Issue #1: The Day After the Day Unlike Any Other

[Ing]

Leshy gives them back their comic "well glad at least you guys think so...I don't know how though the team up didn't really go too well. I don't know how much those guys even are going to be able to help...it seems like right now they can't even help themselves" 

 

He fleshes a hand a couple of times watching it grow into tree like branches then be reabsorbed and then become tendrils, back to hand claw, back to hand etc etc a couple of times in a nervous tic. Finally he trudges off towards a farm off in the wilderness "I better go check in with Dr. Stantler...she'll know what to do. bye kids" 

[SalmonMax]

"Pff," said the woman. "Thanks. I'm glad there's some decent people on campus. Wait, are you going after a supervillain or something, like that awful moss man? Should I be running?"

 

Kitsune looked around, "Oh, hm, good question! This common-appearing purse-snatcher is none other than my fiendish arch-nemesis! Let us peel back the mask to reveal...!"

 

She leaned down towards his face, clawlike fingers reaching out...and then pausing just before touching him.

 

"...actually, he's just a purse-snatcher."

 

"I have a name, you know!"

 

"Yeah, but snatch one purse, and that's your supranym, Purse Snatcher. Deal with it."

 

Kitsune looked back at the would-be victim. "Actually, I'm here today to enroll! I shall be joining you as yet another hungry mind, eager for learning. But which one will I be?" She made wiggly gestures with her fingers as if hypnotizing everyone. "Which one indeeeeeed! Muahahaha..." The illusion faded to translucency as its manic laughter faded, as though a volume dial was being inched to the left. Finally Kitsune was gone entirely, leaving only the consequences of her actions in her wake.

 

Sachi chortled to herself, and resumed her previous course, putting the fracas to her back.

[Charlotte]

Amanda walked up to the front of the building, noticing a couple of dancers doing some stretches outside. In the foyer, there were some posters being hung up, including a new one: a "potential superhuman aptitude test." These were a dime a dozen and mostly scams, but this one looked like it was sponsored by Vitek, which was a pretty reputable company…

 

Melinda and Jonni stared at each other for long moments, the slight tang of chronal displacement having long since faded…

 

Agnes shrugged. "The workaholics show up early to check books out for the whole semester, and there's never enough because of the silly ebook licensing program, and they need to reserve study rooms and don't trust that they're reserved online so they need to do it in person… yeah. Madhouse."

 

Leshy bid his farewells to his young friends, and trudged off into the woods, having already plotted a path out to Dr. Stantler's. It was a roundabout way, but it would let him pass unseen…

 

"Ooooooh-kayyy," said the potential mugging victim, as Kitsune vanished. "Feh. Superheroes."

 

Sachiko basked in the glory of a prank gone perfectly a good deed done, and then…

 

Everyone's communicators beeped.

 

The communicators were small, handheld devices, ultrathin and with very long battery lives, designed for reliability and concealability more than anything. They did have the option to change the default ringer to whatever the user needed – anything from their favorite musical to a very quiet vibrate to even, for more committed superhero, subcutaneous speakers and microphones.

 

Quote

So, if Melinda and Jonni had been thoughtful enough to change their comm devices' default alerts, they aren't necessarily going to suddenly realize the other is on the team... a detail I'll leave up to them.

 

The message was from Athena, and read:

 

Something big moving in Halcyon City Bay

Might be nothing but might want to make sure it's nothing

CALL IF YOU NEED HELP

 

 

Edited May 23, 2020 by Charlotte

[SalmonMax]

Sachi dug her communicator out and grimaced. "Ugh...but...I was going to..."

 

Then she paused. Wait, what? She was going to what? Explore school? Was she really upset that she had a legit excuse to go to the Bay and see if a giant awesome monster was around...instead of going to school?

 

Jesus God, who was she? What was she becoming?!

 

Her thumbs moved rapidly as she texted back, "Maybe send a food truck over there? If we don't need it for bait, I could use a burrito or something. KK THX BAI."

 

Then Sachiko paused and added, "Also could use a ride to the bay. Anyone near the uni?"

