#Tanner wiseman/reader

[kippykasey]

Old Defiance Jr High School (Dakota Laden x Reader)

This was a request by @coralineyouareinterribledanger

Summary: Reader joins the Destination Fear team on the investigation at Old Defiance Jr High School.

Pairing: Dakota Laden x Reader

Word Count: 5192

Trigger Warning: discriptions of a panic attack at the end

Authors Note: Took a while but here it is! As Destination Fear has rebranded for their switch over to youtube as Project Fear if you aren't aware. If an investigation happened on the Destination Fear show I will be using that but as soon as I switch to any Project Fear era stories that title will be used. Hope that explains anything!

Destination Project Fear Masterlist | Masterlist

A little hinty-poo. That is all the team had asked for and Dakota had supplied.

“Truthfully, we’ve never been to a facility like this.”

The guesses came in with Chelsea thinking it was a church, Alex thinking a bar, and Tanner didn’t even offer a guess before Dakota went on.

“I’ll just tell you guys, honestly–”

Tanner interrupts, “What? Hold on!”

“Oh my god!” Alex comments as Tanner practically shouts over him, “This is a first! This is a first ever!”

Chelsea even looked a bit shocked at her brother’s willingness to give up information about a location. “Okay. Do it!”

“Yeah,” Dakota glanced between the three before he gave them the location hint. “We are going to a haunted school.”

Chelsea instantly broke out in a wail of protest at the thought of returning to a school. “Why are you so upset?” Dak questions’s his sister, directing his camera at her looking at her through the small LCD screen.

“I spent so much on my life at school!” She complained leaning her head back against the window.

Kota grinned, “You really just got done like a year ago.”

“I’m more scared of, like, my memories of school, than I am of an abandoned school.” Alex admits.

Chels points to her brother, “Remember when you got a B in film class?” She teased.

“Shut up!” Dak says as they all laughed. “My high school consisted of me being a nerdy film boy.”

“I always got, ‘Too Talkative’ on my report card.” Tanner admits. “ ‘Distracts others’.”

“Do you guys know who you're sitting with right now?” Chels grins pointing to herself.

“Chelsea was the homecoming queen,” Dakota explained for the camera.

“The presence of royalty!” Alex jokes, faking a bow from his seat next to Dakota. He sits up and glances at Dak before mentioning about his days in high school, “I was pretty much just in the dean’s office.” Tanner chuckled at his friend.

“So you're saying you guys were trouble makers and I was the goody two-shoes?” Chelsea looked at the three guys around her, “And now look at us, we’re all in the same place in life.”

“Yeah, just goes to show you don’t need to try that hard.” Tanner jokes.

“Unless you're Dak, keeping your high school sweetheart.” Alex leans over to nudge Dakota.

Chelsea gasps and looks at her brother. “That’s right you and (Y/N) have been together since high school! Ugh I wish she were here she would have such good embarrassing stories about you.”

Dakota grinned to himself and nodded. “Don’t worry you’ll see her soon.”

The RV stopped and I stood up from the black bench that I sat on waiting for this exact moment. It took a few moment before the door opened and my high school sweetheart and current boyfriend, Dakota Laden stepped down with a grin on his face as he shot the camera at me and waved a hand. I waved back the sleeve of his my sweater fell slightly so it no longer covered part of my hand. He turned around and helped his blindfolded friends and sister from the RV. I covered my mouth to prevent from laughing as the four made a train to walk over. As he parted from them, letting them sit on the bench I previously occupied he came to my side and silently kissed my temple in greeting. After that I went onto the RV with my bag for the night to wait for my que to come out. The production member who had picked me up from the airport had told me about the mystery box that Dakota had set up, in fact I had helped set up the table and box for the event. Now I sat in the passenger side front seat holding a camera that I was given with a tape label over the handle that read my name, given that would be the camera I used for my visit.

I got to observe Chelsea, and Chelsea alone got up behind the box. The first mystery animal was a hedgehog, well four or them. The next was an armadillo, which is such a strange looking animal. The last was a snake. As a handler came to remove the snake Dakota placed a hand on his sister’s shoulder, he glanced to the RV at the same time a crew member opened the door and waved me over.

As I stepped down, out of the RV I could hear Dakota, “Okay but on a brighter note I do have one last surprise for you all. We will not be alone tonight because I have convinced a very special person to join us for her first ever investigation. (Y/N).” As Dakota turned towards me the other three turned as well, their faces lighting up. I waved with a grin as I pointed my camera at them to help capture their reactions to seeing me. They all ran over to greet me and it wasn’t long until rain interrupted us and chased us all back onto the RV to travel the rest of the way to the location, which I only knew to be a high school.

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“So, right now we are going to park and read the packet. To make it clear, (Y/n), you have no idea where we are going correct?” Dakota explains his camera panning over to where I sat next to Chelsea.

I look up from the LCD screen on the camera sitting on the table aimed at Tanner and Alex to face him. “I was told it’s a high school? Which is creepy by the way.” I tried to smile at him but it didn’t quite get past the nerves already brewing from the anxiety of my first investigation.

“Don’t worry little duck, we’ve got your back.” Tanner reached over patting my head which I quickly laughed at and pushed his arm away.

We all got out of the RV and entered this fancy park gazebo area with a fireplace. Alex sat off to the end getting the long shot of the table we sat at, Tanner and Chelsea on one side across from Dakota and myself. A light setup above shined down giving us enough light to read in.

“Alright. I know you guys already know that it’s at a school.” Dakota began glancing between all of us the packet him his hand. “But , trust me, this is going to be a very bizarre one for us.”

Tanner took the packet and opened it up for him and Chelsea to read the front page, the location of the next investigation, “Old Defiance Junior High School.”

“Positioned directly between two winding rivers in Northwestern Ohio can be found the imposing facade of former Defiance Junior High School.” Chelsea read from the packet. “Standing for over a hundred years this three story building shaped the lives of thousands of students. But the school was not the first structure to be built on this land.”

Chelsea passed the packet and flashlight for easier read over to Tanner who took over reading. “In the mid-eighteen hundreds, the town established a high school. The institution operated without incident until 1891, when a scandal shook the town of Defiance to its core. Janitor John Mall was a hardened man who was arrested for helping a teacher bring a 12-year-old student down to the school’s basement. Mall held him tight as the teacher whipped the boy mercilessly, drawing blood.”

I couldn’t stop the look of disgust and scrunch of discomfort in my shoulders at the mentioned incident. Dakota took hold of my hand, running a thumb across my knuckles to soothe my discomfort. “It’s horrible. That poor child.” I muttered.

“That’s disgusting.” Tanner comments looking over to us. He took a deep breath before lowering his head to read on. “The two were turned in to the police by the school’s superintendent. Mall was so angered by the arrest that he launched a complaint of his own against the superintendent. After a lengthy investigation, Butler and the teachers in question were cleared of all accusations. But that did not stop the fall out for janitor Mall.”

Tanner went on to read how Mall was found bludgeoned to death, lying on the railroad tracks with his legs amputated. The railroad tracks in question are no more than 100 yards behind the school. Some believe that he was placed there against his will. The most scandalous things to ever happen in Defiance with no answer as to who did it.

“The truth about what happened that fateful night out by the tracks, is still unknown to this day.” Chelsea reads and looks up.

“Now that is a very bizarre story.” Alex comments and Dak looks at him and agrees.

“Sounds like there’s a lot of sketchy things happening within the walls of this school.” Chels concludes as she turns a page to read more. “Unfortunately, the tragedy at the high school did not end there. In 1902, two young football stars collided head-first on the field. Due to the poor protection of their leather helmets, both boys were badly injured. The boy from the rival school suffered from a fractured skull over his eye and died from his injuries. In 1918, a modernized building was created on top of the same foundation, but the new building did not keep misfortune from its doors. In 1921, the class valedictorian drowned while swimming in nearby Powell Lake. And just eight years later a junior drowned in the nearby river when he fell off his raft.”

Tanner adjusted his hat before he took over the next part of the packet read. Since its shut down in 2018,” - “That wasn’t that long ago” I muttered lowly not wanting to interrupt.- “There have been very few individuals who have dared to venture inside the building. But the few who have strongly believe that there are many spirits that chose to remain long after the final bell tolls. The most active areas include the second floor, home to many different classrooms and the library. And there are numerous shadow figures that dart in and out of classrooms.”

Dakota took the packet next to read. His hand left mine as he took hold of the packet. “The gym, a separate building accessed through the basement..”

“Yeah really creepy dude thanks for bringing us to this place. I’m sure your girlfriend just loves the sound of this place.” Alex sarcastically says, making me nod.

“This place sounds awful. Shadow figures pulling you out of rooms, creepy basements connecting buildings.” I add on as I take the packet from Dak. I licked my lips before I began to read from where he left off. “The third floor, home to classrooms and the study hall. Loud tapping and lockers slamming shut have been heard. The area with the most intense energy is room 312. EVPs of a woman urgently screaming, ‘Get out!’ have been captured, as well as references to fire and burning. The basement, this is where janitor Mall brought a student down to be punished. Mall is a very angry, hostile entity and becomes increasingly agitated when asked about his death.” I look up to the group, “Let’s not do that then, shall we?”

“Screw that!” Chelsea objects.

“We’re going to deal with something that wants to hurt us?” Tanner asks, looking right at Dakota.

“We’ve never really dealt with any sort of spirit like this before.” Dakota explains. “Whoever ends up sleeping alone in that basement is screwed.

I huff running a hand through my hair feeling a spike in anxiety for what this investigation might bring.

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“Class is now in session.” Alex announces as the RV parked out front of the huge high school.

The five of us got out of the RV with our cameras and a flashlight. Dakota walked in the lead to open the door for the rest of us, I stayed right behind him, as the other three commented on the size of the school we were about to spend the night in.

“Welcome to school!” Dak announces as he opens the doors.

Chelsea and I entered first with Tanner right behind us. He looked around at the hallway we had entered into. “This is so weird. All the desks, lockers, papers are still everywhere.”

“Definitely has the creep factor.”

A loud slam behind us caused me to yelp and spin around. “Alex!” Dakota called out his friend who had a small smile on his face. “Just a little test to see if we’re on edge.”

I let out a nervous laugh. “Well I think it’s safe to say we’re on edge.”

With our first look done we set up the gear room on the first floor. From the first floor we headed down into the basement. Dakota once again took the lead but this time I stayed more in the middle with the Laden siblings in front of me with Tanner and Alex behind me. The first look at the basement was unsettling.

“The basement is where Janitor Moll lived and where he, reportedly, abused a student down here.” Dakota reminded as we stopped walking. Everyone was looking around. “When asked, ‘How did your die?’ Someone got the response, ‘I’ll show you.’” On my left, in one of the entrance ways I thought I seen a tall dark figure. Turning my camera towards where I was looking the dark figure was gone and it seemed simply to be possibly Alex’s shadow. I turned back to Dakota as he pulled a device out of his pocket. “I’m gonna have the ovilus on the entire time we’re down here. If janitor Moll is down here he will be able to choose one word at a time and talk to us.” He turns to his sister, “All right Chels, you wanna hold the ovilus while we’re down here?” He passes the devise over and I leaned over towards Chelsea to get a look at the devise now in her hand.

As a group we walked farther into the basement in the direction of the possible shadow figure I had seen earlier. Alex behind me muttered about how creepy the basement was and Dakota prompted for Moll to talk to us using the ovilus. With no response Chelsea directed Kota to lead us to the area where the janitor would have stayed. The room was a bit of a mess but the inspection lead to discovering a crawl space. The moment someone pointed out the crawl space the electronic voice of the ovilus spoke for the first time, “Here.”

“What?” Dakota turned towards Chelsea. She confirmed that the ovilus said ‘here’.

“A lot of people think you’re a bad man. Is there anything you’d like to say?” Tanner comments, my attention was still drawn to the crawl space, this time with my camera facing the same area.

It was silent as they waited for a possible answer. When there wasn’t one Dakota asked another question, “Where you actually as bad as people say? Or was the superintendent trying to frame you?”

Again nothing.

“Who killed you?”

That question got an answer. “Teacher.” The ovilus had answered.

The main four shared their excitement and shock of the answer. “That paints a different picture in my head of what went down.” Dakota admits.

“I don’t think I have ever heard ‘teacher’ come out of the ovilus.” Al comments.

“I have a gut feeling that the janitor knew something that someone didn’t want him to know.” Chelsea says.

“Maybe he did see too much. Maybe he did know too much.” Dak agreed.

“Yeah there is two sides to every story.” I nod turning to face them. “Maybe the janitor wasn’t the bad guy in the first place.” Chelsea adds.

Dakota restates the question if a teacher did this to the entity they were talking with. Although it wasn’t the ovilus that answered. Instead there was a loud thud that came from another room. Alex, being the closest to the doorway quickly went to look. He turned to look at us from over his shoulder, “Dude, I think that came from up the stairs.”

“Let’s go over there.” Dak instructs setting the team into movement heading to investigate the thud we all heard.

Entering the room where the stairs are off of we looked around. Dakota asked for another noise. It was quiet for a few seconds before another thud was heard. This time Tanner stepped into the hall shining his flashlight up the stairs. “That came from upstairs.”

“That sounded like a locker slamming.” Tanner says almost uncertain.

“That did sound like a locker!” Dakota and Alex agreed.

The group went back up stairs and entered the gear room. From there Tanner went over and slammed a locker shut to have a noise to compare what we heard to. It was pretty much confirmed that the noise was from the lockers weather it was slammed or banged on it was definitely from the lockers near the stairwell.

“I just don’t like the fact that it lead us out of the basement.” Tanner comments and I quickly look over to him. “I totally agree.” Tanner nods glancing over at me, “Like, after we were getting some good responses.”

“I mean, it’s said that he doesn’t like to talk about his death.” Alex reminds us softly.

“Or we were getting such good answers that something else didn’t want us hearing them.” Chelsea counters.

“Janitor Moll, was that you up here? Or was that something else, someone else?” Dakota prompts in a louder tone than what we had been talking among our self in.

No answer.

“Were you trying to lead us out of the basement?” Al asked.

The ovilus spoke. Return.

“Like go back down to the basement?” Chelsea questions.

“Why would it lead us back up only to go back down?” Tanner was confused.

As we stood there trying to understand what was happening another jingle like noise could be heard. “Is that coming from the basement?” Dakota asks.

Alex walked over to the top of the stairs and Tanner followed, as did I. As the three of us stood at the top of the stairs listening we once again heard the jingling sound.

“What is that?” Dak wrapped an arm around me as he leaned forward. “It was like metal.”

I let out a soft gasp. “Like keys!”

Once again we descended the stairs into the basement. “I think (Y/n) was right, it sounded like keys.” Chelsea agreed her camera pointed at me. Dakota also agreeing. Tanner even pointing out how a janitor carries a ring of keys.

As we confirm that activity keeps happening where we aren’t Dakota decides to set up a static camera in the basement, first floor, and third floor with a REM pod in front of each camera. With those ‘traps’ set up we walked up to the second floor to continue our investigation.

The second floor was just a creepy as the first. Chairs and desks lined against the lockers in the hallways, books and paper littered around. Stopping about halfway down the hallway once again Dakota lead the charge on trying to make contact. With no answer we enter one of the classrooms. The guys commenting on how untouched everything looks for a school that has been abandoned since 2018. With art still hanging on the wall, piles of books, all the chairs and desks still around.

It wasn’t long before we moved up to the third floor. The floor looked just as abandoned as the previous floors but with less desks and chairs in the hall. Yet is was still so easy to picture the halls still in use teenagers loitering around lockers, rushing to an from classes, lockers jamming or being slammed shut- a noise they may have already heard. Chelsea even commented on it, “You can just imagine all these halls packed with students.” It was something we could all agree with as we strolled down the hallway.

A REM pod was set up as we settled on a spot in the hall. Dakota opened up the line of communication. Alex was stood a bit farther back to get a wide shot of the group, always the camera man. I was somewhere between Alex and Dakota against the locker deciding to film behind Alex since it wasn’t being caught by the other three.

If only we knew the evidence being caught in the basement at that same moment. Buzzing. Running water. The light turning on by itself. All while we were floors above and no one else was in the building.. living that is.

With a seemingly uneventful third floor hallway investigation we headed into room 312, which is said to be where most the paranormal activity is centered around. Everyone seemed to enter the last room on the left, I ended up staying in the doorway, my back to the hallway.

“What exactly happens here?” Alex inquired to document the claims for their footage.

Dakota began to list that people have received EVPs saying ‘Get out’. Or EVPs relating to fire and burning that didn’t quite make sense. Chelsea pulled out the Ovilus by request of her younger brother. As she turned the device on I turned with my camera to peer down the dark hallway towards the stairs feeling uneasy, like someone was watching me. With multiple unanswered questions Dakota asked if the spirit would rather go into the hallway, behind me, where the REM pod was still set up and use that instead.

“If that REM pod goes off I’m getting out of this doorway,” I joked although very serious.

A REM pod did go off but it also happened to be down in the basement. Continuing to beep as the guys ask for a sign of activity. Including when Dakota asked for a sign to leave, but we wouldn’t know.

The ovilus finally went off drawing our attention to the devise. Chelsea looked down at the screen and repeated the word that it had said, “Observe.”

Dakota once again asked if the spirit could interact with the REM pod in the hall but the ovilus spoke. “Rewind.” I gasped softly. To look through all the floors worth of footage would take a long time. Something we wouldn’t be able to do until after the trip.

The group left the third floor, collecting all the equipment, before preparing to split up to sleep alone. It was when Dakota and Alex went to retrieve the basement camera and REM pod that they notice that the light was on. Dakota called for the rest of us. We all traveled down to the basement together to investigate the light being on.

“All of the lights are on down here,” Dakota mentions as he looked around the basement. He looked to the camera and seen the blinking red light signifying that it was still recording. “The camera is still on so we should have caught it on camera.”

Alex went over to the camera to verify that it indeed was still recording as we all fully entered the lightened up basement. Dakota admitted to not even knowing how to turn the lights on and we looked for a light switch. The group tried 3 different switches before finding the fourth, at the top of some utility stares that Tanner tried and successfully returned the basement to darkness. The bad news with the location was that the camera was pointed in the opposite direction and wouldn’t have been able to capture anything on the stairs that would flip the switch.

I feel bad for whoever has to sleep down here.” Dakota comments before we returned to the gear room to decide where everyone is sleeping for the night.

The four scary locations chosen were;

The gym, which we didn’t investigate and was a building all on its own.

The third floor.

The second floor.

And probably the worst being the basement.

Tanner wrote the four locations on paper for the random draw. Tanner drew the second floor. Dakota had me choose for the two of us. Sadly my luck was not there as I pulled out the basement. Alex pulled the gym leaving Chelsea with the third floor. With the locations selected we headed to our sleeping arrangements. Dakota and I headed down to the basement. Dakota set up the cot for me and him to some how share but he also had a sleeping bag just incase.

“How are you doing with all of this so far?” He asked in a soft voice as we both sat down on the cot.

“Good I think. I mean I have this constant feeling like someone is watching me and I have since we were on the third floor but I think its just nerves.” I admitted pushing a strand of hair out of my face.

“Well you’re doing great for your first investigation.” Dak leaned over and kissed my forehead before he pulled and pulled out two masks. Due to the condition of the basement we agreed that masks would be best for our health.

My restlessness lead to me sitting on the floor in front of Dakota and the cot. But still in frame of the set up cameras. My eyes were starting to play tricks on me, or so I thought, as a dark shadow would appear behind Dak occasionally but by the time I had blinked a few times it was gone, so I never mentioned it to my boyfriend.

“I’m really, really regretting taking away everyone’s flashlights.” Dakota admits before getting up and showing the darkness of the room by turning off the night vision. “Ow Dak!” I mumbled feeling something tug at my hair, thinking it was the zipper of his jacket getting caught in the dark. “Sorry, (Y/n).” Dakota quickly turned the night vision back on and sat back on the cot, making it creek.

“Janitor Moll, if you can hear me, in the nicest way possible, I really don’t wanna see you or hear you.

Dak and I made small conversation to pass the time, or pointing out possible noises both too nervous to sleep. I had stood and was now walking with one of the cameras so I didn’t walk into anything. “We’ve been down here for a while now. And it sucks.” Dakota spoke to the camera. “We keep feeling like we’re hearing things. In all directions. (Y/n) is somewhere behind me actually looking for anything.”

With nothing seen I went back to the cot to join Dak. Resting my head on his shoulder I closed my eyes. That was until we both jumped hearing the jingling, the same kind as earlier in the night. We both were not standing facing the direction the jingling had come from. Dak quickly moved for the camera. “Oh my god, I just heard keys!” He spoke to the camera about the jingling being the same as earlier but louder, do to the closer location.

“Hello?” Dak called out. He left my side to walk around the room we were in to investigate but I stayed near the cot. “That was keys right?” He asked.

“Uh huh. Clear as day.” I replied nodding my heart racing in my chest.

“Something is down here and I don’t like it. It came from close to this door or over here.” Dak was still looking around with the camera, no where near me when I heard a breathy sound next to me.

“Dak?” I called unsure of how far away he was to me.

“Yeah?” He replied sounding father away than the breath was.

“Something just breathed in my ear.” I bit my lip hesitating to look in the direction of the breath. I could hear Dakota’s hurried footsteps as he made his way back over to me. “There’s nothing there.” Dak tells me.

I let out a small nervous laugh. “Is..is now a good time to tell you I think I’ve been seeing something in the darkness?” I look up at him barely making out his face in the darkness. Dak took that seriously and instantly talked about getting out of there. As we went to leave I heard a loud knock right behind me causing me to let out a short panicked scream and grab onto Dakota’s jacket. I turned behind me to see a tall looming shadow causing me to stumble into Dakota’s back making him stumble as well. He was able to catch himself and quickly turn around.

Even in the darkness I could tell my peripheral vision was blurring as my breath quickened, my heartbeat pounding in my ears. Dakota called my names sounding miles away. His arm wrapped tightly around my shoulders urging, leading me up the stairs out of the basement.

“Yo!” Dakota called as we entered the gear room his voice sounding as if I was stuck underwater.

Someone replied but I couldn’t hear it over the heartbeat in my ears. My hands felt numb as I gripped onto Dakota’s jacket.

“We’re done!” His voice was so far away as he tried to unfold my hands from his jacket. “Breathe, sweetheart.” As strangled, gasp was choked in and seemed to burn as it forced itself passed the lump that formed in my throat.

