October 15, 2015 10:15PMKonrad K. (GM): rolling 1d20
= 2
October 15, 2015 10:16PMKonrad K. (GM): rolling 8d20!!
= 78
Hello
September 18, 2018 9:38AMKonrad (GM) (GM): #name Kurtis
#name
Log
time
g
g
September 18, 2018 9:46AMKonrad (GM) (GM): g
g
g
g
dgd
gh
September 18, 2018 9:46AMKonrad (GM) (GM): gd
gd
g
dg
dg
d
September 18, 2018 9:46AMKonrad (GM) (GM): gdg
dg
g
gd
September 18, 2018 10:24AMJason Roselli: Hello
September 18, 2018 10:28AMJason: Roselli
September 18, 2018 10:31AMKurtis (GM): Test
September 18, 2018 11:33AMHannah Fennegha: Test
September 18, 2018 12:36PMHannah Riley: Test
September 18, 2018 12:36PMKonrad (GM): Test
September 18, 2018 12:41PMJon H.: Hmmmm
September 18, 2018 12:41PMJon H.: BOXXX
September 18, 2018 12:42PMJustin Robertson: Ben?
haha
September 18, 2018 12:43PMKonrad (GM): I like the Journal tab
where people can do a quick refresher on who the NPCs are
i'm going to fill all that out
September 18, 2018 12:43PMJustin Robertson: Oh Nice.
rolling {5d10!}>8f1
= 1 Success
rolling {5d10!}>8f1
= 1 Success
rolling {5d10!}>8f1
= 0 Successes
rolling {5d10!}>8f1
= 0 Successes
September 18, 2018 12:45PMJustin Robertson: rolling {5d10!}>8f1
= -1 Successes
rolling {5d10!}>8f1
= 0 Successes
rolling {5d10!}>8f1
= 2 Successes
Interesting.
1's are designed to subtract a success.
Do we want that?
September 18, 2018 12:48PMJustin Robertson: Oh, thats owod.
rolling 5d10>8!
= 3 Successes
That's the one.
September 18, 2018 12:48PMKurt Kerner (GM): no we dont want that
1s only matter if there is 0 successes
if there is a 1 in that case, it's a crit fail
September 18, 2018 12:49PMJustin Robertson: The formula for our setup is /roll Xd10>8!
Counts successes and 10's explode.
September 18, 2018 12:49PMKurt Kerner (GM): yeah but some of our people have 9 explode power
our fate people
September 18, 2018 12:49PMJustin Robertson: One second.
9 again is this: /roll Xd10>8!>9
rolling 5d10>8!>9
= 1 Success
Hmm, how do you delete your scribbling?
Found it. Right-click to select and delete.
#roll4
September 18, 2018 1:29PMJustin Robertson: How'd you make an avatar?
Feels like I'm the only one talking.
September 18, 2018 1:42PMCoral M.: Sorry
So you go to your profile and there's an option to add one
I was doing the tutorial but I didn't realize it would take ten thousand years
#name Jessica
[Jessica]
#Jessica
September 18, 2018 1:47PMJessica: lskndflsknd
There we go
September 18, 2018 2:07PMJustin Robertson: Boop.
September 18, 2018 3:52PMKurt Kerner (GM): You guys can add journal entries for your characters or whatever items you wanna showcase
Build the memeworld
September 18, 2018 3:52PMJustin Robertson: Oooh
That is neat.
No lie, the company I work for is owned by mormons.
Where are we able to add these journal entries?
That might be just something the gm can do.
September 18, 2018 4:06PMKurt Kerner (GM): Aw really?
September 18, 2018 4:06PMJustin Robertson: Word.
September 18, 2018 4:07PMKurt Kerner (GM): You dont have a button for Add?
September 18, 2018 4:08PMKurt Kerner (GM): lets look at help file if players can be granted journaling
ok you should be able to upload character sheets now?
September 18, 2018 4:17PMJustin Robertson: Doesn't look like it.
September 18, 2018 4:17PMKurt Kerner (GM): I enabled it...
their manual is really weird
oh you may have to do it from the lobby
September 18, 2018 4:21PMJustin Robertson: Nope.
look at that
where is all that shit?
September 18, 2018 4:24PMJustin Robertson: Character vault?
September 18, 2018 4:24PMKurt Kerner (GM): ok
September 18, 2018 4:25PMJustin Robertson: Make one for Justin and add me to the "Can be Edited and Controlled By" area.
September 18, 2018 4:53PMKurt Kerner (GM): done
and making one for Jessica
Justin Robertson perception has
1 success(es)
September 20, 2018 3:10PMKurt Kerner (GM): Coral?
September 20, 2018 3:14PMJessica: here
had to log back in
September 20, 2018 3:15PMKurt Kerner (GM): Hello!
Alright! Welcome welcome!
I can't believe I had to learn how to play MtG just to deal with your character, and then got addicted to MtG for like 2 years
September 20, 2018 3:17PMJessica: That's how I roll
September 20, 2018 3:17PMKurt Kerner (GM): Alright. So, we are picking up right where your character's story left off. Are you ready? :D
September 20, 2018 3:18PMJessica: yass
Leipzig, Germany. Corner of Naumburger and Gieberstrasse, outside the gaming pavilion. It is a 30 minute break between the rounds of a local city MtG tournament. Jessica won her first game 2:0. The nearest Chinese food place is right around the corner, the Chinabrenner.
September 20, 2018 3:23PMJessica: (signal when you want me to jump in after you're done describing)
September 20, 2018 3:23PMKurt Kerner (GM): ((go))
September 20, 2018 3:26PMJessica: Chinese food in Germany had a different smell to it than in the US, but many of the choices looked sorta the same. Jessica liked ordering Chinese food places whenever she was out of the country. Saved her time and confusion since they all seemed to use numbers next to their menu items (yay well-travelled merit)
She ordered something that had a picture and looked sorta like broccoli chicken, and took a seat with a smal plastic number
September 20, 2018 3:28PMKurt Kerner (GM): ((How fluent is Jessica's German and how long has she lived in here?))
September 20, 2018 3:29PMJessica: (I don't remember if I need a merit for separate languages; some wod products require it)
September 20, 2018 3:30PMKurt Kerner (GM): ((Nope, just tell me))
September 20, 2018 3:31PMJessica: (She's been there a couple years for university, so she's conversational but maybe her friends leave her out of deep or technical conversations so they don't have to explain big words is kinda how I picture it)
(like enough to get by but little enough that if she moves away she'll start forgetting it)
September 20, 2018 3:31PMKurt Kerner (GM): ((Okay, she's lived here two years. This is the beginning of her third year. What is she studying in uni?))
September 20, 2018 3:31PMJessica: (she can go to the bank or the grocery store and be alright)
(lemme look at her sheet and see if I remember)
(let's say art)
September 20, 2018 3:33PMKurt Kerner (GM): ((Yeah if it was on her sheet, I wouldn't be asking :D ))
September 20, 2018 3:33PMJessica: (I know it isn't on the sheet but it puts me back in the headspace from when I was making her)
September 20, 2018 3:33PMKurt Kerner (GM): ((Art appreciation, art history, or doing some form of art? If yes, which art?))
September 20, 2018 3:34PMJessica: Illustrations
since she has 2 in computer we'll say digital illustration instead of free hand
unless you want me to move some points
I can put investigation at a 1 and put 2 in crafts
move empathy down and bump expression
I don't think I was thinking of her degree when i made her
September 20, 2018 3:36PMJessica: we're just starting so it wouldn't break anything
September 20, 2018 3:36PMKurt Kerner (GM): ((Okay. She has average intelligence, good wits, eidetic memory, which is very good, and she is in a non-technical field, however, she is getting educated. So. Put on your character sheet: Languages (German) 1 point. She is almost fluent, with a definitely american accent, maybe her Rs are not too good, and she may be confused on certain colloquialism, but she has functional spoken and written german))
September 20, 2018 3:37PMJessica: done
September 20, 2018 3:37PMKurt Kerner (GM): ((How are her grades? Is she studious or a class-skipping fuck up? Is she timely or does she sleep in? Back in USA she was an A+ girl, or at least what she told her mother))
September 20, 2018 3:39PMJessica: Germany is really into rules and so is her dad so based on her social space and past behavior I'd say she'd find it easier to be an A student since she wouldn't have as much distracting social pressures as she did in the states
so probably really great grades
but she's not like, thirsty for approval, she just treats it like a job
you cool if i make those changes?
September 20, 2018 3:40PMKurt Kerner (GM): ((Yes that's fine. You're getting your small backstory bonuses. Give Jessica 1 point in Expression. Art is not her passion, but since she is studious, she's learned to illustrate and paint.))
((This is on top of what you have, don't take anything away))
September 20, 2018 3:41PMJessica: okay so from 2 to 3?
September 20, 2018 3:42PMKurt Kerner (GM): ((yes))
September 20, 2018 3:42PMJessica: done
September 20, 2018 3:44PMKurt Kerner (GM): ((And your persuasion, change from 0 to 1, you have a specialty in it too , for haggling))
September 20, 2018 3:44PMJessica: done
September 20, 2018 3:48PMKurt Kerner (GM): Jessica, you're being served an enjoyable Gai Ian Chai Mein or some other german bastardization equivalent of a broccoli and chicken dish, and a glass of ice water. It smells pretty good. A bunch of faces from the tournament turned up at this place too. People are jittery, shaking, sweaty. But your table is a little bubble of chicken aroma that the sweaty nerd stench does not, at least yet, touch. How are you feeling?
September 20, 2018 3:49PMJessica: Pretty good. They don't use enough garlic in anything in Germany but I'm used to it by now.
I set an alarm on my phone and people watch for a bit while I eat.
I've got too much focus going on to text
September 20, 2018 3:52PMKurt Kerner (GM): A moment's reprieve from the battle stress of the game, your composure is excellent. You seem to have a game plan and feeling good about the tourney?
September 20, 2018 3:53PMJessica: Game plans are good but mana curves are better. It's all down to the draw. It's hard to feel excited as a grinder, but I'm optimistic about placing well
September 20, 2018 3:54PMKurt Kerner (GM): Do you think about Frank at all? These past two years, have you maintained a relationship, like you promised?
September 20, 2018 3:56PMJessica: We text. We sexted a bit like teenagers do when I first moved away. It was actually easier to be more intimate with a screen between us. But that was a quick burning fire and now we just sort of like each other's posts on social media from time to time. He never really visited. Maybe he sensed I wasn't that serious
September 20, 2018 3:57PMKurt Kerner (GM): Do you have someone new here in Leipzig?
September 20, 2018 3:59PMJessica: I'm afraid of trying to do something permanent. I don't really feel like an adult yet since I still live with my parents. I feel like maybe my classmates sometimes don't either. Doesn't really make me feel confident with boys
Sometimes I'll makeout with someone at the bar but I pass on going home with them
September 20, 2018 4:00PMKurt Kerner (GM): Yeah, this stuff could definitely use some garlic...
Yeah, modern germany is full of teenage hipsters, but you're 20 now, maybe it's time to get around to a solid direction... speaking of mom and dad? How's the living? A house? An apartment? Or living on base? When is dad shipping out of Germany? A couple more years, enough for you to get your art degree?
September 20, 2018 4:02PMJessica: Living on base. He's supposed to be stationed long enough for that, but it's hard to tell what with everything that's going on in Iraq (this is like 2010 right?). The family is still deciding what I'll do if we have to leave before then. The family, not me. To be fair, I don't really know what I want to do besides Magic, and I know that's not really a career.
Mom wants me to stay and get my degree so I can go to (insert art school i'll look up later) and dad doesn't want to pay for it.
September 20, 2018 4:03PMJon: (Dresden Academy of Fine Arts)
September 20, 2018 4:04PMJessica: The apartment I'd need, that is. He makes enough for it. But to him any school is school. He doesn't get what a big deal moving is. I think he didn't really make friends as a kid so school is school to him. To me it's jarring trying to fit in all over again
September 20, 2018 4:05PMKurt Kerner (GM): (The year is kinda wishy washy, we keep it in "present day" but yeah, Iraq or any general Middle East conflict is not about to go away))
September 20, 2018 4:05PMJessica: (I wasn't sure if my story was in sync with the previous campaign and we were going to jump forward together or if this was happening now)
September 20, 2018 4:06PMJon: (Game's been on hold for ~10 years)
September 20, 2018 4:06PMKurt Kerner (GM): ((our characters have modern phones that's all i know))
September 20, 2018 4:06PMJessica: (lol kk)
September 20, 2018 4:08PMKurt Kerner (GM): Did you make a lot of friends here at the uni, Jessica? Do you hang out with germans, other americans, or indiscriminately with everyone? Or no one?
September 20, 2018 4:10PMJessica: I like the Art majors. Everyone takes themselves so seriously though, I don't keep up when the math people start talking. I'll hang out with anyone so long as they're not annoying or an asshole, but I don't really invite anyone over. My dad's too American in that loud opinionated kind of way and the people here are also opinionated and it's just... too much clash.
One time someone brought up that they were glad Germany legalized prostitution and my dad went off about family values. I don't like diner with a side of politics
*dinner
September 20, 2018 4:13PMKurt Kerner (GM): Is your phone on loud or vibrate or silent?
September 20, 2018 4:14PMJessica: vibrate. Europeans think it's rude to be loud in public
September 20, 2018 4:15PMKurt Kerner (GM): bzzz bzzz Text message.
September 20, 2018 4:15PMJessica: Glance
September 20, 2018 4:17PMHeike: - your friend, art major, closest and most common hangout girl. German, but fluent in english. Texts you in intermixed language: "Jess, you at the tourney? Did it start yet? How you doing?! Good luck!!!"
September 20, 2018 4:18PMJessica: Jessica smiled at the text preview but didn't click on it so it would still be marked unread in her inbox. She didn't answer texts or phone calls during tournaments, but she would get back with Heike right after. Side conversations were too distracting.
I remember one loss after Frank texted me to tell me he got a new girlfriend. Yeah, too distracting
September 20, 2018 4:22PMKurt Kerner (GM): Suddenly, a pristine looking gentleman enters the diner, with a burst of fresh air from the outside, and a burst of pleasant cologne among this swear and fart infested crowd. His aura is masculine and energetic. He slowly looks around, relaxed, assessing. His glance travels over the heads of chatting eating gamer nerds without much interest, and then he spots you. He approaches your table, and politely addresses you in english, with a german accent.
"Excuse me for intruding, may I have a word with you?"
September 20, 2018 4:24PMJessica: (i'm assuming this man wouldn't have a badge hanging from a yanyard or anything else to mark that he's tournament staff or someone she should know?)
September 20, 2018 4:25PMKurt Kerner (GM): The man is dressed in a white shirt, a blazer on top, he holds a briefcase in one hand, but does not carry tournament staff badges. No badge visible on his attire.
Not a full suit, however, his lowers are jeans with a black dress belt, and black leather shoes.
September 20, 2018 4:28PMJessica: "Is there a problem?" Jessica answered in German. She was caught too wrong-footed by his sudden unexplained appearance to know what else to say.
September 20, 2018 4:30PMHans: "Not at all," - the man responds with a smile, "My name is Hans. Hans Ehnske. I've been watching the tournament. May I sit down?"
Hans offers you his handshake
September 20, 2018 4:33PMJessica: "Oh, sure. Did you want me to sign a card or something?" Back home Jessica would have been quasi-famous. Nerds would have mentioned meeting her as a status symbol. Kevin probably bragged all the time that he knew her even though they hadn't talked in years. In Europe people just didn't salivate over that stuff the same way, but sometimes someone might want her to sign something. She shook his hand briefly. More or less just touched his hand. She wasn't one of those people that cared about the impression her handshakes gave. She felt like that was stupid posturing and people should like her for her ideas and the things she had to say.
September 20, 2018 4:39PMHans: Hans grins a row of white teeth "You know, it's a good day when your assessment of a character proves correct. I like your spirit. Perhaps I will sign a card or two for you as well."
Hans sits down, not removing that genuinely curious smile off his face
"And what is your name, miss?"
September 20, 2018 4:44PMJessica: perhaps I will sign a card or two for you as well Jessica's face warmed. So he was a pro player? "Um, Jessica. I-I'm sorry, are you in the tournament?" She felt bad suddenly for not recognizing him. Their community was large but at the same time, kind of small. She followed a lot of the pros on twitter and YouTube and she was wracking her brain trying to think if she knew who he was.
September 20, 2018 4:45PMHans: You have never seen this man "Aha! Jessica Murphy, a finger slip cost you a shot at 50 thousand at the World Championship two years ago."
He waits out but a two second pause
"Myself, no, I'm not in the tournament, but I sure hope to be... through you."
September 20, 2018 4:48PMJessica: She blinked. "Through...me?"
She was properly flustered now, and her face showed it. She was too caught off guard to be suave.
September 20, 2018 4:50PMHans: *Having secured Jessica's attention, Hans does not at all act unfriendly or self important. He remains casual and polite, idly looking at the menu.
"I know you have to run in 15 minutes, so I'll be brief. What's good on the menu here? Is that chicken good?"
September 20, 2018 4:50PMJessica: "Um, yes." Her brain caught up. "Are you offering to sponsor me? Are you like, with a company?" The Americanism slipped in. Sometimes it did that under stress
September 20, 2018 4:50PMHans: ((okay please roll your composure. ))
September 20, 2018 4:51PMJessica: how do i roll again?
September 20, 2018 4:51PMHans: ((i posted a journal note on that))
((so it would be....))
(( /roll 4d10>8! )) - like that
September 20, 2018 4:52PMJessica: rolling 4d10>8!
= 1 Success
September 20, 2018 4:54PMHans: You manage to retain enough self control for Hans to work with to make the conversation not break into awkwardness. He is a professional speaker and his voice, tone, and pace keep the two of you comfortable, like in a rocking boat. He orders the same thing you're eating, without even looking at the waiter, and hands you his business card, having produced it out of the blazer's inner pocket. You feel a bit warm, everywhere. The card reads
Hans Ehnske
Cube Transport & Data Corp
Arts, Entertainment, Digital Logistics Dept.
September 20, 2018 4:55PMHans: Senior Executive Assistant
September 20, 2018 4:56PMHans: Hans Ehnske
Cube Transport & Data Corp
Arts, Entertainment, Digital Logistics Dept.
Hans: Senior Executive Assistant
((the box doesn't take bold, boo))
Hans Ehnske, Cube Transport & Data Corp Arts, Entertainment, Digital Logistics Dept.-Senior Executive Assistant
September 20, 2018 4:57PMHans: ((oh lol but no spaces))
((good to know))
September 20, 2018 4:57PMJessica: (do i know what his company does? is there a logo?)
September 20, 2018 4:58PMHans: "Correct again. You're obviously a straight shooter."
((There is a logo. A cube of black on white with a golden trim, the sides of the cube are shaped out of letters C T D C
((Please roll your intelligence + academics or science, and add a bonus from Eidetic memory))
((+2))
September 20, 2018 5:01PMJessica: rolling 6d10>8!
= 1 Success
September 20, 2018 5:03PMHans: You do remember seeing the logo. The exact shape sticks out in your memory. But since your memory is trained to react to art rather than math, science, you didn't pay enough attention to memorize what they do without conscious effort, which you didn't care to put in. It may have been on mugs or pens or buildings, or on TV, or around campus. You just know it's a legitimate company, not maybe, but for a fact, they exist. But you've no idea what they do. September 20, 2018 5:05PMJessica: Usually sponsors for MTG players were companies like Ultrapro, Monster, or Krave. Nerdfood and game supplies. This was a little high-brow. But she was calm enough to have her pokerface on a little at this point. She'd look it up later. If she asked what they did he might feel insulted or something. Guys liked to feel important. "So you want me to wear a company hat or a jacket or something?"
"Did you bring a contract or something I can look over?"
September 20, 2018 5:11PMHans: "I brought everything, but I feel a lot of that rather boring, plus, who has time for that now, when you got a game to win? I'd rather focus on something that would interest you personally."
Hans lays the briefcase with the CTDC logo on the table, clicks two silver locks open and the lid flies up. Inside there is in fact a shirt, in your size, with the CTDC logo, but he reaches in and takes the folded shirt out, revealing what's underneath.
Printed with CTDC logo on their backs, there are stacks of any imaginable overpowered MtG cards you have ever seen
September 20, 2018 5:11PMHans: "You're free to pick any 60 you need. Hell, can even use the same cards you're using now, as long as you're using our logo deck."
September 20, 2018 5:12PMJessica: (basically the way that works is they would be card sleeves with the logo printed on. you have to use real mtg cards in a tournament)
(sleeve quality is a status symbol sort of)
September 20, 2018 5:13PMHans: (yeah there you go)
categorized by color and name and card type, there are many thousands of dollars here
September 20, 2018 5:16PMJessica: Jessica is skeptical of the cards arrayed in front of her. "So I enter the next tournament with your cards and your gear. And you can certify these aren't proxies?" She carefully picks up an Alpha dual land and inspects it. Black border. Probably not real. Most of the Alpha cards that existed were white border reprints to please collectors, and then on top of that the whole list got put on reserve after that, meaning they'd never get printed again.
September 20, 2018 5:18PMHans: ((Whatever the proper protocol for it is, as far as you know the cards are real, if it requires such cards to be ancient, there are originals in this case, as far as you can tell))
September 20, 2018 5:19PMJessica: That was a lot of card value, but she was trying not to be dazzled by it. They weren't going to skate on actual money by offering her luxury cardboard. "What kind of money are we talking about here?"
September 20, 2018 6:41PMHans: "No proxies, nothing home cooked. But Jessica, may I call you Jess? "
Without waiting for an answer, he leans in "What kind of money is up to you. You keep what you win. The tournament profits are all yours. Jess, look, I saw you play, I saw the way you think, how fast and precise you can be. I don't just want you to play, Jess. I need you to win. You win this one, and we'll go to the Nationals, and from there, if you're good, back to the World. The details of why or how are above my paygrade. I was told to find a talent, and I'm guessing by the way you rushed back into the game after blowing it last time, that you want the grand prize, or even more so, that you're simply obsessed and want to play. Now, you've been building decks, but lack the funds to do so. My offer eliminates that problem. Question is, do I have the right grinder?"
September 20, 2018 6:57PMJessica: (sense8 is the best)
September 20, 2018 6:58PMKurt Kerner (GM): (I watched that shit and was like omg, Wolfgang is literally Kurtis, to a T)
(too bad avatars dont animate)
September 20, 2018 7:00PMJessica: (Lido is my favorite) This guy was intense. And she was hungry, so to speak. "I'm interested. So we'll get in touch after the tournament and talk contracts?" Her palms were sweating so she kept them in her lap.
(for perspective, my friend has a sponsorship with Monster and I think he's getting 4 figures to wear a shirt)
(if that helps)
(per game I think)
(I have another friend that got scholarships and went to school for free by playing magic)
September 20, 2018 7:09PMHans: "Sure thing. As for now, as you've put it before, simply sign my business card."
Hans flips his card onto its face, sliding you the back side.
September 20, 2018 7:11PMJessica: Jessica raises an eyebrow and signs it. She puts a little doodle of FBLTHP on it for good measure
September 20, 2018 7:13PMHans: Hans nods and takes the card, hiding it away into his blazer, after that he slides the case over to Jessica "Pick anything you want. Lunch is paid for. See you at the finish line."
September 20, 2018 7:14PMJessica: interlude?
this feels like a paragraph break
or scene change i guess i mean
September 20, 2018 7:15PMHans: (Does Jessica take the cards?)
September 20, 2018 7:16PMJessica: yes but unless you want me to make a deck list i'm not making a decklist
September 20, 2018 7:17PMHans: (Not necessary, as long as she's playing the tourney with them)
September 20, 2018 7:17PMJessica: sure thing
September 20, 2018 7:17PMHans: (Describe her exit from the place)
Hans happily starts on the chicken
September 20, 2018 7:19PMJessica: Jessica's phone buzzes the warning that she needs to get back. Most of the nerds are gone already, making the place feel vacated instead of just empty. Napkins still haven't been cleared, chairs are still disarrayed. The girl serving at the counter isn't in a rush. (does she keep the case or just the stuff in it?)
September 20, 2018 7:24PMHans: (She can either take the whole thing if she doesn't think it too conspicuous, or use her hyper eidetic pro-ness and sift through them in a minute and get the 60 she believes unbeatable)
September 20, 2018 7:24PMJessica: (whole thing if he lets her)
September 20, 2018 7:24PMHans: (He does)
September 20, 2018 7:26PMJessica: She tries to look normal hefting a purse under one arm and a case in the other hand. She's white-knuckled as she enters the convention center again. Her badge is checked and she goes to look at the postings for the next round (I'm sure at these places they look at your deck and stuff to make sure your cards are real but since i'm not familiar with the process of pro tier games I'mma skip that)
September 20, 2018 7:28PMHans: The inspection goes flawlessly and if anything, they are impressed with how rare some of these cards are. They all check out as valid and real, and she is getting looks she's not gotten before. Those of true nerd respect, the god tier kind of look September 20, 2018 7:28PMJessica: lol
September 20, 2018 7:29PMHans: Back in the diner, now completely empty, Hans finishes his lunch with a smile
"She's right, they really could use some more garlic in this."
With nobody to see it, Hans' eyes flash a dim orange for but a second.
September 20, 2018 7:30PMHans: Chapter 31: Jessica Murphy
September 20, 2018 7:30PMJessica: oh god
Chapter 31: Jessica Murphy
September 20, 2018 7:30PMJessica: oh god September 20, 2018 7:31PMHans: feel free to get pop corn, i'll be back a bit later. we can continue either tonight or tomorrow
September 20, 2018 7:32PMJessica: kk
sgdfdgf
rolling 1d10>8!
= 1 Success
i am amazing
September 20, 2018 11:22PMKurt Kerner (GM): Thank you. And please make three rolls:
Wits + Dexterity
Intelligence + Composure
Resolve + Manipulation
September 20, 2018 11:23PMJessica: rolling 4d10>8!
= 2 Successes
rolling 6d10>8!
= 2 Successes
rolling 5d10>8!
= 1 Success
I mean not awful
September 20, 2018 11:25PMKurt Kerner (GM): And now Dex +Composure
Resolve + Composure
And Wits + Composure
September 20, 2018 11:25PMJessica: rolling 5d10>8!
= 5 Successes
September 20, 2018 11:25PMKurt Kerner (GM): for not shaking hands, keeping a poker face, and perception
wow very steady hands, this is a perfectly smooth narrative
September 20, 2018 11:25PMJessica: rolling 6d10>8!
= 3 Successes
September 20, 2018 11:26PMKurt Kerner (GM): the dice favor you in this game
September 20, 2018 11:26PMJessica: rolling 7d10>8!
= 1 Success
September 20, 2018 11:26PMKurt Kerner (GM): this is like Kurtis and his cocaine
September 20, 2018 11:26PMJessica: lol wut
September 20, 2018 11:26PMKurt Kerner (GM): as soon as i roleplay Kurtis sniffinf cocaine, my dice go crazy good
September 20, 2018 11:26PMJessica: that's hilarious
September 20, 2018 11:27PMKurt Kerner (GM): and your character's dice just totally supported your character
September 20, 2018 11:27PMJessica: it's fate
September 20, 2018 11:27PMKurt Kerner (GM): she is very careful not to overdraft again
so her fingers are on point
she's doing okay with the poker face
and she's still being herself in terms of not really noticing stuff around her
----------------- so
The tournament continues.
September 20, 2018 11:32PMKurt Kerner (GM): Does Jessica use the new cards or stick to her deck?
Where does she keep the briefcase with the rest of them while she plays?
September 20, 2018 11:32PMJessica: (not sure if you can change your cards mid-tournament)
(she'd switch for alpha dual lands though, also she keeps it between her feet under her seat)
(like touching her ankles)
September 20, 2018 11:33PMKurt Kerner (GM): (In this one you could, and they all checked out)
September 20, 2018 11:33PMJessica: (works for me. Moxes and Dual lands, go!)
September 20, 2018 11:41PMKurt Kerner (GM): At the tournament, you cream everyone. The hardest things you encountered were the classic unicolor white and a few red/white artifact/vehicle combinations, a few blue based deck burners, and a betrayal/sacrifice red black. A few known deck copycats, the black red Hon's aggro, and Courson's five-color humans. There were a few close calls, which would definitely give you trouble with the old deck, because you weren't the only black lotus by any means, and there were a few of the elite local nerds who you could consider wealthy in terms of OP cards and synergy combos they had, but the newly found power of Hans' briefcase combined with your instincts for the game - tore through everyone like through butter. The final round, however... was something extraordinary. It's another girl. A chinese girl, Aiping Chen, even smaller than Jessica, and that little thing was packing anger. She was very intense, and she went with the grand prix hong kong, incomplete. Had the Eldrazi Ulamog, Urza's Towers, power plants, sanctum of Ugin, world breaker, Karn Liberated... she was missing a few cards to be fully optimal, but there was easily a good chance that luck alone be on her side. However, miraculously, it wasn't. You started with no less than 4 lands and the Lotus in hand, and things just fell into place, twice in a row.
Long story short, you won the local tournament
September 20, 2018 11:42PMJessica: Whoo!
September 20, 2018 11:47PMKurt Kerner (GM): The local prize was modest, 600 USD equivalent, in german deutschmarks, but it means a good bit more. The way this particular tournament was organized, you've won a placement in a bigger one in Berlin, and if you won that, you'd go to the Germany Nationals, and from there the next shot at World Tournament was open again. A bit of a road, as the rules became stricter, but so did increase the prize. This year, it was 150 000 USD September 20, 2018 11:48PMJessica: noice
September 20, 2018 11:48PMKurt Kerner (GM): So, a small but significant victory here in Leipzig, and surely a cause for celebration. Your phone is blowing up with congrats from friends and invitations to go out September 20, 2018 11:49PMJessica: Gotta answer university friend first
Totes text her with the news
September 20, 2018 11:50PMKurt Kerner (GM): Heike texted you several more times throughout the evening. It's around 11 PM by the time it was all done. September 20, 2018 11:50PMHeike: : "Jess! How did it go!"
: "OMG You're AMAZING!!!111"
"So hype! What now?! Berlin? Want to meet up?"
September 20, 2018 11:51PMJessica: "Let's go eat something expensive. I'll buy."
September 20, 2018 11:53PMKurt Kerner (GM): Behind your back some agitated crowd of salty nerds that you're trying to ignore to focus on texts. A rather violent "tap" on the shoulder it almost turns you around September 20, 2018 11:56PMJessica: Someone
touching me immediately makes me fucking mad. Phone goes into pocket without "bye" or hanging up to avoid dropping it while I make sure I have a good grip on the briefcase. I turn around to look at the douchepickle who's pushing me.
September 20, 2018 11:56PMAiping: She is pissed. This little thing, menacingly grins at you "This was mine to win, fuck you! I'm going to Hamburg, and I'm gonna take Munich, and I'll make up the points, so I'll fucking see you Berlin."
" -'Jessica'- or whatever your fucking name is. I will see you in Berlin."
flips you off
"Fucking bitch. You fucking bitch."
"I'll see you. In Berlin. Don't even bother showing up in Hamburg next week."
September 20, 2018 11:59PMAiping: very animated, very talkative, flammable. you'd have to talk over her to get a word in September 21, 2018 12:01AMJessica: Girls are even worse to run into at these things than guys. Sure, a guy might stare at you menacingly for a second, but the white knights would rush in sooner or later. None of these kissless virgins would ever interfere with two girls fighting. It wasn't worth it though. Jessica had a rather expensive briefcase and people to see. She wasn't about to set the case down and do something as dramatic as fight someone.
"Okay, well bye." She let the Asian girl talk over her and walked away without taking her attention off her (like, listening for her to stomp after her or something, stupid pissy bitch)
September 21, 2018 12:04AMAiping: She is exactly the predictable type. She stomps, stomps again, yells a few more profanities, holds a finger up in the air, puts the other hand into her hip, and just holds the middle finger there the whole time, then walks away towards the losers, still looking at you, finger up, then turning her head away from you, but finger still up in your direction
"Fuckin biiitch. I'll see you. In Berlin. You're gonna suck my cock in Munich. Don't even show up to Munich. I'll see you in Munich. If you're not a pussy. Bitch."
eventually you leave her behind
September 21, 2018 12:04AMJessica: Aiping sucks
September 21, 2018 12:05AMAiping: She went back to laughing with the nerds in like 10 minutes. Easily flammable, easily calmed. Still salty though September 21, 2018 12:05AMKurt Kerner (GM): Where's Jessica headed?
September 21, 2018 12:06AMJessica: Leaving for the parking garage
Her parents don't trust public transport and they have money so she has a car. I believe Germany is one of the countries with a transferrable license to the us as ell
September 21, 2018 12:06AMKurt Kerner (GM): You get to your car uneventfully, what kind of car is it?
Germany is, and even if it wasn't, it's not a big deal to get a german driver's license, and even if it was, Jess's dad being military, would have had it handled for her.
September 21, 2018 12:07AMJessica: volkswagen of some kind
it's the most common car in germany
September 21, 2018 12:08AMKurt Kerner (GM): A jetta?
September 21, 2018 12:08AMJessica: sure
September 21, 2018 12:08AMKurt Kerner (GM): ((Last time I been to Berlin, they got a bit better about integrating japanese and american cars, but yeah predominantly german brands, unless they're luxury cars))
September 21, 2018 12:08AMJessica: we'll say red. her parents are the type to want her to get pulled over if she's speeding
american cars are considered safer in europe, for good reason 'cause our standards are higher, but they can also be considered rude cause they're not fuel efficient (safety features are bulky)
like how we hate hummers here
September 21, 2018 12:10AMHans: Next to your Jetta, just behind it, a black BMW is parked. Hans is leaning on it, smiles to you, and claps his hands gently and slowly. "Well. Done. Jess." - he punctuates with each clap, tactfully, without pompousness, in that silky baritone
September 21, 2018 12:12AMJessica: "Hi." Jessica hides her surprise behind a smile. She fishes her keys out of her car and puts the briefcase in the passenger seat, almost in a protective sort of way, like Hans might change his mind on their deal or something, and closes it in her car before walking over to him like she was just setting it down cause it was in the way
"Thank you. That Bayou was perfect on turn 4."
September 21, 2018 12:15AMHans: "Security. I respect that. And your mind on the money."
He nods to her thank you.
"You're the professional. We've but put the tools into the right hands. So, now that we're partners, you can also wear the T-shirt. And give me your number, you'll be hearing from me. Assuming you want to go back to the World Championship and take the grand prize, of course."
September 21, 2018 12:17AMJessica: "Oh yeah, definitely." She took his business card out of her pocket and texted "boop" to him. "That's my number."
"Man that Aiping girl was salty. Gonna have to get a security guard or something." She laughed in that conversational-but-not-belly-laugh kind of way
September 21, 2018 12:19AMHans: A phone vibrates in Hans' pocket, and he smiles without taking it out. He smiles at her comment about Aiping
"I'm sorry, didn't get to watch how it ended. Aiping's dangerous, but she doesn't have what it takes. I'm glad I bet on the right horse. You're a slayer. And when you want to make an omelette, you've got to break some eggs, as you Americans say. A few disappointed salty eggs in your case."
He becomes a bit serious
"How you manage your opponents is your business. I only care about you winning. As for the briefcase, it's yours to keep for life."
September 21, 2018 12:23AMJessica: "It was an extremely generous gift. Thank you."
September 21, 2018 12:24AMHans: Hans winks and gets into his car. Just before he closes the door, he adds
"It's an investment, Jessica. We want the company represented across Germany and the world. So we're going to make a name for you as often as possible. Clear your schedule for next week. I'll see you in Hamburg."
September 21, 2018 12:24AMJessica: Jessica waves bye as he drives off and gets in her own car
September 21, 2018 12:25AMKurt Kerner (GM): The rest of the night is yours to party or do whatever. Nothing unusual happens, as far as you know. What is Jess doing?
September 21, 2018 12:26AMJessica: Jessica goes to a restaurant with her friends and orders two bottles of stupid expensive wine. She probably blows at least half her winnings.
She comes home and fucking crashes. Her dad would be asleep already and mom doesn't care so long as the grades are good.
(like not just wine but that's probably the most expensive item)
I think she'd have her friend be the designated driver
and like, probably spend the ngiht or something
i figure a close friend probably knows to ignore her dad
September 21, 2018 12:30AMJessica: zzzzzzzz
but the briefcase gets left at home before she goes out. she changes into something nice. falls asleep in it when she gets home
so she's got like, makeup on her pillow and stuff when she wakes up
bad headache
etc
(i'm headed to bed here myself, i'm falling asleep. if you have stuff to add i'll read in the am)
September 21, 2018 12:35AMKurt Kerner (GM): ((good night! :D))
September 21, 2018 2:17PMJessica: dkfflskdfnlskdnf
September 21, 2018 2:31PMKurt Kerner (GM): Jessica wakes up with a terrible headache and not much better breath, Heike is still sleeping almost on top of her, leg thrown over, her hair is a mess. Hope it's not school day. September 21, 2018 2:39PMJessica: Jessica half rolls over and fumbles in the side table for an aspirin. She almost has the lid off before she remembers that she needs water.
Ugh. With heroic effort, she pushes Heike's leg off and slowly rolls out of bed. Her head is throbbing. She shuffles her feet in the carpet as she trudges to the kitchen and the sink. One of the glasses clinks way too sharply as she takes it out of the cabinet. It's not even very bright in here but it hurts her eyes. She gets her water and takes her pill.
It is indeed not a school day. Mtg tournaments are usually on Fridays.
September 21, 2018 2:48PMKurt Kerner (GM): *Whenever she gets to her phone next, there is a reminder that yesterday was not a dream. A text from Hans, telling her about next friday's tournament in Hamburg, and her entry is already paid for and arranged. Her badge and tickets are attached ready for printing.
Also, there's the briefcase, still there.*
September 21, 2018 2:56PMJessica: She turns the phone to nightviewing mod to kill the brightness and smirks to herself despite her headache. Later she would be checking the web for information on who was attending so she could construct a deck accordingly. Right now it was time for breakfast. A banana to start. She also put some waffles in the toaster.
Wizard decks were popular right now. Maybe she ought to give her new Jace a try. Red decks were capping at 2 mana a lot this year, maybe she needed to speed things up...
