Kawaii Rebirth

Game Master BastianQuinn

Does anyone have any suggestions for that Dark Bargain? If I take one, I'm likely to be extra catty and go full curious mode with higher risk/reward... :3

How about this: Seeing you dive face-first into danger, Charteuse will involve themself personally in the scene.

Introduction of a new character, and complication of the scene? I'ma say... yes. :3 Because I'm a cat, and poking wriggly things is my thing, let's assume I get really into it with that Desperate/Great.
:3 (I have not been bribed...)

Purrcieve: 2d6 ⇒ (3, 4) = 7

As Chessa draws closer with the stick, the wriggling ball of goop begins to trigger something in her kitty brain, and interacting with the goop becomes second nature... in perhaps a dangerous way.

For rolling in a Desperate situation, you gain 1 xp in Moe (already marked). On a 4 or 5, you do it, but suffer severe consequences. I’ll split that up into a few minor consequences, hoping you find one or two not worth the Stress of resisting.

Chessa hasn't seen a one of these this fresh before. Usually they've broken down before the area is cleared for cleanup. Seeing this just confirms another layer of this tragedy nobody wants to talk about. The Darkness spreads by consuming those unfortunate enough to come in contact with it. This is a person, covered in a tar-like skin of Darkness and still struggling for breath. Getting them out now would be a feat of magic. The corruption is a magical obstacle, confronting it without Transcending will have a limited Effect at best.

Minor Moe Consequence: Level 1 Harm “Forlorn”. Level 1 Harm reduces your Effect. You can Resist this consequence by rolling Moe, counting all marks in the grey column under Moe, and rolling that many dice. You’ll gain 6 Stress minus your highest result. Resisting this consequence will get rid of it completely.

“Hey, don’t touch that!” The back door of the house opens, and the person in the colored denim jacket steps out, gesturing to all of you. “Get inside before that thing kills you too.”

There is a sound from the treehouse, and the eyes drop below the line of blades framing the porthole.
Minor Moe Consequence: The bladebeast’s Patience clock ticks down by 1 segment. This consequence is also resisted by Moe. Resisting this consequence will get rid of it completely.

Minor Kuudere Consequence: The Hunters’ clock ticks down by 1 segment. This consequence is resisted by Kuudere. Resisting this consequence will get rid of it completely.

Bladebeast
Obstacles: Self-loathing, Despair, Guilt, ???
Patience: ☽☽☽-☽☽☽-☽☽

Note: Guilt above should be struck out. I'll move that to the top of my posts...

Oh, and Chessa can still ask a follow-up Gather Information question. That was a Greater effect, even if it was a Desperate roll with consequences.

'What does Bladebeast really want' is perhaps the best option... but that only applies to what I'm perceiving if it makes sense within the fiction. If it doesn't, 'Where's the vulnerability here' in regards to the cocoon of doom.

I've reread eclipse and transcendence... and I think that maybe moving towards darkness while dealing with this darkness is pretty apt... so let's get dangerous. I'm definitely going to resist level 1 forlorn; losing effect sucks!

Moe: 1d6 ⇒ 6 Take that!

Chessa glares annoyedly at the cocoon. She recognized the ickiness... was it transforming what was inside, or killing it or... she's just about to prod it with the stick, when she looks over to Chartreuse, tugging her mask down a little further over the half of her face it sort of covers.

"Now, that's not even a little fair. They're doing their best, and they need help. So if you're not gonna help, am-scray back into the house."

More Moe: 1d6 ⇒ 5 And that! -1 stress 3: Marked!

She starts to prod at the cocoon once more, then looks up, to the treehouse once more. "That's a really neat clubhouse." she says with a grin, casting a glance at Tracy as opportunity knocks. "I'm a really neat club... errr, I've got a really neat clubhouse, too. Do you spend a lot of time up there?"

Kuudere for the eclipse for bonus 'dealing with annoying brats' skillz?: 1d6 ⇒ 6 Or... take that!

Chessa appears to be coolly in her element, despite being way over her head.

I can answer both the same way.

That's a long way to go, with no trail that can be followed without g-g-ghost magix, only to make a mess here? She wasn't looking for a place to hide. She came here to make a statement. She made an attempt on her own life in the middle of a crowded room. She keeps trying to say something, but no one is listening. The outer obstacle is Inadequacy.