“Dude I am so done! (Y/n) having a panic attack.” His voice sounded crisper. He kneeled to the ground in front of me cupping my face.

“Sweetheart look at me, focus to my voice okay?”

My eyes blinked a few times before focusing on his face.

“Can you list five things you see?”

I licked my lips and looked around. “Camera. Desk. Chair. Books. You.”

“Good. Four things you can touch.”

“Notebook. Locker. My jacket. My watch.” I slowly acknowledged the notebook by my foot. The locker behind the chair that my head would occasionally touch. The jacket that felt too warm at the moment. And the watch that vibrated with the reminder to drink water.

Dakota smiled at me. “Three things you can hear?”

“Tanner and Chelsea in the hall. Alex over a walkie. My heart beat.” My breathing had calmed considerably and it no longer felt like a struggle.

“Two things you can smell.”

“Your body spray. Musty books.”

“Very good. And one thing you can taste?”

My brows furrowed at that one. I didn’t really taste anything at the moment. “I think there is a bit of strawberry left from my chap stick.”

Dakota let out a soft laugh as his thumb brushed over my cheek.

“That counts. Are you okay?”

“As long as we leave, sure.”

“I can take her outside while you guys pack up.” Chelsea offered softly as she stepped up next to her brother.

Dakota looked between her and his sister before nodding. “Get her some water too please.”

“I got it.” Tanner spoke up and passed the water bottle forward.

Dak helped me stand and kissed my head. “I’ll be out in a bit. I promise. It’s okay.”

[kaetiesmindpalace]

Your Turn to Roll--A Project Fear Fanfiction: Chapter 1-Character Creation

Chapter 2/2

One of your interests is a game called Dungeons and Dragons (DND), a table-top roleplaying game filled with daring fights, monstrous creatures, and numerous bonds you enrich through each session the story follows. With live play shows like Critical Role as well as media portrayal like in Stranger Things, DND has gained many new players in recent years. It is a topic you have brought up a ton to your friends Alex, Chelsea, Dakota, and Tanner as you wanted to tell them about the shenanigans that ensued during one of your sessions. 

On this particular day, you were going down a YouTube rabbit hole when a notification from your group chat came through. After pausing the video, you open your messages to see what was sent. 

“I finally looked more into Dungeons and Dragons since you’ve mentioned it a lot, and I got to say, I’m interested in trying it out,” Chelsea had sent. 

“Same,” the boys responded in quick succession of one another. 

“I’m so glad you’re interested in it! I can try to take a crack at running a game to help ease you guys into it all,” you quickly respond with a huge grin on your face. 

“You’ll surely do well with it,” Dakota encourages you. 

“Yeah, if anyone could do it, it would definitely be you,” Alex says. 

“Thanks guys. We will need to start off with character creation before going right into fighting things and other story elements. What day works the best for y’all?” you asked, already super pumped that your friends want to understand your interests just a bit more. 

“This Thursday I’m pretty free,” Tanner answers. 

“Same here,” Chelsea replies. 

“It would have to be after 6pm for me. Editing takes a lot of time,” Dakota specifies. 

“Thursday works for me,” Alex states. 

“Let’s try for 7pm on Thursday at my place then. Sound good?” you text back. 

“Sounds like a plan” they all respond. 

Thursday at 7pm came quickly and soon you were all around your table. You placed a character sheet in front of them as well as a pencil to start the process off. Once everything is set up, the group looks to you for further instructions. 

“Okay. I’m going to start by asking questions that will help you figure out what class your character will be. Think of a class almost as being what your job entails. Now, would you like to be able to use magic or not?” you explain before asking. 

“Magic would be cool,” Tanner says with a sparkle in his eye. 

“Yeah, it has always intrigued me in fiction,” Chelsea enthusiastically responds. 

“I definitely want to try using magic,” Dakota replies. 

“It’s interesting, but will it be complicated?” Alex asks. 

“I will admit, magic can be a hard part to understand in DND. We are starting at level one, so we can slowly understand it more and more as we go. I know someone who started playing DND with a spellcasting class and thoroughly enjoyed it. I also know someone who started off with a magic-using class and wished they hadn’t. I do not want to deter you from anything that interests you and will always help with any questions you have,” you clearly state. 

Alex nods before responding with, “I think I want to start off without magic then.” 

You smile before turning to the others to ask, “Do you still want to play spellcasters after hearing that it can be difficult? As I mentioned, I want you to play what interests you.” 

The three nod their heads before Chelsea replies with “I always like a challenge.” 

“Great! Since we already have one diverging from everyone else, are you guys alright with me helping Alex first and then come back to you guys for clarifying questions?” you inquire. 

You get nods from Alex, Dakota, and Chelsea, as well as a “Go for it,” from Tanner. 

Turning towards Alex, you question, “How would you describe the type of fighting you would want to do? Would you describe it like the Hulk? Using martial arts? Sneaky? Having archery or a long-distance focus? A variety of weapons and armor?” 

Alex ponders for a moment before replying with “I like the idea of a sneaky character.” 

“It seems like with that response that you would enjoy playing a rogue. I will pull up the rogue information from 5e.tools and you can start putting in that info onto your character sheet like proficiencies and features associated with level one. Abbreviate where you need to as this sheet is what you will use even as you level up. Wherever you have a choice to make, go for what interests you. Some parts like hit points and modifiers I will go over once everyone has figured out their race and class. Some of the choices you can hover over, and it will explain a bit more,” you expound while handing your laptop over to Alex. 

He quickly takes your computer, puts it down in front of him, and begins to write. You then pick up the spell list sheets and hand them to the other three, stating, “We will look at the sheet I am passing around later after figuring out more of your character, but I would rather hand them to you now to make sure you have it.” 

Dakota, Chelsea, and Tanner all put the spell sheet to the side and then focus back on you. 

“While I was working with Alex, did any of you think about where you’ve obtained your magic or how you would use it? It wasn’t a requirement for you guys to have done so, I will provide examples like I did for Alex when it came to fighting styles, but I thought I would ask,” you question. 

Tanner and Dakota shake their heads “no” before Chelsea speaks up, “There is a class that learns magic through school and books, right? I think I remember reading something about that and it intrigued me.” 

“Yes, wizards carry around a spell book of all the magic they have learned through the years and can even add to the book. Was that what you were thinking?” you respond. 

Chelsea nods her head, a glimmer of fascination in her eye. 

“Sorry to interrupt, but how should I denote expertise versus proficiency on something?” Alex asks. 

“I often use a check mark for expertise and just filling in the bubble for proficiency. You can do whatever helps you differentiate the two though and even make a note of what each thing means if that helps,” you mention. 

Alex nods yet again before quickly putting down the last of the rogue class information. Once he is done, he hands you back your laptop.  

You quickly click to the wizard information on the same site before handing the laptop over to Chelsea, saying, “I’ve pulled up the wizard information for you. You can start putting it onto your character sheet like proficiencies and features associated with level one.  As I mentioned before to Alex, wherever you have a choice to make, go for what interests you. Some of the choices you can hover over, and it will explain a bit more. We’ll go over hit points and modifiers later. Abbreviate wherever you see fit.” 

Chelsea immediately grabs your laptop and starts getting to work, allowing you to draw your attention to Dakota and Tanner. 

“Okay, spellcasters vary greatly. Some are born with it while some must specifically and continuously learn it, the latter being the wizard class that Chelsea chose. Some magic comes through nature while some comes through the arts like music. Some…” you start listing. 

“Wait. Magic can be connected to music?” Tanner interrupts. 

“Yes! A person from that class is called a bard and it is a very fun class to play, from my personal experience. Does that interest you?” you ask with a grin on your face. 

Tanner nods before continuing, “I like the idea a lot, but are they solely a spellcaster?” 

“All classes have a physical weapon of some sort, but people can create characters who almost always go for the spells rather than the weapon. For bard, there are a couple of subclasses down the line that focus more on combat with weapons rather than with spells if that is what you wish to do. You would still get magic no matter what route you go with when it comes to the bard class,” you state. 

“That’s something I would want to do,” Tanner tells you. 

You give him a thumbs up before turning to Chelsea to see her progress. She was just finishing the last part of her sentence before she clicks on something on the laptop and turns toward you with the computer in her hands, the bard page on 5e.tools already up. 

“Thought I could help set you up for the handoff,” Chelsea discloses. 

“Thank you,” you respond before handing the laptop off to Tanner, “You can start putting in the bard information onto your character sheet like proficiencies and features associated with level one. As I mentioned before, wherever you have a choice to make, go for what interests you. Some of the choices you can hover over, and it will explain a bit more. We’ll go over hit points and modifiers once everyone has a class and race. Abbreviate as you go since we’ll be using this sheet as you guys level up.” 

Promptly, Tanner takes the computer and begins jotting down the bard information. Dakota was the last one to figure out what class he should play. You bring your attention to him, ready to help him out. 

“Did any of the spellcaster descriptions I’ve given so far seem interesting to you or should I keep going? There are other spellcasting classes I haven’t described yet, so don’t fret if what you’ve heard so far isn’t interesting you,” you inquire. 

Dakota shakes his head “no,” so you continue, “What are your thoughts on having your magic being connected to a being?” 

“What do you mean?” Dakota asks with an inquisitive look. 

“Well, some classes are connected to gods and use their divine power to help. Some have made a deal with an entity which granted them their magic,” you reply. 

“Making a deal with an entity sounds…evil yet intriguing,” Dakota remarks. 

“Well, dealings with entities are not always evil. Yes, some deals are made just to gain more power, but some make deals to help themselves out of bad situations or to help those around them,” you clarify. 

“So, a deal could be made to prove oneself as capable of something?” Dakota questions. 

“Yes,” you simply state, “I’m assuming you’re asking these questions because that is the route that intrigues you the most. Is that correct?” 

Dakota nods. 

“The class that makes a deal with an entity to receive magic is called a warlock. It is one of two classes that picks its subclass at level one. So, what kind of being do you want to make a pact with? I can give examples, if need be,” you ask. 

Dakota ponders a bit before responding, “Maybe I’m essentially making myself, but are their entities that revolve around life and death?” 

“There are, and there is nothing wrong with essentially making yourself. I made the ideal version of myself in my first campaign, and most of my characters usually have a little bit of me in them too. For the patron, there are two subclass choices: The Undying and The Undead. The two are similar, with some small differences. I can pull up both of their information for you to compare and decide from there if you like,” you suggest. 

Dakota nods. As you are about to turn to see Tanner’s progress, your laptop is in front of your face. 

“I just finished and heard it was about time for the handoff,” Tanner says with a smile on his face. 

“Thank you,” you tell him, returning the grin. 

You quickly pull up the warlock information, including the two subclasses, before handing the computer off to Dakota for his turn to jot down his class information on his character sheet, making note to abbreviate words as he goes so he can continue to have room on his character sheet as the adventure continues. 

“Sorry for the wait in between everything, I am just trying to get everyone on the same page,” you apologize to the others. 

“We get it, don’t worry about us,” Chelsea states. 

“This is a learning process for us, so it’s understandable that we’re taking even character creation slowly,” Alex joins in. 

You nod your head in acknowledgment at your friends’ responses before continuing, “That’s great to hear. Thinking back to what Dakota noticed about his choices, do you think you are creating a fantasy version of yourself or some completely different person?” 

The three waiting for the next step start thinking before looking at one another and laughing a bit. 

“I think I’m unintentionally creating myself too,” Tanner states. 

“Same,” Alex and Chelsea reply in unison. 

“As I said, there is nothing wrong with that. This could help with your character backstories if you want,” you mention. 

Dakota looks up from writing at that moment, stating, “I think I’ll go with The Undying as my patron. Also, I like the idea of these characters being us. Maybe we’re Project Fear in this world too!” before continuing to write. 

Chelsea, Tanner, and Alex nod their head in agreement before stating almost simultaneously, “I like that idea.” 

“Having your characters already know each other helps with why you all would come together for the adventure. Seeing as you guys like the idea of being Project Fear in the game, a shared background may help support that. We can discuss this more after y’all figure out your races as well,” you mention. 

That is the moment when Dakota finished writing and handed you back your computer. Taking it from his hands, you look at your friends to see anticipation and wonder in their expressions as they await what is next.  

You place your laptop on the table in front of you before saying, “Alright. One part, done. Next is race. I want to make it clear that because you’ve mentioned that you’re making yourselves that you don’t automatically have to make your character human. Again, do what interests you. There are a lot more options for races compared to the class you play, so this may take a little bit. Do any of you have an idea of a fantasy race you would want to play? If it has been in a fictional fantasy world before, then it is highly likely that you can play it.” 

“I want to play a vampire!” Dakota exclaims. 

“While vampires can be in a game of DND, they are not a playable race,” you mention, noticing a frown on Dakota’s face, “but, there is a race that is part vampire called a dhampir which is playable. Let me pull up that information for you.” 

Dakota smiles hearing that he could play something close to what he wanted rather than the idea being scraped completely. You pull up the dhampir information on 5e.tools before giving the laptop back to Dakota. 

“You could have kept the laptop had we known you would be the first to figure out the race you wanted to play, but hindsight is 20-20. For ability score improvements, leave the additions next to your ability spaces as they will be accounted for once you figure stats out. Dhampirs are more customizable with where these score improvements go, so I would suggest looking at your saving throw proficiencies as a guide on where they could go. For reference, a size medium creature would be around our size while a small creature is almost child size,” you clarify a bit. 

Dakota yet again takes the laptop before jotting down the information onto his character sheet.  

Again, you turn back to the rest of the group before proceeding, “What about you guys? Any fantasy races that have interested you in the past?” 

“An elf would be interesting,” Chelsea states. 

“I was thinking the same thing,” Alex responds soon after. 

“Lucky for you, elf is a playable race. We will need to narrow down which type of elf you would like to play as there are a few subraces of them. Some of the subraces may go along well with your class choice. Is that a route you would want to go?” you question Alex and Chelsea. 

The two look at each other with agog expressions before turning their gazes back at you. 

“I…I didn’t expect there to be options when it came to elves, so I’m down to hear your suggestions,” Alex replies. 

Chelsea nods her head at what Alex told you, agreeing with what he had to say. 

“Okay, do you have a preference as to who I suggest a subrace to first?” you ask. 

“I think Chelsea should go before me as I went first when it came to picking my class,” Alex suggests. 

“Sounds good to me,” Chelsea agrees. 

“Alright. Chelsea, I would suggest going with a high elf. They are often noted as having a keen mind as well as knowing a decent bit about magic. To me, that seems like a decent fit for a wizard,” you propose. 

“I like the sounds of this,” Chelsea responds while nodding. 

Seeing the lull in the conversation, Dakota pipes up from his writing, “I noticed for dhampirs that they could originally be of a different race. I was reading more into some of the races and Kalashtar seemed interesting. Since that race doesn’t provide other proficiencies or other movement speeds, could I choose the Quori language to know?” 

“By all means go for it,” you answer. 

Dakota quickly finishes up his writing before handing the laptop back to you. Before handing the laptop to Chelsea, you click on the high elf information.  

“Elves do live a lot longer than humans, so if you want to go down the route of these characters being you, then add maybe 100 years onto your actual age. As mentioned with Dakota, for ability score improvements, leave the additions next to your ability spaces as they will be accounted for once you figure stats out,” you place the laptop in front of her before pointing to the references tab, “Here you’ll be able to find the languages tab and can look at the other possibilities available to your character that is offered for high elves.” 

Chelsea starts to jot down the high elf information, leading you to bring your attention to Alex. 

“For you, I was thinking the mark of shadow elf. They gain some bonuses for sneaking. With these bonuses, you will get a very tiny bit of magic: a cantrip and a once per long rest use of a spell when you hit level three. Is that alright?” you inquire. 

“What would the spell and cantrip be?” Alex asks. 

“The cantrip is called minor illusion. You could create a sound or an image with it, which could come in handy if you need some form of distraction for sneaking around. The spell you would learn at level three would be invisibility, which I think is self-explanatory. Had you chosen a spellcasting class, you’d have access to more spells and such,” you explain. 

“Sorry to interrupt, but what is the difference between a cantrip and a spell?” Tanner asks. 

“You don’t have to apologize for that; it’s an excellent question. Cantrips don’t need any preparation and can be cast at will. Spells, on the other hand, need some preparation such as a certain amount of time or materials needed for it to work. Spells can be cast at a limited amount per short or long rest, depending on the class you chose, while cantrips have no limits on the number of times you can use it,” you clarify. 

“I like the idea of having a tiny bit of magic since it did interest me. It won’t be as overwhelming as a class that has many spells and cantrips I feel,” Alex acknowledges with a smile. 

“Glad to hear it,” you reply. 

At that moment, Chelsea finished what she was writing. Before handing the laptop back to you, she clicked on what you were assuming to be the mark of shadow elf page, much like she clicked on the bard page after writing down the wizard information on her character sheet. With the laptop now in your hand, you can see that your assumption was right. 

“Thanks for setting it up again,” you thank her with a nod before handing it over to Alex. 

“Don’t mention it,” she replies with a smile. 

With the resources in front of him, Alex begins jotting down the mark of shadow elf information onto his character sheet. 

“Just a reminder that elves do live a lot longer than humans, so if you want to go down the route of these characters being you, then add maybe 100 years onto your actual age. As mentioned before, for ability score improvements, leave the additions next to your ability spaces as they will be accounted for once you figure stats out,” you remind Alex, who nods at your comment while continuing to write. 

The last to figure out their character’s race is Tanner, so you quickly turn towards him.  

“When looking more into DND, I ended up going down a rabbit hole of playable races. It seemed so intriguing that there is such a variety. Now, I don’t remember all of them, but I do remember that some can fly, and that intrigued me the most,” he mentions before you could ask any clarifying questions. 

It seemed that everyone was a bit shocked by Tanner’s admission, but you could not be happier knowing that your friends were well and truly trying to understand a game you love so much. 

With a smile glued to your face, you proceed with “That’s great to hear that you found some interest when trying to understand DND a bit more. You are right, there are a few races that can fly. I will need to ask a few clarifying questions to narrow it down a little more. First question: would you rather be a small creature or a medium creature? As I mentioned with Dakota, a small creature is roughly the size of a child while medium is around our size.” 

Tanner ponders for a moment before responding, “I rather like my own height, so medium creature.” 

“Okay. Now, would you want to look like an animal? Some of the flying races look like birds,” you question. 

Again, Tanner takes some time to think before saying, “I don’t think so. If I’m going down the route of playing a version of myself, I’d rather look more like me.” 

You nod your head, narrowing down the options quickly, before asking, “Alright, how far away from looking like yourself are you willing to go? There are 2 possible options left, each diverging at least a little bit from the standard human appearance.” 

“I think sticking as close to looking like myself as possible would mean no extra appendages like a tail,” Tanner replies after taking a moment. 

“Well, we narrowed it down to the protector aasimar then. They have partial lineage to celestial beings like gods and angels. I think it is fitting that we ended up here as aasimars have healing capabilities outside of the class they choose and you’re always one to help your friends like when you were booking it to Chelsea at Randolph County Infirmary. Protector aasimar cannot fly all the time though, I hope that that is okay,” you explain. 

“Is it like how Alex will get a once per rest spell at a certain level due to being a mark of shadow elf?” Tanner asks. 

“Yes, exactly like that. Having your wings out will give extra damage on an attack or spell, so they limit the use of it,” you answer. 

 Noticing that Alex has long since finished jotting down his character’s racial information, you grab the laptop back and bring up the protector aasimar information. The hand off of the computer and a reminder to leave racial ability score improvements next to their subsequent boxes happen shortly after, leaving a moment of respite. You look around the table at your friends, joy overflowing from you. Your friends are inching closer and closer to playing DND with you with every choice they make, and you could not be happier that they were all willing to try it out. 

“How much more do we have left?” Dakota asks, grabbing your attention. 

“Once Tanner is finished writing down his character’s race, what is left would be your character’s background, your ability scores/proficiencies, and spells for our spellcasters. You’ve mostly figured out your backstories as you’ve already mentioned wanting to be Project Fear in this world too. I know it seems like a lot, but there was the thought of you all having the same background so we would not need to go one-by-one,” you expound. 

Everyone nods their head at what you said and soon enough, Tanner is finished with his character information. The laptop is soon returned to you and your friends wait with bated breaths to hear what you have to say next. 

“Next up is background. This is what your character was before adventuring and can tie into the adventure as well. Since you guys were thinking of being Project Fear, could I suggest one that might fit all of you?” you inquire. 

You get a nod from the four of them before continuing, “One background is called the entertainer. I think it may be self-explanatory on what that would be like. Do you think this would be the right background for all of you?” 

The crew look at one another before they all respond with a resounding “Yes!” 

You chuckle a little bit before asking, “Since there is only one computer, would you rather all look at the information together on the laptop, have me read it out, or if you want to search for it on your phones, you are more than happy to. I know we didn’t start out with the other decisions with everyone’s electronics out, but I didn’t want you guys being too overwhelmed with the many options.” 

“I’m fine with using my phone for this,” Dakota states. 

“Same here. Plus, don’t worry about only now having us use our electronics, we get it after hearing all the questions you asked to help narrow everything down,” Alex responds. 

“Exactly! I’ll use my phone as well,” Tanner replies. 

With a quick look at her phone, Chelsea responds, “My phone is almost dead. Can I use the laptop?” 

“Go right ahead,” you say while handing the computer to her before continuing, “For those using your phones, the site is 5e.tools. From there, click on the icon with the word ‘backgrounds’ on it. Then, you will scroll through the options until you find ‘entertainer’ which then you will click on and write down the information. One of your tool proficiencies as an entertainer is a musical instrument, but I am fine with you guys having it be some form of paranormal equipment that you use on the show if you so wish. Also, your equipment section will mention that you have a favor of an admirer. This can be as simple as the Project Fear bracelet or your cross necklace. It does not need to be like one of the examples listed.” 

As soon as you are finished explaining everything, the quartet starts writing down all the necessary information. This gives you a moment to think about the campaign. You know you need to have the paranormal somehow involved, especially with how they still want to stick to being Project Fear. Maybe make it so for some reason ghosts aren’t appearing anymore? Nah, that would limit their abilities and seem unfair. A necromancer controlling all the ghosts? That feels like a campaign many people have probably done before. 

Your thoughts were cut short when the dull thump of four pencils hit the table as you felt all eyes back on you. 

