Last time …
Harry gave his big announcement to the press.
Everyone was heading for Has Beans and look for Lucius.
Has Beans
Lucius is not there, had stuff going on, but will be, soon. Meantime … we are sitting in the back room around a table, courtesy of JC. Charlotte and Harry have interacted with JC. It’s an older coffee shop. Neighborhood. JC takes orders from everyone.
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Summer - orders the thing with the most flavor. Something 8000 calories, with whipped cream and sprinkles. Summer feels both “in” (a barrista) and “out” (doesn’t know the secret handshakes).
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Charlotte - Dirty chai.
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Alycia - Triple Espresso and much, much sugar.
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Adam - Peppermint Hot Chocolate.
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Harry - Spiced apple cider.
Big, round, folding table. Scarred tables. Folding and plastic patio chairs. Even if it feels like the Round Table.
Summer stepped up for the big meeting. Alycia glares, then supports the idea.
So there we are.
A - Great thing with the press statement. Better than expected.
H - Thanks? And thanks for help yesterday. Yesterday?
A - Least and most I could do. Helped out
S - Showed a lot of initiative. Good statement. (wink) We’re at a crossroads.
A - So who’s in charge?
Everyone is quiet.
S - Want to talk about it a bit. Do we need a leader?
C - More about common goals and being a team. We been kind of wrapped up on ourselves lately. Makes it harder when we want to pull together on something.
S - What would help?
C - Hanging together like this helps. When we’re into dealing with a crisis, what’s important? What are we trying as a group to accomplish. I have my own projects, but it seems to me we have a lot of smart people here, a lot to offer to the community. So what is that?
A - Social welfare organization?
C - There’s a lot we can do. Put your mind to it.
A - Connections between things we’ve been facing. Doctor Infinity – Vyortovians – Hidden Brotherhood – collapsing dimensions … should we be tackling these things?
Adam - These are things. Important things.
H - Definitely important things.
S - Harry, lots of people with expectations of you .What can we do to help you that?
H - Nothing you haven’t been doing.
C - Finishing the work on the Wounds. Talking with the Grail Knights. Then pin down that Magus Everard, find out what he knows about all this.
S - Wounds are important. And Rook involved, so I have an interest, too.
[Something in the news that has happened that is a good thing: government oversight of security/military robots. Also, hearings on what happened – Rosa had to testify. ]
S - [Passes this on.]
H - Not planning on joining the HHL. At least not right away.
C - Happy you’ll be with us.
S - Happy to have you as long as you’re with us.
A - Absolutely
(Everyone kind of stares.)
Adam - [Perked up that Harry wasn’t joining the HHL.]
S - Are you a Concordance Agent? [Provoke: 11!]
A - [tenses]
Adam - Why would you ask that? [Shifts back and forth.] No. I mean. No. Of course not. Not any more. And, it’s, um, no.
It’s not that big a deal. (Evasive! Uh-oh …)
S - Mentions coin.
A - [Watching intently, hands under the table.]
C - [Confused]
H - [Sipping his cider. Unjudgmental / no moral high ground.]
S - Talk about this … later?
Adam - Not a big deal. Why flip a coin. Alycia, stop looking at me?
A - Is that a Shroedingers Cat thing? Or is my gaze upsetting you?
S - [hand on A’s shoulder, not helping]
A - rolls eyes
Oh, I guess it is the Round Table.
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Summer - Seat of Sir Gaheris - Influence and advice over someone (complex conditions)
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Charlote - Seat of Bors the Chaste, +1 Forward on next Pierce the Mask.
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Harry - Seat of Sir Galahad - +1 on next forward to reject Influence
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Adam - Seat of Sir Kay - No power exists without truth. Next time you burn, mark potential and take a powerful blow as the truth confronts you.
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Alycia - Seat of Sir Lancelot. (The outsider come to Court, threatening destruction). +1 potential. Adam loses Influence over her. +Danger, -Mundane.
Adam - Not that important!
S - We’re here to listen.
C - Why picking on him?
S - Not picking. There’s something important going on here.
Adam - [Jordan, looking just little-kid-disappointment … if you give this up now, you’ll never get it back again.]
Charlotte is there to look for Lucius.
[Superior: 4!]
Lucias!
Adam’s about to say something, and the room suddenly gets very dark. Sun behind clouds? Very overshadowed and dark outside.
Alycia looks at Adam, as if he is to blame. Wrong.
Something very large in the way of the sun.
Footsteps, grunt, something smashes wreckng-ball style through the back wall.
Adam looks relieved. “Meeting adjourned!”
It’s a massive fist, clenched around someone, made up of a composite of arms, like the face from the cemetery.
Is it chasing Charlotte? C - I don’t think so.
Radiance flashes into new costume (holographic) – flying brick Super-girl style, gold and blue.
Fist tightens, and someone moans – top of his head. Older black man, short hair. Summer tries to pull him away, hard light panels blocking the arms.
[Defend!: 5!]
Team into the Pool
- - Powerful foe - Summer acted first.
- - Has influence over all.
- - Save the Guy, Beat the Monster. Same purpose
- - Trust the Leader and the Team
- - Off Balance.
Adam tries burning things.
Alycia whacks it with her batons
[5 -> 7]
Hand lets Lucius go. Lucius gets an arm free, sword appears from nowhere, drops and rolls, comes up, then staggers on bad hip.
Fist opens, fingers shifts to reverse and grabs Summer.
Slams against the wall. Touch is horrid, consistency and temp of clay left on the table. [Guilty - didn’t pull it off.]
Charlotte – possesses her chai and throws it into him, wanting to burn away the flailing arms to see what is at the center. [Freak!: 8!]
Harry – Tries to get its attention on the opposite side of Lucius. [Defend: 11!] [Influence over Lucius]
The chai, where it lands – dissolves the arms into muck and mud.
Alycia has seen ugly wounds. Caused some. One of which involved a rifle shot that ran down the length of the arm … and this reminds of that, since the arm here peels back … the bits breaking up stain the walls and floor and asphalt.
It breaks apart as an arm-and-fist to a tentacular creature.
Summer tumbles free.
The bone is exposed, but it’s not a normal bone structure. An old human skeleton within it.
Alycia notices, in that brief instant before it starts to reform to protect the skeleton: wrong number of ribs and quite old. Like … Sepiaverse number of ribs.
Lucius shouts “Grenade!”
Alycia catches the one he tosses to er, flips the pin out, drops it into the skeleton even as the arms reenvelope it. [Direct Engage: 10!]
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Resist/Avoid
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Take bodily integrity - shattering the bones, removing the central focus, scatteering it, the arms break downt o something like leeches/lampreys, slithering away in all directions, melting into cracks.
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Create an opportunity - Charlotte’s power is still upon them, and so she can trace them.
Someone - Don’t let them get away!
L - Let them get away. We need to talk. This is – and pardon the pun – getting out of hand.
Next Time!
Catch up with Lucius.
Wrap-Up!
- Alycia - Closer to Team (Summer - dragged into conversation) - +Superior -Freak (maxxed)
- Summer - Closer to Team (Adam - didn’t reject) - +Savior -Superior
- Harry - Closer to Team (Summer - supportive even while he’s evasive) - +Superior, -Freak
- Charlotte - Closer to Team (Alyica) - +Superior, -Freak
- Adam - Further from Team (Summer)
#Recap
author: *** Dave H.
url: https://app.roll20.net/forum/permalink/6869632
