Princess: The Hopeful

[Inedible]

Appropriate subtitle to come later.

So, here's the deal.

These are your prelude stories. Most of you will experience your first Transformation inside of them. We won’t be using dice, and these shouldn’t go more than 10 posts at most. If you want to do a thing and it’s within your character’s ability to do, you do that thing. All these events are assumed to have happened roughly one week before the actual story starts.

Respond in spoiler tags if you would, that should make tracking them easier. Ask me if you have any confusion or questions.

All OOC text will be in ((parenthesis)). I tend to like to include music in games, so I'll be linking to some periodically. You can assume unless I say otherwise it's all work/humanity safe. If it doesn't really do anything for you, let me know and I'll cut it out.

In Sleep He Sang to Me - Shirley/jamieth
You’ve had this dream before, but you never figure out what it is until it’s over.

You stand in an extravagant ballroom, vague shapes of people clustered all around, a sea of fine suits and dresses of an archaic style from somewhere in the 1800s. Tables and other furniture little the room, somewhere in the corner a band has just ceased to play a string of music you can’t quite remember, and a hush has fallen across the audience. Next to you stands a man in striking detail, his face unique among the washed-out colors of the masses. He wears something more of common stock, heavy coat and a suit in less vivid color. His features, however, are much more dignified, as is the wooden pipe tucked between his lips.

“-and that, my dear Watson, is how he was able to place the knife at the scene of the murder.” As Mr. Holmes speaks a pair of modern day English bobbies are zip-tying another gentleman’s hands behind his back, preparing to cart him away. “Of course,” The detective continues smoothly, “He couldn’t have done it without a bit of help, could he, Moriarty?”

Music: Grotesque Figures (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=76WobNXTDB0&feature=relmfu) - Shadow of the Colosuss

A gasp runs through the crowd, and bodies part to reveal another man in fine, dark apparel. This one is also, unlike the crowds, fairly distinct. His mouth opens to offer his rebuttal-And nothing comes out. Something should. You’re sure of it. The crowd is still silent, the music still dead. Something feels wrong. Terribly, terribly wrong.

There’s a sickening crack and a huge chunk of the wall is ripped asunder. What lies beyond is a kaleidoscope of images, landscapes, ideas, senses, and sounds, a dozen different realities that stretch on forever. From that chasm comes the beast, a hulking and vaguely humanoid figure of ebony black. In one massive clawed hand it clutches a writhing mass of bodies, screaming figures that, like Holmes and Moriarty, are strikingly real amidst the cloudy backdrop. “This isn’t right,” Holmes murmurs, his hand going for the pistol in his coat. “Something is wrong. This isn’t supposed to be here.”

And he’s right. This is very wrong. You’re not sure why yet, but you know it is. While you’re realizing that, the other hand of the creature is coming straight for you.

What does Shirley do? You are, obviously, in a dream. Though your character is not fully aware of such, dream logic does apply. So, if you want to pull a rocket launcher from under the table or something, feel free.


To Save the World - Kim/Mechanix
It hasn't even been a full day since the incident. You haven't had a lot of time to think about it, but there's no way you dreamed this up. You're different now. You're transformed, stronger, better. When you sleep your dream begins to change, hazy clouds of thought crystallizing into something more firm. You're moving through a door. Through a palace. Through-No. Wait.

Music: F-F-Fire! (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IwoqY0PISCs) - Mother 3

You jolt awake. The smell of smoke is thick in the air, and muffled voices can be heard outside of the window. Outside things are burning. The whole neighborhood is burning. Houses along down the block are ablaze, flames licking over roofs and lawns. The sounds of fire alarms have begun to filter through the rest of the noise. The fire hasn’t reached your house yet, but it’s coming.

Two things become immediately visible upon further inspection. In one of the homes across the street there’s a figure in an open window, flames wreathed all around. The rest of the house is ablaze, several people gathered on the street below in a panic. The second thing is also fairly concerning: A man dressed in heavy looking black clothing is moving down the middle of the street, with lighter in one hand and what looks like a shotgun in the other. The thing is, the light is blazing almost like a torch, flames flickering high above it, more fire than it should ever possibly be able to give off.

The sound of your parents banging at the door fills the room. They’re shouting, frantic, calling for you to get out of the house.

What does Kim do?


I Need a Hero - Erin Watson/sun_tzu
You ran late at the library. There was a meeting, several people to talk to, books to read. You must have lost track of time, since the sun is already sinking below the horizon. The parking lot is mostly empty, a lone few cars remaining. The bus stop is a short walk down the road, streetlights providing dull illumination along the sidewalk. A few cars roll past, rumbling to a stop at nearby lights, bathing the streets in fluorescent whites.

Music: The Crossover (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-xfSnDaVV3g&feature=BFa&list=PL40F8CDA862BE6C40) - Constantine OST

There’s something rising over the sound of engines. Sharp cries of distress from somewhere near the back of the parking lot, where the lighting is too poor to make out clearly. Muffled shouts, figures moving in the dark. They become clearer at a closer distance, or given time to adjust to the lighting.

There are two larger figures menacing a smaller, cornering it back against one of the cars. Both are fairly large men, rough looking, clustered around a young man. Sprawled across the food of the car next to her is another figure, an older woman, still and unmoving.
“Now we know you’re holding out on us,” You can hear one of them say, “Come on, give it up.”

What does Erin do?


Me and Gravity - Nerissa Baines /Ecksdee

Music: Recognizer (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Oo3jKZ8xfMw&feature=related)

Marisol Ruis is someone that Nerissa has known for quite a while. While not necessarily best friends, their parents have known each other for years, and occasionally she’s shared her concerns whenever she and Nerissa had been together. Which had been frequently, over the past few weeks. She’d always been bullied and school, but it seemed to have been worse lately, and her reaction to it increasingly distressful.

The last conversation they had was the most concerning. Marisol’d asked what things would be like if she wasn’t around, and other less than happy thoughts. It seemed like she’d calmed down by the end of the conversation, but that might not have been the case. A few hours ago Nerissa received a voice message from the girl, thanking her for listening to her problems, and carrying a general note of finality. The last thing she said was that she was going to the Coronado Bridge to think.

By the time Nerissa is about halfway across she’ll spot the other girl. Marisol seems to be in conversation with another woman, an older looking person dressed in drab colors. They must have just finished speaking, since the younger girl is turning away. Then she starts doing something concerning. She stares down at the ocean 200 feet below for a minute, and then she begins to climb the railing.

((What does Nerissa do?))


Death Masks - Mia Hendrix / Regalus
Mia’s been at work in the gymnasium for what must be hours. Schools is long since out, the rest of the team has gone home, but nobody has arrived to pick her up yet. So, there’s nothing left to do but keep practicing. They left the lights on at least, and a few staff are still around, but they seem to have largely forgotten the presence of students. So she’s left to her own devices.

Music: Master of Shadow (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JDv5xhqq7Iw) - Persona 3

Then something strange happens. The lights flicker once, the electrical generators making a brief, pained groan. A second time, and then all of the regular lights go out. There are, however, the emergency blubs high overhead. They cast the gym in a pale white light, illuminating patches here and there.

There’s something by the door. A person. Maybe. It’s a blob of darkness, wasn’t there just a second before. She didn’t hear the door open either. It’s face is covered by a mask of white, an oval shield that’s trained on the girl. It starts to move toward her. Slowly, but it is.

((What does Mia do?))

[Mechanix]

To Save the WorldGo back to sleep, her mind and body told her. Just don't bother. The fire won't come here anyway.[ But that was insane, so she shook off that thought, coming down to earth. Painfullly.
Oh god the neighborhood was on fire. What was she supposed to do? Escape, of course. What else could anyone do? Jump out of the window and stop that man with the lighter, was the first thing that came to her, but that was insane too. She had no idea what was going on, only that it was wrong.
She glanced around her, looking for the bow she'd been offerred as a present to reward her athletic success. Just one of the oh so many precious things she couldn't bear to abandon should the fire come to her house... Yet she had to choose; so she took the bow.
She turned back from the window and went to the door to unlock it. Whoever this man wit the strange lighter was, she wouldn't let him go. She was going to bolt toward the street and keep that man with lighter from running away.
Even in her panic, she half-realized that this was madness. But it wouldn't stop her.

[sun_tzu]

I Need a Hero
"Oh God." She didn't say it out loud, but she thought it. Erin watched the scene unfold before her, frozen in place...Then forced herself to close her eyes and take a deep breath to calm down. Panic wouldn't help anyone. Taking a few steps back to keep herself out of earshot, she pulled out her cell phone, dialing 911. "...a mugging...corner between the street of..."
But even as she finished calling the police, her anxiety only grew. How long until the cops arrived, especially in this part of town? The rate of patrol men to citizens being what it was, statistically, odds were that none would be close enough to intervene before...before what? How far would this go? And how long before something irreversible happened? Someone should...Should do what? This wasn't an action movie. She couldn't get into a fight with these guys and fight them off! Rally the crowd? Oh, like hell. That would take even longer than waiting for the cops.
But...if she could at least gain some TIME, that would help, no? She stepped toward the thugs. "Excuse me...Is something wrong?"

[jamieth]

In Sleep He Sang To Me
To her own surprise, the first thing Shirley feels upon meeting the abomination isn't fear, nor anything of the kind; instead, it is an annoyance. There goes Knox's Second... Still, it registeres somewhere in the back of her mind that Holmes, while surprised - shocked even - by the... thing's appearance, obviously knows something about it.
Meanwhile, as the husk launches its attack, Shirley leaps away instinctively, keeping herself both away from the monster's claws and the detective's line of fire, her mind focused on two things: one, what is Moriarti doing, and two, is there something that can be useful against the creature... A chandelier, perhaps... It is a ballroom, after all, there have to be chandeliers! Of course, running away is also an option... No, it isn't. If I run now, I'll never know what was that thing!

[Inedible]

To Save the World / Kim
Kim’s parents are frantic, pushing her along once the door is opening, though the fact that she’s actively moving for the door seems to reassure them enough. They have the presence of mind to snag a fire extinguisher and a few valuables of their own, darting in to salvage what they can after they push her out of the house and into the street. They don’t seem to have noticed the man with the weapon walking down it, only that the fire is moving rapidly toward them.

Something new is coming out on the street, though. From one of the burning houses a dark figure emerges, just a blur of shadow that races across the sidewalk and slams into the man with the weapon. A flash of light catches it, and Kim can see it’s another man. A man with claws. They both go down, rolling, flailing, the gun fires once into the air.

In the background people are yelling for help, clustered at the bottom of the house across the street. Someone’s daughter is still stuck at the top, the door wreathed in flames, no escape in sight.

((Just to note, if it wasn’t completely clear, this is AFTER your blossoming. So you can transform, if you’d like to. At the moment nobody is really watching you. Also, you have a choice. You can either take action against the two people in the street, or you can go save the little girl. You’ll have to move past the fight taking place, so you could do something while you do that, but you might draw unwanted attention.))


I Need a Hero / Erin
That probably isn’t the right thing to say, but it is something. When she draws closer she can see things that darkness concealed before: The limp, battered body of the older woman, the streaks of blood that mat the face of the young man being thrown down against the street. The thug that was stepping forward to pick him up again abruptly stops, and then both turn toward Erin.

“Who the hell are you?” The one nearest the girl speaks up, his eyes flickering over her. “You think this is any of your business?” He takes a menacing step forward, moving to block the view of the other pair.

In Sleep He Sang To Me / Shirley
Sherlock does seem to know at least one thing, if nothing else: this thing needs to go. Several shots are fired from an archaic looking revolver at the monster, all of them puncturing its dark body to no apparent effect. “Holmes,” He calls sharply, “I’d like you to remember how you got here!” Which could be a trick, because Shirley, if she things about it, has no concrete memory. Logically, this should not be.

Moriarti is just as baffled as Sherlock himself. He, however, has an entirely different reaction. He’s staring blankly at the hole, past the monster, out into the mad panorama beyond. He’s saying something, but it can’t be heard. Then he starts walking to the hole, blatantly ignoring the creature.

In the meantime, there’s a conveniently fallen chandelier with several chunks broken off that’s right next to her. Which could come in handy, since that huge fist is rapidly approaching.

((Shirley may be starting to get the idea this isn't entirely real. It is, however, entirely dangerous and wrong.))

[sun_tzu]

I Need a Hero

Are they...? Just how badly did they hurt them?! Erin could feel herself getting angry. How dare they...No. Stay calm. You need to save those two, and losing control won't help.
She took another step forward, trying to appear a lot more confidant than she really was. "In case you couldn't hear, I've already called 911. How long exactly do you think you have until actual cops show here, with actual guns?" Her eyes narrowed as she glared at the thugs. "Scram if you want to live."

[Inedible]

I Need a Hero
Her words bring an ugly laugh to the laugh of the two men, both sharing a glance before the one closest to her takes another step forward. "Oh, really? I think it's going to be the other way around, little girl." One meaty hand stretches out, grabbing Erin by the collar. The other raises up into the air, clearly intending to strike what would be a powerful blow.

((Blossom at your leisure.))

[Mechanix]

To Save the World((you were right to mention it, I was unsure as to wether it was after or before))

Danger everywhere, fire burning the houses and threatening people, and those two weird persons fighting in the middle of it... She hadn't become a Champion by slowly pondering the ins and outs of a problem for hours at end; it seemed clear to her that whoever those people were, they were responsible for this senseless destruction. Rage surged inside her, and she itched to fall upon them with staff and armor and blow them away without mercy...

But that wasn't how she did things. Not without mercy. Not when there were innocents in danger. She swallowed her anger and bitterness, and took her eyes of the fighting pair - then twisted out of her parent's view, rushing to the trapped girl.

No time for subtelty and disguise, no time for silly girl's play of dual identities and such. With a flare of her inner light, she summoned her Regalia - her fingers tightening around the reassuring handle of the Device.

She ran straight past the two fighting figures, paying them no more heed, and went to the door. She would enter that building and save that girl if it was the last thing she did.

((I'm paying two Wisps, one to transform reflexively and another to load the Levinbolt, and run toward the house)

[Ecksdee]

Me and Gravity
Nerissa panted as her feet slapped against the pavement, cursing herself for not being much of a runner. But even though her lungs were burning and her legs felt like they were going to fall off, she wasn't stopping. Not when Marisol's life was in jeopardy. Kid's really could be cruel. She got a taste of it growing up -- and even now sometimes -- thanks to her weight. She was a bit heavier than most girls, but wore it well. Still, it didn't stop the more vain types from teasing her. Nerissa luckily had enough socially-motivated confidence to shake off their jibes. But Marisol wasn't so lucky.

And now, as she got up to the bridge, completely out of a breath, she saw the tormented girl in the distance. Someone else was there, and for a brief moment Nerissa breathed a sigh of relief. Perhaps whomever it was did their best to coax her from harming herself. Though that all went out the window when Marisol started climbing the railing. She gasped, taking off again, ignoring how tired she was. She could rest when Marisol wasn't teetering on the brink of a horrible death.

"Marisol!" She called as she got closer. "It's Nerissa! I'm here! Get down, please!"

[Regalus]

Death Masks

Mia blinked twice, adjusting her eyes to the dimmer room's lighting, sure that they had been playing tricks on her; she couldn't actually be staring at a blob right?
"Okay, I'll give you props for being patient enough to set this all up; but you can lay off the creep factor, you're not getting much of a rise out of me. So take off the mask and let's call it a day, k?" she said in a chipper tone as she made her way towards her bag rather swiftly; trying not to hint at the chill going own her spine, or that she could practically hear her father's old lectures repeating in her head. She had a bad feeling about this.

[Inedible]

To Save the WorldThe men and the thing he wrestles with also pay little mind to the girl that goes flying past them, no matter how strangely she's dressed. Out of the corner of Kim's eye she can see a flash of red, and an inhuman scream after. Then she's past it, and moving toward the house.

As she bursts through the flaming door of the house she finds everything ablaze, from floor to ceiling, flame consuming the path to the stairs. Up on the second floor she can find the child alone in a ring of flames, still in front of the window.

To get through to her and out of the house, though, that might hurt.

((Don't worry about spending things. Mechanics are out the window for now.))

Me and Gravity
The girl on the rail pauses. She seems to waver for a second, her gaze turning back. Her eyes linger on Narissa, her fingers tightening her grip on the railing.

The woman beside her makes a quizzical glance over in the same direction, her head making an avian sort of cant over at the girl running over. She says something, it can't be heard at this distance.

Marisol responds to it though. He resolve seems to tighten, her gaze turning toward the water again. Another few inches closer.

((Feel free to Blossom at any time. You can wait until you get her off the rail and deliver an emotional speech, or do it right now to do whatever else..))


Death Masks

It's not moving slow anymore. As soon as she begins to go for the bag the shadow lunges, elongating as it goes, becoming almost snake-like as it barrels forward. In an instant it's in front of her, the human-shaped mask staring unwaveringly. There are eye holes in it, though only darkness behind.

There's a hole for a mouth, too. Out of that comes a long, jagged blade that slashes forward toward the girl.

[Regalus]

Death Masks

Mia yipes as she ducks out of the way, narrowly avoiding the blade as it passes over her hair before bolting towards the nearest exit like a bat out of hell; making sure to reach for the nearest blunt instrument on her way out. Not good, not good; this is seven different fruity flavors of not good. The hell is that thing!?

[jamieth]

In Sleep He Sang To Me
How did I came here? Shirley tries to remember, still backing from the moster, but the outcome is fuzzy. There is no apparent way she COULD be in a place like that... wait. WHAT is this place? It shouldn't exist in the first place; judging by what's visible through the hole in the wall, it breaks all the laws of geology... almost like it's a dream. [i]But it can't be; it feels so real... TOO real actually. It's like an alibi that's too concrete... they're always false.
She throws the metal pieces - some still holding the burning candles - in the monster's face, one after the other, more to distract than actually expecting to hurt it; after all, even bullets a ineffective; but at the samу time, she kicks the main body of the chandelier in front of the creature. Hopefully, it would make him lose his balance, giving her time enough to ask a question... "This is a dream, right? But, it's also real, and dangerous, and if we die here..."

[sun_tzu]

I Need a Hero

Oh crap oh crap oh crap NO. CALM DOWN. Don't let the bastards win. Doing her best not to panic, Erin raised both hands to simultaneously slap them against the ears of the thug holding her, with the goal of putting extremely painful pressure on his eardrums...while simultaneously kneeing him in the crotch.
Which left the matter of the one about to slam her with a haymaker. She tried to brace herself for the incoming impact.
After all, she couldn't let evil win.
It wasn't the way things ought to happen.
Evil had to be defeated. Talked down if possible, taken down swiftly otherwise. And someone had to do it.
Of course, evil usually won...but that wasn't the way things should be. Not the way she would allow them to be. Not as far as she could help it.
And as she felt that powerful surge of conviction, it was almost as if she channeling it, wielding it to block the impact. Wait, where had all the light come from? Why...Why were her clothes feeling so different? And what was it with that weird staff? New intuitions were already in place, telling her things...

((Spending one Wisp on quickened transformation as she blossoms, and one on Holy Shield if possible...I think she can only spend one Wisp per turn?
If possible, she uses the Acqua Invocation for her Barrier Jacket. If not, it still adds one dot of Armor.
Not sure if I should roll anything for her attack on the first thug...?))

[Mechanix]

To Save the WorldFire everywhere. For a second, she direly regretted not having learned the Charm that would have made her barrier jacket fire-proof. Nonetheless, she had to make do with what she had.
"Stand back! I'm coming to help you!" she shouted to the girl.
I know the Invocation of water. I don't know how useful it's going to be against actual fire, but it's a start. And the blasting power of my Levinbolt can send enemies flying yards away; it should be able to blow out some flames, at least temporarily.
...I hope.
She swallowed, tightened her grip on the Device; blue energy gathered in front of the staff, an orb of energy imbued with the power of the Queen of Diamonds. She shouted loudly and unleashed a salvo of energy beams upon the fire that blocked her path - then ran straight-on into it.

((as you can guess, I'm using the Acqua Invocation and shooting at the flames, hoping it has some sort of effect on them))

[Inedible]

Death Masks
Definitely not human, that’s for sure. The blob once again follows, making a mad rush behind the fleeing gymnast. Once again it changes, and it literally breaks apart, passing on either side of her before it appears in front of her again. This time other parts of the shifting shape begin to change, forming into long tendrils that write and lash forward, aiming to enfold her in their grip. It’s mouth elongates now, the mask stretching and drooping down as its jaw unhinges.

A voice comes from it, clarion clear and high.

“A tattering of rain and then the reign.
Of pour and pouring-down and down.
Where in the westward gathered the filming gown.
Of grey and clouding weakness, and, in the mane.”

Mia can find a baton lying around, though that probably won’t do too well against this thing.

((Blossom at your leisure.))


In Sleep He Sang To Me
The giant hand of beast sways several chunks aside, though one manages to scorch it’s demonic face, causing the thing to reel backward. In the meantime Moriarty is still staring. Slowly, he takes a step. Shirley may realize that if this a dream, and those are other dreams, letting him run free in them may be a bad idea.

“I think that’s an accurate deduction.” That’s Sherlock’s note. “But so are all those others.” He points to the people trapped in the grip of the creature. Shirley senses something else, then. While this scene plays out in her mind’s eye, she’s dimly aware of another. She’s in her room, laying in her bed. Waking up, though, seems to be fairly difficult.

Then again, if she did wake up she’d be leaving all of those screaming, suffering people to their fate. The monster lunges forward again, tearing more chunks of floor away, it’s huge face coming down toward Shirley, as if it intends to swallow her whole.

((Blossom at your leisure. You can either try and kill the big monster and save all the dreamers, or stop Moriarty from leaving. Doing both is probably not possible.))


I Need a Hero
The thug that grabbed Erin reels back, stunned for a moment. The other one, though, he decides to make her pay for it. That heavy fist comes down in a sharp arc, and the impact is there, but it doesn’t actually HURT. At all.

The flash of light causes momentary confusion, the man faltering for a second. “What the hell?” Then a second blow comes, two hands this time.

The boy that was being attacked has crawled and stumbled to the side of the older woman in the meantime, shaking her frantically, though his bloody face turns up in shock at the flash of light and the transformation of the girl that came to his rescue. He just stares blankly, unable to do anything to help.

((No rolls or mechanical concerns during preludes. If you write that you blast one of the thugs, that’s what happens.))


To Save the WorldChunks of the floor are torn up, a few things collapse, but there is a clearer path now. There's still enough to make it hurt, but not enough that she catches flame on the way, only feels the searing heat and pain for a moment before she's beside the child at the window.

"Help! Please!" The little girl instantly rushes toward her, throwing herself against the Princess, clinging tight. With the hole in the floor getting out might not be that much of an issue, if Kim is willing to take the plunge and then go for the door after that. There's also the window, or a long path back down the stairs.

[Mechanix]

To Save the WorldThe warmth that went to Kim's heart as the little girl clung to her had nothing to do with the fire around her. But they were not out of trouble yet, far from it. Jumping through the window, while perhaps possible for the Princess she was, would put the girl in danger. The stairs were perhaps safer, but with every passing second the building was closer to simply crumbling down on them. She had to go for the quickest escape route.
"Hold on to me, darling," she said in as reassuring a voice as she could. "We're gonna have to hurry."
Gritting her teeth, she grabbed the girl in her arm and plunged through the hole, rushing toward the door. If anything got in her way, she would try and blast it away again.

[Inedible]

To Save the WorldAgain, more fire. This time hotter, more painful, scarring and dancing across Kim’s skin as she rushes through it. Just a few seconds, and then she’s out the door into the dry night air. The little girl is unharmed, the Princess having shielded her from the pain of the fire. She flees to the arms of her mother waiting in front of the house, the woman promptly scooping her up and weeping in joy. The others gathered around either stare at Kim or offer their heartfelt thanks, some moving to hug her despite how strangely she’s attired.

And she can see, back in the street, the man with the shotgun. He’s bent and bleeding, but standing. The other thing is now. It’s no longer human, but it retains the same sort of shape. Half of its head is missing, and part of it is on fire. Wherever flames touch flesh is peeling away, revealing emaciated, black skin underneath.

Kim can see him turn, and even from several yards distance it’s clear that he’s looking at HER. He stays like that for just a second more, and then he tosses the lighter down on to the dead husk and turns to move away. In seconds he’s vanished into the flames.

[Mechanix]

To Save the WorldShe smiled despite the pain, happy to have done what she could to help. But she could not truly be satisfied; not when she'd seen the man she was sure was responsible for this horror escape. She might have saved one girl, but she had failed to bring justice to the victims. She excused herself and ducked to avoid those who were trying to hug her, and went swiftly to the thing that lay on the ground. She had seen its claws and black skin and... Could it have been a Darkspawn? She need to know. More importantly, she needed to find that lighter the man had thrown, and pick it up. Maybe she could use it as a clue to find that man. Because if one thing was sure, it was that she was going to find him.

[sun_tzu]

I Need a Hero

My name is Erin Watson, and this situation has just turned more surrealistic than an illustrated guide to quantum mechanics drawn by Salvadore Dali.
I can feel this...power of hope? Power of Light? Something like that. And this...this science-fictional staff in my hands...I just KNOW what it does. I know it can knock this evildoer on his ass. I know how much force it will exert, what form the impact will take place. Enough to hurt him. Not enough to kill him, or even maim him. Exactly what I need.
Of course I'm not going to use it. I'm NOT going to use an untested weapon on some guy, even if he's a douchebag - for all I know, maybe my sudden knowledge is all wrong and this thing could rip him to shreds.
But I still need him GONE.
Raising her Boomstaff up in the sky, Erin sent a blast of pure luminous energy skyward. "RUN, SCUM OF THE EARTH! RUN, OR FACE MY POWER, WEAK LITTLE HUMAN!"
Hopefully, criminals really ARE a cowardly, superstitious lot. Don't fail me now, Batman.

[jamieth]

In Sleep He Sang To Me
((of course, Shirley isn't much of a fighter when Transformed, either...))

Shirley quickly weighs the situation; while letting Moriarty escape would be a bad thing for sure, there's simply a more pressing matter at hand... even though it's one she isn't really qualified to deal with. What should I do? What CAN I do? Then, she notices one thing; the way monster is positioned, it won't take much of a push to throw it completely off-balance... of course, "much push" is relative to the target's size - on the other hand, jujutsu is the style that favors speed and technique over size and weight. With newly gained confidence, she ducks under the monster's head and rushes forward, with intent to slam into one of its' legs...

And then, something clicks in her mind, and she sees the world around her with crystal clarity, almost as in a slow motion; and her previous idea of "push it off-balance" turns into a detailed calculation of the optimal point for applying the force, and the added twist required to maximize the effect... (and she even has some spare time to appreciate the outfit she suddenly finds herself wearing - it is so similar to what she got when she once tried to imagine herself in Holmes' place... except the current one is much more elegant, somehow. Well, it IS a dream... so she dismisses it as no more weird than dreams in which one suddenly finds herself undressed... and much less unpleasant.)

As for Moriarty... no matter where he runs, she thinks with certainty that surprises herself, we'll finf him anyway. I'll find him.

((The idea of experiencing the fight in bullet-time is taken, of course, from Downey Jr.'s version of Holmes, though I'm not sure whether Shirley actually saw it; she's more into classic interpretation.))

[Inedible]

To Save the WorldThe man is gone, and the corpse won’t last much longer. Fire consumes it eagerly, leaving only ash behind. The lighter is there too, tarnished silver that’s been dropped in the ashes. If she fishes it out she’ll find several intricate designs traced across it, mostly ornamental. Carved into the bottom is something else:

17:10

When Kim returns to her parents they will be frantic with worry, but welcome her home. The crowd loses sight of her too, and it becomes merely talk and rumor amongst the neighborhood. For now, things are quiet.

((And that’s your prelude! You’ll have to wait for everyone else to finish theirs, but it shouldn’t take too long.))
I Need a HeroThey do flee. They hesitate for a second, but they’re simple thugs, not very smart. The light show isn’t what they were prepared for, and neither are willing to get killed for an extra wallet. So the one that had attacked Erin begins to sprint in the opposite direction, while the one she’d hurt earlier scrambles to his feet, stumbling off into the dark.

The boy leaning against the car is staring after them, his mother still unmoving. She’s unconscious, breathing at least, but not in good shape. With more time to focus Erin can notice that she’s seen him before, somewhere at school. He lunges off the car, reaches out his hands to grasp at the girl. “What are you doing?” His voice is thick with anger and pain, “They’re getting away! Do something! Shoot them!”
In Sleep He Sang to MeMoriarty takes one step, and then he’s gone, into the swirling chaos. The monster looms overhead, several more bullets tearing small holes in it even as Shirley moves below it. When she strikes it the thing wobbles, letting out a cry as it begins to go crashing to the floor. People move out of the way in a great hurry, and Shirley probably will want to do that too.

Tiles crack when the weight of it hit the floor, and it seems momentarily stunned. Long enough that she could deliver some sort of blow to it, hopefully a final one.

“Do it now, Watson!”