The teen storms out into the yard, stopping so they can see the two troublemakers before smoothly donning a military-style peaked cap. Oh s%!$, this kid's some kind of hall monitor. "A comity has been established for addressing these aberrations, and until they respond to the threat, all humans should remain safely indoors."

The creature inside doesn't seem particularly threatened either. "They wouldn't have let me before." She seems perfectly satisfied ignoring the junior cadet entirely. "Who can join your club?"

It sounds like you're going somewhere. I feel like I've opened some possible moves and foreshadowed some possible obstacles.

I'm sorry, I can resist anything except puns...

"But has the Comity's committee been allowed to reach a conclusion before making such a sweeping pronouncement?" Tracy murmurs to herself as she subtly interposes herself between...
whatever is in the clubhouse & this new girl.

"Honestly?" She adds, her attention once more fully focused upon her previous conversation partner "I'm still trying to figure out why I'm in it..."
"It seems our...
clubhouse is mostly open to people who genuinely want to make things...
better" At this point Tracy stumbles slightly. "At least that is what I've been telling myself..."

Looks like a Confess roll from a Controlled position with Standard effect. This should clear the Despair obstacle. Dark Bargain: You've upset the junior cadet, who will pull rank, and become an optional, but threatening obstacle. (They'll start ticking a clock for each move that isn't used to clear them as an obstacle.)

Taking this move against the Bladebeast will allow the optional obstacle "bystander" to start ticking a 6-clock: suffocation.

"Aren't you part of that committee?" Chessa asks in a stage whisper to Tracy, before looking back to the kid. That was a problem, given that Nobody didn't exist. So, the principle goal was not to wind up in the principal's office. So... Nobody would just have to vanish, in the event Nobody would get caught. Simple.

"Do you have any problems with me coming up there? I've been told to get indoors!" Chessa calls up, taking the suggestion to its literal conclusion. "It'll take a lot less yelling, that way." she says with a broad grin at her own cleverness.

"Everyone's welcome up here... now." You can hear the grin in her voice.

The junior peacekeeper looks indignant, but doesn't seem to take Nobody seriously. Nobody in their right mind would climb up into that deathtrap.

With a quick shrug, Nobody starts clambering up the ladder, making her way up into the boat proper. A small portion of her front brain clicks onto the word choices of the bladeperson. Had they done what they had done while surrounded by their old 'friends', their bullies?

Was... there still something on the other side of the veil? Was it still fractured?

The junior cadet is apoplectic, patting his jacket until he produces what looks like a clamshell cellphone with a whistle charm.

As Nobody scales the rope ladder, the wood of the playhouse creaks. At the top, there are more signs of a struggle. The door to what is generally the captain's quarters has been left open, and there are more claw marks on the stairs leading below deck. Otherwise, A set of stairs leads up to the quarterdeck, where the large steering wheel can be seen, and a flimsy rope leads up to the crow's nest.

Tactical Map updated.

Nobody looks around with casual interest at first, as the crow's nest comes into view, then the upper edges of the cabin... then everything else moves into view. Her clever grin slowly slips away as she finally moves to standing, looking at what had happened here. As it dawns on her that the creature maybe hadn't run to somewhere they felt safe, to a place they'd felt they could hide. The words had said it all along if she'd fully been listening, and not simply been fueled by the sweet saccharine promise of a monster hunt™.

So the creature hadn't run to safety, perhaps... but to continue what it was doing in the library. Why had it taken so long for it to continue its attack? The answer for how it had gotten here was either super yokai powers or... something else. She takes a moment to let the bravado of the previous few moments weasel its way back in, looking to the various locations, her imaginary tail swishing with agitation at herself. Stupid Nobody senses, couldn't see into the dark places.

She moves over to the railing, rather than the cabin or the crow's nest - where her instincts told her to go, but her curiosity needed another look. Was that a person inside of that goop, and not just some weird ghosty stuff the victim-monster had created?

I'm not sure if that was a genuine question, but the answer is here:

Chessa hasn't seen a one of these this fresh before. Usually they've broken down before the area is cleared for cleanup. Seeing this just confirms another layer of this tragedy nobody wants to talk about. The Darkness spreads by consuming those unfortunate enough to come in contact with it. This is a person, covered in a tar-like skin of Darkness and still struggling for breath. Getting them out now would be a feat of magic.