“Okay, next up is figuring out our attributes, which directly ties into our proficiencies, hit points, armor class, and initiative. We will be using a system called twenty-seven-point buy. Each of the six attributes starts at an eight. You have twenty-seven points to add to your attributes. The maximum any of these attributes can be before adding in racial bonuses is fifteen. Remember what your proficient saving throws are to gauge where a score should be its highest and where you may not need to add much to. Constitution affects your hit points, so I would suggest at least adding a couple points there. There will be more to explain afterwards. You can use your phones, the laptop, or if you have scrap paper like the back of the spell sheet to calculate everything before putting in the information.” 

With that, the crew start to figure out their stats. Part way through, Dakota looks up at you and asks, “There are two spaces per area for the attributes. Why is that?” 

“That’s an excellent question. One spot is for your attribute score while the other is for its modifier. There is no right way to put either number in, though I have heard many people put the modifier in the box and the score into the oval. The modifier is used for proficiencies and skills and is derived from the attribute score,” you describe. 

“So how do we figure out the modifier?” Chelsea inquires. 

“To get your modifier, you subtract ten from your attribute score, divide that number by two, and round it down. The modifier is what the skills associated with an attribute will be, as well as the saving throw. If you are proficient with something, you add your proficiency bonus to the modifier. At level one, the proficiency bonus is a plus two. For expertise, the proficiency bonus is doubled and then added to the modifier,” you clarify. 

The crew nod their heads while continuing to calculate and write down their modifiers, allowing you to think more about the campaign yet again. You have an idea on a non-player character (NPC) to add to the campaign who may give them their over-arching mission. The idea of a banished bard trying to free himself from wrongful exile and persecution after previously being considered a hero seems like an interesting jump off. Possibly an overarching theme of not everything is as it seems or even don’t judge a book by its cover seems like a good work around. But where to start the party off with trying to help said bard? 

Again, the clicking of pencils hitting the table is what draws you back from your imagination. You look at the crew and say, “Alright. Next few steps will be easier. Look at the spot labelled ‘initiative.’ This will be added into your roll when figuring out the turn order of a combat. You will add your dexterity modifier in this space.” 

With quick nods, the crew jot down the number and allow you to continue, “That same modifier will help you figure out your armor class, which is the number an enemy needs to meet or beat to do damage. Leather armor is eleven plus your Dex modifier while no armor is ten plus the modifier.” 

The crew make rapid calculations, write down the number, and await further instructions from you.  

“We’re close to being done with character creation. This step will be the last one for Alex to hear instructions from. One of the most important numbers to know from your character sheet is your maximum hit points. Much like a video game, this number determines your health status in and out of combat. Hitting zero means you are unconscious, meaning you will be rolling death saving throw to see if your character does die or gets stabilized. 3 failed saves, meaning rolling nine or lower, equal death. Your party can still heal you in your unconscious state, bringing you back up into the fight. To determine your level one HP, look at what your hit die is. The highest number will be used plus your constitution modifier. For other levels, you will roll the hit die and add your con modifier to determine hit points with the average number being the minimum for this campaign,” you explain. 

In the blink of an eye, the crew notes their hit points. Alex places his pencil down and reclines back in his chair, finally done with his sheet. 

You chuckle a bit before looking to Dakota, Chelsea, and Tanner and stating, “The last step that I will explain is spell sheets. You each have a certain number of cantrips and spells that you know per level. It varies per class. I’m not sure if you had noted down these numbers exactly, so you can go back to 5e.tools to look it over again should you need it. As mentioned earlier when Tanner asked about it, cantrips have no limit on how often you can use it. With that in mind, have at least one offensive cantrip in case you run out of spell slots. Luckily, 5e.tools does allow you to look at all the spells available to your class as well. You don’t need to write down the exacts, just note their name on the sheet and you can refer to the information online. I still require looking up how spells work, even after playing for years, so don’t think poorly on yourself for not knowing everything.”  

You notice the trio quickly get to work on the devices they were using before jotting down numbers of spell slots and names of cantrips and spells their character would know. You turn your attention towards Alex and copy his relaxed position. 

“Seem interesting so far? I know this has been a lot of information to take in,” you ask. 

“It was a lot, but it seems like it will be fun. You can never go wrong with fantasy I feel,” Alex replies. 

“Well, that’s good at least. Once we get into actual gameplay, the fun will pick up. Interacting with a character and daring fights can get your blood pumping. Some people go to the extent of giving their character a voice other than their own and start physically embodying their character like hunching over. Now, none of this is expected out of anyone, and since you guys are playing yourselves, it wouldn’t make sense to give your character a different voice. If you continue to play DND after this campaign and think that would add more fun into your gameplay, then go for it,” you expound. 

“We’ll have to see. From all the stories you’ve mentioned, I think I’ll enjoy it, but I do not know how far I’ll go to get into a character,” Alex responds. 

The two of you sit in silence for a couple of moments more before Dakota, Chelsea, and Tanner finish writing their spells down.  

Once all the writing is done, you speak up again, “That will be the last thing I will make you do with me today. We mentioned having connecting backstories as you all are continuing to be Project Fear in this game, so during some of your free time you can collaborate and write those details down. You can keep simple bullet points, write a paragraph, or some people go to the extent of writing many pages of backstory. As level one, I will say that backstory would be a bit limited when it comes to fighting big beasts. For example, if you were to go fight a dragon now, you all would be dead in one shot. Ghosts and ghouls are potential enemies in the DND world, and at level one, fighting them would also be deadly. That isn’t to say you couldn’t have seen them or talked to them but fighting them would be unlikely where you currently are at.” 

The group smiles at you and nod their heads in acknowledgment. 

Before you could ask them, Tanner asks, “So when should we meet next?” 

“I was just about to ask that,” you chuckle before continuing, “Does Thursdays at 7pm generally work for you guys? I know things can happen last minute, but is this a time that is usually available?” 

The crew think for a moment before all nodding their heads and saying some variation of the word “yes.” 

“Alright, so 7pm on Thursday it is. See you then,” you confirm before letting them go. 

You could vaguely hear them muttering to one another as they headed to their cars to leave. Seems that they can’t wait for next week to arrive. 

In the meantime, you have session one to plan out for them. 

[fearfully-fiction]

Ashmore Estates-Alex Schroeder x Reader

word count:2,395

warnings: nothing really, light fluff, mentions of fear of heights

summary: Based off of season 4, episode 6 of DF. so all credit goes to the crew, the show, and the channel/network. It is Alex's turn to choose a location and everyone is in anticipation. And the pit stop he's chosen may or may not be something you're comfortable with.

Part one of my new series is here! I do truly hope you enjoy it and are excited about this series. I'm sorry if these get put out slower than usual, I just started school, so just bear with me.

I love you to the moon and to Saturn!

-M.G

(gif not mine!)

You sat in the RV on the way to a location unknown as per usual. Though knowing it was Alex’s turn to pick the location was quite nerve-wracking. He hadn’t let you in on anything, not even the slightest detail. The one thing you did know, was that he was very excited about it, and that scared you even more. Nothing about this seemed normal, and you were dying to know where he was taking you. 

You looked at him and sighed. “Al-” you started. “Nope, no, I’m not saying a thing,” he interrupted you, knowing exactly what you were going to ask him. You huffed and crossed your arms. “You don’t even know what I was gonna say,” you said to him and it was his turn to sigh. “Seriously? You’ve asked only about 8 million times in the last 31 hours,” he scoffed. Chelsea, tanner, and Dakota chuckled. “I'm with her on this, I want a hint of some sort,” Chelsea said and looked at Alex with a raised brow. “Not until later,” Alex stuck to his plan. “You’re no fun,” you whined and poked his arm. “I’m fun, I have a great spot for you guys to stop at while I tell everyone about the location,” he informed you and tossed an arm over your shoulder. 

It wasn’t long before you pulled up to the place and got out of the RV. “I’m small enough compared to you giants. What is this place?” you questioned and looked at your boyfriend like he was crazy. Everyone laughed and tanner ruffled your hair, you swatted his hand away. “You’ll have fun I promise,” Alex said and kissed the top of your head. 

“Oh hush, I know I will. I’m with these two fools, and Chelsea of course,” you said and nudged her side and she laughed softly. Tanner and Dakota looked at you in mock offense. “Fools?” they questioned simultaneously. “Fools,” you confirmed with a large grin. 

“Oh, you’re gonna get it,” Dakota said. You noticed that he was about to run and so of course you sprinted away from him. You could hear him running after you and you laughed breathlessly. About halfway across the parking lot he caught you and picked you up and spun you around until you begged him to stop. You let out a yelp and laughed as he set you down, trying to gain your balance back. “I still think you’re a fool,” you whispered and he looked at you with a look as if saying ‘what did you say?’. “I said nothing,” you said and shrugged before quickly walking back to the group. 

“Alright, I’ll see you guys in a bit, go have fun on big objects,” he gestured to what was in front of him and behind you. You chuckled before kissing his cheek. “Love you, Alex,” you said while watching him walk away. 

“Shall we?” you asked and pointed to the attraction. “We shall,” Tanner answered and you chuckled before linking arms with Chelsea and making your way back across the parking lot. 

As you walked across the lot you saw a large chair and to your surprise a mailbox. “Imagine the packages you could get in there!” Chelsea said and you laughed. “For some reason, I feel the need to climb that chair despite my crippling fear of heights,” you pointed out and directed the camera toward the chair. “I’d pay to see that,” Tanner laughed and so did you. “You just want to see me fall off of it,” you jabbed back and he looked at you with a hurt expression. “Is that what you think?” he asked in surprise. “That’s just what I know,” you smiled brightly at him. He grinned at you, “Alright, alright, you know me too well,” he said. “I know,” you said and they laughed. 

You walked further in and came across a giant pencil. “Look at the pencil!” Tanner exclaimed and you chuckled. “Tanner we finally found something that is taller than you!” you proclaimed excitedly. He tossed a glare your way while Chelsea and Dakota laughed. Chelsea jumped to try and touch the eraser and when she couldn’t you decided to try. “Ok, wait! I need to try!” you said and set your camera down. You stood under the pencil and did a couple of test hops before you jumped as high as you could. Ultimately not reaching your goal. “Damn it,” you huffed and they all shook their heads. “Sorry, I guess you’re just too small,” Dakota teased you and you glared at him. “Don’t worry I couldn’t do it either,” Chels reminded you and wrapped an arm around your shoulder. 

“Oh my gosh, it’s a big ass bird cage!” you enthusiastically pointed at it before running toward it. “It has a swing!” you said excitedly and sat down on the seat before swinging yourself back and forth. “She is so easily entertained, I don’t understand honestly,” Tanner shook his head. “Right, I mean, it’s just a swing,” Dakota said. “I think it’s cute,” Chelsea said as she watched you happily swing in the cage. 

“Alright, move, we want to swing too,” Dakota said and you got off of the swing so they could sit down. Chelsea hopped on the side of it and you smiled. “This is like, the cutest thing we’ve ever done,” Dakota stated and you chuckled a bit. “Not gonna lie here, you guys do look adorable right now,” you said and smiled at them. “I need pictures!” you exclaimed before holding your phone with one hand and taking a few pictures of them. “I need a picture with everyone,” you said. They all sighed jokingly. “C’mon, you know you love me,” you joked and they all agreed. 

Tanner sat on the swing and you hopped on behind him. You had a foot on either side of him as you held on so you wouldn’t fall. You both smiled widely as Chelsea took the picture. Next up, it was you and Dakota. It was an awkward and hard-to-hold pose but you made it work. You were determined to be taller than him and so you sat on your knees on the swing right next to him. He had his arm around your waist to steady you as you rested your head atop his. Your smiles were wide as you tried not to laugh and fall off. He helped you down and next it was you and Chelsea. Seeing as you never wanted a normal pose you and Chelsea both stood on the swing. “We better get this before we both fall off,” she joked and you laughed loudly and smiled over at her. And later on, you found that that was the picture. You smiling over at her while she smiled at the camera. It was one of your favorite pictures you had with her. 

Dakota was the last one on the swing, and Chelsea took the opportunity to close the cage door. “I’ve always just wanted to-” she spoke as she shut the door on him. And you all laughed. “He makes a great bird,” Chelsea joked and you laughed loudly. “A beautiful bird,” you agreed teasingly. 

“Now, to ascend the giant mailbox!” you declared and they chuckled. You all made your way up to the top and you smiled at the view from up there. 

“What do you think Alex is talking about right now?” Dakota wondered aloud. “Probably the usual,” you shrugged. “Yeah, probably something depressing and scary,” Tanner added and you softly laughed. “It has to be that,” you pointed over at him and smiled. “Ok, I think the adrenaline of climbing a giant mailbox has worn off. I’m literally about to panic. Can we get down now?” you questioned and they all nodded. “Right, c’mon let’s get you back onto the ground,” Tanner said and took your hand to guide you back down.

As you walked back down to the parking lot to meet up with your boyfriend you smiled at the thought of him being so excited. 

You saw him by the RV and took off in a light sprint. He chuckled at you and opened his arms for you. You crashed into him and he huffed at the impact, laughing breathlessly as he kept you both from falling over. “Hey, babe,” he said and he heard your muffled hello against his neck. You pulled back and smiled up at him. “Did you have fun?” he asked, and you nodded your head. “Yeah, I did. Got lots of good pictures too,” you told him giddily and he smiled at how happy you looked. He leaned down and pressed a kiss on your forehead. “Good, I’m glad,” he said and hugged you close again. 

The others joined you and you smiled brightly at them, “ready guys?” you asked and they all nodded before following you into the RV. You sat next to Alex on the couch and Chelsea sat down next to you. Alex tossed his arm around your shoulder to fit you snuggly against his side, and to make more room for Chelsea. 

It was a few minutes into the journey when everyone turned their cameras back on. “Alex is in control!” Dakota exclaimed and you smiled up at him. “You have a little pep in your step today,” Chelsea teasingly pointed out and you chuckled. “We’re all excited. It’s not just me,” Alex said and you laughed. “Everyone’s excited about this,” he added and you shook your head. “What?” Tanner asked, “Honestly, like you couldn’t actually believe that,” you joked and looked at him. 

“Let’s do a poll. Tanner, how do you feel about Alex picking?” Dakota asked. “Not very comfortable in the slightest,” He states and you nod in agreement. “That’s only one out of the four. Dakota?” he asked his friend. “I’m nervous as hell,” he expressed and you smiled. “And Chelsea?” Alex asked. “You freak me out a little bit, man,” Chelsea answered and you chuckled. “Ok, y/n?” he questioned you. “Honestly, you’re being a little too excited for me to be excited about this,” you told him, “your excitement scares me,” you said and he chuckled. 

“You keep smiling like something is up,” Chelsea stated. Alex shrugged his shoulders and you rolled your eyes. “Oh no,” you mumbled and he smiled down at you. “I’m just gonna break it to you guys right now. For my haunted location, we will be doing solos the entire night, with no flashlights,” he broke the news and your jaw dropped a bit.  “What is wrong with you?” you question in exasperation. Everyone groaned in protest, “That’s the worst idea ever,” Tanner complained. 

“I just don’t know Alex, about your decisions, your ideas,” Chelsea said to him and you chuckled. “I’m with Chelsea here, the things you do for your locations can be questionable,” you said and everyone snickered. 

“We are in the middle of nowhere, like, where the hell are you taking us?” Dakota queried. 

“We have been sitting in this RV for a very long time now, and I do have something planned for us. Right now we are on our way to an abandoned grain silo that has been renovated into a rock-climbing facility,” Alex explained his plan for you all. “How tall is this?” Tanner asked. 

“The tallest one is about 65 feet,” Alex said and your eyes widened. “This sounds pretty intimidating,” Dakota said and you nodded your head. “Very intimidating, I hate heights,” you told him and gave him a tight-lipped smile. “I’m sorry babe, but there is a competition involved. Whoever gets up the highest will win this competition and it may or may not tip the odds in your favor for the overnight,” Alex informed you. “Damn it, you know how competitive I am,” you shook your head. He squeezed you tightly and kissed your head. 

“So, like, whoever wins, whoever gets the highest won’t have to do a solo?” Dakota asked hopefully. “No, no, no, no. That’s funny. That’s really funny,” Alex said and you lightly hit his chest. “That would be a great reward for me,” Dakota spoke up again. “What is it?” you asked Alex. “Let’s just say, you are going to want to try and get to the top. You wanna win, trust me,” he told you. “I definitely don’t trust you but ok,” you countered.

“I don’t know what’s scarier. Climbing this high in an abandoned silo, or not winning the contest,” Dakota said. 

You put your cameras down and you sighed. You were nervous about climbing so high. You hated heights and Alex knew this about you, but he also knew how competitive you were and obviously hoped that would outweigh your fear. Surprise, surprise: it didn’t. 

You didn’t want to do this, and honestly, you didn’t trust Alex’s little advantage. You knew him a bit too well, to know that it was something good. 

He looked down at you and noticed your brow begin furrowed. He lifted his hand and let his thumb smooth out the crease between your eyebrows. Your eyes darted up to look at him when you felt his touch. “What’s up babe, you ok?” he asked and you instinctively leaned closer to him. “I just really hate heights,” you said and rested your head on his shoulder. “You’ll be ok babe, I won’t let anything happen ok, and if you feel like you need to come back down that’s fine, you know no one will be upset with you,” he explained to you and stroked your hair to soothe you. “I know, I just- I hate losing too,” you said and he laughed softly. “I know babe, maybe Dakota will give up before you,” Alex joked and it was your turn to laugh quietly. 

“I heard that,” Dakota said and you laughed again. “Sorry, Dak,” you said and he rolled his eyes. You hid your face in Alex’s shoulder as you laughed quietly and he smiled down at you. “ I love you (y/n),” Alex spoke softly. “I love you too Alex,” you said and leaned up to kiss him softly. 

The rest of the drive was short, and as you came to a stop you looked outside and sighed. “Oh shit,” you mumbled to yourself knowing that your fear would eventually kick in. 

---

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[algea]

please guys I’m calling all the Tanner Wiseman fans and fanfic writers because I’m in dire need of new Tanner fanfics

[janina24f271906-blog]

André Rieu's Other half And Son, Great beyond Rieu's.

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[kippykasey]

Cresson Sanatorium Pt 1 (Alex Schroeder x Reader)

Summary: Reader joins the Destination Fear team on the investigation at Cresson Sanatorium.

Pairing: Alex Schroeder x Reader

Word Count: 2889

Authors Note: This took me way too long to get out but here it is! Hope you enjoy and I hope to get the second part out soon if not right after the holidays. Also if you want more Destination Fear fics I highly recommend @fearfully-fiction , they are what inspired me to write a DF fic in the first place.

Ps I do not own the gif.

Destination Project Fear Masterlist | Masterlist

It was the day before we leave Las Vegas for the beginning of a new road trip, my first with the Destination Fear gang. I was no stranger to the paranormal though, after all I met Dakota while we worked for Ghost Adventures. It wasn't until I started seeing Alex that I made the decision to join the gang as their equipment tech and assistant.

Up stairs I could hear the guys still packing. I had my bag ready a few days ago so I could focus my attention on packing up all the gear. 

"Look at all these cases." Dakota comments drawing my attention over to him from the spare batteries I was loading into a case. "And there is our new equipment tech, (Y/N)."

You wave at the phone he was holding in his hands. "This is all our stuff!" Alex exclaimed looking at all the cases ready to be loaded up. He walked over to my side and pressed a light kiss to my temple causing me to slightly scrunch up my nose at the scratching of his facial hair against my skin. "I can not wait to have another girl around." I joked pushing by the two males to go grab my phone to text Chelsea to see how her packing was going.

======================

As we were within twenty miles from the location cameras were passed out to everyone, including myself for b-real. I climbed up into the bunk above the front seats and aimed my camera down at the main four who were ready to begin filming.

When Dakota starts explaining how sleeping and solos would be restricted by lack of flashlights, my mouth opens and closes at the thought of being stuck alone in the dark like that. "Definitely not a good idea. Someone's gonna hurt themselves." I commented quietly as the others did, but I think Alex was the only one who heard since he looked over with a reassuring smile. "The rule applies to everybody. Me too, and even (Y/N) if she gets involved." Dakota confirms Chelsea's point that the challenge is for everyone. 

Dakota hands out their blind folds and I climb down to get a shot of the location as the RV pulls in. I can hear the group putting their blind folds on and I couldn’t stop the gasp from coming out at how large the location was. "Dakota this is insane!" I called back getting mixed reactions in return.

Dakota took everyone's cameras while I handed them each the "care package" that included their walkie, a device to interact with, a flashlight for the packet read, and an extra battery for the camera. I stayed in the RV filming Tanner and Chelsea as Dakota took Alex to his secret location. Watching the way they jumped when Dakota yanked the door open, calling for his sister made me laugh. The two left and soon it was just Tanner and I.

"Is the place big?" He asked and I just hummed a yes in response. "Man, you are so lucky you aren't a part of this secret room thing." 

"Well someone has to make sure you guys have everything you need. Besides, it's not like I won't be inside. I just won't be in any of the overly active areas… I think." Tanner laughed at my uneasiness but we kept casual conversation until Dakota came back. 

The three of us left the RV together. I walked part of the way in the snow with them before splitting off to the gear room. I had a camping lantern on with my walkie next to it. I placed the camera I had been holding down also facing not only myself but most of the room and gear cases behind me. I pulled out my own copy of the packet while I waited. I was told that the building I was in was the least haunted in the location so I shouldn’t be bothered but it still made me nervous. 

The walkie crackled before Dakota’s voice could be heard, “Alright guys, you can take off your blind folds now.”

“I’m in the freaking tunnel system.” Chelsea’s voice sounded out soon after and I gasped, grabbing my walkie to comment, “That is so mean of you to do to your sister.”

Dakota ignored the comments and went on with his instructions. “Underneath your chair you will find a packet. Feel free to open that packet right now and find out where we’re at.”

“Cresson Sanatorium and Prison.” I read out looking at my own packet.

“This could possibly be the most terrifying place in the country.” Dakota states

“Not a good start.” Chelsea responds to her brother.

“Love how this is the first place I join you at.” I comment sarcastically and I can just picture the smile on Alex’s face at my comment.

“You worked with Zak, you can handle this. Now, Chelsea, if you want to read the first paragraph.” Dakota laughs at me before moving on. The four of them went through the packet read, while I silently listened. I mentally wished everyone good luck in all of their haunted locations. I followed the team in darkness by turning off the lantern and sitting in the dark.

My eyes had started to scan around the room. With a light up watch I was able to check the time and it was nearly 10:40pm  when I thought I heard a knocking. “Real funny D.” I sigh just assuming that it was Dakota messing with me. But when he didn’t respond I knew it wasn’t my friend knocking. I instantly turned to my camera. “Hopefully that knocking was caught on camera.”