[sun_tzu]

I Need a Hero

Erin blinked. "I want to," she said truthfully, "but first things first. She may need first aid," she said as she knelt next to the injured woman, checking out her state. "I've already called the cops. You call an ambulance." I may only have the basics of first aid, but...I think I can do better than I would under normal condition. I think I can be...smarter? More efficient? If I play my cards right, maybe I can make sure she's safe and still have time to get those *******s...

((Erin is using Practical Magic to improve her first aid to the woman. If she sees she'll be fine, or that there's nothing Erin can do, she'll resume the chase. If not, she'll focus on doing what little she can until the professionals arrives.))

[Inedible]

I Need a Hero((You can do first aid, but if you spend the time stabilizing the woman you'll lose the crooks. Do you want to do that?))

[sun_tzu]

I Need a Hero

Erin hated letting those thugs get away...she really really did. But to fight those who hurt the innocent without concern for the actual fate of the innocent would have been utterly irrational. Swallowing back her righteous anger, she focused on stabilizing the poor woman.

[Inedible]

I Need a Hero
It takes some work, she's been cut and beaten viciously, but Erin manages to stop her condition from worsening. The boy hovers over her while she works, and she can feel the anger and pain that radiates from him. He looks like he might go after them himself, but concern for his mother keeps him rooted to the spot more than anything else.

Several minutes later the sound of sirens begin to sound through the street. A police car arrives first, and a ambulance shortly after. Erin has time to slip away before then, should she choose.

[sun_tzu]

I Need a Hero

Erin hesitated. Should I go with them? They're the lawful authorities. But...I don't think this is really the sort of situation they're designed to handle, either. But that doesn't mean I should hide this sort of thing from...OK, Erin. Look. You can decide to go to the police, or you can decide to keep it a secret, but either way, you should probably make that decision AFTER you've had some time to think. So, for now, no committing to either option.
She looked at the boy. "Stay with her," she said, gesturing at his mother, "she'll need love and care more than ever in the following weeks." With that, she turned away, preferring to leave before the police got there to ask questions.

[Inedible]

I Need a HeroThe boy and his mother are left in the dim streetlights, their faces soon bathed in sharp blues and reds. The mother is carted away in the ambulance, the boy detained to answer questions. He stares off at her as she leaves, blood and tear stained face contorted into something pathetic.

Then all of it's gone from sight, and she's off on her way.

((Music: Fragile (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zlv8LWvvNQg) - Tron Legacy))

((All done. I should probably have dragged it out, because you get to the play the waiting game now! Maybe I'll figure out something to entertain you.))

[Regalus]

Death Masks

Spotting the Thing giving chase Mia put the pedal to the medal as hard as she could; only to gasp in shock as the damned Thing broke apart and reformed in front of her. Eyes widening in horror even as her brain orders her body to stop and turn away from the grotesque metamorphosis taking place before her.

Mia officially had no idea what was going on, or what she was even dealing with. This thing, whatever it was wanted to end her that much was clear; damn thing could shapeshift and was now reciting poetry at her. Moreover it was far, far faster than she could ever hope to be. Worse still, she was alone. She had no way to escape the thing; it was obvious it had only let things come this far because it was toying with her.

For the briefest moment part of her considered just stopping rather than just turning around; maybe it would end quickly, maybe she shouldn't keep fighting this abomination. Not like she had the strength to. Maybe it was for the best...Like hell it is! she reprimanded herself as she steeled her resolve. She couldn't do that, she wouldn't do that; and she sure as well wasn't going to let herself get offed by a tentacle monster without a fight!

The young gymnast felt something stir within her as the tendrils came within range; it was like a bolt of lightning had shot through her body from the inside out. She felt an almost indescribable lightness to her body as she leaped backwards; her body seemingly moving by impulse as adrenaline and wonder took hold of her. Hardly noticing the set of ten cards that had appeared in her hands, or when she had tossed them all at the creature

It wasn't until after she her new sneakers squeaked against the gymnasium floor, and she felt the foreign weight upon her body that her mind finally caught up to her; even less sure now of what had just happened than before.

((OOC))
Feel like I should summarize her turn, though I know it's not necessary for the prelude; though it seems like good practice for once the campaign formally commences.

Basically this would've been her paying a Willpower to increase her defense, paying a 1 Wisp to reactively transform; before moving away from the creature, possibly invoking Aria via Celestial Dance, and then doing a medium autofire Burst with her Levinbolt Charm at the creature.

[jamieth]

In Sleep He Sang To Me
Rolling out from beneath a falling husk, Shirley grabs a particularly sharp piece of a chandelier; for a brief moment, she considers stabbing the monster's heart - that is, assuminng it's heart is in the same place as the humans' - or brain, but decides against it; who knows what kind of reflexive convulsions that might cause? Instead, she thrusts the spike into crature's arm, hoping that stopping the blood supply to its hand would cause it to release the grasp of its' prisoners. That's what is most important now, after all.

[Ecksdee]

Me and Gravity
Nerissa looked into Marisol's eyes, face pleading with her not to go through with this. At the same time the strange woman looked over in her direction, and Nerissa wanted to scream at her to help -- to stop an innocent person from ending their life. But instead she spoke something over to the emotionally wrecked girl -- something that in Nerissa eyes only served to push her onward in jumping to her doom.

"NO!" Nerissa screamed, feeling as though she was fighting a loosing battle. If only she could reach her in time. If only... If only... If only...

Time seemed to slow for her then as something else took over. She sprung forward with an inhuman amount of force, and it was suddenly as if her body weigh nothing. Threads of fabric spun from nothing and surrounded her body, transforming her into what she needed to be -- or rather, what she always wanted to be. When her feet hit the ground again the change was complete (http://www.zerochan.net/1026268), a golden scepter clutched within her grasp. Her eyes were filled with hope and determination. No one was going to die today.

[sun_tzu]

I Need a Hero (post-script):
My name is Erin Watson, and I've been having a weird couple of days.
This...transformed state of mine...I seem able to return to it without too much trouble. Like a superhero. I found a secluded spot to run a few tests in, and the Boomstaff (that's what I'm calling it) seems to work just the way my instincts told me it would. Which I guess means that next time, I CAN shoot the gangsters without worries.
I still need to get in touch with that guy, find out how well his mother is doing. How well HE is holding up. He was so furious - understandably so. I hope he isn't doing something stupid.
I've been trying to find information online about this. That...MIGHT take a while, but I'm gonna keep trying. There's got to be an explanation to this. So much of what I'm doing lately defies our current understanding of science...this suggests that there's SO MUCH MORE left to find out! That bit is actually pretty exciting.
I wonder if there's an...INTENT behind my powers? Did someone or something deliberately give them to me? Am I supposed to be San Diego's resident superhero, patrolling the streets? Not enough data. I should...
...Ergh, right now, I should try to get some sleep. I'll probably be dreaming about this all night, too.

((Probably gonna end up having her visit to the Dreamlands. We can play it or have it happen off-screen, whichever you think works best...but one way or another, Erin's gonna need the Queen to give her some explanations. XD ))

[Inedible]

Death Masks
By the time she realizes what she’s done there are several dozen cards sticking out of the masked blob. It writhes for a moment, its neck elongating, turning down to view the items imbedded in itself. It seems confused for a moment. Then its skin seems to harden, crack, and begin to crumble away. It fall falls into a pile, and there’s a hollow thud against the wooden floor of the gymnasium.

What remains when the shadow is gone is something just as strange. It’s the mask, but there’s something attached behind it. It’s a rusted metal box with several wires and pipes sticking out of it, about the size of a basketball. From it oozes a viscous, dark liquid. Wisps of black smoke spew out the side, and occasionally a spark pops from the box.

In Sleep He Sang to MeThe blow to the creature’s arm does much more than Shirley might have thought. When she jabs the chunk of chandler into its arm the metal glows, pulsing with the light of her will once before a ripple of energy rips through the dark skin on the beast. It’s entire upper arm is removed, shoulder melting away, hand falling free and going limp. Dreamers begin to scatter, fleeing across the hall.

The beast raises itself on one hand, trying to balance and raise itself up, howling while it does. If she could find the perfect place to strike, such a blow might tear out an even more pivotal part of the monster.

Me and GravityThe older woman on the bridge looks, just for a moment, surprised at the transformation that occurs in the girl speeding toward her. Just for a second, and then it’s something more quizzical. She takes one step backward, sliding away from the railing and the girl perched on it.

The burst of speed from Nerissa brings her closer enough to grab Marisol, and the cry that the Princess gives seems to have some effect. The girl on the rail’s turns again, teary eyes turned down toward Nerissa. She waves again, and then she flings herself down into Nerissa’s arms. Whether she realizes who she is or not, she seems to recognize her as a friend. And she tells Nerissa it all, who she can’t take the bullying anymore, how her parents treat her, everying.

“You know,” Mentions the older woman in a dry voice, “The weak don’t deserve to survive in this world. You should have let her find the truth.” And then she turns, beginning to move down the bridge and away.

I Need a Hero((You'll find that you're taken to the Dreamlands fairly naturally, and you'll have your audience with your queen. She'll tell you all the stuff you're supposed to do. You can find a small community online of people like you. As for the kid, he doesn't show up at school over the next week. He's with his mother in the hospital, or off doing something else. I think I'm not going to play out your meeting with your queens, you can just assume you get the basics.))

[Regalus]

Death Masks

Mia stares at the box curiously, unsure how the cards had made the beast crumble; let alone where the box had come from, why it was sent for her, or if there were more of these Things around.

She decided to grab her things, before poking the strange box with a rather long rod; ready to run and/or strike if it did anything weird. Well weirder.

[jamieth]

In Sleep He Sang To Me
Now, with the hostages - relatively - safe, Shirley can finally concentrate on solving the main problem... She takes a quick look at Holmes, to make sure she won't mess with his actions, then raises her weapon again.
With the effect her last hit had caused, it doesn't take long to decide on a place to strike; in fact, even as she goes for the creature's neck, her mind is already occupied by the questions she's going to ask after it ends than by the fight itself.
The most important of these questions being, naturally, "What does that all mean?", followed by, "where exactly I am? Well, besides 'in a dream', I mean?" and "what happens now - what can Moriarty be up to?"

((Should the creature actually perish, she's going to ask Holmes all that. If not - well, she'll still ask them later.))

[Ecksdee]

Me and Gravity
"It's going to be ok, Marisol..." Nerissa soothes, rubbing the sobbing girl's back as she unloads everything she's been going through. She still isn't quite sure what's happened to her. Why she's dressed in this frilly yet comfortable get up or why she's feeling so empowered right now. But she does know one thing -- she saved Marisol. And that's what truly matters.

The strange woman's comment earns a withering look from Nerissa, though she doesn't say anything in reply -- instead just watching the figure move off. "Good riddance..." She says lowly, hoping to never encounter this awful person again...

[Inedible]

Death Masks
There aren’t any more things around, at least as far as Mia can tell. The box lets out a puff of smoke when prodded, then another. The sheer sight of it is enough to fill the girl with a sense of foreboding, and even though it no longer moves she can’t shake the feeling that the mask is looking at her. In fact, when the lights flicker back to life, she can see the gleam of lenses behind the sockets.

There's a light there. A tiny red dot that blinks several times, and then goes dim.

((Do your choice is, you can either keep the box and mask, or you can destroy them. They’re not completely dormant, but they don’t seem immediately hostile.))

In Sleep He Sang to MeWhen the weapon is impaled in the thing’s neck it writhes, squirming back and forth madly as more ugly ripples pass across it’s flesh. It lets out one terribly scream, and then crashes to the floor once again.
The crowd is gone now, having vanished from Shirley’s mindscape.

Sherlock remains, the man lowering his weapon slowly. He sticks his pipe back into his mouth as he turns to look at the girl, commenting,
“Excellent work, Watson.” Anything else he might be intending to say is cut short. The body of the monster erupts in a flash of light. Hot, violent light, and it’s over.

Shirley is lying in her bed, alone in her room. She’s enfolded in her Regalia, and in one hand she grasps a magnifying glass in a white-knuckled grip.

Things have changed.

Music: Fragile (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zlv8LWvvNQg) - Tron Legacy

((That’s it! The next time Shirley sleeps she’ll be taken to an audience with her Queen to learn the gist of what she is. She’ll also meet Holmes again fairly often when she dreams. Despite his best efforts, no trace of Moriarty is to be found.))

Me and Gravity
Marisol stays with Nerissa like that for hours. It seems to help, and Nerissa can wash away her fears and despair, for the moment. She agrees eventually to go away from the bridge, following along, still sobbing occasionally. It barely even occurs to her to ask why the Princess is dressed so, nor consider why. She'll accept any offer presented.

And the woman in black merely goes on her way, vanishing across the arc of the bridge, leaving no reminders of her presence. Today she's lost, but there are always other days.

Music: Fragile (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zlv8LWvvNQg) - Tron Legacy

((The next time Nerissa sleeps she'll be taken to an audience with her Queen and learn basically what she's supposed to be doing and what she is. I think that's it for this, but you can add whatever you'd like to do with Marisol for now. Nerissa will have the next week to learn about herself and all her tricks.))

[sun_tzu]

I Need a Hero (epilogue)
My name is Erin Watson, and I'm reincarnated nobility from a past version of reality before it got rebooted by the metaphysical forces of evil.
Yeah. Processing that has been taking the better part of my week.
I still need some time to think about it all. The things I've learned about the meta-History of the world...The things I've seen in the Dreamlands...My powers...The Darkness, the Twilight Queens...The Queen of Diamonds...My duties...
Gotta say, the Queen of Diamonds was...interesting. Quite the character. I'm still wondering how accurate the things I've been told are...I mean, I've found no real inconsistencies, but still. More importantly, though...I am now tasked with power and responsibility for saving the world. I mean, more so than before.
I'm still trying to figure out what to do. Create some Princess task force for eliminating Darkness targets in California? Patrol the streets in my futuristic getup, dispensing vigilante justice against street crime? Become a teacher?
In the more immediate term, however, there's someone I need to check up on. He's supposed to be with his mom right now, so...
Hiding in an unwatched corner of the hospital, Erin transformed into her Princess form, and set out to find the boy and his mother.

[Regalus]

Death Masks

Mia exhaled in relief when the thing didn't exploud or something, and took the time to finally survay herself now that she had a chance to take a breather; which surprised her, mostly because she wasn't panicking, calling her parents or smashing the thing to bits out of principal. Everything just seemed so...calm all of the sudden; she barely winced when the lights came back. It felt nice, even if she still had no idea how or why she was wearing this; let alone where the uniform had come from or how she knew to use the cards. That said, she did approve of her new clothes.

That's when she turned back to the thing and saw it; it was staring at her, she could feel it. Mia tapped on the case on her side, releasing a trio of cards which flew to her hand, and prepared to deal the finishing blow.

This thing had just tried to kill her, and scared the living crap out of her no more than a minute ago; a fact that surprised her. Now her attacker sat a few meters away, blinking at her on the floor; a helpless paper weight, easy pickings for her. Just like she'd been to it moments ago. Yet her hand felt heavy for the moment as she stared at the pitiful little thing in front of her.

She mauled over options in her head as she stared back at the thing; surprised by how calmly she was dealing with this. It wasn't until the things eyes stopped flashing that she finally made her choice. She took a few additional steps back for safety, before flicking her cards at the abominable machine.

[Inedible]

Everyone has finished their preludes. Anyone who had one gains +1 XP.[/CENTER]

Death Masks
The cards cut through the machine like a knife through butter, shredding the metal and returning to Mia’s hand once it’s been sliced into pieces. There’s another spark, and half of the device erupts into a tiny explosion. A cloud of black smoke passes over her, fades into the air around. What remains is a twisted heap of steel and a chipped off chunk of white porcelain from the mask. She’s left with just slag, and nothing else.

She can feel things are different now. The inner light burning inside her has come to life, and all the power it brings is available to her. The rest of the night, though, will go as usual. She’ll be picked up, she’ll go home, she’ll sleep. When she does she’ll dream of many things, vivid dreams of palaces and queens, courts and duties.

Music: Fragile (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zlv8LWvvNQg) - Tron Legacy

((Next time Mia sleeps she’ll be taken to an audience with her Queen and be given the basic rundown of her new purpose in life. This is it for your prelude. I feel like I didn’t give you a great one, but I’ll try my best to make up for it in game.))

I Need a Hero (epilogue)
Asking around gets Erin the hospital, and she'll find the boy is there, keeping his mother company. She's still recovering, but the injuries will last for quite some time. No other family seems available to visit.

He has no desire to talk should she attempt it, and she'll be escorted out since you're not a member of the family. Some things take time.

((I am a stone! You shall not draw blood from me!

If you want to keep visiting you can, but for this first week you're not going to make much progress. When the game starts proper then you might. I am a horrible monster, I know.))

[Inedible]

Nakama

Things have been different ever since the transformation, though. The Hopeful can feel the passion of the people around them burn like fire, or chill like ice. When they’re happy the Hopeful can feel it in their bones, and it’s wonderful. That doesn’t happen very often. Mostly it’s pain, anger, fear, despair. A whole week of adjusting to that, trying to fight it where they can, little candles in the storm. Each of them has a purpose now, at least, and a will to go out and do it.

Today was a normal day. Classes, lunch, schoolwork. Friends and brief bits of gossip throughout the day. The boy Erin saved before still isn’t at school. The rest of the gymnastics team ambushes Mia at lunch to discuss their next meeting. Marisol joins Nerissa for lunch, while Kim witnesses an irritated teacher sentencing a large number of students to detention. Someone throws a wad of paper at the back of Shirley’s head while she’s reading. Sola and Shina are invited to a party later on in the week. Nothing too different from any other day.

After school all of the girls have their own reasons for staying after. It's several hours past the time the classes should be over. The clubs and after school activities have been left out, and only a skeleton crew of staff still remains at the school.

All at once, all of them sense something not right. An ugly feeling in the pit of the stomach, hairs standing on end, a brief nausea. It’s following instantly by a sound, a sharp crack that echoes across the open courtyard. Every one of them can hear it, and the general direction it comes from. The same direction the source of the unpleasant feeling is coming from.

((This Is where things get fun. Here (http://www.sandiegohighschool.org/images/location/SD_High_Map.pdf) is a map of the school. The source of the disturbance is in one of the rooms in Building 800. You can write yourself being wherever and staying after school for whatever reason. Everyone will roll Dexterity+Athletics. You will arrive at the scene in that order.

We will be rolling for things now. You all also get a full pool of Wisps, because I'm very nice.))

[Regalus]

Mia sighed as she finished locking up the club room, just her luck to have lost her bet and gotten stuck closing up shop by herself. On her way out she couldn't help but stare at the spot where she had destroyed that...thing. Even after talking around in her court she wasn't sure what that thing was; though most had agreed she'd handled it well enough given her inexperience. More than a few had cracked up by the time she mentioned the shadowy tendrils. Her court was certainly weird, but fun. Moreover she enjoyed her transformed self, it was sort of like a vacation from herself in a way. It was peaceful, yet invigorating; even if she would eventually she'd be in over her head.

They'd helped her through the first week, and finding the forums had been...interesting to say the least. She hadn't realized there were so many others that had blossomed like her over the years. She hoped to find SOMEONE who had an idea where the thing she had come from, bit sadly had yet to get an answer.

Her reminiscing was sadly cut short by the sudden tidal wave of nausua that hit her. The queen had warned her about this, she had been dreading it really; but it seemed that fate had decided that it was time she faced her royal duties.

Mia took a deep breath and stashed her things before transforming in privacy; welcoming the clarity and warmth of her externalized light, before running off towards the source. Readying herself for what was to come.


DEX +ATH+ARIA: [roll0]

[jamieth]

That last week was... weird. But, however weird it was, Shirley did enjoy the benefits of her hew position - that clarity of thought that came with it, and the ability to speak with the police - and be actually treated seriously - was really nice (and yes, she did test it in field conditions... with caution). And, while she hadn't had much chance to socialize with other Radiants outside of the dream-visits to the Court, knowing they ARE there was nice.

Of course, Radiants weren't the only thing that were there, the reminder came with crystal clarity as Shirley was reading outdoors - and these other things were... less nice.

Shirley tossed the book aside and jumped to her feet, ready to run to investigate the source of wrongness... then, picked the book again, carefully placed it into her bag and walked to the B800, with hurry, but not so much as not to make a short detour to transform in private.

Does the -1 for lacking dots in Athletics apply here? If so, disregard the second die.
[roll0]

[sun_tzu]

Erin started making her way from the library to the debate team, lost in thought.
Prior to her Blossoming, she had (in what she suspected was not an entirely atypical messiah complex for her age) considered it her duty to use her brains and non-apathy to make the world a better place. Nowadays, she mostly wondered how her powers figured into the equation. She actually hoped to get the debate team to help her out, with the subject she had in mind - "What could superheroes do in the real world?".
Duties aside, her Blossoming had been pretty amazing. Discovering something so big and vast...There was so much left to understand, to figure out, about her abilities, about the Dreamlands, about the universe! And not to forget, she had saved two lives in her first minute as a Princess. So, all in all...despite all the stress and doubts and concerns...She had considered this the best week of her life. Then again, Spider-Man loved his powers when he first got them, didn't he?
And then she heard the scream. Other thoughts were pushed to the side as she ran toward the source.

Should I remove dice due to having no Dots in Athletics? If not, here's the roll:
[roll0]

[Mechanix]

Running made her feel good. It helped cleanse the stain of unhappiness and negative emotions that seemed to congeal over her mind recently. Every time school ended, she had to wash her head with exhausting physical activities. Which is why she was now inside the gym, running circles and trying to empty her mind.
She was not wasting time anyway; sports would prove very useful to her new mission, she was sure of it. She needed to be fit and athletic, always on the edge, ready to blast away the darkness. She could not afford weakness. Nor could she afford to throw her studies away, but choices were for losers. She could do it all.

Her pace slowed suddenly as a dark pressure seized her stomach; she stopped, looking around - and then was the sound. A chill raised goosebumps all over her body, and she took off running. Whatever that was, it couldn't be good.

7d10

[Ecksdee]

Nerissa waved goodbye to Marisol, watching the girl cheerfully walk off. She seemed much happier since the bridge incident. Talk about a load off her shoulders. She still kept a close eye on her -- looking for any relapses in her behavior. Folding her arms across her chest she leaned against her locker and sighed. The other, much stranger thing that occurred during the incident still stuck with her. As did the dream she'd had afterwards. The woman who identified herself as the Queen of Hearts had kindly explained Nerissa's new position in the world to her. She was a Princess -- and she was now saddled with powers that would allow her to change things for the better. It was a lot to process, but she'd shakily accepted.

Now she had to deal with the range of emotions she picked up from those around her. It all proved to be quite overwhelming. Nerissa was seeing sides of people they normally wanted to keep hidden. It felt... almost wrong. But still there was some good to be found. If she could really help people -- mend their broken hearts and dreams -- then she could deal with the day to day issues of being a Princess brought on.

The Debate Club was meeting up after school. She was feeling pretty tired, and considered skipping out. But that wouldn't have been fair to the other members. She'd grin and bear it. Sighing, she'd just pushed herself off the locker when there was a scream that shook her to the very core. "What...?" She went still, turning in the direction it came from. And that's when she felt it. A profound sense of wrongness that absolutely made her teeth rattle. Steeling her nose, she took off, running with all she had.


No successes unfortunately. :(

[silphael]

As Sola was tiding her things for the music club, she felt a strange feeling, deep inside her, as somewhere in the school, something were darkening.

"I'll be back soon to finish, just thought about something I forgot!"

And she took the direction of the feeling, half running, half wondering what was happening, and the last half ((yes, I know, that's 1.5 ^^ )) wondering where Shina was.

I may need her help if this is what is seems...

Oh, and 3 successes... with 3 dices.

[Inedible]

In the courtyard of the B800 building, between the parallel rows of green and white structures, a conflict is taking place. A man is crawling across the dirt, bent and bleeding, leaving a trail of crimson behind him.

Clustered around him are four figures composed of rotting black skin, vaguely humanoid, but too tall and too thin, their fingers ending in vicious claws. It may take a moment to realize that they aren’t actually attacking the man, but just the opposite. They seem to be defending him, huddled in a wall around him as he drags himself away.

What they stand facing is another man, a tall fellow dressed in dirty street clothes. He’s got a gun in hand, and seems to be leveling it in the general direction of the man surrounded by the murky looking zombies. The weapon is, unlike his attire, of fairly good make. It even has a silencer on the barrel, very professional.

((Alright, here’s how it’s going to go. Those that scored the highest on their athletics checks will roll initiative and enter the first round. After the first round everyone who scored poorly will enter the second round.

We are now entering the first round. The posting order is:
Initiative Rolls (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showpost.php?p=13943034&postcount=12)
Injured Man: 14
Sola: 14
Mia: 12
Marionette III: 11
Kim: 10
Gunman: 9
Marionette II: 8
Marionette IV: 8
Marionette I: 5

Everyone else will roll into init on the next round. Shirley is going to be last in round 2 no matter what, because she was walking (and if she was running she critical failed, so!)))

The injured man is still furiously crawling away by the time that Mia and Kim make it to the scene. He’s mumbling something that they can’t hear, his face pressed nearly to the ground and his voice so low. He hasn’t even recognized the presence of those approaching yet, so frantic is he to crawl his way across the gravel.
((Accumulated success: 1 (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showpost.php?p=13943065&postcount=14). Ignore the attack roll on Mia. I flubbed initiative and though the Marionette went first.)

When the transformed figure of Mia appears there’s an immediate reaction from the shambling guardians. A low, agitated growling passes between them. There are a few things that might be words, but not in any tongue anyone is familiar with. Several turn toward her, empty eyes staring.

((Current situation: 4 shadow zombies are protecting 1 injured man crawling away while another is aiming a gun at him.

IMPORTANT NOTE:
Shadows have 2 defense (-2 to your attack roll)
Gunman has 4/3 defense (-4 vs melee, -3 vs ranged)
Injured Man has 1 defense (-1 to your attack roll)

Next is: Kim))

[Iscariote]

Sorry for the late.

Shina is laying on the ground. She's skiping the last hours to think on the underground background she learned from the Sword Queen, a little smile on the face.
But, since a moment ago, there something that disturbe her. She doesn't recognize it, but the more the time go through, the more she felt uncertain.
She open an eye and look around her. She stand up and walk to the direction of the weird sensation.

Hmmm!! Perhaps I could call Sola.

Shina take her phone and start to dial her friend's number.

(3d10)[1][3][4](8)

[silphael]

Quickly seeking cover, Sola sees the others, and wave hands toward them.

"Hi! Can you do anything against them? Zombies are so disgusting!"

At that time, her phone rang.

"Yes, Shina? Uh, I'm already there, your help could be nice... Yes, quickly if you can. Oh no no, all is fine! How where your class today? Oh, that? shouldn't be a problem!"

She now seems to be incredibly concentrated on her phone call.


((For Iscariote:
Je suis parti sur une conversation (de ta part) du genre:

"Tu l'as senti aussi? Besoin d'aide? Tout va bien? Ca va, mais on a un problème plus urgent sur les bras..."))

English version of Iscariote guessed speech:

"Did you feel it? Need some help? All fine? Fine too, but we've got a problem here..."

[Inedible]

((Mia is up. I won't cue you when it's your turn every time, so keep track of the initative if you can. I will, however, edit the initiative roster to put your name in bold letters. Also a few other people were smarter than me and noted in their preludes that declaring what you're doing OOCly is helpful.

So at the end of your posts just make an OOC note of all your attacks, spends, etc in the future.

Also I like how Sola is totally nonchalant about this. I clearly need to put the fear of God into her! :D))

[Regalus]

Mia's eyes widened as she recognizes the sound of the gun shots, taping her deck as a set of cards flew into her grasp; she was unsure why this was happening at her school. I don't think anyone else was attacked last week...at least no one who's spoken about it; could this be related, and why here again of all places? she asked herself, considering the dreadful possibility that one of her fellow students was Tainted by the Dark. However upon her arrival, she did not face the sight she expected.

There was no sign of any shadowy blobs or umbral mechas; no, what she saw in the distance as she approuched the courtyard was far from what she had expected. There were zombies and sure enough the other man was attacking. Oddly enough, the zombies seemed to be on the defensive; shielding, who she could only assume was their necromancer, from the man shooting at them. She did't recognize either of them from school; in fact that gun men didn't seem to be from the area at all, or he didn't appear to be a noble either.

Still she had no idea what was going on. The shooter seemed no worse for wear, while the necromancer was the one with a limp. No, the man was bleeding; hell he could barely even walk. She had to act fast, but was at a loss on what to do. She had been told that their duty was to defend the people and their smiles, as well as to fight off the darkness and spread the Light.; but she couldn't just jump into this either.

The necromancer was clearly Tainted, but she didn't now how. She knew that some of those were touched by the Darkness were nothing more than hollow puppets for the darkness; but she'd also heard that some, mostly those recently Tainted really, weren't quite beyond it all yet or so she was told. The consensus in the courts and forums seemed to be summed up as 'better safe than sorry'; echoing her decision last week, but still. This was a living bleeding person; was it okay just to let him be killed like this?

Of course, her train was stopped upon noticing that the zombies had noticed her impending arrival and seemed less than thrilled about it. She swore she saw the things snarling at them. Realizing that her inner Light was no doubt agitating the creatures she tentively backed off; slowing down a safe distance away from from the zombies, far enough to hopefully be considered of less import than the man shooting at their master. Seeing as the shooter seemed to be doing well enough against the zombies; Mio took a defensive stance before eyeing the shooterer in hopes of divining some greater insight regarding the situation.

