#rivervale_lodge

"I'll ask. Matt? Jennifer?" She turns, calling inside.

A look back. "You wanna come in?"

Sylvi hears a voice, "I bear you no malice, daughter of the Rover. But you should leave..." _ A whisper _"You are standing in the way of my prey"

Sylvi starts to answer Sam, then her eyes go wide and she puts a hand on Sam's shoulder, glancing around.

Both of them hear a whisper, "She was warned. Stand with the Day Maiden, die with her..."

"What?" Blinks, confused by the other girl's reaction.

Then.... "What?"

And the large Bronze backed beetle breaks out from the ground, the size of a large horse! It's eyes flicker with pale white lights

"Get inside." Sylvi says, her tone tense, and she follows Sam into the hallway, closing the door behind her.

Dagmar backs up, staring.

She whispers, "Do you hear that?"

"The whisper? I think it was the bug..."

Scrapping scramlbing TEARING sounds at the door

And a man comes out of the kitchen, clueless to the noises, he has washed his hands, "Sorry about that, trouble with the sink. Who is this?"

"Um." Eyes dart to the door, then to the man. "This is Sylvi..."

Sylvi glances back at the door, but then a sunny smile and a hand extended to the man. "Hi, I'm Sylvi Davidson. I know Sam from school. So...I'm doing a fundraiser, would you like to buy some chocolate?" She shows the box of bars, ignoring the fierce scratching sounds she hears.

Dagmar... Sam... shuffles her feet, trying to ignore the noises with mixed success.

"Oh? what's the fund raiser for and.. how much?" He asks as he shakes his hand, "Nice to meet you by the way. I'm Matthew Brown."

"Nice to meet you, Mr. Brown. And it's for the school drama club. They're putting on Pippin."

"Sylvi's the one... after school, you know? I go to her house."

"oh that's great.. well, I mean that you two hit it off... and are friends. The play sounds good. Mmm... Okay, I'll buy 5..." A glance back to his kitchen where his wife is fussing

"Make that ten"

It would appear his wife has about had it with their kitchen

Chocolate might help.

DESPITE the noise, Sam grins. "Yeah, Sylvi's my friend."

"Ten, great. That's $15."

Another genuine, if surprised, smile at Sam.

Sylvi's phone buzzes audibly, but she ignores it for the moment.

That's when the door shatters!

It..shouldn't...and to mortal eyes, it doesn't

but to the fae eyes, it's as if wood sprayed and the beetle broke through and.. you know what? It did, it's real. Real to fae

"Right, let me get my wallet... left it in the other room" He says and leaves unaware of the monster about to eat his foster

Sam freezes.

"OH!" Sylvi drops the box on a table and draws her blade. "Yes, sir! Take your time!" And she turns to stab whatever is coming through the door.

The Beetle's carapace is hard, to pierce, even Sylvi's supersharp chimerical weapon has trouble breaching it.

Okay, right, action. No room for her halberd here - so she draws back and throws an old-fashioned right hook at the beetle.

"Eyes..." Sylvi stabs again.

Ow! That almost hurt to hit it, Dagmar discovers, and she's not sure she hurt IT, but the force does throw it off balance, and Sylvi's strike digs in deeper thanks to it being temporarily off balance.

A little shake off, and she takes a moment to size it up for something vulnerable - an antennae, a leg.... she bets a grab and twist might do something...

If eyes don't work, she aims for where one of the legs is joined to the body. "Rip a leg off, Sam."

It BITES into Sam...

She grunts, and grabs at the closest appendage she can while its mandibles dig into her forearm.

Sylvi tries frantically to remember what kills beetles...

And while it bites on Dagmar... Dagmar grabs a feeler!

...while continuing to stab and grapple.

"All I have in cash is a twenty, you have change?"

She uses a crushing grip, twisting and tearing at it like a stubborn crab leg.

The Feeler RIPS off... and ichor spills

And it givees a high pitched squeel

"Yes!" A cheer, and then "Ah, yes, sir, that's fine!"