Kawaii Rebirth

Game Master BastianQuinn

While transcended, you get an extra die as well. You're SUPERMECHTACULAR. So... you managed a 3, still, but could possibly get a dark bargain out of it, or some help. I see that HELP is better for you since I'm transcended, does that require one of my transcendent actions to perform?

I'm not counting Help or Resistance rolls towards the Transcendence limits. Gotta promote working together. I wanna see some sick combos.

Also, while it would not normally be a problem for the megazord to clear out a room full of putties, Alruna has 2 level 1 Harm tags, so your Effect is Limited. Fortunately, you're in a Controlled Position. You can trade Position for Effect, and go for Risky/Standard. Alruna, Chessa, or Tracy could spend a Link to ignore one of those tags.

The Darkness is on guard now. You'll likely face more than one Consequence if you don't get a 6. I'll take that Dark Bargain, though.

While an opening volley of tiny missiles(?) tears into the cardboard and craft paper dungeon, the shadowless human is enveloped by the gelatinous cube. The human grits their teeth, bubbles of air pushing out through his teeth as their clothes begin to disintegrate. Some kind of change is coming over the two of them.

Work together, figure out if and how you want to improve that 3. Meanstwhile, I'm going to hold off on fully resolving this Action until the tavern crew get a chance to enter the dungeon.

No cost but the stress on the tin? Sure, I'll help. Also, I'll spend my other social link on being a steadying presence for Aila: Nobody plucked you from the darkness already, how could it possibly reach you with your sister here, too?

TRANSCENDENT HELP: 2d6 ⇒ (5, 6) = 11

The red dots targeting each of the little bodies is undercut by something fainter, not quite hollow, not quite full. Shadows elongate in the light.

In another life, Chessa might have done something horrific in response to all the RED DOTS appearing everywhere. Her foretold enemy. The evil that had been inflicted upon her people for lifetimes forgotten. But today was not that day. Her hammer rewound into place, she holds the awkward thing, handle bending slightly, in one hand... as she simply watches at first. Then she whips the thing straight up into the air, screaming "Eyes!" as it reaches its apex.

Like a lighthouse beacon, the lantern-hammer-head flashes a brilliant Cyan from over Alruna's head, leaving everything a murkier red in the after-image, even with the blue-jean Chevalier's closed eyes. Those that didn't have the chance might not be so lucky.

Okay, I'm going to have to reread the rules since I've apparently missed half of them. I'll accept a Risky position for the opportunity to do something cool.

Dark bargain: 1d6 ⇒ 1 ...

Seriously? That's four 1's out of the last 5d6 I've rolled here.

Help from Chessa: 1d6 ⇒ 2 ...Typical. Okay, time to really crank up the heat on Alruna.

The flashing hammer hides the the flashes of red light as the six drones teleport to the six shadows nearby, but in the barest moment Alruna's eyes are closed, the Cube and the Shadicore act. The strange monster engulfs Alruna after moving impossibly fast around Nobody to get at the girl. It leaves a hole around most of her while holding fast her hands and feet. The Shadicore leaps through and rakes its claws down Alruna's back as it slams her into the floor.

Salvia draws a wrench from her utilikit and follows Yuki, unwilling to pss an opportunity to learn.

In the rush of bodies, no one notices a French maid step up beside Ao. "A dangerous precedent we're setting today: stepping from forbidden lands to forbidden company. I do have assignments elsewhere, otoutosama, but I could hardly look myself in a mirror if I ever felt occupied by such pedestrian tasks. Getting in here? That was a pleasant challenge."

Ao remembers when Suzu still had trouble pretending to balance on two legs. It must be like riding a bike. A few years of practice and he sometimes forgot she didn't need to walk. "I'll bet you have something I can really sink my teeth into..."

Ao's expression was usually as neutral as he could make it, sandwiching a wall of cold neutrality between his tightly held inner emotions and the outside world. He called it his "work face", and usually donned it with his uniform. As introspective as he was being, he had reflexively slipped it on without realizing it. Suzu, though... At some point, she had somehow managed to drift through to the other side of that wall, and he did not know what to do about it.