((OOC: 1 wisp to load Levinbolt charm. Not sure if this is possible in combat time, but I took a Dodge action, and decided to stay well outside of melee range; as in the zombies would need to leave their defensive line quite a bit in order to attack me. I am hoping to use an Empathy check (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showpost.php?p=13946642&postcount=19) to find out a bit more about the attackers emotional state. Is he scared, fighting in self-defense, outraged, angry or does he seem completely unemotional or unaffected by the fact he's shooting at zombies, ect?.

Given that I doubt he's hiding his emotion atm, wasn't sure if this needed to take an action in on itself or not. If it did, let me know and I suppose I'll swap it for the dodge action.))

[Inedible]

Looking at the situation and the man with a gun, Mia can tell, mostly, that this guy means business. He seems only briefly hesitant at the mass of zombies, as if he hadn’t expected them, but he also seems to be steeling his nerve to cut his way through them to get to the bleeding man. It’s very, very clear that he does not like man on the ground. It’s clearly not an irrational rage that’s driving the gunman forward, more like cold, angry purpose. He doesn't even seem to notice that there are other people arriving.

Moving backward doesn’t take all the attention off of Mia in the meantime, pairs of burning eyes do follow her. The first shadowy zombie to peel off from the pack, however, moves to deal with the immediate target approaching. It moves with surprising speed, lunging forward toward the man with the gun. Long, clawed hands reach out to grab him by the throat, gripping and keeping him from pursuing as it raises claws to strike at him.

((Mia finds out that the gunman is out to kill the crawling man with cold resolve, because he is his enemy. Marionette III grapples (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showpost.php?p=13947850&postcount=20) and holds the Gunman.

Next: Kim))

[Mechanix]

Light surges. Her resolve strengthens like steel. In her hand, always, the staff, her wisps flowing into it to power its destructive bolts.
Am I even still human? asks a scared girl inside her, but that's the kind of pointless navel-gazing she could afford before. Now she doesn't have the time. Besides, she's a Radiant. She saves the world on a daily basis. It's all that matters.
She runs and soon she's there, in the yard, facing the brutal violence of a murder about to happen, thr gross stench of tainted magic - zombies. The foulest of desecration of the dead. Like some aborted Darkspawn, too dumb to act on its own. Still a murderous abomination, grasping at throats withj its cold rotten fingers. The mere thought makes her want to puke.
But it's also a man on the ground, crawling for his life, and another armed and willing to kill.
Not here, she thinks. Anywhere but here.
Bur she doesn't have time to think as one man is being assaulted by the undead. Before she even formulates the thought, the Device is leaping and blue energy bursts from its tip, illuminating the night.Burn, she thinks, but it's the power of water she's summoning.

Pretend you know what you're doing. Speak loud and carry your head like a grown-up. Like you ain't scared for your life.
And so she does.
'Drop your weapons at once and cease this fight!' She cries out, staff smoldering with released power. 'This territory is under my protection, identify yourselves, or suffer the consequences!' Please do. Please please please stop fighting and listen to me.

I am spending two wisps to load my staff and use the Acqua invocation to improve my attack on the zombie grapplking the gunman. And, uh, shouting, I guess?
I'm rolling 9 dice because I assume the zombie's defense applies, since you said 'your attacks,' but it's a ranged attack; if their defense does not apply I get two more dice.
Oh, and Acqua shots blasts the enemy 6 x Successes yards away.
[roll0]

[Inedible]

The blast from Kim's weapon literally tears a chunk out of the creature locked in struggle with the man, part of its shoulder and side vanishing in an instant, providing a sickening view of its innards and dark crimson liquid that begins to drip from the opened wound.

The damage done to the monster is enough to knock it off balance, the man in it’s grip twisting around, shoving the thing just a few inches backward. Enough to break it’s grasp, and then he raises his pistol to its chest, the trigger squeezed and the gun letting out another sharp spit. The impact seems to have some effect, but not much. The creature spasms, shaking once, but still seems to be standing upright and ready to continue its attack.

“Help or get out of the way!” That’s the only reply the man with the weapon gives, a sharp snarl as he staggers backward.

Kim’s efforts have attracted the attention of one of the other monsters. It turns, beginning to stumble in her direction, breaking off from the rest of the group. Though it’s slow enough that it’ll take time to get to her, it quickly shows that it has other methods of harming the girl. It’s head jerks back violently, a disgusting gargling noise emitting from it before it spits. It’s a thick chunk of bubbling, boiling black ichor that comes forth, soaring through the air and splattering across the girl.

Abruptly, a shriek cuts through the night air. It comes from a large, middle-aged woman standing in one of the classroom doorways. She’s a figure most of the girls will recognize, one of their teachers, Ms. Grout. She’s standing paralyzed, eyes wide, viewing the scene in front of her.

The sound draws another one of the thin creatures from its duty. It begins to lumber forward, speeding its way toward the defenseless teacher.

The last one remains standing vigil, shuffling slowly along behind the crawling man, keeping between him and the man with the gun. The fellow on the ground is still frantically trying to flee, managing to actually get feet under him and start stumbling. The front of him is covered in blood, and he’s muttering almost incoherently, pleading, “No, no, stay with me, no, you stupid things...”

Now all the girls have arrived and can see the scene playing out in front of them.

((Summary: Gunman breaks the grapple (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showpost.php?p=13949593&postcount=23)after Kim’s attack hits and plugs a bullet into the zombie. It is still up.

Marionette II begins moving toward Kim and spits evil gunk at her. She takes 2L (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showpost.php?p=13949593&postcount=23) unless she decides to use Holy Shield.

A teacher hears the sound and comes to investigate. She’s paralyzed by shock and fear. Marionette IV begins to move toward her.

Marionette I remains near the injured man, who continues to flee.

NEW INITIATIVE (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showpost.php?p=13949593&postcount=23):
Injured Man: 14 (Severely Injured)
Sola: 14
Mia: 12
Marionette III: 11 (Moderately Injured)
Kim: 10
Erin: 10
Nerissa: 10
Shina: 9
Gunman: 9
Teacher: 8
Marionette II: 8
Marionette I: 5
Shirley: 1 (For taking her time/check fail)

NOTES: Now updated for remembering rules!
Shadows have 3/2 defense (-3 Melee/Archery/Thrown / -2 Firearms/Levinbolt)
Gunman has 4/3 defense (-4 vs Melee/Archery/Thrown, -3 vs Firearms/Levinbolt)
Injured Man has 2/0 defense (-2 vs Melee/Archery/Thrown, -0 vs Firearms/Levinbolt)
Remember that firing into a melee nets you a -2 penalty!

Next up: Sola, then Mia))

[silphael]

Sola:

"You're near now, right Shina? I'm at the angle of the two building... oh, wait, I see you!"

Rising again, Sola waves high her hand toward Shina.

"Here I am! See you soon!"

And she turns her phone off.

"Go go Light! Hope forever! Darkness fades away!"

((Trying to support people to heroic deeds! 4 successes, not bad!))

[Regalus]

Mia Hendrix

Mia found the gunner worrisome; if only because his intent to kill had nothing to do with zombies. That said she beamed upon spotting the other princess; over joyed by knowing she wasn't the only on in the area, even if she had a feeling neither party would heed her words. Sure enough, neither did.

Mia was deciding how to disarm the gunner when she spotted Mrs.Grout, and sadly she wasn't the only one; it seemed that one of the other zombies had gotten peckish, and decided to go for a bite. Noticing this Mia sped over to the teacher, going around the gunner so as to remain outside of his line of fire; before flicking on of her cards at the offending zombie. "Hey Teach, unless you wanna be zombie chow it's time to get the lead out and hit the road!," she called, hoping to remind the venerable educator of her flight instincts.

((OOC:Levinbolt attack to Marrionette IV, accumulaing 5 (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showpost.php?p=13952510&postcount=28) damage success, and moving towards Mrs. Grout taking a path that goes around the back of the gunner and well outside his line of fire.))

[Inedible]

The shadow that’s on its way toward the teacher suddenly finds itself with much less mass. Mia’s attack takes its entire left arm off, and a good chunk of the shoulder. It howls when the energy strikes it, but continues on nonetheless.

The Marionette next to the gunman is still focused on him, one long arm sweeping outward. The arc of motion sends claws raking against the man’s chest, slicing easily through the clothing, leaving a shallow gash behind.

((Marionette I attacks Gunman for 1L (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showpost.php?p=13953526&postcount=31)

Next: Kim, Erin, Nerissa, and then Shina))

[sun_tzu]

What the...?
As bookish Erin Watson reached the scene, trying to catch her breath, she attempted to make sense of the situation. Zombies? Injured guy on the floor? Teacher? Guy with a gun? Girls in...are those other Radiants, or something else? What the hell is going on here?
Figure it out later. Save the teacher first! I'll transform and shoot the...
Wait. I need to transform, load my Boomstaff, AND shoot that thing? I'll never do it all in time...But I HAVE TO!
Raising a hand in the air, she shouted: "To make sense of it all: The Soul of Reason!" As she did, light swirled around her, replacing her clothing with a dress of flowing, liquid silver, looking like a costume out of an old science-fiction tale; in her hands, she was holding an equally futuristic-looking staff, which she was now aiming at the zombie assaulting Mrs. Grout. "Don't touch her!"

Spending one Willpower to add dice to transformation roll. Exceptional success (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showpost.php?p=13953591&postcount=33), so it's a reflexive action.
Spending one Wisp to summon her Levinbolt weapon fully loaded.
Shooting the injured zombie. Unless I've made a mistake somewhere, 3 successes on the attack roll (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showpost.php?p=13953606&postcount=34) plus one rank of Damaging on her Levinbolt mean a total damage of 4?

[Inedible]

The blast from Erin's staff is enough to tear the rest of the upper torso from the zombie, only its legs left. They fall forward in a heap, crumbling to black dust just a few seconds after.

((Marionette IV is dead and no longer a threat to the teacher. Kim is up. After her is Nerissa, then Shina.))

[Mechanix]

Kim cried out as the foul humor burned through her protective clothing. Pretty words and good intentions were soon forgotten as her hatred for the Tainted creature and her sheer rage at seeing it harm her took over; she flared her holy power and a sheet of water whirled around her, washing away the corrosive gunk - but not before it could scorch her skin.
Kim, soaked, burnt, angry, feeling momentarily empty as her Wisps had been consummed in an instant to protect her, pointed the Device at the monster, snarling.
"BEGONE!" she said as she unleashed the full power of her Levinbolt, a volley of blue ribbons riddling the undead.

((So, I'm spending one Wisp to negate one Lethal damage, leaving one Lethal wound for Kim, and the other Wisp for this turn is spent to use the Acqua Invocation; I'm adding to this the bonus from a medium-burst directed at a single zombie.
Total: 6L (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?p=13954016&posted=1#post13954016), opponent pushed back 36 yards, Levinbolt empty.))

[Ecksdee]

It felt like it took ages, but Nerissa finally arrived within the courtyard of the B800 building. What she saw taking place made her immediately gasp, covering her mouth. There was a battle taking place between what was obviously other Princesses and strange creatures. Her Queen had mentioned she'd likely encounter those like her, but Nerissa never dreamed they'd be right here -- in the school -- under her very nose.

'I have to transform...!' Planting her feet firmly on the ground Nerissa raised her right hand and proceeded to snap her fingers. Immediately a light overtook her, shifting her clothes to that of an elegant blue dress with white stockings and candy red shoes. Lowering her hand she held it out in front of her and snapped her fingers again, causing an ornate blue and white staff with a flower motif to appear within her grasp. It surprised her how natural this all felt -- but she would have time to dwell on that later. She had to help right now!

Leveling her Levinbolt at the creature standing near the gunman she focused her magic. The scepter took on a golden glow, and started to vibrate in her hand. "You will not hurt anyone else!" She shouted before firing off the energy that had accumulated within the scepter, which took the form of a burst of flower petals and colorful leaves.


*Spending one Wisp to transform reflexively...
*Spending one Wisp to summon her Levinbolt fully loaded...
*Spending a Wisp to use Terra (Quaking) in the attack...

...Could I get help with the roll? <_<

[Iscariote]

At the corner of the building, Shina recognize her friend and slap her hand. Two hand, two Heart and one Soul. Shina feel her body melt with the power of her heart and soul' sister.
They move forward the scene.

Stop this once for all, all of you and freeze.

Shina shined with her light armor and her Katana in the hand.
Every body was observed by the young adventuress.

I will not allow a kill or other wound in this place. Her glance lingered on the zombi and the wounded man.

OCC action:
1wisp for the transformation
An average roll (http://http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?p=13955100&posted=1#post13955100) to stop the action of everybody.

Edit comment: Sorry for the faults that I could make.

[Inedible]

Kim’s next bolt sends the creature that spat at her flying backward, energy surging through it, a gargled cry ripped from its mouth as its feet are rent from the ground and it’s body goes tumbling through the air. It lands with a sickening crack against the wall of one of the classrooms, leaving a splatter of black ichor behind before it starts to slowly rise to its feet again.

Shina’s cries are ignored by the combatants, busy as they are. The gunman himself is still dealing with the half-whole monster that’s lashing out at him, preventing him from moving after his target. As he jerks aside from its claws his weapon snaps up, another bullet fired. This one goes wide, slamming into the ground as the gun is knocked aside by the flailing creature.

Mrs. Grout, shocked out of her stupor by people yelling at her, seems to have found a little sense. She certainly doesn't want to step into the courtyard where who knows what in God's name is going on, but she does retreat back into the classroom. The door slams shut behind her before anything else can follow.

The final monster, the one guarding the escape of the fleeing man, turns it’s baleful gaze toward Mia when the bolt of her weapon makes her presence unable to ignore. It’s head jerks, arcing in a jagged circle before it spits its own black bolt at her. It misses, impacting the side of the building she’s standing next to. The metal instantly begins to melt and dissolve where the ichor strikes it.

((Alright. Nerissa, for Levinbolt you use Dexterity+Firearms. I notice on your sheet your Firearms is 0, but your Weaponry is 2 and you have a specialty of Scepter. What I'm thinking you intended is to have 2 in the skill that lets you actually use your weapon, so I'm going to allow you to move those dots and specialty to Firearms. Otherwise every time you use Levinbolt you'd be rolling only 1 dice.

I rolled your Dex+Firearms roll (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showpost.php?p=13955508&postcount=46) for you. You missed completely, with no dice over 8! That'll teach you to make me roll for you. :P

Shina, your words have no noticeable effect on the gunman, the zombies, or the injured man. One is busy fighting for his life, the others are presumably mindless, and the last is running for his life.

Gunman attacked Marionette III and missed (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showpost.php?p=13955550&postcount=47).
Marionette II was blown away and has to spend this turn returning to battle.
Marionette I attacked Mia and missed (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showpost.php?p=13955550&postcount=47).
Where have all my successes gone!?))

((It's finally Shirley's turn.))

[jamieth]

Approaching the B800, Shirley hears the sounds of what could anly be a fight, and starts regretting taking so much time getting here; but, well, even if she sprints the rest of the way, it won't make more than a couple seconds difference...

A chart of whats and whos forms in her mind's eye as she sees the scene; three creatures, probably of Dark origins. Several other Radiants... some I believe I saw at the Court. One that I KNOW I saw at the court; her name, Erin Watson, piqued my interest. Would be nice to meet her IRL. OK, other than that. Two people, one carries a gun, the other's injured. As clear as it gets - except the Darkspawn are on the victim's side, so does that makes shooter a good guy? Still, carrying lethal weapon on a school grounds... OK, classifying as "tentatively ally".
The creatures of Dark... are obviously enemies, but ones I'm ill-equipped to deal with. Luckily, our side has no lack of firepower. These magical weapons, Levinbolts they were called, I believe... a peculiar name, need to investigate origins. OK, the one trying to escape. Can't allow, need to question on his connection to the Darkness. Right, let's go with it.

She steps in the injured man's path, analyzing the rhythm of his moves, turning his own momentum against him...

Trying to grapple the fleeing man, using a Wist to apply Acqua: 5 dice - 1 success (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showpost.php?p=13955927&postcount=48)

[Inedible]

The injured man is in little position to resist, his stumbling path taking him directly into collision with Shirley. He attempts to struggle free from her hold, staining her with blood in the process, the girl getting a good look at the bullet hole through the man's stomach as he feebly struggles with her.

"No, no, no," He's babbling, "Not now, not now, let go! Let go!"

((Due to wound penalties and being a weakling, he rolls a single die and fails to break free! Shirley continues to grapple him.))

Round 3:
Injured Man: 14 (Severely Injured)
Sola: 14
Mia: 12
Marionette III: 11 (Moderately Injured)
Kim: 10
Erin: 10
Nerissa: 10
Shina: 9
Gunman: 9 (Minor Injuries)
Teacher: 8
Marionette I: 5 (Moderately Injured)
Shirley: 1

Round 3: Shina

[silphael]

As Sola claps her hand with Shina's, she calls her Light to wrap herself. A small but elegant golden tiara appears on her head, shining with rubises, while she now holds an orange-red harp in hands. Her dress, which was a classic blue dress, is now replaced by a long white dress, with golden embroidery and a red waistband.

She already was impressive, but now it's clear: she is the prettiest girl in this town, if not farther, and she isn't shy about it.

((Transformation roll! (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showpost.php?p=13959614&postcount=50)))

[Regalus]

Mia politely swears, as the glob of vile goo begins corroding a nearby wall. The young mahou shoujo launched another of her cards at the zombie before running for cover. Part of her was amazed by how many other nobles seemed to be popping out of the wood work, but the rest of her mind was too preoccupied by impending face melting death in goo form to greet the others; let alone wonder at the chances of all of them being in the area. It was funny, one moment she thought she was the only one in the county; and then suddenly, BAM a half dozen nobles popped up. Fate worked in weird ways.

((OOC: Levinbolt the zombie with 3 (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showpost.php?p=13961640&postcount=52) success and run for cover.))

[Inedible]

Mia's card's tear a chunk of her target's face off, sliding through the dark skin of it's head and burrowing through the other side in and drawing up a fountain of dark fluids. The left half of it's head looks like swiss cheese, gouged through by her attack. It is still up and moving, however.

The creature next to the gunman continues its assault, its long claws raking out and gouging into his arm, tearing free a few chunks of cloth and ripping open a nasty looking gash across his flesh. He lets out a sharp grunt in response, and the monster itself garbles in triumph as it continues to press the assault.

((Marionette III deals 1L (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showpost.php?p=13962483&postcount=55) to gunman))

[Mechanix]

Princesses everywhere, what was up with that? It was like some kind of big Radiant Party here; one day ago she didn't know of any Noble other than herself in this town, and now they were popping out from all over schools to fight those damned zombies. The relief she felt about receiving a much-needed help right now was kinda offset by the thought of those other times she'd had to fight evil and rescue people without anyone but herself.

Didn't matter. The Device released a burst of steam as a byproduct of heavy Acqua use; Kim actioned the handle of the staff like a piston (or the pump of a shotgun) and golden energy flared as she reloaded the staff with more of her personal energy, bringing her slightly closer to exhaustion. She'd hoped she could assess the situation and take advantage of the unexpected back-up to prepare a more intelligent action that just shooting at the zombies, but she caught sight of the gunman struggling against one of the damned things - which she had hurt before, it seemed, but still wasn't dead. Or, well, was already. Anyway.

Oh, goddammit. Why can't I catch a break?

She pointed her staff, again, and released another burst of magical power, hoping to finally bring down the monster.

((Another attack against the zombie grappling the gunman, short burst, -2 for firing into a melee, no Invocation, that's 6 dice.
2L. (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?p=13965753#post13965753)))

[Inedible]

The next blast of light that strikes the creature fighting with the arm man is enough to take it down. Golden light floods through it's body, overflowing through it's eyes and gaping wounds, the thing stumbling back before it hits the ground and burns away to ash. The gunman is left unmolested now, though he doesn't offer any immediate thanks.

Only two zombies are left on the field: The one blown back into a wall by an earlier blast is still shambling, though it looks like it's about ready to fall apart. The other is slightly more whole, attention focused on the princesses actively shooting.

[sun_tzu]

Erin surveyed the situation. Hooo-kay. Looks like we've got the overwhelming numerical advantage, assuming we're all on the same side of course. Taking out the remaining zombies will be trivial. But that still leave the matter of the other two...What IS up with them?
To be on the safe side, Erin stepped between the gunman and the injured man even as she aimed her Boomstaff on the "healthier"-looking zombie, and letting out a blast.

((Attacking the zombie attacking the Radiants. 2 successes (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?p=13965838#post13965838), two dots of damage.))

[Ecksdee]

Nerissa looked greatly distressed when her shot missed, gritting her teeth. 'Don't give up!' If she started feeling sorry for herself now she'd never be able to hack this new responsibility that had so rightfully chosen her. Taking a step back she reassessed the situation. Her eyes quickly fell on the shambling zombie. It was nearly finished, and looked as if one good shot would end things...

Pointing her scepter at it she let it charge up like earlier before thrusting it forward as it fired off.


Spending 1 Wisp to reload her levinbolt

2 successes (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?p=13969220#post13969220), if I did that right...

[Inedible]

The zombie that was lunging to rejoin the melee didn’t have enough left in it to take the next hit, as wounded as it was by the previous strike. Nerissa’s attack hit home, blowing the creature backward again and pinning it to the wall once more. That time, though, it didn’t get back up. Instead the distorted, emaciated shape slumped to the ground and crumpled to ash.

[Iscariote]

Shina looks at the stage and approaches the last undead, her sword in the hand, upon her head.

"No respect for the death, no respect for the live" She declares, before to try to cut the undead body.

Something's wrong. So she jump back and take a defense position.

Oups. Fail (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?p=13971646&posted=1#post13971646)

[Inedible]

With the immediate threat gone the gunman began to move toward his original target. The fact that Erin stood in the way prevents him from taking any shots in that direction, but he did raise his gun. For a moment it seemed as if he was going to fire at the girl, and then the weapon turned. Another sharp spit came from the silenced weapon and the final marionette jerked back as the bullet buried itself into its head. It staggered for just a moment, and then collapsed to the ground in a pile of ash.

The man that was struggling in Shirley’s grasp continued to do so, attempting to wrench himself free with little effect. The wounds and the effort of escape had worn him down, made his efforts largely ineffectual. “Let me go,” He pleads, “Don’t kill me, let me go, let me go!”
As he struggled he shook loose something from his coat, a thin and folded notebook that dropped to the ground at Shirley’s feet in the struggle. He didn’t seem to notice it in his panic, but she did.

Meanwhile, the man with the gun slowed to a stop, the weapon dropping to his side. Apparently he didn’t consider the group of Nobility to be targets. Not immediately, anyway. He spoke, a sharp bark, “Who are you?” The question seemed to be addressed to all of them. More importantly though, he gestured to the man, “Hand him over. He’s a servant of darkness, you know what that is, don’t you?” His eyes swept warily over the group again.

((Combat over. Post at will. If any hostiles actions we will set an order again. The injured man has almost no chance to escape as long as someone is holding him, due to massive would penalties. Once everyone has had a chance to post things will happen. I may respond individually or as a whole. For reference, all diplomacy or intimidation checks against either of these people will be at -3.))

[sun_tzu]

Meanwhile, the man with the gun slowed to a stop, the weapon dropping to his side. Apparently he didn’t consider the group of Nobility to be targets. Not immediately, anyway. He spoke, a sharp bark, “Who are you?” The question seemed to be addressed to all of them. More importantly though, he gestured to the man, “Hand him over. He’s a servant of darkness, you know what that is, don’t you?” His eyes swept warily over the group again.

"There are many things in this world that need to be stopped," Erin said, still standing between the two, "but that does not mean one gets to play judge, jury, and executioner. I'm going..." she looked around, "We're going to require some context here."
She let the bottom tip of her Boomstaff rest on the floor. "I'm Soul of Reason, Champion...of the Queen of Diamonds." Should I be saying Champion of Diamonds? I'm not sure if I feel personal loyalty to the Queen herself, as opposed to the ideals... "Who are y..." Before she finished the sentence, she blinked, her eyes darting to the teacher. "Ohmygod Mrs. Grout, are you all right?"

[jamieth]

"A servant of darkness he may be", Shirley replies, letting go of the man to pick up the notebook - him trying to escape in current circumstances would be... unwise anyway.
"But I still prefer to hear the full story, from every party involved. Also, please surrender your weapon; no doubt you know carrying it on schoolgrounds is illegal. It would be returned to you the moment we're done with it, assuming, of course, you have a license for it." Sometimes, Shirley asked herself whether a teenage girl dressed like she was currently and speaking like this looked ridiculous or just silly, but it worked. She tested it.
Using Mantle of Authority to gain a dot of Status (Police) success (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showpost.php?p=13972014&postcount=63)

[Mechanix]

"What I see is two men fighting each other to the death with little care for outside casualties," Kim adds as she walks toward the group. Damn, that's a lot of Radiant. "As the..." Oh god I need a nickname I can't introduce myself by my real name "...Champion of Swords" That'll do for the moment "I am tasked with defending this place from the darkness. That might mean this man. It might also mean you. Unless you are willing to kill us all - which, by the way, would be a fantastic proof of which side you're on - you'd better just start talking. Who are you, who is this man, and why do you want to kill him?"

The burns from the zombie's spitting attack did not contribute to her mood in a positive way. She was itching to just take the lighter she'd taken to carrying around and throw him in his face, demanding to know if he had anything to do with that fire weeks ago... But now was not the right time.

[Regalus]

Mia Hendrix
Mia grinned to herself, it was nice to see she wasn't the only one new to this; though it seemed her court had briefed her on a few things the girl's had not. "Easy there Champ, " she began, reaching out to place a hand on the agitated princess. "The guy just got fondled by zombies, let'm breathe for a bit,'" she commented as she looked up at her fellow noble, hopefully giving the girl a chance to calm herself as well.

"Oh Mrs. Grout's alright, physically atleast. I managed to stop the zombies from getting her; we may want to deal with this quick and check on her. She was pretty shook up," she replied to Soul before facing the gunman, keeping an eye trained on the heavily wounded man incase he tried to run.

[silphael]

With her fully restored voice, Sola begins to speak, and that's as honey were flowing out of her mouth. Her voice, melodic despite the absence of melody, singing while no one were doing any music, as liquid gold, replenishes the hearts of everyone with joy and bravery.

"Lower your weapon. And you, stay sit here, on the ground. I'm not here to restrain you, but I will if I have to."

She looks at the other Nobles:

"I am just a Spark of Passion, Troubadour of Swords. It's a delight to meet you all!"

Rolling Presence + Persuasion, 2 successes (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showpost.php?p=13972915&postcount=64)

[Iscariote]

With a rare calm, Shina approach the teacher and take her head on her hand, share an eye on eye sight.

"M'am. You will come back to your home and sleep to night. Tomorow, all of this will be a bad dream and you will forget it, as all the bad dreams that you've got in the past."

Slowly, Shina release the teacher and step back in observing the leaving professor


Roll Presence + Empathy
(6d10)[2][6][2][9][6][1](26)


Roll Manipulation + Persuation + 1 Wisp
(6d10)[8][9][4][8][10][8](47)

[Inedible]

The gunman’s eyes swept across the group again, the man clearly considering the implications of pressing the issue. As each girl introduced themselves in turn his expression became more pensive, and by the end his hand gave a flick, tossing his weapon to the ground at his feet when enough pressure was applied from the gathered crowed. He didn’t make any other immediate movements, save to crane his head back and forth between the Nobility addressing him.

“He’s killed people.” The words were quiet, “He’s a member of something called the Cult of Broken Dreams. You know what that is? We tracked him and some of his people, he get away while the others were being dealt with.” His eyes flickered toward Kim, turning hard for just a moment. “Are you going to kill me to protect him? You saw those things that showed up to defend him, why do you think they were trying to keep him alive? ” All of the girls got the sense that, yes, he was telling the truth when he said it.

When Shirley let go of the injured man he slumped to his knees, his fingers moving to his chest, clutching there. “Let me go, please,” He begged. “Please, don’t kill me. It’s over, there’s nothing left. Don’t let them kill me. Please.” And on and on, the phrases repeated several times over. Nobody had seemed to notice the thing she picked up, for the time being.

((Mrs. Grout has locked herself in her classroom. So if you want to interact with her that’s fine, but you’d also need to bust down the door.

You all passed your empathy rolls, and you can tell the shooter is likely not lying to you. Man, everyone has points in empathy. It’s like you care about people.

Roll Intelligence+Occult to see if you know what the Cult of Despair is. If you have dots in mentor add those dots in as a bonus to the roll. Anyone with a basic success will have been told or know that the Cult of Despair is an organization devoted to furthering the agenda of darkness by spreading sorrow and stealing hope from humanity. They are bad people.))

[sun_tzu]

"Kill you to protect him?" said Erin, raising an eyebrow. "I'd rather not let the situation degenerate that far to begin with, if I have that option."
She sighed. "Look...Maybe he's as bad as you say, and needs to be neutralized...But he's clearly beaten, so I'd like to believe there's a better way to do that now than a summary execution. Civilization has prisons for a reason."
She paused. "Though frankly, I'd need to know more about this Cult of Broken Dreams in general and this situation in particular before making a sensible judgement call."

