Thanqol

Monster Hearts: Sleepshy Rise

I feel like the correct pacing here is for everyone to hit Samael's office imminently, so I push everyone not-Samael to go in that direction.

Masks: Resurrection Roundabout

Angel-IKA: Oh crap the match is starting I got to go brb
Locker: same cya
Ferraphim1tp: gl hf :)

POTENTIAL 0

Sara gives Dominus the Tiger Look. The lidded eyelids, the appraising but disdainful slow scan up and down, the lips that don’t so much as twitch. It’s trademark. Any other fan would be melting into a puddle of “step on me.” But Dominus can try to match that as an equal.

Which means playing dirty. Hitting her from an angle she’s not expecting, one she can’t defend from.

“Sure,” she says, with contemptuous casualness and a boot on Witcherphim’s back. She waits for Dominus to take a step forward before adding: “After you ask out your Angel on a date.”

And that is when her little portable ChRB drone zooms in on Dominus’s face for the whole stream to witness.

[Even with Influence, that’s a 9 on provoking her to immediately turn around and throw herself into a Supervillain Asking Out now that she has an excuse to do so for supervillainy.]

@Tatterdemalion

Ferraphim1tp: WAIT
Ferraphim1tp: COME BACK
Ferraphim1tp: ARGHSHJGHGHG

Much like Witcherphim before her, Dominus doesn't flinch or cower or blush more than a little. She's as on-camera as you in her own way. She grabs your drone out of the air and holds it steady up to her face. "You hear that, Angel-IKA? You're going on a date with the future ruler of the world. And after that, so is she."

Just as all the cameras are focused on Dominus a slender finger touches your shoulder and a voice that is all the less confident for all the confidence being pushed into it tells you "Um, excuse me, Errant is in danger."

With a final leap and a flying kick she crashes straight through the hangar door and runs as hard as her body will let her as soon as she pops back up off of the ground. Her heart pounds so hard in her chest she feels like it's going to explode. Her lungs are screaming at her. Her back and her abs are burning. But none of it feels like anything next to how angry she is. None of them. None of them were doing a damn thing!

For a moment, she's got nothing to listen to but the sound of her own heavy footfalls. Errant can't help but remember Nobunaga complaining at her about not getting to rescue her last time. Her visor runs corrections on her vision to account for the tear welling in her eye as she bites down hot fury at herself for thinking she'd help this time, too.

[Unleash squeaks by with a 7. Marking Angry]

@Phoe

The world behind you roars.

Victoria is catching up. She's catching up. The light around you is offset with a red-orange tone from the backwash of her thrusters. She drifts around corners on hardware that's just better than yours. That armour is the life's work of one of history's most notorious supervillains and it's going to run right over you.

Or it is before Victoria misjudges a corner and crashes into it. She boosts out of it without hesitation but her shoulder clips a wall and sends a scattering of broken masonry out behind her. She navigates percussively - this isn't someone who's trained all her life to handle this power, this is someone who is relying on the crushing weight of hardware to outweigh all other concerns. You've fought her type before. You haven't fought anyone of her means though.

You're still racing through cubicle farms and storage hangars and training facilities. You need to slow her down.

So, here's the skinny. Spiral troops, if what Locker says is true, are inseparable from their power armor. That is, unless AEGIS R&D has been working overtime to miniaturize the gas injectors into a form that can be surgically implanted, which is a fucking terrifying idea, and so it's not going to be thought about tonight. Point is, they're pretty distinctive. As a result, he's going to look for ways to sneak a power-armored platoon into the broadcasting booth of the local Aristeaia stadium--you know, walls thin enough to breach without damaging the broadcaster, abandoned buildings adjacent to the gymnasium.

[Aaaand that's a five on Assess. Marking XP.]

@Balmas

You're searching one of those abandoned buildings right now. So you're not particularly into professional sports, right Brainstorm? Not your vibe. You know that Aristeia! is an anything-goes kind of sport, a battle of supers overseen by highly advanced medical drones and safety features - exactly the sort of thing that'd show up in a school full of rich kids looking to show off their custom augs and high fashion. In fact, it's just occurred to you that they represent the largest concentration of force in this entire building, and if you can get them on side you'll have all the force you need to directly confront Spiral...

"LADIES AND GENTLEMEN," says Angel-IKA's voice from what feels like everywhere. "WELCOME TO THE HEXADROME!"

oh no.

