Kawaii Rebirth

Game Master BastianQuinn

As a side note, I think my Secretive Purromise is 'I'm really digging Tracy's attention, even if it is based on suspicion. I'm going to keep her guessing.'

What are your thoughts on that? :)

>:D

My vote is for either Ayatori or MONSTERHUNT. I think Ayatori gives us the best 'starting' roll, though. :)

Looks like two votes for Face a Creature of Darkness, one for Seek Answers in a Strange Place.

It's also important to point out that the repercussions from Fallout at the end of the mission are related to what tier the mission was from.

I'm for "Seeking Answers" or "Objects of Power".

Facing the Darkness seems like the last thing we should do, because there may be some way of weakening it (maybe?) before we have to face it— or at least distract it before someone else sucker-punches it?

Assuming the relevant information is available, cleansing Ao and reclaiming the eggs would be the priorities, in that order. Preventing a fall is a very obvious priority for Junpei, as would be ensuring allies - if not in the form of a reconstituted Shuji, then at the least in the form of the yokai spawned of him.

EDIT: Promise-wise, I've got two more.
Forgotten - "I'm not letting Tracy suffer any more scarring, whatever that takes."
Doomed - "Cygnus can't get stuck in this mess too, and she won't."

My vote would change to Ao>Eggs>Ayatori>Monsterhunt>Fumbling in the dark, if we knew all those options.

So, It looks like fixing the eggs would probably win if we even knew it was possible. *Nudge, Nudge, Ao.*

Do Astre and Cygnus get bonus democracy by holding two seats on the Council of Purrity?

I don't know why I don't just keep using polls.

Mission Poll

Full disclosure:

If we are snagging the eggs...
It would be incredibly noble. +1D
It would be following up on Ao's investigation. +1D
This would (eventually) revive a friend. +1D
There are 2 Enemies who will be acting against you. -1D
It's a mission with 7 targets, and no one knows for sure where all of them are (right now) -2D

So, if Tracy, Ao, or the twins want to Investigate the locations of the eggs, it would be the difference between rolling 1 die or 3.

If Tracy, Ao, or the twins want to Investigate the locations of the eggs, it would be the difference between rolling 1 die or 3.

It will need to be Ao or the Twins, I think, I have no more downtime actions, remember?

Oh yeah, social link in kind.

For the record, I think this is the hardest mission.

I voted for my top three, but I'm actually interested in all five. I don't like 'trying to pin something on perfection', but I like the trope of being so certain it's X, and then getting proof it's totally not X, that they're a good guy, and hey, you just happened to be there to save them!

I don't think there's a trope for that, but there probably should be. :P

(Aside from Hero Antagonist. Which is a fun jam to have.)

You guys are really bad at polls, right now. :P

Hey, I voted for the two I'd most like to go for!

While the system can handle folks sliding into and out of the game, I think it would be a good idea to wait for at least three active players before we kick off again.

While the system can handle folks sliding into and out of the game, I think it would be a good idea to wait for at least three active players before we kick off again.

So how many do we have right now?

Are we splitting the party?

Who is on Team Easter Egg Hunt? Bargain and burgle for Shuji's seven eggs. Which eggs do you have on lock?

Who is in Team Big Bad Wolf? Track down and neutralize the creature that massacred the library. How will you track her?

Who is in Team Lonely Hearts Club Band? Save Azu from the Darkness. What's your first move?

I voted for all three of those.
Junpei voted for the two that weren't MONSTERHUNT!.
Which means Tracy probably voted for MONSTERHUNT!.

I don't think anyone else voted. :(

Yes, I voted for Monsterhunt. As I mentioned before, I don't recall the other options even being presented to Tracy 'in-character'. Technically, Egg Hunt was always an option, but without the awareness that they might be used in some way to 'resurrect' Shuji, acquiring them from the Erohin just seems like playing the Erohin's game of pointless one-upsmanship, which is bad enough from them & seems unconscionable to her.
As to Azu...
again, I don't recall when the danger to them was presented to the group 'in-character'. If someone would direct me to that post, Tracy's stance could change.
She certainly isn't thrilled about the idea of tracking down & confronting an emotionally unstable woman presently 'trapped' in the form of a Darkness-imbued killing-machine who feels betrayed by everyone & everything, but at present, Tracy also feels as though she may be the only one even close to being in the 'wolf's' 'corner' so-to-speak.

