Unmasked [Ember] [RP]

So. No masks. That got complicated in a hurry. There is a LOT to handle. Roll +Superior, let's see how you're handling things. On a 10+, pick 2. On a 7-9, pick 1. Sirens in the distance, something happening, and you've got a chance to be Ember - the real Ember - for the first time. All on your own. Time to fly. Special Agent Parker was waiting for you in Miss Agatha's counselor office at school, with some advice you **really** didn't expect. Tell us which one of your team's problems she gave you some advice or clue about: the goddess of death, the alien drug dealers, the whole thing with Alias, or... your mom? On a 7-9, she requested something in return - what was it? Emilio is thrilled and happy for you! When he takes the blindfold off, where are you, and what is he grinning about? On a miss, pick 1, but your mom... isn't talking to you. Not really. She's changing the subject whenever it KIND of looks like the conversation might go somewhere she doesn't like. You think she's trying not to think about it... until you find the list of schools she's been calling... and the not-schools. Boarding schools? Out of state? With custody waivers? WTF? Cheers, Editorial

Alright. I'm done. Make some choices and answer any questions the love letter asks, then we'll dig in. Also: HOLY CRAP NICE ROLL.

I think I'm going to go with the first one. I get to be the real Ember. And I like the third one with Emilio but I'm not really sure how to answer it I'm a little stuck. 

Idk I'm thinking he probably has an area for himself kinda like how Ember has the cliff, and he took her there. But I dont know what he would be grinning about and I'm not sure what that place would look like.

Okay. I'll worry about Emilio later - I can do his part of the surprise. We'll say he catches up on your big reveal after the "The Real Ember." I'll write the start of that up tomorrow.

Ok sounds cool also awesome love letter it's really good.

At first, you can't tell what's going on. There are almost a dozen cop cars at the main entrance to the Severin Park, but it seems like they're just milling around, or directing people away... from... Okay. Yeah. The trees in the middle of the park. The big ones. Are moving. What do you do? [Your team comms are from Vigil, so you can totally get the police bands. You can ask me whatever else you want before you do anything, too. Or you can just do stuff and we'll figure out moves as we go.]

Ok so I'm going to asses the situation mechanics wise. Ember gets the police bands and also is trying to remember if Quinn ever told her about giant moving trees and just generally surveying the area.

"Megafauna." The voice is close (which is crazy, since you're in mid air and a hundred yards up) but barely audible over the focused blast of jetwash. "I don't think it's extraterrestrial, which is a shame, since I have some good tricks for that. I'm concerned it might be magical. Possibly summoned, which raises other questions. Of course, the biggest problem is going to be stopping it without you burning down the biggest park in the city." Alex shifts slightly, adjusting the drift of what look like jet boots and a back-mounted stabilizer.  "Got a plan, partner?" [I'm tracking potential on the roll20 sheet.]

Hmm Ember goes in the park to the tree monsters and pierce the mask on these creatures to see what they are doing here and what their plan is also trying to keep an eye out for any civilians in immediate danger. 

"I like the no-mask look, by the w-hey! Where are you going? That is a BAD idea." You hear Alex's jets flare as he moves to follow you. As you get closer, you realize they may be right. Or at least they may not be wrong. The trees aren't moving because they're trees that move. They're moving because they're being... shoved. Hard. And. Yes. Of course. You can hear someone screaming down there in the trees. "Crap." Alex shouts. "The people! Can you? I can keep it busy! I think! Or you can? What..." A tree, a big one, snaps, down below [What do you do?]

Ember will charge up her powers and burn and use the flare moat around as many people as possible and the barrier is a like wall of fire but Ember has been working on it to not let the flames spread.

[awesome. more to come tomorrow. go sleep!]