Edited May 23, 2020 by SalmonMax

[Ing]

Leshy felt the vibrating of the communicator. they reached into the mass of slime and flora that made up their chest and dug around until they pulled the moist device out. He read the message and put it away intending to ignore it and head on to see the doc...but something made him pause. Maybe it was the kids words? For a moment he looked back and forth between the path to the Doc's farm and the large drainage pipe he was passing. With a final sigh he slithers into the pipe and uses the water ways to find his way to the bay. 

[Asarasa]

Jo stood in the doorway, stunned, indigo eyes widening against the words tumbling out of her apparent room-mate. The young woman was stumbling over her words like some guys did around her. Or like she had interrupted her in the middle of something potentially embarrassing. Despite herself, Jo's gaze flicked towards the bed the dark-haired had indicated was hers, a hint of copper rising in her deep amber cheeks.

 

She hadn't ever shared a bedroom before, and she had been expecting to be room with her friend Sam. She hadn't really considered that her bed would be in the same room as a complete stranger, and there was so much she was still adjusting to, new looks, new magic, and more. The her room mate had probably been assuming she'd be sharing her room with someone she already knew.

 

An uncomfortable, electric silence filled the room, then Jo sidled into the room and stepped to the side to clear the door, putting down her toolbox with a soft clank, and offering her new room mate a cautious smile, trying not to exacerbate the awkward.

 

"Hey! Sorry if you were expecting someone else. Eh, stuff happened, and I ended up changing majors and they assigned me to Crowley House," Jo explained. In contrast to her gorgeously exotic appearance, Seph was mildly surprised to find Jo had a generic Midwest accent, though her rich, clear voice would make anyone stop to listen. "You don't need to leave or anything. I don't have that much to bring up anyway, couldn't fit a lot in my car."

 

Jo started to extend her arm to shake hands, then redirected it to brush back a lock of white hair that had escaped her ponytail behind her ear than gave Seph a small wave. "Oh! I'm Jo, by the way. Er, Jonni Smith, but I'm used to Jo."

 

Before Seph could make her mouth work again, hopefully making noises that made sense this time, an ascending series of melodic chirps issued from the back pocket of Jo's well-fitted jeans...

 

... The same series of ascending melodic chirps that was coming from somewhere else in the room.

 

Jo hunched her shoulders, wincing, while doing a poor job of trying to look nonchalant as she reached for the communicator suddenly sitting heavy in her pocket. "I know this is very rude, but I... really need to get that."

[Aarkaine]

Amanda sighed, grabbing a copy of the add from the board before moving back outside again to check her communicator.

 

She sighs again on reading it and grumbles to herself

"She could have told me when I was with her minutes ago..."

 

She looks around, stuffing the add into her bag and moves off to head to the listed location

[Malachite]

Seph's hand dove for the communicator tucked in her back pocket like a lifesaver in stormy waters. "Yeah. Sure. Like I said, I was leaving anyways." 

She slipped around Jo with exactly as much wide birth as the room would give, then rabbited down the hall and back up to the sanctuary of her rooftop garden. She was probably going to have to leave soon, but she could summon a spirit to help get her down from the roof easily enough. Had someone picked up what had been sent to her? The timing seemed. . .about spot on for that kind of thing in the superhero life. 

Once she was alone on the roof, door shut with a heavy planter moved so that anyone opening it would have to put effort in to force the door past it, she pulled out the communicator and flipped it open to read the message. . . 

[Charlotte]

 

 

Shortly after the message went through, Elaine got another one on her personal phone. It was an unknown sender, but she knew, deep in her heart, who it was.

 

The message read:

 

Dear Azavizvedeva;

 

Soon – or already, if your side of the game is not completely incompetent – you will hear about a very large, difficult-to-ignore undersea presence.

 

Because we care for you, despite this quaint rebellious phase, we will give you a warning: stay out of it. Let those fools you think are your friends handle it, or not handle it.

 

It is part of a very complicated plan, and if you interfere with our plans, well: we don't want to escalate things, but since when do parents always get what they want?

