Well, I'm assuming that this is "ACT II". I feel like there should be enough for a third act, but we'll see.
This is obviously a continuation of ACT I. You should click there and read the first bit if you haven't already.
(The game doesn't really have "acts", but I was about a third of the way through the pacing mechanic, so here we are.)
To recap: A "we-have-Batman-at-home" Batman ("Nevermore") and a Human Torch knock-off but with light instead of fire ("Shimmer") have fended off a zombie attack at APEX labs...
(Hmm... It felt like more than that...)
As I mentioned earlier, it's not clear from the book how the Scheming Phase should be used. What is the purpose of the Phase? It says "guidance", but the Villain player can set the scene however they want, so that must mean some input from the Hero players. What can the Hero players say? The rules say they "encounter" a lead. What does "encounter" mean? And then describe how they "follow up" on it. What does "follow up" mean here?
The Tones for the Phase are "Intuitive" and "Methodical", which both have a very "investigative" bent, but does that mean everything is always "after the fact"? Can you punch a lead in the face first as you "encounter" it? Or as part of your "follow up"?
I've decided that the Scheming Phase is the chance for the Hero players to take some control of the direction of the story, or at least indicate what they'd be interested in seeing, or what their Heroes might do next (assuming they don't get Stymied). In short, in the guise of "encountering" a lead and "following up" (investigating it), the Hero players get to establish significant facts about the Villain's plan that they think would take the story in an interesting direction. And then the Villain player throws a twist into that with how they answer the Hero player's "loaded question".
Back to the Story
Shimmer, in her "normal" guise of lab assistant Stella Star, is getting coffees for the office at the bistro downtown when she feels a subtle, sickening "tug" on her psyche. She follows the feeling into the street, holding out her hands and carefully "feeling" her way toward the disturbance.
Eventually she finds a small crowd of fans getting autographs from local TV psychic Zoe Zelazny. But it's not Zoe that's tugging on her. Instead it's a pair of monsters, like huge, distorted baboons made of pure night, their glowing red eyes like dying stars in the void! Shimmer can feel their drain on the light around them!
Fan Favorite 6: Negative energy hunter-baboon wraiths!
The baboons leap toward Zoe, sending her fans screaming away!
Shimmer jumps in and wards the creatures off by glowing brilliantly, but her light just seems to sink into them! Shimmer struggles to keep them back, but finally they retreat, disappearing into a shadowy alley.
Loaded Question: What weakness in the plan is revealed?
After the wraiths retreat, Shimmer notices a pink glow fading from Zoe's hands and the strange amulet she wears. Later that night, after hours of scouring web resources, Shimmer finds a reference to the symbol on the amulet. It looks like Zoe is one of a coven of powerful witches. She won't be so easy to kidnap!
Nevermore gets an alert on his phone about a fire at the local Church of the Holy Flame, a screaming, green, unholy fire! A charred body was found at the site, unidentified except that it was wearing an amulet of the Circle of Elder Wizards! The Church is in an uproar, demanding divine retribution!
Fan Favorite 7: Demonic, green flames devour the church!
Nevermore drives out to the scene of the crime, and using his raven-net access pulls up security cameras from nearby buildings. He pores over the footage until he finally finds what he's looking for: Four men in robes carrying a fifth, bound figure. They enter the Church and exit without their prisoner. Soon after, unholy green fire explodes through the windows!
Zooming in, Nevermore recognizes the robes as belonging to the "Cult of Dread".
Loaded Question: What high-profile person is secretly a member of the Cult?
Nevermore has the computer "enhance" the images. The processing seems to take forever, but eventually the pixels slowly resolve to reveal the face of the wealthy socialite, Thomas Baine!
As Nevermore leaves, another figure, watching from the rooftops, pulls up the same footage on their own device, and with a click, deletes all of the evidence.
Subplot: Who deleted the evidence from the Church fire?
Red Adventurous Phase...
At the hidden temple of the Cult of Dread...
Red, Subplot...
Towering braziers cast flickering firelight across the wide caverns that circle the Cult's hidden temple. Nevermore and Shimmer dart from behind one boulder to another, trying to avoid the attention of ghostly guards, each legless and translucent, their faces replaced by one huge, white, eye!
Nevermore uses a grapple to swing over a crevasse, landing behind a decaying stone statue with Shimmer right behind.
Unfortunately, something in the statue triggers, and a glowing magical circle appears on the floor of the cave around the sculpture as the statue itself begins to shriek! The guard ghosts converge on their position!
But then a cultist steps out from the shadows and shouts a command! The alarm ceases, and the ghosts all turn to look at him. He makes eye contact with Nevermore, and with a subtle tilt of his head and a raised eyebrow indicates that Nevermore and Shimmer should continue into the caverns!
Subplot: Why did the cultist help the heroes infiltrate the temple?
Red
The raw caverns quickly give way to worked stone.
"I feel like I'm in the Legend of Zelda! Maybe we should throw a raven-bomb at one of these walls," Shimmer quips.
"I don't think that will help us through this maze," Nevermore replies.
"Don't worry," Shimmer says, "I have an idea."
She increases the intensity of her glow, but not the radius, and soon it engulfs her like a holy white flame! As the flame dances, it is clearly being pulled toward the negative energy in one direction down the hall, as if being guided by a breeze.
"This way," she says as they follow her flame to the temple's center...
Fan Favorite 8: Shimmer engulfed in holy white flame.
Blue Villainous Phase...
The hallway opens up to a huge throne room lit by braziers of green fire. Cultists stand in rows to either side of the heroes, as if they had been expecting them.
At the far end of the chamber is a massive, obsidian throne topped with a carving of a night-black skull bearing two dimly glowing red gems for eyes.
Fan Favorite 9 (Echoes FF 6:) Black skull throne with glowing eyes
This is the ninth Fan Favorite, indicating the beginning of the end of the "issue".
Collapsed onto the seat at the base of the towering throne is a corpse dressed in magnificent cultist robes. It suddenly jerks to unnatural life and stands to gaze at the heroes with dead eyes.
"Fools!" the thing says, "Did you think you could hide from me while one of my own shines like a beacon behind you? The dead are my domain!"
Nevermore looks behind him to see Lenore, struggling, seemingly bound by invisible chains!
"It's... the... Haunt", she gasps weakly.
"Lenore! No!"
"Nevermore?" Shimmer asks with concern as her companion stares into the darkness. "What's wrong?"
To be concluded...
Ok. This is feeling a little better.
I guess now we'll see how well things wrap up. There are sure to be hanging threads, but those will likely serve as fodder for future adventures.
Until next time,
Excelsior!
Jason "Ludanto" Smith C;E
Yay! Glad you got the motivation for this and the final "act".
ReplyDeleteThanks again!
DeleteThere are a few extra rules for the "endgame" part that I hope I can handle well, and that will affect how things end.
And how things end will sort of judge the experience overall.(Although what's good for an "in the moment RPG" with friends and what makes a good "story" to read on a blog aren't necessarily the same thing.)