Leo recaps previous events with an in-character message to Agent Waters, referencing Jason’s and Ghost Girl’s departures, Concord’s discovery of a Keynome under the school, the damage to Halcyon High South, Mercury’s negotiations with the other teams and his family, and more. He also talks about the upcoming cross-team training, comparing it to sports events, with the JHHL as the “varsity team” and the adults as refs.
[It is discussed whether Jason borrows Harry’s help during this time to open a portal at the Quill compound, but Dave later says no, that didn’t happen]
Harry meets Concord and Link at the Quill Foundation - away from the prying eyes of the Gales. Harry starts the conversation with the Menagerie with “I have made mistakes, and regret everything!” After texting A10, he called Comet earlier at A10’s request, and the original discussion escalated.
“I REGRET EVERYTHING.”
Link and Concord seem okay with this turn of events. Harry explains his motives for how this situation came to be, and… “I may have challenged my uncle? It all happened very quickly?”
The Menagerie is meeting with That Other Team - A10, Alloy (Element Woman/female Grunge), Armiger (wielder of Excalibur), the Animal (animal-themed shape changing), and Telekinetian.
Their mentor Comet previously expressed doubts about their readiness to really engage on supers missions. Comet reluctantly made a deal: That Other Team could prove themselves to him, as could the Menagerie, by training together.
The training will be overseen by Adam’s father, Sergeant Nassir Amari, and Harry’s uncle, Comet. Concord is okay with this too until this comes out: “that can’t be right. I’m Adam.”
It’s not a school day tomorrow due to Christmas Break, plus there’s an extra week to sort out the HHS kids, so the crews will show up tomorrow at 10am at the deserted school.
Adam is worried about his dad’s involvement. Link continues to be okay with throwing down with rivals at a destructible school. Harry continues to radiate *CONCERN*.
[Brief discussion about Sol assisting in setting up/running training scenarios. Consensus is that Adam and Sol share power, so Concord can’t Concord if Sol is detached.]
Link relays Jason’s message to him: “you’re leader now.” Concord: “honestly I thought you were leading already.” Mercury: “we have a team leader?” Link: “I KNOW RIGHT”. But Link volunteers to tank adult conversations if necessary.
Pneuma and Otto will be involved in the training scenarios as well. Jason has previously set up a man-cave for Otto in the Quill parking garage, including flat screen TV, mega-couch, and console games. There’s an always-on video conferencing gig so Otto isn’t left out.
[Brief discussion of the odds of villains attacking us during training. Consensus: certainty.]
Adam’s dad is home that night, prepping his training plans for tomorrow. Jordan has to go back to school Monday, and demands Adam play Settlers of Catan, dinosaurs, etc. with her before conking out. Leo and Pneuma spend the evening going to a movie. Mercury gets texts that night:
A10: OMG
Mercury: What’s up?
A10: OMGGGGGGG
WHAT DID YOU DO?
WHAT DID I DO
Mercury: … I did lots of things. What in particular are you talking about
A10: COMET
YOU
TEAM
GAH
Mercury: OH YEAH
THAT THING
A10: YEAH THAT HTING
[banging head gif]
so… like… the next time I say “I need help with french class”
you… bring me the eiffel tower?!?
Adam and Sol briefly discuss Adam’s opinion of the Ponies. Sol indicates they have “intensity of feelings”. Adam: “they really wanna hang out, that worries me greatly.” Does Adam’s mom even permit Snapchat, etc. on Adam’s phone? Adam probably has a very locked-down feature phone so is immune to Pony wiles.
Training session moves: https://plus.google.com/+DoyceTesterman/posts/XmDhmVRfpMP
TRAINING DAY
That Other Team and Comet are in costume (however loosely that’s defined for each person). The Menagerie arrives via Otto as a group, possibly blasting some suitably badass WWE entrance music (Pour Some Sugar On Me, We Will Rock You/We Are The Champions, Name of the Game, Remember the Name, etc.).
“GROUND RULES: try not to destroy the school. Do the challenges. If we’re in the school, we’re in there for specific purposes. Nobody needs to get knocked through walls.” Sgt. Amari: *koff* “again” (referencing Adam telling him about that happening to him last time).
With each training exercise, we had one of the PCs do it ‘for real’ with a check of the move, and then we alternated through PCs and NPCs after that one established the basic challenge, where we narrated how each person approached the problem, and what it looked like.
SCENARIO 1: Comet. Hostage rescue. Training robots are scattered through the school. Comet will reset/rearrange things every time.
Mercury started off the whole exercise by taking on Comet’s first scenario (hostages in a building, spread out, with lots of blind corners, because Comet is really obsessed with measure-twice-cut-once levels of prep). He did well, but not perfectly, and saw how he could have done better.
A-10 was solid on the hostages. Alloy was solid but slow(er), due to sneaking around. Armiger was late and missed this one and Animal got a pass on this one. Telekinetian got cocky and let some guys get the drop on him. Leo and Pneuma were great, and Concord … well, Concorded it.
[by projecting energy duplicates of himself to take out all the robots at once].
Corcord jumps at the chance to be the hero to his dad. Leo sits out & coaches him. A 12 year old versus six mercs inside his school building turned into a Home Alone scenario. This was another 7-9 hit, letting Nasir shift Adam’s labels in surprising ways (Dad wants Adam to get some more hand-to-hand training).
A-10 and Leo sat this one out, so they could coach the rest of their teams. Harry had trouble not using his powers - Comet suggested practicing with HHL power dampeners on. Telekinetian … did not do well. Again. Alloy has lots of hand to hand training, so it was pretty straightforward for her.
“Don’t use your Powers” doesn’t really work for Animal. Turns out the training bots have Wilhelm screams programmed into them if a rhino hits them hard enough.
Armiger couldn’t use his powers, but his shard of Excalibur weighs about 50 kilos, so… I mean… you hit guys with that, and a lack of powers doesn’t really matter too much.
INTERRUPT! Members of the JHHL (Stingray, Keri/Superchica, Kid Kelvin, Ninjess, Bob) arrive and talk smack. Leo: “are these the villains you want us to fight, Comet?” But no, Comet plugs them into the scenario.
SCENARIO 3: Supervillain Prison Escape. Link - Stingray - Ninjess - TK - Alloy must deal with a simulated villain prison break.
Leo & Pneuma double-team on support, coordinating with each other and making Stingray & TK into leaders for their respective teams.
“TAKE INFLUENCE OH F***”
Leo manages to get influence on half of That Other Team & couple JHHL folks. Gotta Catch Em All.
SCENARIO 4: Crashing Plane. Mercury - A10 - Kid Kelvin - Bob - Animal. Keri plays a panicked plane passenger, with Concord as her pet chihuahua. Sol/Comet/others remote operate the plane & passengers.
Mercury takes a big hit to pull off a success, is dressed down, but manages to stand strong and impress Comet.
POST GAME WRAPUP
We didn’t blow it, the Menagerie came off looking pretty good, and apparently Comet is impressed enough with That Other Team to approve them doing field work - maybe. A10 gives Mercury the big eyes. Keri flies off with a captured Concord.
Everyone goes for pizza on Comet’s dime. Leo Pierces A10’s Mask to figure out her team’s deal and try and get influence with her.
author: Bill G.
url: https://app.roll20.net/forum/permalink/6027244