Thoughts of cards and strategies inevitably started cycling through her thoughts as she ate her banana, staring at notes on the fridge without really reading them. Just stuff like grocery lists and reminders.
September 21, 2018 2:56PMJessica: The waffles popped up and she got herself a plate and put the next two in for Heike
September 21, 2018 2:59PMDad: Father is in the kitchen. Awkward breakfast. Mom is there too. He looks at you and shakes his head
"This is your idea of a career, Jessie?"
September 21, 2018 3:00PMHeike: Heike shrinks September 21, 2018 3:01PMJessica: Jessica sticks her tongue out. "I won. Six hundred. And I got a sponsorship. So yeah, maybe." Cocky.
September 21, 2018 3:03PMDad: "Six hundred."
he pinches his nose, not even wanting to do this anymore, he sighs. All the time and money she spends on these stupid card games "You're 20 years old, Jessie. Not 12."
September 21, 2018 3:04PMJessica: "It's not like I dropped out of school!" She's making her own headache worse
September 21, 2018 3:05PMMom: "Oh,lLeave her be, Ed." - Mother walks into the kitchen space, changing its atmosphere to hospitable. "Good morning, Heike, would you like some tea? You girls want some tea?"
September 21, 2018 3:05PMJessica: "Honey and lemon please."
September 21, 2018 3:06PMHeike: "Thank you, Mrs. Murphy, same, please."
September 21, 2018 3:07PMMom: "Just Denise, dear. So, six hundred dollars, huh? And how much of it survived the celebration?"
September 21, 2018 3:08PMJessica: (ugh, moms)
"I mean, the sponsorship is the real money. And I got new cards. Mom, they spent thousands on these cards. And they're legit. At least near-mint on all of them. It's crazy." She remembers the business card. "These guys."
She pulls it from her wallet
September 21, 2018 3:11PMMom: Mom is making you girls tea with lemon and honey, obligating you to sit down next to Dad, who wants none of it and gets up to leave. Heike sits. Dad intercepts Mom as Jessica pulls the card. September 21, 2018 3:11PMDad: "Let me see."
September 21, 2018 3:12PMJessica: She doesn't stop him
September 21, 2018 3:16PMDad: "Huh, odd. I heard of them. Orbital logistics resource data or something like that. I thought they were tied to space programs. Anyway, since you got the rich winnings, make yourself useful and buy some groceries. Start helping out. And don't drink so much. You're 20, it's not good for you. Eat breakfast instead of chugging aspirin. You'll mess up your heart. Already barely standing."
He drops the card dismissively back on the table, and walks out towards the garage September 21, 2018 3:18PMJessica: Most of this goes in one ear and out the other.
Space programs... September 21, 2018 3:18PMMom: Mother serves you two tea and talks you into proper breakfast, with eggs and bacon "You should listen, you know" - she says kindly
"Dad really loves you, he just wants to make sure you're okay and don't fall in with the wrong crowd."
September 21, 2018 3:20PMJessica: "I am eating breakfast. Also Heike is not the wrong crowd." She rolls her eyes. "I'm still following the program. I'm going to school. I'm making good grades. I just have the cards on the side."
She fishes her phone back out and types the name of the company into the search bar. Her dad had to be crazy
September 21, 2018 3:20PMMom: "I know, sweetie." She kisses you on the head. "I know. Anyways, I'll leave you to it."
September 21, 2018 3:24PMKurt Kerner (GM): You spend considerable amount of time, as much as you want, researching CDTC, and the internet runs you in circles. Yes, they have a website, and not one, there are countless affiliates, and nowhere does it say specifically exactly with precision what the hell they do. Investment? Solutions? Every website is some kind of link or self reference or affiliation. Providing integrated synergy solutions for data flow and workforce optimization. Leveraging corporate paradigm to elevate productivity, safety, and communication. Providing data analysis for industrial modernization and independent efficiency consulting.... it's jargon, jargon, jargon. Looks like they're either shipping or accounting or maybe IT?*
September 21, 2018 3:26PMJessica: "This is really weird. Their whole website is like a Vaguebook post." She shows Heike the phone. "workforce optimization. What the hell does that even mean?"
September 21, 2018 3:28PMKurt Kerner (GM): Heike wonders about it for like 2 seconds "Oh, you know, probably some bureaucrats. You know, consulting, powerpoint and spreadsheets. People who make money on stupid people doing nothing. My brother talked about this one project manager at work, who was literally useless, just sat and wrote notes all day long, but the company hired him anyway because he came attached with two programmers who actually did the work. Anyway, who cares, let's go get your mom some groceries, so your dad chills out."
September 21, 2018 3:31PMJessica: "Alright." She grabs her mom's in-progress grocery list and checks her phone again for the weather. "I'm gonna grab us umbrellas just in case." The closet also has canvas bags, since many grocery stores in Europe don't offer plastic.
September 21, 2018 3:32PMKurt Kerner (GM): Okay, so you do the good daughter and get your mom groceries from your win. Great.
Fast forward to next thursday. If you wanna do something before that, write it here.
September 21, 2018 3:32PMJessica: nah
thursday!!!!
September 21, 2018 3:35PMKurt Kerner (GM): Thursday morning Hans texts you to meet him at a corner of X-bermner and Z-strasse, so you two can take the train together. No need to drive your own car.
It's 5 and a half hours by train from Leipzig to Hamburg, and he's got a hotel reserved
September 21, 2018 3:38PMJessica: Jessica triple checks everything is in her briefcase, including stuff like emergency tampons, and heads out. She's wearing something nice so she doesn't look stupidly out of place carrying the case. She won't don the mascot attire until later. Her makeup is cute and the weather is supposed to be clear. When she meets Hans:
"You watching the tournament?"
September 21, 2018 3:44PMHans: Hans, in turn, isn't the same corporate slick Hans she met before. He meets her in the middle, dresses down a bit, even cut his hair. Now he looks more like:
He smiles responding without a hello to her lack of hello.
"I'm watching the competition."
September 21, 2018 3:44PMHans: He slaps hands with her and hands her a tablet with a pdf open On the tablet, there is detailed information about every participant, including the card decks they have registered. Every single card they have, and all their history of recorded plays. Full dossiers, as far as you can tell with a quick glance
"You got time to prepare, on the train, and at the hotel overnight."
September 21, 2018 3:50PMJessica: Jessica's eyes widen. "How did you get this?"
September 21, 2018 3:52PMHans: "I'm your curator, it's my job. Let's not get bogged down with boring questions. The less you ask, the more we're gonna win. Look, your favorite girl is gonna do the same thing twice. Eldrazi deck."
September 21, 2018 3:53PMKurt Kerner (GM): Sure enough, Aiping is in Hamburg as promised, and you've access to all of her Eldrazi cards. Her spare decks are listed too. September 21, 2018 3:55PMJessica: This level of micromanaging was not something she expected but then again so far it was just interesting all the tricks he had up his sleeve. "That kind of makes me want to make a Squirrel Token deck." She wouldn't, obviously, but who didn't like killing Ulamog with 15 tree rats?
"I'm thinking blue/black Control."
September 21, 2018 3:58PMHans: "You're the slayer, that's your business, I don't need to know."
Presuming your nose is in the tablet, he wraps his arm around you and all but leads you by the hand to the bus stop, then to the train station, hands your tickets and you guys board the train. He orders food and whatever alcohol or beverage you want, and leaves the coupe, unless you stop him for any reason.
He'll converse with you of course, if you bother to look away from the intel you now possess
September 21, 2018 4:00PMJessica: No. People touching without asking is king of a
thing, so she definitely lets him leave.
study study study *kind of
September 21, 2018 4:01PMHans: Oh, funny thing. The moment you first think it, that discomfort about touching, he stops doing it, and it just doesn't come up anymore. Like he sensed you tensing, and just leads you non-physically from that moment on. In general he tries to not be in your way. September 21, 2018 4:02PMJessica: He's a half-chameleon half-dragon
She'll be polite and thank him and stuff and get down to business. She takes out a notebook and a recuring theme is bell-curve sketches and numbers all over the pare
page
Instead of names labelling the drawings it'll be names of concepts or cards
Pretty abstract without an explicit explanation
"turn 3" "turn 4 combo" and stuff like that. The word combo is always circled or underlined. You know what, I think a stacks deck will actually work better
September 21, 2018 4:06PMHans: 6 hours flew by like they're nothing.
Hans appears into your field of vision entering the coupe and pointing out that it's evening, and Hamburg is outside the train's window, and we should get some dinner and get to our hotel.
September 21, 2018 4:08PMJessica: (what's Hans' last name again?)
September 21, 2018 4:08PMHans: Hans Ehnske
Cube Transport and Data Corps - Arts, Entertainment, & Digital Logistics Senior Executive Assistant
Eidetic memory serves you well
September 21, 2018 4:10PMJessica: (coral doesn't have eidetic memory XD)
(thanks)
September 21, 2018 4:10PMHans: (If Jessica didnt, you'd have to go look it up in the log :D ))
September 21, 2018 4:11PMJessica: "Um, Mr. Ehnske, I guess I'm wondering why you're coming along. I'm not like, complaining or anything. I've just never heard of sponsors tagging along in person I guess."
September 21, 2018 4:16PMHans: "I have other business in Hamburg, in fact, I won't see you til tomorrow. You want to go alone?"
September 21, 2018 4:19PMJessica: "I mean, it's fine. I don't want to be rude, I was just wondering." She tucks her hair behind her ear. "I was also curious about why your company wanted to advertise at a card game." It didn't seem like the type of company that did anything for nerds besides maybe hire them.
September 21, 2018 4:24PMHans: "Oh they advertise everywhere. Social events, Sports, E-sports, people with disabilities events, charity rallies. Though it's not really my division, can't comment. Just a guy doing my job, Jess. Don't knock the nerds though, you know how much money last year's Riot Games LoL tourney slung? 5 million. DoTA2 - 18 million. Young people are a resource. At least that's what
I understand."
September 21, 2018 4:25PMJessica: She blinked. "Yeah, that's a lot. That's cool. I was just curious."
September 21, 2018 4:26PMHans: *Hans will not be offended if you choose to eat dinner alone. He'll just give you a gps link to your hotel, you're staying at Meridian a few blocks from the MtG event, lots of places to eat nearby, and the reservation is in your name.
September 21, 2018 4:26PMJessica: Alone then. He seems a touch sort of clingy.
She'll be polite about saying bye though
September 21, 2018 4:27PMHans: And he immediately stops being clingy and curtly nods bye. His demeanor changes. You eat and prepare for tomorrow.
Do you sleep at all this night?
September 21, 2018 4:29PMJessica: Dinner will be someplace that serves strong tea or coffee that has booths so she can kind of tuck herself away and study. She's sort of amazed at the amount of information they have.
They must have been collecting this a while before they picked me. She checks to see what kind of information they have on her, trying to suss out what made them choose her over someone like, say, Michael Malone.
September 21, 2018 4:30PMKurt Kerner (GM): The tablet does not have anything on her, or on anyone who isn't going to be at the tourney tomorrow.
September 21, 2018 4:32PMJessica: Jessica decides on a stacks deck, which is a bit like solitaire in that it doesn't care much about the other decks at the table. It's like playing solitaire where you play out your deck until you hit your win condition. (Coral doesn't know how to make one though so that's as far as I can describe it)
Jessica goes to sleep rather late, which isn't a problem because the tournament isn't until the evening and that means she isn't going to be tired in the later rounds
Thinking like 4:30 in the morning
September 21, 2018 4:35PMKurt Kerner (GM): (Yeah i seen decks like that, like artifact automated production. They do okay with good synergy, but if they're not perfect, a good damage deck wrecks them. With the briefcase's power though, you can design a deadly deck that does exactly what you want, Konrad doesnt know the exacts either)
Faaaaaast forward to the next day, you get your obligatory spam of friends messages, i.e. those who know. "Good luck in Hamburg" etc. etc. Some group school project partner is bitching that you're gonna be gone so she's gonna have to do the project herself, even though you already handed her your part, anyways.
An hour before the event, the hype is back at the doors outside the pavilion
That galvanized tense nerd atmosphere. Normies don't understand. This is the pound house, this is the wolf den, the hornet nest.
There is a line for the audience, and security line for the participants
September 21, 2018 4:39PMJessica: Huge tvs that show the tabletops, like at a poker tournament
Since you can't actually see anything that size from far away
So Jessica checks in and at this point is wearing her cube shirt. Her new cards are double-sleeved to protect them from humidity and from grubby hands since opponents cut the deck.
September 21, 2018 4:41PMHans: While you're still outside, Hans appears out of nowhere and runs up to you, catching you just before you go in.
"Hey, Jess. Quick update."
September 21, 2018 4:41PMJessica: "Sure."
"Everything okay?
September 21, 2018 4:46PMHans: "No drop outs, but changes to final registrations. Malcolm changed to Red Green Mid Range, Klaus swapped to Grand Prix Richmond, and Aiping's going with more Eldrazi. Don't know details, but it's all in here."
He sends a file to your phone. if the tablet is with you, the file will be updated too. The kind of information turn around this displays speaks not just about how long this was being collected, but that it's being somehow collected on the fly
"Anyways, gotta go. See you in Munich."
September 21, 2018 4:48PMJessica: Blinks. Questions bounce around Jessica's head about whether these things might be partially rigged or something. That was just nuts. She goes in side somewhat stunned.
September 21, 2018 4:49PMAiping: Right in front of you "Look at that! American Bitch! I told you I'll see you here. You think you get lucky twice, Jessica? You think you gonna get lucky twice?"
September 21, 2018 4:50PMJessica: "I feel like you think I'm a big deal and I feel like I think you're not. Can we just play and we'll see who wins?"
"I'm not really into Yugioh rivalries"
September 21, 2018 4:52PMAiping: It actually gets through to her, maybe for a second or two. Maybe. It's just... this passion is so ingrained in her personality, she's an antagonizer. But you actually talking back to her, made her nod at you with a bit of respect.
pointing at you and silently mouthing
"I'll see you in the final round, America"
September 21, 2018 4:53PMJessica: "Later, Kiba." Jessica goes to mind her own business.
September 21, 2018 4:54PMAiping: Please:
Wits + Composure
Dex + Composure
Intelligence + Resolve
Intelligence + Composure
September 21, 2018 4:54PMAiping: Resolve + Composure
Wits + Manipulation
September 21, 2018 4:55PMJessica: rolling 7d10>8!
= 1 Success
rolling 5d10>8!
= 2 Successes
rolling 4d10>8!
= 1 Success
rolling 6d10>8!
= 2 Successes
rolling 6d10>8!
= 1 Success
rolling 6d10>8!
= 3 Successes
September 21, 2018 4:56PMJessica: yass gurl
September 21, 2018 4:58PMKurt Kerner (GM): Nobody expected it. Your plan with the stacks deck worked. You beat everyone flat.
You have not lost a single round. It was 2-0.
The cards, they worked simply perfectly. The way you designed it. Just hard enough to give you that tingle and the sweaty palms, but just satisfyingly close, that lands accumulated properly and you were always on point for mana, and the mechanics worked exactly like on paper.
It felt like battle. Like battle solidly won. The bones were just crunchy enough for your strategy to satisfyingly crushed. There were points where your mind went "I really need that card now", and it came. And your opponents cursed as they were just a step behind. Just a step.
September 21, 2018 5:01PMJessica: Texting Heike:
OMG that was NUTS Cards she had used were going up in price on tcgplayer this very moment. There might even an article on a website somewhere about her deck. How crazy was that?!
She even texted Hans: Get on the hype train WHOO!
September 21, 2018 5:08PMKurt Kerner (GM): Your prize from the Hamburg event was 1000 dollars. Long story short, the day was insane. You have not heard from Hans, the only reminder of him were your tickets on the train home back to Leipzig. It was your victory to enjoy. The week was crazy and all your friends were happy. Even your dad cracked a smile. Ever so briefly.
Your single text from Hans pointed to a time and place of the next tournament in Munich, which would take place in two more weeks.
Meanwhile, Heike got so excited for you that she asked if she could travel with you at her own expense, if she could get time off, just to be part of the meme team.
September 21, 2018 5:12PMJessica: Jessica liked having a fangirl. She offers to pay since she's moneybags right now. She posted a picture of a broken pinball machine on her twitter account, a reference to
tilt, which was the habit grinders usually had of making mistakes when they were flustered. She was DONE with tilt! Such a great night. She didn't even blow everything
She had a hard time focusing on studies on Monday. By Tuesday seriousness had set in again, but she was still doodling monsters in her notebooks
September 21, 2018 5:14PMKurt Kerner (GM): Our proverbial camera zoom out and pans across the busy fast forwarded city streets of various German cities surrounding Berlin. Weekdays at study, and card prep, and fridays of battle.
Over the next few months, you, Heike, and Hans have ravaged the selective tours, winning 4 more local tournaments, solidly cementing Jessica's guaranteed place at the Nationals in Berlin.
Hans became a lot less hands on. He barely pestered you, and only appeared on the day before each game to give you the data on your opponents.
He dressed down to fit in among the nerds and hipsters. Sometimes appearing like this, this, this, and even THIS
September 21, 2018 5:18PMJessica: chameleon dragon
September 21, 2018 5:18PMKurt Kerner (GM): The last time he was dyed brunette with a hipster beard.
rolling 4d10>8!
= 0 Successes
Nothing unusual otherwise, no problems.
Aiping stayed away from you, keeping a place behind you
rolling 10d10>8!
= 4 Successes
From the 4 tourneys, you have accumulated additional $3600
September 21, 2018 5:25PMKurt Kerner (GM): Needless to say, with every MtG card in your possession, your already decent mastery of the game strategy has reached your personal high. You were able to play with ideas you couldn't see before.
In 3 days, it was Berlin. The best of Germany would play now from all the various tourney clubs, to represent 3 finalists to go to World.
Family climate has changed.
Parents watched you on TV now.
Dad was still a hard ass when he saw you, just to be sure, but there was a glimpse of respect for your hardheadedness and dedication to your things, even though he didn't understand it.
September 21, 2018 5:30PMKurt Kerner (GM): It's Tuesday of the week of the Nationals. How you feeling?
September 21, 2018 5:31PMJessica: Serious and trying not to be jittery. Card studying gets a timer so I don't start overthinking. Practice playing on MTGO
Watching Tolarian Community College for pointers on Burn
September 21, 2018 5:35PMKurt Kerner (GM): ((Going for a bit. Write anything in here that you'd want to have worked on during the period of 2 months or that day, this is the final stage before your integration into the game begins. The point of no return, so to speak :) ))
September 21, 2018 5:36PMJessica: final deck is r/w aggro
i'm ready
September 21, 2018 5:39PMKurt Kerner (GM): Okie dokie. All wednesday, Heike is at your place, assisting you with packing, and checking out various things. She didn't come from any MtG background, but found it all really cool once you introduced it to her in some detail. She doesn't have the head for it and is a big noob, but enjoys hanging around you and partying. She also fends off the dozens of boys at these big city events. So there she is, laying on the floor, sorting through some shit on her pc and looking at places to go visit in Berlin once you're done.
Thursday, your Mom hugs you goodbye and wishes you luck, Dad give you a genuine smile and shakes his head.
September 21, 2018 5:41PMDad: "Go get that 20 grand, kiddo. Finally your gambling pulls some weight."
September 21, 2018 5:43PMJessica: Jessica hugs him and says "Love you too, dad."
September 21, 2018 5:46PMDad: "That goes without saying." - ... "I love you, Jessie"
September 21, 2018 5:47PMKurt Kerner (GM): And you set off. The train ride is easy, only 3 hours, but you girls will have a whole day in Berlin to relax, hang out, or in your case, prepare. You don't really hear from Hans all day, until the usual 5 PM file drop on your opponents.
September 21, 2018 5:48PMJessica: "Thank you, Hans! Wish me luck!"
September 21, 2018 5:48PMHans: "Like you need it. ;)"
September 21, 2018 5:50PMKurt Kerner (GM): And so, your stay this time is at the fancy 4.5 star Movenpick Hotel, and Heike is all kinds of excited.
September 21, 2018 6:00PMJessica: whoo!
September 23, 2018 9:58PMKurt Kerner (GM): Hi :D
September 24, 2018 9:27AMJessica: Arnold is a cuck
September 24, 2018 3:12PMKurt Kerner (GM): As usual, in advance, Hans provides you with information. A bit more detailed than usual.
Arnold is a confident, aggressive player, who will variate between red green and red blue. Prefers to deal tons of damage directly quick, and won't shy away from big creatures.
Kideo is a humorous troll, white black classic, curses and equipment, zombies and angels, centers his deck around Avacyn and Serin.
Peter is silent and reserved, he often variates his strategies, but has enrolled with black this time, necromancy and sacrificing are his preferred strategies.
September 24, 2018 3:12PMKurt Kerner (GM): Makartipan is a nerdy dweeby kid with a fast mind, he's a deck burner, running blue and white.
Aiping is sticking to Eldrazi, and you know her full well. You two actually have mostly been on okay terms since.
But here's something unusual that never happened since you started working with Hans. For once, he doesn't have any information on a player. Mladen has no dossier in Hans' file.
September 24, 2018 3:14PMJessica: Well I don't play him this round but I can talk to him after
Assuming he beat Makarti
September 24, 2018 3:14PMKurt Kerner (GM): Yeah, whoever Aiping was playing, I didn't even bother to put in, she won.
September 24, 2018 3:15PMJessica: pf
September 24, 2018 3:15PMKurt Kerner (GM): Anything before the game?
September 24, 2018 3:15PMJessica: nope
just doing laundry
and crochet
September 24, 2018 3:16PMKurt Kerner (GM): Game time, Hans is nowhere to be seen. He doesn't even approach you. Heike is with you as per usual, up until your agreed protocol. When you need her to disappear and let you focus, she does so, and mingles with fans, mostly picking good specimen among the boy nerds.
September 24, 2018 3:16PMJessica: nerd boys are best boys
September 24, 2018 3:18PMKurt Kerner (GM): In Europe more true than in US, as nerds have other hobbies more often, so the sporty types are more frequent. No couch-potato stereotype. A lot of people walk. Most guys know how to at least ride a hoverboard.
Berlin's pavilion is the biggest of the german ones you've seen by at least twice. Cameras and screens intensify, as do flags, flare, and fans. It's pretty neat, but you're used to it by now.
You play Arnold. He doesn't like you from the start. He has to put in effort not to be rude, and just keeps that face of superiority.
September 24, 2018 3:23PMArnold: shakes your hand, laughing at you as he does, and you guys begin. He's going with green red. World Breaker, Chandra, Atarka, Sylvan, Endless One, Kosilek's return, these are all in Arnold's arsenal. You guys begin, he goes first this round
Rolls:
Wits + Composure to remain perceptive to his strategy
Dex + Composure to not fumble your fingers
Intelligence + Resolve to keep your head on the tactical task
September 24, 2018 3:25PMArnold: Wits + Manipulation to keep a good bluff and misdirection
And Resolve + Composure to remain calm and not get psyched out by his own pressure
September 24, 2018 3:26PMJessica: rolling 7d10>8!
= 2 Successes
rolling 5d10>8!
= 2 Successes
rolling 4d10>8!
= 0 Successes
rolling 6d10>8!
= 2 Successes
rolling 6d10>8!
= 1 Success
whew, fuck
September 24, 2018 3:27PMArnold: Now Arnold rolls.
September 24, 2018 3:28PMJessica: Arnold kills himself for being an ass
September 24, 2018 3:28PMArnold: rolling 5d10>8!
= 4 Successes
rolling 4d10>8!
= 1 Success
rolling 5d10>8!
= 2 Successes
rolling 3d10>8!
= 2 Successes
rolling 4d10>8!
= 2 Successes
September 24, 2018 3:30PMJessica: omg
September 24, 2018 3:31PMArnold: You remain reasonably calm, you notice him slip a bit on picking up a card, and take advantage of it, you don't fumble, and his pressuring attitude doesn't really get to you. But he doesn't buy your bluff, and you just can't get a head around right away to how to formulate and apply a winning tactics. It's really close, but he takes the first round.
His land generation is fluid, and he slams down Atarka and World Breaker just in time and just a step before you can unroll. A step ahead of each planned manuever.
He doesn't bother with either insults or comments. Just goes "Pfheh!" It's somehow more insulting, because he's sipping soda out of a giant cup, and it makes it more annoying. SLLUUURRRRP.
September 24, 2018 3:34PMJessica: what a douchecanoe
September 24, 2018 3:34PMArnold: Round 2
Same rolls. You go first this time.
Wits + Comp
Dex + Comp
Int + Res
Wits + Man
September 24, 2018 3:35PMArnold: Res + Comp
September 24, 2018 3:36PMJessica: rolling 7d10>8!
= 1 Success
rolling 5d10>8!
= 2 Successes
rolling 4d10>8!
= 1 Success
rolling 6d10>8!
= 4 Successes
rolling 6d10>8!
= 1 Success
September 24, 2018 3:37PMArnold: And Arnold
rolling 5d10>8!
= 2 Successes
rolling 4d10>8!
= 0 Successes
rolling 5d10>8!
= 2 Successes
rolling 3d10>8!
= 0 Successes
rolling 4d10>8!
= 0 Successes
September 24, 2018 3:40PMArnold: He's as perceptive and intelligent with his deck as he was, but luck is more even now, and you've grown accustomed to his pressure and his style, you don't let it phase you. Finally, when he drops a card from his hand, and is forced to play it, it in turn unnerves him, and your calm tips over. He starts getting nervous, snorting and breathing heavily, getting red, drinking, scratching, sweating, and all in vain. You pretty much have it in a bag this round.
Final around. He goes first.
Same rolls.
September 24, 2018 3:42PMJessica: Wits + Comp
Dex + Comp
Int + Res
Wits + Man
Res + Comp
rolling 7d10>8!
= 2 Successes
September 24, 2018 3:43PMJessica: rolling 5d10>8!
= 0 Successes
rolling 4d10>8!
= 0 Successes
rolling 6d10>8!
= 8 Successes
holy shit
rolling 6d10>8!
= 1 Success
September 24, 2018 3:46PMArnold: Arnold:
rolling 5d10>8!
= 3 Successes
rolling 4d10>8!
= 1 Success
rolling 5d10>8!
= 1 Success
rolling 3d10>8!
= 4 Successes
rolling 4d10>8!
= 2 Successes
September 24, 2018 3:47PMArnold: Aaaaaaaand
September 24, 2018 3:48PMHans: rolling 12d10>8!
= 2 Successes
rolling 8d10>8!
= 3 Successes
September 24, 2018 3:48PMJessica: am i missing a roll or is he rolling another thing?
September 24, 2018 3:49PMKurt Kerner (GM): ((Don't you worry :) ))
September 24, 2018 3:49PMJessica: k
September 24, 2018 3:56PMKurt Kerner (GM): This round is truly tough, it begins with both players on the nerve, Arnold puts his best composure effort in, and is really trying to egg you on, within his own style.
He mutters under his breath "Americans".
Something about playing him is just exhausting your mental capacity, something appalling and gross, and after all these months.... your fingers slip and you do it. You realize you did it, half a second after it happened. You overdrew. Again. A blink of an eye too late, you realized it. Your peripheral vision saw a clear 8 card profile of your hand.... and then suddenly, you didn't.
Wait no, you were sure you overdrew, but there are seven cards in your hand and everything is fine. The fuck?
Arnold didn't see it, nobody did. Could you have been mistaken? Okay.... Moving on...
You do your very best at a misdirection gambit, having him blow his big damage on a decoy card, delivering your true intended combination. And just before he recovers and gets within but one spell away from checking you out, he has the absolute worst luck, drawing nothing but lands, while you get a perfect shot.
September 24, 2018 3:57PMJessica: ker chow!
September 24, 2018 3:59PMArnold: Now he lets himself go "God damnit!!!!" He curses profusely in german, slamming the table with his puffy fists.
Then he takes many breaths to calm down, too many to be polite. Stands up. Calmly, bows his head, ungenuinely, and shakes your hand. Ungenuinely.
"Good game." he says. Ungenuinely.
September 24, 2018 4:00PMJessica: "Good game." Jessica has seen too many tantrums to care. She looks at the clock for how much time lefti nthe round
September 24, 2018 4:06PMArnold: You got just under 10 minutes, and then there will be a 20 minute break for the next opponent.
"Congratulations." - Arnold responds, and bitterly takes his massive drink.
Kideo loses to Peter and starts frantically yelling in japanese on the phone
September 24, 2018 4:10PMKideo: He gets surrounded by his fanclub and yelling ensues in the japanese corner of the place. September 24, 2018 4:11PMPeter: Peter looks intense, like he's trying to keep his zen, having endured similar bullshit you have, playing an intense high energy emotional player. He's just trying to shake it off and focus, it seems, though something appears to bug him. He gives you a sideways look, watches you for a while, then shifts his eyes to Mladen.
September 24, 2018 4:13PMMladen: Looks at Peter, and then at you, with the same look he is having on the avatar, that intense analysis. He lights a cigarette, having bested the indian kid September 24, 2018 4:13PMMakartipan: Makartipan straight up cries and disappears through the doors. Was anyone even with him here? September 24, 2018 4:14PMAiping: Aiping decides to antagonize Mladen next, since she's never played him, and it's time to pick on him and see what he's made of. She's being challenging and trying to psyche him out. September 24, 2018 4:14PMKurt Kerner (GM): How you feeling?
September 24, 2018 4:15PMJessica: hungry. it's tradition to eat after first round
I watch the exchange between Aiping and Mladen and then see if she wants to eat with me and Heike real quick
September 24, 2018 4:15PMKurt Kerner (GM): Heike is there for you, unless you want to join some of the players September 24, 2018 4:16PMAiping: You tune in on the interaction "Oh heeey big man. Big man, cool, cigarette smoking, huh? What's your name? Mladen? Mladen from Cro-a-ti-a! How your game go? Beat the little kid. Boo hoo, little kid, little indian kid, boo hoo. I'm gonna make you go boo hoo next."
September 24, 2018 4:19PMMladen: Mladen ignores her at first, then simply turns, arches an eyebrow, says something quietly to her, and exhales smoke into her face. September 24, 2018 4:21PMAiping: Aiping coughs, flips Mladen off, turns, makes a few steps in your direction, spots you, and grins
"Whaaaazzup America Jessicaaa? You beat the Wiener-schnitzel boy? Ate him up, nom nom? Ate him up? I ate my bitch too. It's you and I baby, to the finals, you little biiiiitch"
But this time she says that last part playfully, without mean spirit. And she doesn't hit you.
"Ya ya, let's go eat! I get hungry after killing! And before killing I'm hungry! I'm always hungry!"
September 24, 2018 4:22PMJessica: "You know a good place? I don't know the area."
September 24, 2018 4:22PMHeike: already has a plan of attack, a nice restaurant that can seat us Heike did all kinds of research before you guys left for Berlin, and she'll take you both there
September 24, 2018 4:24PMJessica: sweet
September 24, 2018 4:27PMKurt Kerner (GM): Lots of places in the immediate downtown area are catering to many events like this. Getting food out quick is their key. The place is very near, within the Hotel - Pavilion block on Ahnhalter Bahnhof. It's clean and well decorated inside, moderately lit. You guys get a decent menu. Whatever kind of cuisine you prefer it to be.
September 24, 2018 4:28PMJessica: french, strong coffee
September 24, 2018 4:29PMHeike: "So I met this guy, right? Comes up to me, like, hey where are you from? And I was like, Germany? Oh, yes, coffee for me too please. So yeah, he's like, you look sort of foreign. Like, what is it supposed to be a pick up line? Real pantie dropper, lol"
September 24, 2018 4:29PMAiping: "Green tea!"
September 24, 2018 4:32PMJessica: Jessica orders a croque madam
September 24, 2018 4:36PMAiping: "Aaaaaay, guys are idiots! I tell you, idiots! Dude, idiots at magic, idiots at life. I spin a tripple oblivion stone, slam down relic of progenitus, and worldbreaker and boom, he starts talking shit. Thinks he's gonna pull arts on me! Later on comes up be like all... oh, I waaaant kasespatzle! (egg pasta)
She keeps rambling on hyperly about MtG shit Heike barely understands, unless you're gonna bring up something else
September 24, 2018 4:39PMJessica: I make mention that i thought I overdrew for a second
"It was like a flashback."
September 24, 2018 4:40PMAiping: "Why? You overdraw before?"
September 24, 2018 4:40PMJessica: "Yeah. It makes me nervous now."
September 24, 2018 4:41PMAiping: "Hoooo. Stupid nooooob. Noob noob. Don't overdraw when I play you. It's you or me to World, Jessica. I play you so much now, if you get disqualify, I maaaad! If you disqualify, I don't get to win and beat you, ahahaha!"
September 24, 2018 4:42PMHeike: "Well, you'll win technically then"
September 24, 2018 4:42PMAiping: "Nooo no. Does not count. Jessica knows what I'm talkin' about"
September 24, 2018 4:43PMJessica: "Yeah it's no fun winning on a technicality."
September 24, 2018 4:45PMAiping: "Ya, it's like a moron's win. Is like you eating a looooot of noodles, and then you throw up! Technically you ate, but don't feel full! It's like getting up for gooood fucking, then realize boy came already! Technically, you had sex, but really you didn't. Blue balls for a good win!"
September 24, 2018 4:46PMHeike: "Yeah, yeah, I get it, Aiping!!! I was just pointing it out."
September 24, 2018 4:47PMAiping: "Well you stupid then to point it out!"
September 24, 2018 4:48PMHeike: : "Not at all. Look. It may be a technicality in the rules, but it's not a technicality. Overdrawing, or not overdrawing is part of the game. Your fingers are part of the skill here. Otherwise you could say, well, I know how to play football, I just failed to kick the ball, sue me, I lost to a technicality. In my opinion, having the dexterity to handle your cards is just as important as building your deck. Nothing is a technicality. An outsider's observation, is all."
September 24, 2018 4:49PMAiping: looks to Jessica "I seeeee why you liiike her. She's a pain in the ass!"
September 24, 2018 4:49PMJessica: Jessica kind of shrugs and smiles and goes back to her food.
September 24, 2018 4:50PMAiping: "I'm sorry I didn't get to play the japanese dude."
September 24, 2018 4:51PMKurt Kerner (GM): *Everyone's food's been served and everybody's eating."
September 24, 2018 4:51PMJessica: "Why?"
September 24, 2018 4:52PMAiping: "An old asian rivalry. Played him before in Munich. Just mad he got randomly put into your half. He may have beaten Peter, but he had no chance against you. I wouldn't have gotten to play him, unless he was put in my half."
September 24, 2018 4:54PMJessica: "Know anything about the asshole?"
September 24, 2018 4:55PMAiping: "Eeeh, he's okay! As far as assholes go. Likes to undermine and remove. He's funny little bitch."
"Hey. If you beat Peter, do you want to just surrender to me? I really need a seat at World Championship, I need the money for my dying mother."
September 24, 2018 4:55PMHeike: stops chewing and swallows hard
September 24, 2018 5:00PMJessica: (sorry dog had to go out)
"Nah. You wouldn't want to win that way. If your mom really is dying I might share the winnings though."
September 24, 2018 5:03PMAiping: punches you lightly "I'm fuuuucking with you, noob! I don't have a mother! What I do have? Is my biiig ass cock that I will put on the front panel of my convertible that I will buy with the money! That's right! 150 grand, I buy a big ass convertible and drive it in Malibu!"
September 24, 2018 5:04PMJessica: "Insurance on those is awful."
September 24, 2018 5:04PMAiping: "Insurance can kiss my ass!"
September 24, 2018 5:04PMKurt Kerner (GM): It's about time to get back, girls.
September 24, 2018 5:04PMJessica: scene change!
let's go!
September 24, 2018 5:05PMPeter: Back at the tourney, Peter is already in the chair, his head in his hands, he's just looking down seriously and being calm. He seems a pleasant fellow. He looks up as you approach. September 24, 2018 5:06PMJessica: "Hi. How are you?"
September 24, 2018 5:06PMPeter: "Hi, I'm well, thank you. Jessica, right? We've not met. I'm Peter."
Peter has a thick swedish accent
September 24, 2018 5:07PMJessica: Jessica shakes hands. "I'm Jessica. Kind of nervous."
September 24, 2018 5:07PMPeter: "Oh. These things are over before you know it. Would you like to go slow? I don't mind."
Peter is large and athletic, broad shouldered. This guy should be a firefighter or a construction worker. Why is he playing MtG with nerds?
September 24, 2018 5:09PMJessica: (cause he's not a stereotype you butt)
September 24, 2018 5:09PMPeter: (exactly!)
September 24, 2018 5:09PMJessica: "That's fine."
Less chance of me slipping "First, draw, or roll for it?"
September 24, 2018 5:10PMPeter: "Whatever works for you?"
September 24, 2018 5:10PMJessica: "I'll draw."
September 24, 2018 5:11PMPeter: He nods "Sounds good. Are you ready?"
September 24, 2018 5:12PMJessica: "Ready."
September 24, 2018 5:12PMPeter: he offers a handshake September 24, 2018 5:12PMJessica: handshake September 24, 2018 5:12PMPeter: "Good luck"
September 24, 2018 5:13PMJessica: Wits + Comp
Dex + Comp
Int + Res
Wits + Man
Res + Comp
September 24, 2018 5:14PMPeter: As Peter plays very calmly and friendly, he is not trying to psyche you out at all
Dex + Comp and Int + Res are enough if you just want to play in good spirits without manipulation and tricks. If you want to try to take a psychological advantage of him and try to stress him out, and enter a battle of wills, roll all 5
Peter will actually occasionally talk to you, briefly, like
"Where did you go for lunch?"
or
"How long you been playing?"
September 24, 2018 5:17PMPeter: - just during the non stressful opening of the round
September 24, 2018 5:18PMJessica: rolling 5d10>8!
= 1 Success
rolling 4d10>8!
= 1 Success
XD
"French place."
"Since highschool."
September 24, 2018 5:19PMPeter: "Nice. I had curry."
"Me too, middle school even. My brother taught me."
5d10>8!
rolling 5d10>8!
= 2 Successes
rolling 5d10>8!