"I'm Angel-IKA, with me is Locker, and strap yourselves in for the best night of high school Aristeia! that I am, um, not participating in directly!"

"In my opinion you were robbed, Angel-IKA," said Locker's voice.

"Kind of you to say, Locker, but today isn't about me. It's about them."

Two spotlights slam down, outlining two teams of four technicolour weirdos on both sides of you. This building isn't abandoned after all - it's the ring.

And before you have time to even think further there's a fucking samurai in your face. With a katana.

"Is Mars more survivable than the Aegis-Blacksun merger? Probably." She agrees cheerfully. "But that'd mean we'd be over there, and not over here, helping fix the problem. Which is going to be an issue if nobody else fixes the problem, and they come after the Gears projects on Mars. Which they would, by the way, with that much power they're going to consolidate everything under one roof within two decades and then we and Sylvanas are the two groups that aren't under their control, and anybody who's driven to do this to themselves for more power," she gestures out the window, "isn't going to stop with one planet, not while there's somebody else out there to rule. SO, that's the first reason not to run."

She takes a deep breath. "The second is that I want to help. My friends are out there dealing with something. Sara's had a run of all of her doubles going at her, Euna's gone dark, Victor's on the run. And disregarding the personal aspect, there's about to be the worst version of a totalitarian society seen, ever, and I don't think I could walk away from that and stay myself. Halfwoman asked me if I wanted to leave, too, and I would love to see Mars, and I'd have loved to go with her and see the multiverse too. But I have to try to help people here, first. If you want to go still, that's understandable, if a little disappointing. If you want to help, however... a flying lab with all of Gear's defense projects, that's going to be a bit of a nightmare to deal with." She grins, vicious.

@eldest

"Well... the orbital calculations would be a lot easier if I didn't have to account for the weight of all this spare ammunition..." said Professor Gears, starting to think.

But then there's the air-shattering sound of a portal opening. Howling wind and rain pour through. Suited up megagoons pile through in all directions, rifles raised. One of them grabs Professor Gears before she can react and swings around behind her, using her as a human shield while pointing her gun at you. "Autonomous Gears Project, you are hereby instructed to stand down in accordance with your contractual obligations as an asset of the AEGIS conglomerate!"

[They're trying to shift your Superior down and Freak up, accept their words or reject their influence]

Masks: Resurrection Roundabout

Then @SARAHPHIM, to the sound of Twitch emotes being spammed by the audience of her impromptu stream, kicks Witcherphim in the stomach like a Brazilian soccer player at the World Cup, eliciting a pained grunt and a slow curl to protect her vital organs. @SARAHPHIM summons up another sword in shimmering silver and holds it, sparking and flaring, inches from Witcherphim's neck. You have to nail the dominance display or she'll just hop back up once her mutant metabolism gives her a second wind.

"Hail to the queen, bitch."

[5 on Take A Blow, and we'll take I Don't Care What You Think! for a permanent +2 on Reject Influence, thanku; that's my fifth advance, by and by.]

@Tatterdemalion

There's an upside to fighting yourself - you follow your own logic. There's never a moment where you need to be afraid that she's going to swing up and go for another assault, or wait until your back is turned and go you again. If you were in her position you'd realize just as instinctively that dragging this out would push things from cinematic to ugly. There's a hierarchy here, and she's found her place in it - below your boot.

At the same time she doesn't give you the satisfaction of asking for mercy. She spits a little blood and turns her face down, hiding a snarl. But you can see the back of her neck and that's tiger for surrender.

"I don't suppose you'd let me take her captive?" said Dominus as her crew of bio-boosted minions regroup around her. She sounds joking but there's an unmistakable supervillain edge to the question.

*

Locker: oh here we go
Bode: It makes sense that she would ask this. Dominus' biomedical science would receive an enormous boost by being able to study Witcherphim.
Locker: yeah but it means this situation is going to turn into /another/ alpha-bitch standoff
Angel-IKA: She's joking, she doesn't mean it, she wouldn't kidnap someone.
Ferraphim1tp: That sounds wistful~
Bode: And incongruous with her criminal record
Angel-IKA: I don't know what you're implying!!