The struggling blob is a bystander getting digested by Darkness. If you had the Redemption team feature, you would mark Team xp for saving them. There are other possible mechanical benefits to saving people, like making friends, but they aren't as clear-cut.

summary/poke

A mile overhead, Shirakawa Tower supports the glass dome which grants Perfection’s temple its view of the starlit sky. Without the moon, the yard is lit by motes of light stirred up out of the grass around those standing at the base of the tree. Ten years ago, you might have been convinced they were fireflies. The conspicuous absence of non-magical wildlife which you’ve experienced since then indicates otherwise. As the ebbing twilight gives way to the yawning depth of night, so too do the details of the neighborhood sink into blackness, leaving the tree house and its observers under a circle of midnight.

The unknown bystander, likely the previous totalitarian inhabitant of the treehouse, remains struggling for life at the base of the tree. Their limbs slide ineffectually against the slick black skin of Darkness. It’s Nobody’s keen eye that has pierced the veiled implications of the current conversation to come to the conclusion that the bystander was policing entry to the treehouse. She alone, among those we know for sure are present, possesses the raw power required to attempt to free the bound bystander, but, doubts notwithstanding, she is currently on the deck of the treehouse, wielding a genuine poking stick™. Somewhere below, the Bladebeast awaits.

From the ground, a teen is preparing to escalate the situation to the purview of an unnamed higher power with a small device similar to a clamshell phone. Their hat seems to designate some title of authority too minor for any of you to recall offhand.

Tracy is also in the yard, torn between keeping the peace with the Bladebeast, and diffusing the upstart deputy snitch.

The Bladebeast herself, the result of an attempted and very public suicide, has holed up in the pitch black belly of the pirate playset, spiraling precariously at the edge of a mental break. She seems to have been reassured that she can find redemption for her guilt over the murders in the library, but there are still many layers to her inner Darkness.

The team’s decided objective here is to confront this creature of Darkness and perhaps prevent future casualties, but you’re living in a powder keg and giving off sparks. An ideal resolution will take patience and urgency in graceful balance. Failing that, hopefully no innocents die.

Whew! Sorry it has been so long. Had another down/enervated spell. Will try to get back into swing.

That said, let's start with...
Confess plus Devil's bargain: 1d6 + 1d6 ⇒ (1) + (5) = 6, well at least one of them made a success, I think...

Oh boy...

"Put that thing away before you incite another Bloodbath!" Tracy summons her best 'I'm older than you and know better' demeanor as she points, glaring, at the officious busy-body with the clamshell.

Not even giving the 'junior hall-monitor' the opportunity to respond, Tracy once more turns her attention toward the 'person' behind those stunning eyes inside the clubhouse. "You've certainly made your point. I don't suppose you would be willing to let them out so they can actually learn from their gross error?"

Dark Bargain
“Yes? Perfection Police? This is Deputy Informer Niji-tan. I would like to report a- No, I would not like to be put on hold. What do you mean a courtesy‽” The shamisen music which then blasts out of the small device is so loud Chessa can hear it. Niji-tan will be ticking the “Perfection’s Attention” clock, but evidently, not very quickly.

From a Controlled position, you may choose to withdraw, and try a different approach (a different kind of roll, or a different target) or you can do it (resolve her Despair) but it comes with a minor Consequence.
A weight shifts in the hull of the tree house, causing Nobody distress as the deck shudders. “If I thought they could learn... perhaps. Unfortunately, the sheeple have proven... that what is Perfect... may never learn,” the Bladebeast opines from her cloister.

"Everyone is capable of change. Nobody's perfect." Chessa calls down matter of factly, then mumbles, "A little short-sighted, too." She braces against the mast for a moment, gripping it all wrong, as if she planned to climb it with her nails, but then the shuddering stops. She takes a small moment, then continues, aware she was likely riling the beast at least a little. "So, you can change, too, right? You don't have to keep going down this path, you get that, right? What happened isn't a one-way trip."

'Not even if going in here is gonna be.' she thinks to herself as she follows the sound of the creature's voice.

Nobody takes the stairs one at a time, descending into the belly of the beast. One of the steps is snapped in half, and there is a door laying against the bottom step, having been torn from its hinges in the wall of the forward cabin. The door and the deck are slick with something dark in the imposing darkness of the hull.