His enjoyment of her company was not even a guilty pleasure at this point. He knew that she knew it, and he liked the line they tread near.

Suzu was fire and heat, and he reveled in the memory of feeling it on his skin that one time that he had experienced her nearly slip all her restraint. "Entertainment and a Proposition", he said calmly, glancing at her out of the corner of his eye. He wore a half smile as that no doubt caught her attention. Was he flirting?

"However, it is poor form to rush something like this. We've Erohin on the premises, and magic gone awry, it appears. At a guess it can be contained, but the masses--", he gestured to the numbers of people that were fleeing. "--will not be the ones to do it. 'Shadows', was the word used."

His half smile warmed further as he offered his arm to Suzu and prepared to make his way down the stairs; not to mention what it implied about the goings on and what he intended to have the two of them do about it. "Is this evening's entertainment to your liking?"

"Is your heart sealed to the Darkness? You see what others do not; you know what the absence of a shadow means; however, do you know what you propose to fight? I can follow you into the Darkness, but I cannot save you from your own choices. You don't have the time for me to adequately express the context of your actions, and it's much more personally rewarding to watch you figure it out yourselves."

When Ao and the maid reach the landing, Yuki scowls. "This isn't an enemy-of-my-enemy situation, Nakahara, especially that one. I haven't seen her ring recently, no telling who is holding her leash."

Suzu gives Ao's arm a pat and departs to approach Yuki, rocking her hips. "I notice we haven't seen your ring recently either. Maybe I am not the enemy of your enemy, but I am an ex of your ex. You look very tense, Mister Shirakawa. How long has it been? I remember all her favorite places. We were like twins."

Yuki stands like stone while Suzu tugs on the gunsmith's lapel. The incorrigible djinn slides a hand across Yuki's chest as she sidles around to peer at Ao over the hunter's shoulder.

Salvia follows Ao and Yuki, idly spinning the wrench in her hands. "This discussion of feelings and a weakly masked attempt at seduction are irrational choices in the face of a fight. Shouldn't we get ready for a battle, instead of flirting with the closest alive thing?"
Her left hand is in a coat pocket, curled around the magatama.

Suzu looks toward Salvia. Her tone changes to something unaffected and blunt. "Oh surely. Humans are dieing by the second. I'm taunting this one for his involvement in the events leading to this fight, this is a social exchange called banter which he instigated, perhaps unintentionally. By extension, I'm also highlighting social links for the benefit of my current master. Humans prefer conversations they think they're overhearing, and a truth they feel they've discovered. If you try to list off all the most important facts they get distracted by their own assumptions."

"Assumption, good usage of the word. Let's use them, shall we?" replies Salvia, icily. "You don't act in self-preservation in the face of danger, which means that you don't plan on taking part in the upcoming fight. And you are underhandedly collecting information for your master. So, now that you have identified yourself as a cowardly spy, the logical conclusion is that nobody here needs you or anything you could do. Now, we have wasted enough time. Would someone lead the way?"

The French maid doesn't respond to Salvia. She just looks over to Ao and shrugs. Yuki, Ao, Suzu, Salvia, and Tracy head to the mock dungeon. The front entryway is open and deserted. There are a few other doors which presumably lead deeper into the dungeon. Even from outside, you can hear the roar of the manticore.

Using that armor. The twins have taken enough of a beating today. Besides, Alruna isn't done yet, and the mean kitty is in the way. Using Defy to kill Lihp, Anti-phil, Nega-phil, whatever we're calling this thin.

Defy: 1d6 ⇒ 31d6 ⇒ 5 That's a success!

The armor keeps the dark manticore's teeth from biting into Alruna's shoulder just long enough for her to slip out of the thing's jaws, leaving the armor behind to be crushed. She spins around, between the manticore's paws as it spits out red, shimmering dust that quickly fades. Nobody can see something else forming in Alruna's hand. Hexagons shift up it as a pistol materializes from nowhere, slick, dark, and bits of it ominously glowing red. Just as the manticore turns back to snarl at its prey, Alruna shoves the pistol into its mouth.