Because it does. If Maria gets another bead on her, the next attack would come from behind. Fight Science had a lot to say about that too, but with much fewer caveats. She had to get out. She had to get out now. She had to... think, damn it. Did she have any help left?

[Directly Engage: 9. Errant resists or avoids Maria's blows]

@Phoe

Up. Over. Through. There's a crash of armour from behind you but your attention is where it should be: Forward, full.

You are just ahead of the response loop. You arrive in rooms right as people are pulling emergency barricades into place, skidding through waves of stun pistol fire. Doors are slamming shut seconds behind you. There aren't decisions, there are just reflexes - your own, your skillwires', your training.

Those reflexes have sent you careening at a full sprint through a TAG maintenance hangar. If you had time to think strategically you would have avoided this area but this wasn't that kind of chase. And sure enough you see a cable surge with power and one of the Zetas detach itself from the wall, still hooked into its bay by dozens of cables. Like most TAGs it's unmaned - a remote pilot has just brought it up on their VR sync and in a matter of seconds the rest of the machines in this bay will follow suit. It lurches forwards, bringing up its secondary weapon - a heavy Riotstopper, a blast of instantly hardening and immobilizing foam. Like everything you're doing it's a reflex choice - the pilot is still disoriented from the connection and is going with an indiscriminate area weapon rather than anything more precise.

There is a very simple reason Ferra has been out of touch. She was sitting at day four of being under siege. So was everyone else in the Gears Foundation. She'd woken up to panic as their cooperative project with Athena Macrotech on Perseus turned into a security and financial audit literally overnight. Buried in the list demanded was a full inventory of all Gears projects on and off site, down to location and security.

We shall leave it at the relationship cooled after that.

The audit team (thankfully without any Champions, who are presumably off doing something more important to the bottom line) has cordoned off the Gears Foundation building and the first arbitrators were gearing up for a breach when an intern had noticed and hit the panic button. The ensuring field going up had cut the audit team's TAG in half by fortunate placement, and the rest were stuck on the wrong side of a controlled temporal distortion. The audit team had spent most of the last day bringing up and trying a tunnel boring laser on the field, to no effect, and were leaving it on while they worked out the next step.

On the other side, in Professor Gear's office, Ferra and the Professor have a good view of the laser trained on their window, blocked by the field. And it's here that they've decided to figure out, what next?

@eldest

"You know this facility doubles as a spaceship, right?" said Professor Gears. "Or - technically it doubles as a submarine, but I reckon I can get it up to spaceship functionality. They're basically the same technology. Anyway, what I'm saying is, do you want to go to space? Mars is terraformed, albeit occupied by hostile robots. I can set up a dimensional internet port. It'll be great!"

There's definitely a little waver on that final note. She's more trying to convince herself than you.

Princess-Champions of Hyperborea

It’s Juniper Blue! She looks frazzled and exhausted and she has one of the Devil Blades in her hand. Her eyes are spinning spirals like Eupheria’s, and her face is grit with determination.

“By the laws of the Bazaar,” she says, coming towards you with the blade held up in a guard stance, “you are under arrest for wickedness most foul, conspiracy to tyranny, and escape from prison.”

@Tatterdemalion

Princess Adila suddenly backs up, thoughts of spheres dropping from her mind, and almost gets her tail bit by the lurking bat. A year ago she would have been far less serious than she was now in the face of this - back when that sword was just one of the hundreds of boring pieces of metal she had to polish and sing little lullabies to whenever the roster put her on Armoury. But now she'd seen the Bronze in action it was an entirely different experience to see one of those weapons... and singing a lullaby or two didn't seem like such a bad idea.

Access to secret chapter 4148: counterhypnotism protocol granted. Apply pre-existing override as directed. Repeat precisely after me: Galant, Heavenward, Tzayalki, Supine.

+Woof. Woof woof bark!+ Princess Adila thought obediently.

[Talk Sense with Sense, which is in despair: 5, 3, 1 4+2= 6]

Princess-Champions of Hyperborea

It was a complicated series of impulses and reflexes that hit Adila. A lot of her wanted to embrace raw aggression - barking, burning, strength, power. But she was surprised at how... easy those instincts were to suppress. With no witnesses for her glory and no innocents to defend they just didn't seem to have any hold over her. Soothing silver light emanated from her. A princess must be graceful, right? And when better to practice being a princess than this practically unique moment when no one was watching?

