MENAGERIE #62 - THEY WHO WOULD DESTROY US!

Games Menagerie RPG
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Flashbacks

Charlotte’s big scary ghost face, Everard reaching out, touching it, looks drawn and horrified as he gets caught up on current events. Then blasted by Dr I

Harry racing in, Charlotte cradling Everard.

Dr I bouncing around inside the space, mini-teleports. Bubbles of time stuff. Alycia and Summer countering. Leaves the device open, Dr I smirks, teleports next to and is going to strike …

Harry suddenly in front of Infinity, while Alycia is shooting explosive rounds in Infinity’s face. Flurry of blocking blows.

Now …

The Magus

Calm. Quiet.

Magus on the ground, half-sitting on ground. Charlotte is next to him, Concord on his other side.

He licks his lips. "This day has not gone as I anticipated. I had a date planned on a lovely terrace on a version of Italy with floating gondolas, and chilled several bottles and warmed up local girls. You two are very disappointing by comparison.

To C: I am very sorry for what has been done by your PoV, by what may happen. Not sure I can see a good way out of it.

C - Doesn’t include sunning yourself in Italy.

E - Agreed. Though i look great in a –

Ad - Can we focus on the immediate danger?

E - At a loss as to why I can’t solve this. I have to agree with you. I will do my part to make sure that what came to pass does not come to pass. (To C) I am very sorry for what will happen as a result, but we all must make our trade-offs, I suppose.

C - Let’s get today’s situation under control.

E - I can stop this, or make a non=issue, for the two of us.

[The Provoke - stop this nonsense - was a 14.]

He starts – asks for his staff. Can’t see out of the one side. C hands him the staff.

E - This is awkward. Your gizmo? Preventing me from the next thing.

C - Also preventing them from leaving.

E … Oh, dear, I think they’re doing something. [focusing on Infinity]

…

Doctor Infinity

Meanwhile … flurry of actions, bullets slamming into Infinity, landing a bit, and that’s leaving dents and dings, face scowling. Off hand raising up, then pushing down at the ground.

But her other arm is coming in on Harry, just as fast as both.

And everything … gets … SLOW.

Harry is at Alycia speed. Localized. Charlotte/Adam/Magus not feeling as much, just seems to be a little frustrating to doing things so deliberately.

Harry has never been this slow.

Alycia can think as fast as ever (nearly), but body is slow. Not affecting things at the quantum level.

Harry - Powerful Blow from deceleration. [Roll Savior -> 7!]

[Condition: Afraid + Keep Their Attention On Him.]

They are not slowing down. Start building up an Uncle Chase maneuver.

Alycia – all nightmares come home to roost – [powerful blow -> 10!] Not a panic, but anger at self for being unable to even be a distraction. (Dad: “I’m sure, if you think that’s what’s going to happen, I’m sure you will be insufficient.”)

[Lose control of powers in a terrible way -->]

Drop gun, trigger a gadget to cause the Keynome device to crank up to 15 … and drone Summer’s still plugged in.

Summer [Powerful Blow -> 8!] -> take 2 conditions. Other Summer looks at Alycia, hurt, but not say anything. Angry (“how could she?”) and Guilty (“how could I hold it against her?”)

Time Ghosts!

Effects double on themselves … lens flares … from the machine … in the space between the two Summers … seeing different potential moments.

Charlotte as a ghost. Charlotte as a ghost adventurer / Lara Croft. Or as Evie (the Mummy), but not a ghost. Charlotte wearing robes like the Hidden Family, but slightly altared. Ball gowns with glowing stones at the chakras. Angry “Carry” Charlotte. All here and part of this.

Adam as older. Younger. Not glowing. Keynome Kid. Space Adam. Starfield Adam. Energy power suit Adam. With scarves. Without scarves. [Has been all of these.]

Harry in Vector suit. Scarred. Missing a leg, doing a dust-devil. Speedster look. Full-out Mercury.

Guerilla Alycia. Scarred in a mobile wheelchair Alycia. Evil Mandarin Alycia. Nanobot swarm Alycia. Link’s Power Armor Alycia. Robot Alycia. Pregnant Alycia. Horrid automaton spider-bot Alycia. [Alycia has known all the terrible ways her life could go.]

[All of Mike’s Art] Summers. Guerilla warfare Summer. [Summer has fan-ficted most of these] [All deeply-disappointed looking at Alycia, “You just had to hurt someone to save yourself”]

[Alycia sees that.]

(Nothing with the Magus. He is what he is.)