No successes on the Intelligence+Occult roll.

[silphael]

Sola:

"They are... something like our worst ennemies, the despiser of all that is Holy, the harbringers of despair... need I continue? They are our ennemies"

She turns toward the man who spoke about the cult.

"How did you discover what he did?"

After that question, she begins to play with her harp. After a few notes, she asks:

"Does it sound like despair to you? It isn't. We are allies here, but we hate killing..."

1 successes on the Occult roll (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showpost.php?p=13982189&postcount=76), 3 successes to inspire (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showpost.php?p=13982233&postcount=78)

[jamieth]

"Kill you to protect him?" said Erin, raising an eyebrow. "I'd rather not let the situation degenerate that far to begin with, if I have that option."
She sighed. "Look...Maybe he's as bad as you say, and needs to be neutralized...But he's clearly beaten, so I'd like to believe there's a better way to do that now than a summary execution. Civilization has prisons for a reason."
"That", Shirley insert her line, "and, in addition, you said the others were dealt with... leaving the moral issues aside - though, I must remark, I agree with my colleague here -" she nods in Erin's direction "-Have you ever considered they could be a valuable source of information? A lead to the Cult's leaders - local leaders, at least?

She paused. "Though frankly, I'd need to know more about this Cult of Broken Dreams in general and this situation in particular before making a sensible judgement call."
Shirley nods, "and this man is the best point to start the investigation we currently have. But, I believe we still have one question unanswered" - she turns to the gunman, "namely, who are you?"
botched the roll (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showpost.php?p=13982408&postcount=79), Shirley never was big on the Occult front... Knox's Second, remember.

[Regalus]

Mia Hendriz
"How did you and your friends's end up taking an interest in these guys? While we're at it, how long were you chasing this guys for before you ended up here? They weren't operating in this school were they?" Mia inquired as she scanned her surroundings occasionally, if the guy had friends; they'd do well to keep an eye out for them, lest they miss understand the situation and make a rather poor decision.

[Mechanix]

"I..."
Uh, this was going fast, and she was kinda lost. That the necromancer was a bad guy came as no surprise to her, but that still didn't mean the gunman was on the good side.
"...he might be tainted. Evil. But I don't think letting you execute him is the right thing to do. You best answer our questions, 'cause I'm not sure we can trust you yet."
Oh god, she felt powerless here. Dealing with people had never been her thing, really. Understanding them, and writing compelling speeches or poems or songs, sure. Actually talking to them and making sense when under pressure and the rush of adrenaline? Not really.

[Ecksdee]

Nerissa remained passive for most of the conversation. She was just glad the fighting was over -- and that she helped end it. Watching that marionette get taken out by one of her blasts was exhilarating. Is this what being a princess would be like? The butterflies in her stomach both frightened and excited her.

"Cult of Broken Dreams?" Nerissa tilted her head a bit, searching her memory only to come up with nothing. "They don't sound very friendly..." She cast a tentative glance at the man on the ground. They definitely needed answers...

No successes. (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showpost.php?p=13985249&postcount=80) Rats!

[Inedible]

Storyteller

“I didn’t say they were dead.” His response to Shirley, like all his others, is curt. At other questions he expounds, “We’ve been rooting them out where we find them. They were meeting at a building nearby, not the school. This one got away.”

He paused. “A jail?” Now the man seemed outright incredulous. “You think a jail is going to hold someone like that? You think the police are going to deal with it well when more of those things come to rescue him?” then his eyes flicked toward Sola and the sound of music. “If you’re allies, you’ll give him up.

“I need to make a call. There’s someone who can explain to you who we are better than I can.” His hand reached into his jacket. It was a slow motion, as if to make sure the people gathered around him wouldn’t see it as overtly hostile. He removed a phone from it, beginning to punch in several numbers.

The injured man on the ground responded almost immediately. "No! No, don't let him do that. Please. Please!" His fingers still clutched his chest, stained a dark red by the blood soaking his clothing.

[sun_tzu]

The injured man on the ground responded almost immediately. "No! No, don't let him do that. Please. Please!" His fingers still clutched his chest, stained a dark red by the blood soaking his clothing.

Erin


Erin raised an eyebrow. "What are you so afraid of now?"

[jamieth]

Shirley

"Oh, please", Shirley turns to the injured man, "I know you're not in best condition right now, but unless you actually explain why that phone call will be undesirable, I'd advise you to explain why". She's a bit annoyed at this point; is it that hard just to answer questions? I'm a Seeker of Truth, and I'll find out either way. Only a couple of seconds later, she realizes that she, unwittingly, said that aloud.

[Regalus]

Mia Hendrix
Mia silently watched the exchange; she had a bad feeling in her gut about all this. The use of firearms was permissible if only for self defense and given that the man had little control over those zombies, it was safe to say that he wouldn't have been able to stop collateral damage from happening. Moreover, their friend there seemed to be telling the truth when he said the others weren't dead, though that left many questions still unanswered.

The Cult was still a terrible thing from what she had heard; even if they didn't directly kill most people, they were still responsible for the loss of a great many lives. Yet she still wondered why, even as she continued surveying the area; paying attention to the areas where zombie goop had fallen to see how they were fairing.

[Iscariote]

Shina stay away of the assembly, observing the scene from a long distance and guarding silence, her katana in the hand.
Her sight downs on her dress and details it. The base is an evening dress on which we add sheets of worked steel. All of this finely worked, almost a lace in an golden alliage.

[Mechanix]

Kim gave a suspicious look to the man, but said nothing, preferring to see how things would proceed. She sat on the ground, and started idly manipulating her Staff - even if she knew the thing was magical and did not need upkeep, she still found comfort and reassurance in cleaning it, testing its mechanisms and such, even though it was rather pointless. It took her mind off the tension of her current situation.

[Inedible]

The zombies had been reduced to ash, though the dark stains did remain. No other signs of life were in the immediate area.

The man on the ground gave the same story he ever did: “They’re going to kill me. You can’t let them. I’m sorry, please, don’t give me to them. I’ll do anything. I’ll give you anything. I’ll tell you anything!” His words were increasingly erratic, his face beginning to contort in pain as he began to move, only to have his wound prevent him from getting to his feet again.

The first word the gunman spoke into the phone wasn’t something any of the gathered Princesses could understand. There was a long pause, and then the next bit was more comprehensible.

“There’s a problem. No, I’ve got him here, but there are some people here protecting him. Some little girls. They say they’re champions of Queens. What?” His eyes flicked over the Radiant again. “Yeah. Yes. Can’t be more than ten or twenty minutes ‘till they show up, if we’re lucky. I can do it. You don’t need to-Alright. What if they don’t? If they don’t let me? Alright.” A long pause. “I’m sorry about this.” He snapped the phone shut, his eyes turning to the group again.

“I’m supposed to tell you: ‘The Kingdom is gone, but light still burns in the dark.’ And you’re supposed to follow me and meet my boss. Bring him.” The man gestured to the captured cultist, and then began to move toward the north side of the school. Slow at first, but if nobody attempted to stop him he broke into a flat out run, clearly expecting the Radiant to follow.

((If you're following or trying to stop him, let me know. You can also make a Wits+Medicine check to keep the man from bleeding out in the process.))

[sun_tzu]

Erin


Erin blinked, then looked down at the injured cultist. "Um...I know the bare basics of first aid. Anyone here with more experience or the appropriate powerset who can make sure he doesn't bleed to death for now?"
Judging from what he said, it sounds like he at least knows people who know about us. Not sure if that's a good or a bad thing.

[Iscariote]

Shina approach, catch the rigth arm of the necromancer, and slowly get him up, ehr katana in her hand.

"Try anything, that I not allow, and you will fall for first. After that... I don't think you want to know. Understood?"

She maintains the man, in position, waiting for the others. Her graps on the shoulder of the injured man was firm.

"Sol'. Watch him from the back. If he try anything, that I don't see, knock him." After that, the young woman turn her sight on the gunman. "For the moment, I will act as if I trust you. But don't betray me, and my expectation, or I will purchase you, all around the world, or others Kingdoms. You, your friends and anyone who could have help you. I sincerly hope that doesn't have to happen."

All along the speech, Shina stay loud and clear, but also calm and determinated in ehr voice, and in her sight.


Rolling to see if anyone understand the threat.
Presence+Persuasion+1 willpower

(5d10)[8][1][10][5][3](27)
(1d10)[4](4)

[silphael]

Sola:

The music continues for some instants, and Sola asks:

"What? You're asking me to knock someone down? Eh... You mad? I'm probably not the best one to do it, and I know you know it."

She looks at the gunman.

"I will follow you. Lead the way."

Is my last sentence correct?

[jamieth]

Shirley spends a moment pondering whether she can do anything to the injured man, but decides that, after all, others are probably better suited for that. With that, she rushes after the gunman, thinking, why, in this day and age, do we have to run everywhere? Seriously, if that continuous like that, I'd have to take some fitness lessons...

[Inedible]

Storyteller

It took a good five minutes to get off school grounds, running to the street that runs behind the baseball field. The street was empty, a few parked cars, but no signs of life save a few lights on in offices across the way.

The captive made no move to escape, with Shina keeping him in her grasp and the others watching him. He did continue muttering though, begging to be let go.

A large white van was the only thing in sight, a beat-up looking vehicle slowly rolling down the empty street. Its windows were tinted black, no distinguishing features on it, no logos or marks other than a few dents in the side. It rolled to a stop on the curb a few feet away from where the gunman had stopped, and he quickly moved to meet it.

The side door of the van slid open, rolling back with a hard click of metal. Out of it stepped a woman, one who immediately began a low conversation with the gunman. Just a second or two or murmured talk, a few glances at the group of Radiants, and then she turned to step toward them. She was tall, olive skinned, fairly average to look at, probably in her mid-twenties. Thin but not emaciated, athletic, a beanie pulled over dark, unkempt hair, and a severe expression. As she moved to address the gathered Princesses she tugged the sleeve of her heavy jacket up, revealing an iron bracer with several ornate patterns etched into its surface.

Her greeting was a clipped few words, things that none of the Princesses could understand, but something that sounded strangely familiar. Something that sounded like the speech they’d heard in the courts of their Queens, if not as long-winded. When she spoke again her speech was much clearer. “We don’t have time for this,” She said curtly, "You can call me a Champion of Storms. Tell me why you’re protecting this piece of **** and do it fast. If your witness calls the police they’re going to lose their minds over a school shooting.” Right to the point. It was a theme with these people.

((Your Queens would have given you the most basic info about the Twilight Queens. All of you’d know that the Queen of Storms is a former Queen dedicated to exterminating the Darkness to the exclusion of all else. She is your ally, but dangerous if you cross her.))

[sun_tzu]

Erin

Oh boy.
"We saw two men trying to kill each other. One with a gun, the other with magic. We were not inclined to make assumptions - the safest solution was to keep anyone from dying now, and ask questions later," said Erin. "If this man is guilty of atrocities committed against humanity - and we'd like some more information on that, including evidence and eyewitnesses if there's any - then he needs to be neutralized for the sake of everyone else's safety, yes. But this does not automatically translate into execution. Civilizations come up with tribunals and criminal laws for a reason, after all."
Yeah, THAT'LL convince them. Nice going, Erin.
"What I mean is, we don't know enough to make rash judgement."

[Mechanix]

Kim

Kim had been silent for some time - she felt a bit intimidated by the other Radiants. But the woman's words roused her anger again, and she pulled out the silver lighter, throwing it on the ground before her.

"A few days ago, a man came to my neighborhood. I saw him fight some kind of monster, a thing with claws - probably a creature of darkness. That's fine.
What isn't fine is that he fought it by setting fire to my whole block. If I hadn't been there, a little girl would have died. And the same thing happened today; if we had not been there, this Tainted's zombies would have had time to kill an innocent teacher before your man could defeat him. All because he chased him through the school.
I do believe you when you say that this man is evil. It's just not what matters to me now.
I am a Champion. It is my duty to protect this place. From the Darkness, yes - and from the rest. Whoever you are, whatever you fight, I will not let you put these people in danger. If you try to drag out your enemies by setting houses on fire, if you try to bring your fights inside a school... I'll be there. I'll be in your way. And, if you don't stop, then I'll come after you like I come after the Darkspawns.
That's what I came here to say."

[Regalus]

Mia Hendrix
Mia helped the others were she could with the wounded man before signaling to the others and giving chase; the man having too much of a headstart for her to stop him. Granted upon spotting the discarded firearm, she pulled out a spare handkerchief and pocketed the firearm within the cloth tissue; being careful not to touch it with her bare skin, and making sure the safety had been switched on. Today was certainly not turning out as she had expected.

Upon meeting the man's mystery patron the young Knave whistled; they were in it deep now. Though after hearing Champs outburst she sighed. Champ was certainly an aggressive gal; though given what she'd just mentioned, it certainly helped explain why.

Mia loosened her bunny hoodie before addressing the older Princess, "Displeasure with your man's modus operandi aside, the main reason why we haven't let your boy finish him is because we're hoping for some info. There's been quite a bit of activity around here this past week, as Champ and I can attest to, and I was thinking that our friend here might've been connected to'em or know something about'em; though the bullet your boy put through'em made things a bit difficult for us," she explained honestly with a frustrated shrug at the end.

"Moreover, your boy was pretty well trained at it; so we were hoping to find out who he was working with. Which ofcourse, brings us to our meeting with you. Granted, your boy was in too much of a hurry to give us a chance to handle the situation with the witness; combine that with his little fib, and we're all not too pleased with him at the moment." she added with a smile as she eyed the gunman.

"Well, that and he did forget this," she added before slowly reaching into her pocket, and pulling out her handkerchief wrapped firearm, and politely offering it to CoS. "We're all on the same side here; and I'm sure it's in everyone's best interests the cops don't track this baby back to your boy and operation right? So then, can we all play nice?" She asked as she met the women's gaze with a smile, and held out her peace offering; the young princess doing her best to ignore her loudly beating heart.

[jamieth]

Shirley
Shirley mostly keeps quiet during the conversation; pretty much everything she has to say on the topic is either already said, or would be, by her predictions, said in the next couple of minutes, most. And the things she doesn't have to say are most likely worth listening to, which is the main reason she stays there, resisting the urge to dig into the one piece of evidence she has to herself. She feels guilty, for a short moment, about concealing evidence, but well, real detectives (that is, ones who do all kinds of exciting stuff in the books, as opposed to ones who, in real life, mostly track cellphones and credit cards and match fingerprints and blood samples and write mountains of paperwork. A worthy job, for sure, and a needed one - even Nero agreed with that - but not what a proper sleuthing should be, in Shirley's opinion) do that all the time, besides, among the Nobles, I am what police is among muggles. Not Storms.

[Ecksdee]

Nerissa Baines

With no other choice really Nerissa goes along with everyone else, casting uneasy glances over at the injured man they're bringing along. While she did want answers, she also wanted to chat with the other girls in private. If this was the sort of thing they were all up against there would definitely be strength in numbers.

They were lead to a van on a pretty much empty street. And out of the van popped a severe looking woman who spoke at them as if they were a nuisance, also revealing her status as a member of the Queen of Storms' court. Uh oh. Nerissa tensed a bit, remember what she'd been told. She really didn't want this to unravel into another battle.

[silphael]

Sola Rose

"A white van, with no logo on it? In an empty street? Are we in some spy film, are we?", she asks with a very excited tone.

After some instants, she adds.

"Oh, I guess we are, then..."

It's difficult to say if she's serious at all about it. But finally, she concludes, directed to the woman.

"But, you know, in a lot of stories, Evil lurks with the face of Virtue... we can't do that mistake, I guess you understand."

[Inedible]

Storyteller

“Does this look like a courtroom to you? You know what he is. You want a testimony; I’m giving it to you. He will too, if you’re willing to beat it out of him. Or maybe you know a court that’ll take his case. When’s the last time you heard someone charged with serving the forces of evil? You got a prison cell to hold him in of your own? The cops won’t give it to you.”

The woman gave the lighter a disdainful, confused glance. “We don’t harm innocents.” She replied to Kim, “But we don’t let people like him go free either. If we’d let this man escape, do you think he’d stop? Do you think those things that came to help him wouldn’t kill twice as many people if he was allowed to run free? “

Sola’s comment only drew the Champion’s glance for a split second. “I do what has to be done.”

She did move forward to pluck the gun from Mia’s hand, turning her eyes briefly to the gunman before facing the girl again. “Thank you." She paused. "I have information, I’m willing to share it. I don’t have time to tell you anything right now, and I’ve already got too many passengers. I’ll give you my word, and I’m giving you a choice. If you’re against the Darkness, give him to me. We have some of his friends, but he might know something they don’t. I’ll share what we find with you, and we can work together to undo whatever they’re working toward.” She paused. “Or you can stand in the way.”

((This is the important part! I’m going to give a little longer than usual, probably two days, for everyone to respond.

Will you give up an ally of the forces of evil to be questioned and most likely executed to gain information and a powerful ally, or will you harbor a member of the Cult of Broken Dreams from your own side to spare his life and have to fight a possibly valuable ally?

You decide! State it OOCly as well, so there’s no confusion.))

[sun_tzu]

Erin Watson


"Wait, wait, hold the phone," said the girl in the silver dress. "Are you telling me that there are no prisons for agents of the Darkness? None at all?" She paused. "Doesn't that strike you as a problem?"
She took a deep breath. "Look, even if you're working from the position that the wicked have no rights and deserve no mercy - I don't, but even if - even then, should there not be prisons? Even the most wicked and oppressive regimes had prisons, rather than just executing every single person who crossed them - for pragmatic reasons, if not humanitarian ones. If there are no prisons for the forces of Darkness...then isn't that a problem that needs fixing? Isn't it high time someone built such a prison?"
She then turned around to face her compatriots. "OK, confession: I'm pretty new to this entire Radiant business. This can't be the first time a human enemy was captured alive, can it? What are the standard procedures for this sort of situation?"

TL;DR: She's against executing the guy, she won't let Storms have him if she thinks that's what they'll do, and she's asking what the Radiant usually do in this sort of situation.

[Mechanix]

Kim bit her lip her nervously, feeling at loss. This was way out of her league - much more complicated than the issues she was used to deal with. Nonetheless, she could not remain silent and be worthy of her title of Champion - even if she had no idea what was the right thing to do.

"We are..." She begun, then looked nervously at Erin. "There are not enough of us, are there? There are always more Darkspawns and never enough Radiant. Before tonight I did not even know you existed. I sleep five hours on a good day and that's because I can use magic to work faster. I guess... If you have a prison, you need guards. And everyone who is doing that job is one less fighter against the Darkness. And if anyone escapes that prison, then it was all for nothing. So... Maybe... We can't afford prisons."
But is there anything worth abandonning justice?
She closed her eyes, both hands around her staff, trying to find reassurance in the steady presence of her boom-boom stick. With it, she could blow the darkness away - but it was her task to recognize what was darkness and what was not.
She stared at the Champion of Storms and swallowed nervously. She almost couldn't speak.
"I want to give that man to you. I want him to disappear forever from my world, so that we have one less monster to worry about. I don't know what he's done but I know that he uses the powers of the darkness and puts people in danger - and I don't need much else. I want him gone.
But what I must do is believe that as long as he is human, he is not lost. I must believe that we can take this man and cleanse him of his taint and show him the light.
Because we are Radiant... And if we don't have Hope, we have nothing."

That was a terrible answer, she thought. But it was the only one she could give.

Kim is not willing to let the man be executed (or indeed, tortured) as long as there's hope that he might be made to abandon his ways and see the light.

[Iscariote]

Maintaining her embrace on the shoulder of the necromancer, Shina listened everybody. To her, the fact to control the dead is an aberration and her prisonner is guilty enough to rejoin the dead that he want to control. But she doesn't have the full authority to take alone this decision.

"The Life is a rare gift that have to end. But to try to control the dead can't be forgiven. A necromancer could escape from any prison. If what you said is true, and I've made the choice to trust your friend, I will gladly hand over you this man." Shina doesn't loosen her embrace and look all the Princess gathered here. "What will you choose, My Sisters. To Trust one of us, or one of the Darkness pawns?"

The Shina's choice is clear.

Sorry for the retard, but I'm not on a situation were I can be on internet when I want. But I will try to be there when I can.

[jamieth]

Shirley
Oh right. Testimony he will give, after they torture him to the point where death seems like a better option. That's not how it's done. Luckily, something in Storm's words gives Shirley a point to argue. "A follower of Darkness he might be, though, admittedly, I still lack any concrete evidence, well, other than a testymony of a man willing to open shooting at the schoolgrounds. But nothing I saw indicated he's dangerous, right now. Weak, and frightened, that's much closer. And, you said it yourself - it's these things that came to help him that are truly evil and dangerous. So, shouldn't our target be the one who send them to help? Somehow, I doubt it could be his own making... was it?" she turns to prisoner, though the question is more of a rhetorical one - it's not like she's going to believe his words any more than the Storm's.
Shirley isn't going to send a man to death until a proper investigation determines the extent of his wrongdoings, though if it turns out that he did, personally, commited crimes worthy of death penalty, so be it.

[silphael]

Sola:

"I won't let you kill him! Now that he is our prisoner, there is no need to destroy him. He has to learn what Love is! And I will, if not you, Shina. You know you have. It isn't against you and your Court, it is something I can't let pass, I'm sorry. If you can promise me that you will try everything to change him back to what a human should be before searching your answers, I'll let you have him, and I will ask for his news later."

For her, the conversation is nearly over... at least the serious part.

"May we know your name? Here is my phone number, can I have yours? Do you like icecreams?"

In a eyeblink, Soma's is back to her "normal" behavior...

So that's 4 (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showpost.php?p=14019149&postcount=83) + 1 (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showpost.php?p=14019157&postcount=84) successes! I guess I just won a new friend ^^

[Ecksdee]

Nerissa

Nerissa didn't like this. At all. She looked over at the man -- he was just human. A flawed human like all of them. He had to have reasons for why he allied himself with the darkness. However misguided those reasons may have been, they truly meant something to him. And to hand him over to this woman who was possibly going to kill him after squeezing whatever information out of him she could just seemed immoral.

"No. This isn't the right way." She spoke up, stepping forward. "I don't want to hand him over to you. I... I don't trust you."

Surprise! Nerissa doesn't want to give him over. She doesn't trust this Champion of Storms one bit, and would feel horrible if the man was killed because of her inability to say no.

[Inedible]

The woman’s eyes moved over the crowd of Radiants around her, dark eyes flickering from one to the next as each spoke. He didn’t speak, didn’t move, merely let each one declare her allegiance in turn. More silence after that, the woman’s fingers brushing a line across the metal band on her wrist. She remained silent for some time, tense, ready. A single hand rose.

It set back down on the door of the van. “If I ever see that man alive again,” She growled, “I will kill him, and I will kill you.” With that she lifted herself into the vehicle, barking a short few words to the men inside. The door shut without preamble, and the vehicle began to roll off into the night.

Just in time, too. The sound is sirens could be heard from the distance, probably heading toward the school. The captive man breathed a sigh of relief, breaking down into grateful sobs in short order.

((Congratulations! Most of you have decided not to toe the line of the greater good. Now you have a problem.

You have a captive and nowhere to put him. Furthermore, the police are going to be at the school shortly. If you own a car and drive to school, there’s going to be a panic if you aren’t found. Likewise, if you don’t get home at a reasonable time and there’s news of a shooting the same thing is likely to happen.

I will say if you make a successful Wits+Streetwise roll you’ll know of an abandoned place you can stash him, if you can find some way to secure him. Of course, you’d need some measure to prevent him from escaping. Wherever you take him to will probably become your Sanctum, so, there you go.))

[sun_tzu]

Erin Watson


Erin turned around to face the other Radiants. "Well! That could have gone a whole lot worse!"
She then glanced at the injured man. "So...suggestions for what's next, anybody? Anyone got some standard procedures I'm not aware of, or do we need to improvise everything?"

[jamieth]

Got 2 successes (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?p=14028733#post14028733)
Shirley thinks for a while, digging through her mental library of a potentially useful information, "There's an abandoned house not far from here. I think I can get us inside, unless someone changed the locks since I was in Junior high... It isn't a perfect place to hide a man, of course, especially if one doesn't want to stay hidden, but it's the best I can think off the top of my head."

[sun_tzu]

Got 2 successes (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?p=14028733#post14028733)
Shirley thinks for a while, digging through her mental library of a potentially useful information, "There's an abandoned house not far from here. I think I can get us inside, unless someone changed the locks since I was in Junior high... It isn't a perfect place to hide a man, of course, especially if one doesn't want to stay hidden, but it's the best I can think off the top of my head."

Erin Watson


"Thaaaat...raises a few questions," said Erin. "Even if we put aside the long-term questions until we have more time to think...Do we have stuff to restrain someone with? Are we certain his medical state isn't getting worse? How many of us need to stay there and stand watch?"
She coughed. "Sorry. I'm not trying to be a nag, I'm just, I'm new at this, and I want to consider all the important angles."

[Regalus]

Mia Hendrix
Mia sighed, letting the smile wash off her face for a moment once the champion of storms had left. It hadn't exactly been the most pleasant experience; but at least that had all been able to handle this civilly, even if she felt like that threat at the end wasn't her just shooting the breeze. "Oooh you bet'cha! Was half expectin' us to end up with a show-down there for a sec," she commented happily as she loosened her hoodie.

As the sirens started blaring in the distance she allowed herself a brief glance at their...she wasn't quite sure if captive was the right word, ward maybe?, and put a hand on his shoulder, "Come on now; you've been through a lot but it ain't over yet, you can thank us after we get ya somewhere safe," she said with a cheerful grin before turning to the others, "First things first, we need to get the hell out of here before someone comes by, and we need to get our new buddy here some place safer. Any ideas girls?" she asked the group, her own mind trying to think of some place they could go, before turning back to the man.

((OOC: 1 (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showpost.php?p=14028710&postcount=85) success on the wits+streetwise to think of a place to go/))

[sun_tzu]

Mia Hendrix
Mia sighed, letting the smile wash off her face for a moment once the champion of storms had left. It hadn't exactly been the most pleasant experience; but at least that had all been able to handle this civilly, even if she felt like that threat at the end wasn't her just shooting the breeze. "Oooh you bet'cha! Was half expectin' us to end up with a show-down there for a sec," she commented happily as she loosened her hoodie.

As the sirens started blaring in the distance she allowed herself a brief glance at their...she wasn't quite sure if captive was the right word, ward maybe?, and put a hand on his shoulder, "Come on now; you've been through a lot but it ain't over yet, you can thank us after we get ya somewhere safe," she said with a cheerful grin before turning to the others, "First things first, we need to get the hell out of here before someone comes by, and we need to get our new buddy here some place safer. Any ideas girls?" she asked the group, her own mind trying to think of some place they could go, before turning back to the man.

((OOC: 1 (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showpost.php?p=14028710&postcount=85) success on the wits+streetwise to think of a place to go/))

Erin Watson

"The abandoned house she mentioned," Erin said, pointing at Shirley, "sounds like our best bet so far."

[Regalus]

"Unless one of you has a better option, we may just have to go with that for now; we can worry abou the rest later, for now we just need to get our friend out of sight. Also, any of you know Balm? If not, this is gonna be tricky," she asked as she scanned the area with a cursory glance.

((OOC: No idea how I missed BOTH of your posts.))

[Mechanix]

Kim

"I... Guess that werehouse is our best bet, yes. But we're gonna need someone to help that man before he starts bleeding out - does anyone know firts help? I don't really do healing magic.
And we're gonna have to keep watch on him too. God this is gonna be such a mess."
Kim shook her head wearily. She'd have liked for that meeting with the Storm Princess to go better, especially seeing as it was her first time meeting an older and more experienced Radiant. And all that for that worthless necromancer... Oh, well.
"I think we're enough to organize a rolling watch of some kind, but that's the kind of thing we'll have to worry once we're in a safe place. Are we off then?"

[jamieth]

A rolling watch... Shirley thinks as she leads the Radiants to the place, remembering how exactly to unlock it, not that I mind, but I wonder how are we going to cover night shifts and school hours... of course, escaping isn't in his best interest anyway, but people so often act illogically...

[sun_tzu]

Erin Watson

"Yeah, I guess we ought to get going," she said. She glanced at the injured man. "I don't think we ever got your name, Mister...?"

[silphael]

Sola:

"Yes, we haven't heard your name yet. If we have to teach you what your cult truly is, we need your name!"

Again, her voice is joyfull, and she follow the directions showed by Shirley.

[Inedible]

Storyteller

The trip wasn’t too long, but sirens could be heard as they moved away from the school, no doubt the police heading to investigate.

The old warehouse has been abandoned for some time, derelict and shut up, though prying boards loose did prove an effective method for opening it. There were no lights inside, lots of rooms, but no locks to hold a prisoner. The captured man was silent, deferring to his captors, slightly more subdued now that his life wasn’t in immediate danger.