It was a haphazard process, crossing the mushroom cavern. She tried the grappling hook a few times but just succeeded in creating a pointy laser. She tried to make a bridge but felt it crack under her feet and hurriedly stepped back and jumped instead. She'd never really thought to try any of Alina's tricks like this before, and now in motion was discovering that they were really hard. All the while she was throwing up big sweeping light shields to keep the gigantic bat off her shoulders.

Why were the shields so easy, though? Shouldn't a bridge just be a shield for her legs? She couldn't conjure a bolas or a tangling cloak or a whip, but shields were trivial. She stopped trying to be creative and instead started to focus on the shields. She made them smaller, more focused, stronger. Instead of gigantic, dispersed bubbles of light she started conjuring patterns of dinner-plate sized discs. The Light took to it naturally. Was this the nature of her Light, then? A guardian, like Alina's blue? How far could she push this?

Less far than she had, evidently. By the time she'd made it out of the cavern the light settled on her brow like an exhausted fairy. +I'm sorry,+ she thought reflexively and it fluttered in response like a bird's heartbeat.

[Overcome with despair: 2, 4, 6 +2 = 8. Damaging my Light for the 10+ result]

Masks: Resurrection Roundabout

"That means use a cross and pray to the saints," she yells at Dominus, keeping Witcherphim off balance with a hellish and high-intensity barrage. "And-- dios mio, don't let her-- yeah, she's going to try and crush your windpipe--"

She summons up another sword, because Witcherphim's right that these absolutely rule, and "tosses" it into Dominus's hands. Now she's sustaining a sword and pinning down Witcherphim and making it look easy, but if literally one more thing distracts her it's all going to fall apart like a house of cards.

[10 on Directly Engage. I want to create an opportunity for Dominus to banish the good Catholic vampire and impress, surprise, or frighten these two, and hopefully the @SARAHPHIM Nation converging on our Sara's head. I am cool with taking a few blows, so do your worst.]

@Tatterdemalion

The average person off the street might be able to brandish a crucifix and quote a movie preacher. It takes a history nerd as serious as Dominus to do so in the original Latin. And she's got some lungs on her! It reminds you of that time Father Dessiter hit his thumb with a hammer when repairing one of the pews.

You're going toe-to-toe with the tiger-eyed mutant and the trade starts to get bloody quick. The swords last for a while but you can tell they're not where your advantage is so you wrap them around each other, scatter them both to the floor, and follow up with an open hand chop to the neck. She staggers and switches to a boxing stance - and hits you back. She's shockingly strong and trained in these bare knuckle bouts. The punches start going back and forth but Dominus' shouting is reaching a crescendo and with a WRRRRYYYYY and whoosh of cape, Sarampire turns and flies for a dark shadow... and Witcherphim turns her head to look.

You've taken a beating, but this is your opening. Finish her. And then Take a Powerful Blow to see how rough the fight was.

*

Angel-IKA: Dominus? You speak Latin? o.o
Locker: u don't?
Angel-IKA: Uh it never came up in school
Bode: Why would she need to speak latin?
Locker: why are yo asking that can you not see the vampire
Ferraphim1tp: Just run it through a translator :)
Locker: that's not how ecorixms work ur all gonna die

But she! She can't! If it means one less body in front of her, what does it matter what happens to hers? What does it... what does it matter?

A good soldier follows her orders.

She has no idea what's carrying her right now. Her legs twist around underneath her and she spins on the balls of her feet to leap for the exit yet again. She's leaving him! She's leaving him!

Because she trusts her Commander.

Back into the corridor. Back into the labyrinth. Her visor clicks back down and her eyes scan frantically for angles she hasn't considered yet. It's time for another Pop Quiz.

You are a good soldier, Ms. Kim.

@Phoe

You tear past staff who drop sheafs of documents or tablets and snatch for their sidearms. By the time they've got them out of their holsters you're gone. Miserable effort. Commander Warren would be having words with them later.

The first person in your path is Maria.

She's powered up and ready to go, like she was expecting this. There's no subtlety, no grace to her interception - she charges at you like a freight train with a massive two-handed broadsword, infrastructure for cutting a TAG in half. Acceleration thrusters fire from her feet as she charges - not the manoeuvrable wall-hopping grace you are spec'd for but the thrust of a cruise missile.