Summer also sees … Infinity redoubling. Not the Magus; he is what he is. Infinity is lots of different images, variations. More human. Less so. More like the starfish-bots. Variations on who they are. And some of the forms are recognizable – who they were.

Adam also sees it – the ones closest to human, seeing more redoubling of Summer? No, Pneuma? Aria? Not bits of Summer.

Charlotte: Magus grabs hand, pulls up. “Get ready, we’re going to have an opportunity very shortly.”

Battle!

Summer: Same revelation as Adam – sending out a ping to the Heart Gauge. Ping back: Pneuma. Aria (and Summer) came from a very specific set of circumstances. And Infinity TURNS AND LOOKS.

Summer - Dangerous Web --> 11! Opponent trips into trap, and get an opportunity against them. Catch Infinity in a protocol handshake + emotions of not having felt this way for so long.

Infinity telepathic connection … very bitter and angry and sad sneer: "You’re so smart, and you’ve tapped into everything of your nature, and you understand us, and you’re going to learn my core programming, who i really am … You … don’t understand … what can understand … if you REALLY care for someone else. Youre never going to be real – clever or powerful, but you’ll never have what I had befoe he was take away!]

[-Mundane, +_____]

Summer rejects -> 7! [clear condition]

Things are speeding up.

Harry [Direct Engagage! -> 6!] Summer pushes it to 7 with her distraction, Alycia’s effect with the keynome.

Charlotte - the gadget, been dealing with byblows of this kind of energy for months – the ghostliness tendrils of energy about the legs.

Adam - boost.

[ -> 10!]

  1. create opportunity
  2. frighten Infinity

Shockwave fills the area. Infinity pulling loose, chassis cracking, goes down backwards a bit.

Harry [Never give up, never surrender -> 10!] Harry bends, shakes his head, then rallies from the hit, inspires the team.

[Superspeed read from the Book of Super-Heroic Quips!, well-dogeared, passed down from Grandma]

“That’s what happens when you mess with my friends.”

I - “And this is what happens when you think you’re going to win.”

Ground within the effect of the device begins to flicker/phase, as she starts to make a Wound.

C - Undoing everything she’s been fighting for.

Ad - Cosmic level. Will fall forever, even if survive.

(All the Infinity versions are doing this out of sheer hopelessness.)

C - Try and heal? look to Everard. [Superior -> 7!] Immediate impulse to combat the formation of the Wound. Need spirits … call them? There are a lot of ghosts …

Magus wants to get away. Can stop him …

Summer is starting to do something …

C - Possession of the gadget to be able to get out through the spirit world. [Possession -> 9!] … taking the Magus with her.

Summer’s Moment of Truth

Infinity is drilling down through all realities, making the worst wound of all, let all reality burn …

Summer is still linked – still feel the well of loss that’s driving this whole thing.

Mask off, costume on … trigger a transformation request. All this armor and tech and built onto Infinity’s self as a shell, will crack and burst off … and it means she has to feel everything Infinity is feeling, even as she knows what it’s like to lose Link, I do know what you’re feeling, you’re experiencing, I have this pain, too, and you can be, too.

Related image

Defenses stripped away.

Effect of the Wound is holding at a point where it’s amplifying.

S - crying. tells on Infinity, body lurching, jerks, armor falling away / opening … Summer mirrors that motion. Alycia can see how much it’s hurting. CAn hear Summer say, “… I can’t.”

Alycia’s Moment of Truth

A - Unlike me, the pain is bigger than Summer is. To Summer: “I’ve got this. I’m sorry.”

Theoretical background for keynomes (two years). Draws keynomic energy into her gloves (temptation! change the world! change the past!) and slam it down into Dr I, to lock her into Here and Now, with all the self-sustaining energy possible.

Infinity is struggling up from this … but solidifies into a non-changing quantum state, and abstract form like a statue in front of WDW.

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And the bots turn from stone to dust. Sparkling dust flying down from the sky around us.

Charlotte

C - Take him to the Grove.

E - Your friends have just taken care of part of the problem. Now I have to make sure I don’t do my part of the problem.

C - (can see statues flickering out)

E - We don’t want to be here when it stops happening. i was responsible for this little space. Though it will go away after you do. I’m very sorry – you’ve done so well, and so marvelously … better than I ever would. That’s why i called you. You’ve done wonderfully. Just want you to know …

World shakes

She’s standing before a dormer window, in the family sitting room. The one that looks over the back lawn, the intact gazebo. Family is down there. Afternoon lemonade and tea time.