Regarding splitting the party...

If the consensus is Azu or Eggs & a better rationale for why isn't presented to her, yeah, Tracy will go after the 'wolf' instead. As to how she intends to track her, Tracy has the bloom & enough experience with Neo Jimazan to know that 'weird s!%#' works here in ways it just shouldn't by the standards of the world she knows, so she is likely going to do something crazy like brew a tea from the petals & see if drinking it sends her on a vision quest or some such...

Chessa didn't explicitly share that Azu might be falling to the darkness, but she did share that Ayatori was a creature of the darkness, and as the guide of Azu, you might make the leap that the yokai guide being a creature of darkness is very bad for their sponsor. :)

I feel like 'save someone' and 'stop a monster' are the best options we have IC, and little yokai jerkface mcfluffybird will get his soon enough.

Like Tracy said: Chessa doesn't know about the eggs being capable of resurrection due to a lack of sharing. She'd love to undo a murrurder if she could... but at the same time she'd be on the fence because isn't undoing it also preventing the birth of seven yokai? :P

(I suddenly have a theory that Life Finds a Way™ and that the darkness is in fact the only way yokai can reproduce now that eggs don't just happen as a side effect of a dead magical girl...)

Chessa's downtime actions are currently being spent on helping Azu (but she has to be tricksy about it; it's in her nature).

So that does leave Beast as the main target of interest for me as well... not that I want to see any of the other situations deteriorate via clocky machinations. :P

(I suddenly have a theory that Life, uh, Finds a Way™ and that the darkness is in fact the only way yokai can reproduce now that eggs don't just happen as a side effect of a dead magical girl...)

Fixed that for you.

Ha.

On a serious note, That sounds like Tracy and Chessa are in the facing a creature of darkness team.

My thoughts on how the missions will progress without any input from the party:

Azu's on a clock, and there are a few things in the Bladebeast mission which might advance that clock, but it's not like I'll tick it because you flub an unrelated roll. Your current plan of helping her through downtime actions should be able to save her in time, all else being equal.

Ayatori would only do something behind the scenes if it's part of a Fallout roll. Otherwise he might involve himself, or do something on-screen, and a mission to neutralize him would prevent that, but there are more agents of Darkness. Plus that would have been a tough engagement roll.

The Bladebeast would probably do something as a result of a Fallout roll if you don't prioritize her mission. She's also on a clock (six-count) which will be prominent in her mission. (P.S. It's the hunters.)

The Hunters are your rival team. They're going to involve themselves in practically everything you do, but a mission to do something about them is premature at this point. You hardly know them.

For the Bladebeast's Encounter roll, it sounds like the plan is to Empathy-tea your way to her and the objective is to make her no longer a danger to herself or others, but you're not sure what that might entail.
You start with 1D. (+1D because this is a Tier I mission and you qualify for Tier II)
You're not out to kill her, which is noble. +1D.
Your methods aren't to seek revenge, and you're defying the status quo and what you're being told is the right way to deal with these creatures, so I won't take a penalty.
It wasn't clear until after the investigation that the creature escaped, and you're using the physical evidence to follow through. +1D.
You've blindsided the agents of Darkness, they don't even know you exist yet. No penalty.
Your rivals are working against you... -1D.

One question, I think, needs some clarification: "Does this mission center around one of your friends?" Here's something we may want to clear up: this creature spawned from a suicide, Tomoe was the 'first suicide', and there have been a few other creatures in the past. I didn't intend to insinuate that they were all suicides. Is Tomoe at all involved in this tea ritual or the plan's execution? It would make a 3D6 roll into a 4D6 roll.

Otherwise, are there any other aspects of the fiction which anyone thinks might help your plan?

Chessa didn't explicitly share that Azu might be falling to the darkness, but she did share that Ayatori was a creature of the darkness, and as the guide of Azu, you might make the leap that the yokai guide being a creature of darkness is very bad for their sponsor. :)

Ah, there we go. I hadn't really twigged that Ayatori was Azu's Yokai previously. I should have, but didn't. Yeah, definitely puts her in a heightened threat situation. That said, as BastianQuin points out, Azu isn't on quite as rapid a boil as the Monstergirl, at least she doesn't seem to be...

On the subject of Monstergirls...