= 0 Successes
September 24, 2018 5:20PMJessica: crit fails
September 24, 2018 5:20PMJustin: (1's don't matter)
September 24, 2018 5:21PMPeter: (no its crit fails she is right)
(1s and no successes)
It is a solid win for Jessica, and she takes the round. Peter is calm. Just his eyebrows maybe tense in a concerned fashion, like he's confused or humbled by a heavy burden, a puzzle. But there is no salt. He smiles, and quietly exhales: "Good round."
He is ready to move on to the second round and a fresh start. A welcome relief after playing someone like Arnold, and after playing Kideo, Peter seems to feel much the same.
Your turn, he draws.
September 24, 2018 5:26PMJessica: rolling 5d10>8!
= 0 Successes
rolling 4d10>8!
= 1 Success
September 24, 2018 5:26PMPeter: rolling 5d10>8!
= 2 Successes
rolling 5d10>8!
= 2 Successes
Peter locks eyes with you and smiles, as the formula lines up in his head. He knew he had the win a turn before he got it. But it was close, hella close.
"That was close."
September 24, 2018 5:29PMThe Crowd: watches with bated breath September 24, 2018 5:30PMPeter: "Final round. You want to draw?"
September 24, 2018 5:30PMJessica: "I'll play this time."
September 24, 2018 5:30PMPeter: Nods He keeps his eyes on the table
He's absolutely calm. No sweat, no twitching, like he doesn't even care to win, as if it were a game in a garage with his buddies
September 24, 2018 5:31PMJessica: rolling 5d10>8!
= 1 Success
rolling 4d10>8!
= 1 Success
September 24, 2018 5:32PMPeter: rolling 5d10>8!
= 1 Success
rolling 5d10>8!
= 1 Success
He gives the cards the glance of a stubborn bull and sighs, thinking
another round of rolls
September 24, 2018 5:34PMJessica: Jon reminds me i can spend a willpower to add dice to my pool
September 24, 2018 5:34PMPeter: yes you can
A +3
September 24, 2018 5:35PMJessica: rolling 8d10>8!
= 1 Success
rolling 7d10>8!
= 1 Success
fuuuuck
September 24, 2018 5:35PMPeter: Peter senses your focus, and responds in kind, by spending his willpower point rolling 5d10>8!
= 4 Successes
rolling 8d10>8!
= 2 Successes
September 24, 2018 5:36PMHans: rolling 12d10>8!
= 5 Successes
rolling 8d10>8!
= 2 Successes
September 24, 2018 5:38PMKurt Kerner: What transpires next could be described as one of those epic gaming moments, perhaps in any game of chance in history, be it poker, roulette, or anything else. When two minds of sound strategy lock in for a brief reprieve to almost a stalemate, with both needing to draw more.
September 24, 2018 5:39PMJessica: omg why does Hans have so many dice
September 24, 2018 5:41PMKurt Kerner (GM): Peter sits very still, looking at his cards, spending his entire turn thinking, analyzing, resigning to a sigh, to look at the table across, where Mladen plays Aiping. He looks concerned, almost a disbelief, but he is just not the type of person who would freak out about something like that. And he shows that he's got nothing, revealing to you a hand he can't play, and gives up.
"Good game. Congratulations."
September 24, 2018 5:41PMThe Crowd: goes wild September 24, 2018 5:43PMJessica: Jessica would normally have a burst of excited energy at this point but she didn't want stoic Peter to think she was rubbing his face in it. She shakes his hand. "That was a really good game. Great deck."
September 24, 2018 5:43PMPeter: "You.... too.... that deck... is.... phenomenn..."
Peter's comment gets drowned out in a loud scream.
"FUUUUUUUUUUCK!!!!!"
September 24, 2018 5:44PMKurt Kerner (GM): A high pitched female voice you recognize as Aiping's, as you see the screen advance the player stats, showing the finalists ((time for my sword class! okay, so ONE more session, i promise, it will be the final one!))
((maybe))
September 24, 2018 5:46PMJessica: lol
September 24, 2018 5:46PMKurt Kerner (GM): ((the most technically elaborate prelude ever))
September 24, 2018 5:46PMJessica: hans is terrifying
September 24, 2018 5:46PMThe Crowd: ((so much going on in this prelude.))
((Nobody has even been murdered yet.))
September 24, 2018 5:46PMKurt Kerner (GM): yeah sadly, you have not even evolved the organs with which you could even percieve what he is doing
or even if he is doing anything
((i been working on this prelude for a month))
September 24, 2018 5:48PMThe Crowd: ((Not like 6 years?))
September 25, 2018 12:34PMKurt Kerner (GM): Okay!
The finalists are displayed on the board, it is Jessica vs Mladen. Aiping lost, and is cussing him out so hard that security had to calm her and ask her to step off the stage.
September 25, 2018 12:36PMJessica: I'm ready
September 25, 2018 12:40PMKurt Kerner (GM): ((Chat working okay for you?))
((You saw the text above?))
September 25, 2018 12:40PMJessica: (finalists, etc)
September 25, 2018 12:40PMKurt Kerner (GM): ((Ok good, it's working. Was acting weird for me.))
September 25, 2018 12:41PMJessica: (i have to refresh every day, perhaps because it logs how many hours you're on)
September 25, 2018 12:41PMKurt Kerner (GM): You have a 10 minute break. There are some camera replays of the killing blow, Mladen using Nicol Bolas to exile Aiping's Ulamog, it's all slow motion
Crowd's animated, getting kinda rowdy, security has to step in. There are fireworks outside. There's a crowd outside too.
September 25, 2018 12:43PMJessica: Go check on Aiping, make sure she didn't escalate with security
since I have a minute
I don't want her banned from tourneys
September 25, 2018 12:45PMAiping: "Fuck you!! I'm okay, I'm okay. Let go. That piece of shit, FUCK YOU!"
September 25, 2018 12:45PMSecurity: "Take it easy, take a breath outside"
September 25, 2018 12:46PMJessica: I wanna roll to calm her down
resolve + composure?
September 25, 2018 12:48PMAiping: that's to calm yourself down. Let's see. You want Wits + Manipulation if you're being covert about it or Wits + Presence if you're just going to try to overwhelm her with your support and have her focus on you
September 25, 2018 12:52PMJessica: It's a smaller dice pool but i'm not trying to manipulate her
"Aiping, I don't want you to get banned or something. Why don't you grab a coke or something and we can harass him on Twitter later?"
rolling 4d10>8!
= 0 Successes
(shit)
September 25, 2018 12:54PMAiping: Aiping sees you, and gets even madder.
"Jessica! No! Fuck him up! I want him dead now, America! That bitch! He's got all five colors, Bolas, Primordial Hydra, Skithirix, Thassa, Purphoros, Maze of ith, Kiora, Time Walk, Mana Drain, Sol Ring, Ancestral Recall, oh and fucking Tamiyo, how does he even draw all that shit and play it! He got at least 8 plainwalkers! I don't know how you gonna do it! I can't do it, I don't know how you will do it. Do it if you can, do it!"
September 25, 2018 12:59PMJessica: "I'll try." Jessica goes back inside rather than fuel Aiping's fire. Five colors was a bitch to play and play against. It was weird Hans didn't know anything abou the guy though
September 25, 2018 1:00PMSecurity: The security guy keeps Aiping at bay, nodding to your wise choice to return to the game and prepare for the final. Aiping tries to throw something at the Security Guy, but they just block her way and don't let her in til she's calm. Heike waves to you from the stands front row. Good luck! September 25, 2018 1:01PMJessica: waves back September 25, 2018 1:02PMKurt Kerner (GM): There's a pandemonium inside. People are running around, stretching, getting drinks and snacks, everybody wants to get comfortable and hyped for the final round. Asian corners are going wild, both asian finalists have been eliminated.
September 25, 2018 1:02PMHeike: "Gooood luuuuck, Jeeeeess!!!" - she tries to shout over the crowd. "Gooooo Jeeeessica!!"
: "Woooooooooo!!!!!"
September 25, 2018 1:04PMJessica: Jessica has that scene in her head from every sports movie ever where the crowd shouts USA. She sits down at the table.
"This is it."
September 25, 2018 1:15PMMladen: The crowd settles. Except for Makartipan and Aiping, the other players are also watching the game, they are in their reserved seats in front row. Peter especially, actually stands up in his seat and watches Mladen like a hawk with a look of calm heavy concern. Mladen, in his jeans jacket, knit beret, is handsome in a ruffian unshaved sort of way. He has no.... outward personality. You haven't heard him say a word so far. His gaze is obfuscated by the smoke from his lit cigarette. When the he sucks it all in to a crisp finish, he puts it out in the ashtray, and then finally sits down, and raises his eyes up at you. And you see his EYES September 25, 2018 1:18PMJessica: (does he have crazy eyes or something?)
(or they're just pretty?)
September 25, 2018 1:19PMMladen: They are.... roll Resolve + Composure
September 25, 2018 1:20PMJessica: rolling 6d10>8!
= 6 Successes
(YESSS)
(FUCK YOU MLADEN)
(I'M PRETTIER THAN YOU)
September 25, 2018 1:23PMMladen: wow
You find his eyes intense and captivating, he's staring deep inside your soul. Except your soul is very strong and is shielded by remarkable will and ability to compose yourself. If anything, he looks highly intellectual. Another broken stereotype. In his get up, he looks more of a street bard.
You perceive what he's looking at. He's not examining you per se, but something about you. That look when you have green hair, or something on your hood, or a person doing bunny ears behind you. He finds something unusual about you.
He says nothing of it, you just read it from his gaze. His eyes make micro movements around your face, taking in your details. He's serious, he's looking through you, maybe that feeling when you'd doing a job interview, and the evaluator doesn't notice you, the person, but rather, your attire, or your resume, and make intense contact with it.
September 25, 2018 1:31PMJessica: Jessica shakes it off with more calm than she anticipated. "You ready? Play or draw?"
September 25, 2018 1:34PMMladen: ((Please roll wits+composure))
September 25, 2018 1:34PMJessica: rolling 7d10>8!
= 5 Successes
September 25, 2018 1:35PMMladen: Mladen gives an upward chin nod at you and drops a single word "Play"
September 25, 2018 1:36PMJessica: Probably not a good idea to give a five color card advantage anyway. Jessica waits for her first turn
(do i roll the normal rolls?)
September 25, 2018 1:42PMMladen: (you did everything great, i'm reading up on some rules, one minute pls)
(okay!)
rolling 6d10>8!
= 3 Successes
rolling 13d10>8!>9
= 3 Successes
He plays a land, legendary land, Shinka
, immediately to follow up, he plays the Firedrinker Satyr
September 25, 2018 1:52PMKurt Kerner (GM): Your turn
September 25, 2018 1:57PMJessica: (okay sorry, dog had to go out and then the neighbor was saying hi)
Wits + Composure
Dex + Composure
Intelligence + Resolve
Intelligence + Composure
Resolve + Composure
September 25, 2018 1:59PMJessica: Wits + Manipulation
(we did wits + composure already, so dex + composure and Int + resolve next?)
September 25, 2018 2:01PMKurt Kerner (GM): (with Mladen, that roll was for something else)
September 25, 2018 2:02PMJessica: (so which roll were you wanting?)
September 25, 2018 2:02PMKurt Kerner (GM): (Yeah, now you can just either freestyle narrate moves, or do int+resolve to play properly)
September 25, 2018 2:03PMJessica: I'mma narrate 'cause I haven't really described playing yet
September 25, 2018 2:03PMKurt Kerner (GM): You drew a great hand, you have black lotus, and some of the other powerful cards
September 25, 2018 2:08PMJessica: The whole staging ground was filled with familiar whitenoise, the
flickflickflick of nervous card players passing cards from hand to hand. Firedrinker Satyr was in German, like most of Jessica's own cards at this point, but like other professionals she could identify it by the art alone, and had its abilities memorized (yay eidetic memory). Tournaments like these were the reason altered cards couldn't meaningfully alter card art.
(using a slightly altered Blue-White Miracles deck so I can remember what I'm doing.)
September 25, 2018 2:11PMMladen: ((that's perfectly fine, just narrate what you're putting down))
September 25, 2018 2:13PMJessica: Jessica drew and revealed Temporal Mastery as her first card of the turn. This hand was fucking perfect.
Island. Black lotus. sacrifice black lotus and play temporal mastery. One floating mana. Sol ring. Tap soul ring and island to play azorius signet
September 25, 2018 2:14PMMladen: Mladen watches your deck, the one you draw from. He slaps another land on the table, Gaea's Cradle. The card's corner slaps on the table, and the sound of the slap is so crisp, it's almost like a slap to your forehead, you almost feel it. He looks at you with a frown, and says scornfully:
"Stop it."
September 25, 2018 2:14PMJessica: (actually i take another turn before him for temporal mastery)
September 25, 2018 2:15PMMladen: (sorry, yeah go for it)
(he does the above when it's his turn)
September 25, 2018 2:15PMJessica: (it's fine. it's a crazy fucking board state for turn 1)
September 25, 2018 2:15PMMladen: (wanna keep a pristine log of the game, but havent found a delete post button)
(assume you have played a second turn)
(lay it out)
September 25, 2018 2:17PMJessica: Jessica draws and plays a plains. She has up to 5 mana now to do what she wants with, a Thought Scour and her only Dissapate in her hand. She passes turn leaving the mana open
"In response," she says, before Gaea's Cradle can resolve, she taps her Plains, Azorius Signet, and Island and plays Dissipate, countering the spell and sending it to Exile instead of the graveyard
September 25, 2018 2:22PMMladen: Looks at her and at her deck "I said stop it. Cut it out. I know what you're doing."
September 25, 2018 2:22PMJessica: "What am I doing?"
September 25, 2018 2:23PMMladen: rolling 8d10>8!>9
= 2 Successes
((roll Resolve please))
September 25, 2018 2:24PMJessica: (just resolve?)
September 25, 2018 2:24PMMladen: ((just resolve))
September 25, 2018 2:24PMJessica: rolling 2d10>8!
= 0 Successes
September 25, 2018 2:30PMKurt Kerner (GM): The following happens at the same time:
1. Mladen lays a black lotus, plays temporal mastery, and has another card in hand, but he uses it to point at you and articulate his conversation.
2. Peter opens his mouth to say something and gets ready to move towards the table to Mladen.
September 25, 2018 2:30PMKurt Kerner (GM): 3. Mladen's image... does what you could consider a micro-twitch. The whole him. It doesn't look right.
4. The cards in your hand - something happens to them. If you were to best describe it, there are overlaying transparent "ghost" images of cards cycling through the faces of cards you are holding, several dozen times per second. This effect persists for a blink at a time, like a rewind and fast forward, something is changing your cards with an overlay ghost form, and then putting them back into their "real" versions.
5. An overwhelming sense of vertigo comes onto you and punches you like a train into the solar plexus, it becomes hard to breathe, your eyes start drooping, and you feel sleepy.
September 25, 2018 2:31PMMladen: "Exactly. What are you doing?"
September 25, 2018 2:31PMPeter: "No no, wrong one, Mladen!"
September 25, 2018 2:32PMHans: rolling 12d10>8!
= 4 Successes
September 25, 2018 2:32PMMladen: rolling 5d10>8!
= 2 Successes
September 25, 2018 2:32PMPeter: rolling 7d10>8!
= 3 Successes
September 25, 2018 2:33PMJessica: (omg wat)
September 25, 2018 2:33PMHans: rolling 16d10>8!
= 3 Successes
September 25, 2018 2:33PMJessica: (also Hans is the best and everyone who doesn't like him is wrong)
September 25, 2018 2:33PMHans: You hear Hans' voice. IN. YOUR. HEAD. "It's okay, keep playing."
You feel better. You can breathe. The pressure in your temples feels like you're in a diving submarine, or an unpressurized plane, but it's better than it was a moment ago.
September 25, 2018 2:36PMJessica: Jessica closes her eyes tightly for a moment and tries to blink the sensation away. Her skin whitened and her palms got a little sweaty at whatever that...whatever happened. She looks down at the cards in her hand and back up at Mladen. "Um, who's turn is it?"
(did he still play temporal mastery cause if he did it's his turn, if something real fucky happened it might be Jess'?)
September 25, 2018 2:37PMMladen: (yeah he has a card in his hand too, Sol Ring like hers, and it will be his turn)
Mladen looks to Peter, then... another twitch. His entire image moves but by a mere fraction of an inch. "Really now? You gonna play dumb? Fine, I can do that too."
His image twitches again.
He plays a sol ring, then another turn full of lands, and then.... what happens then is kind of hard for Jessica to comprehend, unless she makes a stamina roll
September 25, 2018 2:41PMJessica: rolling 4d10>8!
= 0 Successes
(nope lol)
(mladen is a hologram)
September 25, 2018 2:47PMMladen: So... this is the best of what Jessica could witness:
Mladen is trying to place a card onto the table full of legendary cards.... the cards in Jessica's hands and in his hands seem to shift to, like, ghost versions of all possible hands, including cards not even in your decks... he also twitches unevenly, his chair seems to shift like "frames" are cut out of "reality", he grits his teeth, and grunts: "Put down the cards and go home, little girl."
The ghost flashes of cards become unplayable, as the cards start ACTUALLY shifting in your hand with the speed of several hundred per second. They cut your hand with the edges, so you had to let go.
Mladen's hand explodes, both your decks fly up scattered all around the table, and the last thing you hear is Hans yelling "Corner of Bellinghausen and Rosenstrasse!"
Just before you puke and the world fades to black.
September 25, 2018 2:48PMJessica: wtf
September 25, 2018 2:48PMKurt Kerner (GM): Voices.
"Wait, she's a sleeper?"
"The fuck she is."
"Did you see that?"
Gunshots. An explosion. You feel lifted off the ground.
You feel like you could open your eyes
September 25, 2018 2:49PMKurt Kerner (GM): Do you try?
September 25, 2018 2:50PMJessica: Corner of Bellinghausen...corner of belling...rosenstrasse...
(I feel like it would be reflexive to try if i'm being lifted up. what's my roll?)
September 25, 2018 2:52PMKurt Kerner (GM): (Stamina at -2, yeah Jessica is under certain effects, for which she has no real defense, but because she is incredibly tough, she's not all the way out)
September 25, 2018 2:53PMJessica: rolling 2d10>8!
= 0 Successes
September 25, 2018 2:53PMKurt Kerner (GM): Good night
September 25, 2018 2:53PMJessica: zzzzzz
September 25, 2018 2:53PMKurt Kerner (GM): *
September 25, 2018 2:55PMKurt Kerner (GM): You wake up from a siren, on a stretcher in an ambulance car. You are strapped down, and feel incredibly weak.
Roll perception. Wits + Composure at -2
September 25, 2018 2:56PMJessica: rolling 5d10>8!
= 4 Successes
(I LIVE!)
September 25, 2018 2:58PMKurt Kerner (GM): 4 men in the vehicle, all in white coats, with doctor hats and face masks on, only eyes visible. Driver. Bulky, big, broad, athletic, muscular. Second man, in the shotgun seat. Tall, slimmer, athletic.
Third man adjusts your IV and looks at you.
"I think she's awake."
Fourth man sits on the side of your bunk to feel your pulse.
"What do you remember?"
September 25, 2018 2:58PMKurt Kerner (GM): There are three assault rifles leaned against the back of the driver's seat.
The man has a badge, Adrian Kunst, of Nurrenplasse Hospital, registered immediate response nurse, etc etc
September 25, 2018 3:00PMJessica: Squinting at them to try to decide if they're real. Europeans don't do guns, ambulance people super don't. "I don't know what's going on."
*if the guns are real
September 25, 2018 3:01PMKurt Kerner (GM): Kunst looks to the man who adjusts your IV September 25, 2018 3:01PMKunst: "Where is Hans?"
September 25, 2018 3:03PMJessica: Jessica almost blurts out corner of Bellinghausen and Rosenstrasse, but her head hurts and her eyes aren't working right and they're asking her weird questions like this is a dram and her brain can't remember what doctors are supposed to act like. "What happened?" She feels around a little trying to get her bearings. How secure is she to the stretcher?
*dream
September 25, 2018 3:03PMKurt Kerner (GM): How hard do you try to test it?
September 25, 2018 3:04PMJessica: not like trying to escape, just if it's like, snug guess
General confusion and trying to get a sense of place
September 25, 2018 3:05PMKurt Kerner (GM): The doctor who controls the IV in your hand readies a syringe to inject it into the IV, but Kunst pauses him, holding up his hand. His other hand is put on your hand, to stop you from testing the straps. That said, the straps give some yield, you could wiggle out if you tried really hard.
September 25, 2018 3:09PMKunst: : "Fraulein Murphey, everything's going to be okay, we just want to let you know that. There was a terrorist attack at the game pavilion, an explosion went off, and psychotropic gas was deployed, the effects of which you may have suffered. You have nothing to worry about."
September 25, 2018 3:11PMJessica: "Oh my god, I thought something was wrong with me." Relief is evident on her face. "My vision got twitchy and--" she checks her hands for cuts from the cards
September 25, 2018 3:11PMKurt Kerner (GM): Well done, Jessica! Your hand is bandaged. The cut is there. There's blood.
September 25, 2018 3:13PMKunst: "Right now, Police is looking for Hans Ehnske for suspected connection to the attack. Last he was seen with you."
September 25, 2018 3:13PMJessica: "That doesn't make any sense. He was at the convention."
September 25, 2018 3:15PMKunst: "Did you experience anything out of the ordinary? We must evaluate the long term effects of the chemicals you were exposed to."
September 25, 2018 3:16PMJessica: "I had twitchy vision. I'm not sure if my eyes were twitching or if they were just seeing stuff wrong. And then everything got real weird and didn't make sense. Why do you have guns?" (any of them look like military or anyone who would handle terrorists?)
September 25, 2018 3:22PMKurt Kerner (GM): oookay let's see. You have no skill at Politics, Streetwise, Weaponry, Firearms, or Science... hmmm you could try Academics or Investigation.... but you don't exactly major in the right fields... they have very artfully crafted latex gloves on..
They're unlikely to leave fingerprints....
September 25, 2018 3:23PMJessica: (yay larceny! definitely not emt gloves. well shit)
September 25, 2018 3:23PMKurt Kerner (GM): All of a sudden Jess may feel a bit sorry for not spending more time talking with Dad and putting all his ramblings and stories in one ear out the other.
September 25, 2018 3:24PMJessica: It occurs to Jessica that these might be the terrorists, but she's having a hard time forcing her brain to believe it.
September 25, 2018 3:25PMKunst: looks to the man in the shotgun seat, and then to the guns. There is a tarp on the floor that was covering the guns, but it probably fell off during acceleration. Realizing they messed up, Kunst nods to the IV doctor, and the IV doctor injects the syringe into your IV, which makes it to your vein in about... well... a few seconds
September 25, 2018 3:26PMKurt Kerner (GM): i mean artery
not vein
September 25, 2018 3:26PMJessica: What's a roll to struggle in those seconds?
September 25, 2018 3:28PMKurt Kerner (GM): higher of strength or dex + higher of athletics or let's say, larceny, yeah i'll give you that.
based on your approach. forcing them stretched or wiggling out
September 25, 2018 3:28PMJessica: wiggling
rolling 3d10>8!
= 1 Success
September 25, 2018 3:29PMKurt Kerner (GM): what is Jessica thinking?
September 25, 2018 3:29PMJessica: Guns + robbery gloves + saying Hans is a terrorist when Hans has no motive, when they guys are sketchy as fuck and asking her mostly questions that aren't about her health
they want something from cube
September 25, 2018 3:30PMKurt Kerner (GM): You manage to wiggle out one hand, the one over by the wall, away from the "Doctor"
September 25, 2018 3:30PMJessica: Anything in reach?
September 25, 2018 3:30PMKurt Kerner (GM): roll wits + weaponry
September 25, 2018 3:31PMJessica: oh god
rolling 3d10>8!
= 2 Successes
YES
AMERICA
September 25, 2018 3:31PMKurt Kerner (GM): well there's the IV in your arm. which is a cord. with a needle.
September 25, 2018 3:31PMJessica: rip it out
September 25, 2018 3:31PMKurt Kerner (GM): Roll initiative!
you been waiting for this XD
September 25, 2018 3:32PMJessica: (omg my character is not a fighty character)
September 25, 2018 3:32PMKurt Kerner (GM): (dont have to fight)
You rip out the cord from your arm just as the liquid reaches. You have the surprise round.
September 25, 2018 3:33PMJessica: initiative = dex + comp, so
rolling 5d10>8!
= 2 Successes
So like, I wanna like, land on the guns kind of, so we're not just both grabbing them
I wanna roll over with one and have the rest under me
like fuck y'all
September 25, 2018 3:37PMKurt Kerner (GM): Kunst:
rolling 6d10>8!
= 1 Success
Guy 2
rolling 5d10>8!
= 4 Successes
September 25, 2018 3:37PMJessica: damn
September 25, 2018 3:38PMKurt Kerner (GM): Guy 3:
rolling 5d10>8!
= 2 Successes
Ok you have the surprise round anyhow, cause they didn't see you wiggle out. You are armed with a cord.
You are going to move towards the guns and get on top of them
September 25, 2018 3:40PMJessica: yes
September 25, 2018 3:40PMKurt Kerner (GM): so let's do a dex+athletics to not fuck this up
September 25, 2018 3:40PMJessica: oh fuck
rolling 1d10>8!
= 1 Success
YES
September 25, 2018 3:40PMKurt Kerner (GM): well, you don't fuck it up
September 25, 2018 3:40PMJessica: I AM LUCK
September 25, 2018 3:40PMKurt Kerner (GM): you literally are
literally
September 25, 2018 3:41PMJessica: i'm laughing so hard
Okay so my next move is to point one of the guns at them and tell them to stop the ambulance
September 25, 2018 3:45PMKurt Kerner (GM): Kunst reacts too late, grabs the IV cord, moves towards you with intent to put it back in you, but he's still across the van from you. The driver looks back, has to manuever in panic, and the awkward shift of the van puts you at advantage over them, allowing your move to miraculously succeed.
Now, we go in initiative order, and the guy who injected the IV goes first.
September 25, 2018 3:46PMJessica: (fuck that guy)
September 25, 2018 3:54PMKurt Kerner (GM): He pulls a pistol out of his coat, aims, and shoots you in the head.
Everything stops.
September 25, 2018 3:57PMJessica: (welp, that happened)
September 25, 2018 3:59PMKurt Kerner (GM): Last thoughts?
September 25, 2018 3:59PMJessica: Oh fuck! September 25, 2018 4:00PMKurt Kerner (GM): The bullet slows to a stop in front of your eyes.
As does Kunst, with a cord in his hand. Mid motion.
As does the traffic outside the van.
In fact, outside, doesn't look much like Berlin anymore.
September 25, 2018 4:02PMJessica: Can I move?
September 25, 2018 4:06PMKurt Kerner (GM): Yes!
You - are the only thing in the van that seems to be able to move.
September 25, 2018 4:06PMJessica: Do I have a gun in my hand yet and does it move?
September 25, 2018 4:16PMKurt Kerner (GM): Do you pick a gun up?
You can try it.
September 25, 2018 4:16PMJessica: If one's not already in my hand i'll try
wasn't sure how far along we got in that sequence
September 25, 2018 4:16PMKurt Kerner (GM): You can pick it up, like normal.
It's heavy.
September 25, 2018 4:17PMJessica: Nice. I'm ditching this Popsicle stand. If anyone fell over when the driver swerved i'm stepping on their face on my way out the back
September 25, 2018 4:18PMKurt Kerner (GM): Do you move around the bullet hanging in the air?
September 25, 2018 4:18PMJessica: Yeah, if the gun moves from me touching it, it might. I can't really avoid climbing over shit though
September 25, 2018 4:18PMKurt Kerner (GM): Oh, like, no no. They did NOT fall over. They are frozen, in their positions. Kunst, for instance, is balancing on the tip to, mid run, in an impossible angle.
Do you touch the bullet, brush it out of the way, or go around it?
September 25, 2018 4:19PMJessica: Go around. Not touching it at all
September 25, 2018 4:19PMKurt Kerner (GM): Okay.
Outside the windows of the ambulance is.... approximately.... this:
Very approximately
As far as the eye can see.
Blue mist covers the particular area, and the car has sunk into the water
September 25, 2018 4:21PMJessica: I'm gonna extremely tentatively exit the back of the ambulance. Does the air smell funny? Is the temperature comfortable?
Covering my nose with my shirt even though that's almost like not doing anything
September 25, 2018 4:24PMKurt Kerner (GM): The air is.... I would describe it as.... exuberant. There are countless plants, it hits your nostrils with a sharp contrast to the polluted life in modern city. Ozone, freshness, and something else... something that reminds you of those dreams in the childhood, when the grass smelled magical, and everything was so.... enchanted.
September 25, 2018 4:25PMJessica: If I need to hop a short distance to avoid the water I do that.
September 25, 2018 4:25PMKurt Kerner (GM): The temperature is comfortable, there is a moist breeze.
September 25, 2018 4:25PMJessica: If the distance is longer I want to try various things on the water before I touch it
September 25, 2018 4:25PMKurt Kerner (GM): You can breathe the air, and the only odd and discomforting thing is the fog, which hovers above the trees.
There is water all around, it's marshy, with patches of fern covered ground spread everywhere you look
The plants the likes of which you have never seen before. Giant thistles, giant pions, and gladiolas the size of a car.
Giant mushrooms.
Do you exit the ambulance or TENTATIVELY exit it?
and what do you mean by tentatively?
September 25, 2018 4:28PMJessica: So like,
Smelling the air was first step, second step is checking whether the water is an unreasonable distance between me and solid grounf
I don't want to just jump in the water
I picture kind of standing on the back loading bumper while I try to figure out what to do
If the water is anything more than a short hop, I want to test it before I do anything 'cause i'm not athletic at all
September 25, 2018 4:33PMKurt Kerner (GM): You could probably manage a hop to a patch of dry.
September 25, 2018 4:34PMJessica: Done
September 25, 2018 4:35PMKurt Kerner (GM): You hop onto a patch of dry. It's moist, but it's not wet. The plants are the first thing you feel. They... seem more alive than most plants. They sort of... feel being touched, responding by touching you back, and a light hum can be heard at the back of your head, right behind the shoulder.
September 25, 2018 4:37PMJessica: I look over my shoulder
September 25, 2018 4:37PMKurt Kerner (GM): The ambulance starts to sink in the water, the moment you exit it. Giggling and "ooooh"s and "aaaah"s come out of.... somewhere around, and small creatures crawl out of the water, under the ferns, from the air... little odd animals, winged people, I mean, you've studied enough art to surmise these are probably fairies. They fly inside the doors and start curiously examining and picking apart everything inside. Equipment, doctors, their coats, pants, anything they can pull off. Chewing on their shoes, threads of their pants, belts, masks....*
Around the shoulder is a big red glowing flower. It hums when you touch it.
Or it could have been the slightly smaller one, purple one beside it, it also hums when you touch it, a different tune
September 25, 2018 4:38PMJessica: Have the fairies noticed me already? I wanna scram as quietly as possible. This is fucky as hell
September 25, 2018 4:39PMKurt Kerner (GM): Now that you mention it, the little faeries are eeeverywheeeereee
and they don't seem to care whatsoever
but they are really curious about the contents of the van...
September 25, 2018 4:40PMJessica: I am on pcp or something September 25, 2018 4:40PMKurt Kerner (GM): oh, nope, here's a faerie that landed on your shoulder, looks at you. blink, blink, and off it goes into the van, taking off your shoulder again
as far as all your human senses goes, you are firing on all cylinders and this is unequivocally unambiguously real
September 25, 2018 4:43PMJessica: What the fuckshit is going on? September 25, 2018 4:43PMKurt Kerner (GM): something gargles and burps, and slurps
September 25, 2018 4:43PMJessica: Looking around for something or anything I might recognize or at least a vantage point September 25, 2018 4:44PMKurt Kerner (GM): the van sinks a foot deeper. The wheels are no longer seen
Great strategy. Roll survival
September 25, 2018 4:44PMJessica: 0 dice
September 25, 2018 4:44PMKurt Kerner (GM): chance roll 1d10
September 25, 2018 4:44PMJessica: rolling 1d10>8!
= 1 Success
September 25, 2018 4:44PMKurt Kerner (GM): fuck you
September 25, 2018 4:44PMJessica: LUCK
September 25, 2018 4:45PMKurt Kerner (GM): would you please.... fuck self...
September 25, 2018 4:45PMJessica: L-U-C-K who's pissing off GM today it's Coral!! Co-Co-Co-Coral!!!
September 25, 2018 4:46PMKurt Kerner (GM): okay so, this swampy area is foggy and seemingly endless, and would probably put most people into panic at this point, but... you're a kind of girl who plays MtG, so your ability to perceive the fantastic is pretty.... well.... it's solid enough to understand that even this shit should have a geography and some rules. Sure, then. That way looks good. The light is falling slightly differently in one particular direction, and there does appear to be a change in elevation. You discern a path uphill. It's through a lot of water.
The creatures are now consuming the flesh of the gun medics in the van... starting with hair, nails, lips.... they're plucking bits of skin out, and trying them on. Less humanoid creatures just devour them, the fairies try stuff on like decorations. Then they start playing around, covering everything in the van in glimmering dust
The van sinks a little more.
September 25, 2018 4:50PMJessica: Normally Jessica would get the jitters out by doing something like drumming her fingers or bouncing her leg. There were no coping mechanisms for Fairy Land. She had a crazy memory of the animated Peter Pan movie and almost muttered to herself,
I don't believe in fairies but she didn't, and then she had to suppress a nervous laugh.
I'm going fucking crazy. OMFG Time to go. She took small quick steps up the path, trying to make as little noise as possible and be simultaneously quick and careful
September 25, 2018 4:52PMKurt Kerner (GM): Butterflies and dragonflies are eating a concerned face off of Kunst's skull. His mouth, distorted in worry that you might grab their gun pile... is slowly eaten off his face.
The man who shot you is already missing all of his clothes and most of his fingers
September 25, 2018 4:52PMJessica: Jessica pukes off the side of the path.
September 25, 2018 4:53PMKurt Kerner (GM): you leave the van behind, to sink
September 25, 2018 4:53PMJessica: Yeah, fuck that.
I don't know how to fight fairies even if I wanted to
September 25, 2018 4:54PMKurt Kerner (GM): The "path" is just a sense of direction... you have to traverse an irregular terrain with a lot of wild vegetation and water. You will get ankle deep, and sometimes knee deep. Thorns bite your legs. Speaking of, what exactly are you wearing?
September 25, 2018 4:54PMJessica: Not trekking gear that's for sure.
Obviously my cube shirt
Sneakers and jeans
A hoodie if one was provided but I wouldn't cover up my sponsor shirt unless it was with another sponsor item
I am carrying the gun in both hands since it's probably too heavy for one, unless it has a strap, in which case it's hanging from my shoulder
September 25, 2018 4:58PMKurt Kerner (GM): You have no logo hoodie, so shirt it is, but the rifle does have a strap, so you can sling it.
Yeah, your jeans are wet knee down, and your sneakers and socks are full of water
September 25, 2018 4:59PMJessica: Looking over my shoulder once in a while but not long enough to run into something in my path
September 25, 2018 5:00PMKurt Kerner (GM): An interesting sensation. If you walk forward, you swear there are things.... follow you... but when you look back, they scurry out of view, as if were never there, but then you sense they are behind you, and to the sides. Evasive to direct view, but existing in the peripheral vision.
September 25, 2018 5:01PMJessica: fuck fuck fuck September 25, 2018 5:01PMKurt Kerner (GM): Something in the water tries to pull you in.
September 25, 2018 5:01PMJessica: Immediately jump off the path. Like reflexively, not even thinking about it
out of the water
September 25, 2018 5:01PMKurt Kerner (GM): It quits doing it.
September 25, 2018 5:02PMJessica: when you say pull in
is it a sensation of something grabbing me or like sinking
or sucking
September 25, 2018 5:02PMKurt Kerner (GM): sucking is the best way to describe it, yes
September 25, 2018 5:03PMJessica: Look at the water a second. Any dark shapes or movement?
September 25, 2018 5:03PMKurt Kerner (GM): in the periphery of the eye, yup, just not quite directly at your focal point
of course, with the sky being this mystical overcast blue, it's hard to tell
and the rich vegetation seems to hide a critter behind every flower
September 25, 2018 5:04PMJessica: Any dead plant matter anywhere? Like a branch?
September 25, 2018 5:05PMKurt Kerner (GM): leanas hanging off trees... and we're talking like, unnaturally wide trees, if natural is the right word to apply here.
trunks of trees are few and far between, but the branches, the cover... is very wide, covering a good bit of the sky
like boas or albizias, but on crack
September 25, 2018 5:06PMJessica: So like nothing that might work for a walking stick
September 25, 2018 5:07PMKurt Kerner (GM): Oh. Sure there are things. There's a stick floating in the water. You wanna reach into the water?
September 25, 2018 5:07PMJessica: fuck that it's a snake
something on land
September 25, 2018 5:08PMKurt Kerner (GM): Nothing dead.
Not in this region.
September 25, 2018 5:08PMJessica: Anything alive that meets these criteria:
September 25, 2018 5:08PMKurt Kerner (GM): There's a tree you could pluck a branch from.
But it's certainly alive. It hums.
September 25, 2018 5:09PMJessica: I feel like pissing off the tree is a bad idea. I hum back at it?
Fuck it, nothing makes sense here anyway
September 25, 2018 5:10PMHumming Tree: Oooooooooommmmmmmm
September 25, 2018 5:11PMKurt Kerner (GM): giggle giggle Behind your back
September 25, 2018 5:11PMJessica: twinkle twinkle little star glance back
September 25, 2018 5:11PMKurt Kerner (GM): some tiny fairy
The tree hums the melody back to you
But THEN
it continues the melody
September 25, 2018 5:11PMJessica: OH FUCK
September 25, 2018 5:11PMKurt Kerner (GM): the "how i wonder what you are" part
September 25, 2018 5:12PMJessica: So i need to pick the right song
September 25, 2018 5:12PMKurt Kerner (GM): are you scared?
September 25, 2018 5:12PMJessica: Yes? But it's a semi predictable element in the chaos so also excited?