The things here are much clearer to remember than Halcyon. The clarity of weird little idiosyncrasies with father, and visitors to the parlor … little family artifacts she now recognizes as Vyortovian that were never noticed as a child.

Testing memory. At the door of the bedroom. Nothing is there that is like clearly creepy. But see something different at the vanity. A glimmer. A broach. And a staff leaning against the wall. And a Note:

“… as I was saying, I think you’ll do a fine job. And, again. I’m sorry, because I don’t think you’ll have as much fun as I did. – E.”

An Epilog

Outpouring of energy from the keynome. Shadows of Summer going across time and space … say hi to Charlotte? And maybe a memory-damaged Summer dropped off in Leo’s scrapyard … the original Pneuma.

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Cross-posted on Roll20.

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AN EPILOG: Nobody ever quite understood why “please” and “thank you” slowly became more widespread across all reality, sweet tea and lemonade began outselling energy drinks, and everyone in the multiverse began speaking with a charming Southern drawl …

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It was the original Numina.

Leo shouts, “[Expletive deleted].” Jason goes over to him. It’s Pneuma. “Someone’s gonna die.”
Who did this?
“This is a restored backup from just before I left this morning.”
Feels constrained by the hardware. “I don’t I think I … none of what happened after i restored from backup was because of any subroutines or protocols I’m aware of. Leo?”
Leo explains. “Someone cloned my girlfriend, made her a quadriplegic and set things up so that I would kill her.”
“Wow. That’s really fucked up.”
“So that’s why I’m going to find this guy and kill him.”

I think it’s interesting if her existence is a stable time loop. She thinks of her life as miraculous - by all rights, she shouldn’t exist, for multiple reasons, and yet she does. And the idea that she literally came into being to help heal Alycia, heal another self, and help everyone else she’s helped, feels much more like an authentic magical girl than just “I came from a magical kingdom” ever could. It feels like a destiny.

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@doyce since you asked about any unresolved plot threads for next week: I’m good! I don’t have anything left over for Summer.

We’d talked about Cayden, the robot-rights activist. You seemed pretty excited about the diversity/inclusiveness possibilities the robot characters brought with them, and I wanted to give that excitement a voice in the game in the form of this guy. In this case, I’m actually more glad we didn’t start that, so it now it won’t be left unfinished.

There’s plenty of room to play around with that story in other venues. But if there’s specific issues or aspects of that story you’d like to see given some kind of treatment, let me know and I’ll do my best to represent them. You’d also mentioned having some kind of background thing relevant to him. If you ever post that, I’d like to read it.

I think Summer contributed the right amount to Alycia’s and Jason’s stories - being a helping hand and good friend, but not being the angel of mercy that magically fixes all their problems for them or Mary Sueing her way into their spotlights (@Dave let me know if that’s not the case :grin:). I’d like to think she was a Prozac Pixie Woke Girl.

The PCs I’ve been driving (e.g. Nono) got their own resolutions in the forums, and I like how that all turned out.

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This is how you can tell things are wrapping up.

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Perfect. If we get a chance, and there’s anything happening in the coffee shop, I might throw a little thing with Cayden in there as a kind of seed for wondering what might happen next, but it’s a tiny thing.

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I noticed that lack of added things in the Roll20 forums yesterday. To be fair, there’s been a bit more traffic here. :slight_smile:

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“the group spokesperson Radiance” is no doubt Alycia’s revenge for “our team leader Charade”.

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To riff off @garrett’s note, I think the main Alycia-adjacent stuff is in good shape.

  • Daph still needs to find her way, but I’m okay with leaving that as-is (perhaps for something in the future – I maintain that her current dilemma is a set-up for a variation on the Doomed playbook). The subplot I had for her is at a decent stopping point, though. She and her cast did some reasonable background work in the main game, and I had fun writing for her.

  • Jalycia is also at a good resting point (again, mostly in cutscene). The two fill a hole in each other’s lives, eve with some burrs and knobs that needs sanding off (or accommodating). In the absence of anything else in the Menagerieverse again, I’d speculate that they do eventually marry (though that will be a stormy discussion on both their parts) and do a bit of wife-and-husband adventuring / exploration. She’ll want to use that opportunity to knock down the resurgent bits of the Chin org; he’ll be leery of becoming too far down the rabbit hole with that as his dad was, but support her and use the opportunity for other science adventure stuff, always trying to keep in mind the priorities of the Quill Foundation. There will likely be children eventually – another very stormy collection of discussions, as both are terrified of their own (in)ability to parent and the really bad models they had. I presume Auntie Summer will play a role in the kids lives, which would be awesome.