Dakota jump scared me as he spoke over the walkie. “Hey guys, it’s Dakota. We have been in our arrangements for close to three hours. It’s almost midnight. You guys wanna pack up your stuff, and come meet me in the courtyard? You can use your flashlights now, to get out.” 

I turned on the lantern and moved to check the battery of the camera which needed to be changed. I was in the middle of changing the battery when I heard the knocking again. This time it sounded like it was down the hall. I moved to the doorway and stuck my head out looking around only to be met with the door opening at the others coming in. 

“Were you guys just knocking?” I asked the four as they entered the building. “No, did you hear something?” Chelsea asked as we all went into the room I had already begun setting up. “Twice actually, I heard some knocking.” I explained taking the chance to give Alex a hug. “By the way, thank you so much for the extra battery. I ended up needing to change mine.” Tanner thanked as he and Dakota laid some things out on a table. “No problem.” 

With the gear room set up I picked up my camera and started to record again. I walked next to Alex to the Children’s Ward with the rest of the group, pockets full of extra batteries. As we approached and saw the creepy building in the night with little to no light gave me the creeps. “Did I ever mention that I don’t trust children's spirits?” I mention off handedly thinking of all the negative entities that will try to manipulate people by pretending to be a child. 

“Yes you have, darling.” Alex chuckled softly looking slightly down at me as Tanner turned to point his camera at us. “This is where you were Alex?” He asked, gaining a nod from my boyfriend in response. “Yeah.”

I tended to trail slightly behind the four trying to keep them all in frame as best as I could. Dakota was asking for the mimic to actually copy one of our voices and the thought of that just made me uneasy to the point I kept looking around myself. We were probably wandering the building for about an hour before I finally spoke up, “Does anyone else get the feeling that we’re being watched right now?” 

“I do. Like it’s getting a feel for us being here.” Alex agreed, panning his camera over at me as he looked through the viewfinder.

Entering the morgue was like an instant shiver down my spine. After spending time in the morgue area and doing an EVP session we began to head back upstairs when we all heard the same thing. Three knocks made us all jump and turn, me being at the end kind of shifted towards the middle of the group as I realized that it was the same rhythm of the knocks I had been hearing. 

“That was like three..” Dakota began and his sister finishes, “Knocks.”

“Yeah. Knocks. Like really loud knocks.” Dakota nods passing to go investigate the noise. As they discussed the knocking I subconsciously moved closer to Alex, his presence next to me being a huge comfort. Chelsea repeated the type of knock we heard and I closed my eyes letting out a sigh. “Guys, that’s the same knocking I’ve been hearing all night. It’s just a lot louder now.”

Alex looked at me before turning to the others. “When I was here earlier I said, if there’s a mimicry thing up here repeat this. And I did that knock.” Al even went and repeated the knock he did, the same knock that I heard earlier and the one we all just heard.

We followed the direction of the noise to the tunnels. Now knowing that it was most likely the mimic leading us there, I was set on not leaving Alex’s side unless it was absolutely necessary. 

Even with having the lights on our cameras the tunnels were still eerily dark. Alex and I walked at the back of the group, honestly my current footage probably sucked since I was stuck behind Tanner. We had been walking the tunnels for a while, occasionally, the team would stop to make comments. Currently we were stopped right by the chapel which I used the moment to quickly change the battery on my camera. Everyone had a shared feeling of weirdness so Dakota asked me for the Ovilus and I passed it forward after taking it from the bag on my back.

He explained the device for the camera before passing it to his sister. As we began to move again I stepped back to get footage of the four of them walking down the tunnel. As Dakota asked about the entity that was mimicking Alex, my boyfriend turned his head to look at me and I could see how uneasy he was so I stepped closer to him. Holding out my hand I wiggled my fingers until he took a hold of it manning his camera with the other. 

The group comes across the chair that Dakota placed Chelsea in. However, it was way too far from the chapel entrance to be in the correct spot… had something moved it? As we walked closer to the chair the thought was debunked as the Laden siblings confirmed that it was not the same chair. As the group proceeded forward and the chair was just a few mere feet behind me the electronic voice of the Ovilus spook. 

“Chair.” 

My eyes widened and I spun around on my heel letting go of Alex’s hand in the process to face back towards the chair we had passed. The four were reacting to the Ovilus and Dakota even pointed out that we must not be alone. I take a few small steps back to peer around the curve of the tunnel that we rounded to forsure getting the chair on camera. I could still hear the gang mentioning how we are being mimicked. Alex even goes too far as to say we are being mocked. 

“(Y/N).” I hear Alex call my name next to me but I pan my camera around to see him still with the group. I quickly hurry to their side. Before I got to mention hearing Alex’s voice behind us there was a knock in front of us. We all were silent and it happened again. 

“Hello?” Tanner called down the tunnel.

“How the..?” I muttered glancing back towards the chair with my camera then pointing it at the team. “Okay but I literally just thought it was behind us.”

“What do you mean?” Alex questions panning his camera towards me.

“So when we got ‘chair’ on the Ovilus I kinda went back to get one final look at the chair and when I was there I swear I heard Alex say my name, but he was still right here filming you guys listening to Chelsea talk about the noise she heard. 

“Whoa.” Chelsea comments as she looks over her camera at me.

I reached for Alex’s hand again which he securely held at his side. As if jealous that it wasn’t getting enough attention the Ovilus spoke once again. 

“Count.”

“What the fuck!” Alex exclaims, slightly squeezing my hand.

“I heard knocking down there!” Tanner points out. 

“And it said ‘count’ like the three knocks.” Chelsea adds. 

“I could have sworn I heard multiple knocks, not just one.” Tanner continues.

“And then it said count.” Dakota gasps.

“It’s totally messing with us.” I conclude.

The group then prompts another knock to follow. Alex of course being the one to let go of my hand to knock on the pipes. There was some kind of response and as much as all of us didn’t want to, we continued to move forward. Alex promptly moved me to be between him and Tanner in the line.

Suddenly we all heard the same sound. The chime of the music box. Everyone made a noise acknowledging that they had heard it too. As Chelsea and Dakota stepped back making Tanner step back into me it was a bit of a mess as we were not expecting that sound in the tunnels. “Holy shit, it’s music.” Dakota turns to face us before quickly looking down the tunnel.

“That sounded like chimes.” Alex comments.

Tanner quickly glanced to me to make sure I was okay after he ran into me before quickly turning back to the fact that we all just heard the notes of the music box.

“That sounded just like the freaking music box.” I point out.

“Was that the music box or just music?” Dakota questioned wanting to be certain.

“That was definitely notes from the music box.” Alex confirms.

“Like, the music box is pretty..” Tanner trailed off and swore but everyone understood. The music box was pretty unique and recognizable. 

“There is no way that was the music box.” Chelsea shook her head. “That’s not possible.”

“I brought the music box back from my location to the gear room and put it back in the box. (Y/n) watched me.” Alex nods his head. “I didn’t even grab it for this investigative walk. It’s still in the gear room packed up.” I mentioned to solidify the fact that the device was not here.

“If this thing can mimic knocking and sounds, why can’t it mimic the music box? Not to mention that (Y/n) thought she heard me call her name earlier.” Alex explains as he mentioned how he used the music box and was knocking in the same building. 

Once again against better judgment the five of us continue down the tunnel towards the direction we keep hearing noises in. We pass through a doorway that leads us to a dead end forcing us to split either left or right. Dakota wasn’t even sure where we were, maybe F-block or Administration. Dakota came across a staircase seconds before Tanner came across one. Upon climbing the stairs Dakota was quick to realize we were now in the Administration building. After a quick discussion we decided to hold off on investigating the building until we made a quick trip to the gear room to change batteries and check once again that the music box is still packed away. 

The music box was in fact boxed up in the gear room where Alex left it. Dakota even played it to show that it was in fact the tune that we heard in the tunnel. It was then concluded that it has been targeting a mimicking Alex all night. From the knocks, to his voice, and even the music box. After placing new batteries in the cameras we headed back to Administration to do what investigating we could before the sun came up.

Tanner was looking around for anything that could possibly be the source of the sound but nothing came close. With silence filling the building we decided to sit and do one last EVP session. I sat silently filming them as they asked questions for nearly a half hour but nothing came through. But the eventful night came to an end. We all exited the building, the team (not including myself and Dakota) took in the huge expanse of the location.

We returned to the RV still recording. The RV pulled away and that is when Dakota hit us with the next location.

“The next location will be equally as scary, because we are going back to Cresson!” 

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[kippykasey]

Cresson Sanatorium Pt 2 (Alex Schroeder x Reader)

Summary: Reader joins the Destination Fear team on the investigation at Cresson Sanatorium.

Pairing: Alex Schroeder x Reader

Word Count: 2525

Authors Note: I do not own the gif.

Destination Project Fear Masterlist | Masterlist

It now made sense why the other crew members were "scheduled" to pack up the gear room. As the Rv returned to its parked position at Cresson. Dakota was the first to leave the Rv so he could go off to film himself talking about the second investigation. 

“He has never done this before. Going back to a location for a second night in a row.” Chelsea comments looking over at the rest of us as we were peeking out of the Rv to watch Dakota.

“I mean it makes sense. This place is massive.” Tanner nods his head.

“Did you know about this?” Alex’s question was directed at me. I answered with a shake of my head. “No. I was just told that the rest of the team would handle the pack up. I have a feeling I’m going to be just as involved in this roadtrip as you guys. I don’t think I’m ready to sleep alone here though. Especially since we won’t have flashlights.”

Dakota makes his way back and everyone exits the Rv and we go over the video of the music box, the most memorable moment from the night before. With daytime left everyone grabbed their cameras and we began to check the location out during the day.

We started with Dakota pointing out Administration, which was the closest building to the RV. Followed by Dakota pointing out F-Block which was the location he had placed Tanner in. As a joke Alex points his camera towards the ground, “Chelsea, you were tight down here.” Tanner went with the joke, nodding his head, “Right below us.”

“The daylight is like a false sense of security.” I commented as I walked in the middle of the group towards the children’s ward. “I get exactly what you mean, babe.” Alex agreed from the back of the group. 

“So this is where Alex was alone last night.” Dakota explains.

“Do you want to see where I did the knocking experiment?” With a ‘yes’ from Dakota, Alex began to lead the way upstairs. “It’s on the second floor.” He went right up to the door he knocked against the night before and knocked the same way he had the night before. The same knocks we heard mimicked in the basement tunnels. As they began to leave to move on towards the tunnels, I stayed back to get footage of them leaving down the hallway. Dakota was the last to go around the corner to leave and as soon as he was no longer in sight there was the faintest sound.

Tap…Tap.Tap.

I spun around towards the noise that happened behind me to see nothing but the empty hallway. “Hello?” I called out down the hall. “Are you trying to get my attention?” I ask even though my body was telling me to run and catch up with the team. After a moment of waiting for a response I turned back around and began to leave. I chanced one last look over my shoulder and down the end of the hallway a dark mass seemed to be leaning out of one of the doorways blocking the light from the window. My legs moved before I could even fully process what I had seen.

“Alex! Dakota! Guys!” I yelled as I ran down the stairs stumbling over my feet. “(Y/n)?!” Tanner called looking up the staircase from the floor they were on. “Oh my god.” I gasped for air as I tripped down the last few stairs landing in Alex’s hold. 

“What happened?” Dakota asked as he took in my panicked state. I pass my camera off to Tanner, running a hand over my face and leaning into Alex for comfort. Alex rubbed his hand in small circles over my back at a pace that I matched my breathing to.

“I.. well okay, so I stayed back to get a shot of all of you leaving. Looked great, but as soon as you,” I pointed at Kota, “left the hallway I heard three like taps. The same rhythm of the knocks.” 

“No way.” Chelsea mutters in disbelief.

“So I called out to see if anything would answer and I got nothing. As I was leaving to catch up I looked back over my shoulder,” I mimicked my own movement as I told them what happened. “At the end of the hall it just looked like something was peeking out of one of the rooms.”

“All of the doors but the one I knocked on were closed though.” Alex was puzzled as he remembered all of the doors being closed besides the one.

“I’m just glad that I didn’t hear your voice again up there. I don’t… “ I shivered at the thought before reaching to take the camera back from Tanner.

Alex waited for me to get a comfortable hold on the camera before he took a hold of my hand. “I don’t want you wondering by yourself anymore, or lingering behind.” His worried tone was accompanied by the protective feeling I got as he gave my hand a soft squeeze before raising it to his lips and placing a light kiss against my knuckles. “I don’t plan on leaving your side.”

After a moment's debate if they should go back up the team decides to instead continue down to the tunnels since they were nearly there. Chelsea even admits that she was more terrified of the tunnels now that we have experienced things down there. A door slams, making all of us jump. I press my body against Alex and his arm wrapped securely around my waist. We all looked at the door and tried to open it but there was no give. Dakota declared that it was time to go to the gear room and read the packet for night two.

Four new buildings were chosen to investigate I-Block being the location a serial killer, Joe Kallinger, was house instantly made it onto my no-go list. Hearing Tanner agree with me brought a small smile to my face.  Quick to join was the Chapel. Dakota read about the entity with claws that crawls on the ceiling that follows and watches people. 

“Hey guys, remember last night when we were all in the children’s ward and felt like we were being watched?” I reminded them. Alex’s eyes widened and he nodded. “Oh yea. Maybe it was already watching us.”

“We can’t have anything following us on this road trip, Dakota.” Chelsea looks at her brother. Dakota holds up a finger before pointing at me. “(Y/n) learned a few cleansings from Bill and Jay. If I remember correctly she brought everything with.”

I rolled my eyes and popped my hip out in annoyance. “I might have brought the cleansing items but I would prefer not needing to use it.”

Alex finished the first part of his read of E-Block and looked up at Dakota. “Bro, are you setting the girls up to be groped? I would really not like it if a ghost felt up my girlfriend.” I couldn’t stop the giggles that escaped in my attempt not to laugh at my boyfriend. We finished the packet read and prepared for the second night of investigations. I set old batteries to charge and packed some equipment into my bag for later. 

As the group split in half Alex was quick to grab my hand and make sure I went with him. He really was serious about me not being at his side. I was placed in between Tanner and Alex as we walked. We were just settling into I-Block when Alex spoke up about still being uneasy about the mimicry spirit, which I completely backed up since I had heard the copied knock as taps just a few hours earlier. Our first stop to investigate was Joseph Kallinger’s cell, which given that it had bars and plexiglass was easy to find. We entered the cell to sit down and Tanner pulled a digital recorder from a pocket in my bag. “We lucked out getting the equipment tech.” Tanner jokes for a moment before focusing on setting up the recorder. 

I kept silent letting Alex and Tanner conduct the EVP session. As the EVP we caught began to play my mouth dropped open and I pointed towards the digital recorder. What really made it eerie was the question it followed was about if Kallinger still wants to kill. A quick decision was made to do another EVP session. Tanner was the one asking the questions and while he was asking the questions I felt this uneasy turn in my stomach. After playing back the second session I was confident in the possibility that it was my body reacting to something because the recorder audio cut off and was static for the remainder of the recording till the last second. 

The guys began to talk about what just happened and we gathered our things so we could walkie the Ladens and meet up to show him the anomaly that just occurred with the digital recorder. It was only about 10:30, it seemed as if we were barely starting to investigate and already we were meeting up. Tanner passed the device over to Kota. He played the recording and the siblings were just as perplexed as we were about the audio just abruptly cutting out.

From there Tanner, Alex, and I moved on to the second building we would be investigating. We entered the chapel and I instantly felt a cold chill race down my spine. Tanner set up a thermal camera to see if we could catch the entity that climbs around on the ceiling. Alex and I took a seat on one of the front pews. After a few questions it had become clear to us that we may be being watched from the shadows. 

A rattle in the distance caught our attention quickly, Alex even jumped slightly in surprise of the noise. “What was that?” Tanner muttered as we all turned to the back of the chapel. “It almost sounded like someone trying to enter a locked door.” I whispered slowly standing from the pew. Alex and Tanner followed my actions so we could go investigate the noise. The third door Alex tried to rattle we found one that made the same noise. Tanner was starting to feel off so we were going to head out to get some air when Dakota walked us to make sure we weren’t messing with them.

The mimic had made it’s presence known in E-Block with the beautiful sound of a music box once again. My body instantly stiffened at the news of the spirit’s arrival to our night 2 investigation. Upon Dakota’s request to join them we quickly left the chapel to go join the siblings in E-Block. We ran the distance between the two locations to get there as soon as we could. Dakota explained the experience of the mimic when we arrived and Tanner brought up a good point, we were told the mimic stayed in the children’s ward but that has been proven very wrong.

I stood in the doorway of the room the team was in listening to them talk about the mimic. Alex was talking about what he thought the mimic was. All this happening before we have to separate and sleep alone, or well almost alone in the case of me and Alex since we for sure would not be splitting up. We returned to the gear room to stock up on the equipment we would need and be using for the night as well as the sleeping location draw. The choices were between; the chapel, E-block, Building 4 (I-Block), and of course the tunnels.

“We know Alex picks the tunnels everytime.” Chels comments.

“You know what. Not this time, babe you pick.” Alex turns to where I was standing just behind him. I let out a silent groan. “Fine.” I pick a balled up piece of paper out and pass it over to Alex for him to read out. 

“Oh baby! E-Block! Not the tunnel!” Alex exclaims with a little head bob. His mood quickly shifts as it clicks that we would be staying in E-Block. The same place where Chelsea and Dakota just heard the mimic of the music box. Not to mention it almost felt like the mimic was targeting Alex and I. 

Tanner’s instant swearing made my heart drop. He lifted the paper he chose revealing his own handwriting displaying ‘Tunnel’. Chelsea was going to the Chapel and that left Dakota with building 4. I think my heart went out to Tanner the most. 

Entering E-Block We went to set up equipment while we were still aloud with a flashlight. We decided on the laser grid due to the reports of shadow figures. With that set up Alex and I sat down on the cot. 

“I’m honestly worried about Tanner. I just have this really bad feeling about him being alone down there.” I whisper to Alex leaning my head over to rest it on his shoulder. 

“Tanner’s tough, he can handle it and he knows when to back out if it gets too much.” Alex reminds me to comfort my worries.

Eventually we moved to be sitting back to back in efforts to see around the large room. “You know what would be funny to do?” Alex moved, making me shift against him. “Huh?” I looked over my shoulder at him. “Chelsea took the enhanced audio- “

 “No! Alex, that's so mean don’t do that.”

Alex instantly laughed when Chels replied in a monotone voice. Her tone alone made me giggle. I shifted, still feeling uneasy. That bad gut feeling was stronger and I wished it was morning already so we could get out of here. So needless to say when the sun began to shine I was ready to pack up and get out. I was practically pulling Alex out of E-Block. We all met up where Tanner was sitting on some stairs outside where he had been sitting since he backed out. He had heard the music box again. When Tanner mentioned feeling threatened I felt my heart drop. We ended the investigation at Cresson Sanatorium and Prison and went to pack up and leave.

“Hey guys before we get on the Rv do you mind if I do a quick cleansing? Just want to shake this place off and make sure we're not taking anything with us to the next place.” I asked the group as we prepared to leave. 

“I think that is an amazing idea, darling.” Alex nodded and was quickly followed by other consenting vocalizations. I pulled out one of the cleansing sage bundles that I was given by Jay before lighting it and beginning the cleansing on the team. Alex gave me a knowing smile as he watched me spend a bit extra time cleansing Tanner. I finished with myself before properly disposing of the end of the sage stick and walking to join Alex for the ride. Lips brushed my temple softly. “You are so amazing, I love you.”

[fearfully-fiction]

Ashmore Estates pt.3- Alex Schroeder x Reader

word count:3566

warnings: language, fluff, I think that's it

summary: based on season 4, episode 6 of DF. so all credit goes to the crew, the show, and the channel/network. The packet is read, and it's time to start the investigation.

(gif not mine!)

“Sequestered within the never-ending cornfields of eastern Illinois, can be found the decaying remains of Ashmore Estates,” Dakota started. “Opened in 1857 as the Coles county poor farm, it had 30 buildings spread across 260 acres,” He continued. “The day-to-day operation of the poor farm was unmonitored leading to unhygienic and unsafe living conditions. In the 1870s alone 12% of the residents passed away. One such inmate was Joe, a maintenance man for the almshouse. He had been walking back from town when he was hit by an oncoming train. Though a good samaritan carried him back home his injuries were too grave and he passed away,” Dakota explained and your heart sank. It always made you sad, when you heard stories like that, life truly was just unfair and unkind sometimes. “That’s so sad,” Chelsea said. “I was just thinking the same thing. I couldn’t even imagine,” you said and leaned your head against Alex’s shoulder. He squeezed your waist as Dakota read on. 

“But perhaps the most tragic death to occur was that of 5-year-old Elva Skinner in 1880 in a building previously on site. She had been left alone inside while the adults went out to work the farm,” He said and your heart dropped. You knew this was going to be terrible, and it was. 

She had passed away after her dress had caught on fire despite them doing everything they could to help her. Everyone at the table was horrified by the way she died. “What a terrible way to die,” Chelsea said and you couldn’t help but nod. There had been accounts of seeing her and hearing giggling. 

“Dude when we were here last time and we were all in our sleeping arrangements there was a girl giggling that was captured on camera,” Dakota brought up. It all came back to you, you remember watching the footage back and it scared the hell out of you. 

“That, like, puts validation to what happened to us,” Dakota said. “And now going back we have a name to go off of,” Alex spoke. “Elva Skinner,” you repeated the little girl's name out loud. 

The packet was handed to Chelsea and she began to read. “Those lucky enough to stay alive had to contend with truly atrocious conditions. Flies reportedly swarmed everywhere and there was noticeably rotten food prepared for dinner,” she explained and you shivered at the thought. “That’s disgusting,” you said and shook your head. 

“By 1916, the conditions were so appalling that the original buildings were torn down and a new one was built in their place, operating for the next 40 years. It then transitioned to a private psychiatric hospital. Allegedly the most violent patients received electroshock treatments. It closed its doors in 1986,” Chelsea stopped. 

“I forgot how layered this place is,” Dakota said. 

The packet was then handed over to Alex. “The most active areas include The first floor. This floor is active with every kind of paranormal activity imaginable,” he said before holding the packet in front of you. You accepted it from him and began to read. 