((Alright, you need to figure out who’s going to stand watch or some way to seal him in a room. Whoever stands watch needs to probably call their parents and give them some excuse as to why they aren’t coming home, which will be a Manipulation+Persuasion roll. ))

[sun_tzu]

((Er, we just asked him a question. Is he ignoring us or something?))

[Iscariote]

"I will look on him. I'm an eternal traveller and it won't be surprising if I left the school for a time being to go on the other end of the world." The Shina's voice was clear and loud. "I will take my time to make him speak. Plus my family isn't here, so, no problem."

The magical girl was still in her armor, and walked around the prisonner, her katana at the saya, but ready to slay any threat.

looking for the necromancer, Shina arrise her voice again to submit all of her proposal to the other princess

"You've all choose to guard this man and declined the offer of the princess we meet earlier. I won't critize your choice, but make sur we can be able to accomplish our duty. And for the moment, we will need to adapt this place for the pace you've choose. And make it quickly. I don't intend to stay eternaly up to watch "him"." By appointing the man.

Her last word was clear. For her, he was on the verge to be recall by the limb of the death and if he make any weird movement, his last breath will come quickly.

[Inedible]

"Gerald," The man answers, "It's Gerald. Thank you for keeping them away. Please, keep me safe." He still wasn't quite coherent, and not at all healthy, but the chances of dying were fairly slim. It's still a lot of blood.

((Sorry, I thought I added the response in, but I think I pasted it wrong.))

[Regalus]

Mia Hendrix
Mia nodded at Gerald, acknowledging his reply and committing it to memory, before turning to Shina. "Well, thank you for the help friend; we all appreciate it, even ift's just for a while," she commented earnestly as she took in their. "I'm used to going home late, so I can keep ya company for a while," she added with a smile before taking in the sights. The place wasn't in the best condition, but it wasn't too bad either; they could work with this if given some time.

"Well, then before anything else; how 'bout we try clearing some space for ourselves? Also, can one of you girls patch him up?" she inquired hoping to bring some order to this mess of an afternoon as she eyed Gerald, trying not to dismay at the cheer amount of blood the man had apparently lost.

[jamieth]

Shirley
"Your offer is most helpful", Shirley nods, "thank you. Eh, I'm afraid I can't stay for long... But I'll drop in first thing in the morning, OK? Oh, and in case anything happens, here's my number", she holds her cellphone up, with the screen facing away from Gerald. "As for you", she turns to the prisoner, "you're still under suspicion, don't make a mistake; try anything funny, and I will find you, no matter where; I've got magic for that, you know. And I can't promise we'll be so nice the second time."
Well, technically, she doesn't have magic for tracking, but that statement wasn't intended to be taken literally; still, if you think that requires a Bluff roll, feel free to roll one; Shirley's Manipulation + Subterfuge is 5

[Mechanix]

Kim
"I'm sorry, I don't know first aid. Sure wish I would, though." She put in her memory-box as another of the thousand things she had to find time for. Knowing how to patch people up would likely prove handy in her momentous life as a Princess.
"I have lessons, and afterclass activities, and a lot of stuff to do all the time. But I can... I can find time. Perhaps miss a few classes. Or come at night. Night sounds good. If we are that many in town, we should be able to organize our schedules more efficiently, so that our patrols are more efficients and take less time. You do patrols, right?" she asked, trying to ignore the nagging voice at the back of her head saying you're insaaaaane.
"I can't do much today, but I know a Charm that would allow me to work while keeping watch. From tomorrow on I should be able to stay here and still do normal work so as to not attract suspicion... I think."
She was starting to ramble, she realized, and her comments weren't quite helpful; so she fell silent, looking around her. There were rooms for storage, but none were closed. However, the warehous itself had been closed, with boards closing it. Maybe...
"I'm gonna go around and look if I can do some kind of makeshift door, okay?"

Kim is going to look for anything that could be put together to close one of the rooms, probably by taking boards off the warehouse's exits, or by looking for anything that could be, I don't know, lying around.
Should I make a roll?

[sun_tzu]

Erin

"I need to get to school if I don't want to look suspicious," said Erin, "but for now, I think we should all exchange phone numbers - we're going to need to contact each other for this."

[Iscariote]

"Don't thanks me. Because if I do that it's to be sure that he doesn't run away. Remerber that our live are on the balance. What happen to this guy will determine our live or our death. And actually, I don't like that my life is on the hand of a Darkness' pawn. So I won't hesitate a long time if he make a strange move.
For the moment, clean this place and try to find a way to adapt it to our needs."

Shina takes the piece of paper with all phone number, gives her and turn to Erin.

"Go back back to the school and try to clean what happen on the school ground. Oh Sys', by turning toward Sola, could you bring back this pastry that you make me try the last time?

Strangely, when she face Sola, It was as if Shina shining and smile, that she doesn't made before.

[Inedible]

Storyteller

A few nails and blocks of rotting wood and Kim has constructed something that might not serve very well as a door, but probably belongs in an abstract art museum somewhere. At least she didn’t get scraped by anything rusty. More efforts to find any room that locks or has sufficient way to keep a prisoner didn’t turn up successful, and in the end one of the smaller rooms and a guard are all that could be done for the night. After the rest of the Radiant left, Shina had a fairly uneventful night. The prisoner was quiet, and eventually dozed off.

The next morning, once all of the Nobility arrive, the work began. The man was awake again, more lucid, his eyes darting between the figures of the girls around him. It was time to ask questions.

((Fun time. Post your questions, make rolls for interrogation. How you want to go about it determines your roll. You may use various things for this, such as Manipulation+Persuasion, Presence+Persuasion, Presence+Intimidation, or anything else you can justify. Whatever you roll should be in line with the technique you actually plan to use, so don’t roll Persuasion if you’re threatening to chop off his fingers or something.

Make 2 rolls, representing 2 hours of time. I will throw in additional info if you roll well.))

[Iscariote]

On the nigth, Shina hasn't sleep and watch on the man. She just take two blanket in a bag she always has with her. An old habit that she take during her travels with her father and that he forget everything.
The first was for the man when he come to sleep, and the second was for her, to keep her warmth.
The night was long, but the man was calm and quiet, so, Shina didn't have anything to do. When the sun rise up, she watch her dress and try to take her Princesse appearance, but she certify that she just lose something. Her philacter just disappear. One breath and Shina recover her composure and calm.

"I will see it later."

She concentrate on the man, and when he wake up, she share two chocolate bars and water with him

"So Gerald-san. I will not try to take you for the stupid gut that you're not, and won't torment you. You will tell me everything. What is your organisation, yours aims, and what happen exactly yesterday. So you will probably gain more time of life and keep your body with no more damage.

Her voice was tender and she smile the same way. Her stance wasn't a threat. Just a certyfication of an reality that could be

Transformation roll

Belief+Innerlight roll

(8d10)[3][4][2][4][2][1][2][2](20)
So Fumble


Composure roll

A roll of composure to stay calm on the situation

(3d10)[8][7][8](23)
3 win

Socialize

manipulation + socialize roll

(5d10)[9][5][1][7][4](26)
2 win

[Inedible]

Shirley:

When Shirley settled down to peel open the notebook, she found it in poor condition, a few pages almost falling out, some stained or burnt with holes in them. Inside was a mess of text, the first page written in a whole slew of strange languages. The first page read:

這是不適合你
это не для вас
this is not for you

Inside were a collection of what appear to be stories, also translated in similar fashion, with notes sketched along the edges. All throughout all of this story notes and odd text has been interspersed, as well as various strange symbols:

The first one is a story about a girl named Character. Character is an ordinary girl in a magical kingdom. One day she finds a magic scarf that transforms her into a beautiful princess. With her new disguise she attends the royal ball, where she meets a charming prince. All is not well, however, and she loses her scarf during a particularly lively dance. Shocked, the royal family orders her arrested and condemned to torture and imprisonment. It is explicitly detailed. Eventually Character starts to question her existence and directly asks the writer, named Author, why she is condemned to her fate. Author explains that were it not for her treatment, she would never have thought to question her existence and spoke to Author. Now that she has realized this, Author tells Character that she is ready to write her own story.

The bottom of the page is covered in blood.

Roll Intelligence+Occult and Resolve+Composure. You can spend willpower on either. You may roll these two things this every IC day if you choose to read more, just remind me.

[jamieth]

Shirley

Before going to bed, Shirley took a look inside the journal. It wasn't a pleasant read, yet she forces herself to go on, for the sake of finding out the truth. Sadly, it wasn't going to happen. Once again, Shirley cursed herself for not learning even a bit about the occult symbolism; but, of, who could have known?
Resolve + composure passed, Int+Occult failed (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showpost.php?p=14052391&postcount=96), but not dramatically, at least.
Next morning, Shirley gets up early, and slips into her tracksuit; claiming that she decided to start running in the morning is a convenient excuse to have some free time before school, and, besides, it would be true - as soon as the secret base would be set up and running, anyway. Meanwhile, cleaning up the warehouse is enough of a workout so that she doesn't mind missing the gym class at all.
As she enters the warehouse, donning her Princess garb feels rather natural for her; placing the magnifying glass into the front pocket of her coat, she joins the other in their efforts... passively at first, just listening carefully, searching for bits that doesn't seem right...
My rolls for Scent Falsehood: first (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showpost.php?p=14052905&postcount=97), reroll (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showpost.php?p=14052915&postcount=98).
2 successes unless Gerald's Composure is 6+; 3 if it is less then 3.
Then, as the interrogation goes, she picks a moment to speak, "Ok, girls, let's give him a short break. There are the rules for treating prisoners, after all... Mr. Gerald, fancy a cup of tea? I'm afraid I can only offer you a bottled one, though..." she takes a couple of bottles of drik from her backpack and takes a sip, then says, tapping her nose with the backend of a pencil, "you know, these are some rather curious theories on the nature of existence you have... perhaps we could discuss those, in the meantime?"
Manipulation + Subterfuge to trick him into thinking she knows more than she really does, and perhaps reveal something assuming she knows that already. 1 success. (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showpost.php?p=14052905&postcount=97)

[Inedible]

Storyteller

Shirley is able to find nothing amiss, nothing that wasn't there yesterday.

The man slept, more because of it body requiring it than any will to. He shook his head at the offer of a drink, declining to move overmuch. "What about them? What do you want to know, I told you I'll tell you anything if you don't hurt me." He still seemed a bit jumpy, especially with all of the Radiant gathered around him again.

Shirley:
Shirley’s knows that there’s obviously something hidden in the messages and symbols, though she makes no headway on what it is.

[Mechanix]

Kim

And another day goes by, a short night, more work, and that weird tingling feeling of tension and danger. Probably an after-effect of having been actually threatened with death by someone likely far more powerful than her.

You know, the usual day.

Kim entered the warehouse with a sigh of relief at the sight of the prisonner; seems her job hadn't been too shabby, or else Shina was just good at keeping guard. She guessed the latter. Silently, she came up to the girls interrogating the man, and sat on the first seat-looking object she could find and move there. Her frilly Radiant dress had gotten better, it seemed - weird how it seemed to repair itself even after being puked on by some acid-spitting zombie.

"Hi, girls. Had a nice day?" Even as she spoke, the half-hearted attempt at chit-chat felt ridiculous to her. There was no time, nor it seemed no desire, to have that kind of mundane bounding. People dying in the street, ever-growing darkness, ya-da ya-da. The usual drill.

She put her Device across her knees, and started tinkering with it again. Though she tried to make it look like she didn't take part in the conversation, the glances she took at Gerald were telling: she was fully there, studying his every word.

Two Empathy rolls:
Two successes on the first roll, one on the second. (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?p=14055491&posted=1#post14055491)

[silphael]

Sola:

"A nice day? Something like that, yes... pastry, music, and now friends! Your wasn't?"

As every day, Sola is shining and smiling. The point is, she looks concerned with the Gerald problem.

[sun_tzu]

Erin Watson

Erin's evening had been far from idle - she had spent several hours online, trying to find every piece of information she could about the Cult of Broken Dreams. Google, wikis, news archives, any other Radiant who could be reached online...This was the Information Age, after all.

The next day, however, it was time for Internet denizen Erin Watson to fade into the background, and for the Soul of Reason to step forward. Once she had reached the improvised HQ, she had quickly joined the others in interrogating Gerald.
"Look...we don't have to be enemies. You're hurt. You're scared. But even if you and we disagree on a lot of things, that doesn't mean we want to hurt you.
Generally speaking, people who end up opposed to each other just don't understand each other well enough. So, how about you start by telling us your story? I don't think it started with you being shot at in our high school, obviously!"

What's the roll for her Internet research - Intelligence+Computers? If so, then roll away: [roll0]
Presence+Persuade roll to convince him to open up, using the Appeal to Reason Specialty: [roll1]
Wits+Empathy to get a read on his motive: [roll2]

[jamieth]

"One of the most important questions for now, I believe, is the nature of those... creatures my companions were forced to deal with yesterday", Shirley notes thoughtfully, twirling the pencil in her hand; "clearly of unnatural origin, implying they were made, or created, or summoned somehow. Now, the question is, first, by whom; and, second, what kind of authority did you have over them? Was it you who ordered them to attack people, or did they acted on the orders to protect you, for example? And in case of latter, could you possibly order them to stop? You must understand, Mr. Gerald, that answers to these questions would in no small measure determine the extent of your guilt in the yesterday's accident; Just please, don't try to lie, for I will know." Suddenly not absent minded at all, she was catching his every word, a pencil at the ready to take notes.
I suppose Presence + Investigation is the "default" interrogation roll; 1 success (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showpost.php?p=14071671&postcount=102) is better than nothing, I suppose.

[Inedible]

Storyteller


Erin WatsonErin's evening had been far from idle - she had spent several hours online, trying to find every piece of information she could about the Cult of Broken Dreams. Google, wikis, news archives, any other Radiant who could be reached online...This was the Information Age, after all.

The next day, however, it was time for Internet denizen Erin Watson to fade into the background, and for the Soul of Reason to step forward. Once she had reached the improvised HQ, she had quickly joined the others in interrogating Gerald.

"Look...we don't have to be enemies. You're hurt. You're scared. But even if you and we disagree on a lot of things, that doesn't mean we want to hurt you.

Generally speaking, people who end up opposed to each other just don't understand each other well enough. So, how about you start by telling us your story? I don't think it started with you being shot at in our high school, obviously!"

Erin’s research attempts landed her some information, gathered from scattered bits of news and information on the internet. The Cult of Broken Dreams has been associated with several suicides and deaths around the country, though almost never explicitly referred to by that name. It would seem it has several branches to operate through. It’s agents usually possess strange abilities probably related to the Darkness.

“O-Okay.” It took the man some time to warm up to it, but eventually he began to expound on who he was and how he came to be in this position.

“I’m just an office manager,” He explains, “I work for a telecommunications company. I’m not anyone important, I’m barely anything in the group, you have to believe me.” There’s a long pause, and then he begins to explain further. “I joined them a little after my wife died, a few months ago. They came to me when I was in a really bad place, and they explained that it was alright, and it was natural, and that if I went along with what I was feeling I could make things better. I didn’t-I didn’t want to die. And they were offering so much more. More power, a new life, things that could make me forget…so I started going to their meetings.”

He continued, alternating between speaking quickly, or slowly and hesitantly when he was unsure if the information would be well received. “I didn’t do a lot of stuff. I just moved people and things around, or picked them up, or went and watched people and places they told me to. They said if I kept doing well I’d be able to do the things they could do. I was supposed to pick up this book from a store and take it to the meeting. When I got there, though-“ Here he shudders visibly. “They came in. There was a woman there, she was like the one that you saw, but she was different. She had a-a spear. A spear, and armor, and she was just-“

At this point, he had to take another break before finishing: “She was just killing people. Even the ones that were using their powers. Some of them she let live, but the rest of her men took them. I just ran, I ran as fast as I could.”

sun_tzu, I converted your computer roll to Occult. Whenever you're researching hidden, secret stuff it'll always be Occult no matter what methods you use. Thankfully, you got a success!

More questions?


"One of the most important questions for now, I believe, is the nature of those... creatures my companions were forced to deal with yesterday", Shirley notes thoughtfully, twirling the pencil in her hand; "clearly of unnatural origin, implying they were made, or created, or summoned somehow. Now, the question is, first, by whom; and, second, what kind of authority did you have over them? Was it you who ordered them to attack people, or did they acted on the orders to protect you, for example? And in case of latter, could you possibly order them to stop? You must understand, Mr. Gerald, that answers to these questions would in no small measure determine the extent of your guilt in the yesterday's accident; Just please, don't try to lie, for I will know." Suddenly not absent minded at all, she was catching his every word, a pencil at the ready to take notes.

“I don’t know where they came from, but I’ve seen things like them before. Some of the members of our group, they could summon them. Sometimes out of the air, and sometimes-“ He hesitated. “There was a body they brought in once. They raised one out of it. I can’t though, I swear.” His head shook furiously. “I was running, and around when I got close to where you found me they started coming out of thin air. I just thought they were there to protect me, but they started to go after other people even when I was telling them to stay and help me.”

“I didn’t tell them to attack you. I swear. Please, I wouldn’t even if I could, I just wanted to get out. Please, if you let me go I’ll leave town. I’ll-I’ll go away. You’ll never see me again, I promise!”

Through all of this everyone got the sense that he wasn’t lying, though he seems keenly aware that his behavior and the people he’s decided to associate with are not very good individuals.

More questions?

[sun_tzu]

Erin Watson


“O-Okay.” It took the man some time to warm up to it, but eventually he began to expound on who he was and how he came to be in this position.

“I’m just an office manager,” He explains, “I work for a telecommunications company. I’m not anyone important, I’m barely anything in the group, you have to believe me.” There’s a long pause, and then he begins to explain further. “I joined them a little after my wife died, a few months ago. They came to me when I was in a really bad place, and they explained that it was alright, and it was natural, and that if I went along with what I was feeling I could make things better. I didn’t-I didn’t want to die. And they were offering so much more. More power, a new life, things that could make me forget…so I started going to their meetings.”

He continued, alternating between speaking quickly, or slowly and hesitantly when he was unsure if the information would be well received. “I didn’t do a lot of stuff. I just moved people and things around, or picked them up, or went and watched people and places they told me to. They said if I kept doing well I’d be able to do the things they could do. I was supposed to pick up this book from a store and take it to the meeting. When I got there, though-“ Here he shudders visibly. “They came in. There was a woman there, she was like the one that you saw, but she was different. She had a-a spear. A spear, and armor, and she was just-“

At this point, he had to take another break before finishing: “She was just killing people. Even the ones that were using their powers. Some of them she let live, but the rest of her men took them. I just ran, I ran as fast as I could.”

"Gerald..." there was genuine sadness in Erin's voice. "I think I can understand why you would join with them. Everyone can get...unstable...when our emotions overwhelm us. And I can't imagine it getting much more overwhelming than grief at the loss of someone so close to you."
She took a deep breath. "But everything I've heard about this Cult of Broken Dreams...It doesn't sound like they help people deal with their grief. It sounds like they cultivate it. There's so many suicides associated with them that, well..."

[Iscariote]

"Thanks everybody. But if we talk all on the same time, mister Gerald will be lost. One question at time."

Shina place herself in front of the man.

"You said, that you have nothing to do with this aberation. Well, I won't let you go away. Not that I don't believe you. But If you ran away, the others nobility will come after you, and your life will end. So what I propose you is to work for us to make down the Cult. While you work for us, we will make what we can to protect you."

The princess turn herself in front of the others.

"Is it alrigth for you?"

[Mechanix]

Kim

Kim closed her eyes, pondering what he said. That was a lot to take in, actually. Another radiant, seemingly crazy powerful and bent on killing Tainted without discrimination. A branch of the Cult in this city, and semingly quite influent at that - or at least, with a lot of servants. Rising corpses and... Making them travel through the darkness, perhaps? To make them "appear out of thin air"... Did they all just got involved into a war?
She sighed, and stopped polishing her staff, instead meeting Gerald's eyes with a steady gaze.

"I'm sorry. Actions have consequences, wether you knew what you were doing or not. You walked in, now you can't walk out.
Whatever you did, however small and insignificant to your eyes, helped a bunch of terrible people achieve terrible ends. They have done things no man should ever do, and broached powers that should be left alone. And you played your part in all their crimes, however small.
How did the song put it? "You can checkout any time you like, but you can never leave."
But we're not here to punish you. My friends here might want to force you to help us, but ultimately it is going to be your own choice, because we can't torture you or hurt you for our ends. You are people, too. And you were misguided.
In the end, it's up to you to answer this one question: can you leave? Can you forget everything you've done? Can you forgive yourself if your help ends up causing suffering and death, and you could have done something to atone?
Can you choose to do nothing?"

Trying for a Manipulation + Expression roll.
2 Successes. (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?p=14072555#post14072555)

[jamieth]

Shirley
Shirley stands up, placing her notebook into her backpack - next to the cult's one. Of course, leaving that at home would be... unwise.
"Ok, I guess I heard most of what I hoped for today; of course, some names would be nice to have, but that can wait. Meanwhile," she looks at the cellphone, "sorry, can't afford to miss any more lessons today. Need to stay on the teachers' good side, you know, to get myself some leeway in times of need."

Correct me if I'm wrong, but Seekers only get Duty rolls for either teaching others or learning some obscure information, not simple studying, right?

[silphael]

Sola:

"I think we may do it easy: you will explain to us all you know about the Cult. Here is what I say: you help us, and during all that time, you are free to go. I know that's nearly a joke because of that woman, but... that's all we can do for you. We will help you to enjoy what it means to be alive. But I have one more question: do you have a family?"

[Inedible]

Erin Watson

"Gerald..." there was genuine sadness in Erin's voice. "I think I can understand why you would join with them. Everyone can get...unstable...when our emotions overwhelm us. And I can't imagine it getting much more overwhelming than grief at the loss of someone so close to you."
She took a deep breath. "But everything I've heard about this Cult of Broken Dreams...It doesn't sound like they help people deal with their grief. It sounds like they cultivate it. There's so many suicides associated with them that, well..."
“I know that,” He replied, “But I wanted to have power. I didn’t want to have to feel bad about anything, or feel anything at all.”


"Thanks everybody. But if we talk all on the same time, mister Gerald will be lost. One question at time."

Shina place herself in front of the man.

"You said, that you have nothing to do with this aberation. Well, I won't let you go away. Not that I don't believe you. But If you ran away, the others nobility will come after you, and your life will end. So what I propose you is to work for us to make down the Cult. While you work for us, we will make what we can to protect you."

The princess turn herself in front of the others.

"Is it alrigth for you?"
“W-what?” Now the man seemed to be getting agitated again. “Work for you? I can’t. That woman, she’d find me, and she killed me. You heard her! Everyone I even knew is dead, and if there’s anyone left they’d try and kill me too!” His head shakes vehemently at the idea.



Kim

Kim closed her eyes, pondering what he said. That was a lot to take in, actually. Another radiant, seemingly crazy powerful and bent on killing Tainted without discrimination. A branch of the Cult in this city, and semingly quite influent at that - or at least, with a lot of servants. Rising corpses and... Making them travel through the darkness, perhaps? To make them "appear out of thin air"... Did they all just got involved into a war?
She sighed, and stopped polishing her staff, instead meeting Gerald's eyes with a steady gaze.

"I'm sorry. Actions have consequences, wether you knew what you were doing or not. You walked in, now you can't walk out.
Whatever you did, however small and insignificant to your eyes, helped a bunch of terrible people achieve terrible ends. They have done things no man should ever do, and broached powers that should be left alone. And you played your part in all their crimes, however small.
How did the song put it? "You can checkout any time you like, but you can never leave."
But we're not here to punish you. My friends here might want to force you to help us, but ultimately it is going to be your own choice, because we can't torture you or hurt you for our ends. You are people, too. And you were misguided.
In the end, it's up to you to answer this one question: can you leave? Can you forget everything you've done? Can you forgive yourself if your help ends up causing suffering and death, and you could have done something to atone?
Can you choose to do nothing?"

Trying for a Manipulation + Expression roll.
2 Successes. (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?p=14072555#post14072555)

Kim’s words seemed to calm him a little, though, and he shakily offers, “I can tell you all the places I’ve been and give you a list of the people I’ve been in contact with. Even the dead ones, if you want. I call tell you everything I did, I promise, but I can’t help you. I can’t go back, I’ll get killed, they knew everything about me. What if that woman knows too? I’ll write it down, or whatever you want, just let me go after, please.”

Roll again at -3 if you want to try and convince him again. Otherwise he'll just provide you with detailed records. He's pretty convinced helping you will get him killed.


Shirley
Shirley stands up, placing her notebook into her backpack - next to the cult's one. Of course, leaving that at home would be... unwise.
"Ok, I guess I heard most of what I hoped for today; of course, some names would be nice to have, but that can wait. Meanwhile," she looks at the cellphone, "sorry, can't afford to miss any more lessons today. Need to stay on the teachers' good side, you know, to get myself some leeway in times of need."

Correct me if I'm wrong, but Seekers only get Duty rolls for either teaching others or learning some obscure information, not simple studying, right?
((This would be correct. So you're going to school?))


Sola:

"I think we may do it easy: you will explain to us all you know about the Cult. Here is what I say: you help us, and during all that time, you are free to go. I know that's nearly a joke because of that woman, but... that's all we can do for you. We will help you to enjoy what it means to be alive. But I have one more question: do you have a family?"

He shook his head. "I have some out of town, but nobody else here."

[sun_tzu]

Erin Watson

"Gerald, this Cult...It's dangerous. Bad with a big honking capital B," said Erin. "We need to stop them, to protect people...well, people like you. So, everything you can tell us about them would be appreciated. Heck, just describing their recruitment and indoctrination strategies could help prevent them from bamboozling more innocent people."
She turned toward the others. "But I don't think we can justify conscripting this man, or keeping him imprisoned. We have no real evidence of him being guilty of anything more than association. Staying in San Diego could get him killed, though.
Gerald...After you give us as much information as you can, I for one would be in favor of you getting the heck out of Dodge. But I'd still rather you moved to a city where someone like us could keep an eye on you - both for your own safety, and because, well, absence of evidence is not evidence of absence." Just because he seems sincere doesn't mean he actually is, after all.

[Inedible]

Erin Watson

"Gerald, this Cult...It's dangerous. Bad with a big honking capital B," said Erin. "We need to stop them, to protect people...well, people like you. So, everything you can tell us about them would be appreciated. Heck, just describing their recruitment and indoctrination strategies could help prevent them from bamboozling more innocent people."
She turned toward the others. "But I don't think we can justify conscripting this man, or keeping him imprisoned. We have no real evidence of him being guilty of anything more than association. Staying in San Diego could get him killed, though.
Gerald...After you give us as much information as you can, I for one would be in favor of you getting the heck out of Dodge. But I'd still rather you moved to a city where someone like us could keep an eye on you - both for your own safety, and because, well, absence of evidence is not evidence of absence." Just because he seems sincere doesn't mean he actually is, after all.
If provided something to write with, Gerald will quickly begin to detail all the work he's done for the cult, as well as list names and numbers, though most of them he notes are probably no longer living. He related several places and jobs he'd done, compiling it all into one big list.

[sun_tzu]

Erin Watson


[/spoiler]
If provided something to write with, Gerald will quickly begin to detail all the work he's done for the cult, as well as list names and numbers, though most of them he notes are probably no longer living. He related several places and jobs he'd done, compiling it all into one big list.

"Thank you," said Erin, scanning the documents with her smartphone as he wrote. "It may not seem like much, but this data could save lives."

[Mechanix]

Kim

"Thank you," Kim said with relief. "You are doing the right thing. I think your help will be precious. But... Now that this is done..."
Looking around her, she stood up, and placed herself so as to be in view of the other Radiants. She swallowed nervously, looking at each of them in turn.
"I think... I think we need to adress the elephant in the room.
We've just met another Noble. She was an adult, and she seemed stronger than us. She has mortal servants with guns that know about the Darkness and seem willing to kill. She's probably connected to that other Princess who killed the Broken Dream covent.
And she threatened to kill us if we ever met again.
What are we going to do about that? Because I don't think we can just twindle our thumb and pretend nothing happen. We're bound to meet her again. And then she'll try to kill us. And she's stronger than us.
So what now?"

[sun_tzu]

Erin Watson

"Aren't you overstating it a bit?" said Erin. "I mean...She said she'd kill us if she ever saw Gerald again. That's extra incentive to help him move out of town, but it's not like we're on her hit list by default - she'd probably have attacked us then and there otherwise.
...Mind you, if this is her way of doing things, we're probably gonna be in conflict with her sooner or later."

[Mechanix]

Erin Watson

"Aren't you overstating it a bit?" said Erin. "I mean...She said she'd kill us if she ever saw Gerald again. That's extra incentive to help him move out of town, but it's not like we're on her hit list by default - she'd probably have attacked us then and there otherwise.
...Mind you, if this is her way of doing things, we're probably gonna be in conflict with her sooner or later."
Kim

"...yeah, right. I'm sorry, I'm tired. Her exact words slipped out of my mind.
In any case, we're likely to end up going against her again at some point. Her, or that other crazy mass killer. Spear and armor, that what he said?
We've taken a course that is likely to bring us into conflict with powerful people who think we are being "soft" in the combat against the Darkness. Some of them might want to kill us.
...what are going to do about that? At the very least, I think we should organize ourselves to minimize the time we spend alone when on patrol or the like."