September 25, 2018 5:12PMKurt Kerner (GM): let's do a resolve+composure
just to make sure we're not full of shit here
September 25, 2018 5:13PMJessica: (you've never seen me larp)
rolling 6d10>8!
= 0 Successes
daaaaaamn
September 25, 2018 5:13PMKurt Kerner (GM): giggle giggle giggling intensifies
now there are two little buzzing fairies
now there's three, four... and a few insects
Jessica is getting a little bit scared. And the more scared she is, the more interested in her the flying creatures get. One of them bites her ear, a little taste.
Just a taste, is all
September 25, 2018 5:15PMJessica: Fuck it, can't think of any Disney songs except "You're Welcome" and that sends entirely the wrong message
she bolts
September 25, 2018 5:15PMKurt Kerner (GM): oooho. Uphill?
The Tree Hums the song as you leave it
September 25, 2018 5:16PMJessica: Creepy tree is creepy
running uphill. If the fairies close in i'm trying the gun on them
September 25, 2018 5:16PMKurt Kerner (GM): As you run, the faeries take chase
they giggle and egg each other on
around each fairie, a few dragonflies buzz around.
like their pets. whatever fairies touch, insects allow themselves to also have a taste of
at least that's how they treated the doctors
"doctors"
September 25, 2018 5:17PMKurt Kerner (GM): ahem ahem
in quotes
September 25, 2018 5:18PMJessica: lol
I'm gonna try shooting one
September 25, 2018 5:18PMKurt Kerner (GM): what are you thinking as you're doing that?
September 25, 2018 5:19PMJessica: Not necessarily words, I've got images of the doctors getting eaten in my mind
September 25, 2018 5:19PMKurt Kerner (GM): the fairy you aim at explodes
September 25, 2018 5:19PMJessica: words would primarily be swearing
September 25, 2018 5:19PMKurt Kerner (GM): other fairies part and stop
and scatter
September 25, 2018 5:19PMJessica: wait did I pull the trigger?
September 25, 2018 5:19PMKurt Kerner (GM): surface emotion?
September 25, 2018 5:19PMJessica: shock
September 25, 2018 5:20PMKurt Kerner (GM): did you pull the trigger? good question. you pulled it. but it resisted you and there was no bang
September 25, 2018 5:21PMJessica: Blink a few times. Stunned and confused.
I've generally been trying to be quiet but I really want to scream out at the forest wtf IS THIS PLACE?
but it just comes out as an exhale 'cause i'm not attracting the fairy lions with noise
September 25, 2018 5:22PMKurt Kerner (GM): do you let that emotion of screaming out of yourself or suppress it?
September 25, 2018 5:22PMJessica: suppress it
September 25, 2018 5:23PMKurt Kerner (GM): the faeries make a wide circle and don't bother you for a while
September 25, 2018 5:23PMJessica: Trying to keep my cool. I shouldn't have run from the tree. The trees seem cool.
Are there anymore humming trees?
September 25, 2018 5:23PMKurt Kerner (GM): ((gotta feed kid, brb))
There are like, a visual infinity of humming trees
September 25, 2018 5:24PMJessica: I'mma try Hakuna Matata and see what happens when I hum as it
*at
September 25, 2018 5:24PMKurt Kerner (GM): this swamp is as far as the eye can see, only the uphill, the hill you are going up, is your limit in that direction
it's a big hill, you've a ways to go up
September 25, 2018 5:26PMJessica: If fucky tree knows Twinkle Twinkle I wanna see what it does with Hakuna Matata
*trees
September 25, 2018 6:21PMKurt Kerner (GM): Back!
September 25, 2018 6:22PMJessica: yay!
September 25, 2018 6:22PMKurt Kerner (GM): So you're humming Hakuna Matata?
September 25, 2018 6:23PMJessica: to the tree
September 25, 2018 6:23PMKurt Kerner (GM): That same tree?
September 25, 2018 6:23PMJessica: No I don't retrace steps
nearest tree
September 25, 2018 6:24PMKurt Kerner (GM): Walk on and find the next tree and sing to it?
September 25, 2018 6:24PMJessica: I wanna see if humming the No Worries song has an effect on the landscape or the things following m
September 25, 2018 6:24PMKurt Kerner (GM): And you're still going uphill?
September 25, 2018 6:24PMJessica: This is sort of dreamy so i wanna see how much i can manipulate it to be safe
yes
September 25, 2018 6:24PMKurt Kerner (GM): The nearest tree uphill hums along as you approach it.
Surface emotion as you sing?
September 25, 2018 6:25PMJessica: hopeful? in like a timid sort of way
how many can i get humming?
September 25, 2018 6:26PMKurt Kerner (GM): Calm? Not scared?
September 25, 2018 6:26PMJessica: it's like a feeling of vigilance
somewhere between calm and ready for stuff to go wrong
or rather to react to stuff to go wrong.
like there's nothing scary currently in front of me you know?
September 25, 2018 6:27PMKurt Kerner (GM): Every tree you approach or pass hums along for a while and keeps humming some time after you pass. The fairies who were bugging you, circle back around you and dance along in the air, hovering to your side and playing around you and goofing off, bonking each other, non-menacingly. They forget that you shot and exploded their comrade.
September 25, 2018 6:28PMJessica: that's trippy
when hakuna matata runs out i switch to i wanna be a mighty king
uphill
September 25, 2018 6:29PMKurt Kerner (GM): You galvanize every little critter around you with your song. The creatures start marching along and play-charging through the air.
September 25, 2018 6:30PMJessica: if they get rowdy i'm switching songs
September 25, 2018 6:30PMKurt Kerner (GM): Some of them are dueling, throwing shining dust at each other. Mind you, this isn't glitter you are used to, that reflects light. This dust is a source of light.
They get a little rowdy, as they take turns putting on a crown made of dust and subsequently killing each other, as new fairies fly in from around
September 25, 2018 6:31PMJessica: okay new song
September 25, 2018 6:31PMKurt Kerner (GM): The crazy part is they're all having fun
September 25, 2018 6:32PMJessica: yeah but that means stabbing me would also be fun
so new song
September 25, 2018 6:32PMKurt Kerner (GM): They die giggling
If you step on water, it doesn't suck on your feet anymore
September 25, 2018 6:33PMJessica: oh a good one
Be Our Guest
that one's friendly
September 25, 2018 6:34PMKurt Kerner (GM): Let's check how Jessica is doing for fear.
Resolve + Composure, it's been some time.
September 25, 2018 6:34PMJessica: rolling 6d10>8!
= 3 Successes
September 25, 2018 6:34PMKurt Kerner (GM): Much better
September 25, 2018 6:34PMJessica: phew
i mean atmosphere is much better now
September 25, 2018 6:35PMKurt Kerner (GM): You know one thing to be true, these things like good songs.
:)
And you can make plenty of conjecture on your own
But...
As you sing your new song, things start happening. The trees and bushes hum along, ferns line themselves just before you step, to make it less watery, an actual path forms, as fairies start plucking leaves and grass from the nearby flora and dropping it in front of you, even lining it with some purples and reds, making an improvised carpet for you to follow.
September 25, 2018 6:38PMJessica: During a break between stanzas Jessica jokingly asks, "Do any of you know how to get to the corner of Corner ofvBellinghausen and Rosenstrasse?
September 25, 2018 6:40PMKurt Kerner (GM): There are like a hundred fairies that accumulated to your songs. If you look around, they don't hide anymore. They instead fly in a formation of a halo, about 4 yards in diameter, up above your head. They all hear your question out.... and...
blink blink blink blink blinkblinkblinkblinkblinkblinkblinkblinkblinkblinkblinkblinkblinkblinkblinkblinkblinkblinkblinkblinkblinkblinkblinkblinkblinkblinkblinkblink
September 25, 2018 6:41PMJessica: they're blinking or me?
September 25, 2018 6:41PMKurt Kerner (GM): They are. All staring at you. And at each other.
They chirp and communicate to one another in a language you do not understand
They dart around frantically and bolt in a slightly changed direction, still uphill, but more to the left, about 45 degrees.
September 25, 2018 6:42PMJessica: off the path?
September 25, 2018 6:43PMKurt Kerner (GM): Depends, did you stop?
Were you walking when you asked the question?
September 25, 2018 6:43PMJessica: i mean i didn't have a reason to stop walking
September 25, 2018 6:43PMKurt Kerner (GM): the path formed under your feet as you sang.
September 25, 2018 6:44PMJessica: hm
well i start singing i can go the distance
and i follow the fairies
September 25, 2018 6:44PMKurt Kerner (GM): what are you singing next?
September 25, 2018 6:44PMJessica: i can go the distance from hercules
September 25, 2018 6:44PMKurt Kerner (GM): oh
September 25, 2018 6:44PMJessica: trying to stick to songs i know irl
September 25, 2018 6:45PMKurt Kerner (GM): yeah, they just keep laying the path for you. They alter the path in the new direction
plants included
and the trees, and flowers - all hum along
trees can take deeper octaves than flowers
September 25, 2018 6:46PMJessica: am i getting tired at all or am i just full battery like all the plants?
September 25, 2018 6:46PMKurt Kerner (GM): what an excellent question
roll stamina please
September 25, 2018 6:46PMJessica: rolling 4d10>8!
= 3 Successes
yesss
September 25, 2018 6:47PMKurt Kerner (GM): you are doing JUST FINE
September 25, 2018 6:47PMJessica: XD
September 25, 2018 6:48PMKurt Kerner (GM): So, the time it takes to get uphill.... well..... I don't want to say endless, but let's just say it's been 20 songs so far, and the incline is still going up, and there is no end in site. Looking behind you, you are going up a HUGE mountain
this is not a "hill"
September 25, 2018 6:48PMJessica: wow
September 25, 2018 6:49PMKurt Kerner (GM): do you sing the same songs multiple times or pick new ones every time?
September 25, 2018 6:49PMJessica: i can't pick new ones every time cause i just don't know that many songs accurately
September 25, 2018 6:50PMKurt Kerner (GM): so you'll have to recycle
September 25, 2018 6:50PMJessica: I'mma try another question
September 25, 2018 6:50PMKurt Kerner (GM): picking nice kind upbeat songs?
September 25, 2018 6:51PMJessica: disney songs and friendly ones
no villain songs or anything that might incite violence
September 25, 2018 6:51PMKurt Kerner (GM): perfect. There's about a thousand fairies following you and leading you and around you by now, and about as many land critters trailing. It's like a parade
They light the path around you with shining dust
You have left the blue fog below you, and the aura is now more green / yellow, from the light of your fan crowd
September 25, 2018 6:53PMJessica: Impulsive Disney-inspired thought: I sprinkle some dust on myself
does it hurt to touch it?
September 25, 2018 6:54PMKurt Kerner (GM): It absorbs itself into your skin
Sinks into you.
Hope you're happy :)
September 25, 2018 6:54PMJessica: We're gonna get kind of silly now
I hop a little bit. I wanna see if I can fly
September 25, 2018 6:56PMKurt Kerner (GM): You hop a little higher than you normally would, but eventually land.
September 25, 2018 6:57PMJessica: more dust
September 25, 2018 6:57PMKurt Kerner (GM): Your skin absorbs it.
September 25, 2018 6:57PMJessica: fly?
September 25, 2018 6:58PMKurt Kerner (GM): Trees grow a little larger. So does everything. So do the fairies. Just a little.
Your hopping improves dramatically.
Where were you going exactly?
This water is so clear, it's not even swampy anymore. Wouldn't you rather take a nice bath?
September 25, 2018 6:59PMJessica: oh fuck no
September 25, 2018 6:59PMKurt Kerner (GM): roll resolve
September 25, 2018 6:59PMJessica: rolling 2d10>8!
= 1 Success
omg
September 25, 2018 6:59PMKurt Kerner (GM): fuck you
you little
piece
of shit
You remember who you are, and grow back. Your hopping returns to normal, and you expulse the dust completely painlessly through your pores.
September 25, 2018 7:00PMJessica: #luckmage4life
September 25, 2018 7:00PMKurt Kerner (GM): Your fairy legion - is IMPRESSED
they start bowing to you
September 25, 2018 7:01PMJessica: "I need to get to the corner of Corner of Bellinghausen and Rosenstrasse."
September 25, 2018 7:02PMKurt Kerner (GM): The fairies point in the way you were going.
September 25, 2018 7:02PMJessica: "Is there a shortcut?"
September 25, 2018 7:02PMKurt Kerner (GM): The fairies chirp chirp chirp blink blink blink
And they all together make a sharp 90 degrees turn into some deeper woods
September 25, 2018 7:03PMJessica: i mean
i got nowhere else to be
let's go
September 25, 2018 7:04PMKurt Kerner (GM): You follow along the hillside now as the trees get thicker and you're back in the blueish green. The fairies take you to a big ass oak, naturally, and as expected, with a root system so massive there is a cavern in it.
September 25, 2018 7:05PMJessica: enough dust to see by right?
September 25, 2018 7:06PMKurt Kerner (GM): Well that's the thing, up to the cavern, sure, but the fairies refuse to enter it. That's probably why they didn't initially chose this way. They point to it and blink at you, with thousands of eyes.
The land critters also kind of skitter around and lay low
September 25, 2018 7:06PMJessica: any sounds? coming from the cave?
September 25, 2018 7:07PMKurt Kerner (GM): Nothing "unusual" for this place. The oak hums, like all the trees here do. But... it hums a different kind of tune.
September 25, 2018 7:08PMJessica: what's the tone? does it suggest an emotion?
September 25, 2018 7:09PMKurt Kerner (GM): Luckily, your art knowledge is on point. You know how to "feel" art.
This oak's hum feels.... ancient, masculine, quizzical, and .... it's on the tip of your tongue.... what would you call it....
You could say that it has.... history. That's it. It's historical. Essential. Solid. Firm.
It has something that the fairies do not.
September 25, 2018 7:10PMJessica: does my ability to suss it out become any better or worse when i touch it?
September 25, 2018 7:11PMKurt Kerner (GM): roll wits+empathy ?
September 25, 2018 7:12PMJessica: rolling 4d10>8!
= 0 Successes
damn
September 25, 2018 7:12PMKurt Kerner (GM): It's just strange to you
September 25, 2018 7:12PMJessica: well the regular trees knew twinkle twinkle little star
they obviously have something to them, maybe not thought but i can try
September 25, 2018 7:14PMKurt Kerner (GM): The oak does not hum along. It hums its own melody, a melody you do not know by heart
September 25, 2018 7:15PMJessica: "May I pass safely, sir?" I'm not really sure how to offer the tree respect but my instincts did tell me masculine.
"I'm trying to get to the Corner of Bellinghausen and Rosenstrasse."
September 25, 2018 7:16PMKurt Kerner (GM): Wind blows out of the cavern. And a dim "Hoo - hoo." And then.... a flute?
get me your intelligence + academics + 2 for eidetic memory
September 25, 2018 7:18PMJessica: rolling 6d10>8!
= 1 Success
wow
September 25, 2018 7:18PMKurt Kerner (GM): You definitely get a greco-roman feel out of the melody.
Your fairy legion circles around frantically, they fly about your vicinity, making a maelstrom around your head, they chirp, arguing with each other
September 25, 2018 7:19PMJessica: what's their mood?
like aggressive or just like
kids arguing
September 25, 2018 7:19PMKurt Kerner (GM): who knows. Like, a thousand fairies.... more like kids arguing, or even animals more like
they're not violent
but they're losing the galvanization you gave them
September 25, 2018 7:21PMJessica: Greco-roman is still more home than this place
"Thank you for your hospitality and assistance."
I'm gonna go in
September 25, 2018 7:22PMKurt Kerner (GM): Alright, you're going into an underground cave under a giant humming oak, great!
September 25, 2018 7:22PMJessica: It's not like the rest of my day made sense!
September 25, 2018 7:22PMKurt Kerner (GM): So, your fairies clearly divided, and about 200 of them decided to become your loyalists and follow you til the day they die. ONWARD! They point to the cave, and all fly in bravely.
September 25, 2018 7:23PMJessica: I gotta save Hans from the terrorists
oh dude, singing Be a Man
September 25, 2018 7:23PMKurt Kerner (GM): All 200 of them, they crumble into tons of shiny dust the moment they cross into the cave. A crazy amount of wing flaps and chirping, and now the floor is nicely lit with dust, which the wood quickly absorbs.
September 25, 2018 7:23PMJessica: well that happened
September 25, 2018 7:24PMKurt Kerner (GM): The rest of the fairies argue "told them so" like, and scatter
the cavern is a nice wide and tall space, you can stand straight, it goes up and down, up and down, shrinks to a crawl at some points, but eventually widens again. The flute becomes more prominent, closer, while the humming of the oak retreats to the background and up up up above somewhere
September 25, 2018 7:27PMJessica: I keep crawling/walking towards the flute
September 25, 2018 7:28PMKurt Kerner (GM): There is light ahead. An orange glow.
September 25, 2018 7:28PMJessica: (sidenote: if i lost my black lotus in all that that's fine but i wanna respend that merit point on something related to what just happened if that's cool)
(i dunno how permanent that explosion thing was)
I'm going towards the glow
September 25, 2018 7:32PMKurt Kerner (GM): You arrive to a much wider space, there are candles lit, a table made, red table cloth, with some pretty fancy lavish food. Grapes, lamb, fish, wine, an assortment of bread.
There is actually a fireplace, lit, and a door next to it. By the door, on a decorative carpet - sits the flutist.
A red furred satyr. Just like on Mladen's card.
September 25, 2018 7:34PMSatyr: Noticing you, the Satyr puts down the flute. September 25, 2018 7:35PMJessica: What's his facial expression?'
September 25, 2018 7:36PMKurt Kerner (GM): roll int+academics please
September 25, 2018 7:36PMJessica: rolling 4d10>8!
= 1 Success
September 25, 2018 7:36PMKurt Kerner (GM): Okay
So the facial expression is curious, his tongue is out, his eyes blink more like goat eyes do, with eyelids meeting in the middle, which is freaky. The "face" is a little hard to read, because, you know, goat person creature. But... you do recall some stuff from school, that Satyrs are curious, mischievous, merry, tricky, relatively non malevolent, unless demonized or antagonized, hedonistic, and extremely lustful, so it's perfectly normal for them to be sporting a giant erection. Just like this Satyr is currently doing, a massive 12 inch cock sticking right up.
In greek mythology they were in fact masculine, and were considered woodland gods.
September 25, 2018 7:41PMSatyr: motions with an open palm to the food covered table, inviting you to eat
"Hoot-Hoot."
September 25, 2018 7:43PMJessica: Eating fairy food seems like a bad idea, especially since the dust made me shrink. Jessica swallows and tries really hard not to look at the massive dick. "Good evening sir. Thank you for your generous offer. I came here by way of the old tree. I asked him for safe passage to the Corner of Bellinghausen and Rosenstrasse. Someone is waiting for me and I don't want to be rude. Do you happen to know the way?"
September 25, 2018 7:48PMSatyr: nods enthusiastically.
points to you, and to himself, and then to the door
September 25, 2018 7:49PMJessica: "I'll follow."
September 25, 2018 7:50PMSatyr: he nods, and approaches, pointing to Jessica's lips, and to his own lips, puckers up, and opens hands for a hug September 25, 2018 7:51PMJessica: how do I turn down furry sex with a god without upsetting him? Oh, right. September 25, 2018 7:51PMKurt Kerner (GM): We don't have to go into specifics, but basically, it's a yes or no question, do you or don't you? XD
September 25, 2018 7:52PMJessica: "You are the most handsome satyr I've ever seen, but I actually like girls. I'm sorry."
September 25, 2018 8:00PMKurt Kerner (GM): Somewhere, far away in another reality, Frank is getting chills.
September 25, 2018 8:01PMSatyr: points at you, points to his lips, and to himself, and to the door, he smiles, and cowers a bit, puckers up, and opens for a hug your compliment impresses him, he stomps the ground a bit, brushes his mane, preens his leg fur
September 25, 2018 8:04PMJessica: "I can't kiss you. Will you still help me?"
September 25, 2018 8:09PMSatyr: motions to the food, offering you to take some and rest, he pats the carpet by the fireplace, and motions to the flute and to himself.
: "Hoooot. Hooooot. Hoooot" - his tone is gentle, loving, welcoming.
September 25, 2018 8:11PMJessica: "I can't stay here, sir. I need to get to the Corner of Bellinghausen and Rosenstrasse. Will you please show me the way without sexual favors? Your dinner is lovely but I am running late"
September 25, 2018 8:12PMSatyr: looks at you, scratches his head, and nods. Then opens his palm September 25, 2018 8:13PMJessica: (to take his hand or to show me something?)
September 25, 2018 8:13PMKurt Kerner (GM): let's do wits+academics
September 25, 2018 8:14PMJessica: rolling 5d10>8!
= 0 Successes
fuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuck
September 25, 2018 8:15PMSatyr: looks at you and insistently motions an open palm towards you September 25, 2018 8:15PMKurt Kerner (GM): "Hooot. Hooot."
September 25, 2018 8:15PMJessica: I take his hand?
September 25, 2018 8:15PMKurt Kerner (GM): You do?
September 25, 2018 8:16PMJessica: I mean I failed the roll to know what the gesture was so yeah
I'mma see where he leads me
September 25, 2018 8:23PMKurt Kerner (GM): ((goddamnit. kids are home.))
((i tried to survive as long as i could and hide))
((i was sure we'd make it, but what was i thinking?!))
((be back in a bit))
September 25, 2018 8:24PMJessica: kk
September 25, 2018 8:34PMSatyr: takes your hand, leads you over to the table, and puts your hand on his chest He offers you food, and then points to the door, then to you, then to himself, then back to you.
September 25, 2018 8:35PMKurt Kerner (GM): "Hoot Hoot Hoot!" - enthusiastic
September 25, 2018 8:36PMJessica: "I am actually really confused right now."
September 25, 2018 8:41PMSatyr: he takes your hand with his right hand, and rubs it on his manly-goatly furry chest; his other hand, he motions to the door, and then distinctly to the flute, to the food, or to his lips September 25, 2018 8:43PMJessica: She pets his chest. "So I pet you and then we leave...I don't get the other parts."
September 25, 2018 8:55PMSatyr: : "Hoot hoot!" -
excitedly, the creature puts your hand on the cup of red wine (two cups are already poured), and points for you to sit September 25, 2018 8:55PMJessica: (I didn't get your response, had to reload, sorry)
September 25, 2018 8:56PMKurt Kerner (GM): Satyr: he takes your hand with his right hand, and rubs it on his manly-goatly furry chest; his other hand, he motions to the door, and then distinctly to the flute, to the food, or to his lips
Jessica: She pets his chest. "So I pet you and then we leave...I don't get the other parts."
Satyr: : "Hoot hoot!" - excitedly, the creature puts your hand on the cup of red wine (two cups are already poured), and points for you to sit
September 25, 2018 8:56PMJessica: Jessica sits. "If we get drunk you can't show me where we are going."
September 25, 2018 8:57PMSatyr: waves that away and nods many times, pointing to the door, then urges you to bring the cup to your lips, then he walks over to pick up the flute, and sits beside you, smiling, petting your hair a few times, and starting to play a merry tune September 25, 2018 8:58PMJessica: I'mma pretend to drink but not drink
September 25, 2018 8:58PMKurt Kerner (GM): dex + subterfuge
September 25, 2018 8:58PMJessica: how many extra dice for specialty?
3?
September 25, 2018 8:59PMKurt Kerner (GM): Bluff, yeah nice, 3
that's.... a perfect specialty XD
for this very thing
September 25, 2018 8:59PMJessica: rolling 8d10>8!
= 2 Successes
September 25, 2018 9:01PMKurt Kerner (GM): *You pull it off just fine, bring it to the lips, but don't drink it. The wine does smell amazing, it's nothing of the ones found in "our world?" you could say. This is something far, far older, it's curiously so. But you don't drink it.
The creature plays some really exquisite music. He is skilled and clearly ancient, this melody is from another... world... haha.
September 25, 2018 9:02PMSatyr: is happy, he looks at you, reveling in your company
September 25, 2018 9:04PMJessica: Jessica enjoys the music, waiting for a cue of some kind that they're ready to go. All these fae are so hard to read
September 25, 2018 9:06PMSatyr: finishes the melody and hands her the flute September 25, 2018 9:06PMJessica: "I don't know how to play. I can draw."
September 25, 2018 9:07PMSatyr: nods and claps his hands, putting the flute down on the table, and bringing a quill and some ... is that real parchment? Yes it is.*
September 25, 2018 9:08PMJessica: "I don't know how to use a quill but I'll try."
September 25, 2018 9:08PMSatyr: he appears to have no ink anywhere around the table... he looks into the chest in the corner of the cavern, not finding it... he points at your bandaged hand September 25, 2018 9:09PMJessica: Jessica feels slightly alarmed. "No. I'm not drawing in blood. How about I do a charcoal drawing? I'm sure we can find a piece in the fireplace.'
September 25, 2018 9:10PMSatyr: nods, and points to the parchment, then to himself, then strikes a pose. "Hoot hoot!"
September 25, 2018 9:11PMJessica: (is there like an ash shovel or something to use to get a piece out?)
September 25, 2018 9:12PMSatyr: 's pose is truly heroic, especially the giant phallus. He totally lets you do all the dirty work. There is no ash shovel. There are some rocks though that might do.
September 25, 2018 9:13PMJessica: That's fine. So I get the charcoal out as carefully as possible.
This dude probably digs porn Jessica draws the Satyr and adds faeries doing degenerate things to him and seeming to enjoy it
September 25, 2018 9:20PMSatyr: "Hooot! Hooot! Hooot! Hooot!"
September 25, 2018 9:21PMKurt Kerner (GM): How good a job are you doing? Pretty elaborate?
Like, from 0 being stick figure to 10 being a well lined and shadowed pro charcoal drawing
September 25, 2018 9:21PMJessica: 7-9
like Deviant art tier
I don't think she usually uses charcoal
September 25, 2018 9:22PMKurt Kerner (GM): ooookay, so you're willing to spend a considerable amount of time doing it
September 25, 2018 9:22PMJessica: I wouldn't say considerable
If you can draw you can draw
plebs take forever
September 25, 2018 9:23PMKurt Kerner (GM): Good point! Let's see how you do
Dex + Expression to draw him well
September 25, 2018 9:24PMJessica: rolling 4d10>8!
= 1 Success
okay so maybe closer to 5
still
September 25, 2018 9:25PMKurt Kerner (GM): It's a decent job. If you wanna embellish him, like capture him extra well, or make his horns or cock like 5 inches bigger or make him more muscular, let's do Wits + Expression, to add to quality
September 25, 2018 9:26PMJessica: rolling 6d10>8!
= 3 Successes
Horns are so huge
September 25, 2018 9:26PMKurt Kerner (GM): well, yeah. What you lack in technique, you make up in flattery
You can opt to spend more time on it to get it better. Up to you how much you want to work on it.
September 25, 2018 9:27PMJessica: we've already been here a while and i've seen people murdered by small bites and non-euclidean mountains, i'm kinda wanting to fucking go home at this point
September 25, 2018 9:27PMSatyr: is smiling wide, nodding, trying to not break the pose. Mid-way as you draw the fairies, he just starts jerking off.
September 25, 2018 9:28PMJessica: Jessica's face burns red as she finishes the the drawing
Jessica will stall finishing while he jerks off
I don't wanna try to have a conversation with a goat man while he's wanking
September 25, 2018 9:29PMKurt Kerner (GM): A solid call
September 25, 2018 9:29PMJessica: Add a fairy squeezing milk out of her tits onto the scene
September 25, 2018 9:30PMSatyr: "Hoot hoot!" with all the predictable circumstances that fly all over the place. The Satyr turns from red to blue, the color of the deck you were using.
September 25, 2018 9:31PMJessica: Jessica uses the parchment as a cumshield if necessary
"Um, will you take me to the Corner of Bellinghausen and Rosenstrasse now?" Jessica says a bit timidly
September 25, 2018 9:34PMSatyr: nods enthusiastically, and jumps up and down, admiring his painting, and dances.... for a while. September 25, 2018 9:35PMKurt Kerner (GM): Don't know how much Jess knows about male anatomy, but this motherfucker does not have a refractory period. He is permanently erect.
September 25, 2018 9:35PMJessica: So blue wasn't down state he's just blue now
Jessica goes to the door and opens it. "Lead the way?"
September 25, 2018 9:41PMSatyr: he holds a finger up, like one moment, and takes a knife from the table, pointing at her hair - points at her hair, gives her the knife, points to himself, as in, to keep.
September 25, 2018 9:43PMJessica: He made her real nervous for a second when he took the knife out. "Yeah sure." She sort of saws off a lock since knives aren't really made for that. "Now we go?"
(if he doesn't ask for the knife back she will keep it)
September 25, 2018 9:45PMSatyr: does point at the knife.
September 25, 2018 9:45PMJessica: She'll hand it back
September 25, 2018 9:45PMSatyr: motions to put it on the table.
September 25, 2018 9:45PMJessica: done
September 25, 2018 9:45PMSatyr: jumps up and down, and rubs a lock of her hair on his penis, (excessively lovingly, which is disturbing), before stashing it into the chest. "Hoot! Hoot!"
September 25, 2018 9:45PMKurt Kerner (GM): He points to the door, then to your assault rifle, like, don't forget that. (assuming she put it down to draw)
September 25, 2018 9:46PMJessica: any time it's not been in hand it's been slung from her shoulder. she's in cuckoo land and it's her only weapon
September 25, 2018 9:46PMKurt Kerner (GM): ok
September 25, 2018 9:46PMJessica: her shoulder's probably sore
September 25, 2018 9:46PMKurt Kerner (GM): oh, very
her strength is 1
she has a welt
September 25, 2018 9:47PMJessica: better than being dead
September 25, 2018 9:47PMKurt Kerner (GM): no argument there
September 25, 2018 9:47PMSatyr: offers her some food and wine once more.
September 25, 2018 9:48PMJessica: "Sir I really need to get to the Corner of Bellinghausen and Rosenstrasse. Please show me now or I'll have to leave by myself."
September 25, 2018 9:49PMSatyr: nods several times, holds up a hand, takes the painting, and marvels at it, choosing where to hang it. Picks a wall above the fireplace, and using cum as glue, hangs it.
September 25, 2018 9:50PMJessica: Are they leaving now?
September 25, 2018 9:52PMKurt Kerner (GM): Satyr certainly does not look in a hurry, but being reminded, nods. Just to make sure she isn't done for a final rump, he points to his cock in question.
September 25, 2018 9:52PMJessica: "Corner of Bellinghausen and Rosenstrasse."
September 25, 2018 9:55PMSatyr: nods, and opens the door. The door leads into the closet. He draws a rune in the door frame with his furry hand, and sparkly blue glow traces the circumference, warping the place in an amazing effect you have never seen. You've seen portals in movies and anime, but in reality, it was nothing like that. It was just.... different, incomprehensible. Although, somehow, yet, now that you've seen it, your brain goes like "duh, how else would a spacial warp look, of course it's that!"
September 25, 2018 9:55PMJessica: lol
Is it...the Corner of Bellinghausen and Rosenstrasse?
X)
September 25, 2018 9:56PMKurt Kerner (GM): Outside the door, in the portal, there's a literal drop off, revealing you THIS. But.... bigger. Like, waaaaay bigger. It's the closest i could find, but it's way bigger
It's a stone porch in a steep cliff, overlooking the biggest valley you've ever seen, it's so colossal there is an immediate vertigo
And the tower.... looks like this
It is RIDICULOUSLY far in the distance, between you lie countless swampy forests like the one you came out of
There are countless quadrillions of fairies, human-sized fae, creatures of all sorts of awe, centaurs, satyrs, giant winged men, deer, unicorns, all kinds of mythical things, all of them radiating, playing, casting, spreading myriads of enchanted lights.
You get that Land Before Time Valley Beyond feeling
September 25, 2018 10:01PMKurt Kerner (GM): That Welcome to Jurassic Park feeling
Except so much more intense, because the tower, adorned with the Lunargent Thorn at its top is simply humongous. Its top rests in the cloudy skies, and it is by far bigger than the biggest of the Earth's towers
Like, 10 Burj-Kalifas and more
September 25, 2018 10:03PMSatyr: points to the top of the tower, then to you, and you get the feeling that the corner of Bellinghausen and Rosenstrasse is a long term project.
September 25, 2018 10:05PMKurt Kerner (GM): What you do not see among the assfucking plethora of this LSD induced madnass:
- Anything dead or skeletal
- Demons
- Dragons
- Angels or any kind of energy elementals
September 25, 2018 10:05PMKurt Kerner (GM): All creatures here are... what you would call, woodland mythical.
September 25, 2018 10:05PMJessica: Jessica's face whitens and as the scale of everything hits her, the events of the day, which she's been holding back from processing because of the immediacy of the need to leave, start to hit her. Her lip quivers, and her face crumples a little, then a lot, and then she just starts crying.
"How am I supposed to get home?" she's not even asking the satyr, she's just upset
September 25, 2018 10:07PMKurt Kerner (GM): Is she in despair?
September 25, 2018 10:07PMJessica: yeah, pretty much
September 25, 2018 10:07PMKurt Kerner (GM): Let's see if hope is still there
Resolve + Composure
September 25, 2018 10:08PMJessica: rolling 6d10>8!
= 2 Successes
September 25, 2018 10:11PMSatyr: *his face is crushingly worried, like "aw no no no no no", but he just says "Hoot... Hoot." He holds up her chin, and points to the tower.
September 25, 2018 10:12PMKurt Kerner (GM): Your spirit doesn't break. Yeah, it's bad. But there's food. You're alive. You're armed. Maybe you got killed in that van and maybe this is afterlife where you hang with satyrs for eternity. But what if it isn't.
Nah, man, fuck it, Jessica, cheer up, do it. You get up and you get to that place.
September 25, 2018 10:14PMJessica: Jessica wipes her face and grimaces at herself for what she's about to ask. "Is there a shortcut?"
September 25, 2018 10:18PMSatyr: nods. He holds up number one. He points to you, then points to the painting. Points to himself, points to his home.
September 25, 2018 10:18PMKurt Kerner (GM): He holds up two fingers, number two.
He points to your cut lock of hair, and points to himself, and the door and the portal he made you.
He holds up 3 fingers for number three.
To himself. To the tower.
September 25, 2018 10:18PMKurt Kerner (GM): Then to you. And questions... to his lips? Xo xo xo xo xo
September 25, 2018 10:19PMJessica: Alright, I'll give him a kiss, but I'm not fucking him
September 25, 2018 10:20PMKurt Kerner (GM): Ew, I don't need to know that. There's always mountain climbing and survival skills.
September 25, 2018 10:20PMJessica: you just fucking asked!
September 25, 2018 10:20PMSatyr: he is ecstatic, leaning in, all Satyrlike and shit
September 25, 2018 10:21PMJessica: smooch. no tongue
September 25, 2018 10:21PMKurt Kerner (GM): that wasn't so bad, was it
resolve + composure?
September 25, 2018 10:22PMJessica: rolling 6d10>8!
= 3 Successes
September 25, 2018 10:22PMKurt Kerner (GM): pfft, all day every day ez pz
September 25, 2018 10:22PMSatyr: "Hoot Hoot!"
September 25, 2018 10:22PMJessica: I did all this and none of it can go on my application to art school
September 25, 2018 10:24PMSatyr: puts both of his palms on the stone porch into nowhere, and a light glimmering bridge of blue dust forms downward through the air, which would be saving you a lot of time. It forms like so. September 25, 2018 10:25PMKurt Kerner (GM): It's a loooooooooooooooooooooooong ass walk. But it's a straight walk down. Without having to cross the terrain.
((I am amazed at how you looking for shortcuts and singing had changed my original plan for this journey.))
September 25, 2018 10:26PMJessica: (i always ask the natives, they know better. ESPECIALLY when physics is fucked)
September 25, 2018 10:26PMKurt Kerner (GM): ((physics is beyond fucked here yup yup.))
September 25, 2018 10:27PMJessica: (I almost asked for a horse at the beginning but i realized i would roll poorly and it might have teeth and try to eat me or something)
September 25, 2018 10:27PMKurt Kerner (GM): You'd be probably really glad for this favor, considering that down below you see stuff like 9 foot tall deer-horned fae in chariots riding moose and hunting other fae with spears. It's not completely peaceful, it gets rowdy and this world has its own predator hierarchy*
September 25, 2018 10:28PMJessica: shit
yep
just kidding guys, coral's playing a changeling
September 25, 2018 10:49PMKurt Kerner (GM): ((you are not all that wrong.... it's very close, just like next door))
((it's just mages, when they get strong enough, can bend fae into baloon animal shapes. fae be like citizens / lord of the world, where as mages are like.... well....))
September 25, 2018 10:51PMJessica: mages are op
September 25, 2018 10:51PMKurt Kerner (GM): yeah, like, gods
that said, there are many shitty mages who were eaten by vampires, fae, werewolves, and other lesser beings
just because mages are hard to start, they're helpless when they're babies
omg mages are the humans, when other supernaturals are like, animals XD
September 25, 2018 10:53PMJessica: nom nom nom
September 25, 2018 10:53PMKurt Kerner (GM): Anyhow.
September 25, 2018 10:55PMSatyr: points to the tower, and then smiles, coyly, suggesting a 4th exchange, he lifts 4 fingers, and motions to himself, makes a walking motion, motions to you, to both of you together, and towards the tower.
September 25, 2018 10:55PMKurt Kerner (GM): Then points to you, and to the spot at the fireplace, and makes some lewd motions, making the offer clear.
September 25, 2018 10:56PMSatyr: "Hoot-hoot"
September 25, 2018 10:57PMJessica: Jessica gives thought to a suitable counter-offer. "Are you able to go back to where I am from?"
September 25, 2018 10:57PMSatyr: "Hooooot?"
September 25, 2018 10:57PMJessica: Seems doubtful but then where did the Greeks know about satyrs from?
"Can you leave..." she gestures at the whole...world. "Can you leave this place?
September 25, 2018 10:58PMSatyr: nods
September 25, 2018 10:58PMJessica: "Can you go to Germany?"
September 25, 2018 10:58PMSatyr: "Hooooot?"
September 25, 2018 11:00PMJessica: "Where people like me are from. Can you actually go to the corner of Bellinghausen and Rosenstrasse or can you only show me?"