“The second-floor green room. A former poor house resident named Mary can be found in this room. People have heard her raspy breaths follow them through the building. She’s known for throwing and knocking over items,” You finished and passed it to Tanner. 

“The boiler room. Joe. the former maintenance man is found here. While he is normally friendly if he feels disrespected, he can become quite agitated,” Tanner read. He was known to not like females in the boiler room, they would get shoved, grabbed, and even have their hair pulled. 

You reached for Alex’s hand and he held yours tightly. He knew you didn’t fare well with that kind of information when it came to an overnight. It made you impossibly nervous, and he always made sure that you were ok before, during, and after. 

There was a man who had actually been thrown across the room after defending the girls he was investigating with. 

Alex held you tighter. He knew how much worry you held for your friends and so hearing that was something that made you very uneasy. You got protective easily, and so it was something you didn’t like to hear. 

Alex picked up the packet and began again. “The third floor. This entire floor is incredibly active, especially by the former electroshock therapy room. Though Elva, the five-year-old who passed away on site is known to play up here there is another unknown entity that grabs people appearing as a phantom mist before disappearing completely,” Alex described. That entity was known to cause scratches and hurt anyone who may be vulnerable when up on that floor. It’s like he can sense it and preys on the more sensitive and weak. 

“We did not know about that phantom mist on the third floor, reaching out and grabbing people,” Dakota said. “What I captured on film looked exactly like that description,” Tanner pointed out and it immediately took you back to that night, and what you had seen on camera. It was terrifying, especially back then when you were completely new to all of this. 

“So creepy, like I have the chills right now,” Dakota said and you nodded your head. “I do too, I remember that so well,” you added. 

“To be honest what you caught there was the reason I wanted to see this location so badly,” Alex admitted. “I have to see this for myself,” He added. 

“I think it’s going to be a jam-packed night. What do you say we load some gear and get going,” Alex suggested and you internally cringed at the thought of staying there again. 

“Let’s do it, dude,” Dakota said and Alex replied, “let’s start this night,” 

You all got up and walked back to the RV to get your gear. “I cannot believe we are back here,” You said to yourself as you looked at the building over your shoulder. “It’s been so long, I wonder if they will remember us?” Chelsea wondered aloud. “I bet they will,” you said and shook your head. You headed into the building for the first time in almost 7 years and it took your breath away. It was like taking a step into the past. You remembered your exact words when you first stepped into the building. 

“Guys I think we’re screwed,” you repeated yourself from 7 years ago. “That’s exactly what you said when we first stepped into this place,” Tanner recalled and you chuckled. “Well, it’s equally as true now as it was then,” you said. Everyone chuckled, and Alex walked over to wrap his arms around you. “Everything is going to be just fine, I promise you. I won’t let anything happen to you. I know you can do it, babe,” he said softly and kissed your head. 

“I hate solos, Al,” you spoke quietly. “I know, but just think when it’s over we won’t have to come back. I know you’re nervous, but I also know how strong you are. You have so much more experience than you did last time, I have full confidence that you can handle this. And if anything happens I’m right here, I’m gonna be right here,” he tried to put you at ease. “Ok,” you breathed out and wrapped your arms around him tightly. You pulled away the slightest bit so that you could lean up on your toes to place a kiss on his lips. Your hands clutched the fabric of his shirt tightly and his rested firmly on your hips. 

You pulled away and softly smiled at him. He smiled back before pressing a lingering kiss on your forehead for good measure. 

“You guys ready to start?” Dakota asked and you looked over at him before sighing. “I’m ready when you guys are,” you said and looked up at Alex as if asking him the same question. He just nodded his head. “I’m ready, let’s go,” he said and grabbed your hand in his. 

“So we just got done setting up the gear room, we are about to jump into solos,” Alex announced and you shifted your weight nervously. “Who’s ready?” He asked. “I am never ready for solos,” you told him. “I’m not ready either,” Dakota followed up. Everyone else agreed, and you chuckled. “See, this is not a good idea Alex,” you said and softly glared at him. “You guys will be fine,” he playfully brushed it off and you rolled your eyes. “This is the worst. And we have no flashlights,” Tanner reminded everyone. Your heart dropped. 

“Tanner!” Alex spoke up. “Yeah?” he asked. You could tell he was not excited at all, and you couldn’t help but feel the exact same way. “Since you won the contest today, and you are a superior athlete, and a strong man,” Alex continued. “Yup,” Tanner said as if telling him to continue. “You win the privilege…” Alex paused. “The privilege,” Tanner repeated. “Of going into Ashmore Estates, first,” Alex finished and your jaw dropped. “What?” he asked incredulously. You could hear Dakota snickering beside you and you slapped his arm. “Why?” Tanner questioned again. “You won the contest. You get to go in first,” Alex shrugged his shoulders like it was obvious. “That’s not a prize, that’s losing,” Tanner said. “Alex that’s just mean,” you said and glared at him. “Well first place goes first right?” he shrugged again and you shook your head. 

“It’s so mean, to let him go in first,” Dakota joked. “You wanna take his place?” Alex asked and looked at him, “No,” Dakota admitted and you chuckled. “This is a crappy prize,” Tanner said and you agreed. “Then pride is your prize,” Alex suggested and you once again rolled your eyes. “Pride is my prize?” He asked quizically. “You are a sore winner,” Alex told him. 

“This literally makes no sense. Did you put any thought into this?” Tanner questioned your boyfriend. “You know-you know what?” Alex slightly stammers. “Go for it,” Tanner encouraged him. “How about, oh, I don’t know maybe you’re wearing the enhanced recorder the entire time,” Alex spat out. “Oh no! I’m so scared. Not!” Tanner mockingly said. “Alright, this is good!” Alex said back. “Perfect,” Tanner retorted. “This is good,” Alex reiterated. “Cool,” Tanner said one last time. “Whatever, you know I’ll just go in there first,” Tanner said and you shook your head. “Stir it all up,” He told you and you sighed heavily. “I mean there you go, that’s super positive of you,” Alex said in mock positivity. 

“Alright, let’s get going,” Tanner breathed out heavily. Before he walked away you went over and wrapped him in a hug. “You got this Tanner,” you said and he smiled softly and kissed your head. “Thanks, (n/n),” he said before taking a deep breath and making his way into the building. “Remember, you’re a winner,” Chelsea called after him. “Biggest winner out there,” Alex reiterated. “Doesn’t feel like a winner,” Tanner spoke up. “You’ve got this!” you tried to encourage him. 

As soon as he was in the building you walked over and smacked your boyfriend's arm. “That was no prize Alex,” you said with a slight look of annoyance. “It was for us,” he shrugged and smiled down at you smugly. You rolled your eyes. “You’re gonna be the death of me Alex, I swear it,” you mumbled and he chuckled before tossing an arm around you and pulling you into his chest. “You love me,” he whispered before kissing your head. “You’re lucky I do,” you said and held his arm that was around you. 

“That I am,” he said and leaned forward to kiss your cheek. 

“Hey, what about us?” Dakota asked with his arms out in mock hurt. “Aww, I love you guys too,” you said and walked over to hug Dakota before kissing his cheek and doing the same with Chelsea. 

“They’re such babies,” she said and you laughed. “They really are, honestly. I don’t know how I put up with him sometimes,” you nudged her shoulder and she chuckled. You all sat at the table once again. You set your camera down so you could grab his free hand and hold it in your lap. Just to hold him in some way. It eased your nerves. 

“That was kinda mean, not gonna lie,” Dakota said and you nodded your head. “He’s right Al,” you said and looked at him. “Are you like mad at him?” Chelsea asked softly. “No. He just won. The prize was not a good one at all,” Alex explained it simply. “Obviously Alex,” you said and nudged his shoulder. “What’s the moral of this story? Don’t win? Don’t try?” Dakota asked curiously. “Just be cautious. Watch your back,” Alex told you. “Oh wow, that’s nice,” your sarcasm practically dripping from your words. “A prize can turn into a surprise, real fast,” Chelsea spoke up and you gave her a tight-lipped smile. “True, true,” Dakota agreed with her. 

“Do you think he’s ok up there?” you asked nervously. “He’s Tanner, I’m sure he’s ok why don’t you check on him if you’re worried?” Chelsea asked and smirked playfully as she handed you the walkie. You rolled your eyes and took it, “I’m not trying to scare him I’m just gonna check on him. But if it does scare him then that’s what happens,” you shrugged and softly smiled. They all chuckled. “You’re too good of a person,” Dakota shook his head and you laughed. “Sure, ok,” you said and stuck your tongue out at him playfully. 

You held down the button for a few seconds before speaking, knowing that it might not scare him since he would hear that. “Hey, Tanner,” you said. “Shit,” you heard him curse and you internally cringed. “Yeah, go for Tanner,” you heard him say and you could tell he was already a bit drained from being in there. “I’m sorry to scare you, I just wanted to check in and make sure that you were ok,” you spoke. “It’s ok, I just wasn’t expecting it. It’s freaky up here honestly,” he told you and you nodded despite him not being able to see you. “Are you ok?” you asked sweetly. “Yeah, I’m ok, just a bit freaked out. I’ll see you in a bit ok?” he asked and you just sighed. “Alright, We’re here if you need us at all,” you said genuinely hoping to ease his nerves. “Thanks (n/n),” that was the last you heard. 

“Are you ok?” Alex asked and pulled you closer to his side. You rested your head on his shoulder and nodded. “I’m ok, just uneasy,” you said and sighed. “I know this may sound weird, but why don't you go next?” Chelsea suggested with a small smile. You looked at her with wide eyes. “What? You want me to pee myself?” you asked in disbelief. Everyone chuckled, “No, I just thought it would be a good idea to get it over with and not have to wait and let anxiety build up even more,” She explained and you let your shoulders fall. 

“You’re probably right, it would just be easier for me to go and get it over with. Gosh, this really sucks Alex,” you said and nudged him. He kissed the top of your head and smiled down at you. 

“Can I talk to you before I go in Al?” you asked him and he looked down at you in concern. “Yeah, of course, babe,” he said and you began to get off of your seat. They all looked at you in worry. “Is everything ok,(y/n)?” Dakota asked and you just nodded. “Yeah, I just wanted to talk to him for a second. “We’ll be right back,” you said and grabbed Alex’s hand. You both set your cameras down before walking away a bit.

“Is everything ok?” Alex asked as he placed his arms around you. “I really am scared Al, what if they do recognize us and something bad happens?” you told him. “What if something grabs Chelsea if she’s in the basement or something and she gets hurt? What if one of you gets hurt? There are just so many what-ifs and I’m scared,” you relayed your fears to him. He looked down at you with a soft gaze. “Hey, hey, don’t think like that. I know you’re scared but nothing will happen. And even if something does, we have each other. All of us have each other's backs, that’s the way it’s always been and I’m sure that’s the way it will always be. So if you need to break down or fall apart, we’re right here. I’m right here,” he said and pulled you in close. 

You wrapped your arms around him and held onto him tightly not wanting to let go. “I just want us all to be ok,” you spoke softly and he leaned down to kiss your head. “We will be,” he said and pulled away from you slightly so he could look at you. 

You moved your arms up and around his neck to pull him down and place a kiss on his lips. He reached up to place a hand on your cheek and you leaned into his touch. He couldn’t help but always want you closer, he could never put his finger on it but something about you was just so endearing. Maybe it was everything?

Just like that, he made you forget where you were, and what you were about to do. He made you feel at home, and secure. That was always the case, he took the fear away even if only for a few seconds. It was just gone. 

Before you knew it you had to pull away, and for a few seconds, you felt like you could breathe. He smiled down at you and pushed a strand of hair away from your face. “Promise, you’ll be here when I get back?” you asked looking up at him with a worried gaze. “I promise you,” he reassured and kissed your forehead. “Ok, ok I’m fine,” you said trying to be sure of yourself. “You ready?” he asked and placed his arm around your shoulders. You nodded your head curtly and took a deep breath. “I’m ready,” you said and he guided you back towards your friends. 

“Hey, you ok?” Chelsea asked when you sat back down.” Yeah, I’m ok,” you smiled softly at her. Before Dakota got to speak Tanner came rushing out of the building. “Woah, Tanner are you ok?” You asked as he quickly made his way over to the table. “I just heard whistling,” he told you, you could hear the shock in his voice. “What? A whistle?” Dakota asked incredulously. “Like on the second floor, I started to hear this faint whistling. There’s no way if I didn’t have this device that I’d have heard it,” Tanner explained and your heart rate picked up. “That’s crazy, Tanner,” you expressed. Alex and Dakota let out a simultaneous ‘what?’. 

“Yes, it was the second floor,” he informed you. “That’s freaking terrifying,” Chelsea said. 

“Dude, I heard it multiple times,” He told you. “Whistling, for sure?” Dakota asked. “100%” Tanner assured him. “Like, it, enough to where it, it, froze me,” He described his experience. 

“That’s super weird because there’s supposed to be a woman, Mary, on that floor. She’s a poltergeist on that floor, she’ll move things around, and other claims are that there is raspy, like, whispering and breathing,” Alex explained some claims from that floor. “Did you go like, approach where it came from?” Dakota asked. “Fuck that,” Tanner stated and you chuckled. “I concur,” you agreed. “See, thank you,” Tanner said and gestured to you and you just nodded at him. “You didn’t go towards it?” Dakota asked again. “I am not exploring this place by myself the entire night. Someone else can take that second floor and do the follow-up,” Tanner said. “I’m proud of myself. I’m calling it quits,” he said and you just nodded. “I’m proud of you too Tanner,” you said and got up to give him a high-five. He instead wrapped his arm around your shoulder and brought you into a big side hug. “Alright, (y/n), It’s your turn. You’re next up,” Alex said and you sighed heavily. 

“This is great, I’m so excited,” you said sarcastically and threw your arms up in mock excitement. They all chuckled. “You’ve got this,” Tanner said and squeezed your shoulder. “Alright, alright fine. I’m going,” you sighed and you got handed the Ovilus. “Bye guys,” you waved and as you walked away you felt someone come up behind you. You turned around to see Alex and smiled. “What? Did I forget something?” you asked. He just leaned down and pressed his lips to yours for a few seconds before pulling away. “Just that,” he said and smiled back at you. You shook your head, “You’re too much sometimes Al, now go on, I have to get this over with,” you said and shooed him away. “If I die, I love you guys!” you called over your shoulder. “We love you too!” you heard them call back. 

“Alright guys, let’s do this,” you spoke and opened the door. 

Taglist:

@jaziona92

@beautybyfire

@thefandomthings

@kippykasey

@kristin813

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@nyx2021

[fearfully-fiction]

You Catch Each Other Staring- Tanner Wiseman x Reader

word count:376

warnings: fluff, more of a blurb, sorry guys!

summary: You catch each other staring.

(not my gif!)

“I think you have a staring problem,” Chelsea whispered to you, and your brows furrowed as you turned to look at her. “What?” you asked. “You stare at Tanner all the time, and he’s surprisingly oblivious,” she said with a sly grin. You shook your head, “I do not stare all the time. I stare on occasion but not all the time,” you tried to defend. “That’s a blatant lie,” Dakota quipped and you looked at him in shock. “No, way, you’re in on this too?” you said and sighed. 

A few days went by and you had been trying your best not to stare, and they would chuckle if they caught you even looking. It had begun to get on your nerves and so you decided to ignore them as best as you could. You heard laughing from across the RV and you smiled at the sight of your boyfriend being so happy. You could help but let your eyes scan his face as he laughed and made jokes with Dakota. 

A smile spread across your face as you watched him, nothing else was truly in focus and it was in these moments you realized how lucky you were. “You ok babe?” you heard Tanner speak up and you shook your head. Your head rested in your hand and you just smiled at him. “I’m just fine,” you said happily. Dakota snickered next to him. “What’s so funny?” Tanner asked. “She was obviously staring at you,” Dakota said and you sighed. “Aww, you were?” Tanner asked once again and you blushed softly. “Maybe,” you said and looked away. “Don’t be embarrassed about that, I mean I do it too,” he said and you blushed, even more, knowing he looked at you like you looked at him. 

“You guys seriously got on me about it, what about him?” you said to Dakota and scoffed. “Seriously?” you asked and shook your head. “Wait, what happened?” your boyfriend questioned. “Dakota and Chels teased me about staring, that’s why he was laughing,” you explained. Tanner hit the back of Dakota’s head, and he flinched instinctively moving forward. You chuckled. “You can stare all you want, I mean why wouldn’t you?” Tanner joked and you smiled and shook your head. 

---

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Your Turn to Roll--A Project Fear Fanfiction: Chapter 2-Sessions Begin

Chapter 1/2

With check-ins from the crew on topics to avoid and what types of game play they wish to see; like many puzzles, large amounts of roleplay, or large amounts of battles, with the campaign and hours of brainstorming; 7pm on Thursday arrived in no time. The quartet brought their character sheets and pencils while Chelsea and Dakota also brought along notebooks to potentially take notes on the happenings of the session. Luckily you are a dice collector and so had enough to let the crew use some until they figured out if they wish to continue playing DND before purchasing a set for themselves. After sitting themselves around your table, Alex, Dakota, Tanner, and Chelsea all turn to look at you in anticipation. 

Sitting behind propped up books to avoid wandering eyes on your notes, you smile and ask, “You guys ready for this adventure?” 

You get nods from everyone before you continue, “Our story begins with a group called Project Fear arriving at the town of Spectre’s Cove, a coastline town known for being haunted. The group consists of two elves, a dhampir, and an aasimar, and seem to be the best of friends. They travelled to this town after word got to them of the Day of the Dead celebration. It is currently 2pm so you have a day full of events ahead of you. As you look around the town, you will notice the dichotomy of the decorations: both life and death present such as flowers and bright colors as well as graves and ghosts. While it is called Day of the Dead, it is more so a celebration of the connections we nurture at both ends of our lifetime. There are booths for crafts, plenty of food, and some shops to check out at this moment. So, what do you want to do?” 

The crew look at one another, waiting to see who would respond first. 

Chelsea is the one to break the silence, saying, “I want to do one of the crafts. No preference for which one, maybe just find the first booth with a craft available.” 

“I want to join you!” Tanner states. 

“I kind of want to check out some of the shops,” Dakota responds. 

“I’ll join you,” Alex mentions to Dakota. 

“Okay,” you say while chuckling a bit to yourself. 

What the group does not know is that splitting the party is not always the best idea such as if there is a potential bad guy one way rather than the other. Luckily, this is an instance where there is no harm in splitting up.  

“Which duo should I start with on their endeavor?” you ask your four friends. 

The group look at one another before shrugging, neither side really caring who goes first. 

“Okay, how about we have play rollies to figure this out? Each of you will grab your d20 and roll. Highest roller and their partner will go first. Seem fair?” you inquire. 

The crew nod their heads before grabbing their d20s and rolling. 

“I got a 14,” Alex announces. 

“Dang, I got a 2,” Tanner utters. 

“10,” Chelsea states matter-of-factly. 

“I got a 6,” Dakota reveals. 

“Alright, Team Shops will go first. Are there any specific items you are looking for or are you just perusing?” you question. 

 “Just perusing mostly. Maybe checking out little trinkets or something?” Dakota mentions. 

“Can we have discussed a meeting point after doing these things?” Chelsea pipes up. 

“Of course. Where do you want to meet up after these endeavors?” you inquire. 

“You mentioned lots of food. Maybe by a food cart or something?” Tanner suggests. 

“The food is all on a long banquet table in the center of everything,” you explain. 

“Sounds like a perfect meeting spot then,” Alex proclaims. 

The other three nod their heads and give some variation of “yeah,” confirming their plans. 

“Okay, back onto the activities you all wanted to do. Amongst the many tents are a few shops. One contains handmade marionettes of skeletons decorated in floral and bright designs. Another contains those little dancing car hula girls, but in the shape of ghosts. A third contains bobbleheads of both ghosts and skeletons. Have any of these shops caught your attention?” you ask Team Shops. 

The two look at each other before responding. 

“The dancing ghosts piqued my interest. The concept just sounds wonderful,” Alex proclaims. 

“Same here,” Dakota agrees. 

You nod your head before speaking, “Alright. You approach the tent which has the dancing ghosts. There are two people within the tent: the shopkeeper and one patron. The shopkeeper is a vedalken woman, lithe, bald, and blue skinned in a vibrant and almost patchwork two-piece ensemble while the patron is a young halfling woman with a flower crown on top of her curly light brown hair as well as a cream floral dress and a brown floral vest on her body. They are both at the back of the tent near the register as it appears the halfling woman is purchasing one of the dancing ghosts.” 

“I want to wait for the woman to finish purchasing before going into the tent to ask the price of the trinket,” Dakota states while Alex nods after his response. 

“Okay. It does not take long for the purchase to be finalized and for the halfling woman to leave the tent, happy with her purchase. The shopkeeper looks up and notices you two, a smile appearing on her face,” you explain before continuing in a soothing, almost monotone voice, “‘Hello there, anything I can help you with?’ she asks.” 

“Yes, we were wondering how much one of your trinkets costs,” Alex questions. 

“‘Ah yes, they are 3 copper,’” you say in the shopkeeper’s voice before returning to your own, “10 copper pieces make a silver piece and 10 silver pieces make a gold. If you do want to make the purchase, you will get nine silver and two copper pieces back.” 

Alex and Dakota nod before Dakota responds with “I tell the shopkeeper ‘I’ll take one,’ and hand her a gold piece.” 

“I’m not going to purchase anything, but will give her a nod,” Alex says. 

“She gives you your change back, gives a curt nod to the two of you, and says, ‘Have a nice day.’ Dakota, make sure you note that you have the dancing ghost and your current coin amount on your sheet,” you say. 

“Can I try to steal one of the trinkets on the way out?” Alex asks. 

Dakota turns to look at Alex after making note of the changes and gives him a “what the fuck” type of look before saying, “Dude, why? If you get caught, we both could get in trouble!” 

“You can certainly try,” you tell Alex before explaining, “Roll a sleight of hand check. You will use the d20 and then add your sleight of hand modifier to the number on the dice.” 

Alex quickly rolls the dice before checking his character sheet. He counts with his fingers for a second before saying, “That’s an 18.” 

You roll your dice and look at the commoner stats before telling them, “She rolled a 16 and has no modifier to add to her perception check. Alex, you successfully steal the trinket without the shopkeeper noticing.” 

“Can I roll to see if I notice Alex stealing it?” Dakota asks. 

“Go right ahead,” you tell him. 