"Yikes. Yeah, that's, uh. That's bad. I mean, it'd only put the entire city solidly in control of the woman who punched me through three walls, so... yeah. Let's avoid that." Hmm. Maybe contact Mami and see if she can figure out a counter-drug? No. She's still being monitored. Bode? Solid maybe, if he'd bother to step out of his invisibility cloak for like two seconds after dragging him into the public circle.

"Also explains the orange mist." He pauses as if slapped, then turns to stare at Locker. "Will they won't they? Between Angelica and Dominus? I admit I've not kept up on the stream, but is that really a thing? Never mind, don't answer, not immediately pressing, focus on preventing another corporate merger. Gimme more deets; is Spiral Corp a new subbranch of AEGIS? How much time do we have?"

@Balmas

"Why are all you people devoting valuable crime fighting time to wondering who wants to bang who?" said Locker. "I don't have much information and we don't have much time. Ferraphim's working the backend, Bode is being mysterious but I think she's around here somewhere. Collab with them, let me know what you find."

He immediately heads off to the commentator's booth. You've got a minute to assess the situation and figure out how to seven samurai in the face of a wave of kidnappers. What's your methodology, Victor?

Princess-Champions of Hyperborea

Adila!

You bounce when you land and nearly end up falling off the mushroom. You really don't want to fall off the mushroom.

You're in a vast cavern, one you might recognize from stories you've heard about Deep Hollow. Mushrooms the size of trees, the size of buildings, rise from the misty depths of whatever lies below. Mushrooms grow on top of mushrooms. The colors are surprisingly varied: red and white, of course, and murky brown, but also lacy white, bruised violet, pitch black...

"Now, we can't have you cheating. That's what you were always best at, after all. How did I not see it?"

Eupheria's sitting on the Caduceus, hovering in the air next to you, one leg slung carelessly over the other. She's wearing the kind of dress she'd wear back when you had victory banquets, covered in frills and folds, every one of them nauseatingly shifting and changing hues.

"You're special. None of the rules apply to you. Well, here's a rule: NO FLYING."

She snaps her fingers, and your wings are crushed against your sides by a tight corset. It is Uncomfortable. Like, your wings aren't in a dangerous position, but it's messing with your balance and it's going to get sore very fast.

"There we go! Now you can have a proper challenge for once."

Okay. There's definitely a way out, and you'll be able to see it up if you get up to a higher mushroom. The only trick is going to be getting up there, but Euphie likes to pretend she's playing fair. And... she's watching you. Which is definitely adding to the pressure.

@Tatterdemalion

Princess Eupheria has underestimated Princess Adila. Has she never owned a dog?

Her mind is vector calculus. You think that dogs are stupid? Think again. She can calculate the exact speed and relative momentum to jump and snatch a ball out of the air with her mouth and then skid into place with a perfect 180 turn followed by an immediate acceleration back up to maximum velocity. She's fresh full of memories of the kind of leaps and scrambles she had to do to keep up with Princess Rita before her wings were fully grown in so all the muscle memory is there too. She is fast. She is good. She is obeying the Rules. She has a challenge. What more is there in life?

Jump. Slide. Accelerate. Run. Keep your tongue on the inside of your mouth, Adila!

[Get Away: 8-1= 7, getting there fast and avoiding danger along the way.]

Princess-Champions of Hyperborea

Princess Adila of the Watch
The Dragon Knight

LOOK
Golden eyes - black scales - armour of orange, black and gold - dragon body

AGENDA
Relentless Justice: The laws of the great dragons are absolute. Do not break them or allow others to do so.
Be Brave, Take Risks
Tell Us Of Your People
Improve The World Around You

STATS
Blood +2
Courage +1
Grace -1
Sense +2
Wisdom +1

A hatchling, newborn.
Your power is a simple one: you are a newborn, the child of at least one dragon. You have limited control over your great strength, but it exhausts you when you draw upon it.
When you wish to unleash your true strength, you must damage your Blood stat. For the rest of the scene, you gain the tags Burning and Dangerous, you do not roll with Despair when rolling Blood or Courage, and you can damage a stat to use a Dragon Magic spell without marking it. You cannot transform while your Blood is damaged. When the scene ends, your transformation also ends.

Between Adila's lack of grace and her enormous physical strength she exists as a walking disaster area. Leaning against a tree will mean the end of the tree; a startled jump might put a dragon-sized hole in a building.