One question, I think, needs some clarification: "Does this mission center around one of your friends?" Here's something we may want to clear up: this creature spawned from a suicide, Tomoe was the 'first suicide', and there have been a few other creatures in the past. I didn't intend to insinuate that they were all suicides. Is Tomoe at all involved in this tea ritual or the plan's execution?

Again, I hadn't twigged that Monstergirl was a direct result of suicide...

Ao will take the egg hunt. He's still woefully clueless about these new revelations, and while he may be familiar with working under Malice, understand just what those eggs are is something that's going to bug him until he learns.

That's 1? 2? downtime action(s) and how many dice?

You can use one downtime action to investigate the darkness and gather info about where the eggs are, which would improve everyone's encounter roll(s) because you would unlock Tier III. I do not recommend actually taking a Tier III mission.

How many dice depends on how you're investigating. Perceive might be best, staking out the gardens, see which eggs are being guarded.

That's 1D6, +1D6 if you take 2 Stress pushing yourself. Chessa could help for +1D6.

I'll be posting a mission opener near the end of the week.

Engagement(Bladebeast): 4d6 ⇒ (3, 4, 2, 6) = 15
A six, you’re in a controlled position when the action starts. Things are going as planned, and the crew is setting the terms. Writing the opening post now.

You can continue the hideout conversation in flashback spoilers, or here in discussion if we want to separate conversational flashbacks from mechanical benefit flashbacks.

To anyone feeling self conscious about inactivity: you can jump back in whenever, and I'm always willing to post a summary. This system is very absentee-tolerant.

It's not, like, death-proof, so I really appreciate every post, even if it isn't 'productive'.

Still hanging about. You mentioned another mission in the opener, so I was simply waiting on that for now. I can always jump in if I need to as I can tell.
I'm not going anywhere in a hurry, don't worry.

Hope I haven't worried anyone by not speaking up. I've been following every post to pop into my feed. I just, ah, haven't been too vocal. Guess that comes with having less games to follow religiously.

Still here, but between a job change (and prep for that), social obligations, Planetside 2, and the latest No Man's Sky update, the time has been flying past faster than I notice.

Hello?

Sorry, Tracy. I can't help. I can do a teamwork action, but you'll have to say you're willing to lead it and accept the fallout in my stead. :P. Also, my skills are hard to leverage as a group action.

I was hoping someone else would step up. But nobody will save you if you'll allow it. If not...

Have we all been waiting on me? I was waiting to see if any one else would post. If everyone is waiting on me to give the go-ahead, yes, I'll take the fall-out.

Not been waiting on you, personally. Didn't think you had anything much to do right now.
Also, I...think we might have lost Elsine.

In any case, there was talk of splitting the party before, but ah...this awkward. This is definitely awkward. Two people doing stuff in this mission, and Bastian, all seemingly waiting for other people to jump in who are (in my case) waiting for another mission that they can't do in this mission timespace if they jump into this mission, waiting on some other point to jump in, or just might not be there in the first place.

Whatever's going on...this kinda isn't ideal.
We probably want to get this sorted out before long. Figure out what's happening.

Hey Bastian, is there any way somebody could help by way of a flashback?
That might alleviate the 'I feel like I can't help here because I want to be doing the other thing, which is happening at the same time, somewhere else' issue.

Sorry, I've been sick.

Sorry, I've been sick.

Ah, understandable.

Also, I wasn't saying it was you I was waiting on as a whole, Tracy. I get that you were waiting for any feedback, and it slipped my mind to provide it. I'm happy to help in a group action, since I can't follow up with the obvious choice.

Expurress, Purrcieve, then Conceal in that order seem to be the most fitting options for me to help (without just guaranteeing things go badly). The question is 'what could I try to do while leveraging those'. Express seems possible. Perceive definitely can help to understand the situation better... and set you up for more fertile talkiness.

It'll take some time to wrap our heads around the possibilities. I just wish we could hit a good place again without someone getting space polio fussing with a leaky AC unit.

Wow. I don't believe I have ever seen the Paizo website down for that long...

Usually they wait for autumn to superbork it. :O

The dark gods demanded a sacrifice, and the uptime was it.

Why do I suddenly feel as though the mere fact that there are clocks up labeled 'The Ship is Damaged' & 'Perfection's Attention' is intimidating...