September 25, 2018 11:02PMSatyr: nods, and motions to you, to his phallus, and to the place by the fireplace, gently beckoning you over, but not asserting any force. He points to himself, to you, to your cut on the hand, to the wine. "Hoooo-hooot. Hoooot. Hoo-hoo-hooot"
twirls his tongue, producing sophisticated whistles
September 25, 2018 11:03PMJessica: "I have a counter offer for number four." She holds up four fingers.
September 25, 2018 11:03PMSatyr: listens
September 25, 2018 11:04PMJessica: "You," points, "me," points, "Go to the top of the tower. You go with me to the corner of Bellinghausen and Rosenstrasse. I will buy you two prostitutes in Germany. Two girls. Hoot hoot."
September 25, 2018 11:07PMSatyr: points to you, then to his heart. Then to himself, then to your heart. He sends you many kisses. He motions two, shakes his head. Motions to you, nods enthusiastically.
September 25, 2018 11:09PMJessica: "Sex is... a lot. Is there something else you want?"
September 25, 2018 11:09PMSatyr: points to your bandaged hand
September 25, 2018 11:09PMJessica: "What about it?"
September 25, 2018 11:09PMSatyr: licks his lips, flicking his tongue out
September 25, 2018 11:10PMJessica: "You want to lick it?"
September 25, 2018 11:10PMSatyr: nods
September 25, 2018 11:11PMJessica: "No biting. Or sucking."
September 25, 2018 11:11PMSatyr: shakes his head, points to your hand, points to his stomach, makes a drinking gesture. "Hoot hoot!"
nods enthusiastically, jumps up and down.
September 25, 2018 11:12PMJessica: That's creepy as fuck. September 25, 2018 11:12PMKurt Kerner (GM): Are you afraid?
September 25, 2018 11:12PMJessica: Jessica looks up at the tower that seems too tall for the atmosphere and certainly too tall for the size of its supporting structures
It's hard to answer 'cause he's not being threatening
he hasn't been threatening the whole time
he's just fucking weird like everything else here
I'm weirded out for sure
Not in a super great place to argue with him though. it's not like i can make him help me and i can't do it by myself
September 25, 2018 11:15PMKurt Kerner (GM): There is fog, thick fog at the foot of the mountain you're on. Same kind of fog you "landed" in when you appeared here.
September 25, 2018 11:16PMJessica: implying i can get back that way?
or what?
September 25, 2018 11:16PMKurt Kerner (GM): hmmm....
well, let's see if Jessica can piece it together for us. Wits + Composure, looking at the fog?
September 25, 2018 11:18PMJessica: rolling 7d10>8!
= 3 Successes
September 25, 2018 11:20PMKurt Kerner (GM): Jessica pieces it together.
The fog was bad when you were scared or stood still, aimless.
Things in the fog tended to bite. Snowball effect.
The fog retreated when you were singing, moving.... doing.
It seems to be a guard force, waiting for you to mess up or despair. It crept up to the mountain, but it doesn't seem to be moving.
The fog makes things sink.
September 25, 2018 11:22PMJessica: is it near in a way that makes me think it's related to my panic earlier or the fact that i'm negotiating or is it like far away and possibly connected to another person?
September 25, 2018 11:23PMKurt Kerner (GM): It came near when you started crying. It stopped when you got a grip.
((illustrating where fog is))
September 25, 2018 11:23PMJessica: okay cool
Jessica unwraps her bandage. "No biting or sucking," she repeats. She kind of wrinkles her nose and doesn't look once he starts licking though 'cause it's gross.
Any amount of teeth and she'll jerk her hand away
September 25, 2018 11:25PMSatyr: taps her, and makes sucking motions in the air, nods repeatedly.
shows with hand, her wound, his mouth, his belly, and makes lip sucking and tongue licking antics.
September 25, 2018 11:26PMJessica: He's communicating that he wants to suck on it?
September 25, 2018 11:27PMKurt Kerner (GM): He nods if you clarify it that way
September 25, 2018 11:27PMJessica: "I need my blood. You can't just have it."
"The deal was you could lick it."
September 25, 2018 11:27PMSatyr: motions "a little"
September 25, 2018 11:28PMJessica: "How much is a little?"
September 25, 2018 11:28PMSatyr: shakes head, saying: "Hoooo-hooot, hooo-hoooot."
: wiggles his palm up and down, like, eh, give or take, then shrugs.
points to her heart, points to his heart, points to her head, points to his head, points to his mouth, points to her ear, points to her wound, makes sucking lips
September 25, 2018 11:30PMJessica: "Like, a whole mouthful would probably make me pass out and would hurt like a fucking bitch. I need to know how much is a little. Like a sip?"
September 25, 2018 11:30PMSatyr: nods, and shrugs, and nods some more, and shrugs
September 25, 2018 11:30PMJessica: "If I say stop you have to stop."
September 25, 2018 11:30PMSatyr: nods.
September 25, 2018 11:31PMKurt Kerner (GM): "Hooot Hooot"
September 25, 2018 11:31PMJessica: Jessica has a hard time offering him her hand. It's like trying to touch fire on purpose.
But she offers it
September 25, 2018 11:33PMSatyr: gently takes her hand, puts his lips to the wound, which, he does so timidly, it does not hurt nearly at all, feels surprisingly okay, and wiggles the wound open with his slithering tongue, that part does hurt. Then he gulp gulp gulp, sucks her blood. The wound is small, so it takes some time.*
September 25, 2018 11:34PMJessica: Jessica glances at it now and then but otherwise avoids looking at it
September 25, 2018 11:37PMSatyr: sucks and sucks and sucks for a while, and occasionally flicks his tongue and slides it up and down the arm, almost to the elbow, lustfully, and kind of.... ahem, worshippingly?
"Mmmm... Mmmm.... Yesss.... Yess... So beautiful."
September 25, 2018 11:38PMJessica: is he sucking so much cause it's a small wound or is he going vampire on me? what's my skin tone like during this process?
is it going pale?
September 25, 2018 11:38PMKurt Kerner (GM): He probably took half a pint
I mean
what's your Medicine skill? Yeah.
You're feeling a bit like when you get your blood drawn for donation
if she ever done that
Maybe a little light headed, yeah
September 25, 2018 11:39PMJessica: "Stop." He was starting to freak her out.
September 25, 2018 11:40PMSatyr: stops. "Yess, Yess."
September 25, 2018 11:42PMJessica: Jessica is shaken. She tries to ask about the tower and just points instead. "Please."
September 25, 2018 11:43PMSatyr: "Yes, you must go. I can come. I can help. Spend the night with me, maiden."
September 25, 2018 11:45PMJessica: She realizes that he said something besides "hoot." It startles her. "I can't. I need to get to the corner of Bellinghausen and Rosenstrasse. We made a deal."
September 25, 2018 11:47PMSatyr: : "You understand? Good. It works. More blood. I can come if you spend the night. Listen to my flute. Play it. Let me love you. You do not understand."
"I need more. I live here. You - live up there." - He points at the tower.
September 25, 2018 11:48PMJessica: "Why do you need blood for that?"
September 25, 2018 11:48PMSatyr: : "A little more blood, and I can answer that."
"Yes? I cannot take. You must give."
September 25, 2018 11:49PMJessica: "I don't understand. I don't want to have sex with you. You're scaring me."
September 25, 2018 11:50PMKurt Kerner (GM): Are you scared?
September 25, 2018 11:50PMJessica: he's pushing past weird into creepy and scary yeah
September 25, 2018 11:51PMKurt Kerner (GM): The fog slowly rises below the mountains, humidity slightly shifts. There's still a ways for it though.
September 25, 2018 11:53PMSatyr: "Beloved.... Maiden... You are safe here. But not in the fog. I learn. You learn. You understand language now. You need more. I need more. I can help you. Trust me."
September 25, 2018 11:56PMJessica: "I don't want to have sex with you and let you drink my blood. I want to go home. This place is awful. I hate it." She's starting to tear up again. Images of the fairies eating those guys' faces off. "I know I need to calm down but you need to stop asking if you can eat me!"
September 25, 2018 11:57PMSatyr: "No! No! No eat! I am friend! I need more blood. Things will be better! Good! I have food here. Eat, drink, rest! Don't be scared! I love you! You make art! You give hair!"
September 25, 2018 11:58PMJessica: "The blood is part of me. If you take it all I'll die. Why do you need it? The fairies ate it and they didn't change."
September 25, 2018 11:59PMSatyr: "Bah! Fairies. Meresome pixies! Glubbersome knuckletons! Varmint."
September 26, 2018 12:00AMJessica: XD
September 26, 2018 12:00AMSatyr: : "You and I. Together. You must go there, to tower. To your home. I can stay. Or I can help. Cannot go, without more you, in me."
September 26, 2018 12:01AMJessica: "What do you mean help?"
September 26, 2018 12:01AMSatyr: : "Protect. Show way. Come with you."
September 26, 2018 12:02AMJessica: "You can't just walk around up there. People don't think you're real. I'm pretty sure i'm crazy."
"I know my way up there. I have a job and a family and hobbies. I'm not lost up there."
September 26, 2018 12:03AMSatyr: nods "Yes. Go. Up there."
: "Real? What real? More blood. A little more."
: "A little blood, a little love, a little music."
September 26, 2018 12:07AMJessica: She looked up at the tower. "Do you know what's happening to me?"
(i need to sleep, this is fun though)
September 26, 2018 12:09AMSatyr: "Not yet. Need more. Soon. A little more. You are from there. This I know now."
- he points at the Tower
September 26, 2018 12:10AMKurt Kerner (GM): ((okay. pick up tomorrow))
September 26, 2018 8:28AMJessica: Jessica just wanted to be safe and normal. "I just want to go--"
home. A rather intrusive thought hits Jessica.
Home isn't safe. There was a terrorist organization waiting back home, who knew her name. Jessica rubbed the place where they had tried to drug her with the IV. The satyr was asking for sex but she could have already been
raped and
tortured and
murdered by now if it weren't for the ambulance falling in...whatever this was. They weren't a bunch of extremists with homemade bombs, they had fake ids and a fucking
ambulance and they
knew her name. What if her family was next? What was she going to do, try to shoot them with this gun she didn't know how to use?
"If--if I agree to um, love and music, you'll go with me, and you'll protect me? Can you do your magic up there? There's really bad men after me. With more of these." She motions with the gun. "Do you know how to deal with these?"
I am playing from phone bc our internet is borked. Please excuse issues if they occur
Jessica just wanted to be safe and normal. "I just want to go--" home. A rather intrusive thought hits Jessica. Home isn't safe. There was a terrorist organization waiting back home, who knew her name. Jessica rubbed the place where they had tried to drug her with the IV. The satyr was asking for sex but she could have already been raped and tortured and murdered by now if it weren't for the ambulance falling in...whatever this was. They weren't a bunch of extremists with homemade bombs, they had fake ids and a fucking ambulance and they knew her name. What if her family was next? What was she going to do, try to shoot them with this gun she didn't know how to use?
"If--if I agree to um, love and music, you'll go with me, and you'll protect me? Can you do your magic up there? There's really bad men after me. With more of these." She motions with the gun. "Do you know how to deal with these?"
September 26, 2018 2:45PMSatyr: The creature smiles, reaching up to stroke her hair, comforting. His tone is gentle and soothing "Yes. Love. A good maiden, gentle maiden. Share music, share night. I protect, I come. I do magic. You do magic. You are magic. Bad men. With these. What these? What this?"
September 26, 2018 2:45PMKurt Kerner (GM): The Satyr looks at a rifle curiously.
September 26, 2018 2:47PMJessica: She blushes some, both at the familiar touching and also because she realizes she doesn't really know how to explain the rifle. "I-It's hard to explain. It kills things you point it at. I killed a fairy with it earlier, I think. But it works really different here. They tried to use it on me and then I fell in here."
September 26, 2018 2:50PMSatyr: looks at Jessica, clearly trying to understand. Notably, now Jessica can read facial expressions of the Satyr as well. He does look concerned. September 26, 2018 2:50PMKurt Kerner (GM): "Eat, drink, enjoy flute, come, come, beautisome dame. Spledorlike wanderlust. Ek-ek-ek...." - The Satyr struggles to find complex words. "Need more. I need more."
September 26, 2018 2:50PMJessica: She offers her hand. It's trembling a little.
September 26, 2018 2:54PMSatyr: He leads you to the table, and pulls out a chair. The charcoal painting you made for him, stuck to a cave wall with some sticky satyr-cum stains, carries the smile you drew him, punctuating the situation. The Satyr fixes you a plate of grapes, plums, lamb, venison, salmon, sweet bread, and hands you the wine. Now he realized you did not drink any, since the goblet doesn't need a refill. But he is not upset. His movements are in fact slightly more refined than when you met him. He is less.... "wild" September 26, 2018 2:57PMJessica: Jessica actually drinks this time. She's gonna get sloppy drunk before she does anything else.
September 26, 2018 3:02PMSatyr: takes the flute, and plays a sweet and merry tune. It is not one Jessica has ever heard, but it pulls at the heart strings, and has enough cheerful aggression to let her feel that she'll pull through and everything will be okay. The Satyr's blueish hue fades a little to become less eerie. And when Jessica drinks the wine, a little sparkle forms on his flute. The Satyr half-lays on the floor at Jessica's feet, and puts his shaggy horned head half way in her lap, just to feel her thigh with the back of his head. He continues playing. As the music flows, the food smells delicious and fresh. September 26, 2018 3:02PMKurt Kerner (GM): The wine is fucking amazing. Has Jessica ever been to ren faires?
September 26, 2018 3:03PMJessica: No. That's not Jessica's thing. Coral has.
It's been a while since Jessica's eaten + lots of exercise + emotional trauma + loss of blood
so I think it's fair to say the food also has a lot of her attention
September 26, 2018 3:07PMKurt Kerner (GM): So Coral understands, but Jessica has this kind of all brand new. Compared to modern wines, most people would say truly ancient wine is crap. But if you really have the taste for it, the tartness and the tang of it, the raw sour and bitter punch of it - are definitely an acquired liking. It would probably feel either disgusting or exquisite, depending on her tastes. But it's definitely something unique. The effect becomes more pleasant the more she eats.*
September 26, 2018 3:09PMJessica: I'd say she finds the flavor too strong at first then but she's drinking to get drunk so w/e.
September 26, 2018 3:09PMSatyr: there are changes to the Satyr as well. As she drinks and eats, more sparkles run around his features. As he plays for her, she really gets that impression that he's playing his best shit, putting his heart into it. In an interlude, he looks at her painting of him, being pleasured by fairies, and suddenly, he looks in awe, as if a sense of sophistication awakened in his mind.*
September 26, 2018 3:10PMKurt Kerner (GM): The Satyr's face and intent become easier to read. He seems more and more like a person than like a strange beast.
September 26, 2018 3:10PMSatyr: , in a very different voice, much more humanly pleasing to the ear:
September 26, 2018 3:10PMKurt Kerner (GM): "My goodness, such fine artwork demands a proper frame, don't you think?"
September 26, 2018 3:11PMJessica: Jessica is so surprised by that particular question she coughs on the wine. "I um, sure. Do you have one?"
September 26, 2018 3:14PMSatyr: smiles, and points the flute at the painting, like it were a wand "I have something better. A bit of you." - he says so breathlessly in a half whisper, as if they were pillow confessions of a lover. His free hand plays idly with Jessica's hair.
September 26, 2018 3:14PMKurt Kerner (GM): A little blue spark shoot from the flute, and the cum botches vanish, while a solid ornate dark wood frame shapes itself around the otherwise unchanged painting.*
September 26, 2018 3:16PMSatyr: : "Much better, my dear. Oh, dear, dear muse. I see your beauty more and more clearly now. So complex, so troubled."
notices Jessica coughing, and touches the goblet with his fingertips, the claws of which have greatly diminished, into just really long nails. The wine becomes a easier to consume.
September 26, 2018 3:21PMJessica: The magic and transformation have Jessica's attention like it would anyone in her situation. "Is it easy for you to do magic?" The music and wine are doing their work to make her feel more relaxed, and her mind is wandering a bit to questions
September 26, 2018 3:24PMSatyr: plays the flute, eats, and drinks as well, and will converse in the interludes and answer whenever Jessica asks. He also periodically plays with her hair and shoulders. His blue eyes gaze lovingly.
September 26, 2018 3:24PMKurt Kerner (GM): "Everything is magic. It is easy when I have a source. My own magic is little, small enough to keep this humble home. But your magic is real, large, it is not a reflection, but a flame. A flame I lit a candle from."
September 26, 2018 3:26PMJessica: Jessica snorts. "What do you mean? I'm not magic. Magic isn't real up there. None of us have magic. Humans don't even believe in magic."
September 26, 2018 3:26PMSatyr: will whisper sweetnesses, play, and caress her continuously
"Oh my muse, how ever humble. I am too simple still, to explain, or to understand. But this I know - you are magic. Before meeting you, I was a lonely wanderer for many thousands of years. The last visitor I recall helped me create this place. I cannot remember what was before that. Perhaps I roamed the world as a simple beast. The understanding you seek is up there, in that tower. I made you a bridge to help you pass, but I must be more than I am now to travel with you."
: "This hunger... this passion I feel... for your light... it consumes, it draws, my maiden, my muse. Tell me about your world, tell me of your tastes and pleasures. Do you find wine to your liking? I sense in you a love for creation, for art, for games."
September 26, 2018 3:37PMJessica: Jessica is a bit tipsy from drinking ancient wine on a light-headed empty stomach before she even started eating, and that is a complicated question. She makes sort of a funny face as she thinks about it. The first thing that comes to mind is technology, but that's impossible to describe with no background whatsoever. She starts thinking about this place instead. "It's really just...plain. The world doesn't move and change like here. If I take three steps that way it will still be three steps back. And we don't have fairies. Or anything that's here really. We have just regular animals and bugs and stuff. And there's no magic. The weather doesn't change with your mood and the trees don't hum. Everything just sort of exists I guess." That's the best her brain can do with that much wine.
She's already forgotten his other questions
September 26, 2018 3:39PMSatyr: listens with interest.
September 26, 2018 3:39PMKurt Kerner (GM): "Does your heart live in that world? Or does it yearn another?"
September 26, 2018 3:41PMJessica: She giggles a little. "I didn't know other world's existed! I don't like this one very much though. It's really scary. Are there other world's besides this one and mine?" She looks pleased with herself in a guileless drunk sort of way for thinking of the question
September 26, 2018 3:43PMKurt Kerner (GM): ((so, Jessica's profile says she is blonde but the avatar is red, what color is the hair currently?))
September 26, 2018 3:44PMJessica: (red is fine? I just liked that Avatar. If I said blond people would forget because the Avatar is red so red)
September 26, 2018 3:45PMKurt Kerner (GM): ((ok, feel free to retcon it in the backstory. it also says she doesnt dye her hair))
September 26, 2018 3:45PMJessica: (fair)
September 26, 2018 3:45PMKurt Kerner (GM): ((natural color is red then, cool))
((asking coz Satyr doesnt see the dye ))
September 26, 2018 3:45PMJessica: (I mean I wrote it like two years ago so)
September 26, 2018 3:46PMKurt Kerner (GM): ((yeah understandable, not an issue))
September 26, 2018 3:49PMSatyr: looks into her eyes. A brush of the hair, a stroke on the cheek. "Countless worlds exist in your beautiful eyes. Their oaken depths hide forests and fields only you can traverse. Take me on the journey, Enchantress. Fear not. I will keep you safe."
"We shall walk hand in hand along the paths of Fate, my crimson valpurgia. Your mind is of a valkyrie, a harpy. You command battles and rule worlds. You control time. I see so much."
September 26, 2018 3:53PMJessica: "what's a valpurgia?"
September 26, 2018 3:55PMSatyr: "A most noble dame, who fights alongside men and defeats them, and refuses to hide her hair or her breast. She comes with courage and vigor"
tells you a story of an ancient manuscript detailing exploits of a group of knights and their methods of training to perfect their art. Amongst them was a woman, dubbed Walpurgis, who later was named abbess and was knighted.
September 26, 2018 3:59PMJessica: Jessica pays as much attention as she can but sort of gets a glazed look whenever concepts get complicated. "You're really smart."
September 26, 2018 4:02PMSatyr: : "Your praise is silk and sweet fruit, pleasuresome music upon my ears. Come."
September 26, 2018 4:02PMKurt Kerner (GM): He gently takes your hand and offers to follow him to the rug by the fireplace.... which... woah, well, that's a change. That's not a rug but a fancy elk hide, and that fireplace is twice as big and looks like that in some fancy houses, with candelabras decorating it.
please roll resolve + composure
September 26, 2018 4:03PMJessica: (it's really hard on my phone to do that. Gimme a sec to see if I can make it easier. I don't mind you rolling if you want)
September 26, 2018 4:04PMKurt Kerner (GM): ((hell no. bad juju))
September 26, 2018 4:05PMJessica: rolling 6d10>8!
= 2 Successes
(yay luckamancer)
September 26, 2018 4:10PMKurt Kerner (GM): Your feel like you are not being coerced. Not by the wine, nor by the magic. Relaxed, sure. Coerced - not. Your decisions as far as you can feel, are you own, and you are in control.
September 26, 2018 4:13PMJessica: Jessica refills her wine and joins him
September 26, 2018 4:17PMSatyr: *kneels with you on the hide, lays you down, and at this point, the moment that in Jessica's mind, the acceptance of it kind of clicks, he goes through a serious stage of transformations. He becomes taller, more muscular, more slim, a lot less hairy, even on the legs, no hair above the knee, no goat tail, and his face changes, and this is the neat part, to Jessica's most sexually preferred male type. And if she's into girls, he looks more feminine. His equipment becomes more manageable size too. Hair, facial hair, color - everything is on the table. Pretty much google image search "handsome satyr" and pick any you like, it's done. He can be younger, or older, or whatever. The three things that remain that he cannot make go away: hoofed feet, horns, and penis. He cannot actually become female.
September 26, 2018 4:19PMJessica: (she doesn't actually like girls she was just trying to politely decline him before)
September 26, 2018 4:20PMKurt Kerner (GM): (noted)
September 26, 2018 4:22PMJessica: Jessica seems mesmerized by the transformation and sort of...stares in that unselfconscious way drunk people do. "You're..." The right word eludes her. "Pretty." She snorts. (In the interest of not being too lewd let's fade to Black?)
September 26, 2018 4:23PMSatyr: whispers: "This feeling, being so close to the goddess, touching the muse which lit my mind.... What a wonderful feeling. You are so close, so very close to me. Just one step to the precipice. We are like Darcy and Elizabeth now, but we must be like Bonnie and Clyde."
September 26, 2018 4:25PMJessica: (he looks like Robert Downey Jr with horns XD)
September 26, 2018 4:27PMKurt Kerner (GM): Yup sounds good, off go the clothes and for X time, you spend the night with the Satyr. Cliff notes: his foreplay skills are amazing and the more she gets into it, the better it is. Just the right amount of gentle and rough. If she has a fantasy or kink, he does it. If she lets it all go, he slams the living shit out of her, and if she's timid, he is sweet and slow. Whatever the style, she is satisfied. Some time passes. Feel free to sleep or eat. No roll necessary.
September 26, 2018 4:28PMJessica: Sleepy/cuddly after
September 26, 2018 4:30PMKurt Kerner (GM): He cuddles like a pro, and you feel at peace in the dwelling.
If you dose off, you wake up to him feeding you grapes and wine.
September 26, 2018 4:34PMSatyr: : Eventually, once the post-coital state subsides and it is appropriate time for conversation, he says: "I love you. You are absolutely amazing."
September 26, 2018 4:34PMJessica: (assuming no hangover in fairy land?)
September 26, 2018 4:35PMKurt Kerner (GM): ((let's find out. Stamina + Resolve))
September 26, 2018 4:36PMJessica: rolling 6d10>8!
= 3 Successes
Nice
September 26, 2018 4:36PMKurt Kerner (GM): You are JUST FINE
September 26, 2018 4:37PMJessica: Jessica plays with his beard. "You will need a hat when we go up the tower. People don't have horns up there."
September 26, 2018 4:41PMSatyr: - an abundant amount of sparkles runs down his horns, and manifests a fancy hat, it's huge and bulky, and looks even more strange. His horns are so big it's just even more suspicious. Without a hat he could pass as a very dedicated cosplayer, but with the hat, it's like, awkward. He smiles: "Up there... I feel so scared of that place. I understand so clearly now.... you worry about your parents, and about your friends. we have to get you home. Our connection is so strong now, I feel like I can come with you."
September 26, 2018 4:45PMJessica: "Um... nevermind the hat. We will figure something out." Her face becomes very serious when he mentions being scared. "We have to be very careful of the guns. Very, very careful. And we need to find a man named Hans if they haven't found him first. They were only attacking me to get to him. He is in trouble."
September 26, 2018 4:46PMSatyr: : "Hans... ah yes... your world has names. Names are very powerful. I can get lost. What is your name, my muse?"
September 26, 2018 4:47PMJessica: "Jessica. Jessica Murphy but everyone calls me Jessica or Jess. Have you ever had a name?"
September 26, 2018 4:47PMSatyr: : "I will now. You must name me."
September 26, 2018 4:48PMJessica: (Frank JK JK lolol)
Jessica plays with his beard more and thinks. Pan was a famous satyr-god-thing. Makes her think of Peter. "Peter?"
Peter is also sometimes a euphemism for dick. She snorts when she thinks of it.
September 26, 2018 4:51PMSatyr: inclines his head. "Blue words form in the air and hover over him as you speak the name, awaiting confirmation. These words are in a language you do not understand."
September 26, 2018 4:52PMKurt Kerner (GM): (ignore quote marks)
September 26, 2018 4:52PMJessica: "What does that say?"
September 26, 2018 4:53PMSatyr: "I think it is a name. You must name me."
: "The name will help me remember."
: "Peter is a nice name, I like the sound of it."
September 26, 2018 4:56PMJessica: "Peter. I choose Peter."
September 26, 2018 4:57PMKurt Kerner (GM): The word in the air is pushed by your will, and bolts onto the Satyr's forehead, burning in it, an elaborate rune, that glows gold, then white, then blue, and then fades to a barely visible tattoo
September 26, 2018 4:57PMJessica: "ARE YOU OKAY?"
September 26, 2018 4:58PMPeter: "My name is Peter. I will follow you, Jessica, for as long as my name exists!"
September 26, 2018 4:59PMJessica: That was extremely specific. "How would your name stop existing?"
September 26, 2018 5:00PMPeter: "Names can be taken away."
September 26, 2018 5:01PMJessica: "How? Could I give it back?"
September 26, 2018 5:02PMPeter: "I don't know, Jessica, I've never been a kind of creature that could use the power of names. I know that names can be undone. Not yours though. Not any of your kind, the kind that belongs to the Tower."
September 26, 2018 5:03PMJessica: "Alright well, I don't know what to do about that then. If you lose your name will it kill you?"
September 26, 2018 5:04PMPeter: "I hope not."
"Reviving after dying is very inconvenient."
September 26, 2018 5:05PMJessica: Blink. "Can you revive me if I die?"
September 26, 2018 5:05PMPeter: "I don't know. We could try..."
September 26, 2018 5:08PMJessica: "I mean if it comes up please try. Not-dying should be a priority though. Humans don't normally revive." Jessica fetches her gun from where it's hanging off one of the chairs, hangs it from the other shoulder. Yep, still heavy. "Are you ready?"
September 26, 2018 5:10PMPeter: "Let's go. I used your hair to conjure a path that will keep us above the forest. I'm not very strong, so the bridge is narrow. Try not to fall off. Also, it will get eventually lower to the ground level, as I cannot connect it to the Tower."
he takes his flute and packs a little satchel of bread, cheese, lamb, and grapes
September 26, 2018 5:12PMJessica: "I've never seen anyone do anything like that. What's stronger than
you?" It was hard to imagine what a stronger creature could do if Peter could make a bridge across a valley with her hair.
September 26, 2018 5:13PMPeter: "You, silly."
September 26, 2018 5:13PMJessica: Jessica shakes her head. "Don't forget your knife."
September 26, 2018 5:13PMPeter: "Oh yes yes yes."
He returns for the knife packs it in his satchel
"Took the food, but forgot the knife to cut it with. Silly Peter."
September 26, 2018 5:16PMJessica: (as they are walking) "What else can you do with hair?"
September 26, 2018 5:16PMPeter: "With your hair, a lot."
September 26, 2018 5:17PMJessica: "I should get my hair cut then."
September 26, 2018 5:21PMKurt Kerner (GM): *You two walk on the dimly glowing bridge, it is almost transparent, and doesn't catch attention of the eye, so you have to keep a close look on where the edges are.
You're glad it keeps you away, because there is quite the chaos in the valley. Fae turning each other into frogs, wild boar hunts, mushrooms dancing, all kinds of fern gulley style fairy like insanity. The amount of incomprehensible bullshit going on down there is a bit too much to take in, given the colossal area. Valleys and valleys and valleys.... luckily, you are so high above, nothing there pays attention to you.
However.... the flier type creatures.... in particular, human sized fairies, pixies, griffins, harpies - are a bit of a potential concern. For now, they idly fly at a distance, not noticing anything unusual about two figures walking at such height*
September 26, 2018 5:21PMPeter: "I think your hair looks ravishing."
September 26, 2018 5:22PMJessica: "Yeah but in your hands it's a weapon and we need weapons...should we be worried about the griffins?"
(in human form is he permanently erect still and does he have clothes?)
(I forgot to ask)
September 26, 2018 5:27PMPeter: "I wouldn't know how to use a knife as a weapon. I only know music, and singing. Oh, those clumbersome oafs? Shunwise they art. Should they intrude on us, we will worry about them."
((He is erect as fuck, yes))
((and no, no clothes. ))
((just your basic run of the mill Satyr))
September 26, 2018 5:31PMJessica: "What about magic, can you use magic as a weapon?"
September 26, 2018 5:32PMPeter: "I... think so? It's a strange question. It would be like asking you if you can use your breath as a weapon."
"The greatest weapon is inspiration!"
September 26, 2018 5:35PMJessica: Jessica is sort of dumbfounded for a second. "How are you supposed to protect me if you can't even use a knife? You're a thousand years old and you've never stabbed someone?"
September 26, 2018 5:36PMPeter: "Let me show you!"
sparkle sparkle - and his flute floats in the air and plays a tune on its own.
He walks alongside Jessica, admiring her hair. Then he starts to sing a tune, which his flute is playing.
"If the crimson of the dying light sky, could solace me bring, I shall hear Jessica, the many tongued sing. As I play on my flute, and I pluck string by string, I sense, having a heart is a terrible thing. When I ponder, amused, at the point of it all, I see Jessica Murphey craft my form with some coal, and at once I remember her touch, and it's delicate sting, because owning a heart is a terrible thing."
Intricate mosaics of runes form around you. They feel similar in nature to that fairy dust, but it's not residual, it doesn't just fall, it's... how to put it... it feels constructed, more substantial.
September 26, 2018 5:39PMJessica: Like a cage?
September 26, 2018 5:39PMPeter: Like a dancing cage
September 26, 2018 5:40PMJessica: That's kind of cool
September 26, 2018 5:40PMPeter: Peter proceeds to sing impromptu about Jessica for a long, long, long time Melody after melody, switching tunes... you walk for COUNTLESS time
For a while it feels like the tower is not getting any closer at all, but just getting taller as the elevation goes down. But Peter's home cave is far behind now.
September 26, 2018 5:42PMJessica: (like mountain climbing)
September 26, 2018 5:42PMPeter: (exactly like that)
September 26, 2018 5:43PMJessica: Jessica let's Peter do the singing so she doesn't wear herself out. "Do you know other instruments?"
September 26, 2018 5:45PMPeter: "The lute, the flute, the mandolin, the harp, the drum, the tambourine, whichever tool i use my tune to play, 'tis only Jessica my humble flesh will lay."
those items manifest and dance around together with the flute
September 26, 2018 5:46PMKurt Kerner (GM): You walk and walk and walk and walk....
September 26, 2018 5:47PMJessica: (well this is the shortcut so I guess that's our bag)
September 26, 2018 5:48PMKurt Kerner (GM): .... and eventually catch attention of a fae rider, riding a giant bird of prey, probably a hawk by the shape. The fae holds a spear and screams excitedly, gliding down on you*
September 26, 2018 5:48PMJessica: Jessica aims the gun at it to see if it explodes like the last one.
September 26, 2018 5:49PMKurt Kerner (GM): Surface thought?
September 26, 2018 5:49PMJessica: Surface emotion would be curious. Surface thought it just I wonder if this will work
September 26, 2018 5:49PMKurt Kerner (GM): Do you pull the trigger?
September 26, 2018 5:50PMJessica: No. It's jammed. The thing works weird here
September 26, 2018 5:50PMKurt Kerner (GM): Nothing happens.
September 26, 2018 5:50PMJessica: It's like the things here react to the idea of a gun instead of the actual gun
Hm. Try pulling the trigger if I have time?"
Ignore quote
September 26, 2018 5:51PMKurt Kerner (GM): The rider throws the spear, aiming between the floating constructed runes, but the musical rune adjusts, like a goalie, to intercept, and absorbs the spear.
Surface thought as you pull the trigger?
The rider has the bird stall and climb, as he/she pulls a bow.
September 26, 2018 5:52PMJessica: Like that small spike of adrenaline you get when you catch an incorrect word right before you send a text. Like barely there. Pulling the trigger is like catching the mistake word
Like whoops
By absorb... it's gone?
Like the rune ate it?
September 26, 2018 5:53PMKurt Kerner (GM): Gone into dust, and the rune is also gone, cancelled each other out. But Peter forms a new rune, because he continues to play. There are many of them flying around you.
Kind of like how fairies crumbled when they tried to fly into Peter's cave
September 26, 2018 5:54PMJessica: Shooting fairies
September 26, 2018 5:55PMKurt Kerner (GM): You pull the trigger, it resists and doesn't move.
September 26, 2018 5:56PMJessica: Yeah but do fairies pop?
September 26, 2018 5:57PMKurt Kerner (GM): As you pulled, did you think they would?
September 26, 2018 5:59PMJessica: Yeah it worked that way last time
I just figured aiming wasn't enough by itself
September 26, 2018 6:02PMKurt Kerner (GM): If you expected it to kill it, yup, it pops.
Feathers, dust, and the rider and its bird fall from the skies.
And this sweet action attracts a whole bunch of others.
Before too long, you are going to be fending off all sorts of giant insects, bird riders, butterly-people, and griffins
Thankfully, it's not a all vs you scenario. Plenty of them are at odds with each other, so it's a free for all. But you get plenty of action.
September 26, 2018 6:06PMJessica: Okay so first off, sitting down on the bridge for this because a) gun is heavy and b) I don't wanna fucking fall off
The runes seem to eat their melee weapons so I am focusing on ranged dude's when I can pick them out
September 26, 2018 6:08PMKurt Kerner (GM): This works for you for a good while. Eventually, you notice that the runes are thinning out. Peter's music is not producing the effects fast enough for everything. That realization hits home when a spear goes TWANNNNGGG next to you, making a small crack in the bridge
You killed probably about 100 creatures without ever reloading, before this happened.
September 26, 2018 6:10PMJessica: "Shit! Peter how do we make them leave?!"
September 26, 2018 6:11PMPeter: "I don't know, Jessica! Run!" - Peter helps you up and urges you to run with him further along the bridge, to the tower.
Eventually the end of the bridge will lead down into the woods, and you'd be hidden in the tops of trees, so that logic could be sound.
September 26, 2018 6:12PMJessica: Alright, running then
September 26, 2018 6:15PMKurt Kerner (GM): When running, you are harder for things to focus on, they fight each other a bit more often, some close calls with spears, arrows, insect shooting spikes, bolas, etc.... the things being thrown at you are clearly... made of the same kind of will stuff that the bridge is made of, because they interact with it, making new and new cracks, until a good part of the bridge crumbles, leaving a much thinner strip to run on. However, the tower looks like it's finally getting closer. So is the fog. And the close you are to the tower, the fewer creatures there are. Only the bigger and stronger creatures can be near the tower.
September 26, 2018 6:16PMPeter: "I'm scared!"
September 26, 2018 6:18PMJessica: Oh fuck, Peter was gonna make the fog awful. "Why are you scared? We're almost under cover! Do you know Mulan, Peter? Let's sing together!"
September 26, 2018 6:19PMPeter: He nods, and together you sing it "Let's get down to business to defeat the Huns!"
September 26, 2018 6:20PMJessica: "Did they send me daughters, when I asked, for sooons?"
(this is the fucking best)
September 26, 2018 6:23PMPeter: You run, run, and sing, the incline of the bridge starts going down noticably now, down, down, down, and narrower, narrower, narrower.... and now you're getting closer... and the biggest fattest griffin was left behind as it tried to swoop in, and snatched Peter's last rune. Peter's rune generation slowed down to near nothing, song or not... but it keeps him going. The fog follows behind. But now.... something new, very new, completely new. A tingle in the back of your head. This is happening only to you.
September 26, 2018 6:23PMKurt Kerner (GM): You. Feel. It.
The Tower.
Few more steps, and you feel a certain pressure. A pull. To turn back. And another, commanding force to pull forward. Like being dragged through shards of glass, like falling through thorns.
Peter stops to a dead halt. He tries to move further, but can't seem to. His 3D form phases in and out. He tries to reach ahead, but his skin sizzles with that shiny dust glow.
September 26, 2018 6:26PMPeter: "Jessica? I don't see anything ahead."
September 26, 2018 6:28PMJessica: "Don't keep trying, it'll hurt you." Does anything look different that marks the boundary if where Peter can't be?
"Do you need more of my hair?"
*Of where Peter can't be
September 26, 2018 6:33PMPeter: "I don't know... I think we're near! Try it? Give me something of yours."
He holds out his palm
September 26, 2018 6:34PMJessica: "Gimme the knife, I'll cut it."
September 26, 2018 6:35PMKurt Kerner (GM): The cues appear to be all related to what Peter did for you. The bridge is very crumbled and cracked, and looks really unsteady up ahead, almost completely holographic in nature, visually. The pressure on your head grows. And the absence of local inhabitants. It's a boundary, but not a clear one, there isn't like a line. At least not that you can think of.