Dakota rolls and immediately grimaces, “Well, that’s a 1 on the die so that’s…” 

“A natural one, which is when the die rolls a one, is automatically a failure. It happens to all of us at one point or another, so don’t sweat it. Alex, you managed to go unnoticed in your stealing from everyone,” you mention. 

Alex pumps his fist in the air and whoops at his success. Everyone at the table giggles at his antics for a moment before continuing with the game. 

“Let’s take it over to Team Crafts. Chelsea, you mentioned just going for the first craft station. Is that still the plan?” you ask. 

Chelsea turns to look at Tanner and asks, “I like the idea, but does that sound good to you? I don’t want to force you one way or the other.” 

“Sounds good to me! Let’s head to the first craft booth,” Tanner responds with glee. 

“Alright, the first craft you two see is making daisy chains and flower crowns. This seems to be a hot spot of activity as many people from kids to adults of varying races seem to want to participate. You can find space on the ground to work on your chains. Roll a dexterity check to see how well you do. The modifier is within either the big square or the oval, rather than what is under the saving throw modifiers,” you disclose. 

The two roll their d20s and do quick math before responding. 

“I got a 22,” Tanner states. 

“Dang, I only got an 8” Chelsea sighs. 

“Tanner, were you just making a chain or were you going to go full flower crown?” you ask him to clarify what you are going to describe. 

“Let’s go all the way, baby. I want this dang flower crown,” Tanner exclaims. 

You chuckle before continuing, “You nail making this flower crown. Different sized flowers are intricately woven together, creating a kaleidoscope of colors into one wonderful piece. You notice that your artistry has caught the attention of a few of the kids, who crowd around to look at your work in awe. What do you do?” 

“I imagine that I’m wearing a hat already, so I put the crown over the hat. Do the kids look like they may want help or just want a piece I’ve created?” he explains before questioning. 

“You could always ask,” you mention. 

“Okay, I turn to the kid sitting closest to me and ask, ‘Do you want some help making a flower crown?’” Tanner proceeds. 

“The closest kid to you is a little orange tabaxi boy. His green cat eyes stare wide-eyed at you before nodding,” you describe. 

“I smile at him and start demonstrating and explaining how to create a flower crown,” Tanner explains. 

You give a quick nod before turning your attention to Chelsea to tell her “You seem to struggle with connecting the flowers together. Before you give up, a small harengon, which is a rabbit person, comes over to you.” 

“I look to the rabbit and wait for them to speak,” Chelsea states. 

In your best attempt at an Elmo voice, you say, “I noticed you struggling. Can I help you with your flower crown?” 

You noticed your players stifling their giggles at the voice you were doing, which made you smile. Not everything needs to be serious in a game of DND, so you are glad that they are enjoying themselves. 

After composing herself, Chelsea responds, “I nod to the harengon kid and tell him ‘You may.’” 

“The child proceeds to sit in your lap and helps demonstrate how to create a flower crown, with your guidance as to what flowers you wanted to use. Once the two of you finish the crown, he stands up and puts it on your head,” you describe. 

“I tell him ‘Thank you,’” Chelsea proclaims. 

Going back into the Elmo voice, you state, “It’s not a problem. Would it be alright if I put flowers throughout your hair? If I had longer hair, I’d do it to myself, but I don’t.” 

Chelsea chuckles out, “Go for it.” 

“You start to feel your hair moving in what you assume is this harengon child putting flowers in your hair. After a little bit, there is a longer pause than normal, but you see that there are still flowers in a pile the kid was using. What do you do?” you ask. 

“I turn my head as best I can towards the kid and ask, ‘Everything alright back there?’” Chelsea explains. 

You smirk at what you know this character will be doing before telling her, “You turn your gaze to the harengon, only to notice he is chomping away on a couple of small flowers.” 

“I smile and chuckle a bit before telling them ‘I don’t think that’s where those flowers are supposed to go,’” Chelsea mentions after shaking her head a little at what the character was doing, a smile on her face. 

“You notice he blushes a little bit having been caught in the act before responding, ‘I’m sorry. They just looked so good, and I got distracted,’” you say, getting into the character voice when needed. 

Chelsea nods before responding, “I want to give him a little pat on his shoulder and to reassure him that he did nothing wrong. Can I look at how my hair looks? How good of a job did this kid do? Oh, and I should mention that my hair is in what our fans call the ‘Chelsea braids.’” 

You nod your head to Chelsea before grabbing your d20 to see how the harengon did. After the roll, you look up and say, “What the harengon managed to do was expertly place a beautiful arrangement of colorful flowers in your braids, even ranging the sizes of the buds. The braids aren’t fully covered in flowers, but around 12 flowers are in your braids in total. He also does seem reassured by your words from earlier.” 

“I want to thank him for the wonderful job he did,” Chelsea states. 

“You do so, and he smiles at that before saying ‘You’re welcome’ and doing a little happy dance,” you note, yet again going into the Elmo voice when needed. 

The table shares a collective “awwww” expression at the adorable picture you presented in the harengon child. 

After a short lull, you ask, “Are there anymore crafts or shops that either group wants to try out?” 

The quartet look at each other and shake their heads. 

“I think that’s all I want from the shops,” Dakota states with Alex nodding in agreeance. 

“I finished making and explaining that flower crown for the tabaxi child during the time Chelsea’s hair was braided, right?” Tanner questions. 

“You certainly did. The kid looks so happy for the help and is even trying to make another one himself with more confidence than before,” you tell Tanner. 

He smiles at what you mention, glad that he could help someone even in a small task. 

“I’m done with this craft and think we should head towards that banquet table,” Chelsea proclaims with Tanner saying a quick “Yeah.” 

You acknowledge what the group says and continue into some narration, “You all reconvene after about an hour at the long banquet table in the middle.  It is covered in a plethora of meats, sweets, and other accoutrements. Before you can tell one another what you have gotten into while away from the others, you notice everyone is heading towards the outskirts of the area, such as in between some of the booths to see the street surrounding the festivities. It seems the Day of the Dead parade is about to start shortly. Do you want to join everyone in seeing the parade?” 

All four of them nod their heads quickly, allowing you to continue, “Okay. You get as close to the outskirts as you can. Jovial music seems to come out of nowhere while floats and elegantly dressed people come up and around the street. Much like most parades, some people are throwing out little candies and costume jewelry like fake flower necklaces and beads. Do any of you want to try to catch anything?” 

The group nods their heads while Tanner lets out a “Hell yeah,” simultaneously. 

“Okay, roll a dexterity check. The DC, or difficulty class, is low as this is a minor thing, but a roll that doesn’t beat it may get hit in the eye with something rather than catch it,” you tell your party. 

The group roll their dice before shouting out their numbers at the same time. 

“Hold on, one at a time as I caught none of that. Alex, what did you get?” you clarify. 

“I got a 12,” he states. 

“Okay, Chelsea?” you inquire. 

“A 7,” she says, grimacing a little thinking she may be getting hit with an object. 

“Okay, Dakota?” you ask. 

“A 10,” he presents. 

“Alright, and Tanner?” you question. 

“A 15,” he answers. 

“Okay. No one gets candy or a costume jewelry piece to the face. You would have had to roll a 1 or 2 for that. Your successes are a bit different though. Chelsea, you catch a couple pieces of candy after almost batting them away from you unknowingly. Dakota, you catch a beaded necklace that started to slip through your fingers, but you manage to get it before even half of it has fallen. Alex, you catch one of the fake flower necklaces. It’s a decent catch, but nothing to write home about. Tanner, you catch a beaded necklace and a handful of candy. You seem more prepared for it than your comrades and so get the bigger haul,” you explain. 

The four jot down their prizes, Tanner fist pumping a bit at getting the biggest catch. 

“The parade lasts 2 hours and was full of merriment, song, dance, and many a treat. The sun is starting to set, and most are heading towards the banquet table now. Some take a seat at the table to eat while others grab food and either sit on the ground or walk about. What do you do?” you explain. 

“I don’t really want to sit at the table, though I think us sitting together on the ground or checking out the town more would be great,” Dakota proclaims. 

The others nod before Tanner mentions, “I think we should sit together and eat before we go exploring the town. We’ve got the time.” 

The crew nod yet again and make noises of agreement, allowing you to know that you are good to continue. 

“Alright, the four of you grab your fill of food and drink before finding a cozy spot on the grass to circle up and enjoy each other’s company. You explain what you had gotten into in the time before the parade as you chow down,” you describe. 

“Before we actually sit down, I would want to ask some of the townspeople more about the holiday and the whole ghost situation here,” Dakota interjects. 

“Totally. Do you want to ask any specific person or just get the general consensus from a few?” you ask. 

“I want to find one of the oldest members of the town as they are probably the most knowledgeable on the topic,” Dakota explains. 

“Alright, you see an older dwarven woman among the crowd around the banquet table grabbing a tankard. She has white hair in two braids that hang down while the rest is braided intricately into a bun in the back. She has a short white beard that is in a small ponytail and is wearing yellow and green,” you illustrate. 

“I approach her, grab a tankard as well, and say, ‘I hope you don’t mind me asking, but my friends and I are new to the town and would like to know more about this festival and the ghost situation. Ghosts have been a subject we’ve all been interested in for years,’” Dakota mentions. 

“Why of course, young man, I would be happy to explain it all to you. Spectre’s Cove is named for having a plethora of ghosts, though we do not know the reason why we have so many around compared to other towns. Also, most towns’ ghosts aren’t the nicest and have been known to battle many an adventurer while ours are more kind. The Day of the Dead celebration happens every year to commemorate those who have passed. It is more so a celebration of the connections we nurture at both ends of our lifetime, which I think is the reason why many ghosts stay as they are never forgotten. I don’t know when it all started; I just know that it’s been going on for all my life, which has been hundreds of years,” you say in an old woman voice. 

“I tell her, ‘Thank you for explaining this. It is a wonderful way to honor those who have passed,’ and head back to my friends after giving her a nod and smile,” Dakota discloses. 

“She gives you a smile and nods back as she returns to grabbing food from the table,” you describe back in your normal voice. 

“When I sit down and eat with my friends, I tell them about what the woman told me,” Dakota expounds. 

“I just nod along to what you say as I eat,” Alex explains. 

“Same,” Chelsea and Tanner say in unison. 

“After a lull in conversation, can I put the flower crown that’s currently on my head onto Dakota’s? He’s the only one without anything floral since Alex caught that necklace from the parade,” Chelsea inquires. 

You turn to Dakota to see how he would respond. 

“You can. I don’t think I would fight you on it, but chuckle once it’s on as now we are all floral,” Dakota says. 

You nod and then continue your narration, “Once you have eaten until you were full, you clean up after yourselves,” giving pause to see if they objected to that, which they did not, “and head towards the buildings of town. There are shops and little homes, most not having their lights on as the occupants are currently at the festival. Night has approached now. What do you do?” 

“What buildings have lights on?” Alex asks. 

“It appears The Hungry Trout Inn & Tavern and 4 houses have their lights right now,” you explain. 

The group turn towards each other to figure out what their next steps are. 

“What time is it currently?” Dakota questions. 

“It’s about 6:30 to 7pm as it took a while to get food since most people at the celebration chose that time to eat as well as the time for you guys to eat and chat,” you answer. 

“Taverns probably have some entertainment in them, so we don’t have to just go to sleep right away if we go that route,” you hear Chelsea mention. 

The boys nod at her statement before turning their attention back to you. 

“We’d like to go to the tavern,” Alex states. 

“Yeah,” Tanner and Dakota say in unison. 

“Alright, so you walk on over to The Hungry Trout Inn & Tavern. It is a small stone building with a wooden sign outside. The sign has a trout with an open mouth on it with lettering in white that is outlined in a dark green. Once you open the doors, you see a small yet warm and homey tavern. In the northeast corner is the bar. Sitting in two of the stools at the bar are a couple. One is firbolg woman with very long, curly red hair; her cow-like ears stick out through her hair. She is pleasantly snuggled up to a water genasi, who has their arm around her. Their hair looks like waves of the sea, which even move as such, and are adorn with pearls. The two are currently waiting for their drinks, which the githzerai barkeep is currently working on. The barkeep has her black hair pulled up in a twisted bun with a couple tendrils framing her face. Her tanned and speckled body moves around the bar expertly as she hands the firbolg a glass of wine and the water genasi a tankard of mead. To the northwest is a decent sized stage which is currently being swept for the performance of the night. Interspersed throughout the tavern are tables; longer ones up against the southern wall while circular ones in the space between the stage and bar. The other occupants in the bar currently are at a circular table towards the middle of the tavern. There are 4 people playing some sort of card game: one older halfling man who is just chugging some ale; a younger pimply-faced, braces-wearing halfling boy in green; a wider and taller-than-average half-elf man; and a hick elf in very short overalls with a possum in her lap. The last person is also at a circular table; he is an average looking young man. So, what would you like to do?” you detail. 

“How about you guys grab us a table and I can ask about getting a room or two? Maybe even grab us some drinks,” Alex suggests. 

“Go for it. I think we should go for a circular table closer to the stage and try to grab me a cup of wine like the firbolg got,” Chelsea requests. 

“Sounds like a plan. I’m down for any beverage really,” Dakota mentions. 

“Same,” Tanner agrees. 

“I nod to them and head over to the bar,” Alex says. 

“As you get up to the bar, the barkeep notices you and asks, ‘Anything I can help you with?’” you say, switching to a sultrier voice. 

“Yes, I was wondering what the cost for a room for the night may be,” Alex asks while leaning on the table as if it were the top of the bar. 

“Well, a room costs 1 gold if you only need one bed or 2 gold for a two bedder,” you reply in the same sultry voice. 

“‘I’ll take a two bedder’ and then I slide her 2 gold pieces,” Alex proclaims. 

“She takes the two gold and goes to grab the key for the room before responding, ‘Here you go. Anything else?’” you explain, shifting voices when needed. 

“What types of drinks do you have? One of my companions noticed the wine, but the rest of my group and I currently don’t prefer a certain type of drink,” Alex inquires. 

“Well, we have dwarven ales, elven wines, a few meads. Anything seem enticing?” you query in the githzerai’s voice. 

“I’ll take a glass of the wine the firbolg got, a couple of ales, and a mead. Surprise me on the last three,” Alex requests with a smirk. 

“Coming right up, that will be 2 silvers for the drinks,” you respond in the sultry voice, smirking back at him. 

“I slide a gold over and await my change,” Alex says. 

“She quickly and expertly gets your drinks and changes for you. Make sure you note what you spent so that you have the correct numbers of everything on your sheet,” you declare. 

After marking down what was spent, Alex states, “I grab my change and the drinks and proceed to head to our table. Once there, I hand Chelsea her wine and place the ales and mead in front of the boys, sit down, and say, ‘Your choice, I don’t have a preference and I told the barkeep to surprise us.’” 

The boys all look at each other and shrug before almost simultaneously saying, “I’ll take the mead, I guess.” 

Everyone at the table laughs a bit before you ask, “Want to do rollies to see who gets the mead?” 

The boys nod, grab their d20s, and roll. 

“I got a 15,” Dakota exclaims. 

“Shit, I got a 10,” replies Tanner with a frown. 

“Hah, I got a 17,” Alex shouts triumphantly. 

“I’ll say that in game, the three of you did rock paper scissors to see who got the mead with Alex winning, unless someone has a dice set in their inventory,” you declare. 

The boys look at their character sheets, shake their head “no,” and agree to the rock paper scissors decision. 

“I take the ale that is closest to me,” Tanner states. 

Dakota nods in agreement. 

“While you guys sit and enjoy your drinks, it appears that the stage is fully set up for the performer. A cajon is in the middle of the stage with a foot pedal ready to be used. A red tiefling comes out with his lute and sits on the cajon. He starts to play this,” you say as you start the Bardcore version of “Master of Puppets” from your phone before continuing, “His white and black almost pirate-like tunic’s ruffles swish as he fully starts feeling the music just as much as he is playing it. This is not his first time playing this song before, and it looks like most of the other patrons are fully entertained, flicking some coinage towards the stage to tip his performance. The young man has gotten up and left the tavern, probably the song was not to his liking, but you can’t please everyone.” 

You notice that Dakota seems to have his thinking face on. You know that your reference would not go unnoticed, making you smirk as it seems to have only partially click. He knows it sounds kind of familiar, but from where? 

“I want to flick a gold towards the stage for our performer. I’m loving this music choice, and I can appreciate when a different bard is doing well,” Tanner states. 

“Okay, you flick a gold piece to the performer. Anyone else want to do the same?” you ask the others. 

The trio shake their heads “no” at this, which is perfectly fine. 

You continue to set the scene for what you planned to be an upcoming battle, “The bard finishes his song, giving a pause for applause. He is about to start another song when the door to the tavern bursts open. In walks four men: what appears to be the head of the group is a large, hairy, imposing man. To his immediate right is a human man who has his entire left arm covered in tattoos. To the head of the group’s left is a warforged with a green hooded capelet on his metal body. The last person is an aarakocra who looks like a hawk. They all take a few stomping steps into the tavern before stopping to look at the stage.” 

“I’ve got a bad feeling about this,” Alex states. 

The others nod their heads but wait for you to finish what you were saying. 

“The head of the group lets out a gruff chuckle before saying ‘Well, well, well. The rumors are true then—Sir Edward the Banished has decided to show his face in yet another place where he is not wanted. Why don’t we show him a lesson.’ The warforged and human give a nod of their heads and start to head towards the tiefling,” you describe, changing your voice to be raspier when the head of the group speaks. 

“I want to get up and get right in front of the human to try to stop him, saying ‘Woah, what’s with these drastic measures? This is a place where people are trying to enjoy themselves; you’re causing a ruckus,’” Chelsea states. 

You were surprised it was Chelsea that was the one to step up in the situation. Tanner seems to be the one to want to get in front of people to protect them. May be this time Chelsea just beat him to the punch. 

“The man roughly pushes past you, not caring about what you said as he only has one mission. Sir Edward tries to make a run for it, but the warforged and human each grab him. The tiefling struggles in their arms, saying, ‘Let me go, you dicks! I haven’t done anything wrong.’ The head guy laughs before stating, ‘Your entire existence is a mistake. Let’s take him out,’” you say, going from your normal voice to a gritted out one to yours again before coming to the gruff one. 

“Not on my watch, you aren’t! You don’t treat people like this. I then take out my rapier,” Tanner exclaims. 

“And with that, let’s roll for initiative. You should have a noted number under initiative, so make sure to add that to your roll,” you proclaim while getting the battle ready. 

You had decided to have a physical map and miniatures to help the group visualize what the layout looked like. Some people go to a drastic extent of creating three-dimensional maps and individual minis that look like their players’ character while others may just have a grid they draw on and use whatever was around to represent who was fighting. You had decided to print a map you found to use. For the minis, you used bottle caps with the characters’ faces—artwork for the characters you were moving around while Project Fear had actual pictures of themselves—taped onto them. Once the map and non-player characters (NPCs) are set up, you give each of your friends a bottle cap with their face on it. 

“Place yourself on the map where you think you would be when Tanner decided to take out his sword. I will also need to know what you got for initiative, so I know the order everyone is going in. I will ask by number amount rather than willy-nilly. This way, I already have the order figured out,” you say while rolling initiative for the bad guys and Sir Edward. 

The crew quickly place themselves on the map and look at you. 

“Did anyone get a 20 or above?” when no one responds you continue with, “Did anyone get between a 19 and a 15?” 

When only Chelseas’s hand goes up, she states, “I got a 17.” 

You quickly write it down before continuing, “Did anyone get between a 14 and a 10?” 

Both Alex and Dakota’s hands go up. 

“I got a 14,” Alex explains. 

“I got an 11,” Dakota says. 

Once you write them down in the initiative order, you look to Tanner. 

“I got an 8,” he says with a frown. 

As you write down his initiative, you reassure him, “The dice have their mysterious ways. We can’t only have good rolls. Where would the fun be in that?” 

He nods his head, and the combat is ready to start. 

“Okay, up first is Chelsea with the human on deck and Alex in the hole,” you tell them. 

“I want to go after the dude who pushed me away by sending a fire bolt at him,” Chelsea states. 

“Sounds like a plan. Roll to see if you hit. Remember to add your spell attack bonus,” you proclaim. 

Chelsea quickly rolls her die, looks at her sheet, and grimaces, before questioning, “Does a 10 hit?”  

“Unfortunately, it does not. That was your action. You still have a bonus action and movement you can do. A reaction can come not during your turn. For example, if an enemy runs past you, you could try to hit them,” you inform. 

“Wait, which of my things is a bonus action?” Chelsea asks. 

You look at her character sheet, which she put in front of you to help, before stating, “It does not look like at this point you have anything that could be a bonus action. Some spells’ cast time are bonus actions. Some classes and subclasses get traits which can be done as a bonus action like an echo knight fighter having their echo emerge or a feat which lets you use an offhand attack.” 

Chelsea brings her character sheet back in front of herself before looking at the map again. After a pause, she states, “I am going to move myself over here, so I am out of the way. My AC is not that high, so it probably isn’t the best idea to be in the fray.” 

You nod your head, allowing her to move her miniature before continuing, “Okay. Up next is the right-hand man to the main dude. Alex is on deck and the head guy is in the hole.” 

The group nod their heads and so you move on, rolling two d20s and stating, “The guy, his name is Thain if anyone wanted to know, is going to attempt to grapple Sir Edward. This is a contested strength check, which Thain succeeds. Sir Edward is grappled, which means that his speed is reduced to 0 and will only get out of this if Thain is incapacitated or is removed from Sir Edward’s reach. That will be his turn. Alex, you are up. The main dude is on deck and Dakota is in the hole.” 

Alex nods and quickly gets to the point, moving his miniature accordingly “I want to go after this main dude that Tanner is in front of with my shortsword. Does he have a name too? I feel like that’s something we should have asked before all of this.” 

You quickly reply since you had these names prepared in case these guys decided to ask the names of everyone “Yes, he does. His name is Urso Acerbi.” 

Alex gives a thumbs up before rolling his d20. 

“Does a 16 hit?” he asks. 

You smile and reply, “Yes it does. Since Tanner is also right next to Urso, you can roll your sneak attack damage with it.” 

Alex pumped a fist in excitement while grabbing his d6. 

After rolling it twice and adding his modifier, he states, “That’s 7 damage and I just want to stay behind Urso. That’s my turn.” 

“Nice job. He’s got a gash on him but looks healthy still. Urso is up next with Dakota on deck and Tanner in the hole,” you let them know, giving time for their acknowledgements before continuing, “So, this thug can take two swings with his mace. One will be at you Tanner while the other is at you Alex.” 