   ~~~Tracy~~~

Your action looks like Forgive, actually. While Empathize is part of what you're doing semantically, mechanically, Empathize is a passive observation action involving listening. Confess might be the case if the core of what you're doing is admitting you've been snooping around in her business, but I think you're rolling Forgive with Controlled/Standard, and attempting to relieve some of the guilt of the slaughter.

So I'm going to go out on a limb here & guess that I am trying to remove the remaining three obstacles before her Patience runs out?

Oh s**%, I just realized 'Perfection's Attention' is because we are literally in her Temple?!?!?

Why do I suddenly feel as though the mere fact that there are clocks up labeled 'The Ship is Damaged' & 'Perfection's Attention' is intimidating...

Because clocks tick.

Which reminds me...

So I'm going to go out on a limb here & guess that I am trying to remove the remaining three obstacles before her Patience runs out?

That would be a useful observation about your current position, and a valid tactic. Imagine they're index cards with room left on them, the words intentionally off-center. You can tell self-loathing used to be emptiness, but it was crossed out. Also imagine I put them down, looked at them, then swapped despair and self-loathing before nodding to myself, and writing something down behind the DM screen. The ??? card has something on it, but it's face down. It's a long word. Some of the sharpie bled through.

If I go for a Devil's Bargain on my next roll, would that be advancing the 'Hunter's Catch Up' clock, or something new & Horrible?

Depends on what action you're taking and whether a Dark Bargain is offered. Any player can offer a DB, but both the acting player and the DM need to accept it. Everything is on the table for a DB, mechanical or fictional.

Oh s@%%, I just realized 'Perfection's Attention' is because we are literally in her Temple?!?!?

Yes, yes you are.

I've been dealing with major anxiety lately. Normally I go in phases of expanding and contracting. I'll stretch myself too thin, and then I'll rebel against all of the responsibilities and expectations I've gathered for myself. I feel like I can do it, so I try, and I really do my best. But eventually I wind down. All of the optimism and energy I can muster slips away, and I'm left mostly as a shell of myself, moving forward like a ghost.

I've been falling towards despair for the last few weeks. I've been feeling more and more like nothing I do matters or makes a difference. And I've struggled against that. On Friday and most of Saturday, I had really good days. Things seemed better... Then my anxiety lead to defensiveness, lead to a fight, lead to someone confirming all of my worst fears. The things I know are true when I'm most unhappy. And now I'm skittering at the edge of a really deep depression.

I'm letting you guys know this, because I need to limit what I feel responsible for, so I can limit my anxiety. I need time to repair. I'll continue to do my best, but if my best is less than you're used to, then I feel you all deserve to know why, up front.

I'll be here... Ish.

Most of my games boast "daily" updates, and those who know me understand that that's a pretty big commitment. These past few weeks of site instability have been a bit of a relief. I was starting to feel that motivational downswing (September is usually one. I suspect it has to do with school trauma.)

I maintain this game at (mostly) weekly updates. Even I miss a week.

Put your own mask on first.

A friend of mine recently posted a link to a post by a woman suffering from Depression where she talks about one of the unmentioned burdens, what she calls the 'Impossible Task'. Not saying that is what you are experiencing, but if it is anything like that, be kinder to yourself than you think you deserve, chances are good you really do deserve it.

Thank you both.

It's a bit of 'the Impossible Task', which is extremely frustrating when your anxiety is pinging that everything (even minor things) are wrong. So I don't even know what to fix. :(

Ouch. That's...rough. Honestly, I wouldn't have guessed, but that's neither here nor there. What matters right now is how you're doing. The rest comes second.
Not gonna tell you not to worry, because that's a really dumb thing to ask right now. Easy to say stuff, but with problems like these, doing anything is rarely as easy as saying things about it.
That, and it's perfectly fine to worry about things anyway. We all do. It can be worse some times than others, but to worry at all is a natural thing. Little strange to think about sometimes, but it's the truth.

Big or small, your problems matter. Even if it feels stupid, it's worth taking the time to think about what's wrong if something feels wrong.
Won't do anything instantly...but it might help you get through it.

Well wishes, Chessa. You've got my support.

They’re… at a difficult age…

Hoo boy. Seems I have fun times ahead.

I was thinking: Purrful Friends suggests that Chessa has already transcended at some point (as her Transcendence Power is that she can flashback to do a special downtime action with it). Does that mean that she knows how to transcend? Or something else?

Does it use up one of my dots to do it?

Do I gain the benefits of Tireless if/when I choose to activate it?