[jamieth]

Erin Watson



"Thank you," said Erin, scanning the documents with her smartphone as he wrote. "It may not seem like much, but this data could save lives."

Shirley
"Send me a copy, would you? I'll run a check through my channels", Shirley mentions right before leaving, "for that matter, I'll check that Princess's henchmen too... the one you took out yesterday, I think I can make a decent identikit of. He might already have a record with the police... A shame it won't work on their leader. This disguise magic is so handy to have... until it is used against us, isn't it? On the other hand", she turns to Kim, "this works both ways; she has no more idea on who we are than we have on her. I hope. But yes, we definitely need to keep contact."

[sun_tzu]

Erin Watson

"I'll send you a copy," Erin told Shirley, "and probably share it with some folks in the Dreamlands. Heck, might be worth checking if any Radiant has contacts in the FBI.
And yeah, we should get organized," she told Kim, "but if we're gonna do that, maybe we should start by getting to know each other. I mean, we didn't really have time for proper introductions yesterday." She eyed Gerald - if they were going to reveal secret identities, which was a big if, it couldn't be done within his earshot.

[Inedible]

Storyteller

"So I can go?" Gerald moved to rise, though he doesn't start toward the door unless they allow it. "I can leave the room. I won't leave unless you tell me. But I want to go." He seemed to be pretty earnest about it. And still a bit frightened of the gathered Nobility.

[silphael]

Sola:

"I don't think she is linked to the Noble who attacked... I think she is the woman who attacked. I guess that's a link, however. For the disguise, that's something I haven't learned yet, but I guess it'll be handy to be able to change disguise at will!"

She looks the guy, detailing his wounds.

"You think you'll gonna be alright? Your wounds were pretty awfull yesterday..."

[sun_tzu]

Erin Watson


Storyteller

"So I can go?" Gerald moved to rise, though he doesn't start toward the door unless they allow it. "I can leave the room. I won't leave unless you tell me. But I want to go." He seemed to be pretty earnest about it. And still a bit frightened of the gathered Nobility.

"It's...kind of dangerous for you to be outside right now," said Erin. "I would politely suggest you at least take an escort."

[Inedible]

Storyteller

"Will one of you go with me to protect me?" The man asks this, eyes moving between the group. "I just need to go home and get my things. Then I'm going, I swear."

[Mechanix]

Kim

It's not that she thought she was the best for the job. It's more that she didn't have any idea what to do that could help with their situation right now, and that was a very discomforting thought for her. She could have gone back to her student/daughter duties, but for a moment, she welcomed the break. Even if it presented a serious risk of going bad for her.
Kim picked up her staff, and looked at a man neutrally.
"Yeah. I'm coming. If there's a problem, I'll go shooty-shooty-bang-bang on people's behinds. Just... We gotta go someway discreet, 'cause I'm not exactly unconspicious in this outfit, see what I mean?"

[sun_tzu]

Erin Watson

"Who here has a car? Much less risk of running into the trigger-happy crew than on foot."

[silphael]

Sola:

"I'm the one boys are fighting for to drive, not the one to drive, sorry."

[jamieth]

Shirley
"Not me, either... I planned on waiting till I could get a full license... maybe not even then, actually. In the back seat, I can read something, ponder over something, even take a nap... in my books, much better than driving myself."

[Inedible]

Storyteller

With no mode of transportation readily available, Kim and Gerald get to walk. For a little way, until he managed to get a cab. It was a long ride, across town, to a squat looking apartment complex. He didn’t talk very much, spent most of the time peering out the windows, jumping at shadows, or looking suspiciously at anything slightly out of place.

His home was a two-bedroom affair, modestly decorated, though nothing in particular stuck out as suspicious. There are a few pictures of his wife still around, along with her things, though they didn’t seem to be put to use. He didn’t spend much time, grabbing things he needed, packing them all in a bag. Then down to his car. “Thank you for letting me go, I promise I won’t get involved with anyone like that again. “ And he seemed sincere enough. Then he was gone, driving down the street and out of town.

((Does anyone have anything they want to wrap up with? We’ll move on to the next thing, if not.))

[sun_tzu]

Well, Erin wanted to handle presentations for the whole group...

[silphael]

Sola:

"Okay, girls, I'm Sola Rose! Here is my number. I'm a talented harpist, as you heard earlier, and I'm there to bring passion back!"

[jamieth]

Shirley
"Shirley Holmes", Shirley says, letting go of her Radiant getup, "and, before you ask, yes, it IS my real name. Sorry", she smiles apologetically, "I just get this question too often."

[sun_tzu]

Erin


Shirley
"Shirley Holmes", Shirley says, letting go of her Radiant getup, "and, before you ask, yes, it IS my real name. Sorry", she smiles apologetically, "I just get this question too often."

Erin couldn't help but chuckle briefly. "Erin Watson, pleased to make your acquaintance. Champion of Diamonds, local science geekette, and passionate rationalist."

[Mechanix]

Kim came back to the warehouse , thinking a lot about what was going on but coming to no satisfying conclusion. Seeing the others talk, she hesitated to interrupt them, and advanced slowly.
"He's gone," she said neutraly. "Safely, I think. Were you... Introducing yourselves?" She felt a sudden pang of shyness, but nonetheless added:
"I'm Kim Jameson. I'm a Champion of Swords, and, uh, I do a lot of stuff. Clubs and things. I hope to be an artist someday," she confessed, though it sounded kind of lame to her ears. "Nice to meet you."

[jamieth]

A little flash forward, if I may
Shirley, that evening

Shirley takes an early shower, skips supper and locks inside her room; admittedly, that isn't something her family finds strange or suspicious. Dressed in her pajamas, Shirley builds a throne of pillows and rolled bedsheets on top of her bed and mounts it cross-legged, a Kindle in one hand, a can of coke in the other, with half a dozen more - cans, obviously, not Kindles - waiting in line besides her. Shirley isn't stranger to pulling all-nighters when in need of emergency studying. It's just that the topic of this cram session is something she never expected to ever need...

I'd like to use my 3 xp to purchase a normal dot of Occult, if I may

[Inedible]

Intermission

The next few days leave the Nobility free to do as they well. Be it work on building up their sanctum, or spending time together in some other fashion of their choosing. The leads Gerald gave required some detective work, and don’t seem to be going anywhere too fast. Most of the people whose names he have seem to have disappeared, but with some work the group may be able to yield something useful from the information.

In the meantime, school life goes on.

The boy Erin saved, Jon Bennett, finally returns to class. He’s actually in some of her classes, though he doesn’t seem to be actually paying much attention. Mostly, he keeps to himself. Occasionally she’ll catch him staring at her when he thinks she isn’t looking, but when caught he pointed avoids eye contact, or any contact whatsoever with her.

Kim’s soup kitchen gets two new additions to the rotating cast of people that come to help staff such operations. One of them is Jonny, a boy around her age, though not from school. He’s kind of odd, he doesn’t really talk to people, and he always seems like he’s really cold. Occasionally he’ll listen to rambling homeless people. The second person is named Katherine, she’s a middle-aged woman who seems much more pleasant to be around. She spends a lot of time counseling anyone who wants it. Which is not many, but she tries.

In the meantime, all the girls come to hear the following rumors:

Blood on the Dance Floor
The Satin Lounge in Mid-City has always been a popular spot for the 18+ crowd. While not as trendy as some clubs, it’s stayed fairly popular due to a well-known student presence and an unspoken agreement to look the other way regarding the underage if one at least makes cursory effort to disguise such. Lately it’s experience an even bigger boom in popularity with students from SDHS. Worryingly, in some cases. Several senior students and one or two younger have been visiting every night and taking friends to do the same.

One of Mia’s friends in the gymnastics club, Annie Eddison, is one such girl that’s been slacking off from practice and studies to do so, which is extremely unlike her. Sola is, of course, invited by several of her friends to join them and bring whoever she wants.

Anyone can investigate this, but you’ll need to have some way to get into The Satin Lounge while being under 18. Which is, as rumor says, not that hard.

Dogs in the Park
Balboa Park is, as parks go, fairly safe. It’s best to watch oneself at night, but it isn’t rampant with danger like some of the other parks in the city. A few days ago, however, a series of incidents have taken place. Several homeless people in the park have reported sightings of some sort of gang activity of conflict. The most perplexing is one homeless man who was found in the park one morning, severely injured by an animal attack.

Kim will hear from several of the people at the soup kitchen that there are sighting of wolves in the park. Wolves are roaming around, eating people! She and anyone else can investigate this.

The Midnight Murders
In the neighborhood of Barro Logan, just a way south of the school and by the coast, a series of bizarre deaths have taken place in the high-rise apartment complex of Allegro Towers. The community has seen three murders over the past few weeks, each of which police have yet to make any significant breakthroughs on. Two wealthy residents have been found dead in their sleep, while a third was found with their throat slit after a struggle. The assailant, if there is one, seems to have been able to come and go without leaving a trace.

Shirley’s acquaintances that live in the area also talk about the odd goings on. Anyone can investigate this.

A New Sheriff in Town
Gang activity in Mid-City has been very strange lately. Over the past month conflict between gangs skyrocketed, resulting in a mass of fatalities. Most sensational were a series of bodies found that seem to have been killed via archaic weaponry. Just within the past two weeks, however, obvious criminal activity has dropped practically off the map. The police have made no statements or apparent breakthroughs, but the once divisive gangs in Mid-City have quieted down quite abruptly. A few punks at school seem actually afraid to hang around there now.

Anyone can investigate this.

Meet and Greet
Over the last week all of the Nobility have had time to research what they are. Those who look hard enough have found the community has a small presence on the internet, and though nobody is willing to talk too much about themselves or where they are, there’s at least a sense of camaraderie and some practical advice.

There is one person that both Erin and Sola come into contact with that lives in San Diego, somewhere in south Clairemont, in a neighborhood called Serra Mesa. She’s willing to meet with any other Hopeful in the area, and could use some help regarding Darkspawn in her area.
Anyone can meet with her.

Ancient Chinese Secret
Following the leads that the group gets, mostly thanks to Shirley and a surprising bit of deduction by Sola, some progress is made toward rooting out what may remain of the Cult of Broken Dreams. Most of the people on the list have vanished without a trace, some currently have missing persons reports. There is, however, one specific place they all seem to have had interest in. It’s an occult shop in Chinatown, one that sells mostly to the clientele in the immediate area.

Gerald has ferried people there off and on, and a lot of them seemed to frequent the shop. Anyone can investigate this.

((Free time. You can get to know each other, work on your sanctum, debate what to do next, whatever.

Jamieth, give me two Intelligence+Occult rolls, and two Resolve+Composure rolls, with -1 on the first Resolve+Composure, and -2 on the second for studying!

Just because I gave your character a way to find out about something doesn’t mean you have to do it. If you’re more interested/think you would be more useful in something else you can do that instead. There are 6 of you, so you can delegate tasks to people as needed. You can even go alone! If you’re feeling brave.))

[jamieth]

Shirley
It was a relatively calm couple of days; busy for sure, but it was a more-or-less routine kind of "busy". Going to school, helping with setting up the warehouse - the group still used it, even after Gerald left, and, in fact, Shirley even relocated a large chunk of her library there - well, mostly it was to clear some space in her room for new books, but still.
She also dutifully fought her way through the Cult's notebook every evening; now, with her increased understanding of the matters discussed therein, it did not become a more enjoyable read in the slightest - opposite, in fact. Of course, it also made much more sense now... Still, Shirley felt her ability to endure these reading sessions was nearing its limit. If only something happened that would distract her for long enough...
Luckily for Shirley, it did. Unluckily for, well, everyone, it did come in a shape of three people turning dead in a neighborhood not far away. Shirley of one month ago would take interest in the case, and she'd rread every newspaper about it, and probably cut out the articles, and... well, little more, actually. It's not like she could actually DO anything about it, right? Except, now she COULD. Probably.
More than once before she imagined simply approaching the cop at a crime site and asking casually, "did you found anything?" Doing so for the first time for real felt weird, surreal. I mean, magic and all, but how come they don't realize I'm actually a schoolgirl who rightfully has ho excuse even being here, never mind asking around? And yet, it worked. Somehow, cops were really willing to share some info with... I wonder how they see me.
http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showpost.php?p=14122554&postcount=110
http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showpost.php?p=14122559&postcount=111
2 successes on activating Fair Welcome

[Inedible]

The Midnight Murders

The Allegro Towers (http://www.keyhousing.com/upload/462.Allegro_4.jpg) are part of a high-rise complex, fairly upper-class, composed of a central building and two towers on either side. The murders have taken place in the west tower, a series of stairs and halls that are kept fairly clean and well lit.

By the time Shirley makes it to an actual crime scene, it’s the third and final one. By then the case is public enough, though most of the work is already done. She finds a single police officer guarding the scene. He seems momentarily confused at the sight of her, but he reports in short order:

“We found the victim in here. There were signs of struggle, but none of the neighbors report hearing or seeing anything. No family, a few known acquaintances, but nobody important yet. You can take a look around.”
Inside is a higher end apartment, elegant furniture, not a lot of clutter. There also aren’t a lot of personal effects, the decorations mostly simple paintings or rugs. There are a few photos here and there, some of the victim. It was a woman, mid-twenties, blonde hair. She was killed in the kitchen, there are marks to indicate such.

((Wits+Investigation!))

ResearchAs Shirley burns away the midnight hours on her research, she makes a thorough analysis of several more pages. The next swath of the notebook is covered in black marker, most of the text blotted out completely. There are, however, some words that can be seen when held up to the light. It’s something about meditation and inner-peace, with more notes scribbled in margins.
The next part is devoted to a treatise on ludic dreaming. Like before, more notes. Occasionally the instructions seem to veer off into incoherent rambling, or have some fairly questionable steps to achieve the effects.

As she reads more she begins to put together that this is a summoning ritual, of sorts. For a very specific entity, that seems to be manifested through the subconscious of the person calling it. It’s fairly clear this is not a good thing, but whoever was making notes seemed to have been trying to actually document what it was. It seems like several dozen people have made notes, all of them trying to clarify what this thing is and how to call it.

((There’s still a little bit left to go. Next time you have free time you can make another roll.))

[sun_tzu]

Erin

Question: You are a scientist wannabe who's recently discovered that the magical exists, that a lot of it is downright hostile, and that containing it is part of your job description - what do you do?
Answer: Gather as much data as possible. Which was why Erin spent many hours on the following days checking occult bookstores, researching the Internet, and asking questions in the Dreamland.
Part of the problem, naturally, was that there was a lot of incorrect and contradictory data. One source claimed vampires existed and hated garlic, while another claimed vampires were in fact humans suffering from a virus related to rabies and had none of the traditional weaknesses. One source claimed...well, to put it simply, finding data was easy, but establishing hat data was reliable was often the hard part.

And then there was the information obtained about the Cult of Broken Dreams. An entire cult devoted to warping people into fomenting misery... Something like that could not be allowed to exist. That much she was certain of. And she was going to rip that cult to shreds as soon as the opportunity presented itself.
For now, she was looking into several paths of attack. First of all, she started asking out, both in Radiant online communities and in the Dreamland, if any among their numbers had contact within the FBI (who better to fight a pervasive cult, after all?). Secondly, after going over Gerald's recounting of the cult's recruitment methods, she started asking another question - if there was any Radiant she could get in touch with who possessed particularly good writing skills. And third...

Stepping into Chinatown, Erin walked toward the occult shop. There was work to be done.

So, raising a dot in Occult, working on some long-term strategies as mentioned above, and investigating Ancient Chinese Secret. Do I need to roll anything?

[Mechanix]

Dogs in the Park

She had spent a few days inside that old run-down warehouse, working to make it somewhat more acceptable - checking it for traces of the Taint, removing junk and detritus, arranging for an easy and concealed entrance so it still looked lik eit was abandonned... It was work, and she didn't like it much, but it had to be done. After a few days though, the place looked nicer: she'd bleached some walls and even taken a few posters off her own room to make the place a bit more cozy, and found half a dozen disparate chairs. Some day, she mused, they would have stuff like proper desks and a nice sofa, and she would have a painting workshop. In the meantime though, it didn't look like much.

Every day she swore she'd speak with this Johnny at the shelter, try to know who is was, where he was from and why he was so aloof, but every day she found something more urgent to do with her time and ended up not doing anything. She had spent what little time she had left on her schedule trying to improve her Radiant abilities - shooting at stuff, trying her armor, switching between Invocations. She'd sought some kind of epiphany - that moment in all series where the hero suddenly realizes something that was under his nose all along and triples in power overnight. It had not happened, sadly; unfortunately this world seemed to require actual work to get better at things, rather than spontaneous revelations. Oh, well.

It was time to put her training to the test, anyway. Some people might have thought that going alone in a park reputed for recent violent events, a murder and the possible presence of freaking wolves would be stupid and/or insane. Those people would probably be right, but Kim wasn't ready to listen. And most other members of their little group seemed to have gone their own ways for the time being, which wasn't necessarily a bad thing; sending six Princesses on a single problem would, in many cases, qualify as overkill.

And so there she was, in the park at night, fully transformed but hiding her none-too-stealthy Princess dress under a shabby coat, trying to be unconspicuous while investigating the place of the homeless victim's assault. She was cringing her teeth in anger that someone would dare hurt these people whom life had so injured already - and who were under her protection, no less. She would bring justice and safety to them if her name was Kim. Luckily for them, there had been no murder yet - or she would show no mercy for the perpetrators.

[Inedible]

Storyteller

Erin
Question: You are a scientist wannabe who's recently discovered that the magical exists, that a lot of it is downright hostile, and that containing it is part of your job description - what do you do?
Answer: Gather as much data as possible. Which was why Erin spent many hours on the following days checking occult bookstores, researching the Internet, and asking questions in the Dreamland.
Part of the problem, naturally, was that there was a lot of incorrect and contradictory data. One source claimed vampires existed and hated garlic, while another claimed vampires were in fact humans suffering from a virus related to rabies and had none of the traditional weaknesses. One source claimed...well, to put it simply, finding data was easy, but establishing hat data was reliable was often the hard part.

And then there was the information obtained about the Cult of Broken Dreams. An entire cult devoted to warping people into fomenting misery... Something like that could not be allowed to exist. That much she was certain of. And she was going to rip that cult to shreds as soon as the opportunity presented itself.
For now, she was looking into several paths of attack. First of all, she started asking out, both in Radiant online communities and in the Dreamland, if any among their numbers had contact within the FBI (who better to fight a pervasive cult, after all?). Secondly, after going over Gerald's recounting of the cult's recruitment methods, she started asking another question - if there was any Radiant she could get in touch with who possessed particularly good writing skills. And third...

Stepping into Chinatown, Erin walked toward the occult shop. There was work to be done.

So, raising a dot in Occult, working on some long-term strategies as mentioned above, and investigating Ancient Chinese Secret. Do I need to roll anything?

The shop was a small one, a squat building with thin and dirty windows displaying several books and figurines. The inside is cramped, lots of bookshelves, tables, all kinds of clutter. Numerous Taoist symbols dotted the walls, as well as a few talismans and figurines. Some of it looked very old, while some of it was clearly newer stuff.

There was a man behind the counter, an older gentleman with wispy white hair and a dark olive skin tone. He’s dusting a wooden box he’s holding in his hand, and he smiles briefly when he spots his visitor. “Hello. How may I help you?” His English is unaccented, even though his origin was clearly Asian.



Dogs in the Park

She had spent a few days inside that old run-down warehouse, working to make it somewhat more acceptable - checking it for traces of the Taint, removing junk and detritus, arranging for an easy and concealed entrance so it still looked lik eit was abandonned... It was work, and she didn't like it much, but it had to be done. After a few days though, the place looked nicer: she'd bleached some walls and even taken a few posters off her own room to make the place a bit more cozy, and found half a dozen disparate chairs. Some day, she mused, they would have stuff like proper desks and a nice sofa, and she would have a painting workshop. In the meantime though, it didn't look like much.

Every day she swore she'd speak with this Johnny at the shelter, try to know who is was, where he was from and why he was so aloof, but every day she found something more urgent to do with her time and ended up not doing anything. She had spent what little time she had left on her schedule trying to improve her Radiant abilities - shooting at stuff, trying her armor, switching between Invocations. She'd sought some kind of epiphany - that moment in all series where the hero suddenly realizes something that was under his nose all along and triples in power overnight. It had not happened, sadly; unfortunately this world seemed to require actual work to get better at things, rather than spontaneous revelations. Oh, well.

It was time to put her training to the test, anyway. Some people might have thought that going alone in a park reputed for recent violent events, a murder and the possible presence of freaking wolves would be stupid and/or insane. Those people would probably be right, but Kim wasn't ready to listen. And most other members of their little group seemed to have gone their own ways for the time being, which wasn't necessarily a bad thing; sending six Princesses on a single problem would, in many cases, qualify as overkill.

And so there she was, in the park at night, fully transformed but hiding her none-too-stealthy Princess dress under a shabby coat, trying to be unconspicuous while investigating the place of the homeless victim's assault. She was cringing her teeth in anger that someone would dare hurt these people whom life had so injured already - and who were under her protection, no less. She would bring justice and safety to them if her name was Kim. Luckily for them, there had been no murder yet - or she would show no mercy for the perpetrators.

Most of the park is monopolized by buildings, a golf course, or several high-class restaurants. The spaces in-between, though, are filled with heavy trees that get thick enough to obscure sight in some places. It’s a large area to search, but she can start from where the last sighting was. As she moves through the park she can hear a howl, then several more, and then quiet again.

About an hour into the search is when she comes across something strange. In the trees there’s a light, small, orange in the distance. It looks like a fire, but it must be a controlled one. At a distance she's was able to spot the barrel and the refuse inside, blazing merrily in the dark. There are two figures next to it, a man and a woman, both dressed in plain clothes, hunched next to one another and speaking quietly.

[sun_tzu]

Erin


Storyteller
[/spoiler]

The shop was a small one, a squat building with thin and dirty windows displaying several books and figurines. The inside is cramped, lots of bookshelves, tables, all kinds of clutter. Numerous Taoist symbols dotted the walls, as well as a few talismans and figurines. Some of it looked very old, while some of it was clearly newer stuff.

There was a man behind the counter, an older gentleman with wispy white hair and a dark olive skin tone. He’s dusting a wooden box he’s holding in his hand, and he smiles briefly when he spots his visitor. “Hello. How may I help you?” His English is unaccented, even though his origin was clearly Asian.

She returned a smile. "I'm browsing. Kinda new to this sort of place."

[Mechanix]

Dogs in the Park

Kim carefully approached the burning barrel. The realization struck her that waiting for something dangerous to actually happen before going all Radiant might have been a better idea, but what's done was done; she hoped her coat would make her somewhat less conspicuous.
"Uh... Hi," she said shyly as she came near the couple. "Can I sit with you for a bit?"

[Inedible]

Erin
She returned a smile. "I'm browsing. Kinda new to this sort of place."
"What are you interested in?" The man turned, his full attention moving to his visitor. "If you have anything, feel free to let me know."

The shop itself seems cramped, but ordinary. Some new-age stuff, a lot of philosophy and religion. There's a door to the back, shut, and not a whole lot else. Nothing particularly sticks out.


Dogs in the Park

Kim carefully approached the burning barrel. The realization struck her that waiting for something dangerous to actually happen before going all Radiant might have been a better idea, but what's done was done; she hoped her coat would make her somewhat less conspicuous.
"Uh... Hi," she said shyly as she came near the couple. "Can I sit with you for a bit?"

Both of their eyes turned up toward the girl when she made herself known, neither glance particularly friendly. Both were silent for a minute, not rising from where they’re crouched, not moving more than to take a look at her and a more questioning look between themselves. Once they’d taken in their visitor the woman spoke, a low, unpleasant sound. “Go home, little girl.”

((Roll me a Wits+Composure with your next post.))

[sun_tzu]

Erin


"What are you interested in?" The man turned, his full attention moving to his visitor. "If you have anything, feel free to let me know."

The shop itself seems cramped, but ordinary. Some new-age stuff, a lot of philosophy and religion. There's a door to the back, shut, and not a whole lot else. Nothing particularly sticks out.

"I'm looking for...well, pretty much anything," she said. "I've only recently started developing an interest in the subject."

[Mechanix]

Dogs in the Park

Oh, my. Well, she was an intruder in this place, in a way. If those people were homeless sleeping in the park, people strolling for leisure would probably draw envy and resentment from them. Their reaction was understandable.
"You are not very welcoming," she said in a neutral tone. Really, she did not want to upset them, but she needed to take a better look at them. Anything could be useful here.

1 Success. (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?p=14139690&posted=1#post14139690)

[jamieth]

Shirley
First time at the scene of real, recent, unsolved, major crime, Shirley tries looking more confident than she actually feels.
She looks around slowly, seeking anything that could be a clue; of course, the police did that already, and it was unlikely they missed anything major... but, first, "unlikely" didn't mean "impossible", and second, they certainly operated under the pretense of killer being a human being, a luxury Shirley couldn't afford. Police, for example, didn't consider " growing a pair of wings and flying away from a window" a viable method of leaving a crime scene; Shirley, though not without irritation, did... and so on.
www.giantitp.com/forums/showpost.php?p=14127711&postcount=222

[Inedible]

Erin
"I'm looking for...well, pretty much anything," she said. "I've only recently started developing an interest in the subject."
The old man considered that, moving toward one section of the store near the window. He plucked out of one the thinner books there, explaining, "The trick is to start at the beginning." A wrinkled smile followed before offering it out. "If you're interested in something that will enrich your life, I recommend this."

The book was small, red, and written in both English and Chinese. The Tao Te Ching, a classic Chinese text about the principles of Taoism.

The bell on the door gave a small ring as another person stepped in, a thin looking woman who paused to take a small glimpse around the shop. When the man spotted her he paused, turning and smiling. "I have your order," He mentions, "It's in the back. Go ahead and wait there, I'll be back in a second." She does so, moving toward the back door and slipping inside.



Dogs in the Park

Oh, my. Well, she was an intruder in this place, in a way. If those people were homeless sleeping in the park, people strolling for leisure would probably draw envy and resentment from them. Their reaction was understandable.
"You are not very welcoming," she said in a neutral tone. Really, she did not want to upset them, but she needed to take a better look at them. Anything could be useful here.

1 Success. (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?p=14139690&posted=1#post14139690)
She noticed that, though their dress was fairly utilitarian and not exactly clean, both of the individuals near the fire appeared to be in relatively good shape. Not emaciated, at least. Neither of them were injured either, though plenty of scars marked their skin. In the dirt beneath them were drawn several odd patterns, things that looked vaguely tribal in nature, pictures of animals and other strange symbols.

She did not, however, notice the man behind her until his hand fell on her shoulder. "It's because you're not welcome here." His voice was low, and the pocketknife in his other hand glinted as it cast back the firelight. He was dressed the same as the others, drab colors and bare bones fashion. "This is a bad night to be out. You should find somewhere else to be."


Shirley
First time at the scene of real, recent, unsolved, major crime, Shirley tries looking more confident than she actually feels.
She looks around slowly, seeking anything that could be a clue; of course, the police did that already, and it was unlikely they missed anything major... but, first, "unlikely" didn't mean "impossible", and second, they certainly operated under the pretense of killer being a human being, a luxury Shirley couldn't afford. Police, for example, didn't consider " growing a pair of wings and flying away from a window" a viable method of leaving a crime scene; Shirley, though not without irritation, did... and so on.
www.giantitp.com/forums/showpost.php?p=14127711&postcount=222
Shirley, after several hours of examination and combing back and forth across the apartment, does manage to find something that the previous investigators may have missed.


She found a dream journal in the bedroom, with several abstract notes about sleep patterns and lucid dreaming, as well as a record of her own dreams. The final pages played host to a few dozen scratchy illustration of some kind of sprawling clockwork landscape. The last notation in the corner is: Neighbors say they've having dreams to. It's a farm. Can't sleep.

When she moves to check the window near the sink she noticed something in the garbage disposal. Fishing it out revealed what appeared to be a dirty, half-shredded autumn leaf. It's possible it could have blown through the thin crack in the window, but there aren't any trees around for miles.

Lastly, as she traveled through the apartment, she noticed something watching her. After her initial inspection of the window a dirty, ragged looking sparrow set down on the windowsill and has spent the last few minutes staring inside. It stood stock-still for some reason, turning head only when she passed by.

[sun_tzu]

Erin



The old man considered that, moving toward one section of the store near the window. He plucked out of one the thinner books there, explaining, "The trick is to start at the beginning." A wrinkled smile followed before offering it out. "If you're interested in something that will enrich your life, I recommend this."

The book was small, red, and written in both English and Chinese. The Tao Te Ching, a classic Chinese text about the principles of Taoism.
"Thank you," she said with a smile, keeping the book in her hand as she continued browsing.


The bell on the door gave a small ring as another person stepped in, a thin looking woman who paused to take a small glimpse around the shop. When the man spotted her he paused, turning and smiling. "I have your order," He mentions, "It's in the back. Go ahead and wait there, I'll be back in a second." She does so, moving toward the back door and slipping inside.
I shouldn't...but then again, if this is a Broken Dreams gathering spot...
Quietly as she could, Erin tried to slip through the back door to get a look.