 

Hugs and kisses,

 

Dads

 

 

 

 

You have little difficulty making your way to Halcyon City; there's a montage page full of panels of you suiting up and getting ready.

 

You get out there and there are crowds already, people pointing cellphone cameras out to sea, because something is definitely moving around in the water out there. There is, as Kitsune wanted, a food truck…

 

 

 

… and then, the thing in the bay rears up, and begins to approach the shores.

 

It looks like a tangled mass of saltwater fish of all varieties – bass, salmon and species not native to Halcyon City's waters – and it's all tied together with some very, very familiar looking moss and algae tendrils.

 

The people in the bay area live in Halcyon City and this is not their first giant monster – they immediately run out of the area, some helping others into cars or onto a freshly pulled up city bus. But if it beelines for the shore, it could make things very ugly, very quickly.

 

 

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We are now switching to combat rounds!

You all arrive at approximately the same time (should you choose to actually go) so describe how you want to get here.

Since you are entering battle against a dangerous foe as a team, you trigger the following move:

 

Quote

 

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Base team is one

This move adds two, so three

You have no leader

You all presumably have the same purpose, but let me know if any of you don't, so four

Again, no leader to distrust

You were warned by your comms that this thing was out there, so you are prepared and as ready as you can be.

So current team is four (4).

 

One additional note:

If you have Insecure marked, you can clear it by taking foolhardy action without talking to your team. I know at least one of you has this marked. The choice - and consequences - are yours.

 

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So how combat rounds work in MASKS is a little different; basically, I will designate who has the spotlight on whom, which could be an open question as to who responds first, or a specific character who hasn't gone yet or that I want to focus on first. We don't roll for initiative; it's all fairly freeform.

 

This fight has a fairly obvious connection to a member of the team, so the spotlight falls on...

 

 

 

 

Edited May 30, 2020 by Charlotte

[Ing]

"oh of course. OF COURSE" Leshy mutters as he seeps onto the boardwalk. He knows the others are coming and considers waiting for someone to tell him what to do, but then he remembers the last time. Things went bad, very bad, and they treated him like a monster. because of course they did. Leshy starts to get frustrated and charges on ahead. They just made things worse last time, maybe he could stop it before it reached shore at least. At least being a monster meant he was good for something. 

Leshy wades into the water and reaches out to the kelp and algae in the surrounding area, wrapping it around him in a serpentine base and using it to dash into the water with his torso kept above water like some horrible sea serpent. He lets out a horrible screech as tentacles dart out making him look as big as possible. 

"IF YOU'RE LOOKING FOR A FIGHT YOU GOT ONE, COUSIN" he launches himself forward getting as much in the other monster's face as possible. 

[Charlotte]

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Leshy is charging off without talking to the team or coordinating, so that counts as clearing Insecure.

 

Leshy is, per the chat, using the Transformed's Be the Monster move. Leshy rolled a 10, and so only had to choose one drawback: frightening others that Leshy didn't intend. So...

 

The roar of Leshy, combined with the display of power, succeeded; it froze in place, unsure of what to make of this newcomer on the scene... the newcomer that was so much like it. And so, it was no longer advancing on the waterfront.

 

However, there was an unintended side effect: Leshy emerging from the underground and charging at the monster caused everyone on the street to panic, because while this was Halcyon City and people here were used to giant weird monsters, there was a giant monster from far away and then there was one that ran right by you.

 

Any kind of orderly evacuation was out the window. People in their cars were starting to move and then stopping as people crossed in front of them. Horns and tempers blared. Someone could get hurt, or worse, at any second.

 

And in the middle of it all - as frightened as anyone - Kitsune saw the familiar face of her brother, Akihiro Satsu, stuck in the crowd...

 

[SalmonMax]

For a second on seeing Aki's face, Sachiko was wrenched completely out of 'character' by a cold, hard slap of reality. There was always something surreal about superheroing...especially the way she tended to do it, with showy effects and lots of flash and sizzle, but relatively little tangible impact. Now it was real, and she could feel her stomach drop. What was she going to do?!