However, the Bladebeast's voice comes from behind the staircase. "I've never claimed to be perfect... but there are some things I cannot change." There is a wistful note of melancholy to her voice. Through the open door, Nobody can see the light reflecting off the Bladebeast's eyes. In the dim yellow light from the window, the twice-masked interloper can just make out a the bristling silhouette of something coiled against the wall. Two rows of long, obsidian blades catch the light against the floor, crisscrossed at their tips. She was watching while Nobody negotiated the steps.
One of the obstacles is resistant to the idea of change. Expressing with this approach has a Risky position with a Limited effect.

"I... didn't expect- What brings... someone like you to a place like this? You would never have had business here... before." The clear blue eyes turn down and away, leaving Nobody in the cloying darkness alone.

Map updated

From a Controlled position, you may choose to withdraw, and try a different approach (a different kind of roll, or a different target) or you can do it (resolve her Despair) but it comes with a minor Consequence.

What the hay, let's live dangerously. Take the consequence, resolve the Despair.

You do have 2 Social Links, each of which can recover 2 Stress. You just need a patented Anime Monologue that mentions Junpei in any way.

Ah Ha! There we go! Now I just need to figure out what to say...

"I am quite certain that I have no idea what you think I am." Nobody responds, put more at ease by the stranger's reaction to her. "I'm just gonna sit over here on the stairs, if that's okay." she says as she moves to take her seat.

"But either way, I can't imagine why anyone would want to come to a giant plastic and glass monument to the systematic suppression of thousands of lives. Maybe some people view what this place was as 'perfect', but to encapsulate it and hold it up as that is... unfortunate. There's no fresh magic here. Well... there's some." she gives the beast a slightly-too-large grin, swishing and flicking her poking stick™. "I think my totally-human friend down below used it to find you. Or it might have just been empathy. I've never been good at that. Tracy's my first human friend, I think. Well... for the last several years. I used to be friends with my moms, but the world shifted a bit." Chessa offers with a small shrug.

Nobody's slipped into a Controlled position for a Confess roll with Great effect against the Bladebeast's self-loathing. Be aware that you're threading a needle here. A misstep this close to her heart will make things Desperate and urgent. Make sure you're on the same page. I might be purrsuaded that you're using another action, but it would change the position and effect.

"I... can relate. One little push and it all kept spinning after that. Things you put in her hands- precious things... deep things, and she hands them back in pieces..." The figure uncoils and peers through the porthole. The pale yellow light outlines a distorted profile punctuated by rows of smokey glass quills. Her body coils under her in slow, rhythmic motions: first one section, then the next, until there is a ringing sound of glass against wood. "That one seems the type as well. I would not get too... attached"

Tracy, you've lost some favor with the Bladebest, and her attention. The minor Consequence is one tick on her Patience clock. You may resist it, but either way, you'll need to consider an approach other than shouting at her from outside. You've lost your Controlled position. Continuing will risk irritating her.

Confess: 2d6 ⇒ (4, 6) = 10

As Chessa attempts to find the right words, memories play through her head of the last small bit of her life, "I... that's not... she wouldn..." of the interactions with the others in their newly found clubhouse. Had Tracy really done anything special with Chessa, or was it just that Chessa's aloofness had caught her attention in passing?

Truth be told, the others had interacted with one another much more honestly... and Chessa was terrible at honesty. Even down to trying to trick her boss into helping her make friends, while the others were together... being friends. "I hope you're wrong." she says, threading her fingers together, subconsciously gripping her certified pokestick, and focusing her attentions on that.

"I think I have to try, though. I owe it to both of us to try, in my own way. I think that's the only thing you really can do, in the end. Give them the choice, because otherwise you're making it for them, in the worst way." she pauses, looking up to the creature's silhouette. "I am sorry that you were hurt."

"I warned him, her, them! I told them it was too late for me, not my time any more! Now it's all getting even worse!" Tracy hisses histrionically to herself as matters spiral further from ideal.

So, does that count for Social link?

"You!" She snarls, her attention dragged once more to the officious prig interposing their interfering nose in matters. "Deputy Informer Niji-tan!"
"This is an active threat site. As senior-most asset in service to Perfection present, I am directing you to butt the f$#* out!" Dragging her duty kit off her back, Tracy all but shoves the attached badge in the junior hall monitor's face. "Now move your keister back inside & keep any one else from contaminating my work space!"