You grab two d20 and roll them before asking, “Does a 14 hit you, Tanner?” 

“That is my AC,” he explains. 

You nod letting him know that meeting your AC beats it before turning towards Alex, “His attack on you was a 9, which I know doesn’t hit.” 

He smiles back, knowing he was safe for the moment. 

You grab a d6 and roll it, telling Tanner “You take 4 points of bludgeoning damage.” 

He quickly grabs his pencil and notes it on his sheet. 

You then continue, “Dakota, you are up, with Tanner on deck and the other goons in the hole.” 

Dakota sits up a bit more, prepared to give his turn and says, “I want to cast Toll of the Dead on him. He doesn’t seem to be the wise type, plus if it hits it’ll do a decent bit of damage since he was hit earlier. He needs to make a wisdom saving throw.” 

You quickly grab a d20 and smile. He was thinking strategically, and you could not be prouder. 

After rolling it, you look to him and say, “He rolled a 9 and does not have any bonuses to add. I am pretty sure that does not make the save.” 

He smirks and goes to grab a die, but hesitates, “Wait, which one is the d12 again? Sorry, that’s probably a dumb question.” 

“That’s not a dumb question. I’d rather you ask than be confused. This one is the d12,” you say, pointing to a die with pentagon-shaped faces. 

He grabs it and rolls, whooping when he sees that he rolled well, exclaiming, “That’s 10 damage!” 

You make note of it and ask, “Is there anything else you want to do?” 

He looks at the map for a second before responding and moving his mini, “I’m going to give some space between myself and the action, so I’ll move myself over here.” 

You acknowledge this and continue, “Okay. Tanner you are up with the goons on deck and Sir Edward in the hole.” 

“I already had my sword out, so let me try to slash at this dude,” Tanner says while grabbing his d20. 

He rolls it and asks hesitantly, “Does a 12 hit?” 

“That just hits,” you tell him. 

He whoops, excited that he did in fact hit that guy, before grabbing a d8 and rolling it. 

“That’s 5 points of slashing damage and I think that’s it that I can do,” he informs you. 

You write it down and tell the table “Urso is now bloodied. This means he is at or below half his hit points. Well done so far. The goons are up next, Sir Edward is on deck, and Chelsea is in the hole.” 

“Do the goons also have names?” Tanner asks. 

“Yes, they do. The aarokocra’s name is Ancel and the warforged is Giolla,” you inform them. 

“Nice,” the crew say while nodding. 

“Okay, so Giolla is going to head over to help Thain with Sir Edward. Since Sir Edward is already grappled, this would be to see if he is then restrained, which is a lot worse. Again, this is a contested strength check, and Sir Edward is not the strongest,” you let them know while rolling two d20s. 

You sigh when you see what you rolled and explain, “While Giolla has no modifiers for his roll and got a 7, Sir Edward rolled a nat 1 and has a -1 modifier, making this a 0. We already know that a nat 1 is an automatic fail, I just wanted to share that it would have become a 0. Sir Edward is restrained. His movement is still 0 while also any attack rolls made on Sir Edward have advantage while his attacks have disadvantage. He also has disadvantage on his Dexterity saving throws. Giolla has made sure Sir Edward’s mouth is covered as well, so it is hard for Sir Edward to cast spells. Ancel noticed how much damage you did to his boss, Dakota, and is going to go up to you and attack.” 

You grab a d20 and roll it, asking Dakota “Does a 15 hit?” 

He nods his head and your grab a d4 to roll, letting him know that “You take 4 points of bludgeoning damage.” 

He notes how many hit points he has left now, and you continue, “Sir Edward is up, Chelsea is on deck, and Thain is in the hole. Sir Edward is going to try to bite Giolla’s hand to he can speak.” 

You grab a d20 and roll once, stating, “Well, that’s a 2 on the die so even if I roll lower, he is going to miss. Chelsea, you are up. Thain is on deck and Alex is in the hole.” 

“I want to go after Ancel with a fire bolt and say, ‘Get away from my brother!’” Chelsea says matter-of-factly, even yelling the line she wanted to say. 

“Okay, roll to hit,” you state. 

Chelsea grabs the d20 and rolls it. She looks bug-eyed for a moment and turns towards you. 

“What does it mean if I rolled a 20 on the die?” she asks. 

“That means you crit. You are going to roll the damage die twice and double the bonus to the damage as well, at least at this table,” you explain excitedly. 

Chelsea grabs a d10 and rolls twice, laughing a bit as she tells you, “That’s 15 points of fire damage.” 

“So Chelsea, how do you want to kill Ancel?” you ask. 

The boys start screaming ecstatically, hyped that their friend had done so well. 

“I imagine that as I said, ‘Get away from my brother,’ that I whipped my arm around and essentially launched this fire right at his head, which goes right through his skull,” she explains in excruciating detail. 

You smirk at the details and grab Ancel’s miniature to take it off the map, “And with that, Ancel falls forward, dead. Thain is up and is just going to hold onto Sir Edward, so we are going to move right along with the order. Alex, you are up with Urso on deck and Dakota in the hole.” 

“I’m just going to do what I did last time...and that’s a 6, so I assume I miss,” Alex says while rolling his d20.  

“Unfortunately, a 6 does miss. Up next is Urso with Dakota on deck and Tanner in the hole. So, again, Urso is going to do the same as before: take two swings with one going to Alex and one going to Tanner. Does a 20 hit you, Alex?” you explain, letting Alex mention that yes, he was hit before continuing, “And does a 12 hit you, Tanner?” 

“That misses,” Tanner tells you. 

You grab a d6 and roll it, letting Alex know that he took 3 points of bludgeoning damage. He proceeds to note the change in his character’s health on his character sheet. 

“Okay. Dakota, you are up. Tanner, you are on deck. Giolla is in the hole,” you remind them. 

“I want to send an eldritch blast at Urso,” Dakota states plainly, grabbing his d20 to roll. 

“Okay, roll to see if you hit,” you tell him. 

“You said a 12 hit last time, right?” Dakota asks while looking at his die. 

“Yes,” you say. 

He sighs in relief before grabbing his d10 and rolling it. 

“That’s 6 points of force damage, and that is the end of my turn,” he explains. 

You note how much damage he took before explaining the order again: “Tanner’s up with Giolla on deck and Sir Edward in the hole.” 

“Is anyone badly hurt?” Tanner asks the group before continuing after receiving that they are all good from everyone, “With that, I’m just going to swing at Urso again...and I miss. Uh...oh! I forgot to do this last time. Bardic inspiration is only for one person, right?” 

“Yes, you will have to choose who you want to give inspiration to,” you explain. 

“I want to give it to Sir Edward. He’s been the one struggling the most out of us,” Tanner suggests. 

You smile at the kindness he is showing toward their future quest giver and nod before saying, “So Giolla is up and is going to do the same as Thain-- holding onto Sir Edward. It’s now Sir Edward’s turn, and yet again he is going to try to bite Giolla’s hand. He rolled a 4, but there is the potential of the bardic inspiration to let this hit if he rolls a 6 on it...and that’s a 1 for a total of 5. Sir Edward misses and is still struggling within Thain and Giolla’s arms. Chelsea, you are up. Thain is on deck and Alex is in the hole.” 

“While you guys are focused on Urso, I think I want to focus on Thain to try to help Sir Edward out. Magic missile automatically hits, right?” Chelsea asks, waiting for you to nod before continuing, “So all 3 missiles are going to Thain. That will be 10 points of force damage.” 

As you are noting the damage Thain took, you explain, “Thain is bloodied. I am going to roll a strength check to see if he still has a hold on Sir Edward. He got a 16, which means he is still holding on while blood is just running down his face. Thain is up next, and he is just holding on to Sir Edward. Up next is Alex with Urso on deck and Dakota in the hole.” 

“Well, let’s try hitting him again. Does a 17 hit?” Alex asks. 

“That hits,” you answer. 

After picking up his d6, he rolls it twice and tells you “That’s 6 points of damage and that will be my turn.” 

You jot down how many hit points Urso has left. He’s close to going down, but you are not going to tell them that just yet. You do have one trick up your sleeve for him to stay up a little longer. 

“Okay, Urso is up. This big hairy dude is about to get hairier. You watch as the bit of chest hair he has thickens and also migrates up to his neck. He is a race called a shifter, meaning he comes a bit more bestial. With this, he gains some temporary hit points. That is his bonus action. His main action is to take two swings—one at Alex and one at Tanner. You guys have stayed right up in his grill and have gotten him pretty badly, so that’s his focus right now. So that’s a 15 and a 14 to hit, which I think gets both of you, right?” you disclose. 

The two nod their heads as you roll the damage dice. 

“Sorry, sometimes that is just how the dice roll. That’s 6 damage to you Alex and 3 to you Tanner. Dakota, you’re up with Tanner on deck and Giolla in the hole,” you expound. 

The two note their current HP with grimaces on their faces. 

Dakota then starts to explain his move, “Okay, I want to cast witch bolt on Urso.” 

“Okay, roll to see if you hit,” you tell him. 

Dakota picks up his d20 and rolls it, shouting, “That’s a nat 20!” 

The crew whoop out at Dakota’s success before you remind him that he gets to double everything for his damage. He reaches for a d12 and rolls twice. 

“That’s 12 points of lightning damage, and I can keep that on him since I hit,” Dakota explains. 

You look down at how many hit points Urso had left before looking back up at Dakota and saying, “That won’t be necessary. How do you want to kill him?” 

There’s even more screaming out in excitement from the group before Dakota describes that he is going to follow Chelsea’s example and have it go right through the head. 

“There are still two enemies and I do not know how you want to go about this, so we’ll remain in initiative. Last we left off, Tanner is up with Giolla on deck and Sir Edward in the hole,” you reel them back in. 

“Right, sorry for going off the wall there,” Tanner apologizes. 

“Don’t worry about it. Being hyped over killing a big enemy is great, and with a nat 20 to boot, how can you not be excited?” you point out. 

The group nods at your comment before Tanner speaks up again, “Is Thain within 30 ft of me that I could move to him?” 

You quickly count out the squares and let him know that Thain is just out of reach for him to use his sword. You also remind him that he has spells and cantrips he can use but can’t cast two spells during his turn. It would have to be one of each. 

“Okay. I want to use vicious mockery on Thain. He must make a Wisdom saving throw,” Tanner states. 

You roll your d20 and ask, “Does a 12 save?” 

He shakes his head “no” and rolls a d4 before saying, “That’s 4 psychic damage.” 

“What do you want to say to him as you kill him?” you inquire. 

With a smirk on his face, he says, “I tell him ‘I love nothing more than a well-matched battle with a truly skilled opponent, so if you see any around here, please let me know.’ You can choose how those words kill him.” 

“With your insult, you see a tear come down his eye as he grabs his chest. You gave him a broken heart as he flops to the ground dead. Is that all you wish to do?” you question. 

“With my bonus action, I want to look to Alex and ask, ‘Need a hand there?’ which is me casting healing word. I heal him for 5. That is it I’m going to do as I don’t think Giolla stands a chance with us,” Tanner reveals. 

“Thanks, man,” Alex acknowledges as he adds HP on his sheet. 

“Not a problem,” Tanner answers. 

“Up next is Giolla who is going to keep holding onto Sir Edward. We’re now onto Sir Edward, who as a free action is going to lick Giolla’s hand so he would take it off his mouth. His other tactic wasn’t working, but this one does as no one likes feeling their hand licked. With his mouth no longer covered, he is going to cast suggestion on Giolla. They must make a Wisdom saving throw or follow the instruction Sir Edward gives them for the next 8 hours,” you disclose as you grab your d20 and end up rolling a 9. 

You continue, “And Giolla failed the save. Sir Edward tells them ‘Let go of me and run as far away from me as you can.’ In a dazed look, Giolla does just that and books it out of the tavern away from anyone’s reach. That ends your combat.” 

“I want to go up to Sir Edward and ask him ‘Are you alright? What was that all about?’” Alex tells you. 

“You approach Sir Edward with the questions as he huffs and puffs for a second, before responding, ‘I’m good, just frazzled. All of that was from a misunderstanding about my past. Say, from that fight alone, you all seem to be capable adventurers. Would you be willing to help me out?’ and that is where we’ll end the session,” you describe. 

The crew groan because you left them on a cliffhanger. 

“Can we please keep playing?” Tanner asks with a pout. 

“We will next week, same time and place. Not everything will be wrapped up neatly with a bow,” you tell them. 

“This has been really fun so far,” Dakota tells you. 

“Yeah. Thanks for such a cool session. I can’t wait to see what’s to come,” Chelsea politely says. 

The others thank you as well, which you acknowledge as well as the fact that they were enjoying themselves. Once they pick up their things, you hug them and wave goodbye as they get to their vehicles. 

With the following session, the crew agreed to help Sir Edward return his magic to him via a heist to get his instrument back and eventually save his friends. They travelled to many terrains with varying challenges, puzzles, and fights. The larger task was revealed to them once they reached the kingdom where Sir Edward’s instrument was hiding: many beings from the Shadowfell were coming through a portal, which had been an initial task for Sir Edward’s friends, but somehow it has gotten way worse. In the end, a character they briefly saw in the tavern turned out to be a lich causing all of this to fulfill the dreams his father had that Sir Edward’s friends thwarted. With one final fight, Project Fear cleared Sir Edward’s name, killed the lich, and brought peace back to the kingdom, finally being able to close the portal. The crew had a lot of fun, and they seem to want to continue playing....so back to the drawing board to come up with a new idea. 

[fearfully-fiction]

Ashmore Estates pt.2- Alex Schroeder x Reader

word count:2219

warnings: fear of heights, our sweet and understanding Alex, maybe some language

summary: based on season 4 episode 6 of DF. so all credit goes to the crew, the show, and the channel/network. the group tackles the newest hurdle and challenge. Rock climbing in an old abandoned silo, but is it really your forte?

so, you guys! I'm back. I know it's been ages and I'm so so so sorry. I've been doing school. and I suddenly made the decision to drop out after some major life events took place last week. I know it's probably annoying but If you could pray for me or just even send kind thoughts it would really give me hope and it's more than more appreciated.

I love you to the moon and to Saturn!

-M.G

(not my gif!)

“I’m gonna flip out,” you thought to yourself. Tanner noticed your unease and gave your shoulder a gentle squeeze and sent you a reassuring smile. You smiled back gratefully. 

You exited the RV and immediately you looked up to see how tall it was. You held Alex’s hand, “you guys ready to climb?” he asked and looked back at you all. He gave your hand a squeeze and pulled it up to place a kiss on the back of it. 

“That is so tall, I cannot climb that high,” Dakota said as you walked closer to the building. “No, you’re gonna do great,” Alex told him and you shook your head. “I’m gonna freak out,” you said quietly. “You’ll be ok babe, I promise,” Alex had heard you and pulled you closer to place his arm around your shoulders. He kissed your head once you had stepped into the building. 

The whole group could tell that you were nervous and they all worried that you might get scared up there. When Alex let go of your hand Chelsea was quick to grab it and you smiled gratefully at her. “Thank you,” you mumbled and she just smiled at you. “You’ll do just fine, (y/n/n),” Dakota said and gave you a side hug. You sighed in relief at the thought of your friends being there with you. It was nice to have a support system in times like these when you really needed them.

 

Yeah, you climbed to the top of the giant mailbox, but this felt different. You were relying on your strength to get you to the top of a giant concrete wall. Where you could easily lose your footing and fall, whereas there were guard rails and stairs on the former. 

You all got geared up, and ready to climb the wall, but your nerves began to build up even more at the thought of being so high up. Your heart started racing faster and your stomach began to turn. 

You all chalked up your hands and were ready to climb the wall. Were you physically prepared and safe yes, but in your mind, you thought of all the things that could go wrong. You were very out of it, you couldn’t focus and that was making it all worse. 

You walked into the silo and looked up. To put it simply, you were screwed. 

“Woah!” Chelsea was in awe of how high it went. “Oh, damn. Look at this,” Tanner said as he looked around him. You backed up and ended up hitting Tanner’s chest instead of a wall. “Shit, I’m sorry,” you said and moved away from him. “Hey, no you’re fine. Are you ok?” he asked as he took in the expression on your face. You looked scared and it worried him. “Yeah, yeah. I’m totally ok,” you told him, and just as he was about to say something Alex spoke up. 

“Now you guys already know the rules. Whoever makes it the highest is going to be very happy for solos tomorrow. Dakota, Chelsea. You guys wanna go first?” he asked and looked at them expectantly. “Let’s do it,” Chelsea said. “Game on,” Dakota directed at his sister and she said the same thing right back. 

They got all hooked up and were ready to go. “Here we go,” Chelsea said as she prepared to climb as high as she could. “No matter how much we hate each other at the end of this, we’re still family,” Dakota turned and pointed at his sister as he spoke. Despite his comment that would usually make you laugh all you could think of was having to climb up there. 

“Alright, you guys ready?” Alex asked. “Let’s do it,” Dakota said. 

“3,2,1, Climb,” Alex gave them a countdown. 

You watched as they both began their ascension of the wall. 

“Let’s go,” Tanner encouraged them, and you immediately reached for Alex’s hand. He looked over at you and his gaze softened at the fear on your face. He could feel how scared you were by the shaking of your hand in his. He pulled you close and wrapped his arms around you. Your back was to his chest as he rested his head on your shoulder. “You’re ok, nothing is gonna go wrong I promise you. It’ll be over before you know it, and you won’t have to do it again alright?” he said softly so that only you could hear him. You slowly nodded your head as your eyes stared above you. You held his arms tighter around you. “I need you to answer me ok, talk to me,” he said and you let out a shaky sigh. “I don’t think I can do it,” you said and shut your eyes tightly. 

“This is actually not easy,” you heard Chelsea say and you shook your head. “Al, I don’t wanna do this anymore,” you told him fearfully. “Are you sure you don’t wanna try?” he asked just to make sure because he knew how competitive you were and you might regret it later that you never even tried. 

“I’m sure, I don’t think I can do it right now,” you breathed out nervously. “That’s ok babe, you don’t have to do it,” he told you and held you tighter. “I’m sorry,” you mumbled. “Don’t be sorry, it’s completely ok sweetheart,” he said and kissed your head softly. You let out a huge sigh of relief and relaxed against him a bit. 

“Oh my god, my arms are already losing strength,” you heard Dakota complain and you giggled a bit. You kept silent as you watched your friends climb higher. 

“Dakota,” Chelsea spoke to her brother. “What?” He called. “I’m scared,” Chelsea admitted with a nervous chuckle. “I’m scared too,” He retorted. A small smile took its place on your face during the interaction. 

“I see some wiggling arms are you getting tired?” Alex asked. You heard Dakota curse as he tried to hold on. “Ok, I’m actually at my strength capacity, I think,” Chelsea said and you squeezed Alex’s arms tighter. “She’s fine babe,” he said and hugged you tighter for a second. 

“Ok, I’m calling it,” She announced and you let out a breath you didn’t know you were holding. 

“Keep going dude, you’re almost halfway there,” She encouraged Dakota. 

“You got this Dak,” Alex tried to motivate his friend. “I don’t know if I can go any higher,” Dakota said and made the ultimate decision to make his way back to the ground. 

When his feet touched the ground you smiled. “I beat you,” he said to Chelsea and you chuckled. Alex let you go in order to get ready for his turn. “You guys are up next,” Chelsea stated. “Let’s do it,” Tanner said and got to his spot. Dakota, Tanner, and Chelsea looked at you when you stayed in your spot. “Aren’t you coming?” Tanner asked and you gingerly shook your head. “No, I um- I just- I-” Alex spoke up to get you out of having to explain. “She doesn’t want to and that’s fine, she doesn’t have to,” he told them and you smiled thankfully at him. 

“Yeah of course, no, that’s fine,” Dakota said and went to stand next to you. He tossed his arm across your shoulders and squeezed you reassuringly. You smiled up at him. “No worries, (y/n), it’s no big deal,” Chelsea said and stood on the other side of you. You leaned your head on her shoulder. “Root for me guys, I’m counting on you,” Tanner said and smiled at you. You chuckled and shook your head at his antics. 

“Who do you think’s gonna win?” Alex asked. Chelsea and Dakota looked at each other. ‘Tanner, for sure,” Chelsea said and Dakota agreed playfully. “Screw you guys,” Alex said and you smiled over at him hoping to encourage him. “I believe in you babe,” you said and shot a thumbs up his way. “At least someone is rooting for me,” He said and everyone chuckled. 

“Climbers, are you ready?” Dakota asked “Yeah,” Tanner confirmed. “Ready,” Alex spoke up. 

“In 5- Go! Go!” His raised voice made you flinch a bit. Immediately they started up the wall and your hand reached out for Chelsea’s. 

“Oh, man,” you already heard Alex sigh. “Slow and steady wins the race,” Dakota advised teasingly. “Tanner’s really high up there already,” Alex said and you looked over at him to see that he was in fact very high up. “Tanner, how do you do that?” Alex questioned. “Tanner!” Dakota exclaimed. “He looks like Spider-Man,” Chelsea compared and you chuckled. “Be careful guys,” you called out. 

“They’re making us look so weak,” Dakota complained to Chelsea and you giggled. “Well, I think you guys did great,” You said. “At least you did it,” you said softly. 

You smiled softly at them and they both gave you a side hug. 

“I don’t think I can make it,” Alex spoke up. “You can do it Al!” you tried to keep his spirits up. “Keep going Al, you got this!” Chelsea shouted after you. “Damn, Tanner’s gonna make it to the top,” Dakota said. 

Just as he said it Tanner called down. “I did it!” you chuckled and shook your head. 

They both came down and you all congratulated Tanner on his victory. You walked over to Alex and wrapped your arms around him. “You did great bub,” you said and smiled up at him. “Thanks, babe,” he said and leaned down to kiss you softly. 

Alex walked over and gave Tanner a high-five. “You won,” He said. “You did, fair and square,” Chelsea said and you nodded in agreement. “Alright, no more fun and games. Let’s go read this packet,” Alex announced as you all headed out. 

“This was fun. But my forearms are on fire right now,” Tanner said and you chuckled. “Oh, yeah,” Alex agreed and you wrapped your arm around his. Placing a kiss on his shoulder while you walked. 

As you walked back out to the RV you began to think about the packet read. You were excited, to be honest, but as per usual there was a bit of fear in you as well. 