 

The answer fell out of the sky as Argo impacted on the turf not far from where Sachiko had gotten out of her Uber and set it packing. She must have super-leaped in, and from the looks of it she wasn't going to stop! Sachiko created an illusion of herself in front of Argo and had it say, "Argo! I need your help with the crowd! They're about to panic!"

 

The heroine looked over towards the onlookers and hesitated uncertainly. Fighting giant monsters was one thing, but dealing with a mob? Sachiko didn't give her time to talk herself out of it though. "Trust me, I have a plan! Just head down there, look impressive, and leave the rest to me!"

 

Argo had doubts about trusting Kitsune, but the situation DID look bad. As she gathered herself for a short jump over to the crowd, Argo realized she seemed to be wearing golden armor...very distinctive golden armor at that. "You have to be kidding me," she muttered, only to hear Kitsune's voice in her ear.

 

"Just roll with it," the trickster hero said to her. "I'll do the talking."

 

Panic was spreading through the crowd, and any minute they'd break. And then the mighty Athena arrived, shining and radiating authority and gravitas.

 

"EVERYONE LISTEN TO ME!" Athena's voice boomed out as Argo-in-disguise stood up from her landing. Then Argo heard Kitsune whisper in her ear, "Use your communicator to tell me what to have her say; you know her better!"

 

 

Spoiler

Roll resolved in Discord with a result of 10, and assistance from Argo. Though Kitsune is making the voice, she's following Argo's dictation, so I'll let her player write out the speech to the crowd if that's okay.

 

[Aarkaine]

Argo/Athena stands tall, the physical presence emanating from her is almost identical to that of Athena herself. The stance, the way weapons are held, all of it. Argo plays into the illusion so well it really could actually be Athena.

 

She then speaks through the communicator to Kitsune

"Work together, you have a better chance of succeeding"

 

Argo still seemed a little unsure of how much trouble she was going to be in for this later.

[SalmonMax]

Kitsune paused, waiting for more...and when Argo seemed to freeze, she filled it in...causing the illusion surrounding the youthful her to continue.

 

"Look to your left, then your right," said 'Athena,' with the authority of someone accustomed to being obeyed. "You may not know those people, but they are now your neighbors, your friends. They will save you...and you in turn will save them. Now, pay attention to your neighbors as you go that way..."

 

Athena started to move her arm, but Kitsune realized Argo wasn't moving, so she just had Athena nod away from the water.

 

"...make sure anyone who trips or needs help gets it. If you see someone starting to fall behind, take their arm, take them with you. Now, go!"

 

[Charlotte]

  

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Current Team is three (3)

 

A combination of Kitsune's very convincing illusion and Argo's firsthand knowledge of the superhero's posture, demeanor and mannerisms helped sell the illusion to everyone present; the crowds of people remembered their better angels and started to resume a more orderly evacuation.

 

The owner of Don't Falafel waved to Akhiro to get inside the truck, as he prepared to start the engine and get off the beach. Kitsune's younger brother obliged, hopping in the back - a little eagerly, but it was the first time he'd been in a food truck.

 

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OOC: going to make this an open call, first come first served, for whoever hasn't gone already and wants to post next. So:

 

[Jekca]

Using the cover of the masses, Leverage slipped up behind what she could see of her 'Team' to view the....not so organized chaos. With a roll of her eyes over her mask at the obviousness of some of her teammates choices of Shining Overt Glory in the form of a goddess to try and shepherd the sheeple away from what she was already calling in her head ‘Ivygeddon vs Plantzilla’, she pulled out what appeared to be an outdated PDA. The device was, at least the case was an outdated PDA, the tech inside was certainly not, but that would have only been noticeable by someone looking over her shoulder. Seeing as that was a wall, she felt safe to use it. Tapping away for a moment or two, she nodded once, and stuck it back in one of her intentionally water tight pockets.
 

"This is why you wear boots Lev," she muttered to herself, as she slipped out of sight down a narrow alley, "along with clothing that doesn't need dry cleaning..."

 

Before too long, she found a maintenance entrance to the sewer system that was both not locked (or at least not locked to her of all people), and didn’t require a flipping crowbar to open. Crowbars did not go with the Ada look she liked to project. Glad she had a mask she made her way deeper under, to find the cache.