September 26, 2018 6:36PMPeter: hands you the knife, almost handing it in the wrong direction, his vision appears to be going bad September 26, 2018 6:37PMJessica: Jessica hurries to cut him some hair. "Here."
September 26, 2018 6:38PMPeter: grabs it blindly, and rubs it on his cock, then eats it. In that order. "Yes... yes..."
September 26, 2018 6:38PMKurt Kerner (GM): The music returns, and he seems to clear his vision a bit.
He needs to save his strength though, so he only has the flute. He pants a while, and follows you again.
September 26, 2018 6:39PMPeter: "I... uugh... offf... it's so hard to move... look at it.... this is it, isn't it...? I must be... the first of my kind.... to go... this.... far.... couldn't without you... I am so.... lucky..."
September 26, 2018 6:40PMJessica: "I'm sorry I used your magic up on the birds. Can I help? Do you need...more of my blood?"
September 26, 2018 6:40PMSatyr: "You need it.... to live, Muse. More than I do.... we're doing okay, for.... now..."
September 26, 2018 6:41PMKurt Kerner (GM): A few more steps, and he stops, collapses to his knees, his image very hazy, his outline is glimmering with running specs of blue
September 26, 2018 6:41PMJessica: Fuuuck. "Peter you have to go back. I think you're dying."
September 26, 2018 6:42PMSatyr: : "Maybe more blood... I don't want to leave your side.... maybe you're right..."
: "I am Peter!" - he angrily rages a few inches forward. "I am Peter! And you are Jessica!" - the name rune on his forehead glows. He is able to move a bit more. His flute falls down.
September 26, 2018 6:43PMKurt Kerner (GM): "Damnations! Damnations!"
September 26, 2018 6:44PMJessica: "Go back, Peter. I don't want you to die!"
September 26, 2018 6:46PMPeter: , defeated. "I'm afraid you are right. That path is closed to me. It is for you alone, as I felt it. So close. But you have so far to go. Please, remember my name!"
September 26, 2018 6:48PMJessica: "I won't forget. Here, take some, so you can make it back." She unwinds the bandage on her hand. "Please don't die."
September 26, 2018 6:49PMPeter: hungrily drinks some of her blood, and is able to stand straight. He looks at her with tears in her eyes, and says "I love you. Forever. When you make it home, call my name. You'll know how. I believe it."
September 26, 2018 6:49PMKurt Kerner (GM): in HIS eyes September 26, 2018 6:50PMJessica: "Good bye, Peter. Please be safe." She turns and looks the direction her mind is being pulled.
(omg did i put a summoning spell on peter? is this mtg irl?)
September 26, 2018 6:51PMPeter: "Til we next meet, my Muse"
*puts his hand on his forehead, and rips the rune out of it, extending it to you. The rune hangs in the air, and flies into your head. Peter turns back to a more primal, bestial variant of the Satyr, says "Hoot Hoot!" and vanishes.
September 26, 2018 6:54PMJessica: That was trippy as fuck
Alright, we're going to the tower
September 26, 2018 6:55PMKurt Kerner (GM): The path persists. But it gets more crumbled, and eventually, it goes down low enough, that you can see the tops of the trees just a hundred feet below or so. It's a long, lonely walk, and it's HARD.
The Tower presses on you more. You get closer to it now, the perspective is more like: THAT now
It's towering above going into the sky
As you get closer, you also get lower. Thorns now grow through the road, and the fog follows suit. You get closer to it.
September 26, 2018 6:58PMJessica: "Go away fog," Jessica huffs. "This is annoying, not scary."
She's breathing a little harder as she climbs over and around the thorns
September 26, 2018 6:59PMKurt Kerner (GM): The fog does not speed up, but does not retreat either.
You reach the tree tops. They are insane. So thick that to advance you have to climb through interweaved branches.
September 26, 2018 7:01PMJessica: Damn. Well I had the knife last, so I'm cutting when I need to as long as these trees don't hum
September 26, 2018 7:02PMKurt Kerner (GM): These don't hum, but they get thicker, tighter.
September 26, 2018 7:02PMJessica: I'mma cut them enough to get through but i'm not gonna wear myself out making them thing enough to be comfortable
September 26, 2018 7:04PMKurt Kerner (GM): It works for a while, and eventually it's like
This kind of thick, but a lot denser placement. You'll either cut a while or start sliding in between
September 26, 2018 7:06PMJessica: Sliding between. Let's not trash the knife
September 26, 2018 7:07PMKurt Kerner (GM): Dex + Athletics
September 26, 2018 7:07PMJessica: rolling 1d10>8!
= 0 Successes
September 26, 2018 7:09PMKurt Kerner (GM): You slip, fall, hang on your gun sling, that slides off too, slip, fall, bang, bang, scrape your knee, bump your elbow, hit a nerve OWW! left arm goes numb, fall, bump, bump, bump, and you hit your head. You black out.
September 26, 2018 7:09PMJessica: Shit
September 26, 2018 7:09PMKurt Kerner (GM): ((Interlude! Next time!))
September 26, 2018 7:10PMJessica: that was fun
September 26, 2018 7:10PMKurt Kerner (GM): And very gainful for Jessica
September 27, 2018 9:17PMJessica: whee
Darkness... Pain... Breathing.... Headache.... Ringing in the ears....
September 27, 2018 10:25PMJessica: "Ow..."
(Can i move?)
September 27, 2018 10:29PMKurt Kerner (GM): (try it)
September 27, 2018 10:30PMJessica: (am i flat like i made it to the ground or am i laying across a branch?)
(or otherwise in a weird body position)
September 27, 2018 10:32PMKurt Kerner (GM): So you surveil yourself and try to move something. There's blood on your face, you're bleeding out of your ear. Huge bump on the forehead, one eye is swollen. Sharp pain in the left hand, pretty sure that shit's broken. Left ankle is twisted. Knees banged up. Your arm is awkwardly twisted in the rifle sling. The rifle acted as an arm bar. But you're alive.
September 27, 2018 10:32PMJessica: (not familiar with arm bar. are you saying that's broken as well?)
September 27, 2018 10:34PMKurt Kerner (GM): An arm bar is when you catch your joint on something hard and bend it in the way not meant to be bent. The rifle is fine, but it was the reason your hand broke. Got stuck between a branch, a sling, and the rifle grip itself during the fall, and then landed on the ground. It's pinning your hand down, that's all.
Like, twisting someone's arm behind their back is an example of an arm bar
September 27, 2018 10:35PMJessica: Jessica sucks air in through her teeth. "Fuck. Fuck fuck fuck."
September 27, 2018 10:36PMKurt Kerner (GM): You lay on thorn covered forest ground. All the exposed skin hurts. Your shirt tore a bit in the midriff area. A big hole full of thistle heads.
September 27, 2018 10:36PMJessica: Carefully pull them out of my shirt
And like, flick them away.
September 27, 2018 10:38PMKurt Kerner (GM): You manage, through the pain. No plants here hum, not much unnatural sound. Just the approaching fog, and the pressure in your temples that now grows to a nauseating ring.
The tower is just a few miles ahead
It's huge, its top hidden in the trees and clouds, hell, you can't even see it... but you KNOW which way to go.
September 27, 2018 10:39PMJessica: If possible, since the gun has the strap, I'm gonna lay my fucked up arm on the gun for support like a shitty sling.
Like it won't hold everything immobile but at least it won't be hanging by my side getting swollen
I'm headed the way my brain is leading.
September 27, 2018 10:41PMKurt Kerner (GM): You try to stand up and fall. Left leg hurts so much. You can deal with the pain, but it doesn't have the physical strength to hold you. Gives out.
September 27, 2018 10:41PMJessica: "Shit."
Looking around for a branch I can hack up and make a whatchucallit with
September 27, 2018 10:42PMKurt Kerner (GM): The arm rest works though. Sitting down, you rest it in the sling, it's hurts less that way
a tourniquet?
September 27, 2018 10:42PMJessica: no
i don't know how to set the bone
September 27, 2018 10:42PMKurt Kerner (GM): walking stick?
September 27, 2018 10:42PMJessica: closer
crutch
crutch
September 27, 2018 10:43PMKurt Kerner (GM): ah. well, wits+survival to find it
September 27, 2018 10:44PMJessica: rolling 2d10>8!
= 1 Success
YAY
September 27, 2018 10:44PMKurt Kerner (GM): Yeah, you find something that's not twisted enough and not too thin that looks like might work.
it's not perfect though, so Dex + Crafts to carve it to fit you. You have 1 working hand and a knife
September 27, 2018 10:46PMJessica: rolling 3d10>8!
= 1 Success
phew
September 27, 2018 10:46PMKurt Kerner (GM): yeah, you make it a workable crutch that should hold your weight and let you get up, you fashion a shape of a handle bar to lift you
September 27, 2018 10:47PMJessica: Limp, limp, limp
September 27, 2018 10:48PMKurt Kerner (GM): The woods are thorny and thick, you have to stop often and slow down to climb over twisted branches, many times you get into dead ends and have to climb, which means throwing the crutch over to the other side and grabbing it, lots of belly wiggling.... it sucks
The fog gains on you, you can see its white tendrils encroaching, passing you
As you go further the giant roots you climb become more slippery, the spaces you crawl through become tighter, and branches you pass through stick to you and try to hold you
September 27, 2018 10:51PMJessica: "Do you ever feel like a plastic bag?"
huff huff
"Drifting through the wind..."
"Fuck. Wanting to start again..."
"Do you ever feel, feel so paper thin..."
"Like a house of cards...One blow from caving in..."
September 27, 2018 10:52PMJessica: She pauses to catch her breath.
"Do you ever feel already buried deep..."
"Six feet under scream..."
"But no one seems to hear a thing..."
"Do you know that there's...still a chance for you..."
" 'cause there's a spark in you..."
September 27, 2018 10:54PMJessica: She pauses again. huff huff huff
September 27, 2018 10:55PMKurt Kerner (GM): At this point, you've been crawling a while, and are getting hungry. Your body needs to heal.
You keep on crawling and crawling.... and then you hear a heart beat.
BUM BUM.
Rhythmic. Even.
BUM BUM.
September 27, 2018 10:57PMJessica: Sleeping?
September 27, 2018 11:00PMKurt Kerner (GM): BUM BUM.
It's coming through the ground.
September 27, 2018 11:01PMJessica: Jessica freezes. She's seem Tremors
*seen
September 27, 2018 11:01PMKurt Kerner (GM): BUM BUM
A beat every 4 seconds exactly.
September 27, 2018 11:02PMJessica: is it coming through the ground like it's underground or is it like trex footsteps where it just reverberates through the ground?
September 27, 2018 11:03PMKurt Kerner (GM): It's coming from the ground, through the branches and roots
September 27, 2018 11:04PMJessica: Anything like a heavy rock nearby?
September 27, 2018 11:05PMKurt Kerner (GM): There are rocks wedged in the ground. It would be hard to pull it out with bare hands, especially one hand. But you do have a knife, a rifle, and a crotch. So you could try.
September 27, 2018 11:05PMJessica: I want to try
September 27, 2018 11:05PMKurt Kerner (GM): strength + survival
September 27, 2018 11:05PMJessica: rolling 1d10>8!
= 1 Success
hahahahaha
September 27, 2018 11:05PMKurt Kerner (GM): jesus
well, you're doing incredible.
September 27, 2018 11:06PMJessica: Except for falling and breaking all the things
September 27, 2018 11:06PMKurt Kerner (GM): You jimmy the knife under it and cut cut cut it out, methodically, accompanied by the rhythmic thump of the heartbeat
you freed a heavy rock.
September 27, 2018 11:07PMJessica: I throw it to see if anything comes out of the ground to eat it
I'mma see if something reacts to the thud
September 27, 2018 11:07PMKurt Kerner (GM): You throw it, it rolls, lands, and the roots in the ground absorb it
September 27, 2018 11:08PMJessica: cool. i'mma keep going
cause i'm not making as much noise as the rock
September 27, 2018 11:08PMKurt Kerner (GM): It sinks back to the same depth approximately as it lay at before
September 27, 2018 11:08PMJessica: interesting
September 27, 2018 11:08PMKurt Kerner (GM): sorta digs itself back in
BUM BUM
BUM BUM
September 27, 2018 11:08PMJessica: still 4 seconds?
September 27, 2018 11:08PMKurt Kerner (GM): as you crawl the heart beat gets closer
yup, every 4 seconds
September 27, 2018 11:09PMJessica: well i'm gonna keep my eyes open but this is the way i gotta go so onwards
September 27, 2018 11:10PMKurt Kerner (GM): Over the next set of roots and over the next, and next, and then... you run into a well of thorny hedges.
wall*
not well
September 27, 2018 11:10PMJessica: anyway under?
September 27, 2018 11:11PMKurt Kerner (GM): Well it's tight, it'll scratch you up a good bit more
September 27, 2018 11:11PMJessica: Gotta go forward
I'm gonna be literally dying in the few hours
*a
gotta keep going while i have strength
September 27, 2018 11:12PMKurt Kerner (GM): Dex + Athletics or Strength + Athletics if you're willing to break through some bushes
the penalties are negated by your knife
for now
September 27, 2018 11:13PMJessica: It wouldn't matter. Penalty is -1 for untrained which only leaves me with a chance die anyway
rolling 1d10>8!
= 0 Successes
damn
September 27, 2018 11:13PMKurt Kerner (GM): Your foot gets stuck in the hedges. You could press on at cost of losing a shoe.
September 27, 2018 11:13PMJessica: I lose the shoe I guess
shit
September 27, 2018 11:14PMKurt Kerner (GM): Crawling out of the hedges, you see a massive tree.
It looks familiar.
September 27, 2018 11:14PMJessica: the old man tree?
September 27, 2018 11:15PMKurt Kerner (GM): No... a very different tree.... like you have seen it.... many times
September 27, 2018 11:15PMJessica: is it the tower? or is this an unexplained familiarity?
September 27, 2018 11:17PMKurt Kerner (GM): It has an odd set of planks coiled around it forming a walkway or sorts
let's try that eidetic memory
intelligence + investigation + specialty
September 27, 2018 11:17PMJessica: rolling 6d10>8!
= 1 Success
yikes
still
Is that Gaea's cradle?
September 27, 2018 11:19PMKurt Kerner (GM): Yup
September 27, 2018 11:19PMJessica: shit
September 27, 2018 11:20PMKurt Kerner (GM): BUM BUM
The heartbeat is the tree's.
September 27, 2018 11:20PMJessica: Is my headache directing me there?
September 27, 2018 11:21PMKurt Kerner (GM): The headache gets worse the further you go, but it beckons you onward, past the tree.
I mean, we have no sense of "north" or "south" here
September 27, 2018 11:22PMJessica: I feel like the tree is probably something good if it reminds my subconscious or whatever of Gaea's cradle
I'm gonna approach it
September 27, 2018 11:22PMKurt Kerner (GM): But the Tower feels like it is deeper into the forest. It's like... if you turn back, it becomes easier to walk, but towards - much harder. The fog moves towards the Tower as well.
You approach it and you feel a little better.
The wounds don't hurt at much and the headache is a little soothed.
September 27, 2018 11:23PMJessica: I'mma lay my face on it
hug the treeee
September 27, 2018 11:23PMKurt Kerner (GM): The tree lays a leafy branch on you. It hugs you back.
BUM BUM
BUM BUM
every 4 seconds
so soothing
BUM BUM
September 27, 2018 11:25PMKurt Kerner (GM): the relaxing aroma of its fuzzy, pleasant, green leaves, fills your nostrils with much wanted relief....
September 27, 2018 11:26PMJessica: Green is a lifegain color. Jessica sits down and leans back against it. "You are a very hospitable tree. I don't know if you can hear me or if you care, but if it wouldn't bother you, my foot and my arm are pretty fucked up and I have to get pretty far from here."
September 27, 2018 11:26PMKurt Kerner (GM): BUM BUM....
the tree caresses you
Your mind calms, your heartbeat slows down....
You're getting sleepy
Pain becomes less and less...
September 27, 2018 11:27PMJessica: Does the fog avoid this tree or is it agnostic of it?
Also is there any physical change happening while the pain is going away?
September 27, 2018 11:28PMKurt Kerner (GM): The fog slowly feels the area, but hey who cares, you're okay, vision does get a bit heavy, eyelids start drooping.
You're so good at this
No, your wounds are not healing.
But they don't hurt, that's good right?
September 27, 2018 11:29PMJessica: Yeah we're noping out of there
Standing up.
September 27, 2018 11:29PMKurt Kerner (GM): With your heart beating so slowly, blood really doesn't hurry to rush to your appendages
you're almost as a quarter of normal human beat
September 27, 2018 11:30PMJessica: rolling away then
September 27, 2018 11:30PMKurt Kerner (GM): BUM BUM
the tree tries to pull you back
September 27, 2018 11:30PMJessica: no thanks
September 27, 2018 11:31PMKurt Kerner (GM): it's kind of insistant
strategy?
September 27, 2018 11:31PMJessica: Shoot the limb
September 27, 2018 11:31PMKurt Kerner (GM): surface thoughts?
September 27, 2018 11:32PMJessica: Not getting Wizard of Oz'd out here picturing the poppy field scene
September 27, 2018 11:32PMKurt Kerner (GM): surface emotion?
September 27, 2018 11:32PMJessica: defiant
September 27, 2018 11:33PMKurt Kerner (GM): The trigger resists your finger, no gunfire comes out.
The tree branches which hold you burst into splinters.
September 27, 2018 11:33PMJessica: rolling away. I don't need to stand up and then faint
September 27, 2018 11:34PMKurt Kerner (GM): Rolling rolling rolling, through the foggy woods.
September 27, 2018 11:35PMJessica: When my heartbeat gets back to normal I'll try to stand slowly
September 27, 2018 11:35PMKurt Kerner (GM): Eventually things get a little less tingly in the limbs.
September 27, 2018 11:36PMJessica: Alright, onwards. Tower or bust
September 27, 2018 11:37PMKurt Kerner (GM): Another set of hedges, you get a bit torn up, and then.... thunder strikes somewhere in the skies.
It begins to rain.
The thick tree tops take a good bit of impact at first, so you're not feeling much of the drops yet.
September 27, 2018 11:38PMJessica: I guess that's good? Seems more like normal to have weather
I feel a little excited about getting home
September 27, 2018 11:39PMKurt Kerner (GM): Flashes of lightning through the tree tops. And now you feel the water. The rain gets heavy.
September 27, 2018 11:40PMJessica: Kinda lean my face down a little so the water can mostly run off my bangs instead of down my face
Does it smell or taste foul?
September 27, 2018 11:40PMKurt Kerner (GM): No.
September 27, 2018 11:41PMJessica: Well I've already eaten the food here.
September 27, 2018 11:41PMKurt Kerner (GM): The water actually smells very pure
September 27, 2018 11:41PMJessica: I'mma let it run into my mouth as I go
Trekking on broke limbs is thirsty work
September 27, 2018 11:42PMKurt Kerner (GM): It takes a bit, but eventually the tree tops soak, and more thunder and flashes come in. Wind adds to the rain, and it breaks into a storm. It drops from the tree tops in whole streams. Ground is getting wet, slippery, and unless you're choosing to crawl on all fours at this point, there's a chance of slipping.
September 27, 2018 11:43PMJessica: I can't crawl forever unless I have to
I'm gonna sorta lean right as I go so I don't land on the fucked leg if I slip
Moving a little slower but still faster than crawling
September 27, 2018 11:45PMKurt Kerner (GM): your bad leg is the one without the shoe, luckily. the one you use for support has the shoe. It's all wet again. The ground is getting pretty muddy.
You feel the tower. It's near.
September 27, 2018 11:46PMJessica: Yesss. It's almost over
September 27, 2018 11:46PMKurt Kerner (GM): The pressure grows so intense.
Wits + Composure please
September 27, 2018 11:46PMJessica: rolling 7d10>8!
= 1 Success
woooow
I almost died XD
September 27, 2018 11:48PMKurt Kerner (GM): One of the places you pass has a huge natural bowl, composed a few rocks on one side, a tree trunk on the other, a fallen tree on a third side, and some tightly weaved bent branches on the last. A thunder strike nearby shakes something, some rocks fall, and more water spills into the bowl. Something breaks the branches and a big ass flood of water rushes from your side.
Luckily, you notice this just to avoid the surprise effect. You can try to get out of the way.
or brace for impact
or whatever else
September 27, 2018 11:50PMJessica: is it gonna take me towards or away from the tower?
September 27, 2018 11:50PMKurt Kerner (GM): if you roll with the flood?
September 27, 2018 11:50PMJessica: yeah
September 27, 2018 11:51PMKurt Kerner (GM): that's an insane question... let's make a roll
September 27, 2018 11:51PMJessica: why is that insane?
September 27, 2018 11:51PMKurt Kerner (GM): 1 is yes, 4 is back, 2 and 3 are sideways
noooo
wrong
dufus
September 27, 2018 11:52PMJessica: I liked 31 better
September 27, 2018 11:52PMKurt Kerner (GM): The landscape is arranged in a few that the water would spill downhill and put you back
how do i get "few" by typing "way"
i dont know
September 27, 2018 11:53PMJessica: okay well I have no strength and a bad leg so brace for impact is not ideal. let's try to move out of the way
September 27, 2018 11:54PMKurt Kerner (GM): with the crutch, let's do dex + athletics
no penalty because you noticed early
September 27, 2018 11:54PMJessica: rolling 1d10>8!
= 0 Successes
yaaay
September 27, 2018 11:56PMKurt Kerner (GM): Jessica does a nice dramatic leap out of the way of the water, but the amount of water is way overwhelming, and its density is unusually high, it doesn't just splash, it hits her across the body. Hands grab hold of branches to not get too washed off, and she is set back but a few yards, but the crutch rips away and now she is all muddy.
September 27, 2018 11:57PMJessica: "I fucking hate this place!"
September 27, 2018 11:58PMKurt Kerner (GM): outloud?
September 27, 2018 11:58PMJessica: "How come a goat man can make a bridge out of my hair and I can't fucking climb a tree?!"
yes
September 27, 2018 11:59PMKurt Kerner (GM): A flood of water drops somewhere from the tree tops right on top of you, and keeps persisting, not letting you breathe, forcing you to gasp. Trees start to creak and branches fall, less and less cover is provided, and you begin to struggle not to drown. How's your swimming?
September 28, 2018 12:00AMJessica: not great with a broken leg
September 28, 2018 12:00AMKurt Kerner (GM): and not much of a gym person before. Never went, found it boring.
September 28, 2018 12:00AMJessica: right
September 28, 2018 12:00AMKurt Kerner (GM): Do you struggle?
September 28, 2018 12:01AMJessica: I mean I'm not gonna just drown
But it's pretty obvious the landscape was reacting to what I said.
"ALRIGHT! I'M SORRY! PLEASE STOP!"
September 28, 2018 12:03AMKurt Kerner (GM): Struggling to exhaustion, you lose orientation. You say those last words already under water, bubbles coming out your throat. Just as you yell it, water shoots into your mouth, fills your lungs, and you drown.
September 28, 2018 12:04AMJessica: D:
Well...that happened
Some time passes. Cold. Freezing. You cough. You can breathe. Light. Wind. Frost.
September 28, 2018 12:06AMJessica: fuuuuuc
September 28, 2018 12:07AMKurt Kerner (GM): It's snowing.
September 28, 2018 12:07AMJessica: I am shivering and super confused
September 28, 2018 12:07AMKurt Kerner (GM): You can't feel your leg. Clothes crusty.
The Tower is RIGHT. THERE. It's less than a mile away. It's enormous.
The fog is all around.
The metal of the gun is frozen to the belly. At this point our poor Jessica is exhausted. She has but little juice left to change her situation, before her body surrenders.
September 28, 2018 12:13AMJessica: It's so fucking far away. "I d-don't underst-stand." It's too far to walk like this. No crutch, covered in ice. "How do I do magic?!" She pulls at the hair she has left ineffectually, mostly because Peter could do so much with it and she doesn't know how to even make herself a sled.
She covers her mouth with her hand to try to warm it up. "How the fuck am I supposed to get there? Is this a joke?"
She has to try, obviously, or she's dead, but it's just so far.
September 28, 2018 12:15AMKurt Kerner (GM): "Finally, you are asking the right question."
A chilling voice calmly speaks to your right.
September 28, 2018 12:15AMJessica: She jumps extra hard cause she was already shivering
Is it HANS?!
September 28, 2018 12:18AMKurt Kerner (GM): A figure dressed in a blue robe with a gorget and pauldrons of silver walks calmly towards the edge of the snow covered cliff, ignoring your misery and not showing you any pity. The figure has his back to you, as he stares at the colossal tower.
"Isn't it magnificent?"
September 28, 2018 12:18AMJessica: "Please help me."
September 28, 2018 12:20AMKurt Kerner (GM): The figure considers.
"How can you do magic... that depends entirely on who you are. So, who are you?"
September 28, 2018 12:21AMJessica: "I'm--I'm a human. Is that what you mean?"
September 28, 2018 12:21AMKurt Kerner (GM): "Is that what -you- mean?"
September 28, 2018 12:23AMJessica: "I don't understand. I'm-I'm a nerdy girl who plays card games for fun. I'm just a regular person. I'm an artist. I don't really know what you're asking."
"I'm just a girl."
September 28, 2018 12:24AMKurt Kerner (GM): "Oh. I see. Because you fooled me. If you are just a girl, then...."
The figure turns to face you, the cleanly shaved monk head and a face you know. Runes shoot from his index fingers. He draws a door frame in the air around himself, framing him in a rectangular frame, just like you are used to seeing him in your hand.
September 28, 2018 12:29AMDelver Of Secrets: "... tell me. What is a nerdy girl doing here, at the Tower of The Lunargent Thorn, Whose Moonlight Pure fills all the Moons of the Multiverse with Quicksilver of the Supernal Truth? What is a girl doing fucking Satyrs and battling Fae?"
"No human can ever reach this place. Or am I mistaken?"
September 28, 2018 12:30AMJessica: "What are you saying, I'm a planeswalker?" Jessica's voice has an hysterical note to it. This is the third time she's encountered something that reminded her of a magic card. "Is this a plane?"
I've gone so fucking crazy "I'm a human! I'm just a person! What do you want me to say? I'm-I'm creative. I figured out how to get here. I figured out how the fog works. I sang to the trees. I don't know what you want!"
"The satyr said I'm magic. I don't know what that means. I don't know how to turn my hair into a bridge or whatever you do here. I don't know how to do any of it or I would be at the tower already."
September 28, 2018 12:33AMDelver Of Secrets: The fog violently rises and starts to envelope the mountains "All of the stupid questions, like you are stuck in one of your movies. You know the answers. Of course it is a plane. Have you seen a world where weather changes every hour? Of course you've gone insane. And the dumbest question is what I want? How can I want something? Don't you recognize me?"
September 28, 2018 12:37AMJessica: "You can't be the Delver of Secrets. That's just a Magic card. How can you talk to me if you're a card?"
September 28, 2018 12:38AMDelver Of Secrets: He smiles almost condescendingly September 28, 2018 12:39AMJessica: "Fine, I'm insane. Let's figure out what to do from there. You're Delver of Secrets? Great. That means--that means you turn into an Insect Horror with Flying."
Okay I'm batshit
"When--When I cast an instand or sorcery off the top of my library."
"Libraries in magic represent, um, the mind."
"So a spell I remember."
*reveal an instant
September 28, 2018 12:41AMDelver Of Secrets: "Let's see what's at the top of our library."
He conjures a holographic card, the size of a window, in the air, it is a "Time Walk" card, it flies into the snow storm, and, following the rule, the Delver transforms, becoming flat for a moment, and turning with his ornate door frame. The effect is insane to witness. As he flips, he becomes Kevin, dressed in the Delver's clothes, and steps out.
now speaks in Kevin's voice
September 28, 2018 12:42AMJessica: Jessica is completely stunned for a moment
September 28, 2018 12:42AMDelver Of Secrets: "Recognize this face? I gave the Delver to you after all."
September 28, 2018 12:43AMJessica: "Kevin?" Her mind hasn't shaken the shock off to say anything else. "Kevin?"
September 28, 2018 12:44AMDelver Of Secrets: "Eight dollars, remember?"
September 28, 2018 12:44AMJessica: "I--yes. I remember. What--I--"
September 28, 2018 12:47AMDelver Of Secrets: Kevin parts his hands, the the door frame multiplies into countless frames, connected to each other with webbed glowing strands, whiter than falling snow. They are all interconnected and branching out, and aligned in intricate patterns, going into the depth of available vision, the images in them represent all possible hands played, but only for a moment, there are also images of people in them, moving, like on screens. September 28, 2018 12:48AMJessica: Her forehead wrinkles. "Are you Mladen?"
September 28, 2018 12:48AMDelver Of Secrets: assumes the Delver's face, as the main frame in front of you forms a fragment. It's perfect quality video. It's.... real. A portal, into the past. "Mladen? Tsk. Fickle girl. Always focused on other men. But of course. Mladen is a better player than you. Is that why, here, now, on the verge of death you can't let go of him? His hand was better than yours, his deck was better than yours, and he's a better player than you."
September 28, 2018 12:52AMJessica: "I just saw that magic before, I'm not obsessed with him. There's something wrong with him, like he isn't real." Everything she said sounded weird and impossible.
September 28, 2018 12:52AMDelver Of Secrets: "You know who else was a better player than you? Kevin. Here, take a look"
You see in the frame, Kevin and his dweeby chips and soda covered friends in a disgusting basement that reminds more of a condemned hole for squatter hobbits, flicking mtg cards like crazy. Their decks are shit, but their speeds are so fast*
September 28, 2018 12:52AMJessica: (squatter hobbits lol)
September 28, 2018 12:54AMDelver Of Secrets: "Something wrong with him? Or maybe something wrong with something else?"
cards flick, searching, traversing the connections from Kevin's timeline to yours to navigate to when you meet Mladen, but there are many fragments of your life in the way
"Oh, here's a good one."
You see Kevin coming to work the morning after you stole the From the Vault box from his parents' store.
September 28, 2018 12:57AMJessica: (oh no)
(omg Delver was the perfect card for this)
(100%)
September 28, 2018 12:58AMDelver Of Secrets: You see Kevin finding the box missing, sighing, putting a deep slow facepalm and groaning "Uuuugh Jessica....", then he reaches into his wallet, and pays the full price into the counter.
images flicker
September 28, 2018 12:58AMJessica: (I FEEL SO BAD RIGHT NOW)
D:
September 28, 2018 12:58AMDelver Of Secrets: "Yeah, he paid for it. Feeling pretty shitty, huh?"
September 28, 2018 12:59AMJessica: "Yeah," she says quietly.
September 28, 2018 1:00AMDelver Of Secrets: "Oooh, ooh, but these are the white lines, see these white lines, connecting the images? These are the decisions you made in your timeline. These other, more grayish ones? These are even more interesting. These are alternate possibilities. Check this out. In this here timeline..."
flick flick flick "Kevin is broke and doesn't have the money to put into the counter"
another fragment plays
September 28, 2018 1:00AMJessica: (oh shit)
September 28, 2018 1:02AMDelver Of Secrets: Kevin holds head with both hands "Ooooh Jessica, god damnit, what am I gonna do?"
You see his mother yelling at him, he took the blame, lying to her, said he let a friend check it out on a promise of payment, and the friend skipped town.
"Oh that's it! That's the last straw. You're fired, go get that other job your dad wanted you to get"
September 28, 2018 1:02AMDelver Of Secrets: flick flick flick
some images feature Kevin's childhood, his parents beat him as a kid, but he told no one
September 28, 2018 1:03AMJessica: D:
September 28, 2018 1:03AMDelver Of Secrets: distant, very distant timelines with very faint lines show your and kevin's wedding, another remote possibility, the Dweller doesn't roam to it
"In hundreds of these times, Kevin had really loved you."
"But don't feel bad. It's not all shitty for you. In fact, Time and Fate are so tightly interconnected in your case that by doing one bad thing you often did a good thing in another way."
flick flick flick flick
"This is your current timeline. The night of the robbery."
You and Frank get in the car
September 28, 2018 1:07AMDelver Of Secrets: The dweller flicks to the same day, a parallel timeline, the one closest to it, right next to it, the one next most likely probable to what actually happened. In this one, Frank refused to help you. “Just say yes. Please? When Kevin tries to kiss you you can tell him you already have a boyfriend.” - Frank says.
“One condition.” - you reply.
“Name it.” - her shoots back.
September 28, 2018 1:08AMDelver Of Secrets: The familiar words all play back "No. No way." - Frank says when you state your condition.
"If to be your boyfriend I have to be a thief, I don't want that kind of girlfriend. It's manipulation."
Frank is frustrated, and he drives away, leaving you on the road.
His emotions get the best of him, as he hits a rock and his car flies off the road, killing him in an accident.
September 28, 2018 1:11AMJessica: D:
September 28, 2018 1:11AMDelver Of Secrets: The Dweller flicks to the right, on the opposite side of the factual timeline, the other closest branch "Just say yes. Please?"
And in that timeline, you do not pose the condition. You just agree to date him.
A lifetime full of events flickers, it shows you going to the store together, he buys you the box, you teach him to play, you go on vacations together, jobs, life, you quit mtg, abortion, remorse, another attempt, fights, miscarriage, slowing down at you injecting something into your veins.*
"Yeah that's... that's not a good one."
September 28, 2018 1:17AMJessica: "Why are you showing me these? Does it matter what might have happened if it didn't?"
September 28, 2018 1:19AMDelver Of Secrets: *The Deliver switches the order to the present timeline, fast forwarding the bright white frames, to present days, your college career, etc, etc.
One frame shows Frank after you left for Germany. When he told you he has a girlfriend. He is in bed with her, she is prettier than you. She asks, "what about your girlfriend?" He replies "Eeeh, she's in Germany. She's crazy anyway. You know how we hooked up? She had me steal some gaming cards for her. Talk about weird, huh? Anyway, come here."
"Are you gonna tell her?"
"Yeah, yeah. come over here..."
flick flick flick
September 28, 2018 1:19AMDelver Of Secrets: The dweller answers your question "You see an elephant without seeing the ground it stands on. I'm showing you these so that you understand that access to them is possible. See... most people participate in the passage of Time linearly. They can access the present and the future, but never the past. They can recollect the past, but not change it, and then can shape the future, but not recollect it. They have a grasp on the present. But those who channel powers of the Lunargent Thorn have more options. They see a way in which an individual participates in Time as a choice, not a cosmic absolute. Are you following? Or did your brain completely freeze?"
September 28, 2018 1:24AMJessica: "I can go back?"
September 28, 2018 1:25AMDelver Of Secrets: "Depends. Who are you?"
September 28, 2018 1:26AMJessica: "I'm-I'm a planeswalker? A wizard? A witch?"
"I'm Jessica."
September 28, 2018 1:29AMDelver Of Secrets: "Yes."
September 28, 2018 1:29AMJessica: "I'm not Kevin's' girlfriend." She motions at the cards in the air containing those realities like she's dismissing them.
September 28, 2018 1:30AMDelver Of Secrets: The dweller transforms one more time.
In his otherworldly male voice, he says:
"And I.... am..."
September 28, 2018 1:30AMJessica: "You." - finishes in your voice, turning into you, wearing the Dweller's clothing.
That's not where I thought we were going with this.
September 28, 2018 1:33AMKurt Kerner (GM): All the cards fly off as you dismiss them, all but one, the one the apparition conjured September 28, 2018 1:33AMJessica: so it's just a card now
(you can hit undo i think to undo the delete)
She stands in the frame still, motioning to the top of the tower
"I have always been you. So close to it, nothing else can pass but you. The rest of the way you must make it. But you must hurry, and you must be certain what you want to find at the top."
"The corner of Bellinghausen and Rosenstrasse." If nothing else, the repetition helps her certainty. "Well, we Time Walked. You gonna turn into the Insect Horror with Flying now? I could use a ride."
"You're me, right?"
September 28, 2018 1:44AMJessica: "Yes. But I am but a part of you. So, you will!"
Dweller Jessica walks into you.
You hear the voice, fading.
"Just remember, we can't go home like this, we're running out of time. You're hurting here, because you're hurting there."
September 28, 2018 1:44AMJessica: The final image shows in the frame, of you dead in the minivan, the men who abducted you shot you. "We must find a way."
the frame closes
You are missing a few legs, mandibles are dripping goo, but your wings mostly work.
September 28, 2018 1:45AMJessica: We gotta go back to before the tournament and warn Hans The fog clouds the entirety of the mountain, the tower becoming harder to see, unless you immediately take to air
(done)
the pull of the tower weakens in the fog until you take off. you leave the fog down below and shoot up, up, up
it is a steep climb, snowflakes cut your insect skin like knives, wind and cold whip you
(i picture the wings sounding like flicking cards)
September 28, 2018 1:49AMJessica: you're truly not sure you can do this for some moments
(XD)
you fly along the magnificent tower, it's covered in thorny vines.... vines is a bad word, these vines are the thickness of whole cruise ships
and they in turn are covered in smaller vines, the size of buses
and those are covered in regular vines
vines upon vines upon vines
September 28, 2018 1:51AMJessica: the surface of the monolith itself is a reflectant solid mercury
(that's weird)
you are so close to the top, and your wings give out of exhaustion, you must use your momentum to grab hold of the vines and climb the rest of the way
Climbing
below you is solid fog
you climb
September 28, 2018 1:53AMJessica: you notice that the patterns on the walls of the tower and not just art, they are words
names.
the entire surface of the tower is covered in names
wow
I'm not gonna stop and read them, gotta keep climbing
without a detailed glance you recognize some of the names from school:
September 28, 2018 2:00AMJessica: George Gordon Byron, Amir Temur Tamerlane, Roger de Moullins, Galileo Galilei, Evgeni Esenin, Tristin Lang... you don't bother to read more
Lord byron
yass
I will remember thoguh
They are written in various languages
September 28, 2018 2:02AMJessica: At last, you reach the top
White light shocks you, and you are back in your human form, beaten and broken, you bleed from many places, and instantly fall down. You look up, and before you, on the top of the tower, hovers a giant growing thistle, made of quicksilver.
What's my instinct?