“Are you guys excited about the packet?” Alex asked and everyone looked at him like he was crazy. “Are you kidding me?” Chelsea asked with a raised eyebrow. “Honestly, I kind of am,” you said and looked up at him. He beamed down at you and kissed your head. “See, at least someone is,” he told them and teasingly stuck his tongue out at them. They all laughed and shook their heads. 

“Are you not scared?” Dakota asked you. “Of course I’m scared, but he’s been so excited about it that it kind of has me excited too,” you laughed softly. “You’re crazy. His excitement is scaring me,” Tanner told you and you laughed again. 

You all got into the RV and took your seats. The skies had begun to melt into pastel pinks and layers of scarlet. It was your favorite time of the day. 

You looked out the window as the clouds melded blue with pink. “You know, this time of day always reminds me of you,” Alex said softly. You peered up at him and smiled. “And why is that?” you asked and reached out to interlace your fingers with his. “I can always find you at a window reading, or just watching at this time of day. It’s your favorite,” he explained and your smile brightened. “Yeah, it is,” you said and reached over to kiss his cheek. 

You sat there with your head against his shoulder as the last of the sun’s rays warmed you. He kept you close while he scrolled through his phone, following suit of everyone else for the time being. As the sky grew darker you knew it was time to pick up where you left off.

“You just got to the top like it was nothing,” Dakota said to Tanner. “I wanted the mystery prize,” Tanner explained himself and you laughed. “Well you definitely got it,” you said and reached over to give him a high-five. “I’m pretty curious what this whole prize is, but I’m even more curious as to where we’re going,” Chelsea spoke up and looked at Alex expectantly. 

“I have another surprise,” Alex told you all and you sighed heavily. “Are you kidding me? Can you stop?” Tanner asked tiredly. “Really Al, there is no stopping you,” you said and shook your head. 

“You’re gonna ruin the word ‘surprise’ for me,” Chelsea told him and you nodded in agreement. 

“The spot that I’m taking you guys right now, might bring back some bad memories,” Alex informed you all and you let your head lull back in exhaustion. “What?” everyone questioned. “What do you mean?” you asked him. “I can’t tell you that yet, but we are getting close so I do want all 4 of you guys to go up there if you can and keep your eyes peeled,” Alex told you all. 

“Ok, I don’t think 4 will fit up there so I’ll stay back here, just tell me what it is,” you said and let them go up front. “You’ll know it when you see it,” Alex told you all. “I’m incredibly curious,” Chelsea said and made her way to the front. “What the heck are you doing to us, Al?” Dakota questioned. “We are in the middle of nowhere,” Chelsea stated. “This is gonna be terrible isn’t it?” you looked over at your boyfriend for confirmation but he just smiled at you. “I think I see it,” He said and you sighed. “What?” Dakota asked and looked ahead as best as he could. 

“Wait a minute,” Chelsea started. “Oh,” Tanner said in shock as he turned back to look at Alex. “Yup,” Alex confirmed. “Wait is that?...” Dakota didn’t finish as Tanner raised his voice. 

“Dude! That’s Ashmore!” he exclaimed and your eyes widened. “What the hell? No way!” you said in shock. “It totally is!” Chelsea confirmed.

“It’s been like six, seven years since we’ve been here,” Dakota explained. “A little trip down memory lane,” Alex said and you could’ve sworn your stomach actually sunk. 

This place was definitely not the best memory for you. It was your first overnight and you came out of there more scared than you had been before even going in. 

“This is the first location me and (y/n) ever slept at,” Chelsea reminded. “I remember it so vividly, it still freaks me out to this day,” You explained and she nodded in acknowledgment. 

“This is where it all started,” Dakota pointed out. “None of us ever wanted to come back here, ever,” Tanner spoke and you couldn’t help but agree. 

“Alright, here we go,” Alex said as you all got up to exit the RV. “This is not going to be a good night,” you breathed out. Alex placed a hand on your back as you stepped out. “You’ll be fine babe, one step at a time,” he said and kissed the back of your head. 

“You guys ready for this?” He asked everyone and turned around to get their reactions. “Oh, holy crap, dude,” Dakota said in awe as he stepped out. “Oh my goodness,” Chelsea said as she looked on at the tall building ahead of her. “I had to see the look on your faces when we pulled up to this place,” Alex said and you chuckled. “Of course, you did,” you said and playfully smacked his shoulder. “I mean it is kind of cool to be back,” Tanner said. “It’s cool, but I’m nervous,” Dakota stated. “I am too,” you said and you both looked at each other with uneasy glances. 

“I did dig up some new, and kind of disturbing information about this place. What do you say, we read the packet?” He asked and your shoulders sagged. “This is gonna be so not fun, I am not excited anymore,” you said and everyone chuckled. “I never was,” Chelsea said and you laughed. 

You set up the camera and all sat down to read the packet. You shivered a bit from the wind that was blowing. Alex wrapped an around your waist and pulled you closer to him. 

“This is a place that has definitely left its mark on all of you,” Alex began. “It’s so crazy how much we’ve grown since the last time we were here,” Chelsea said. “We definitely left with a lot of questions,” You stated. “I’m just curious to see if your new information gives us any answers,” you spoke again. 

“I also have another surprise,” Alex stated and you let your head drop to the table in annoyance. “No, stop,” Dakota said. And everyone just begged the questions ‘why?’ and ‘what?’

“When we’re done reading this packet we are going to be going right in,” He said and your eyes widened in shock. “Absolutely not,” You said and waved your hands around in objection. “Absolutely,” Alex came back. You screwed your eyes shut and took a deep breath. 

“I should’ve seen this coming,” Dakota said and you just sighed for the millionth time that day. 

“Dakota, do you want to open it?” Alex asked and held out the packet. “Here goes nothing,” Dakota said as he began to open it.

“Ashmore Estates,” Chelsea and Dakota read at the same time. 

And so it began. 

---

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[fearfully-fiction]

Ok I have something to say, I have had major writers block for DF lately as you probably know. Like major.

But tonight! Yes, tonight! I have decided I'm going to try and start a new series for you all! I'm very excited and if you'd like to know what episode it is let me know!

Also, I'm sorry I didn't mean to posy my Happy New Year on my other blog it was supposed to be on here. So sorry that was a bit weird!

HAPPY NEW YEAR LOVES!

I love you to the moon and to Saturn!🪐

-M.G

---

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[fearfully-fiction]

You Catch Each Other Staring-Alex Schroeder x Reader

word count:421

warnings: Fluff, more of a blurb, sorry guys

summary: You catch each other staring

(random gif again sorry guys!)

You were sitting on the couch with your eyes fixed on the tv in front of you. You were watching the newest episode of the show curled up in a blanket. You never went on the road with them and so you always got excited when the episodes finally came out. Alex sat next to you and chuckled at how into it you were, he always found it funny when you jumped and hid under the blanket. He couldn’t help but stare at you as you watched, just thinking of how lucky he was. 

He knew what was coming next and tried to hide the smile on his face. It was the Loftus Hall episode and the shadow behind Dakota was about to show up. He saw your fingers grip the blanket as hard as you could and your eyes go wide. “Holy shit, did you see that?” you asked and whipped around to face him to see him already looking at you. “Were you staring at me?” you asked and he chuckled. “I’m not surprised you didn’t notice seeing as how invested you were,” he shrugged and you shook your head. “It was getting good!” you defended yourself and he laughed. 

“You’re mean, creeper,” you said and stuck your tongue out at him. “I’m not a creeper, I just like to admire my girlfriend that’s all. That’s not creepy at all,” it was his turn to defend himself and you rolled your eyes. “Sure,” you dragged out and gave him a small grin that you couldn’t hide. 

He reached out and grabbed you, pulling you into his side. You let out a yelp at his sudden actions and chuckled when he painted your face with kisses. “You’re gonna be the death of me, I swear,” you joked and he chuckled. “I can proudly say the same,” he said and you smiled before leaning up to place a kiss on his lips softly. 

“I guess you’re not a creeper, 'cause that would make me one too… I won’t lie, I stare too,” you said and hid your face in your hands. “No, c’mon don’t hide from me. I wanna see your pretty eyes,” he said and gently pried your hands from your face. “There they are,” he said and let his gaze linger for a while. Your gaze was just as unwavering as his before he leaned down and pressed a kiss on your forehead. “See, staring isn’t so bad is it?” he asked and you laughed softly. “I guess not,” 

---

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[fearfully-fiction]

Hey guys! I just figured out that Tanner has a girlfriend and in my opinion I think it's a bit rude to keep writing fics for him. I'm not trying to be mean, I just feel that it's a little disrespectful to his girlfriend and I'd feel bad if I continued. I hope you guys understand, and bear with me! That's why I also don't write for Sam Golbach either because he's with Katrina and I feel it's a bit disrespectful. Once again, I hope you understand!

I love you to the moon and to Saturn!🪐

-M.G

---

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[kaetiesmindpalace]

At Your Side -- A Destination Fear One Shot (Tanner Wiseman/Reader)

A/N: Happy Holidays!!! Here’s a new one shot.

Requested by Anonymous | Also found on AO3

The crew and you just wrapped up on the last location of this road trip. With back-to-back locations, you had not gotten much sleep and could not wait to be in your bed snuggled up to Tanner. Attempting to sleep on a moving RV is rather cramped and someone else always seems to take up the big bed in the back, usually Chelsea. Luckily the wait to get back home was not long since the location was only 20 minutes away, and those 20 minutes seemed to fly by in a blink of an eye.

Now the only thing in the way from you achieving a good night's sleep was putting the equipment away. With 5 people, heaving the many cases went rather quickly. With Alex grabbing the last case, you all turned to the house to head back in.

That is when it decided to start raining.

Alex started booking it to the door first, seeing as he had equipment on him, followed shortly by Dakota and Chelsea. You start to go when you feel Tanner stop you.

“C’mon,” he says with a smile on his face, “Let’s enjoy some fun in the rain for once.”

You smile back at him and follow his lead towards the side of the road. There, he grabs your hands and starts to dance with you in the rain. You quickly follow his steps and soon the both of you are chuckling and enjoying the moment. Time passes, you are not sure how much exactly as you were just enjoying the time spent with your boyfriend, he brings you closer and kisses you in the rain.

“Ever the romantic,” you say once you break from the kiss, “This moment definitely belongs in a rom-com.”

Tanner smiles at you with his eyes filled with love before saying, “Glad I accomplished that. Now come on, let’s go inside before either one of us gets sick.”

The two of you run back towards the house and quickly get out of your wet clothes before calling it a night. The two of you settled into bed, cuddling up to one another, and quickly fell asleep.

You woke up hours later feeling cold. You turn to the side and notice Tanner must have gotten up to use the bathroom because his side of the bed was still a bit warm, and the sheets were everywhere. You immediately start cocooning yourself in the blankets to try and get warm. Once you had become a blanket burrito was when Tanner returned.

“Hi,” he says in a soft voice.

You smile at him and get your arms out from the blankets to make grabby hands at him. He chuckles slightly before quickly joining you in bed again. You wrap your arms around him and place your forehead on his shoulder. It felt cool to the touch, and you much appreciated it.

“Love, you’re burning up,” Tanner says with concern in his voice.

“I’m okay” you say in a stuffy voice before being racked with a cough.

“Well, that doesn’t sound good at all. Guess my judgement on when to get out of the rain was off. Sorry to have caused you to get sick,” he says with a guilty look on his face before kissing your hairline.

“It’s not your fault. I think it was a combination of the rain and not much sleep the past few days,” you answer back.

“You get some more sleep, and I’ll take care of you,” Tanner says while getting up and tucking you in.

You nod your head in response, already starting to doze off again. A couple hours of sleep later, you wake up again and find some Day-Quil on your nightstand along with a bottle of water. You quickly take the medicine with the water. As you are about to get out of bed, the door to your room opens and Tanner quickly enters with a bowl of something steaming in his hands.

“I know it’s not homemade or anything special, but I thought I’d make you some chicken noodle soup when you woke up,” he says while handing you the bowl with the spoon already in it before sitting beside you on the bed.

“I’d say it’s special because you made it. Thank you” you smile back before being racked with yet another coughing fit.

Once the coughing fit subsided, you quickly ate the soup, not realizing how hungry you were until that moment. When you finished, Tanner quickly took the empty bowl back to the kitchen before returning to your side.

“Now, can we cuddle? That’s all I really want right now,” you say while making grabby hands again.

“As you wish, love,” he says while quickly pulling you in.

You start to doze off again in the warm embrace of your boyfriend with nothing but a smile on your face. Throughout the rest of the day, Tanner continued to dote on you. Luckily this cold seemed to come and go quickly, and when Tanner ended up catching it, you doted on him as much as he did you.

[kaetiesmindpalace]

I’ll Be There -- A Destination Fear One Shot (Tanner Wiseman/Reader)

~CW: mentions of blood~

          The new season of Destination Fear was starting off with a new face amidst the cast. Seeing as this televised experiment revolves around how fear affects the mind, why not see how it affects someone who has not experienced any of this before? It also helped that you had been intrigued by the premise for a while and that you are dating Tanner, one of the cast members.

           The first location? Bobby Mackey’s Music World in Wilder, Kentucky.

           Pulling up to the location with you, Tanner who had an arm around you, and Chelsea in the front of the RV, it all seemed surreal. The stories involving the place including people being physically attacked made you very terrified for everyone’s safety.

           “I have an idea,” Dakota says after all the equipment is set up.

           Everyone by now knows that what follows those words usually is not a good idea. Well, they were good ideas in the sense that most of the time it was to increase the fear being tested, not so much a good idea for everyone’s liking and wanting to do.

           “We should start off with solos. Tanner, you have the honor of writing everyone’s name down to figure out who’s going first,” Dakota proclaims.

           Just as Tanner is about to start writing everyone’s name down, you spoke up with your own idea, “Why don’t I just do it and go first?”

           Everyone just stops and stares at you for your question, confusion and concern on their faces. Can you blame them? No one had offered to go do the crazy thing before.

           “Don’t give me that look. Does it really seem fair to pick names out of a hat when the only one who hasn’t done a solo is myself? I say let’s level the playing field a bit before having to pick names from a hat,” you say with as much confidence as you can muster.

           Dakota, Chelsea, and Alex nod their head a bit, understanding what you were saying. Tanner, on the other hand, still had concern written across his face as he approached you.

           “Are you sure about this?” he asks.

           “As sure as I can be,” you respond while looking at his handsome face, “I’ll have to do a solo eventually anyways so no point in trying to hide from it.”

           He nods a bit, understanding the implications of it all. You two and the rest of the crew were on this trip to explore fear and knew there is no way to protect one another from the scary things that lurk in these places 100% of the time. Sometimes, you must face these things head on. Was Tanner still nervous about you doing the first solo at your first ever location on the trip? Of course, but you made up your mind and are not often easily swayed to change it, and he knew that.

           As you gathered the equipment to head into Bobby Mackey’s alone, Tanner started to ramble, “Be safe out there. Walkie us if you need help,” before giving you a kiss on the cheek.

           “I may come up with some dumb ideas, but I’m not stupid enough to not call for help when I need it,” you say with a little bit of snark to diffuse the tension just a little bit.

           Luckily, the response did just as you hope it would. Everyone chuckled slightly and you started to head towards the entrance of Bobby Mackey’s with your camera in hand.

           “Alright, so my initial thought is to go big and go into the basement. Dumb idea, I know, but fear is what we are searching for, so fear is what I’m trying to get. The basement is where numerous people have gotten scratched, including Zak Bagans of Ghost Adventures fame, whom we all know Dakota has worked with. What’s scarier than the possibility of this happening?” you ramble on camera.

           As you enter the basement, you immediately get an eerie feeling. Something is not right, but you must keep chugging through with this; it’s your job now. Finding a place to sit on the floor, you decide to start the normal investigative procedures.

           “I’m right by the well in the basement and I’m going to do an EVP session with this digital recorder to see if I get any response,” you say as you hit the record button. “What is your name? How did you die? Why do you stay here?” you ask while giving some space in between questions to let the spirits answer.

           You continued to question for about ten minutes before stopping and playing back the recording. It seemed like nothing wanted to interact with you; you weren’t getting responses to your questions. That is, until you listened to your final question of “Is it true that there is something demonic here?”

        A loud, deep growl came through that you did not hear in real time. Your mouth formed an O just hearing it. With whatever in the basement besides yourself hearing this out loud, the growl seemed to shift the energy in the room. While the initial feeling when you entered was eerie, now it feels unsafe and that someone or something is right behind you.

       And maybe something was because suddenly you felt a burning sensation take over your back. You had seen enough paranormal shows in your life and heard many stories involving encounters to know that a burning sensation tends to mean that you got scratched.

       “So, I’m pretty certain that I got scratched across my back. I felt that burning sensation often described when scratches like these occur, but I can’t see my back. I’m going to have to call for some help to see how bad it is. I know I don’t look as scared as I probably should be; I think I am mostly internalizing it to try and process what is happening before I have a huge freak out,” you say into the camera as you take out your walkie.

        “Hey guys,” you say into your walkie.

       Tanner, Chelsea, Dakota, and Alex were all just chatting like normal friends do waiting for you to come back or walkie them. Even with the thought that you could walkie them, you unknowingly walkie scared them causing everyone to jump at the sound of your voice.

       “Guys,” you say as your voice cracks at the end, betraying your true feelings you were trying to internalize into nonexistence.

        Tanner was already up and booking it with his camera towards Bobby Mackey’s before you even explained the entire situation. Chelsea decides to grab the walkie and respond while everyone was grabbing equipment to try and catch up to Tanner.

        “Go from Chelsea” she states in as clear of a tone as one can while trying to respond and grab their camera at the same time.

        “So, I’m certain something scratched my back here in the basement, but I can’t see it for myself. Can someone come and check it for me? I want to know how bad it is” you say trying to reign in your fear.

         “Tanner took off before you said where you were, so he should be there sooner than us if one of the guys decide to yell to him where you are in the building,” Chelsea states just as Dakota yells towards the general direction of the entrance “Go to the basement Tanner!” before they all take off to get to you.

         Tanner was indeed the first of the group to find you, having had the head start, long legs, and hearing the location you were in being screamed to him from far behind. Since you were still sitting on the floor, probably too scared to move from the incident but it had only felt like a second had passed since it happened, he knelt down next to you and put his camera down on the ground. With both hands free, he grabs your face and kisses your forehead before staring deeply into your eyes.

      “Are you alright?” he asks with concern in his voice.

      “I’m a bit shaken up currently. Something scratched my back; it was just this burning sensation all over. Can you check it for me and take a picture of it? I want to see how bad it is,” you mention to him.

       He grabs his flashlight and phone as you start to push up the back of your shirt for him to look at the damage done. Once the flashlight is on, he helps lift the back of your shirt more to get a better look.

      “Oh babe,” he says while taking a picture, “this definitely isn’t good.”

       He hands his phone over to you to see the picture of your back. What you saw were three large scratches marring your back that at some points were bleeding just a bit. You gasp at the sight, having not had thought it would be this bad. You had seen the Ghost Adventures episode where Zak got scratched, but his weren’t bleeding. Why were yours?

       At that precise moment was when the rest of the crew arrived. With one quick glance at your back, they knew they were in for a tough night. Luckily, someone had packed a small first aid kit in the backpack, so your scratches were cleaned up with antibiotic ointment and some bandages were put on the areas that were bleeding. With you now standing with everyone, Dakota nixes the idea of more solos and the group continues to investigate the rest of Bobby Mackey’s.

      After a few more EVPs, some words on the Ovilus, and Alex seeing a shadow figure, it was time to figure out sleeping arrangements. Tanner took the lead of writing out the locations on a slip of paper, but you noticed something odd.

      “Shouldn’t there be 5 slips of paper with different sleeping arrangements instead of 4?” you ask.

      Tanner looks up from writing to say, “After what happened to you alone in the basement, just for this night, I’m not letting you be by yourself again. So, I’m making the decision that you’ll stay with me for the night. I know, it’s such a burden that you’re stuck with me,” adding a dramatic flair to the last sentence before continuing to write.  

      You chuckled at his dramatics. It was something you loved that he did seeing as you pull the same antics at times. You couldn’t really complain; you understand where he was coming from and you also did not want to be alone again in this location. Dakota didn’t try to argue the reasoning either.

      The four locations were the well, the room of faces, the attic, and the men’s restroom. Chelsea picked first and ironically got the men’s restroom. Following Chelsea was Dakota; he ended up getting the well which was where you had gotten scratched earlier in the night and he was not happy about it. At least you didn’t have to go back to that area again, but there was still one location in the basement left. Tanner went next and he picked the attic for the two of you. You gave a huge sigh of relief at this since you didn’t have to return to the basement at all now. This left the room of faces to Alex, who also was not looking forward to being in the basement.

      Setting everything up for sleeping arrangements from equipment to where the crew would actually sleep seemed to breeze by. Instead of cots, the two of you had sleeping bags which so happened to fully unzip to create a pad for the two of you to sleep on and for the other to act like a blanket. Knowing that Tanner was right by your side ready to comfort you really helped with still being at this location. As you laid together, he slipped his arms around you and pulled you into him.

      “I’m so proud of you for sticking through this. You’re so strong. Had this happened to me on my first investigation, I would have skedaddled out of here,” he whispers in your ear before kissing your cheek.

      “Well, I knew I had amazing back up ready to help whenever I needed it,” you whisper back while having the biggest smile on your face.

      “And I’ll be there whenever and wherever you need help,” he states so sincerely.

      No matter the situation, Tanner could find a way to make you smile. It may take longer than he would like, but he was always able to do it, and that was one of the many reasons why you loved him.

      The two of you managed to get some sleep, whether it was due to no activity, the comfort of being with one another, or both. Dakota, Chelsea, and Alex all came up to wake you guys up once 6 am hit and soon enough everyone was packing up equipment to put back into the RV. Once the investigative equipment was all put away, all 5 of you split up to give your final thoughts on the location.

      Finding a nice place near a tree, you sat down and started recording your piece.

      “What a crazy first investigation. I don’t think anyone expected the extent of what happened to occur, never mind to the person just entering the crew. Am I still a bit shaken up? Of course, but I’m not letting this stop me. I can only grow stronger and persevere through this. I want to prove that I can handle it. And now, off to another crazy location,” you say, growing more determined with each word.

      Once you finished recording, you stood up and returned to the RV. After a couple of minutes, everyone was back. With Tanner next to you with his arm around your shoulder, Dakota and Chelsea across from you, and Alex on the couch across the walkway from the table the four of you sat at, the RV took off to the next location.