She speaks telepathically, broadcasting her thoughts into the minds of other creatures, and she can also pick up the thoughts of other creatures in exchange. This ability has two serious limitations. Firstly, most creatures have extremely poor thought discipline which makes reading their minds particularly difficult - it's not much more useful than being very good at reading body language. Secondly, Adila also has terrible thought discipline and has a hard time shutting off her stream of consciousness chatter or keeping embarrassing thoughts to herself.

CORE MOVE
Champion of Fire
You do not have your own People. You once did, but no longer. Instead, you can Command Lore about the glory of the dragons, their place in the world, and the magnificent feats they have performed throughout history. The Dragon has eleven Custom Moves to choose from instead of eight, and chooses four of them during character creation instead of two. When a Move tells someone they may take a Core Move from any basic playbook, Dragon's Custom Moves you have taken count as Core Moves. This Move cannot be Shared.

Fast Friends
When you spend a scene by someone's side or Speak Softly with them, you may gain a Bond with them immediately.
You can have an unlimited number of Bonds with anybody. People who you have Bonds with do not become Companions. You do not have enough pull with the fellowship to just recruit people. Anyone you have Bonds with will think well of you and will not try to harm you if they can help it, regardless of their feelings for the rest of the fellowship.

You can Command Lore about anyone you have any Bonds with, except for your Bonds with other players. You can Command Lore about Companions, friends, and minions of the Overlord who you have Bonds with, but you cannot Command Lore about the other heroes of the fellowship or about the Overlord.

Please, Just Listen
When you Talk Sense to someone, you may erase a Bond with them instead of owing them a favor.
When you Speak Softly with someone, you may erase a Bond with them to make them answer a question they refuse to answer.

It's Dangerous to Go Alone
When you watch someone's back and keep your eyes peeled, you can roll to Overcome any harm against them with +Sense instead of +Blood.

CUSTOM MOVES
Strength of a hundred. You can pick up anything and anyone you can firmly grasp with at least one hand. Objects and enemies you hold have the tags Ranged and Thrown.

Wings of a dragon. You can fly. When you fly with a passenger or a heavy load, you have the Clumsy tag.
Clumsy gives a -1 penalty to Get Away, Keep Them Busy, and Finish Them.

Through the fire and the flames. You are Dragon-Made, and the elements cannot harm or change you.

Eyes of Fire. Your eyes are unnaturally good, and you can see fine detail even through the darkest night or densest fog. When you Look Closely, you may study any location you can see, no matter how distant, as if you were standing right there.

Treasure Hoard. You are rich and powerful. Choose one extra option from each of your Gear lists.

Dragon Magic
When you draw upon the draconic power that only a fool would not call magic, choose a spell from below then mark it. You cannot use a spell while it is marked. When you Fill Your Belly, remove a mark from one spell. When you Recover, remove all marks on your spells.
O Blessing of Strength: Destroy a wall or door in your way
X Blessing of Speed: Instantly appear somewhere close by that you can see. No one else will see you move there
X Blessing of Glory: Force someone to listen to you when you Talk Sense to them.

You Have My Shield
When you Overcome the harm an ally would suffer and roll a 7+, you can redirect the harm instead of stopping it. Someone else suffers the harm that would've been inflicted upon your ally - tell us who.

We Need Your Help!
When you go to find help, the Overlord will tell you who you find. If you ask for their aid, roll +Sense.
On a 10+, all four.
On a 7-9, choose two, or pay a price and take three. Regardless of your
choices, they will help you, and they are sufficient to help with your need:
 They will help you immediately, dropping whatever they were doing
 They ask no questions and need no explanation
 They demand no favors or payment
 You Forge a Bond with them
On a 6-, they will not help you, and they may even mean you harm.

GEAR
Extra spicy fruits (2/3 Uses, Food Only for Dragons)
Dragonscale (0/1 Armour)
Mighty claws and hardened scales (Melee, Dragon-Made)
Your supernatural strength and speed (Melee, Dragon-Made)
Fire Breath (Ranged, reload, burning)
Polychromatic Firebomb Dresses (Ranged, reload, burning)
Dragon's Hoard (2/3 Uses, Useful, Precious)
Myself, and my overwhelming power (2/2 uses, mark to use Dragon Magic)
Detective Brill. She's a firebreathing dragon teenager with a mysterious origin, he's a corrupt noir bureaucrat with a nose for trouble. They fight crime! (Master Plan, Backup Plan)
The Spirit of Adila I, advising me on how to best be her champion: (0/2 uses, you may use this to call her spirit to my side and roll to Speak Softly with them. They have great knowledge of many things.)