[silphael]

Sola (teaming with Mia), Blood on the dance floor:

Eightteen. Being eightteen, I mean... For other, it means a lot: something like a red line and the beginning of a lot of things.

Not for me. I think I will lose a part of the easy discounts, but that's probably all. Entering bars, when you often serve as back-up for groups or bars owners, is something easy, espacially when you are well known somewhere. And people don't ask when you carry something that looks like the box of an instrument.

"You know, Mia, passing through them isn't hard: you only have to look like nobody will stop you. If they ask your ID, make as you consider it is for someone else: they won't push... at least, theoretically."

After some looking through a lot of clothes, she continues:

"Oh, try that! It will go perfectly with your complexion, don't you think?"

Readying a visit at a night club: the best idea for it is to go shopping, even while buying nothing.

[Mechanix]

Dogs in the Park

Kim had never been a good liar, but when you lead a double life that puts your life in danger every day while having to hide it from anyone else, it can easily become a habit. The very reason she'd never tried to become good at lying to people was precisely because she didn't want it to be an easy, efficient solution to her problem. If she remained bad at lying, then she'd be encouraged to find other ways around her problems.
Right now though, she really wished she had a silver tongue and a quick wit. Instead, she swallowed and looked panicked - which, granted, was probably the intended effect of this little demonstration.
"Look, I... It's because it's a bad night to be out that I was trying to find people to be with. Can't you at least point me toward other people? Or walk me to the entrance? I... Don't want to be alone. I'm scared."

She really was, but what she was scared of were these people with their dangerous demeanors and weird markings on the ground.
A thought struck her, unsupported by any fact but still nagging at her mind: if these people are not the monster I am looking for, then they are hunting it too. Either way, she had to stay close.
Though granted, should they prove evil, starting a fight in the middle of their camp with one of them holding her shoulder was a pretty dumb idea.

[Inedible]

Erin


"Thank you," she said with a smile, keeping the book in her hand as she continued browsing.


I shouldn't...but then again, if this is a Broken Dreams gathering spot...
Quietly as she could, Erin tried to slip through the back door to get a look.
“Are you ready to check out?” The old man moved back toward the counter, near the door. She wouldn’t be able to sneak through while he’s there, unless she caused some sort of distracted. He seems to be keeping an eye on her for the moment, waiting patiently.

((If you want to get in the back you’ll need to find some way to distract the owner, or come up with something else.))


Dogs in the Park

Kim had never been a good liar, but when you lead a double life that puts your life in danger every day while having to hide it from anyone else, it can easily become a habit. The very reason she'd never tried to become good at lying to people was precisely because she didn't want it to be an easy, efficient solution to her problem. If she remained bad at lying, then she'd be encouraged to find other ways around her problems.
Right now though, she really wished she had a silver tongue and a quick wit. Instead, she swallowed and looked panicked - which, granted, was probably the intended effect of this little demonstration.
"Look, I... It's because it's a bad night to be out that I was trying to find people to be with. Can't you at least point me toward other people? Or walk me to the entrance? I... Don't want to be alone. I'm scared."

She really was, but what she was scared of were these people with their dangerous demeanors and weird markings on the ground.
A thought struck her, unsupported by any fact but still nagging at her mind: if these people are not the monster I am looking for, then they are hunting it too. Either way, she had to stay close.
Though granted, should they prove evil, starting a fight in the middle of their camp with one of them holding her shoulder was a pretty dumb idea.
The man with the knife laughed, a jagged, high-pitched sort of sound. He cast a look at the other man, who just gave a small roll of his shoulders. In response the man with the weapon to a step in front of Kim, his hand pushing the girl backward. “Ah, you’ve got some balls, kid. Or you’re stupid as ****. But I’m not your babysitter,” He replied, “Pick a direction and go, unless you want to look like swiss cheese.”

In the background the woman seems to suddenly perk up, rising to her feet and tilting her head upward. Her eyes are unfocused, her lips mouthing a few words. The other man rises as well, cracking his knuckles together.

[Mechanix]

"Right. You're right. I'm sorry. I didn't want to bother you."

Violent, they were definitely violent. Sure, in theory they might just be trying to threaten her away for her own safety, but you didn't fight the darkness and survive without learning that this kind of thing didn't actually happen. When people look like they want to kill you, it's usually because they want to kill you. She'd learned everything she could here; she stepped back, looking as scared as she could, and then she scurried away - she didn't exactly ran, but she didn't walk either; she got the hell out, in some random direction.

She would stop once out of hearing range, though. And then maybe she'd come back and spy on them. Or perhaps not. It was a huge park and just because she'd stumbled upon one group of violent hobos homeless people, she reminded herself, didn't mean they were the perps.

Then again, weird tribal symbols and people ready to commit violence upon a child? Yeah, that was totally normal.

[Inedible]

"Right. You're right. I'm sorry. I didn't want to bother you."

Violent, they were definitely violent. Sure, in theory they might just be trying to threaten her away for her own safety, but you didn't fight the darkness and survive without learning that this kind of thing didn't actually happen. When people look like they want to kill you, it's usually because they want to kill you. She'd learned everything she could here; she stepped back, looking as scared as she could, and then she scurried away - she didn't exactly ran, but she didn't walk either; she got the hell out, in some random direction.

She would stop once out of hearing range, though. And then maybe she'd come back and spy on them. Or perhaps not. It was a huge park and just because she'd stumbled upon one group of violent hobos homeless people, she reminded herself, didn't mean they were the perps.

Then again, weird tribal symbols and people ready to commit violence upon a child? Yeah, that was totally normal.

"Can you believe that? Who lets their kids just wander around in the park. Bad parenting." She could hear the man with the knife, his tone vaguely jovial as she moves out of range.

"They're here." The woman offered this in a fainter voice. "North side. Should we?"

The rest of their conversation is garbled, and not in a tongue that made any sense. Then, silence.

[Mechanix]

Dogs in the Park

Why, why do I always keep putting myself into situations that I am not fit to handle. I'm totally gonna be able to move through the woods at night without being heard or seen by people who clearly have more experience than me at this. Clearly.
Nonetheless. Whoever they were, these people were important. And therefore, Kim decided to wait there for a sign of movement on their part, and then to try and follow them from afar.
If they didn't move... Then she'd just go to the "north side," though that appropriately vague descriptor would not make her task much easier.

[sun_tzu]

Erin


“Are you ready to check out?” The old man moved back toward the counter, near the door. She wouldn’t be able to sneak through while he’s there, unless she caused some sort of distracted. He seems to be keeping an eye on her for the moment, waiting patiently.

((If you want to get in the back you’ll need to find some way to distract the owner, or come up with something else.))

Great. What do I do? I can't just LIE to this guy on the off-chance that there's something fishy going on.
...
Sometimes, it's worth trying the direct approach.
"I'll definitely be taking this one," she said, looking at the book he'd handed to her, "but I'm not really done browsing. What stuff do you have over there?" she said, glancing at the door. Right. If it's just another part of the shop, then there's no reason not to tell a customer. And if something is off...

[Inedible]

Dogs in the ParkWhy, why do I always keep putting myself into situations that I am not fit to handle. I'm totally gonna be able to move through the woods at night without being heard or seen by people who clearly have more experience than me at this. Clearly.
Nonetheless. Whoever they were, these people were important. And therefore, Kim decided to wait there for a sign of movement on their part, and then to try and follow them from afar.
If they didn't move... Then she'd just go to the "north side," though that appropriately vague descriptor would not make her task much easier.

From where she was hidden she couldn't see anything, no trace of people passing by. It's quiet in the midst of the trees again, just the occasional pop of the fire as it slowly winds down.

((Roll Wits+Composure and Wits+Survival))


ErinGreat. What do I do? I can't just LIE to this guy on the off-chance that there's something fishy going on.
...
Sometimes, it's worth trying the direct approach.
"I'll definitely be taking this one," she said, looking at the book he'd handed to her, "but I'm not really done browsing. What stuff do you have over there?" she said, glancing at the door. Right. If it's just another part of the shop, then there's no reason not to tell a customer. And if something is off...
"That's just our stocking area. I hold things there for customers, if they need me to." His reply came easily, asking, "Did you need more time? Feel free to look around." He does not, however, move from his spot.

[Mechanix]

Oh, man, this is weak. (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?p=14166120#post14166120)

[Regalus]

Introduction

"Well girls it's a pleasure to meet all of you," she beamed, more than a bit relieved they had managed to deal with Gerald without further blood shed, "My turn, the name's Mia Hendrix; acrobat extraordinaire, and friend to those in need. " she explained hapily. "I'mma Grace of Spades, ya'll can call me Heart's Whisper while on the clock; let's all get along," she added with a smile. Things weren't going to be easy, and certainly not simple if their latest venture was any sign though that did live one matter on attended.

"So I gotta ask, have any of you guys seen any shadow tentacle robots recently?" she asked curiously with a completely straight face.


Mia (teaming with Sola ), Blood on the dance floor:

Things seemed to settle down during the following days, no mayor incursions or eldritch creatures deciding to go for a snack at their school; yet the an unspoken tension still hung in the air after the shooting. No one was harmed, and their teqcher seemed to be more or less alright, so all was well.

Mia kept herself busy in the days that followed; during the day keeping tabs on the ongoing activities at the school, more than a bit concerned by all the apperant supernatural activity in the area, and at night consulting with her court on how to defend what would now be their palace; passing the information to the others even as she helped cleaning it up. Even if it was still early, Mia could already tell that this was going to be quite a balancing act on her end. She just hoped she coul keep herself from having to follow the Noble axiom. For now she'd content herself helping her friends as she always had, atleast until Erin got back to them with her findings; though her latest problem seemed quite a doozy.

After having done her own research on the matter, she now found herself making preperations for her own inquiry with her fellow a Noble's aid.

"If you say so; if Annie got in I guess it shouldn't be that tricky," Mia replied trying her best to let Sola's words reassure her. "I'm just glad your letting me tag along, not sure what how I'd handle it by myself," she added with a smile as she shifted through another batch of clothes, before turning up to see Sola's latest acquisition; curving her lips in thought as she studied the garment, before smiling. "Oh yeah, I think I can work with this," she commented merrily before going to try it on.

Certainly sneaking into the club was a bit daunting, especially if word got back to her father, but Sola certainly seemed to know how to handle the situation, and this was just for scouting purposes after all and for a friend. Just a little recon so she'd know how to talk to Annie about it, nothing big.

Oh sure, she'd never been one for the party seen, but after talking to Sola about the whole affair Mia was far more comfortable about it. All she had to do was dress the part and play it right, right? Nothing too complicated, or so she hoped.

((OOC: Taking advantage of my Contacts in the student body to try and find out more about the club. Looking for anything noteworthy about it; including, but not limited to, what's so special about it that make's it so popular, and how long has it been a hot spot for students. Rolled 4 success (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showpost.php?p=14166582&postcount=123)))

[sun_tzu]

Erin


"That's just our stocking area. I hold things there for customers, if they need me to." His reply came easily, asking, "Did you need more time? Feel free to look around." He does not, however, move from his spot.

Well...No reason for that not to be true.
Erin kept looking around - not just as a cover, but with genuine interest. She needed to learn more about the occult, after all, and with her recent studies, she was only starting to understand how to separate the real from the fake. She tried to find what items in the store would hold genuine interest to an occultist...while waiting to see if anything out of the ordinary caught her eye (and what the other customer eventually left the storage area with). And as she did, she allowed the Light to flow through her, sharpening her mind with Diamond-hard logic.

Using Intelligence+Occult plus Practical Magic to figure out what's genuinely interesting from an occult point of view in the shop, and what's just garbage. SEVEN successes. (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showpost.php?p=14167544&postcount=125) :smalleek:

[jamieth]

Shirley - Midnight Murders

OK... Shirley though, sorting her discoveries in her mind, That's definitely stuff the police would miss. Now, the question is, what do I do with it?

The sparrow... could it be used as a spy for... someone? it definitely wasn't behaving like a normal bird... Shirley toyed with the idea of murderer turning into a bird to get inside the building, but, magic or not, mass conservation ruled that out... or did it? Shirley run her hands over the coat of her Regalia. For I've been braking the law of mass conservation pretty routinely last weeks. This getup certainly must weigh more than my street clothes... Hm... I wonder if Wat... eh... Erin knows more. She's the type to actually test it...

Now... the leaf could, certainly, have a perfectly mundane explanation; someone could have bring it here for... whatever reasons... but still. Taken together with the weird-behaving bird, we seem to have a pattern here... Not enough evidence, certainly, but, strictly as a theory, what if someone uses flora and fauna as one's agents? What kind of power would that imply?

What to roll for whether Shirley's aware of existence of Changelings/Fae? If that even possible, of course.

Now, the last one... Of course, to Police dreams are just that, dreams. I know better. I saw people almost dying because some weird thing attacked them inside their dreams. And I'm sure if people suddenly start having shared dreams, someone's causing them to. But that, again, needs to be discussed further...

Photographing each page of the journal with her phone, Shirley places it back on its place, then leaves the site. Walking home, she sends a message to Erin's phone, "If possible, please meet at the Court tonight. Need to discuss something."

[Inedible]

Dogs in the Park
BAD ROLLS

When Kim returned to the little campsite she found it empty, the things scratched in the dirt smeared out. Not a trace that anyone had been there, either.

((This’ll be fun for you. If you want to go looking in the north side of park roll Wits+Compsure until you get a success. Each roll represents around 30 minutes of searching. You can spent willpower if you want. Also make a second Wits+Composure for something else.))


Mia (teaming with Sola ), Blood on the dance floor:

Things seemed to settle down during the following days, no mayor incursions or eldritch creatures deciding to go for a snack at their school; yet the an unspoken tension still hung in the air after the shooting. No one was harmed, and their teqcher seemed to be more or less alright, so all was well.

Mia kept herself busy in the days that followed; during the day keeping tabs on the ongoing activities at the school, more than a bit concerned by all the apperant supernatural activity in the area, and at night consulting with her court on how to defend what would now be their palace; passing the information to the others even as she helped cleaning it up. Even if it was still early, Mia could already tell that this was going to be quite a balancing act on her end. She just hoped she coul keep herself from having to follow the Noble axiom. For now she'd content herself helping her friends as she always had, atleast until Erin got back to them with her findings; though her latest problem seemed quite a doozy.

After having done her own research on the matter, she now found herself making preperations for her own inquiry with her fellow a Noble's aid.

"If you say so; if Annie got in I guess it shouldn't be that tricky," Mia replied trying her best to let Sola's words reassure her. "I'm just glad your letting me tag along, not sure what how I'd handle it by myself," she added with a smile as she shifted through another batch of clothes, before turning up to see Sola's latest acquisition; curving her lips in thought as she studied the garment, before smiling. "Oh yeah, I think I can work with this," she commented merrily before going to try it on.

Certainly sneaking into the club was a bit daunting, especially if word got back to her father, but Sola certainly seemed to know how to handle the situation, and this was just for scouting purposes after all and for a friend. Just a little recon so she'd know how to talk to Annie about it, nothing big.

Oh sure, she'd never been one for the party seen, but after talking to Sola about the whole affair Mia was far more comfortable about it. All she had to do was dress the part and play it right, right? Nothing too complicated, or so she hoped.

((OOC: Taking advantage of my Contacts in the student body to try and find out more about the club. Looking for anything noteworthy about it; including, but not limited to, what's so special about it that make's it so popular, and how long has it been a hot spot for students. Rolled 4 success (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showpost.php?p=14166582&postcount=123)))

Mostly it’s the fact that it’s so easy to get in. They’re also a fairly popular establishment, the music isn’t bad, and the immediate area isn’t excessively seedy. It draws people form the other schools, and it seems to be full no matter the night from accounts. Also, it would be helpful to have a fake ID. Failing that, a good bribe.

((Let me know when you’re finished preparations and whatnot.))



ErinWell...No reason for that not to be true.
Erin kept looking around - not just as a cover, but with genuine interest. She needed to learn more about the occult, after all, and with her recent studies, she was only starting to understand how to separate the real from the fake. She tried to find what items in the store would hold genuine interest to an occultist...while waiting to see if anything out of the ordinary caught her eye (and what the other customer eventually left the storage area with). And as she did, she allowed the Light to flow through her, sharpening her mind with Diamond-hard logic.

Using Intelligence+Occult plus Practical Magic to figure out what's genuinely interesting from an occult point of view in the shop, and what's just garbage. SEVEN successes. (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showpost.php?p=14167544&postcount=125) :smalleek:
Most of the things Erin found weren’t too interesting. It was mostly just generic new-age or eastern junk that one could buy at a chain bookstore. There was a wider selection of Chinese material than you’d find there, though. She does, however, come across something a little more promising while she searches. It’s an older book, stuffed away, also in Chinese. However, several English notes are scribbled into the diagrams, symbols, and charts. She’ll recognize a few, and that it appears to be a book on alchemy and ceremonial magic.

The woman that went into the back still hadn’t come out. The shopkeeper was keeping himself busy with a notebook and several receipts, looking up from time to time to check on his customer.


Shirley - Midnight Murders

OK... Shirley though, sorting her discoveries in her mind, That's definitely stuff the police would miss. Now, the question is, what do I do with it?

The sparrow... could it be used as a spy for... someone? it definitely wasn't behaving like a normal bird... Shirley toyed with the idea of murderer turning into a bird to get inside the building, but, magic or not, mass conservation ruled that out... or did it? Shirley run her hands over the coat of her Regalia. For I've been braking the law of mass conservation pretty routinely last weeks. This getup certainly must weigh more than my street clothes... Hm... I wonder if Wat... eh... Erin knows more. She's the type to actually test it...

Now... the leaf could, certainly, have a perfectly mundane explanation; someone could have bring it here for... whatever reasons... but still. Taken together with the weird-behaving bird, we seem to have a pattern here... Not enough evidence, certainly, but, strictly as a theory, what if someone uses flora and fauna as one's agents? What kind of power would that imply?

What to roll for whether Shirley's aware of existence of Changelings/Fae? If that even possible, of course.

Now, the last one... Of course, to Police dreams are just that, dreams. I know better. I saw people almost dying because some weird thing attacked them inside their dreams. And I'm sure if people suddenly start having shared dreams, someone's causing them to. But that, again, needs to be discussed further...

Photographing each page of the journal with her phone, Shirley places it back on its place, then leaves the site. Walking home, she sends a message to Erin's phone, "If possible, please meet at the Court tonight. Need to discuss something."

The officer at the door bid a short farewell to Shirley, and then she moved out and on her way. She did notice, however, she'd found a new friend. The bird in the window is flitting overhead, alighting briefly on lampposts or windowsills above, following in her wake.

Going to say you wouldn't know about Changelings at all, or have any evidence that would really point you in that direction.

[sun_tzu]

Erin


Most of the things Erin found weren’t too interesting. It was mostly just generic new-age or eastern junk that one could buy at a chain bookstore. There was a wider selection of Chinese material than you’d find there, though. She does, however, come across something a little more promising while she searches. It’s an older book, stuffed away, also in Chinese. However, several English notes are scribbled into the diagrams, symbols, and charts. She’ll recognize a few, and that it appears to be a book on alchemy and ceremonial magic.

The woman that went into the back still hadn’t come out. The shopkeeper was keeping himself busy with a notebook and several receipts, looking up from time to time to check on his customer.

Oooh. This one might be worth keeping. Pulling out her smartphone, she pulled out the translation app, trying to translate the names of the various chapters. I'll probably be taking this one. But it's suspicious how the other girl still hasn't come out...Let's keep stalling for time.

[Mechanix]

Dogs in the Park

Dammit! She had let them get away. No time to loose - she had to find these people as quickly as possible. Without further ado, Kim started searching for them.

1 Success (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?p=14175768&posted=1#post14175768)for tracking them on the first roll.
No success on the other roll.

[silphael]

Sola: Blood on the dancefloor:

"So, now we're ready, shall we go? We have a lot of things to do this evening, so better go quick too."

After some time, when she's finally ready to go, she takes the direction of the nightclub.

"That'll be so much fun!"

[jamieth]

Shirley




The officer at the door bid a short farewell to Shirley, and then she moved out and on her way. She did notice, however, she'd found a new friend. The bird in the window is flitting overhead, alighting briefly on lampposts or windowsills above, following in her wake.

Going to say you wouldn't know about Changelings at all, or have any evidence that would really point you in that direction.

I have company, it seems. Friend or foe? Haed to tell for sure. Which means, I shouldn't lead it home, nor to our hideout. Simply a precaution... Luckily, from what I have learned about my... abilities, we Nobles have a safety mechanism for just such a situation...
Thinking that, Shirley, dives into the nearest mall - a bird would have trouble following her inside... not unnoticed, at least - and then, into a washroom. In steps a Seeker of Diamonds... moments later, out steps a simple schoolgirl, hurrying home after a fun evening.

[Inedible]

ErinOooh. This one might be worth keeping. Pulling out her smartphone, she pulled out the translation app, trying to translate the names of the various chapters. I'll probably be taking this one. But it's suspicious how the other girl still hasn't come out...Let's keep stalling for time.
The titles included things like 'Communication With the Ancestors' and 'Transformation of the Body', which seemed to go along with the various diagrams and notes inside.

The old man continues to work at the counter, pausing to pick up the phone after a few rings. "Hello? Yes. Yes, I'll be able to soon. Thank you."

((How long do you want to hang around? Erin is probably starting to get the feeling she's not going to be left to her own devices without supervision. Shirley also left you a message, if you want to look into that.))



Dogs in the Park

Dammit! She had let them get away. No time to loose - she had to find these people as quickly as possible. Without further ado, Kim started searching for them.

1 Success (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?p=14175768&posted=1#post14175768)for tracking them on the first roll.
No success on the other roll.

She had to skirt around a parking lot and move through another mess of trees until she comes to the north side of the park. The far end is covered in trees again, thick foliage that blocks eyesight. There are no tracks, so it's a painstaking process, but Kim finally hears something. It was a sharp snap, like wood being splintered. When she moved in that direction she begins to see figures in the trees through the distance, violently moving people, and the sounds of some sort of struggle along with the occasional crack of bark.

Her attempt to move in for a closer look, though, was interrupted. Before she could focus on the action something came tearing out of the trees, a blur of red and black, claws and teeth. The wolf tore past, it's fangs sinking into the girl's leg as it moved, turning again to make another pass. It's teeth were locked in a snarl, bright yellow eyes leveled on the intruder.

((Take or soak 2L! Also roll your init. If you beat 12 you get to go first.))


Sola: Blood on the dancefloor:"So, now we're ready, shall we go? We have a lot of things to do this evening, so better go quick too."

After some time, when she's finally ready to go, she takes the direction of the nightclub.

"That'll be so much fun!"

The club itself is located in Mid-City, the two girls could have either gotten a ride or taken the bus, the former probably easier. The building itself is of moderate size, lit up in purples and blues. There's a decent crowd around it, a line that stretches across the front of the purple and blue building. Lights can be seen flashing inside, and the thrum of music sends audible vibrations through the walls.

Once they get to the front the bouncer, a fairly beefy gentleman, requests the cover charge and IDs to slide through the verification device he holds in his hand.

((Let me know how you get here, by the way.))


Shirley



I have company, it seems. Friend or foe? Haed to tell for sure. Which means, I shouldn't lead it home, nor to our hideout. Simply a precaution... Luckily, from what I have learned about my... abilities, we Nobles have a safety mechanism for just such a situation...
Thinking that, Shirley, dives into the nearest mall - a bird would have trouble following her inside... not unnoticed, at least - and then, into a washroom. In steps a Seeker of Diamonds... moments later, out steps a simple schoolgirl, hurrying home after a fun evening.

Shirley gets some pretty odd looks when she moves through the mall, to say the least. Nonetheless, once she steps outside there's no trace of the bird. She seems to have lost her persuer, for the moment.

((At this point you can go home, go join someone else, or do something else. Since this seems to be relating to dreams Shirley could just go home and go to sleep and see if she can't do anything else. Or at least talk with her mentor. It's up to you!))

[sun_tzu]

Erin


The titles included things like 'Communication With the Ancestors' and 'Transformation of the Body', which seemed to go along with the various diagrams and notes inside.

The old man continues to work at the counter, pausing to pick up the phone after a few rings. "Hello? Yes. Yes, I'll be able to soon. Thank you."

((How long do you want to hang around? Erin is probably starting to get the feeling she's not going to be left to her own devices without supervision. Shirley also left you a message, if you want to look into that.))

((Well, since Erin is using her phone right now, she's bound to get Shirley's message. ;)
Erin's general plan is to stick around until the other customer comes out, or hasn't come out for long enough that Erin can show legitimate wonder about it.))

Erin noticed Shirley's message, and sent back a reply: "Should be there. Later!"
That taken care of, she returned to her examination of the book, while stealing glances at the back door.

[Mechanix]

There was a flash of pain in her leg, but it was only a rash; the blood that flowed with the fangs of the wolf dissolved into water, revealing that it had not harmed her. She had acted more out of instinct than anything, and the sudden expense of magical power left her breathless - just slightly, but enough for the beast to get the upper hand.

Initiative of 11 (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?p=14179864#post14179864), spent 2 Wisps to soak the damage.

[Inedible]

Erin((Well, since Erin is using her phone right now, she's bound to get Shirley's message. ;)
Erin's general plan is to stick around until the other customer comes out, or hasn't come out for long enough that Erin can show legitimate wonder about it.))

Erin noticed Shirley's message, and sent back a reply: "Should be there. Later!"
That taken care of, she returned to her examination of the book, while stealing glances at the back door.

Nothing changed for a good thirty minutes. Eventually another two people entered the shop, one a middle-aged woman and another a younger man. They spent a moment to greet the shopkeeper, then moved through the back door.

In the meantime Erin's managed to get a few good pictures of the book for reference. She eventually drew the attention of the shopkeeper again, who moved over to examine her progress. "Are you finding everything alright?"

((Would you like to wait more? You can try and wait until they come out.))


There was a flash of pain in her leg, but it was only a rash; the blood that flowed with the fangs of the wolf dissolved into water, revealing that it had not harmed her. She had acted more out of instinct than anything, and the sudden expense of magical power left her breathless - just slightly, but enough for the beast to get the upper hand.

Initiative of 11 (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?p=14179864#post14179864), spent 2 Wisps to soak the damage.

The next time the creatures lunges Kim is ready, and it went wide as it leaps in attempt to bury fangs into her again. It still seemed intent on its task, rounding again on the girl.

((It has a defense of 3, armor 0. You'll get a -1 on ranged attacks for firing at close range if you do. Your turn!))

[sun_tzu]

Nothing changed for a good thirty minutes. Eventually another two people entered the shop, one a middle-aged woman and another a younger man. They spent a moment to greet the shopkeeper, then moved through the back door.

In the meantime Erin's managed to get a few good pictures of the book for reference. She eventually drew the attention of the shopkeeper again, who moved over to examine her progress. "Are you finding everything alright?"

((Would you like to wait more? You can try and wait until they come out.))

"Quite all right, yes," she said, raising the book. "You've got some pretty interesting material here. I'll probably be taking this one, too. Kinda wish I knew how to read Chinese, though...Electronic translation isn't the fastest thing in the world."

[Inedible]

"Quite all right, yes," she said, raising the book. "You've got some pretty interesting material here. I'll probably be taking this one, too. Kinda wish I knew how to read Chinese, though...Electronic translation isn't the fastest thing in the world."

The man peers at the book for a moment, and Erin can catch the flicker of surprise on his face. He schools it after a moment though, noting, "Ah, yes, quite interesting. That is from a very old collection, I'd forgotten we had it. Are you ready to go now?"

((You passed your empathy roll, so you know he's a bit surprised to see that book. He probably didn't mean for it to by lying around.))

[sun_tzu]

Erin


The man peers at the book for a moment, and Erin can catch the flicker of surprise on his face. He schools it after a moment though, noting, "Ah, yes, quite interesting. That is from a very old collection, I'd forgotten we had it. Are you ready to go now?"

((You passed your empathy roll, so you know he's a bit surprised to see that book. He probably didn't mean for it to by lying around.))

"I'm getting there. Still browsing." She paused. "Say, what about the people in the back? That girl got there half an hour ago, and hasn't come back yet."

[jamieth]

Shirley

Shirley heads home; there's much to think about, but it is something she can do at home at least as well, if not better. Besides, she has an appointment in her dream tonight... however weird it would sound to her a month ago.
The evening passes, quite ordinarily; luckily, Shirley never needed too much time for her homework, and even after getting home quite late, still has time enough to... well, just be a normal teen girl to her family. And even get to bed early after that... earlier than she's used to, at least.

http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showpost.php?p=14183762&postcount=141

Regaining a wisp I spent on the investigation charm... Technically, 2 successes, but I can't get more than 1 Wisp from Circle, and I don't even need more anyway)

[Mechanix]

She was ready this time around. Kim artfully dodged the wolf's attack, and spun her staff in an elegant motion, blue energy gathering at its tip. The beast was scaring her, and she put a disproportionate amount of effort into her attack, wanting for it to go away.
"BAD PUPPY!" she cried out, and blue ribbons burst forth.