[Okay, that's three burn to spend, and a condition marked. You don't have any right now, as near as I can tell, so I went with Angry, because Alex.] "Ahh, focusing your power. Great idea." They flip on some kind of megaphone with a chirp of feedback. "Everyone! We're..." They glance at you. "From... Phoenix Academy. Gather here!" They fire some kind of device toward the ground that stops and hovers, flashing and squawking, at about head height. 'Heroes are on site. Gather here, for your safety. Heroes are on site. Gather..." Luckily, the people in still the park were joggers, and move quickly when given a direction, glancing frequently over their shoulders. There are about five of them, though it doesn't look like they'd been running together (until now). They reach the beacon, and you debate putting up a barrier or just escorting them out of the park, but the rumble crack in the air makes the decision a lot simpler as something pushed out of the trees and roars. Your barrier flares into place almost without you thinking about it. [use one burn] "That... looks like it might be fast. And grabby." They glance at you. "I have some thoughts, but a lot of them are kind of the plan version of moaning and rocking back and forth in a corner. You?"

[Hey, did you want to switch your Reality Storm flare (use freak instead of danger to directly engage) to Shielding? (Use freak instead of savior to defend) - I feel like you mentioned that, and I'm okay with retroactively modifying it to something you might actually be able to use sometimes.]

[Also, mechanically, Alex's presence lets you use Team, if it comes up.]

Ya I'm cool with switching my flare it makes more sense. "Umm I'm not totally sure what to do silhouette usually makes the plans. I guess just fight." I'm going to directly engage a threat by wrapping a fire rope around its body. 

[Okay, so just to clarify, Moat requires concentration, so it'll block the creature for the initial arrival/attack pretty much automatically, but it'll drop when you go Directly Engage. ALTERNATELY, you defend them with Shield , and we'll roll the Defend (with freak) first, see how that roll shakes out. Which way would you like that to go?]

Let's roll defend with freak first then I will directly engage. We can do this tomorrow though. 

[Okay Defend text, but substitute in Freak.] [The roll...] So: the people from the park are safe. Pick one of the things from the list of 'stuff you get to pick'. If you stick with the 9, you ALSO choose exposing yourself to danger or escalate the situation. You don't have to stick with a 9, however; friendly NPCs who can help in some way are allowed to pitch in Team from your pool (which is currently at 4). If Alex helps, that gets you to a 10, so no downsides (except for the downside that Alex helped :).  (If Alex helps, tell me what you WOULD have picked for a compromise, so I know what they helped avoid.)

Ok hmm I think I'm going to let Alex help. I'm going to take influence over someone I protect. I would have picked exposing myself to danger.

The shielding plasma is bright, the blue flare of a flashbulb - the kind of fire you rarely call up, but the creature's grasping forelimbs flinch back from it, and you feel a rush of pride at protecting the people below you, the way a hero's supposed to. The hiss and growl of the thing - music to your ears - turns into a roar before you have time to realize it, let alone react, as one of the things heavier, longer, clawed limbs blurs toward you. The thump of impact sounds... strange. Like a knuckle wrapping against a heavy glass jar, full of water. ... if you were hearing it from the inside of the jar. The claw grasps, but can't reach you - blocked by some barrier you can't make out. Alex grunts, shifting his jet boots to hold steady in the air next to you, with a whirring... something, held in both hands, over their head. Alex glances down at the joggers, who are slowly retreating, now that they've have realized they aren't dead.  One of them looks up at you, nods, and turns to the rest. "Okay, Move it! Let the heroes work!" You can smell something like... hot electronics. "This is going to burn out in a few seconds," grunts Alex. "That thing's got to be some kind of distraction, but eating people is pretty distracting, so we should *grunts* make sure it doesn't do that." [The jogger shouting instructions is the one you got influence over - we're get into their thing later.]

"Hold on!" I'm going to asses the situation and look for anything that reminds me of the distraction from last time Alias was distracting us. Then to help Alex I'm going to directly by blasting it with really hot air. 