“Oh. My. Goddess,” Lev said, her eyes catching on what had to be a gen 3 Zen Tech sub, with some obvious modifications by it’s previous (because she was so keeping this) owner, Hannah Hydra. It was a little more than a few minutes work before she managed to find and deactivate the transponder, and locate the keys. The rest of the cache was quickly glanced over and ignored, the ick down here had seeped into things, rusting and ruining a poorly preserved and apparently long abandoned stash by her estimation.

"You need a new name my darling," she said, glancing over the little thing one last time. "I am going to dub you Liberation."
 

Slipping into the sub, Leverage locked the hatch, and settled into the cockpit. With a few flips, and a slight mishap when she accidentally backed up, instead of moving forward, and bumped the rotten pseudo dock, she was on her way down the pipeline to the bay and headed towards a fight that made her wonder if the sub was stocked with some kind of Roundup….
 

[Charlotte]

Despite being built for a woman with four smartfluid limbs bonded with her spinal column, the sub was very easy to pilot once she got the hang of it, and in moments, she was out in Halcyon City Bay.

 

Somewhat primitive holo-tech gave her a bearing on a Big Blob composed of unknown matter - presumably the moss-mass - and a smaller blob of similar matter. There was also a boat that was relatively close to the melee that had stopped moving, that the hologram labeled a viable target of opportunity.

 

The sub also had torpedoes, and enough room to seat many more people than her, if it came down to it...

 

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Leverage has use a Scion move to find a submarine to help out on the sly!

Argo is holding her move to Defend Someone, so all that remains are Persephone and Incantrix.

 

    

[Malachite]

Persephone hovered over the bay, kept aloft by a wind spirit that ruffled her hair but kept her securely in the sky. This was the part of a battle she hated; once you were in the thick of it there wasn't time to really second guess yourself or fret over how much or little you could be doing to help. You just did your best and tried to learn from any mistakes later. But that few moments before? When you had to choose if you were going to help this group or that person, if there was a chance at stopping any violence or if it was already well past the point of no return? She hated those moments because they always came with the dread of choosing wrong. She took a breath and shook off the dour mood - more brought on by seeing the spiral earlier and the sounds-like-the-world-ended vision shortly after than a usual train of thought for her. 

Do your best, as long as you can. That's the point.

She spotted the derelict ship as she scanned the area. Zooming herself over with a thought-request to the spirit, she heard the silence of the dead engine. She put her hands to the back of the boat near the water, calling on both the wind spirit she was already benefiting and a water spirit to help her move the boat to the shore. 

[Charlotte]

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Persephone has used the move Defend Someone or Something, which works as thus.

 

 

Persephone rolled a partial hit. Since the monster is stopped in its tracks and I don't want to undo what Leshy has done just yet, let's escalate the situation.

 

Persephone has chosen to add a Team, so Team is now four (4.)

 

The spirits obliged, as they often did, as she and the spirits started to push the water to shore. In moments, the boat - and the people on it - were out of danger. A good thing too, because there was a large hole in the back of the boat, and it was taking on water.

 

... until one of the people on the boat - red-faced and panicking - leaned over the side. He looked and was dressed like he was out for a nice relaxing day of fishing, and he was gobsmacked temporarily by the sight of a superhero - but this was Halycon City, so only a moment.

 

"My brother - he fell overboard - " He pointed, and Persephone could see that yes, not far away there was someone splashing in the water.

 

Grabbing the man's brother could be dangerous, with the way the boat was listing - it could capsize. But he was also out there, alone and without protection...

 

Edited June 18, 2020 by Charlotte

[Asarasa]

It had to be coincidence! Jo couldn't have given away her secret identity away as soon as she'd stepped into her dorm room. Just... no. It seemed to perturb her dorm mate just as much, the other girl fleeing out another door. Jo fished out the communicator and cursed when she read the message. Too much excitement, too much change, too soon. She tossed her toolbox and backpack onto her bed and turned back to the bedroom door.