"Smile kitty," she says before pulling the trigger and blasting through the the back of its throat and out the back of its skull. Its head shatters, scattering bits of shadow that gleam like obsidian for just a moment before vanishing into wisps of black smoke.

Alruna throws the now headless shadow's corpse to the side and stands, banged up and scuffed, but otherwise unharmed by her encounter with the manticore. An evil grin emoji flashes across the otherwise featureless faceplate of her helmet as she spies the cube and the girl with it.

"Hey ugly! I got a present for ya," she calls out to the cube as she lets go of the pistol and lets it dematerialize. In her hands appears another gun, this one a large, brutal looking rifle that Alruna aims from her hip. "Might wanna find cover, Ms. No-Shadow. This is going to get messy!"

You're about to get yes-anded so hecking hard. Finishing off Phil's Shadow would be a Controlled Standard Defy Action; however, Alruna still has two level 1 Harm, you'd need to overcome both to have Standard Effect. Like before, you could trade Position, and maybe burn a Link, but that still gives us a Risky 5.

To bump your Effect up, this could be a Group Action with Nobody, but Alruna would take Stress if Nobody rolls a 1-3, and would still face the Consequences of a 4-5. Nobody would want to be sure they can roll a 6, or at least a 4-5. That would be different from Helping, which might also get you a 6, but unless we want to spend one of Tracy's Links, or someone else's, Help doesn't bump up the Effect.

Behind Alruna's display, the headless shadow writhes. The vital stinger coils up behind her. Nobody can see this concealed attack, and Nobody can prevent it without breaking the constructicons' stride. Nobody is ever so good at taking care of these background details.

The dice are on the table. The jury is still out on what kind of Consequences there will be, or who needs to take Stress. What'cha got? Feel free to ask questions if the situation is not clear.

Let's get dangerous. If I trade all the way to Desperate, could she take out the three remaining shadows as well? She's got six drones out there and as far as I know there's nothing against having a Hunter-Killer type of ability. As for consequences, I'm sure that the fallen Erohin and the Cube would be able to complicate things nicely. Maybe Brightness gets the drop on Alruna?

You can only Push Yourself once per Action, and it's either +1D to your pool or trades one level of Position for one level of Effect. Either way, it will cost 2 Stress, the same as using a Link to ignore the Harm. You also can't Push Yourself if you're accepting a Dark Bargain, RAW. I think I forgot that last Action. Even if I were to let you trade Position for Effect twice, your Effect would be Standard, so it would not accomplish anything beyond finishing off Dark Phil on its own. You would need to come up with 3 ways to increase your Effect. A Set Up Action from someone else could also increase your Effect.

Brilliance is busy with the rest of Phil. Conquest is dealing with a dieing assassin. Neither is a Fallen Angel yet. Juiblex will get to spend all the consequences itself.

Also, your first Transcendent Action counts as a Recovery action. That was a 6, but not a crit, so 3/4 segments of your Recovery Clock get filled.

Okay. Sorry. I'll take the stress and up it once.

It's all good. The game heavily favors teamwork. Tracy still has 3 Links. I just want to give Nobody a chance to choose how to assist the action... or to do something else.

The Rhodesian Ridgebacks still get to ignore one of their level 1 harms unless I misunderstood the rules. As long as they're transcended they're not shaken, I'm pretty sure. So there's at least that. I'm not sure I want to take a stress for the (very) low chance of getting that 5 to a 6. Especially not since a headshot is kinda squicky. I currently have three different foci: Find out what's up with tall dark and gloopy, get the eggs™, and move to the aid of the other survivors. I think that my interests are in reverse order right now... so probably her focus, seeing that Alruna has this all in order - and on the walls, floor, and ceiling - is probably to secure the safety of the others. She doesn't know that we're pretty low on heartless at the moment. SO I think I'm most interested in zooming my way back through the dungeon... but I'd like to see how the present scene plays out a little further. Depending on the level of harm she's risking putting herself in (or the consequence level), I may be willing to fully interpose on her behalf.