You try to scan the area. Try to think. Try to make a plan. Or figure out what the bad guy's plan is. How does Sil do this?!? BOOM as the thing clubs Alex's shield. This ridiculous creature is NOTHING like what Alias used as a distraction. Who would use a ... it's like the monster from Stranger Things had a baby with No-Face! Who - Boom Where are the civilians? Did they get away? Distraction for what ?!? BOOM "Emberrr..." Alex is talking through gritted teeth. The device in their hands is humming, smoking, and throwing off sparks. "Do -" BOOM For a split second, the inside of Alex's force field looks like one of those plasma balls you can buy to decorate your room - electricity crawling everywhere - then the bubble is gone, and Alex is gone. No. Not gone. Falling. Just falling. FALLING! The creature's forelimb shoots out, snatching Alex out of the air, and pulling it back toward its gaping, triumphantly roaring mouth, like a kid scooping up candy from a pinata they finally broke open. What do you do?

I'm going to shoot a fireball down its throat so that it like reacts out of pain and drops Alex then I'm going to try and catch him.

I'm calling this another Shielding thing: This stuff is so much easier when you don't have to think, and just act, you know? Just cut loose. You hurl fire down the thing's throat and practically plasma-lase the forearm that's holding Alex. The thing flinches, Alex falls, and you're there. UFF. They're heavy, or their gear is, but you've got them. You've got them... [ Okay: 1. Add team to the pool, take influence over Alex, or clear a condition (you have Angry). 2. Escalate the situation or expose yourself to danger?]

I'm going to take influence over Alex and expose myself to danger.

"You know what screw plans. Let's just kick its ass!"

"Dude... nice catch." Alex's voice is clear. A little slurred, but clear. Good. "I didn't know you could move so -" Their eyes, focusing over your shoulder, widen. It's the only warning you get. You pivot halfway around and manage to get another plasma shield started before the thing tries to hit a homerun with your body as the ball. You don't so much bounce over the open field of the park as skip . Repeatedly. Take a Powerful Blow

NICE! Let's hear how you weather the hit and what you do next. Questions or request for info welcome, if you need anything.

Crookclanner2 said: "You know what screw plans. Let's just kick its ass!" If this is part of 'what you do next' that's good, too. :)

Ember takes a deep breath and turns around but now her eyes are that orangey fiery color. She is going to look at it and say "That was mistake." Then she blasts two streams of fire onto two of its limbs. Idk if that's a directly engage or unleash your powers. 

If you were trying to hold it down or something, it's be Unleash. For this first thing, lets say Direct Engage, since you've been trying to do that this whole time and haven't got there yet. :) Pick one from the list and I'll narrate accordingly! [Unrelated: You have 1 Burn right now.]

I'm going to resist or avoid there blows 

The thing howls, its multi-throated scream reverberating off buildings blocks away. It tries to reach you, but the fiery lashes pulling at its limbs and flailing at its face prevent it. It begins to thrash, like a wild animal caught in a trap, throwing itself dozens of meters to either side, flipping over, slashing... tearing up dozens of trees, hurling them hundreds of feet. A playground is crushed beneath its body - a trees sails over the walls at the edge of the park and crashes into a couple parked cars (you'd guess, based on the alarms going off)... what your flames haven't done, it is doing with its frantic, rage-induced thrashing. The ground itself shakes, and you can see the thing dragging itself through your defenses to get at you. What do you do?

Ember reaches out with a fire rope to pull it back so Alex can do something.

[awesome. Sounds like unleash your powers. I'll run it tomorrow. heading to bed now. More soon!]

[Okay, so you can do unleash your powers straight up, or do your Flares thing that lets you take a 10+ on Unleash. The thing is, that takes 2 burn, and you only have one right now, so you'd need to power up first, and that's going to give the thing an opening. Let me know which you prefer there.] [Also: how many potential did you already have marked on your sheet? The copy I had at the house showed 1, but I didn't know if that was up to date.]

I'm going to unleash my powers and yes I only had one potential.

[Oh, and you have angry marked, so you get a +1 to the straight up Unleash roll. That's probably relevant.]