 

"Trouble! You stay out of any, Dante!" Jo barely managed to keep from shouting over her shoulder as she dashed out the door and flew down the stairs three at a time.

 

Thoughts elsewhere and moving fast, Jo didn't notice her passage drawing Firefox's eyes and  attention away from Karen. She jumped in her car and peeled out of the parking lot. Still new to Halcyon City, she knew where the Bay was, in general terms, if not exactly how to get there, so she was just about the last one to get there.

 

On the way there, her mulsanne blue Chevy Nova went under an overpass, but the car that came out the other side looked very different indeed. It still evoked the impression of a muscle car, but with a Gothic touch, solid glossy black with flaring chrome trim and mirrored, tinted windows, covered in blue and purple arcane, geometric sigils that almost seemed to glow.

 

The eldritch vehicle skidded to curving stop by Halcyon Bay and The Incantatrix leapt out, long, glistening white hair and a black longcoat to match the car flaring behind her. Her incandescent eyes took in the scene. Crowd control was being seen to, mostly, and Persephone was dealing with the boat dead in the water. Regretting how her initial encounter with Leshy had played out, The Incantatrix decided to aid him - it? - him.

 

Drawing up the arcane energies burning through her veins, The Incantratix quickly mused on how to actually help Leshy. Being in the water, her initial idea was to freeze it, but she was acutely aware of her hand in causing Prism Park. Lightning? Might affect Leshy with him being so close to the Kaiju in the Bay. Fire, fire was always a good standby, as long as she could keep it under control. She used to use a minor fire spell for welding and soldering work. With the power of The Incantatrix enhancing it...

 

Long legs carrying her to the edge of Halcyon Bay, The Incantatrix began intoning in a language that sounded somewhat like Latin, but wasn't Latin, her voice rich and rolling with power, hands gesturing in precise, circular motions, a brightening traceries of blue and purple light following in the wake of her elegant fingers. Summoning the immense power that funnelled through her, a small disk of cerulean light began to form above the creature formed of aquatic detritus, to lance down in a tight, coruscating beam of fire...

 

Spoiler

So, roll for Burn, 2d6 + Conditions = 2d6

Details:[2d6 (6 6)] = 3 Burn

 

Using Reality Storm to directly engage Fishy McFishFace, which is 2d6 + Freak, spending 2 Burn to prevent collateral damage, hopefully.

Details:[2d6+2 (4 5)] = Weak Hit, if I'm reading the book right, unless someone wants to spend a Team to increase to roll to 10

 

Edited June 18, 2020 by Asarasa

[Charlotte]

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Team is back down to three (3) as Persephone chooses to help. The effects Incantrix has chosen are avoid their blows and create an opportunity.

 

I've decided that this opportunity manifests as the rest of the team getting a chance to take advantage of the Moss-Mass relocating, so a Team is added to the pool  - the Team pool is back up to four (4).

 

The Incantrix focuses through the litany of magical phrases and conditionals and mental states of being, and there are so many, and again, she feels it - that tension where she may be about to lose control.

 

But she keeps her focus, and the disc forms - somewhat unsteady at first....

 

... but in the water, Persephone sees the magic forming, and directs a nature spirit to lend its flame to the focused blast.

 

As Persephone does this, she feels the creeping sensation on the back of her neck, as microbes in the water around her are drained - and that is the least harmful thing that could happen. A small portion of her life force is now gone, and not coming back... much like the park.

 

But it works. The beam lances down and the moss-mass reacts in horrible pain, diving under the water. For a moment, all seems calm.

 

... and then, it lurches up on shore.

 

The moss reconfigures itself, and this close, it really does look like Leshy - uncomfortably so. It is a rotting mass of sea life, of all shapes and sizes, eyes blinking and staring at everyone on the shore, with an alien intelligence that cannot be fathomed. All these fish are stitched together by the moss-life that transformed Leshy, smelling of wet seaweed.

 

It reaches out slimy fish-composed tendrils, and grabs a car - a car with a pair of occupants - and it looks like it's about to swallow it whole.

 

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The Moss-Mass marks a condition: Insecure.