  • I intentionally wound down the Lost Ducklings subplot I’d built up. Joa is probably going to be a tremendous asset to the Foundation.

  • As was touched on in the post-conversation last night, the Scion threads never really went anywhere, but I didn’t push that, either: there was more than enough to do (with the plots of others who weren’t on a second character), and I could never claim with a straight face that I haven’t had two full characters to play with over the course of the game.

  • The only part of the Scion stuff that got any traction was what was already in motion: Alycia and Parker. There’s nothing really unresolved there; from a future speculation standpoint, I imagine Alycia’s status eventually gets resolved (her past will haunt her emotionally and adversarially for the rest of her life, but she’ll no longer be on active probation), and Parker will be both an AEGIS liaison to the Foundation and an ongoing Mother-ish Counselor figure to Alycia.

  • I think the Alycia / Summer stuff is in a good place, though there are a couple of discussions Alycia wants to have with her in the immediate aftermath of Issue 62.

  • Alycia’s actually ended up with more friends and support than she could have ever dreamed of, let alone hoped for. Aside from her romance/partnership with Jason, she has a dearly supportive friend in Summer (who was just right, @garrett), a more “normal” friend with Daph (that she can try to apply some of those lessons to), a pack matriarch in Parker, and people on the team who know her and her weaknesses and still want her around. What could be better than that?

What does need short-term Final Explosive Issue! resolution?

  1. Alycia: That discussion with Summer mentioned above.
  2. Alycia: Maybe a wrap-up with Parker.
  3. Team: Whither the Menagerie, both as a group and as individuals? (I have some thought for Alycia here, but I’m really curious about everyone else.)
  4. Team: We probably need some grounding back in “normal life” to mark the transition as well. I’ll note the end of the school year is coming up – some characters are graduating (yearbooks! awards ceremonies! most likely to succeed! most likely to actually follow through on her dire warning if she ever catches you sneaking into the girls locker room again!). That also means summer is coming up, with all the changes that denotes as well. Seems a natural break.
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Given the “statue” is locked down in time and space, Disney probably quickly realized it was unmoveable, and so adapted as best they could (the alternative was embedding it in a new entrance display, something we might suggest would be highly unwise, for reasons).

Indeed, the “statue” is likely to outlast human civilization on this planet (cue image of squirreloids worshipping the figure as a goddess, now in a desert setting with bare mounds of rubble in the background), assuming nothing about it changes.

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Leo and the Newmans will absolutely try to recover her somehow - once Leo has figured things out better, and can put the kibosh on any remaining time-space gimmickry Infinity has to offer. So that’s something for the future. But if she’s in a safe place now, that’s all Summer can ask for.

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That topic is one of the ones Alycia would definitely be talking with Summer about.

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Looks like it’s time for this image again!

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Just what I was thinking of. :smiley:

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Incidentally, kudos to @garrett for the idea of Doctor Infinity becoming so locked-down that she becomes a statue (a fate particularly ironic given the denizens of the Twilight Grove). My original MoT concept simply locked her down into this space-time more generally, leaving her a keynome-powered threat that would need to be defeated, but no longer able to poke at our pasts / futures and destroy dimensions. This worked much better, and I didn’t even think of the Thanos visual until we were mid-game.

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Plus, the twist that Infinity is another Pneuma, by total coincidence, also let me reference this character idea.

The happy-ending version of this story is that the group eventually brings that Pneuma around, and she serves as an even crankier maternal figure, and probably gives Alycia a run for her money on bitterness and loss. Plus, she can definitely bootstrap Leo’s time-space research in a big way. So in the long run, it’s good news if you’re a Newman.

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Wrap up things for Adam:

  • Fall out with parents over… basically everything. I can imagine Jordan is going to be a handful now, knowing her brother has superpowers.
  • The extra Keynomes and the Concordance Trio.
  • This is sort of self-indulgent, but I want a moment for Adam to apologize to Alycia about being a bad teammate. The final showdown showed that something Adam meant as an insult (offering the keynome to Alycia a couple of games ago) wasn’t the horror he imagined it would be. If anything, Alycia held onto infinite power, used it to get exactly what she needed to and no more, and then gave it up. Better than what Adam did with it.
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With people departing the team, I’d floated the idea of Alycia using her monumentally appropriate backstory to train those folks in how to stand up to an oppressive superior who is convinced they know what’s best for everyone.