The tower's been calling my lizard brain the whole time
September 28, 2018 2:09AMWatchtower Of the Lunargent Thorn: You feel naked.
You feel absolute.
Small.
Weak.
Slow.
Powerless.
September 28, 2018 2:09AMWatchtower Of the Lunargent Thorn: Question: do you feel defeated?
September 28, 2018 2:10AMJessica: It sounds like I just feel awestruck.
September 28, 2018 2:10AMWatchtower Of the Lunargent Thorn: This is the big roll. Go Resolve + Composure + 3 for willpower. This will determine some secret stuff
September 28, 2018 2:10AMJessica: yay
rolling 9d10>8!
= 7 Successes
hahahahahahaha
September 28, 2018 2:11AMWatchtower Of the Lunargent Thorn: OH MY GOD
really
September 28, 2018 2:11AMJessica: YES REALLY
September 28, 2018 2:11AMWatchtower Of the Lunargent Thorn: please, after this, nobody tell me
September 28, 2018 2:11AMJessica: I AM LUCK
September 28, 2018 2:11AMWatchtower Of the Lunargent Thorn: that this game doesnt have karma
there are 7 cards in a mtg deck
ok pls hold
i need to write some shit down
i need some tea
September 28, 2018 2:12AMJessica: okay
September 28, 2018 2:12AMWatchtower Of the Lunargent Thorn: pulls up old notes oookay
Before you, manifests the briefcase with two silver locks. They open, as does the briefcase. Cards are lined up in them.
In the rows of neatly arranged stacks by rank and color.
"Hello"
The voice is in your head. It has no tonality. It speaks.... in concepts that you can understand.
September 28, 2018 2:19AMJessica: "Hello."
September 28, 2018 2:19AMWatchtower Of the Lunargent Thorn: "Welcome to Arcadia."
September 28, 2018 2:20AMJessica: "Thank you." She doesn't know what else to say.
September 28, 2018 2:22AMWatchtower Of the Lunargent Thorn: "You are a quick learner."
September 28, 2018 2:22AMJessica: "I feel slow."
September 28, 2018 2:24AMWatchtower Of the Lunargent Thorn: "You have the will. You will be stronger, faster, brighter. I watched you. As you traveled and learned Arcadia, Arcadia traveled and learned you."
September 28, 2018 2:24AMJessica: "Is Peter real?"
September 28, 2018 2:25AMWatchtower Of the Lunargent Thorn: "Everything is real. I tried to help you understand. For that I had to use what your soul understands. But you are yet just a child."
September 28, 2018 2:26AMJessica: "If I go back to before I die, will I remember all this?"
September 28, 2018 2:27AMWatchtower Of the Lunargent Thorn: "If you are strong enough. I shall grant you seven gifts to help you."
September 28, 2018 2:28AMJessica: Jessica's eyebrows raise. Seven sounded like a lot of gifts from a basically omnipotent flower thing.
September 28, 2018 2:32AMWatchtower Of the Lunargent Thorn: "Three, you have already collected. Simpler beings, aspects of this world's lower races. I think they have become your friends."
Out of your head fly out, in order:
1. Some pixie dust, which forms into a shape of a friendly pixie. A glittering hologram that shapes itself into a "Faerie Harbinger" card. Not painted, but glowing blue.
September 28, 2018 2:32AMWatchtower Of the Lunargent Thorn: 2. The Power Rune - the word you formed when you named Peter, which he gave back to you. It shapes itself in the air into a blue card, which shows his Robert Downey Jr. form.
3. The Dweller of Secrets - a shape in a robe, faceless, looking like neither you, nor Kevin, nor Frank.
These three symbols line up on your right.
"Three, you get to choose."
September 28, 2018 2:34AMWatchtower Of the Lunargent Thorn: The cards present themselves out of the suitcase, yours to pick from.
September 28, 2018 2:37AMJessica: (to clarify, are you making a list or am I picking out of the cards i've used so far?)
September 28, 2018 2:42AMWatchtower Of the Lunargent Thorn: (Any 3 MTG cards you like are in the case, except for the Black Lotus)
September 28, 2018 2:42AMJessica: (I wanna stop here and sleep and think about it then)
(cause it's almost 6 am)
September 28, 2018 2:42AMWatchtower Of the Lunargent Thorn: ok
September 28, 2018 2:43AMJessica: (omg that was trippy as fuck and AWESOME)
September 28, 2018 2:45AMKurt Kerner (GM): (yeee
(nini
September 28, 2018 11:02AMJessica: Jessica fingers through the cards with reverence, stopping and smiling at cards like Singing Tree. She stopped at Temporal Mastery. That one was obvious, and poetic.
"Temporal Mastery."
Faerie Harbinger let her search her library for a Faerie card...that meant... "Bitterblossom." It was an enchantment, but it was also a Faerie, a rare tribal enchantment. One more...her cards were essentially creature based. Harbinger was a faerie tutor, Btterblossom made more faeries...something to support that theme... Perfect. She smirked to herself. "Distant Melody."
September 28, 2018 11:02AMJessica: "Those are my cards."
September 28, 2018 3:16PMWatchtower Of the Lunargent Thorn: The Bitterblossom Fairie, The Distant Melody, and the Temporal Mastery fly out of the deck, line up on the left, opposite of the Satyr, Harbinger, and Dweller. They all holographize and sparkle with real magic. If gods made playing cards, that's what they'd look like.
"Child of the Lunargent Thorn, your seventh, final gift is the one you covet deeply and the one you've had all along. You recognize it now."
The enormous floating thistle creates a small runic projection of itself, which floats towards you and colors black. A black thistle, the closer it gets, the more it glows, and its petals begin to change shape, until it morphs into a lotus flower.*
September 28, 2018 3:35PMJessica: Jessica walks between the cards. They're so pretty in an other-worldly way. And then the Lotus. Her physical card in some ways represented her flaws: greed, her desire to be superior to others, a coping mechanism against doubts that she wasn't really special at all, no matter what cards she acquired to feed her envy. But this was just beautiful. It was her potential. It
was her specialness, her triumphs, her good qualities. This was emphatically better than the card could ever be, and not because it was a flower made by a god, but because she had to earn it by owning up to her mistakes and by
becoming that special quality she desired instead of trying to take it from others.
"Thank you."
September 28, 2018 3:40PMWatchtower Of the Lunargent Thorn: As if to resonate her very feelings, the other cards in the case, and the case itself, turn to white ash and fall away into nothing, the epic super expensive decks that humans put so much value on - collapse into oblivion, except the seven she chose and imbued with her inner emotional meaning. They stand paramount.
"How do I do magic?" - her own plea echoes around in the wind, as the fog reaches the top of the tower.
*In response to the fog, The giant thistle breaks off a thorn, which falls, shrinking, and lands at your feet, long and sharp, as a pen. You've nothing but your dripping blood to write. The floor is covered in names just like the walls below.... Seth Heinrich, Keasar Korbata, Leomar Gesse, Simon Ray, Salvador Dali, Anatoly Kashpirovski, Nuh Alaihi Salam, Meshitihu of Goshen..."
Scenes fly frantically in your head... your parents, your school, your games, leading up to the two big choices.
"Put down the cards and go home, little girl" - in Mladen's voice
September 28, 2018 3:50PMWatchtower Of the Lunargent Thorn: "Bellinghausen and Rosenstrasse" - in Hans's
"Tsk. Magic. Magic is not a career, Jessie" - in father's voice
"OMG That was so awesome!" - in Heike's
"I love you too, Jessie. That goes without saying" - father
September 28, 2018 3:51PMWatchtower Of the Lunargent Thorn: "I love you" - mother
"Not Bonnie and Clyde" - Frank
"Need to be Bonnie and Clyde" - Peter
"Who are you?" - a voice from within
September 28, 2018 4:01PMJessica: Jessica steps forward and kneels, takes up the pen. All of the different possibilities from the Time Walk card are in her mind's eye. She closes her eyes, and lets cards disappear.
Not Kevin's girlfriend she owed him an apology, she was big enough to see that now, but she didn't owe anybody love.
Not Frank's girlfriend That horrible future with a substance abuse problem dropped away.
September 28, 2018 4:01PMJessica: Not a little girl anymore Her father telling her Magic wasn't a career fell away. He was no longer a guide on her life's journey. She still loved him, obviously, but she knew too much now. She had more potential than he could possibly fathom. Her mother's voice dimmed too.
Who am I? A few unimportant cards still lingered in the black empty space of her thoughts.
Who am I?
But...the black...was comfortable. It wasn't even black at all, actually, it was white, now that she noticed. A canvas. She wasn't going to art school anymore. She knew this with certainty. Nothing so mundane would ever hold her attention anymore. But her whole life didn't drop down to card games or school anymore. It never really did, she saw, she just hadn't tried to make anything else of it.
September 28, 2018 4:15PMJessica: I'm...Potential.
"I'm whatever I want to be."
September 28, 2018 4:16PMWatchtower Of the Lunargent Thorn: You sense that all these names, all these people, have pondered the very question
For you each person that question is phrased in their own terms
"Down there people play cards with human lives. Are you a card or are you a player?"
September 28, 2018 4:17PMJessica: "I'm a player."
September 28, 2018 4:17PMWatchtower Of the Lunargent Thorn: The fog storms the top of the tower and seeps closer in, shrinking the ring around you.
You know what you have to do.
September 28, 2018 4:20PMJessica: Jessica is not afraid of the fog. It just means that it is time to go. She unwraps her bandages and flexes her stiff hand. She picks at one of the scabs until it bleeds. She dips the pen into the blood and signs the Tower.
Jessica Murphy
September 28, 2018 4:21PMWatchtower Of the Lunargent Thorn: The fog charges the air, and as you breathe its moisture, you start feeling a phantom pain of a bullet pressing on your forehead, beginning to split your skull. Shapes form around in a shape of a frozen mini van and shadows in suits
There is an empty spot on the tower floor just between Christiaan Huygens and Miguelle Placido.....
Bandages fall, you inscribe the name.
The name burns a blue glow and smoke rises volently, as the inscription reacts with the quicksilver, molding into it. The shapes scatter.
September 28, 2018 4:25PMWatchtower Of the Lunargent Thorn: Skies light up.
The seven cards in the air fly together in front of you, and break their frames and descriptors.
They are just the images now, moving, alive, floating, waving at you.
You realize deep inside that the world below is a lie, and this is your true home.
September 28, 2018 4:25PMWatchtower Of the Lunargent Thorn: The Black Lotus lines up with the Thistle in the sky, and opens its petals.
The 7 images fly in a circle and start spinning around each other, until coming into such formation:
The sand clock and the music at the top sides, faeries in the middle, the satyr and delver in the bottom, and the Lotus at the crown.
(sorry for a crude drawing)
September 28, 2018 4:26PMWatchtower Of the Lunargent Thorn: The cards were never special, but these aspects now are.
They come together, and violently, one by one, slam into your head.
WAM WAM WAM WAM WAM WAM WAM
"I await your return home, Jessica Murphy, child of Arcadia, Enchantress on the Path of The Thistle, Scion of The Watchtower of The Lunargent Thorn, to the Kingdom of Enchantment, Abode of Fae. I await to see how you will have grown."
The light envelops you and you lose orientation. Before every part of you is cut open, from fingertips to private parts, to your very heart. Rended open in completely real pain, and your mind disappears.
September 28, 2018 4:32PMWatchtower Of the Lunargent Thorn: *
September 28, 2018 4:33PMKurt Kerner (GM): You appear in the middle of a desert, it must be 120 degrees here. You are dressed in white linens, you have tan male hairy feet. You lead a caravan of camels.*
September 28, 2018 4:36PMKurt Kerner (GM): You watch millennia pass in fast motion, cities rise and fall, you cover eyes from a sandstorm , and blink into existence as a uniformed UN soldier. Helmet, armor, and your gun, the one you took from the ambulance car. You're in the back of a hummer. Hummers and dune buggies are approaching an eastern city. Your captain laughs.
"Murphy, your safety is on. Was your safety on the whole time, you idiot?"
September 28, 2018 4:38PMKurt Kerner (GM): You're in the middle of a jungle, standing in front of a camera, holding a giant spider in your hands.
"Beautiful creature, and as you can see, completely harmless when fed."
September 28, 2018 4:39PMKurt Kerner (GM): You're falling through the misty light.
September 28, 2018 4:41PMKurt Kerner (GM): You're Aiping, you're yelling at Jessica.
"You're never gonna be special! You american bitch!"
Blink.
You are Aiping, caring for her ill mother. You speak to her in chinese, holding her hand.
"It's okay, mom, I'll win this tournament and we'll get you the transplant."
"I won't tell anyone. They don't need to know."
September 28, 2018 4:43PMKurt Kerner (GM): You are yourself, at the World Championship. You overdraw cards.
September 28, 2018 4:44PMKurt Kerner (GM): "You are back in Leipzig, the city tourney, the first night Hans approached you. The chinese place. He hands you the cards in the briefcase. They glimmer with alien magic. An aura. It is not yours.*
September 28, 2018 4:46PMKurt Kerner (GM): *You are at a MtG table, you play with Hans' cards. The cards glow a golden aura. Golden tendrils reach from the cards to the heads of your opponents. One after one, every game, the cards suck something from them.
Every time you meet Hans as he gives you dossiers, the cards reach out to him, and he pulls the tendrils out. Collecting some form of resource.*
September 28, 2018 4:48PMKurt Kerner (GM): "You're in your father's garage. He's working on some climate control thing. You're behind his back, he doesn't see you, but just heard you. He turns around.
"Jessie?" - but you're not there.*
September 28, 2018 4:50PMKurt Kerner (GM): You sit down at the table to play Mladen at the Berlin tournament. You play your cards, and Mladen notices the golden aura, coming from them, to him.... his own deck blocks the tendrils.
"Stop it. I know what you're doing." - he says.
"Fine, I can do that too."
*Mladen begins to glow a red aura. Everything in the pavilion stops. Sounds, movement, air itself. You understand it now. He stops time. Only you are not frozen. Mladen brushes the Tendrils of Hans' cards away and stands up, simply opening his library, looking through it, and arranging cards how he wants to, and also rearranging yours. You just sit there and stare at him cheat. He sits down, trying to get his position just right, as he was.
He lifts the Time Stop effect and stops glowing, but he didn't get it perfect, so to everyone else it was a micro twitch in his posture. Your cards begin to glow again. They put something in opposition of his effect. Where as he physically switches the cards, your cards shift mystically, when they are face down, when their probability is unknown.*
September 28, 2018 4:56PMKurt Kerner (GM): Mladen gets mad and stops time again "Stop it, god damnit!"
He violently shuffles cards, lays them all out on the table, face up, but the Tendrils of Hans' deck start to create a paradox, they shift the images ON the cards themselves, and Mladen tries to race the effect, by placing cards he wants in order.*
September 28, 2018 4:57PMMladen: "How are you even doing that? You read as a sleeper."
September 28, 2018 4:57PMKurt Kerner (GM): The scene resets. You play your first hand.
September 28, 2018 4:57PMMladen: : "Stop it!"
September 28, 2018 4:57PMKurt Kerner (GM): reset
September 28, 2018 4:58PMMladen: : "Stop... o-o-o-o-... p... iit.!"
September 28, 2018 4:58PMKurt Kerner (GM): Something appears to hone your temporal navigation to this exact moment, so that you don't land any earlier, or any later.
September 28, 2018 4:59PMJessica: (so we're real time now)
September 28, 2018 4:59PMKurt Kerner (GM): You sit down to play Mladen.
Your turn.
((can go if need to, pick up later))
September 28, 2018 4:59PMJessica: (I was supposed to leave a little bit ago XD)
(I was hooked though)
(catch you later)
(can i see the gold tendrils right now or was that only from my position outside time?
So what I want to do is to end up inside the time stop bubble when Mladen casts it so I can talk to him
October 02, 2018 1:34PMKurt Kerner (GM): Ping!
October 02, 2018 1:36PMJessica: i had to refresh but i'm here
October 02, 2018 1:37PMKurt Kerner (GM): You sit down to play Mladen, and the deck you are using glows golden and reaches out to his head, and his cards.
October 02, 2018 1:39PMMladen: *He seems to feel it, does something, and you feel an odd familiar tingle on the back of your head, like your neck hair is standing up, localized goosebumps, and a heat coming across the right side of your face. At the very moment, Mladen begins to glow dim red, and starts examining you and your cards. He sees the aura and the tendrils as well, and you already know the two words he's about to say.
October 02, 2018 1:41PMJessica: "It's not me. Can we go
to the side for a chat?"
October 02, 2018 1:46PMMladen: He cocks his head "How... how are you even... you're a slee..."
Mladen stops time. Everything stops moving, except you and him... and actually, the Swedish fellow, Peter, he can also move.
"You're a..."
October 02, 2018 1:47PMPeter: approaches you two at the table "That's what I'm telling you, it's not her, she's a sleeper."
October 02, 2018 1:48PMMladen: "Like hell she is, look." - Mladen points at you, and Peter does something. You feel a familiar tingle, and Peter starts faintly glowing green
October 02, 2018 1:49PMJessica: "I'm not a sleeper. I was until a few minutes from now." Boy did that sound fucky.
October 02, 2018 1:50PMPeter: Looks at Mladen in terror "Oh no."
October 02, 2018 1:51PMMladen: To Peter: "She reads Acanthus."
To you:
"Did you just awaken?"
October 02, 2018 1:53PMJessica: "I did. A few minutes from now. There's an explosion and some guys with a fake ambulance show up. They're terrorists."
October 02, 2018 1:54PMPeter: Peter and Mladen exchange glances in panic October 02, 2018 1:56PMMladen: "Yeah, we know. We're the terrorists. Listen carefully. You're not safe. Everything you felt is real. You're not crazy and you need to go. Now! Your awakening is about to send a temporal ripple so fucking high Angela Merkel's gonna feel it in her asshole. I can only hold time for 8 more seconds. Run somewhere safe!
October 02, 2018 1:57PMPeter: "Everyone is very powerful when they awaken! You'll be really helpless really soon, depends on the size of the distortion."
October 02, 2018 1:57PMMladen: "Stay alive."
October 02, 2018 2:01PMJessica: "Fuck." She stands up from the table and looks for the clearest path to the door. She has a million questions and no time. Even if they're lying she has no way to find an alternative means to avoid the explosion.
October 02, 2018 2:02PMMladen: ((oh for fucks sake boss called meeting))
October 02, 2018 3:22PMJessica: whee
October 02, 2018 4:14PMMladen: he reaches into the golden tendrils of the deck over the table and pulls on them, ripping them out.
The cards fly into disarray
October 02, 2018 4:17PMKurt Kerner (GM): "I can't hold it anymore!" - Mladen yells. Peter puts his hands in front of Mladen.*
Jessica, the back of your head tingles, there is ringing in your ears, and the right side of your face burns
You hear Hans' voice
October 02, 2018 4:17PMKurt Kerner (GM): "Corner of Bellinghausen and Rosenstrasse."
You hear gunshots in the audience seats, and men in gray suits start appearing among the crowd.
October 02, 2018 6:34PMJessica: I need another turn October 02, 2018 6:35PMKurt Kerner (GM): ((Okay, you have some balls. You're the first person attempting to use raw magic during their awakening :) I was hoping I'd get to use this roll
((Welcome to your first paradox roll, little lady))
October 02, 2018 6:36PMJessica: Jessica pictured Temporal Mastery in her head. She needed time to think. To escape, to ask fucking questions!
She needed Mladen's spell to hold
October 02, 2018 6:36PMKurt Kerner (GM): rolling 1d10>8!
= 0 Successes
((this is good for you. You NEVER want this roll to succeed))
October 02, 2018 6:37PMJessica: (what does it do?)
October 02, 2018 6:37PMKurt Kerner (GM): ((Determines if reality rejects what you are doing))
October 02, 2018 6:38PMJessica: (oh shit)
(is that every spell?)
October 02, 2018 6:38PMKurt Kerner (GM): ((You're in an arena with a shit ton of witnesses))
((Every vulgar spell))
((See, pro mages have techniques to mitigate this))
The right side of your face burns hot like fire, then it feels cool like ice. The action in the arena slows down about 3 times. Sounds, gunshots, gravity, motion. You find yourself in a slow motion film, where only you move at real speed.
rolling 1d10>8!
= 0 Successes
You get a vague and unexplainable feeling that you just got extremely lucky, and that Mladen had something to do with it.
October 02, 2018 6:44PMJessica: Alright, time to think fast. "You said you're the terrorists. Why?"
"Why are you doing this?"
October 02, 2018 6:48PMKurt Kerner (GM): Mladen is also affected by Jessica's spell. Her words sound sped up to him. He slowly moves his head towards her, trying to answer as fast as he can.
"Rrr-u-u-un-n-n"
Wits + Composure +3 please
October 02, 2018 6:54PMJessica: rolling 7d10>8!
= 4 Successes
October 02, 2018 6:59PMKurt Kerner (GM): With time slowed down, you are able to survey the situation better. The strange men in gray business suits and sunglasses seem to be appearing out of nowhere. But not like, blatantly supernaturally manifesting from the air. Instead, they are appearing in a way you couldn't prove supernatural. They are stepping from behind open doors, jumping down from behind the monitors, stepping around the backs of large audience members... there are about 20 of them. You move too fast for them to track you, they acknowledge you as a blur, but they focus on targets who move at their speed. They all appear to be heading to the doors and windows with intent on blocking the exits. Those of them who are in positions, start putting their gloved fingertips to their temples. October 02, 2018 7:03PMJessica: Running
I can't get answers from Mladen and I can't save people
October 02, 2018 7:04PMKurt Kerner (GM): You run way faster than the events can progress. If you look back, you see that with each new man in gray in position with fingers up, audience members are starting to lose consciousness. Their knees drop and they sink down. Each man in gray appear to take out a healthy chunk of the audience.
Are you heading outside?
October 02, 2018 7:06PMJessica: Yeah I'm leaving
I'm meeting Hans at that corner
you know the one
October 02, 2018 7:08PMKurt Kerner (GM): You are twenty something feet away from the nearest exit, running at your top speed, as a man in gray slowly takes position in front of you, blocking the door. He moves 3 times slower than you and his hands start slooowly rising to his temples.
October 02, 2018 7:11PMJessica: Implying that if I get near I will black out
Let's try a differnt exit
October 02, 2018 7:12PMKurt Kerner (GM): You could try to squeeze by him with a dex + athletics roll, try to ram through him with a strength+brawl, or you can change direction, there is another exit about 100 feet.
October 02, 2018 7:16PMJessica: 100 feet. I am not athletic.
October 02, 2018 7:19PMKurt Kerner (GM): Narrowly you escape the building, darting between the crowd and gunshots, it's a more crowded path, but a man in gray is not installed in that exit yet, most of the crowd tries to flee that way. You hear slowed down sirens. You make it outside, and see police cars racing by, completely missing the scene. An explosion goes off behind you, with a wave of hot air slowly escaping the building, which feels surreal, a slow expulsion of hot air makes your clothes flare slowly! Your clothes carry no trace of the damage done in your journey to the other world, by the way.
You see three parked ambulance vans by the building, their sirens and lights are on.
Everything is still moving in slow motion.
October 02, 2018 7:20PMJessica: fuck those. getting away. can i do so without crossing the street?
i feel like roads and time magic are a terrible mix
October 02, 2018 7:21PMKurt Kerner (GM): It's twilight outside, and there is commotion between the vans
October 02, 2018 7:21PMJessica: i don't need the slow to end as i'm walking in front of a car
October 02, 2018 7:22PMKurt Kerner (GM): You can run down the street in the opposite direction of the ambulances, yes
A figure of a man just flew 20 feet up, struck by something, something obscured from view between the vans. There is a fight. Multiple people fighting.
October 02, 2018 7:24PMJessica: I can't do anything about that without potentialy speeding time back up. Also I can't fight. So going in opposite direction of the ambulances
October 02, 2018 7:28PMKurt Kerner (GM): You're running through evening streets of Berlin, and leave the tournament arena far behind. Good call on not crossing traffic, because as you run, time gradually returns to normal. It doesn't suddenly just stop being slow and resumes, but does it gently, as if your mind just naturally gets used to the new tempo, integrating into full speed seamlessly. You know for a fact, however, when the time has returned to normal. You have a perfect sense of what normal time flow feels like.
October 02, 2018 7:30PMJessica: Jessica works on normalizing her breathing after all of that. She checks her phone and types her destination into google maps. Fuck, that was fucked up.
October 02, 2018 11:04PMKurt Kerner (GM): That destination is not in Berlin, it's back in Leipzig, your home town
October 02, 2018 11:04PMJessica: it's not my home adress is it
October 02, 2018 11:04PMKurt Kerner (GM): It is not
It's on the other side of town from your home, in fact
October 02, 2018 11:08PMJessica: Fuck, Jessica thinks. The train is like five hours(?) and she left her friends behind. In the panic of everything she really had to, but now that the adrenaline is gone she's kicking herself even though she probably couldn't have made different choices. She needs to get to her dad. Maybe ditching Aiping and Heike was better. They know her from her connection to Hans. They don't need to be involved. Everything was going to be okay, right? Fuck.
Everything got left behind. Her cards, everything. Ah fuck, she was still wearing the stupid shirt. She typed the nearest clothing store into google maps.
The terrorists didn't need an easy way to identify her from a distance
October 02, 2018 11:12PMKurt Kerner (GM): Six blocks south, five blocks west. Closed now, you'd have to break in.
Or wait til tomorrow.
October 02, 2018 11:12PMJessica: oh right, it's late isn't it?
October 02, 2018 11:13PMKurt Kerner (GM): Yeah, by the time you are far away from the pavilion, it's approximately.... wait no, not approximately. Jessica knows that it is exactly 22:27 and 16 seconds
October 02, 2018 11:14PMJessica: Well fuck
October 02, 2018 11:14PMKurt Kerner (GM): You realize an acute sense of time even when clocks are not around
October 02, 2018 11:15PMJessica: I feel like if I get caught breaking into a store I'm sort of fucked because these guys are obviously organized and impersonating emts
Nearest bar?
October 02, 2018 11:15PMKurt Kerner (GM): Eight blocks south, on your street
October 02, 2018 11:15PMJessica: Sweet. I am going to go in and tell them I left my jacket the other night
Super vague
That's like the only business that would be open and have a lost and found
October 02, 2018 11:18PMKurt Kerner (GM): It takes you 20 minutes to make it to the bar. During that time, a sting of pain in your palm. A scar appears and disappears.
A sting of much greater pain in your left hand, it goes limply broken, and then suddenly doesn't. A faint pull of a rifle sling weighs on your neck, and suddenly doesn't.
October 02, 2018 11:19PMJessica: Fuck. What the fuck does this mean? October 02, 2018 11:20PMKurt Kerner (GM): There's a crowd outside the bar, smoking, doing drugs, the usual
October 02, 2018 11:21PMJessica: Jessica rubs her hands together to try to get rid of the sensation. She nods at the bouncer as she goes inside and looks for the bar tender
October 02, 2018 11:26PMBartender: The bartender is a satyr. A fat orange one, washing the mugs and giving them a lick for good measure. He has a long tail with a fluffy tip, which wiggles casually. He looks at you, licking his nose ring with a fork-tailed tongue. October 02, 2018 11:26PMJessica: Jessica looks around to see if anyone else is reacting to this
October 02, 2018 11:27PMBartender: Reacting to what? Bartender is a normal dude. I mean, he's just a bit on the heavy hipster side, nose ring, gauged ears, some cliche tats, but a reasonably chill guy. October 02, 2018 11:27PMJessica: wtf mage sight is fucky as hell
October 02, 2018 11:28PMBartender: "What can I do for you?"
October 02, 2018 11:29PMJessica: Jessica takes a second to catch up again. "Uh yeah, I think I left a jacket here the other night. Do you have a lost and found?"
October 02, 2018 11:33PMBartender: Wits + Subterfuge (need 2 successes)
October 02, 2018 11:34PMJessica: (+3 for specializing in Bluff)
October 02, 2018 11:34PMBartender: (yup)
October 02, 2018 11:34PMJessica: rolling 10d10>8!
= 2 Successes
shit, that was close
October 02, 2018 11:34PMBartender: squints at you "Lemme see. Oh yeah, this must be it." - He rummages under the bar and produces a leather jacket two sizes bigger than you.
"Can you just tell me what it had in the pockets?"
October 02, 2018 11:40PMJessica: Hmm. Big jacket. "Well it's actually my boyfriend's, I was just wearing it. Probably a lighter?" She smiles in that innocent way girls do.
October 02, 2018 11:45PMBartender: He reaches into the inside pockets, producing a lighter and a wallet. He goes through the wallet and counts a decent amount of cash in it. He gives you a meaningful look, the "i'm onto you" kind of look, but he hands you the jacket, keeping the lighter and the wallet for himself.
"Keep it quiet, and I don't care if you have it."
October 02, 2018 11:46PMJessica: Jessica nods and takes the jacket. Now that her sponsor attire is covered, it's time for the train.
October 02, 2018 11:47PMBartender: Roll Composure + Subterfuge again
no specialties
October 02, 2018 11:48PMJessica: rolling 8d10>8!
= 2 Successes
October 02, 2018 11:48PMKurt Kerner (GM): rolling 8d10>8!
= 3 Successes
October 02, 2018 11:48PMJessica: aw shit
October 02, 2018 11:49PMKurt Kerner (GM): Most of the people in this kind of place do not watch nerd crap like MtG tournaments....... except this one guy
October 02, 2018 11:50PMThis one guy: "Omg, heeeeey, aren't you that chick?"
October 02, 2018 11:53PMJessica: Damn it. "Who?"
October 02, 2018 11:54PMGuy: "The sick Magic grinder girl, America, yeah? Blue burn deck in quarter finals! You're Jessica!! Hey, hey, let me buy you a drink! WOOOOOOOAH sick tattoo! Did they have you cover that up on TV?"
October 02, 2018 11:55PMJessica: (I don't remember a tattoo, am i crazy?)
October 02, 2018 11:55PMGuy: (yes, yes you are)
October 02, 2018 11:55PMJessica: (rephrase: is there a tattoo i should remember but am not?)
October 02, 2018 11:56PMGuy: (there is no tattoo you should remember but you are not)
October 02, 2018 11:57PMJessica: Jessica looks for this tattoo he's talking about because...well she's had a weird day and some of it didn't even happen.
"Oh I'm not her. I think she's at a tournament or something up the street right now."
October 02, 2018 11:58PMKurt Kerner (GM): You're looking yourself over, seeing nothing, but the guy is looking right at your face, and being kinda weirded out by you being weirded out.
October 02, 2018 11:59PMGuy: "Yeah, like I'm buying that. A black lotus tattooed on your forehead. Nice try. Well, it's cool, if you don't want attention, I'll keep quiet. I get it with you celebrity types. Can I just have an autograph? Just one, and I bugger off."
October 03, 2018 12:00AMJessica: "Sure. You have a pen?"
October 03, 2018 12:00AMGuy: hands you a pen October 03, 2018 12:00AMJessica: "Got something for me to sign?"
October 03, 2018 12:00AMGuy: hands you his MtG deck "Here, on the box, please"
October 03, 2018 12:01AMJessica: I am not Jessica, she does not have a facial tattoo, kthx bai And Jessica tries to leave
October 03, 2018 12:02AMGuy: laughs, ecstatic! "Thanks! I gotcha! Cool cool!"
October 03, 2018 12:03AMJessica: Fucking weirdo. Jessica remembers the cards slamming into her forehead. WAM.
Please tell me I don't actually have a tattoo now Once out on the street she gets her phone back out and puts the camera on selfie mode
October 03, 2018 12:08AMGuy: this is your face
October 03, 2018 12:08AMJessica: Does it look like ink?
October 03, 2018 12:08AMGuy: the circle of emblems is perfectly arranged around your left eye
it looks like blue ink
October 03, 2018 12:08AMJessica: interesting
October 03, 2018 12:09AMGuy: You remember the exact place on your face that was burning and then icy cold when you slowed down time
It was that
October 03, 2018 12:09AMJessica: since i used time magic does the hourglass look different from the other tattoos?
or any visual differences from one pic to the other?
October 03, 2018 12:09AMGuy: it does not
October 03, 2018 12:09AMJessica: kk
October 03, 2018 12:09AMGuy: it is all normal blue tattoo
October 03, 2018 12:10AMJessica: Jessica's mouth falls open in shock
I'm gonna have to cover this up somehow before I go home
She shakes it off, but keeps touching the tattoos with her left hand as she walks
October 03, 2018 12:12AMKurt Kerner (GM): Since it's left in the selfie, it's your right side in real life, so yeah.
October 03, 2018 12:12AMJessica: right right
October 03, 2018 12:12AMKurt Kerner (GM): It feels normal and smooth
October 03, 2018 12:12AMJessica: sorry
October 03, 2018 12:12AMKurt Kerner (GM): Is your sponsor shirt on?
October 03, 2018 12:12AMJessica: it's under the jacket now
October 03, 2018 12:12AMKurt Kerner (GM): Ok
October 03, 2018 12:12AMJessica: I mean I didn't have a shirt to change into
October 03, 2018 12:13AMKurt Kerner (GM): well yeah but you also had sex with a satyr, so
12:13AMJessica: what does that have to do with anything?
12:13AMKurt Kerner (GM): i mean who knows how brazzers she is, a valid question
anyways, moving on
12:14AMJessica: he was a metaphysical representation of somethingsomething and might not have been a separate entity at all given Delver of Secrets was her
12:14AMKurt Kerner (GM): In post-analysis, sure, granted
okay so train now
what is the next time it leaves?
12:21AMKurt Kerner (GM): You can actually catch a train at midnight. You'll be in Leipzig by 3:30
12:24AMKurt Kerner (GM): You are exhausted. Do you try to sleep on the train?
12:26AMJessica: Yeah, I mean I can't keep it up forever
I'mma set an alarm on my phone though
12:27AMKurt Kerner (GM): Alarm set. Anything else before I close the day?
Kurt Kerner (GM) The explosion at the arena and the mass audience collapsing creates chaos inside the tournament pavilion. Police cars race by, but don't stop, only 3 ambulances a parked at one of the exits in the parking lot. A red haired blur, Jessica, bolts out of the building, a shadow unseen by most.
Between three ambulances, there is a fight. Several men in grey business suits lay dead on the ground. Several men in white medical coats lay dead.
12 men in white doctor coats are fighting against one man. The man is Hans. He punches one of the "doctors" causing him to fly 20 feet in the air, roundhouse kicks another into the van, dead. Two more shoot rifles at him, but the bullets go through, and soon, he has his fists through their throats. He throws another to the ground, roaring like a beast. Two more jump on his back, wounding him in the back with knives. He's killed half of them, when out of nowhere comes Mladen. He glows red and reaches with his hand to the ground. Mladen chants: "I hereby invoke the Squaring of the Ancient Circle"
"I accept." - Hans replies, and a circle between three ambulances shifts its air, separating itself from laws of reality.
12:35AMKurt Kerner (GM): The two battle with flashes of light and moving quick as wind itself.
12:36AMHans: Hans' eyes glow white as he holds Mladen in a submission hold, trying to force a flaming fist into his mouth. 12:37AMMladen: "You luck thieves had had enough!"
12:38AMHans: Hans melts Mladen's face off, but Peter, the Swede, appears behind him, and thrusts his fist through Hans' heart 12:38AMJessica: (jon thought the fight might have been his character killing an antagonist while i ran away in the background)
12:39AMHans: (wrong city)
12:39AMJessica: (gotcha. also holy shit this is violent)
12:43AMHans: All the mental men in gray suits fall down, Hans dropping his command of them. Hans bleeds through his mouth, but even without his heart, he chants his final words
"Who needs cards when a soul would do?
SUMMONUM PER MANUM MEAM TEMPORE MAGNUS JESSICA"
12:45AMHans: He throws his business card, which Jessica signed in the diner, her signature glows gold, and the bubble of the mage duel closes. A time rift opens. Four men carry Jessica on a stretcher into one of the ambulances, and as the business card flies inside of the van, it dissolves into golden dust and the van's doors close, as the van vanishes into thin air 12:45AMKurt Kerner (GM): The dueling ring closes, taking Mladen's body, mortally wounded Hans, and Peter with it, disappearing from sight 12:46AMJessica: TIME IS SO FUCKY
12:46AMKurt Kerner (GM): Pavilion audience awakens without clear memory of what happened. Police cars finally find the right building and now respond as proper to a terrorist attack. Thusly, Hans has his last laugh, triggering Jessica's awakening
12:47AMKurt Kerner (GM): Alarm wakes you up Your breath smells awful. Train is slowing down. It's still dark outside
12:49AMJessica: Bad breath is usually caused by drymouth. I must have been mouthbreathing.
I wake up and feel really disoriented for a second like waking from a very deep and needed sleep does to you
Sort of startle into a sitting up position and look around briefly for the grey men or satyrs or whatever else might be off about the train, and then try to relax
It's very hard not to be twitchy and paranoid given the events of the last few days
Last day? Time sucked
12:51AMKurt Kerner (GM): You feel a splitting headache. You're hungry and thirsty.
12:52AMJessica: I try to shelter my eyes a bit from the train lights. Man first thing I'm gonna do is raid the station vending machine
Water bottle and crackers sounds amazing for breakfast right now
12:53AMKurt Kerner (GM): You get out of the train, barely feeling your legs. But you got some money, so, vending machine is a go.
12:54AMJessica: Any more phantom pains since yesterday?
12:54AMKurt Kerner (GM): None
12:54AMJessica: So the fight scene was likely happening while i was at the bar, when the rift to arcadia was open
Okay so water bottle and both cheese and peanut butter crackers
nom nom nom
12:55AMKurt Kerner (GM): You can physically feel your starved body metabolize the food. You're even hungrier than you were before you are. MORE.
ate*
12:56AMJessica: That's weird
I'm gonna grab the heftiest stuff in the vending machine until I'm out of quarters
12:57AMKurt Kerner (GM): You feel like going for meat, burritos, whatever, protein. A wolfish hunger like you've got tissue damage to repair.
12:57AMJessica: phone: restaurants nearby, open
12:58AMKurt Kerner (GM): By the time you're out of quarters, you're pretty okay. Nothing's open nearby at this hour.