Neither waiting for, nor even acknowledging a response, Tracy purposefully strides to the foot of the ladder. "I'm only coming up to talk," she calls up, "I can't hurt you & if you don't want me here, I'll leave, but please tell me first." With that, she carefully makes her way up the rungs, almost holding her breath with anxious anticipation.

The communication device flies out of Niji’s hand and disappears into the grass as the informer starts at the unexpected outburst. “Senior…” They cock their head to one side and squint through the darkness. “T-toiling Limb! I didn’t recognize you! M-my apologies, I was only trying to do my part to keep the peace. -of course. I’ll- I’ll secure a perimeter.” Niji collects the wailing device and closes it, ending the call.

The treehouse groans in protest as Tracy makes a way inside, following Nobody into the hull.

Speaking to Nobody, the creature sighs. “That’s the root of it... ashamed as I am to admit it. I can blame it on society, or cruel fate... but the plan only occurred to me once she had left.” The bladebeast nods to Tracy, unconcerned with the arrival. “You wouldn’t... know of a place a where a girl can tend her claws in peace, would you? As the lion to the proverbial mouse... I would owe you. I am Teofila Abbadelli, but I would have friends of mine call me Petrichor. My given name has certain... connotations I would prefer to avoid.”
Both of you may mark Petrichor the Bladebeast as an ally.

“I should go free Kaiba. My pallet has soured to personal vendettas...” Petrichor straightens with a groan, revealing a wound in her side, and approaches the door.

The mission is over! There are three steps here: The Darkness Hunts, Recovery, and Fallout. The Darkness that Hunts Us track advances by 1 segment. The Darkness’ agenda did not advance, no one fell to Darkness or Eclipsed, and we’re still not clear about the team’s Destiny, so that’s all for now. For Recovery, we erase all Stress, Social Links, and spent Transcendence, and the Investigation Track drops by half. I’ll post the Fallout scene once we wrap up with Petrichor. I don’t want to completely derail the scene yet.

Have some MUSICS

And so it was, that Chessa was able to maintain another secret. She was wondering just how exactly she was going to get that cocoon open without trying to do so the hard way.

"I am quite certain that I have no idea what connotations you're referring to, Petrichor. I... think we might have a place, and if we don't, I think I can probably find a different hideout for you... if you're looking for a place to lay low. I... don't really know any doctors."

Sorry, will save vs. Grammar fiend failed. It's spelled palate .

"Ooh, dear. Stop right there." Tracy pipes out as the wound catches her eye. Pulling her duty kit forward once more she dons a fresh pair of gloves before pulling out a liter bottle of purified water, seal intact. "This will likely sting, sorry. Do you know how your...
flesh reacts to purification?"

I typed it 'pallat' then stared at the autocorrect's 'pallet' swearing they were two different words. Thanks for the correction.

Petrichor nods along with Nobody, then slides to a stop in the wane light of the porthole, lifting her bladed hands to crane her neck to look. "I haven't the foggiest, dumpling. I wouldn't blame you if it killed me... The irony would be... delicious."

Tentative testing reveals the water hisses and burns on contact, but fortunately also manages to cauterize the wound without causing more damage. "A scar... is the least of my concerns." After an especially long pause and a glance away, she continues. "I may have been... short with you... earlier. Thank you for your patience."

"Soooo, about the gooped person. Are there any more gooped people we should know about..?" Nobody asks, attempting to sound nonchalant about the whole thing.

As the three of you make your way back outside, the swimming points of light throw out a kaleidoscope of jagged, overlapping shadows around Petrichor. In addition to being beautiful, it draws an important distinction between creatures of Darkness and its agents. Fortunately, it is not hard to notice one of the afflicted.

Petrichor draws a blade carefully across the Darkness, parting the skin. The teen inside sits up with a coughing gasp, their hair and clothes dissolved in places. They will need some medical attention, but should recover.

By way of an answer, Petrichor says, "None. I couldn't risk leaving a trail. The night is dark and full of hunters."

Coming up on the last chance to call out your xp prompts, found by hovering over XP, between the Stress and Harm areas on your character sheets. You'll gain one or two experience for each of those prompts after the Fallout.

