. With him at her side, she turned to follow Amanda.

Carolyn also descended the stairs moments before, still reeling from her psychic encounter with the mysterious entity, and saw Amanda hurry past. She immediately recognized the signs of recent transformation and rushed to follow her surrogate daughter, but was stopped by running into Wendy, Henry, and Tiffany, all headed the same direction.

"So, you must be Ms. Adams, is that right?"

While Wendy was meeting the parents (more or less), Amanda was hurrying backstage. She found Pete and Duke holding the Rehearsal Room door closed behind them as it thumped in its hinges. "Ghosts or something." he said, and she turned away, heading down the stairs to the Trap Room to have a good cry by herself.

But she wasn't by herself.

The moment she entered the trap room, she saw the mysterious stranger in the shadows by the far wall. He turned, and she could've sworn his expressionless face grinned evilly as he threw out a hand towards her.

Hordes of rats flooded into the room from cracks in the walls, and two blindfolded men like the one from the booth rushed her as well. A moment of fear passed and Amanda settled into a trained stance, allowing magic to flow through her, thicken her muscles and her hide, lengthen her nails and her teeth. She transformed and waded into the fight.

Carolyn burst into the backstage area and, seeing Pete, pulled him close into a hug and offered him her flask. Sharing a drink, she felt her dismay fade. Then she heard the fight below, and with Pete by her side they followed the sounds of howling and screaming downstairs.

Amanda, a bit bloodied, was facing off with the final living cultist when a yowl from behind her caught her attention. She turned to find Duke racing towards her and leaping at her, teeth bared. She had no time to respond–and then he hurtled right past her, bearing her foe to the ground. He barked a joyful greeting at her and tried to sniff her tail.

Pete, apparently unbothered by the sight of a werewolf, came over to make sure Amanda was ok as she shifted back. Of her enemies, only the Stranger remained, standing in his pool of shadow. Carolyn stepped forward. She could feel the power vested in the body before her and knew it was connected to the dreadful vision she had seen. With Amanda and Pete at her side, she attempted a ward that would banish the entity.

Chillingly, he only laughed, then stepped back...and vanished. Amanda's enhanced senses promptly caught the scent of fire.

"Where's Wendy?!?"

All three rushed back up to the stage itself to find the walls of the theater beginning to blaze. Wendy herself, along with Henry and Tiffany, was locked in a desperate struggle with a bizarre butthole monster, dodging its tentacles as it sang a song to make your ears bleed. Without even thinking, Amanda transformed and threw herself at the creature, ripping into it and distracting it enough for Wendy to deliver a killing blow.

Suddenly mortified, Amanda changed back to human form and looked to Wendy, desperately hoping she wouldn't be disgusted or afraid. Wendy looked her up and down, nodded once, and said only, "Cool." Amanda blushed over her entire face, and felt her anxieties dissipate.

But the fire was spreading. Carolyn helped Tiffany up from where she had fallen and headed for the exit as soon as Amanda promised they would be fine, with Pete and Duke following. Amanda and Wendy, with Henry in tow, hurried after them for the exit, but at the last minute the balcony collapsed in flames and Henry shoved them through to the lobby, saving the girls, but being crushed himself.

In shock, but not new to the experience of losing a surrogate family member, Wendy mastered herself long enough to confront the last obstacle between the two girls and escape: the rematerialized Stranger.

She drew her knife.

"You threatened my date. In a basement. With lackeys. That was fucking stupid."

With a lightning-fast throw, she delivered the knife directly to the Stranger's throat. Amanda whistled.

"That was hot."

Choking on the knife and his own blood, the Stranger stumbled back, then vanished into the shadows. As the building came down around them, Wendy and Amanda sprinted hand in hand out of the Ward Theatre and to safety.

The six survivors convened and decided not to go to the police for help, because who would believe their story anyway? Particularly with the theater's earnings in Wendy's many pockets and the bloodstains all over Amanda's clothes. When they tentatively returned to the theater, however, they found it unharmed, unburnt, and quiet. The Stranger stood beneath the marquis, seemingly just as unharmed and unburnt.

Amanda held back Wendy as Carolyn faced the being, both women beginning to understand that there was more to this foe than met the eye, and something truly dark and dangerous had begun to spin its web about them. The Stranger said nothing, only turned and walked away with a sound like the skittering of roaches. In his wake a single piece of paper drifted to the ground. Carolyn picked it up and stared at it for a moment.

"Everybody, get dressed up. We're going to a party. Yes, Pete, that means you. I'm buying you a suit. Don't argue."

They sauntered down the street, bickering, flirting, and passing her flask as they did so.

Amanda took Wendy's hand, gently, and squeezed it. They followed.