Okay. Here we go! OUCH. (I had to mouse over this one to see the roll, because I couldn't believe a 5. Damn,) HOWEVER ALL IS NOT LOST. You have a +1 from being Angry (which I forgot to put in), and you're specifically doing this so that Alex can "Do something", so having him add in +1 Team is baked right in, which gets you to 7 . SO: You can change the environment , trapping this thing, using your powers combined with Alex and his ... let's call it kind of Tony Stark-style gizmos and gear ... so what's that look like? Fire chains and sonic disruptors? That's up to you. AND: With a 7, you either have me say how it's unstable or temporary, or you take a condition to make it NOT unstable or temporary. OR: You can  take the 6-, bad stuff happens, but you get potential and that'll be enough to give you an advance, so... upside?

I'm going to stick with the 7. Ember has like 6 fire ropes come out of her kinda like a spider in a way and she has this moment of hell yeah I've only ever been able to produce 2 at a time. Then she starts wrapping these ropes around all its limbs but it's still struggling and Ember us using all her strength to keep it contained. "Alex DO SOMETHING!" So Alex shoots this like taser thing at it. I'm going to take insecure because I had to have ALEX help.

Alex shoves a hand across their face, wiping blood away from their nose and blasting into the air. Both their hands jam into pockets on the side of their backback unit, and come out with something between rayguns and portable bluetooth speakers. You can't quite hear the sound the things are emitting, but it's doing something  to the creature, and that's what counts. It's stumbling, shaking its head, and growing more and more clumsy. Every time it crashes to the ground, you cinch the fire ropes tighter, making it that much harder for the thing to rise again, until it's all but immobilized. About then, you hear the beautiful sound of approaching AEGIS choppers. Two of the really big ones have some kind of expanding containment cage suspended on cables between them, and you know it's only a few seconds before you can hand this whole thing off. Alex drops the ground next to you. "That... was pretty amazing. You..." They hesitate. "You probably have to talk to the news or something, after AEGIS, but... I mean..." They look away. "Pointers. I'd like pointers, if you have any. I can pay with pizza or something."

"Haha ya pointers um... I was just focusing on taking it down before i lost control or burnt down the park. I was also trying to do what sil does and figure what was going on but that didn't work. Thank you though that could have gone very differently if you hadn't shown up. You did a great job too." Then there is a long pause. "DISTRACTION! We didn't figure out what the distraction was for." Ember then tries to contact palacine and sillouhette through the telepathic link anIushe says "I just fought a thing that was definitely a distraction for something but I have no idea what any ideas?" 

Crookclanner2 said: "DISTRACTION! We didn't figure out what the distraction was for." Ember then tries to contact palacine and sillouhette through the telepathic link anIushe says "I just fought a thing that was definitely a distraction for something but I have no idea what any ideas?"  I'm going to push this down a ways in the conversation - it might be what we use to segue back into the next session :) Depends.

Crookclanner2 said: "Haha ya pointers um... I was just focusing on taking it down before i lost control or burnt down the park. I was also trying to do what sil does and figure what was going on but that didn't work. Thank you though that could have gone very differently if you hadn't shown up. You did a great job too." "Thanks but... I meant pointers for me. I haven't... actually... technically..." They clear their throat. "This was my first live... event."

"Oh... OH you did a really good job for your first time um I usually just try to turn the attention on me so civillians have time to escape. You know kinda like make myself look like a better target. But you have to be careful with that strategy it has gotten me in some tough situations." Then the next panel is a flashback to Belize. 

"That's... sounds like... a way to do things." Alex is walking alongside you as you head for the edge of the park. AEGIS is onsite, and 'promised' a debrief once everything's in hand. You two are headed back out to check on civilians. The jogger-with-the-plan is waiting, He's pulled on a zip up hoodie over his jogging clothes and looks fairly respectable-if-casual, at least from the waist up. This matters, since he's also holding a microphone and motioning you over to where he's standing with a camera crew from News 8. "Ember! Ember! Do you have a minute to talk?"

"Um ya I think so." She walks over to the jogger.