"Good, good." Nobody says, unslinging the shoulder of her backpack to dig inside of it, producing a handful of candy bars (the very same wrapper that they'd found filling the space when they'd found their hideout), and holding them out. "Gotta keep our energy up. I, too have a given name, but it also comes with... certain connotations." she says, offering a grin, "Such as 'who that masked heroine really is', and so I just go by 'Nobody'. For now."

Excellent use of the ability, and execution. Unlocking a room that's adjacent to an unlocked room is a 4-clock. A 4/5 roll for a Long Term Project is 2 ticks. You can work on clearing rooms as LTPs during downtime or as a mission. An example of a mission with a room unlock as the goal would be to purify or rescue someone to run the kitchen. A mission would clear a whole room, and wouldn't clear progress on any LTPs. You don't have to choose what room you're working on until after the clock fills.

I'm taking this opportunity to roll Fallout, but feel free to post, it should take some time to write. This is a number of dice based on the Investigation tier after it has been halved.
Fallout: 1d6 ⇒ 4
A Friend is victimized by an Enemy

Oh yeah, edit: the shrine of eyes ends with the mission, so I don't have to do this at the bottom of a well at midnight. Yay for me!

Brilliance slides onto a stool and tucks their heels, placing their knees, like prison bars, between themself and the double-secret tribunal. It’s a tribunal Perfection has managed to hack together between Maturity and Malice, and no one present expects it to be fair or ballanced. “You’d be a proper council of Heathers if Maleficent could crack a smile without turning my stomach.”

Malice snears, scoffing as if they had better things to do than play witness to this highschool pantsing. “Gallows humor never suited you, Brilliance.”

From the depths of a voluminous red silk shirt, Maturity pipes in, affecting a laugh so high pitched and awkwardly persistent that it becomes a painfully obvious plea for Malice’s attention.

A silver croquet mallet taps against the altar, and Perfection wrenches the attention back from the odd couple. “You’re here, Brilliance, to answer for some spurious accusations.”

Brilliance rolls their eyes. “Spell spurious.”

Perfection’s eye twitches, and they grasp the head of her hammer “Brilliance, I will hold you in contempt of court. You’ll be suspended!” A serious look passes between the tribunal.

The Erohin perched on the stool laughs incredulously, rolling into a seated position on one calf, and supporting theirself with a hand on the other knee. “It’s your bird! Your ridiculous ‘parting lips’! You should be suspended for dealing with the Darkness behind our backs.” They punctuate the accusations with wide, sardonic gestures.

Maturity doesn’t bother to feign impartiality. “And your evidence?”

Brilliance looks away, drawing back up into a tight ball. “I’m working on it. Still, they need to be quarantined.”

Turning, and inspecting their nails, Malice complains under their breath. “Aren’t you the one programming these monkeys?”

Brilliance’s toes touch the floor as they lean in to clarify. “Uhm, actually… that’s a gross oversimp-”

“Yes! This could just be you harpooning my character.” Brilliance mouths ‘lampoon?’ (with an expression that suggests that still wouldn't be correct) as Perfection continues to pick up from where Malice left off. “You could be planting sleeper agents in any of our entourages. Then, whenever you want to take one of us out, they start popping when they’re left alone with one of our charges!”

Maturity is once again eager to speak from the highest horse. “None of this will proceed without evidence! We must perform an investigation.”

Brilliance tisks and raises their hands in surrender. “No problem. I’ll show you mine if you show me yours.”

“That’s it, suspension!” Perfection slams down the silver mallet.

Okay, tally up your XP, make sure your Stress/Transcendence/Social Links are cleared, and let's get ready for Obligation rolls. Anyone who has been lurking, please speak up so I know to write your Obligation prompt.

Huh. Moving on, then.
Guess I shouldn't have sat out.

Yeah, I haven't heard anything from Ao or the twins. Sorry. The egg mission isn't really feasible alone.

Side-eye-ing Nobody's proferred snacks, Tracy shakes her head minutely. "No thanks, that much sugar after..."
"all this..." She spreads her arms as if to indicate both the yard & everything that transpired within it, "pretty much guaranteed to have me too jittery to do my job properly, and with no Yokai here, that means no Loki to 'catch me if I fall'' so-to-speak."
Turning to Petrichor, she adds, "If anyone can get you to the clubhouse safe & sound, it would be her. I'll catch up as soon as I finish cleaning up here."