Marking this condition has triggers a villain move: Spontaneous Evolution. See statblock below.

 

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Situation Report

 

Leshy, Leverage and Persephone are out in the water.

 

Leverage's craft has torpedoes that can breach the surface and attack the Moss-Mass.

Leshy is currently adrift, but not drowning and able to move either into the shore or further out to sea.

Persephone is pushing a sinking ship to safety.

 

Kitsune, the Incantrix, and Argo are on the shore.

 

Kitsune's brother is in the "Don't Falafel!" food truck but has yet to peel out of the danger zone.

There is a civilian in the water who fell out of the boat.

There is a car with civilians in it (unrelated to anyone present) that is about to get eaten.

People are evacuating in an orderly fashion still, but they are not out of the danger zone yet.

 

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Now that you've traded a few blows and observed it for a while, here is the villain's stat block:

 

 

Portions that are blacked out have information that has not been revealed yet.

 

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Finally, Argo specified that she was holding a Defend Someone action should it be needed, and it sure is needed right now.

 

 

[Aarkaine]

Seeing the monster pick up the car, Argo runs and leaps towards it, sword shining in her hand as her years of trianing with Athena can clearly be seen.

 

As she comes down from the leap, she swings, hard, the blade catching the tendrils of the creature and slicing clean through. But, something else happens in that instant. Her sword seems to flash, fire bursting from it and running up the arms of the tendrils a short way as they are sliced off. 

 

Argo stumbles from the extremely unexpected extreme heat so close to her. Her skin burns slightly and the monster takes full advantage of this, batting her and sending her flying a good city block distance away. 

 

She lands, unhurt, but unable to help her teammates until she can get back.

[Charlotte]

The beast didn't roar so much as shriek, a hair-raising noise that stood everyone's hair on end. But Argo's sword struck true; the limb was severed, dissolving into a pile of goo, as the car was freed. The driver wasted no time, and peeled out of the area.

 

The moss-mass turned blinking fish eyes, dozens of them, towards the one that had actually hurt it, and it slammed down with a massive limb, targeting the Incantrix.

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Incantrix, you take a powerful blow. Here is the move, for reference.

 

 

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Current Moss-Mass statblock, with a few more moves revealed.

 

 

[Asarasa]

The Incantatrix's incandescent eyes widened as she saw the massive limb coming down at her like an avalanche of foul foliage and rotten. Swiftly she released her hold on the flame spewing disk, elegant fingers weaving a new spell, her arcane, lyrical words shifting from in tone from something aggressive to something the evoked a sense of solidness, unwavering resoluteness.

 

Just before the Moss-Mass slammed its massive tentacle down on the slim woman, a pentacle of luminous light bloomed into existence above her, bound inside a circle of blue and purple runes. The Incantatrix gritted her teeth, hands held out and above her as the tentacle struck her magical shield and still the force of the blow brought her down to a knee, tan sand blasting away from her in a stinging cloud.

 

The Incantatrix roared in fury as she struggled to get back to her feet. So much had happened to her in the last few days, and it was infuriating that she wasn't being given the time to find her feet, at this moment, quite literally.

 

And she couldn't help but worry she wasn't up to bear the responsibility of The Incantatrix. It had never been meant for her. It should have been her sister standing her, in her place.  Would it be better to let the burden of the Mantle of the Incantatrix fall, for it to find another? But who was there to pick it up?

 

Her chest rose and fell as she gasped as climbed back to her feet, the might of the eldritch magic that had been thrust upon her pressing against the sheer mass and strength of the moss monster.

 

"Hell's Bells! I'm not supposed to the one standing here!" The Incantatrix swore in frustration.

 

Spoiler

Took a Powerful, rolled a 7 - Marked 2 Conditions - Angry and Insecure

 

[Charlotte]

The Moss-Mass recoiled from the mystic shield, and Incantrix was unbowed, though a little worse for wear.

 

Quote

Let's take it back to Leshy; Leshy is currently out in the bay. Nearby there is someone who's fallen overboard from a ship. They're not in immediate danger from attack, but if they don't get help soon, they could drown...