It's 3:45 in the morning.
12:58AMJessica: how close is the corner
12:59AMKurt Kerner (GM): 20 minutes north by car, it's quite a bit.
I'm gonna go ahead and assume for now that the terrorists aren't quite well connected enough to get a ping when i use my credit card and call for an uber
also twenty minutes isn't a lot of time for anyone to get their shit together
I'm gonna put the wrong address in the uber thing just in case
and give the driver directions verbally
1:02AMKurt Kerner (GM): rolling 1d2
= 2
You get a guy. He's coming from nearby, takes him like 4 minutes or so to get there.
Your impeccable sense of passing time is gone.
1:04AMJessica: fair enough
Anything funny about the guy who shows up?
1:05AMKurt Kerner (GM): Nope, nothing whatsoever, other than he's middle eastern, and has a funny accent of an immigrant who probably didnt come over very legally
1:06AMJessica: That's fine. I'll get in the car. "I actually changed my mind, I need to get to the corner of Bellinghausen and Rosenstrasse please."
1:07AMDriver: "Hi. Okay. No problem. Let's punch it in. Okay. That's a nice tattoo. My son has a tattoo."
drives
1:07AMJessica: "Um, thanks. What's his of?"
1:08AMDriver: "Oh some angel or something. Or raven. Or eagle. Something like that. I tell him, why you have tattoo, your skin is dark, can't really see it. He says I don't get it."
1:09AMJessica: Jessica gives a noncommittal snort and watches out the window as he drives.
1:10AMKurt Kerner (GM): Lights go by, the lazy night traffic, Leipzig is quieter and smaller than Berlin
1:10AMJessica: "Can we listen to some music?" She didn't want to fall asleep again
1:11AMDriver: "Yeah, sure."
He turns on the radio on a random channel 1:11AMKurt Kerner (GM): "Let's get down to business"
1:12AMJessica: Jessica's face snaps around to look at him.
1:12AMKurt Kerner (GM): "To defeat the huns" - on the radio
1:13AMDriver: he switches channels to some rock song 1:13AMJessica: That was chilling. Jessica hugs the jacket around herself.
1:14AMDriver: Roll stamina to not dose off. Your body wants more sleep
feel free to use willpower
1:14AMJessica: The corner of Bellinghausen and Rosenstrasse plays through her head over and over like the Australian address on Finding Nemo.
rolling 4d10>8!
= 1 Success
1:15AMDriver: you barely tank the nausea
repeating same words over and over both helps and hurts, but eventually you're there
"Okay, it will be.... 34 euro"
1:16AMJessica: Jessica fishes a couple extra out as a tip (if that's normal in europe). "Thank you."
1:17AMKurt Kerner (GM): The corner of Bellinghausen and Rosenstrasse is in a high profile business district, but nothing here sticks out. Just banks, firms, brokerages, stock trading houses....
Everything's closed
1:18AMJessica: Any fucking benches?
Jesus I'm tired
1:18AMKurt Kerner (GM): There are benches, by some nice plants
some really nice plants
1:19AMJessica: Hans isn't here yet and since she wasn't intercepted on the way here...feels like nap time
like, magically nice?
1:19AMKurt Kerner (GM): just nice plants
they feel very soothing, good to take a nap under
1:20AMJessica: Do they remind me of the hugging tree?
that seems suspicious
1:20AMKurt Kerner (GM): now that's a much better question
yeah, they kinda do
1:20AMJessica: uh, fuck that
let's find another bench
1:21AMKurt Kerner (GM): yeah they all have nice plants
there's always concrete
and a hard wall to lean against
1:21AMJessica: wtf this district eats homeless people
"I didn't expect everything to still be fucky when I got back," she mumbles to herself.
Concrete and hard wall it is
fuck plants
1:22AMKurt Kerner (GM): It's not comfortable, but if you curl up, you'll sleep
on concrete, like a bum, man, Jess, you've hit some low, man
1:23AMJessica: Meh, a one time deal does not make a lifestyle
everybody has a bad day
1:23AMKurt Kerner (GM): you pass out
1:23AMJessica: zzzzzzzzzzzz
1:24AMKurt Kerner (GM): You wake up from being shaken. You have a massive headache.
1:24AMJessica: Open my eyes. Is it Hans?
1:24AMBusinessman: It's a man in a gray suit.
Startle real bad and scramble away
1:25AMBusinessman: he shakes you gently and beckons you to get up 1:26AMKurt Kerner (GM): It's morning, it's gotta be at least 8 am or more 1:26AMJessica: (I mean I know I saw they were his goons in that scene but all jess saw was them wiping minds)
1:26AMKurt Kerner (GM): (you don't need to justify your logic)
Jessica scrambles to put some distance between them
1:27AMKurt Kerner (GM): (unless of course you feel like side commentary for posterity when reading back through these logs and wondering "what was i thinking" ) XD
1:27AMBusinessman: makes a hand gesture to follow 1:28AMJessica: Looking around. Do I see anyone I recognize?
1:28AMKurt Kerner (GM): Nope
Just people coming to work
1:28AMJessica: Do I remember everything as far as I can tell?
1:28AMKurt Kerner (GM): As far as you can tell, yeah
1:28AMJessica: Is he armed?
1:30AMKurt Kerner (GM): Wits + Firearms or Larceny or Streetwise or Subterfuge
1:31AMJessica: rolling 7d10>8!
= 2 Successes
1:31AMKurt Kerner (GM): rolling 6d10>8!
= 2 Successes
You can't tell.
1:31AMJessica: "Who are you?"
1:33AMBusinessman: "You came to the right place. Everything will be cleared up. This way."
1:34AMJessica: "Can you prove he sent you?"
1:35AMBusinessman: flashes you a business card "Herman Klauss, Cube Data & Transport Corp. Assistant"
motions at your t-shirt with the company logo
1:37AMJessica: "Al-alright."
1:38AMBusinessman: Walks to one of the unmarked doors at the shared firm building, just a few yards across the plaza, and opens it for you 1:38AMJessica: Jessica goes inside, but she is tense and alert
1:39AMBusinessman: It's a hallway, with a big register, with a front desk lady, and an elevator with at least 30 floors. Various firms are located on various floors. The man in gray calls up the elevator, ignoring the receptionist, and she ignores him, and he beckons you in The lobby area is very nicely decorated, a coffee machine there, some bagels available
1:40AMJessica: I'm gonna snag one and practically inhale it in the elevator
1:40AMBusinessman: THE BAGEL IS DELICIOUS please roll stamina+composure
1:41AMJessica: rolling 8d10>8!
= 2 Successes
does it remind me of peter's?
1:41AMBusinessman: what a delicious ordinary bagel
1:42AMJessica: fucking lol
1:42AMBusinessman: nope, nothing spooky here
nope nope nope
He pushes a button with an arrow down. There are 30 floors upward, but only one button to go down. And the elevator heads to the basement. For a while.
1:43AMJessica: IT'S THE DRAGON'S LAIR
BECAUSE DRAGON
Jessica gets nervous jitters. She clasps her hands in front of her and still ends up tapping thumbs together
1:45AMBusinessman: Doors open, and the man motions for you to exit, into an even more luxurious office space, with big white letters on the oaken wall CDTC
The furniture here is fucking top notch
1:46AMJessica: I bet it is
1:47AMBusinessman: *There are several Gray Men in Suits here, all look very similar to one another, but Klauss leads you past all that, down some stairs and corridors into the richest lobby of them all, and motions for you to sit on the comfiest couch you have ever felt, in front of a set of closed office doors. The name on the office doors says "Leopold Cubic, CEO"
"Please remain seated. Herr Cubic will be with you shortly"
1:48AMJessica: Her eyebrows go up.
The CEO? She tries to keep the figetting to a manageable amount while she stares openly impressed by her surroundings
(I gotta sleep)
(it's 5 am)
1:55AMKurt Kerner (GM): (ok ok ok, last thing)
Doors open. And what greets you is... not even a man, but a personification of the very word "SLY"
Jessica, prepare to meet The Dragon
9:35AMLeopold Cubic: "Oh, hello, there, you look so tired."
He leans down to smile at you with deep concern. (This face)
9:39AMJessica: Jessica inhales and tries to think. She's so tired. She started to try to explain from the beginning when her brain caught up and realized he had to have been expecting her to send a man out. "Mr. Cubic, is Mr. Ehnske okay?"
9:44AMLeopold Cubic: He looks at you in your oversized male leather jacket and sweaty clothes. Then checks his watch. "Oh hush hush hush, you busy busy excited young thing. don't you worry, everyone will be alright. Have you eaten, have you showered, have you slept in a proper bed? Let's get you cleaned up first, eh?"
9:46AMJessica: Jessica is a bit wrong-footed at his response. "Mr. Cubic, there was an explosion. Some terrorists attacked the convention and he wasn't here when I got here. Has anyone tried to contact him?" As she says that last part her face heats up as she realizes she could have tried to call him but in her delirious exhausted state all she did was sleep on the train.
9:51AMLeopold Cubic: He gently takes you by the shoulder and leads you away from his office, the inside of which you ever barely get to see, most you can discern is a luxurious desk and an oil painting of some politician. He leads you a few corridors down, all the while nodding and keeping you engaged in telling more, by asking questions on the details
"What kind of explosion, dearie?"
"Who wasn't there when you got there?"
9:51AMLeopold Cubic: "Which convention, dearie?"
9:55AMJessica: He can't really be expected to know everything his marketing team is up to. "I play for your company at Magic: the Gathering tournaments. There was one this weekend in Berlin. A couple of my opponents self-identified as terrorists and then caused an explosion. I was supposed to meet Hans here and he didn't show up."
I mean, he told me that in the alternate timeline but if that's the first place he though about in an emergency it's not a stretch to think he'd come here anyway.
9:59AMLeopold Cubic: "Aha, card games, yes yes yes yes yes. Okay, okay, tell me more about these terrorists."
the smell of eggs and bacon makes your tummy grumble as you near what appears to be a set of living suites
10:02AMJessica: (were last names ever offered? I can't find them in the log but they may have been on the pics)
10:03AMKurt Kerner (GM): (Whose?)
10:03AMJessica: (Mladen and Peter's)
10:04AMKurt Kerner (GM): Eidetic memory roll. Int+Socialize+2
(One name was offered)
or Int+Investigation+2
Since you read their dossiers
10:05AMJessica: rolling 5d10>8!
= 0 Successes
10:05AMKurt Kerner (GM): which is research rather than picking up in conversation
try with investigation
10:06AMJessica: that was investigation. it's fine i'll go with it
10:06AMKurt Kerner (GM): Yeah in the shock of it, Jess can't remember
10:09AMJessica: "There was a guy named Mladen from Croatia. He wore like a beanie cap. He's gotta be the only Mladen there. And then Peter I think was from Germany but I can't remember. Super calm guy. But he's the Peter I was matched against so he should be easy to identify from the tournament match ups. I don't know why they were going to blow everything up. They told me to run. Mr. Ehnske had a profile for Peter as well if that helps anything. But Mr. Ehnske couldn't find anything on Mladen before the tournament which I thought was weird at the time but I guess it might be because he's shady. Why would anyone blow up a Magic Tournament?"
As she is talking she is loading a plate with more food than what might be considered polite, but she's had a fuckawful day and night and eating is the only thing she wants to be doing besides sleeping. Omg eggs. All the eggs.
Orange juice or coffee? Why not both?
10:17AMLeopold Cubic: You have a choice of orange juice, lemon juice, apple juice, cranberry juice, milk, tea (green and black of like 10 sorts), coffee, cream.
For food, scrambled eggs, sunny side up eggs, omelette, bacon, sausage, schnitzel, waffles, pancakes, bread, fruit salads, shrimp, vegetables*
10:18AMJessica: Without being picky except for definitely grabbing waffles, whatever is most immediately available until the plate is too full to be reasonable
More hungry than choosey
10:22AMLeopold Cubic: "Mhm, mhm, okay, okay. Aha. A profile, I see."
The man nods and inserts inflections into her pauses, careful not to repeat any names.
"That is very weird."
When she asks why anyone would blow up a Magic Tournament, he finally says something that isn't just a confirmation of him listening.
"Well, it's a difficult question, dearie. Germany's not a calm country right now. Surely you know that. We have two small wars going on, small ones but still. Terrorists are about, Berlin is a big city, sporting events are not uncommon targets. Buses get blown up, trains, airports. It's terrible, just terrible. I mean, we'd have to look into it, we'll investigate and figure it all out. You get yourself cleaned up and rest. Without your bright little mind working right, you'll be of no help to anyone."
10:25AMLeopold Cubic: He says this with a caring town of a grandpa tone
not town
10:28AMJessica: "Thank you." She says that kind of sheepishly. She is very aware of how mismatched they are. She didn't exactly grow up poor but she showed up with a freaking tattoo on her face and mismatched clothes. He was being really nice for someone who-- "How did you know I was outside?"
10:30AMLeopold Cubic: (makes that face)
"Well there are security cameras, dearie."
10:32AMJessica: "But why would you want to talk to me personally?"
"You didn't know who I was."
10:33AMLeopold Cubic: "You're a young girl, curled up on the street, outside my building, wearing my company's logo. Tsk tsk"
Just shakes his head patronizingly and kindly, to a stupid question
"You need to sleep. Your brain is racing and stressed. Do you want dessert? Here, have something sweet. Cookies, ice cream?"
10:37AMJessica: "No." She points at her disappearing plate with her fork. "This is great." She gulps some orange juice. Her mind is now on the ambulance. There wasn't a great way to explain the ambulance without explaining the rest, and the rest was pretty fucky. The terrorists weren't just a couple of kids. He really needed to know that.
She reddened briefly at the kind remark.
"Thank you for this." She gestures at all the food.
"The Mladen guy...he didn't have like, an identity for Mr. Ehnske to check out...I feel like it's worth noting that these guys are more organized than a couple of kids. Also there were ambulances outside already when I got out. That's pretty weird."
10:42AMLeopold Cubic: He waits for her to eat and ushers her into a hallway with the suites, opening a door into a no less but a 5 star hotel room, with a TV, an awesome bed, a big bath tub, a shower suite, water, wine, snacks, iron, kitchenette, fridge, gun safe, everything you'd expect in a hotel room. Decor? LUXURIOUS. Dark wood, brass colored curtains, embroidered with intricate designs. On a perfectly polished table, a little card "CDTC is pleased to have you as a VIP guest" Listens to everything along the way
10:43AMJessica: Eventually Jessica
sort of
(my dog is [helping one moment)
Eventually Jessica sort of runs out of gas as far as details to tell him. She makes the mistake of sitting on the bed for a second and it's so comfy. Her mind is split between being decent and showering first or just sleeping and worrying about being clean later. The shower and the bed are both singing a siren's song. "Thank you so much Mr. Cubic. Please let me know when you find out about Mr. Ehnske."
10:51AMLeopold Cubic: "Yes yes yes, of course, I will make some phone calls and find everything out. You don't worry about anything. We will sort it all through. I'll let you have some privacy."
He walks out and gently closes the door, leaving you in the suite alone.
10:52AMJessica: Jessica heroically takes the not-lazy route and takes a shower before crashing in the bed
10:53AMKurt Kerner (GM): In the closet there are fresh sets of clothes. A jeans and T-shirt with company logo, just like yours, a hoodie with company logo, a turtleneck with company logo, a gray suit, with a tie, and white dress shirt, black running shoes, black business shoes, male and female, on heels. Also, there are some generic fashion clothes, and generic blue jeans and a black hoodie, without logos. everything is in roughly your size, not precisely, but roughly
10:54AMJessica: Hm. No other sizes?
That's weird
10:54AMKurt Kerner (GM): no clean underwear though 10:55AMJessica: Oh well. That sucks
10:56AMKurt Kerner (GM): Yeah, if they did have underwear, that would be weird too. Would they have provided lace, or no? Lingerie? Black or white? So many assumptions to they would have make. That would be weird...
But without any choice, it's kinda also weird. Weirdly corporate. "You know I'm wearing under the suit, Mr. Ehnske? Absolutely nothing"
You are clean. Shower feels amazing. The events of the past 12 hours race through your mind, but it's more of a turtle race, because your stomach desperately wants to digest and begs to do it during a nap. You crash on the bed, and it is so insanely soft, warm, and comfortable, that you are the deepest you were ever asleep in a long time*
You have dreams.
You see your uncle, Charlie.
10:59AMJessica: (do i have an actual uncle charlie or is it like dream logic?)
11:01AMKurt Kerner (GM): ((He's the guy who bought you the black lotus for 3000 USD in your backstory))
((Black Lotus was the reason she was here at the tournament in the first place, and also why she cringed at night when she tried to sleep. It was a pricey card—worth $3,000 dollars. Her best cards after it were comparatively beggarous at $135 or so last time she checked. Her uncle had bought it for her as a graduation present so she could compete in the World Championship—top prize $50,000. Her father had twitched his mustache a lot, and as soon as her uncle left he suggested she sell it on Ebay. - excerpt from your backstory file ))
11:01AMJessica: (yeah yeah yeah I remember now sorry)
11:02AMUncle Charlie: hugs you after you have won World Championship, you put the trophy down to hug him back "I knew you could do that, Jess, my brilliant little princess!"
11:03AMKurt Kerner (GM): Uncle Charlie didn't have kids of his own, his wife died before they could, and he never re-married. For what reasons, you never knew. Here, in the dream, he saw you as his child, and your success as his.
11:04AMJessica: That's heartwarming
Am I cognizant enough to feel guilty about the dream since I didn't actually win?
Also I just lost all my cards T_T
stupid terrorists
11:31AMKurt Kerner (GM): If you're an active dreamer, sure. Dreams can be different. In this dream, you are not forced to feel anything specific, so be free to describe feelings
If you feel guilty, then guilt is what will color the dream sequence
11:32AMJessica: When I am that tired dreams are less interactive and just sort of play on
so I'mma say it just does its thing
11:34AMKurt Kerner (GM): You see your father approach, and now it's not the Championship anymore, the trophy is put away on the shelf in the living room, and it has Aiping's name on it. Your dad and Uncle Charlie argue. 11:37AMEd: Murphy: "See, I told you it was a bad idea. 3000 dollars would have been a good school investment. That's a semester in school."
11:38AMUncle Charlie: "That's your problem, man, you're always business business work work work, girl's gotta have fun, Ed."
11:40AMEd Murphy: "She's my daughter, Charles. Not you who's gotta pay the bills when she's broke. Not your doorstep she gonna come to if she can't find a job. Not you who gets to make her feel better if her husband dumps her. You get to do all the fun stuff, and buy all the toys. With money you wouldn't have, if you had...."
11:43AMCharlie: "If I had my own family? Yeah, go ahead, say it. It's fine. Maybe you're right, Ed. I mean, of course, you're right. But there will be times when she's alone anyways, and you won't be there, and neither will your doorstep. There will be times when she will be so alone, that the only things she can carry with her - are not her money, not her job, not your house - but the love she received, the joy she felt, the games she played..."
11:46AMEd: : "Okay, okay, bro, I'm sorry, I was out of line. I'm sorry." - your father goes to hug Charlie. Charlie hugs him, but insists on finishing his point.
11:49AMCharlie: : "It's okay, but no, listen, I've felt it. Trust me, I did. Laura and I never got the chance before she passed. And there were dark times, when I considered the temptation to join her. And I've wanted nothing else than to have children and be with her. But suicide isn't reunion. It's darkness, it's death. Just not easy to see it that way. In my darkest hour, it was the happy memories of Laura that pulled me through. It wasn't the plans we made, or the house we bought, or the jobs we worked."
: "In the darkest hour, it was as little as the kind words we've whispered, the things we said. Those were the things I could repeat to myself at night. To heal. To deal with my loss."
11:50AMKurt Kerner (GM): The two men sit down to have some whisky The dreamscape changes to a Satyr's lair.
11:55AMJessica: (is that to sleeping me or to dream me?)
1:51PMKurt Kerner (GM): (to dream you)
1:54PMPeter: "Hello, my Muse!"
1:54PMJessica: Jessica rolls over in her sleep
1:57PMPeter: "I'm here, I managed to come with you! In what form I could. You're right, this world is very different."
1:59PMJessica: "I'm safe, it's alright."
2:01PMPeter: "You are so brave and strong! I'm happy you made it to the tower and back out."
2:01PMJessica: "Are you alright?"
2:03PMPeter: "I think so... I feel strange. There is a thing about this world. It is... complex and confusing. And it is also.... so very dry. It has no... this. It doesn't have enough of this kind of place."
2:03PMJessica: "Not enough magic? Mana, I guess?"
2:05PMPeter: "I think it does have magic, everywhere, but it's too heavy for me to lift. Unless I'm near you. But now I feel okay."
2:08PMJessica: "Do you need anything? Hair?" It was weird offering someone hair like it was a beverage or something.
2:20PMPeter: "I would love to have you in my arms again. Do you need anything? I could try to help."
2:22PMJessica: "Can we...go anywhere?" Astral travel was hocus pocus yesterday but today didn't seem silly.
2:23PMPeter: "We could try! Have you ever been to Greece?"
2:23PMJessica: Jessica laughed. "No, but it sounds fun."
2:24PMPeter: "Let's go. I feel all the power now!"
You two lift off and fly through the air over green landscapes
"I think we're way past hair and blood now, my love! We are connected now. We're using all your magic!"
He laughs and hugs you and spins you around
2:27PMJessica: Jessica hugs him back and pecks his cheek. After her encounter with the Delver, she had been worried he was entirely a fabrication. But this was fun, and safe.
"I'm really glad you made it."
2:29PMPeter: Images of ancient Greece grow around you, just like in illustrations. Not only did you jump in location, but also in time. In the lodges sit the greek oligarchs, petting giant greyhounds, women bathing in the fountains, you have a stylish toga on, Peter is in his usual blue nude satyr self. He dances and plays the flute 2:29PMJessica: "Are these people dreaming, or did we make them up?"
2:31PMPeter: "Oooh. That is a good question."
Peter approaches a man sitting on a stone bench, an obvious person of power
"This kind of person would obviously be dangerous, yes? We could not touch him without consequence, could we?"
2:31PMJessica: "I mean he is just dreaming. If we did anything he would just wake up."
2:32PMPeter: "Are you dreaming? Is this your dream?"
2:32PMJessica: "I went to sleep...it doesn't feel like Arcadia. Has to be a dream. Right?"
2:33PMPeter: "I will have to find out more. My memory is a little hazy. You could try to name this person. See what happens."
2:34PMJessica: (lemme think)
Jessica smirked. Another transforming card would be fun. She pointed at the man with a sort of silly amount of importance, saying, "Kytheon, Hero of Akros."
2:39PMKytheon: *the man stands up, petting a giant dog. "Hello. My name is Kytheon, the famed hero of Akros, and this is my loyal hound Atrius. How do you fare this fine day?"
2:40PMJessica: Are the other people moving around or really existing or was everything still-shot until I named Kytheon?
2:41PMPeter: They're moving about their business, but you know how it gets in dreams. Things are sort of backgroundy, until you focus on something, and then it becomes more prominent 2:41PMJessica: makes sense
"We're great. Just exploring."
2:42PMPeter: Peter serves both you and Kytheon some grapes and a glass of wine each 2:43PMKytheon: "Thank you, kind and gentle devil-god, to your health, citizen explorer. Welcome to the city of Athens. The greatest city in Greece."
2:43PMJessica: kind and gentle devil-god is hilarious
2:43PMKytheon: "What brings you here of all places?"
2:45PMJessica: "I think we just sort of picked a place." (this looks like my mental pictures of greece from studying greece in school doesn't it?)
(it's not modern greece cause i've never been there)
2:49PMJessica: (interesting)
2:50PMKytheon: "Sometimes it is a good decision to go somewhere in a random unexpected direction. There is a sense of lightness in it, don't you think?"
2:52PMJessica: "Sure." To Peter: "I think I want to
try to go in someone's dream next time. It didn't occur to me but most people are probably awake right now."
2:53PMPeter: "Do you think it's a good idea? What if the owner of the dream is in control there, and not us? I'd have to study up on this for next time."
2:54PMJessica: "I didn't think about that. That's a good idea. Maybe I'll buy some crystals or something too." Didn't witchcraft usually involve props?
2:54PMPeter: Sure, usually.
At least the idea of it.
2:56PMKytheon: "I say you fine people just go ahead and see what happens. Overplanning is complicated and rarely does good. Just like your uncle Charlie said, it's not the plans you make, but the fun you have. Plans go wrong, and that only adds to the weight of burdens. Have fun, play games!"
2:56PMJessica: (fucking lol dream dialogue is great)
"I like you, Kytheon. But everyone is awake right now, unless I wanted to go to China or something. That seems kind of far."
(China's actually probably the wrong direction. we probably actually want like Greenland)
I dunno how many time zones that is
3:00PMKytheon: "Well, if you must. I like you too, by the way. Since you are such a charming duo, I, Kytheon of Akros, grant you my estate and all its denizens for enjoyment. Play, play, play with us!"
3:01PMPeter: Men and women around the fountain start taking off their togas, splashing each other with water out of their jugs and tubs, drinking, eating grapes, and making out. It's a start of an orgy. 3:01PMJessica: (hahahahahaa)
3:01PMPeter: "This is really my kind of fun!" - Peter beckons you to join in.
3:02PMJessica: "Isn't this like, masturbating?"
3:02PMKytheon: "Who cares? Your mom's not here."
3:03PMJessica: "Why don't we go somewhere more normal? I can show you my house."
3:04PMPeter: "Okay!" - Peter was already balls deep in some blonde greek lady who looked like a statue dressed in oil painting clothes
Kytheon does not say goodbye, he just drops being a thing. Your neighborhood manifests. Not immediately. Some residual feeling of horniness still persists. The dream you is not wearing clothes, and your body is full of the libido energy
By the time you see your home, you are clothed. Peter is not.
3:06PMJessica: (I mean it's Peter so whatever)
Jessica takes Peter's hand and guides him towards her house. "Do you like it? The mortal world?"
3:07PMPeter: You feel a little drunk from the wine earlier "Is this the mortal world though? I think this is the mortal would the way you see it in your dreams. I've seen the mortal world a little when I sit on your cheek, but it's all dry and flat. This... this is much better. Much more.... volume. Is this where you live, Enchantress?"
3:13PMJessica: "I live in a place like this in the mortal plane. I think this is the best I can do to show you without making you a body or something crazy like that."
3:14PMPeter: "Wow. It is so... What is that for? Do you keep wyverns?" -
he points to the garage door 3:15PMJessica: "Uh no. That's for our cars."
3:15PMPeter: "Those chariots on four wheels?"
3:16PMJessica: "I think my parents had a car when I was really little but I forget what it looked like."
"Yeah."
3:16PMPeter: "They run without horses. Are they magic?"
3:18PMJessica: "No but I don't really know how they work."
3:18PMPeter: "Doesn't that make them magic?"
3:19PMJessica: "I mean somebody knows how they work. Does anyone know how magic works?"
3:19PMPeter: "Of course, mages do."
3:20PMJessica: "Do they know how it works or just how to drive it?"
"I can use a car but I'll never be able to build one."
3:21PMPeter: "That depends. I think I only know how to drive it, unfortunately. So, I'm not so great at stating my argument case. I play my flute and that makes magic. I think it works by... using the essence of greater things."
3:21PMJessica: *cat not car in comment above
"So what's greater than a mage?"
3:23PMPeter: "Of course, I only know what you know. I can recall what you pick up when you're awake, or what I can dig up from your memories."
"Hmmm. What's greater than a mage? A mage who goes to school to study how magic works. I mean, why couldn't you build a car? You could go to school to learn that."
3:24PMJessica: Jessica is somewhat sad to hear Peter describe himself. "Yeah but I'm not drawing power off other mages. Maybe the Tower."
3:25PMPeter: "You seem sad. Did I make you sad?"
You two come near the house to find the door is unlocked and left open
3:28PMJessica: "It's been really, really crazy, and I haven't had time to think, but since the Delver I've been worried that you were also just something I made up, and if everything in Arcadia is just something I made up that makes it pretty empty, and me pretty crazy."
"Is the Tower the only thing there?"
3:38PMPeter: "Wow, these are some complicated questions. I see your conflict. More so, I feel it. We could take it point by point. First being, just because you make something up, does not make it empty. Otherwise everything is empty, like art, civilization, or, you know, anything at all."
rubs his horns in thought
"Secondly, if we ignore that postulate, it still does not prove that I am not real, or that you are not real. In Arcadia you started doubting your own reality, and there was a clear boundary, past which you could go, but I could not. Which marks distinction between you and I. I know the Tower is real, but before meeting you, it was just a bright and frightening thing, a thing i did not go near. I became more brave and cogniscent once you shared yourself with me. So, if I were to ponder my own existence, which, mind you, is dangerous, as we satyrs are known to be demons, and demons are great philosophers, I would suppose that I am part you and part something much older. I think that you've encountered a genuine piece of Arcadia, the thing that I was, and shaped it to be something you can understand. While I retain knowledge I had of my home, most of it deals with making really good quality wine and pleasures of the flesh. I am a care free and magical being. But a union with you requires precision, goal specific existance, and that I can only pick up from the world around us... around... you. Since I am tethered to you, being a.... well, literally on your cheek. So....Where does that leave us?"
3:48PMJessica: "I'll...have to think about it." But she smiled. "I don't think you're a demon though." She took his hand and led him inside. "Christians liked to make demons out of pagan gods. I think you're better than a demon."
3:51PMPeter: Things are thrown around, dishes are broken, TV is ripped from the wall, chairs are missing cushions 3:52PMJessica: "Woah." This wasn't what she expected.
3:52PMPeter: "Something's wrong, isn't it?" -
Peter takes out his flute "Which reminds me. Out there in the real world, I can protect you like I did on the bridge. But I think, only for a limited time. Remember that."
3:55PMJessica: Jessica nods. "If--if things get dangerous will I just wake up?"
3:55PMPeter: "I have no idea. You can try?"
3:55PMJessica: She steps carefully over debris
"I want to see what happened."
3:56PMPeter: "In your dream?"
3:56PMJessica: "I guess. I don't know why it's like this."
3:56PMPeter: Family photos are broken on the floor, paintings, vases. 3:57PMJessica: What about the kitchen?
3:58PMPeter: Cupboards are open, drawers are out, all utensils are on the floor, pantry is emptied, everything is out of their containers. Water in the sink is running. The stove is on 3:59PMJessica: Jessica turns things off. Bedrooms?
4:01PMPeter: Windows are open, curtains flying, clothes are thrown on the floor, closets emptied, laundry bins flipped over 4:02PMJessica: "I don't understand."
"I think maybe I need to wake up now."
4:03PMPeter: "Okay, I'll do some snooping, and I'll let the others know it's time."
4:03PMJessica: "What others?"
4:05PMPeter: "Well there are five others on your face. Plus the Lotus. The Lotus is kind of in charge. The others just can't talk. Because, you know, no intimate connection. They didn't share a night with you like I did, so they can't do what I can do here, but they're still there. They can all do something. You'd have to ask. Keep in mind. The Hour Glass can be kind of a dick."
4:06PMJessica: "Well that's good to know I guess."
4:07PMPeter: "Oooops, time to go. See you later, Jessica!"
Poof
4:07PMKurt Kerner (GM): You start stirring awake, because the right side of your face starts to sting.
4:09PMJessica: OMG I DIDN'T CALL MY PARENTS Just like forgetting actually calling Hans was an option, between being in Arcadia for days and immediately having to flee for her life and then being in a tired stupor on the train and then on the sidewalk
She fished her phone out and tried her mom's number
4:15PMKurt Kerner (GM): You awake. Surface feelings are: you are really refreshed physically, hungover (!!), a little wet in the female parts, and really REALLY badly need to pee. Your face increasingly stings. You dial the number with shaky fingers as you look at the phone clock and realize you've slept for 32 hours. But the phone clock showing 17:04 doesn't do the time justice, because in your mind, that crisp perception of time is back, and you intuitively know that it's 17:04:56
"The number you have reached is not in service at this time"
"Please try your call again"
4:17PMJessica: Wtf 32 hours and nobody woke me up. Dad's phone
Doing the cross-legged walk to the bathroom while it rings
4:18PMKurt Kerner (GM): You pee forever
4:19PMJessica: Man dreams having real effects is cool but also scary
4:19PMKurt Kerner (GM): "You've reached Edward Murphy, I'm not available right now, please leave a message and I'll call you back."
4:20PMJessica: "Dad. It's Jessica. Mom's phone isn't working please call me back."
Start to dial Heike's number and delete. Instinct is to not draw attention to her or Aiping. Uncle Charlie?
4:26PMKurt Kerner (GM): For Heike you get a busy signal.
If you dial it
Do you dial it or not?
4:27PMJessica: No because if they're paying attention to my phone I don't want to draw attention to them, but my family is a weak link no matter what
4:27PMKurt Kerner (GM): Okay, you delete Heike's number
Same as Aiping's
What about Uncle Charlie?
4:28PMJessica: I don't delete the numbers I started dialing them and changed my mind. I might still have to try them later I just don't want to generate a call log with them
I'm calling uncle charlie
4:32PMKurt Kerner (GM): Ok
4:32PMCharlie: : "Hello?"
4:33PMJessica: "Uncle Charlie, it's Jessica. I can't get ahold of dad."
4:34PMCharlie: : "Jessica! Hey, little miss! How have you been? It's been so long! What's with dad? Did you try mom?"
4:37PMJessica: "I had a tournament this weekend. There was a terrorist attack. I'm-" she almost said safe but she was asleep almost 32 hours and nobody had checked in on her- "I'm okay. I'm at Cube Transport and Data Corp. Can you write that down?"
4:40PMCharlie: : "Oh sweetie, I'm in Vienna, on a tour, just got to see the Schonbrunn Palace. It is such a wonderful place, I have to take you there sometime. I'm so happy you had fun at the tournament, did you win?"
4:41PMJessica: "Uncle Charlie there was a terrorist attack. Did you hear me?"
"I'm at Cube Transport and Data Corp."
4:47PMCharlie: : "Absolutely, when I come back, you can show me all the pictures! How's school?"
4:50PMJessica: Jessica hung up. Her heart was beating thunderously. Her hands were shaking. She finished up in the bathroom and tried the door to her room
4:52PMKurt Kerner (GM): In the bathroom, you pass a mirror, which you really can't ignore. Because your tattoo, the 7 symbols of it, glow a bright blue light. The Lotus glows the hardest, building up a charge, and then..... WUM! The circuit closes, sending a sparkle clockwise, being all seven flash again, and become normal blue. Your face stops stinging, and something inside you feels like a reloaded spring.*
The door is locked
4:54PMKurt Kerner (GM): ((and that's the end of your prelude))
4:54PMJessica: (That was AWESOME and also fucking TERRIFYING)
4:55PMKurt Kerner (GM): ((and now we're gonna open Jessica's sheet and make some modifications. Make them with me on your Roll20 copy))
((I'm keeping a GM copy))
4:56PMKurt Kerner (GM): Gnosis 1
4:57PMKurt Kerner (GM): Path: Acanthus
Arcana: Time: 2 dots Fate 1 dot
These are [ruling]
Next to Forces arcana, put [inferior]
Wisdom 7
Remove Prized Possession - Black Lotus
5:01PMKurt Kerner (GM): In Flaws: add Branding - Witch's Mark (Permanent, Special) 2 points
5:03PMKurt Kerner (GM): In Merits, add Witch's Mark (Special. Activate any 1 of the 7 symbols once per day)
5:04PMJessica: how many points do i mark for that?
2?
is it euqal to flaw points?
*equal
5:04PMKurt Kerner (GM): Considering this is something not in the book, i dont know, but no, it's a huge boost
it's like free 20+ exp
Open your rotes now
5:06PMKurt Kerner (GM): Black Lotus - refill 3 points of mana by drawing from outside quintessence.
No roll
5:08PMKurt Kerner (GM): Temporal Mastery (+3 dice to the next Time spell)
No cost
5:10PMKurt Kerner (GM): Satyr - Fate 2 - Fortune's Protection, page 152, roll Composure + Athletics + Fate
(Special: Instead of 1 mana cost, may pay cost by feeling horny and drunk immediately after for same amount of hours as successes)
5:12PMJessica: is fate 2 the normal cost?
5:12PMKurt Kerner (GM): (Special 2: Can manifest in dreams and hollows)
5:12PMJessica: what does fate 2 mean?
5:12PMKurt Kerner (GM): Fate 2 is the level
My sheet has it, your may not
This spell is actually above your level normally at the moment, and you can't cast it regularly, except through the brand until you learn more fate. The tattoo would let you bypass the level requirement once per day
5:15PMKurt Kerner (GM): Delver of Secrets: Fate 1
Interconnections
Page 148
Intelligence + Investigation + Fate
(additional Wits + Empathy + Fate optional for more information)
Distant Melody (Undiscovered, Special)
5:17PMKurt Kerner (GM): Harbinger Pixie (Undiscovered)
Bitterblossom Pixie (Undiscovered)
And thaaaaaat's the way the news goes! :)
5:18PMJustin: So lower than average arcana, but a bunch of shineys.
5:18PMJessica: fair enough
5:18PMKurt Kerner (GM): "I'm just a regular girl!"
she made it though, barely
5:20PMJessica: I'm learning
5:20PMKurt Kerner (GM): You're starting like the old school crew of season 1, with 2 and 1
Justin awoke a little stronger
you gonna get the full experience of the climb
5:21PMJessica: I'm super not complaining
that was fun as hell
5:22PMJustin: Justin immediately had to do battle with the rumored 5. Even destroyed Anthony.
Or at least Anthony blew up.
200m
5:22PMKurt Kerner (GM): Yeah, also Justin was trained by one of the big baddies
Later we will all look back at this log for subtle details
Like why did Leopold check his watch?
Which is longer than 3 sessions.
5:23PMJessica: I'm the favorite
5:23PMKurt Kerner (GM): The longest prelude ever
I have to say, look up Arcadia on white wolf wiki
how the FUCK do you work with a realm
that's supposed to change
at whim
5:24PMJessica: I think you did great
5:24PMJustin: Yeah, seems difficult.
5:24PMKurt Kerner (GM): and now its time to go!
laters! :D
10:41PMKurt Kerner (GM): what are you people doing here?
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