Waiting only just long enough to be certain the two are on their way, Tracy then focuses on purifying the environs, first carefully seeing to it that 'Kaiba' will remain stable & out of the way, before painstakingly measuring out the materials needed for the rite than even more painstakingly carefully proceeding with the purification, she really hadn't been kidding about rarely having done this without Loki before. Intellectually, she knew she was equal to the task, but the potential for catastrophic failure was a lure in the back of her mind.

With the site unblemished once more (spiritually, at least) Tracy contemplates how best to see to it the injured party arrives safely somewhere they can heal. Finally, shoulders slumped as if in defeat, she pulls out her own 'clam-shell'. "Hello, Hiro?"

Oh noooo...

A soft voice answers, delivering an introduction by rote. "You've reached Hiro Miku, Mending Needle of Mercy. Please state the nature of your- oh. Tracy." The voice goes flat as the person on the other end recognizes Tracy's number. When they continue, their tone is agitated and patronizing. "I've told you before, Tracy, I'd rather you didn't contact me on my work line. I could be missing important calls. Plus, you know Nathanael monitors this line. Do you know what they did the last time you called? Reeducation, and a mark on my permanent record. I lost out on a workplace perk! So really, Tracy, thank you for keeping in touch, but-" It sounds like Hiro is about to hang up without letting Tracy speak. What do you do?

"We have a code zebra in Perfection's temple. I've already cleansed the site. Do you want in or not?"

"Oh." The line goes quiet as Hiro references Mercy's code and protocol reference. "Are-" There is another pause. "Are you sure? -are you safe? I told you that committee was only going to put you in more danger..." Hiro's voice gets quieter and louder as they reach over their console to tap some keys. "I'll have a crew sent your way. Are the hunters in the area? Should I transfer you to one of Conquest's Pounding Feet for an escort? I'll just pass your location along. Stay put." Hiro begins to summon everyone in Neo Jimazan to your coordinates. You can't help but feel that you're about to answer a lot of inconvenient questions. Your call as to how much of that you want to play out, or if we should just hand-wave the interrogation.

In the weeks following your first mission, the Purity Committee is thrown into complete chaos. You’re all subjected to conflicting directives on behalf of both Brilliance and Perfection. As a result, you haven’t had a chance to debrief at the hideout. You’ve hardly seen each other at all, in fact. Petrichor, who has taken up residence somewhere behind a pile of furniture, assures you each that the others are still alive and coping with their personal challenges.

As a reminder, these rolls set your starting Stress at 6 minus the value rolled. Some of you have no dots in these Resistances (the first vertical column of dots) so you'll roll 2d6, and count the lowest result.

Kuudere: 1d6 ⇒ 2, so 4 stress.

"Yes."

"No."

"I don't know."

"I don't know."

"What?!"

"My task on the Purity Committee is site cleansing. Only site cleansing. There is nothing & no one there any more by the time Loki & I get there."
LOOK, I was as surprised as anyone when I found I was at the location that Niji-san was calling in from. By the time I was able to assess the situation, the...
entity was gone!"
"I fell back on drill & past experience. 'Triage bodies' (usually that just means 'make certain they are no longer virulently contagious')" she mutters almost to herself, "Purify the site. How was I supposed to know ahead of time that this time the body wouldn't be a corpse?!"

It's not like I'm enjoying this or anything: 2d6 ⇒ (1, 2) = 3

It would be almost funny that the physical gods that govern them were such gigantic nerds if it wasn't so exhausting. Never mind the centaur's fitting or the fact it wanted its robes in a completely different style every five minutes - the two Erohin were insistent on as much authenticity as possible, and that meant running around like a headless chicken (Note to Self: Find the cockatrice handler, the young ones are getting overexcited again) trying to meet their demands as they arose without stepping on too many toes. He remembered what it was like the first time he had to deal with this, and it was one of a few memories he tried his hardest to suppress.

Oh, and Avis was declaring his profound distaste for that manticore again, something made more infuriating by the fact he knew it was utterly innocent. Still, Avis made a point of denouncing it at every opportunity between - and sometimes during - interrogations.
He'd tried to find out the story behind their irrational hatred a couple of times, but at this point he just assumed that they stepped on Avis at some point and the yokai never got over it.
The thought of the yokai that made a habit of shooting out of nowhere to surprise people getting caught off guard was his sole solace in the moment, sometimes.