Spending 1 Wisp for Acqua, 1 Willpower, and I've spent 1 Wisp reflexively for the change in Armor.
I rerolled the attack accounting for the defense, and wooooow boy. 7 bashing damage + 2 from "Boiling", for a total of 9. (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?p=14185320&posted=1#post14185320)

[silphael]

Sola:

First test. IDs checker? Odd for someone supposed to not be pretty attentive about age...

"I'm here to replace a missing musician, here's my ID, if you want it. I'm late, though, be quick."

Showing her ID, she shows a little smile toward the gatekeeper.

2 successes (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showpost.php?p=14184582&postcount=147) on manipulation + persuasion + striking looks

[Inedible]

Erin



"I'm getting there. Still browsing." She paused. "Say, what about the people in the back? That girl got there half an hour ago, and hasn't come back yet."

"Ah, they're taking inventory. Let me know when you're finished." He moves away, taking another look at the book before returning to the desk.

After another thirty minutes the three people begin to leave. The two that came in a few minutes ago, and several minutes after that the woman with a book tucked under her arm. They spend a moment to talk to the shopkeeper, then head out the door.



ShirleyShirley heads home; there's much to think about, but it is something she can do at home at least as well, if not better. Besides, she has an appointment in her dream tonight... however weird it would sound to her a month ago.
The evening passes, quite ordinarily; luckily, Shirley never needed too much time for her homework, and even after getting home quite late, still has time enough to... well, just be a normal teen girl to her family. And even get to bed early after that... earlier than she's used to, at least.

http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showpost.php?p=14183762&postcount=141

Regaining a wisp I spent on the investigation charm... Technically, 2 successes, but I can't get more than 1 Wisp from Circle, and I don't even need more anyway)

Home wasn't any different than before, and a pleasant night want spent before it was time for bed.

When Shirley dreamed she found herself in a maze, a revolving patchwork of buildings. Some are old a dilapidated wood structures, others are well-tiled ivory halls or sleek steel structures. The occasional window to the outside world reveals a dull gray landscape, rolling hills of dark sand that stretch as far as the eye can see.

((Are you planning to go out to the Dreamlands? You can find and door and enter if so, just say where you want to go.))



Sola:

First test. IDs checker? Odd for someone supposed to not be pretty attentive about age...

"I'm here to replace a missing musician, here's my ID, if you want it. I'm late, though, be quick."

Showing her ID, she shows a little smile toward the gatekeeper.

2 successes (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showpost.php?p=14184582&postcount=147) on manipulation + persuasion + striking looks

The bouncer gave Sola a rather dubious look, but her ID is given a cursory inspection and she's waved along in. Mia comes next, and the man offers his hand out for the same thing from her.

[sun_tzu]

Erin

Huh. OK, I've probably extended my stay here as much as possible.
Walking toward the counter, Erin handed in both the Taoist book and the genuinely mystical tome. "I'd like to buy both of these, please."

[Inedible]

Storyteller


She was ready this time around. Kim artfully dodged the wolf's attack, and spun her staff in an elegant motion, blue energy gathering at its tip. The beast was scaring her, and she put a disproportionate amount of effort into her attack, wanting for it to go away.
"BAD PUPPY!" she cried out, and blue ribbons burst forth.

[SPOILER]Spending 1 Wisp for Acqua, 1 Willpower, and I've spent 1 Wisp reflexively for the change in Armor.
I rerolled the attack accounting for the defense, and wooooow boy. 7 bashing damage + 2 from "Boiling", for a total of 9. (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?p=14185320&posted=1#post14185320)
The wolf hit one of the nearby trees with a hard thud, something that sounded decidedly unpleasant to the ear. It rolled, moving to it’s feet again, shaking itself off before coming forward again. Then it changes. The feet became bigger, the jaws larger, the whole body swelling to nearly twice the size. More feral, more angry, blurring forward with more ferocity than it had before.

It lunged again, one huge claw tearing a chunk of a tree that Kim was standing next to.

((I am bad at rolling. And I forgot who I was dealing with. :P))


Erin[spoiler]

Huh. OK, I've probably extended my stay here as much as possible.
Walking toward the counter, Erin handed in both the Taoist book and the genuinely mystical tome. "I'd like to buy both of these, please."

"You've made a very good choice," The man assures. It's not too pricy either, and once the transaction is made he bags and hands the things over. "Please, come back if you have interest in learning more."

[Mechanix]

Dogs in the Park
((I am bad at rolling. And I forgot who I was dealing with. :P))I guess I should be flattered :'D

Okay, that was definitely not natural. All hopes to solve this situation the nice and easy way were pretty much out of the window at this point. She had no idea what kind of creature was this - okay that was a lie. Being 16 and American, she knew exactly what she was dealing with: a goddamn werewolf.
Of course she had no idea that such things existed, but having fought zombies a few weeks before, she could suspend her disbelief for another Hammer Horror freakshow.
"I don't want to fight you!" she cried. Why won't you just stay DOWN!"

More power. More energy. She was expanding all of her ressources very fast, but she had to destroy that monster before it could lend a claw on her, or things would get very very bad.

Another Wisp is send to use Acqua, short burst etc.
5 successes (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?p=14192757#post14192757), no damage from trees.Please go down please go down please go down...

[sun_tzu]

Erin


"You've made a very good choice," The man assures. It's not too pricy either, and once the transaction is made he bags and hands the things over. "Please, come back if you have interest in learning more."

"I believe I will," said Erin, smiling at him as she headed out.
All right. I'll resume this investigation tomorrow I guess. Today, I have to meet with Shirley.

[Inedible]

Dogs in the ParkI guess I should be flattered :'D

Okay, that was definitely not natural. All hopes to solve this situation the nice and easy way were pretty much out of the window at this point. She had no idea what kind of creature was this - okay that was a lie. Being 16 and American, she knew exactly what she was dealing with: a goddamn werewolf.
Of course she had no idea that such things existed, but having fought zombies a few weeks before, she could suspend her disbelief for another Hammer Horror freakshow.
"I don't want to fight you!" she cried. Why won't you just stay DOWN!"

More power. More energy. She was expanding all of her ressources very fast, but she had to destroy that monster before it could lend a claw on her, or things would get very very bad.

Another Wisp is send to use Acqua, short burst etc.
5 successes (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?p=14192757#post14192757), no damage from trees.Please go down please go down please go down...

The blast of power ripped into the creature, one of it's huge front legs buckling as the force of the impact drove it back. For an instant it wobbled, as if she might have broken it. Then, within barely the span of a second she could see the muscle rippling underneath fur, the leg straightening again as it sprung forward. The full weight of the thing came down on her, driving her to the ground, teeth flashing over her head.

((You're grappled! (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showpost.php?p=14196057&postcount=155) This is probably unpleasent for you. You two options: You can roll Strength+Brawl at a -5 penalty to break the grapple, or you can remain in the grapple and roll Strength+Brawl+Weapon modifier at -5 to attack. Grapples are rough.

I will rule that if you can with the Levinbolt and apply Acqua you can break the grapple.))


Erin



"I believe I will," said Erin, smiling at him as she headed out.
All right. I'll resume this investigation tomorrow I guess. Today, I have to meet with Shirley.

The shopkeeper nodded dutifully, allowing his guest to leave. Once she's out on the street she found no trace of the three people, all of them probably having made their exit in the meantime.

The ride home was uneventful, a mostly empty bus that drops her near her house.

((You and Shirley can probably meet up now, if you want to help her with her stuff. I think she might be going to court.))

[sun_tzu]

Erin


((You and Shirley can probably meet up now, if you want to help her with her stuff. I think she might be going to court.))

Then that's where Erin's headed.

[Mechanix]

Dogs in the Park

No! It was on her! The damned thing was on her and she couldn't get out and it had teeth and claws and it regenerated and
She couldn't think. She screamed in fear rather than pain, and started pounding desperately at the thing with her staff, before shouting "LET GO!" and pouring all the magic she could into her staff, hitting the flank of the monster even as she released the energy in an explosive manner.

I am spending two Wisps: one to fuel Acqua, one to increase Strength by one die (Practical Magic) I am also using a short burst, which uses 3 charges out 4 remaining leaving me with 1 charge, and one Willpower to top it off.
2 bashing damage because ah ah ah oh my god how does this even happen (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?p=14196250#post14196250)
Grapple are basically Kim's worst weakness. I should work on that.

[jamieth]

Shirley - Dreamlands

Frankly, despite it being not her first time here, Dreamlands still frreaked Shirley a bit. What kind of direction is "widdershins", anyway? And the worst thing is that it really works, as long as you don't think about it too much...
But, of course, Queens' Courts weren't that hard to find. Shirley knew this realm was ruled by five Queens, met two of them in person (second being Hearts, courtesy of respect Holmes held for the woman - and it wasn't hard to see why. Queen Regnant definitely had more than a passing similarity ti Victoria... or, rather, the idealised version of the latter), but was only formally introduced to one, and it is her Academy she was heading to.

Once there, she took a look around, trying to locate her colleague. "Ah, thanks for coming. Let's find a place to talk, shall we?"

[sun_tzu]

Erin


Shirley - Dreamlands

Once there, she took a look around, trying to locate her colleague. "Ah, thanks for coming. Let's find a place to talk, shall we?"

Erin nodded. "By all means. You've certainly piqued my curiosity..."

[jamieth]

Erin



Erin nodded. "By all means. You've certainly piqued my curiosity..."

"Well, don't expect too much", Shirley smiles a bit shyly, "It's mostly that I needed someone to talk too, someone who would understand me... though", she adds, "I heard you're investigating that Cult, right? Well, again, don't expect too much, but I possibly would have something on it... tomorrow, I hope." And I could have it today, if I only put a bit more effort... it's not like I didn't have time enough to look into that book... "But, meanwhile, I myself was looking into the murders in the Allegro Towers - you read about them, right? - and, well, there's something weird with them..."
she takes a pause. "I did some reading on the occult stuff lately. So did you, I'm sure, so you must know just how contradictory and unreliable those books are. But still... have you ever encountered any mentions of people turning into birds? Or, the other way, I suppose?"

[sun_tzu]

Erin


"Well, don't expect too much", Shirley smiles a bit shyly, "It's mostly that I needed someone to talk too, someone who would understand me... though", she adds, "I heard you're investigating that Cult, right? Well, again, don't expect too much, but I possibly would have something on it... tomorrow, I hope." And I could have it today, if I only put a bit more effort... it's not like I didn't have time enough to look into that book... "But, meanwhile, I myself was looking into the murders in the Allegro Towers - you read about them, right? - and, well, there's something weird with them..."
she takes a pause. "I did some reading on the occult stuff lately. So did you, I'm sure, so you must know just how contradictory and unreliable those books are. But still... have you ever encountered any mentions of people turning into birds? Or, the other way, I suppose?"

"I've been investigating that Chinese occult shop Gerald mentioned. Not sure if there's really something fishy there yet, but they've got informative literature at least.
People turning into birds? Hm..."

2 successes on Intelligence+Occult roll. (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?p=14204336#post14204336)

[Inedible]

Storyteller


Dogs in the Park

No! It was on her! The damned thing was on her and she couldn't get out and it had teeth and claws and it regenerated and
She couldn't think. She screamed in fear rather than pain, and started pounding desperately at the thing with her staff, before shouting "LET GO!" and pouring all the magic she could into her staff, hitting the flank of the monster even as she released the energy in an explosive manner.

I am spending two Wisps: one to fuel Acqua, one to increase Strength by one die (Practical Magic) I am also using a short burst, which uses 3 charges out 4 remaining leaving me with 1 charge, and one Willpower to top it off.
2 bashing damage because ah ah ah oh my god how does this even happen (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?p=14196250#post14196250)
Grapple are basically Kim's worst weakness. I should work on that.

The wolf was blown backwards, its claws torn from the ground, body striking against another nearby tree with a hard crash. Again, it rights itself. She could see the flecks of blood left in the bark, and that it was injured, but, once again, the most severe of its injuries seemed to be only minor inconveniences. It came again, one huge claw raking in a sharp arc across her body.

Then there were other sounds now, things that could be heard about the growl of the wolf and the beat of her own heart. Howls from somewhere nearby and vicious noises that didn’t sound fully human rip through the trees in answer to her screams.

((2L! Unless you soak it.))



Erin
"I've been investigating that Chinese occult shop Gerald mentioned. Not sure if there's really something fishy there yet, but they've got informative literature at least.
People turning into birds? Hm..."

2 successes on Intelligence+Occult roll. (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?p=14204336#post14204336)
The Academy is a sprawling area, buildings filled with books, symmetrical gardens connecting them. The Queen is not at the throne at the moment, though her staff is about. The librarians move through the halls, constantly arranging or moving books back and forth. Their long, spindly fingers constantly in action.

Both the Radiant seem to have been assigned a sort of keeper for the time being, a stick-thin, bespectacled man in a neat suit that stands a fair distance away, waiting patiently should the Radiant need anything.

Erin can think of several things, but none of them much more likely than any other. Animal spirits from native American legends were both people and birds. Various old gods had birds as familiars. There are stories about shape shifters who can become birds, or psychics who can communicate with animals. Similarly, some psychics could conceivably alter dreams.

((Basically, you have too little data to go at the moment to narrow down any sort identification.))

[sun_tzu]

Erin

She shrugged. "Shapeshifters are not unheard of. Neither are psychics able to control animals, for that matter. Can you be a bit more specific?"
She paused, then chuckled. "OK, the fact that I'm talking about shapeshifters and psychics and narrowing it down is still kinda funny to me."

[Mechanix]

(I take it)

The claw tore into her armor, shredding its blue lace, and Kim flew back a yard, rolling on the floor. She could feel the warmth of blood pouring from her slashed belly. Pain. Her first wound.
The first wound is the last, she heard a distant memory whisper. When your blood spills, you begin the spiral of death. Every move becomes more painful, every step harder. Your vision darkens, and soon you meet your end.
Except obviously it wasn't true, because that thing was bleeding and still it stood and fought like a rabbid animal. And its friends... Its friends were coming.
Was this how she died? Not in an epic fight to protect those she loved from an otherworldly abomination, but alone in some park, against a faceless monster, not even knowing why they thought?
Well. She was sworn to protect the homeless of this city, and in its own way, this wolf was an abomination.
"This is not..." She gasped. "..how I thought it would end."
Could she outrun it? Doubtful. She knew enough to know that wolves were among the deadliest, most relentless hunters in the animal kingdom, and this was no mundane animal. Perhaps it would let her go - she would have been more open to that possibility if it hadn't struck her by surprise and kept coming at her before she had time to show any kind of hostility.
I am a champion. She smiled a bitter smile. At least I die fighting.

The Device let out a burst of hissing steam and moved like a piston, and Kim grasped it more tightly; it flared with golden light as she poured yet more of her power into it.
She stood up on feeble legs, her dress stained with blood, her grasp on the staff shaky, but final determination in her eyes. Power gathered at the tip of staff, more blue energy.
"I wish I had thought of any last words. Oh, hell."
She screamed her lungs out, and tendrils of watery forced slashed through the air, drilling into her opponent.

Spending 1 Wisp to reload the device, 1 Wisp to use Acqua, 1 WP to increase the roll. As before, attack is a short burst.
3 Bashing + 2 from Acqua bashing. (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?p=14205050#post14205050)
Kim has now 1 Wisp and 1 Willlpower left.

[Inedible]

Storyteller


(I take it)

The claw tore into her armor, shredding its blue lace, and Kim flew back a yard, rolling on the floor. She could feel the warmth of blood pouring from her slashed belly. Pain. Her first wound.
The first wound is the last, she heard a distant memory whisper. When your blood spills, you begin the spiral of death. Every move becomes more painful, every step harder. Your vision darkens, and soon you meet your end.
Except obviously it wasn't true, because that thing was bleeding and still it stood and fought like a rabbid animal. And its friends... Its friends were coming.
Was this how she died? Not in an epic fight to protect those she loved from an otherworldly abomination, but alone in some park, against a faceless monster, not even knowing why they thought?
Well. She was sworn to protect the homeless of this city, and in its own way, this wolf was an abomination.
"This is not..." She gasped. "..how I thought it would end."
Could she outrun it? Doubtful. She knew enough to know that wolves were among the deadliest, most relentless hunters in the animal kingdom, and this was no mundane animal. Perhaps it would let her go - she would have been more open to that possibility if it hadn't struck her by surprise and kept coming at her before she had time to show any kind of hostility.
I am a champion. She smiled a bitter smile. At least I die fighting.

The Device let out a burst of hissing steam and moved like a piston, and Kim grasped it more tightly; it flared with golden light as she poured yet more of her power into it.
She stood up on feeble legs, her dress stained with blood, her grasp on the staff shaky, but final determination in her eyes. Power gathered at the tip of staff, more blue energy.
"I wish I had thought of any last words. Oh, hell."
She screamed her lungs out, and tendrils of watery forced slashed through the air, drilling into her opponent.

Spending 1 Wisp to reload the device, 1 Wisp to use Acqua, 1 WP to increase the roll. As before, attack is a short burst.
3 Bashing + 2 from Acqua bashing. (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?p=14205050#post14205050)
Kim has now 1 Wisp and 1 Willlpower left.

It got up again. That time, though, it was different. A sickening crack came from the impact, a visible dent in the chest of the creature. It didn’t heal. Instead, it was changing again. It grew, adding even more weight, beginning to rise to two feet, taking on a more human shape. A roar of pain ripped from its throat, and then it lunged. Not toward her, though. This time away, huge claws tearing through the trunks of trees in its way as it took flight.

The baying of wolves grew louder then, more flashes of movement passing between the trees. She could see a smaller wolf blur through the trees, it’s teeth snapping at the retreating beast as it sprinted through the trees.

((Congrats on putting a Werewolf in its last three health boxes!))

[Mechanix]

((Congrats on putting a Werewolf in its last three health boxes!))ah ah ah ah ah holy hell i'm aliiiive
Holy crap. She'd made it.
The realization that the fight was over struck her like another blow. She suddenly felt dizzy, coming down from an adrenaline rush, pain radiating from her wound and empty of all energy. She looked in the direction of the noise, but had no way of seeing what was happening. She could make a guess, though: werewolves fighting. She had no idea why, and to barge in right now would be suicidal.
Kim ran awkwardly away from the fight, refraining the reflex to clutch a hand on her wound, instead pulling out her cell phone. She needed back-up.
Who among the Princesses knew how to fight? She did not recall clearly. In any case, it was not really a matter of fighting - it was about getting out of the park alive without bleeding out on the way, and without more werewolf attacks. And getting help with her wounds before coming back home, lest her parents send her to the hospital then ground her for all of eternity.

She entered a number.

Kim is going to call Erin, then Mia, then Shirley, then Sola, hoping someone picks up the phone. Nothing against Sola, but she is... Fragile.

[Inedible]

Storyteller


ah ah ah ah ah holy hell i'm aliiiive
Holy crap. She'd made it.
The realization that the fight was over struck her like another blow. She suddenly felt dizzy, coming down from an adrenaline rush, pain radiating from her wound and empty of all energy. She looked in the direction of the noise, but had no way of seeing what was happening. She could make a guess, though: werewolves fighting. She had no idea why, and to barge in right now would be suicidal.
Kim ran awkwardly away from the fight, refraining the reflex to clutch a hand on her wound, instead pulling out her cell phone. She needed back-up.
Who among the Princesses knew how to fight? She did not recall clearly. In any case, it was not really a matter of fighting - it was about getting out of the park alive without bleeding out on the way, and without more werewolf attacks. And getting help with her wounds before coming back home, lest her parents send her to the hospital then ground her for all of eternity.

She entered a number.

Kim is going to call Erin, then Mia, then Shirley, then Sola, hoping someone picks up the phone. Nothing against Sola, but she is... Fragile.

She wasn't alone for too long. She wandered far enough to get to a place where the trees break, an empty parking lot with several dark restaurants clustered together. All the lights were out, no sign of life, only a few dim lamps on the buildings and in the parking lot.

On one of her glimpses behind as she tried the phone it became apparently she wasn't alone. A figure was moving through the line of trees behind, visible barely in the light. This one was human. At least, it's shadow could pass for one.

((If you want to book it that's going to be a Stamina+Athletics. Dexterty+Stealth to try and find a place to duck into and hide. Or something else!))

[Mechanix]

She wanted to give that man the benefit of the doubt. She really wanted. Perhaps he was not out for her blood. In any other circumstance, she would have waited for him; an empty parking lot was the perfect fighting ground for her, allowing her to use her Device to control the range and distance of the engagement.
But right now, it wouldn't take a werewolf. A man with a gun could be enough to take her down. This person might be friendly, or they might be an ally of the monster she'd just fought. She wasn't taking any chance.
Clutching her wound, she took off running.

Stamina + Athletics: 2 Successes. (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?p=14212289#post14212289)

[jamieth]

Shirley


Erin

She shrugged. "Shapeshifters are not unheard of. Neither are psychics able to control animals, for that matter. Can you be a bit more specific?"
She paused, then chuckled. "OK, the fact that I'm talking about shapeshifters and psychics and narrowing it down is still kinda funny to me."

"Well, I'm afraid, I don't have that much myself, for now... today, while I was digging through the crime site, some bird was definitely watching me; and it even tried to follow me home. I lost it - our inherent disguises are handy like that - but still... Of course, it could simply act as someone's eyes, but, considering no one has any idea how the murderer gets inside, I decided to check the shapeshifter option first...Occam's Razor and everything. Can be totally unrelated, of course... there was also that dream journal... apparently, victims - and their neighbors - have had some weird shared dreams before... someone got them. But don't think too much about it", Shirley smiles, "That's my job, and you have your hands full already anyway, as far as I can tell."
Still waiting on a ruling whether Erin can hear her phone's ringing

[sun_tzu]

Erin

"Hey, we gotta help each other," she smiled. "If there's anything I can do, don't be afraid to ask.
Me, I've spent hours at the occult shop...It's got some interesting material, hidden among all the typical claptrap. And...some people would go in the back and stay there for hours. I thought it was fishy, but the owner claims they're helping with inventory, which could be the truth I guess."

[Inedible]

Storyteller

Erin could hear her phone somewhere in the back of her mind. Waking up to get it, though, would require a conscious effort. Shirley seemed to be dreaming to deeply to notice the same.

Mia and Sola will both receive the message later in the night, as Kim's events haven't happened yet according to how early they are in the night.

I'll have an update for Kim later in the day. For now, the people above get the call.

[sun_tzu]

Erin

She blinked. "Huh. I think I'm getting a phone call." She looked sheepishly at Shirley: "Ah, can we talk more later?"

[Inedible]

She wanted to give that man the benefit of the doubt. She really wanted. Perhaps he was not out for her blood. In any other circumstance, she would have waited for him; an empty parking lot was the perfect fighting ground for her, allowing her to use her Device to control the range and distance of the engagement.
But right now, it wouldn't take a werewolf. A man with a gun could be enough to take her down. This person might be friendly, or they might be an ally of the monster she'd just fought. She wasn't taking any chance.
Clutching her wound, she took off running.

Stamina + Athletics: 2 Successes. (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?p=14212289#post14212289)

A few minutes more and she was beyond the parking lot, into the trees, and into another street that wound through the park. When she looked back she saw nothing after her, no sign of pursuit or life. Just the few lights on the road, and more vegetation.

((Entertain yourselves!))

[jamieth]

Shirley

"Sure, call anytime. And I hope I'll have some more info the next time we meet, so that we have something to talk about. Though even if not, a friendly chatter is always an option, right?"

[sun_tzu]

Erin


Shirley

"Sure, call anytime. And I hope I'll have some more info the next time we meet, so that we have something to talk about. Though even if not, a friendly chatter is always an option, right?"

"Of course," Erin smiled. "You have my number!" she added quickly as she faded and returned to the waking world.
And to the sound of her cell phone. "Hello?"

[Mechanix]

Kim

Oh, thank god. Kim was panting, her breath short, still looking frantically around her as if an enemy was going to leap out of the shadows any time soon.
"Erin? It's Kim. I'm... I'm at Balboa Park. I am wounded. I was... I was attacked. I just fought off a goddamn werewolf." She felt ridiculous saying that. "I'm bleeding and I don't have a car and I'm out of power and exhausted and... I need help. Please. Can you come? Help me? Call the others? I just... I don't know. I feel all dizzy and..."
She realized she wasn't even letting her answer, and fell quiet.

[sun_tzu]

Erin


Kim

Oh, thank god. Kim was panting, her breath short, still looking frantically around her as if an enemy was going to leap out of the shadows any time soon.
"Erin? It's Kim. I'm... I'm at Balboa Park. I am wounded. I was... I was attacked. I just fought off a goddamn werewolf." She felt ridiculous saying that. "I'm bleeding and I don't have a car and I'm out of power and exhausted and... I need help. Please. Can you come? Help me? Call the others? I just... I don't know. I feel all dizzy and..."
She realized she wasn't even letting her answer, and fell quiet.

On the other side of phone, Erin blanched. "Do...Do you want me to call you an ambulance? A cab? I'll pay for the cab, but he'll ask questions if you're injured I'll call everyone I..." She forced herself to take a deep breath.

[Mechanix]

Kim

"No! No ambulance. My parents must not know or I'll be grounded forever. And probably put in counseling or something. The wound isn't too awful; bring something that can cover it. A huge coat or something like that. A cab will be fne. Can you do that for me? Please? I'm... I'm very sorry."

[sun_tzu]

Erin


Kim

"No! No ambulance. My parents must not know or I'll be grounded forever. And probably put in counseling or something. The wound isn't too awful; bring something that can cover it. A huge coat or something like that. A cab will be fine. Can you do that for me? Please? I'm... I'm very sorry."

"Don't be. You're alive, that's what matters. I'm coming. Make...Make sure you're somewhere well-lit."
A quick online check later, she dialed the number of the cab company, asking them to pick her up a few blocks away from home. Putting her coat on, she went outside to rendezvous with the taxi and direct it toward Kim's location.

[Mechanix]

Kim

She waited in the cold, still throwing glances over her shoulder, but to hear someone's voice had reassured her.
Voices were such an important thing. Perhaps she might not have felt so bad, if her opponent had talked, shown some kind of humanity, of recognition of her status as a human being, rather than acting like a beast and treating her like a piece of meat.
Another shiver went down her spine.

When she saw the cab arriving, she relaxed slightly, and had to catch herself to avoid falling down.
She did not dare going to the cab directly, though. She stayed slightly in the distance, waiting for Erin to come to her. She waved a hand timidly, as a greeting and a call.

[Mechanix]

((My browser is telling me that our OOC thread is a security threat with malwares and stuff. Should I be worried or is Chrome just being paranoid?))

[sun_tzu]

Erin


Kim

She waited in the cold, still throwing glances over her shoulder, but to hear someone's voice had reassured her.
Voices were such an important thing. Perhaps she might not have felt so bad, if her opponent had talked, shown some kind of humanity, of recognition of her status as a human being, rather than acting like a beast and treating her like a piece of meat.
Another shiver went down her spine.

When she saw the cab arriving, she relaxed slightly, and had to catch herself to avoid falling down.
She did not dare going to the cab directly, though. She stayed slightly in the distance, waiting for Erin to come to her. She waved a hand timidly, as a greeting and a call.

Erin ran out, taking off her coat and handing it to her. "KIM? Are...Are you OK?" She had spent the entire cab ride fervently hoping nothing happened before she got there...

[Mechanix]

Kim

"Hi," she said, trying her best to put on a reassuring smile and failing rather pathetically. "I... I'm okay. I'm sorry, I'm really sorry, I shouldn't have made you come here..." She took the coat and put it on tighter, hiding her wound. "I... It's just a cut. I should have just taken a cab myself, but I was scared and alone and... When I called I was in the woods and there was someone chasing me and there were wolves and..."
She took a deep breath, trying to calm down - and failing again, her hands trembling, her voice shaky.
"There are people fighting in the parks. Werewolves, I think. And one of them ambushed me, and I chased him off, but I had to spend all my power and I'm exhausted and he was still coming and..."
Suddenly she fell apart and started crying, falling upon Erin as if she could barely stand.
"And I thought I was going to die and all I could think was that I always knew it would end like this and that I was a Champion and that it was a good way to go but I don't want to die and I'm scared and..."
At this point, her sobbing made her words incomprehensible, though she was still trying to talk - though she was barely making sense anyway. Her hands grasped Erin's coat, her staff fallen on the ground, her head on her chest, her tears flowing freely.

[sun_tzu]

Erin

Princess or not, Erin did not consider herself an expert on giving comfort to the hurting.
So she went with the best she could think of.
Without a word, she hugged Kim, holding her tight.

[Mechanix]

Kim

A few moments passed, and her crying faded. She hugged Erin back, and for a minute she stayed here, silent, taking comfort in the presence of someone who could understand and share her fears. It was not merely tonight; it was all the nights she'd thought she was the only Princess in the whole city, and she'd taken in all the doubts and all the uncertainty and all the fear and never let it disturb her, containing it tightly in a small box inside her mind - and now it was breaking out and overflowing. She felt so weak.

Finally she stepped back, letting Erin go, and wiped her teary face.
"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to go all sobby on you. I'm... I'm a Champion, right? I can handle a fight. I'll be all right." This time, she managed to smile.
"I hope I didn't interrupt you in something important. I didn't know what to do or what to call..."