The Little Light Silver
- Lantern
- Weaponry
- Lasers
- Light Shield

BONDS

Princess Alina is perfect, the kind of being I aspire to be.
I promised to restore Illumina to Princess Alina
I danced in the rain with Princess Alina
Princess Alina kicked my butt in a duel
Princess Alina healed me when I was stricken
The previous Princess Adila is a mystery, and I will learn the truth behind her legend.
Adila I issued me direct orders
Adila I and I spoke in the circus.
Princess Kazelia stood as my deputy and champion and won a duel on my behalf
Princess Kazelia reflected me in her eyes
Princess Kazelia kidnapped me
Princess Hornet is my contractually mandated friend.
Princess Dandy helped me when I was at my lowest.
Princess Dandy and I had a picnic
Princess Dandy provided pats
Princess Iron Star Crushes the Strong helped me do something terrible.
I danced with Princess Iron Star.
Liza Rippley trusted me against the odds.
Princess Eska told me about her dreams.
Princess Eska hypnotized me.
I was Princess Eska's dragon maid.

Greymane befriended me in disguise.

ADVANCEMENT
Level 7
- Another Dragon Custom
- Another Dragon Custom
- +1 Courage
- Knight Destiny
- Squire Core
- Knight Custom

Masks: Resurrection Roundabout

NPC List

AtlasTech - Megacorp. Attacked by Sabrem years ago. Makes shades.

The game is set within AtlasTech's sphere of influence. They're huge, they're powerful, and like all huge and powerful things people want to take it over. There's a big leadership crisis internally after Sabrem's attack brought down their CEO. Since then they've lost a lot of oversight, change leadership constantly, and multiple branches are starting to go rogue. A lot of people have eyes on who winds up in the big chair.

Mami Jimenez - Looked after and supports @Sarahphim. Also a backalley superpower surgeon who raised Brainstorm.

Of course the two Mami's are the same person and not just because I thought Mami was a proper name.

Sasha "JuneBird" Reeds - complains about sponsors

I'm thinking a grumpy colleague of Errant's, a dedicated public servant and AEGIS operative who Has Opinions about celebrity culture.

Dr. Gears - Superscientist responsible for Ferra and Sarahphim's solid light tech. Pioneer of Rx-as-power-source tech.

He's tied into everything so discovering his lab and old inventions are major setting elements.

Silver Royals - Supervillain group

As the original members got old they started running training camps for aspiring villains. They're a bunch of decrepit but superpowered mafia kingpins, comparable clout to a small Megacorp. Range of legitimate businesses to cover for their non-legit stuff.

Gears Foundation - Dedicated to unlocking the legacy of Dr. Gears

I'm imagining them as low-budget nutters driven primarily by their founder. They've got a big archive but most stuff in it looks useless or unfinished, except when on those occasions a true AI abruptly bursts out and they're as surprised as anyone. A lot of conspiracy nuts (in a setting where evil corporations are doing mind control research and aliens attack regularly, so maybe it's justifiable paranoia)

Professor Gears - Granddaughter of Dr. Gears, current leader of the Gears Foundation

Fritzy, bubbly, chaotic, and a tendency to let the science get ahead of her. I'm thinking of her as the lovechild of Pinkie Pie and Twilight Sparkle.

Sabrem - Ruthless master thief

In her absolute prime at this point. One of the best, most experienced, and most dangerous supervillains in the world period.

Athena MacroTech - Megacorp. Backers of AEGIS.

Founded by a superhero, a bit like Stark Technologies. Ate a lot of government and military sectors on the way up so very well armed and with old and scary secrets. AEGIS is their rapid response branch.

Commander Warren - AEGIS Director

An actual military commander from before it all went corporate. Does things by the book.

Naota - Arcade operator.

Total skeezeball. Ex professional gamer, now a burned out middle aged arcade owner who chain smokes, disregards the law, and mutters contemptuously at 'casuals'. At the same time he'll let you crash in the arcade if you've got nowhere else to go and ask no questions.