Most of your time and energy has been bled out of you managing Brilliance and Conquest’s marathon LARP campaign. You would compare it to herding cats if you didn’t know, in vivid detail, how different the two tasks are.

^Best line in the game so far.

I'm not stressed: 1d6 ⇒ 5 You're stressed! Keepin' secrets is my jam!

"I am quite certain that I have no idea what you're talking about, Junpei. Brilliance asked me to go to the scene and look fur things that shouldn't be there - purrfectly legal, since it had already been cleansed - and all that I saw was Purrfection's bird fur-riend and a lot of icky gross stuff that I totally didn't touch. Oh, and..." she pauses, looking to Avis, her tail twitching, "Then I went home and listened to some of Sora's vinyl. Are you gonna come to the party?" she says, looking back to Junpei, "I'm trying to set up a party for ev-furryone!" she pauses. "I don't know where it's gonna be yet, but if we walk for long enough, we're sure to get there." she adds excitedly, grinning as her fur shifts pattern with each passing cloud in the sky.

She was definitely hiding that Conquest had been there... and Azu... and the hunter... but they had all had shadows, unlike birdfriend. So it would only muddy the investigation to involve all of those people.

"The manticore nev-fur bothered anyone, but nobody believes him to this day... and why should they?" is the sing-song response that she supplies when Avis proposes that maybe the Manticore was the real villain. That probably didn't help Junpei with the raving Avis in the long-term, however.

When she does have the opportunity to speak with Conquest and Brilliance, she mentions in passing that she didn't share that Conquest had been at the scene; she figures he'd already told everyone that needed to know, offering a few tail swishes.

Not closing the door on Obligation rolls, but in the interest of moving things forward, the next phase is Downtime Actions. You've got enough Investigation track to do another Tier I mission, or a Tier II with a little push. (I should mention that the Looking for Clues mission doesn't cut the investigation track in half because it's an investigation mission.) Now that you have some experience with how Stress and Social Links work, you might consider spending an action on that. There are also Long Term Projects you might be working on. The The Itty Bitty Committee Pity Party will make it much easier to become friends with NPCs in the committee, and there is a room partially unlocked...

Tracy? Are we going to use your extra action to reactivate the Shrine of Eyes?

"Booooosss. Oh, hi Conquest!" Chessa adds, tail twitching back and forth as she feigns surprise at seeing him again. "Junpei is totally on board for the purrty! He didn't say as much during my interrogation, but I can tell he'd go! The party's still happening, right? And we can get Cygnus, and Astre, and Azu, and Senshirou, and Sora, and especially Tracy, right? Oh, and Raven I guess." she says, tacking the latter on, almost as an afterthought. She hadn't seen most of them in the recent past. "You can help set it up, too, right? We can do it at the LARP!" she says, suddenly pouncing on a glint of light that draws her attention as a cloud passes out of the way of the sun overhead.

"We could totally do the party at the LARP!" she adds, continuing the previous train of thought as she pins the shifty sunlight beneathe her mighty toebeans... only to have it escape, causing her to swat her other paw, then the cloud passes, leaving her perched on her own paw, unwilling to let the devil light escape her grasp.

"It's been weeks, and we've hardly seen each other! You could both cosponsor it!"

The Flow is work, and to focus too closely on the work would disrupt the Flow... (Obligation): 1d6 ⇒ 5

Once Ao had discovered that there was a surprising comfort to be associated with beings that could erase your existence at a whim, he always found himself surprisingly calm despite the pressure. The truth was that there was still not enough information to present anything concrete, on either side. Gathering the eggs was a fruitless task at present, especially given the heightened state of things.

There was also the question— or metaphysical question of what that many eggs were doing within one individual, and that raised a different host of questions towards their origins and intent. The best that could be done is to keep continuing with what they had, and hope for a breakthrough. To that end, he was examining the egg and the data that they had on it, using Malice's Chamber of Inquiry. A lot of what he knew personally was that things often worked on influence, so he was retracing what they had gathered and known about Shuji.

Similarly, the intent was to do the same with Malice's directions, it was possible that they might be able to find a common ground, but for now, it was working with the data that they had, and the tools that they had on-hand.
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Uncertain how far to describe things with this, so I'm imagining part of "interrogation" is "inquiry", and a set of permanent magical rings of containment and resonance might help to identify what, or at least what it is not, and get a direction that might help them. Do we have "Plot Points", or something similar?