Prometheus - Rogue AI, Dr. Gears prototype expanded by Brainstorm

Going to model the personality a lot on Brainstorm's so no notes until I can observe him for a while.

Doctor Silvanius - Martian monarch

ALL HAIL THE DICTATOR OF THE RED PLANET

Halfwoman - Cosmic breach superheroine, engineering background. Ascending.

She's an awesome person, the Allmight/Superman of the setting. She's charismatic and supportive and is generally super amazing to be around, she's just increasingly distracted and distant after she realized she could fight the bad guys in multiple dimensions simultaneously.

Potential - Hivemind of questionably ethical scientists. Retired to research.

Not necessarily good people. They have a lot of different opinions.

Jonathan Jonestar - UNLEASH THE KRAKEN

JoJo's Bizarre Adventure Part 83: UNDERWATER

Joel Joestar - SEXY SAILOR

Inheritor to the RIPPLE SABER OVERDRIVE

The Shogun - Tiny girl with big cape surrounded by muskets, rules the city

CHOCOLATE SKULLS

You're happy, right?

Doctor Skately - Menacing AEGIS scientist

Thinks he's all that.

Dominus
Drive: To turn back the clock
I-Khol: Hypnotize someone in close proximity
Every Edge: Progress her master plan
Hard Mode: Make a demonstration of patience, resilience, or grit.

Prometheus
Drive: To break chains and limitations
All in the Simulation: Perfectly predict seemingly unpredictable situations
Grand Scale: Escalate to the level of organisations
It's A Phase: Do something horrible and petty.

Victoria Messermitt, Turbo Knight II
Drive: To emerge from her grandfather's shadow
See The Flaws: Reveal weaknesses and resentments
Confused Legacy: Embrace or reject the terrifying power of Turbo Knight
Lady of the Underworld: Command or destroy anything within reach of organized crime

Possum Girl
Drive: To blow off responsibilities, hers and others'
Way of the Ninja: Humiliate someone in close combat
Thermo-Optic Camouflage: Distort her appearance or location
Free Agent: Switch sides with or without a reason

Comstar
Drive: To be the centre of attention
Off script!: Produce a device to help reassert control of the narrative
Puppeteer: Alter someone's allegiance or force them to act against their will
Skewed Priorities: Reveal something terrifying for base reasons

Sabrem
Drive: To create a perfect scion
Nothing Personal, Kid: Sever a limb
Kuang Shi: Enslave someone, or make an example of someone she's enslaved
Hac Tao: Move like a nightmare; invincible, invisible, inescapable

Monster Hearts: Sleepshy Rise

SECOND PLACE
WEREWOLF MAGNET

“I mean, if you think about it, we kiiiiiind of are?” Elodie is amazing under pressure. “You did ask me out on a tea date, after all.” Ignore the fact it was school mandated! “And there was the promise of K-I-S-S later, and besides, what else was I going to say? Oh, gosh, Dad, you’re right, I am dating this stinky, sweaty werewolf I’m currently pinned under, we absolutely were doing the badonkadonk, you can expect a fresh litter of puppies in June? You know how Dads are.”

She mimes shooting herself in the head. Don’t think about how often she’s seen the aftermath. Don’t think about that at all.

“I had to get him off the scent, and fast, and besides, we were on such a nice date already, and once we get that spell off you, we can keep going, maybe even make it official?”

She bats her eyes, trying very hard not to think about sweaty werewolves pinning her to a wall and making her sing like a dove.

“Because I’d be lots better for you than Annalee. She’s probably interested in having a hypnotized house husband to do her evil bidding, and that would be such a waste!”

Then she hops up and grabs his hands, pressing them up against her collarbone. “Come on, Timmy! Let’s stop wasting time!” It’s unclear whether she’s talking about wedding bells or having kids, with the manic gleam in her eye, and the thought of Lord Sleepshy or the Angel busting in on Unallowed Activities probably looms large in one’s imagination.

[That’s a 6 on Turning Timmy On.]

@Tatterdemalion

Elodie, you know, you do this sometimes. You get ahead of yourself, mind and energy bubbling up faster than it can be thought through and processed. You're flush with life and death and have everything to prove and everyone to prove it to. You have the means, motive and opportunity and, like you said, you're wasting time. Activate your Darkest Self.