The cyan light radiating from Nobody's lantern glows ever-brilliant as eyes adjust to the crimson light, guiding the way for the pair.

Nobody slips inside the striking tail's movement, bringing up the haft of her hammer between the pair, hoping to stave off the worst of the damage, guarding the the blood-hungry shebot's movements. This one may have watched too much Evangelion when she was way too little.

Transcendence increases your overall Effect to make combat with the supernatural possible. The Social Link option only ignores Harm for 1 Action. I don't see anything about ignoring Harm when Transcendent in the base rules, Team sheet, or either of your character sheets. I'll probably spend one of Tracy's Links. We're looking at a Risky Standard 5. Dark Phil will be finished, but there will be some consequences.

Now that I read it your way, it could be read either way: Shrug off harm: Spend a link with someone to allow them to choose a single harm tag, and ignore that tag’s penalties as long as they are transcended.

Ah, looks like that was an edit. I wonder when that happened. I'll update the character sheets. Saves Tracy's Link.

Nothing was said by Ao, who only replaced his hands into his pockets, inviting Suzu back to his side with a lift of his arm. Looking about the "dungeon", he did have to admit that they had done an admirable job in the decoration. From the stone to the smell, it was certainly well-crafted. There was no uncertainty in his expression as he looked ahead, only an impassive calm that was not unlike his "work" face. Focused.

The front door was likely the best option, considering that they had seen no shadows opening the doors to escape. So forward, it was. Might as well lead the way.

"I've been thinking", he murmured to Suzu, as they approached the front door, "What if Convergence 'reset the board', so to speak? What if it seeded the rest to bloom later once things had settled, and all that was needed was the right level of heat?" As they proceeded, he took his hand out of his pocket and opened it slightly, enough for the Attendant to glimpse the matagama.

It was intuition, really. Legends mentioned a lot of things, but prominent in searching about the term for the stone was that they were initially gifts to the deities. Likewise for containment. There was always a threshold to pass before the containment would unlock, some criteria to be met. A lot of what he had worked with before depended on concept, and he truly doubted that such a radical shift had occurred, despite what the world had become.

"Would you do me this honor?"
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I feel like a "Flow" roll is appropriate here
Flow: 2d6 ⇒ (1, 6) = 7

A quick scan of the room reveals a confused combat situation. Projectiles being intercepted, and creatures she only knew from stories fighting against one another. Breath struggled to move through her throat as she desperately fought to push herself to the limit, to control the situation.
And through unwavering intent, and desire to impose herself over the chaos, the magatama reacted to her willpower. Strands of silver threads born of her imagination encompassed her, covering her limbs and creating two more. Eight eyes in the seven known colors and an unknown one opened on the featureless surface that was in place of her face, until her likeness resembled a cross between herself and Iktomi.

She saw. She felt the threads of causality as if they were parts of a spiderweb, every ripple sending echoes of consequences to the other threads.
She heard. She felt her own thoughts calmly against the chaotic background, wild but not untameable, something to bring under control.
She knew. She felt that her name was now She Who Reads The Pattern, until she came back to being Salvia again.
And she acted, binding the manticore in threads of causality, fighting against it with the weight of the infinite consequences of any action, to paralyze and disable him.

Defy: 2d6 ⇒ (3, 5) = 8

I'd like to understand, from Salvia's point of view, who has fallen to Darkness and who can be saved. From what I gather, Brilliance hasn't yet Eclipsed, but then Ao caught the arrow meant for the manticore, which is an agent of Darkness. Am I incorrect?

Correct, but let me clarify:

Also, long-time readers should know the dramatic irony in that this is Tomoyo's Magatama. I don't know if anyone else remembers much about the twins from Season 1...

The infinite threads of causality spread out before She Who Reads The Pattern. This moment is certainly a snarl in the weft of reality. There are threads everywhere. This weave has been tampered with before.

Outside, guiding innocents to safety, Junpei looks over their shoulder, hoping against reason that Salvia can handle the next five minutes better than they could.

A Transcendant Defy roll to paralyze agent Phil is Controlled Standard. A 5 would mean you can try something else, there's a minor complication, you suffer lesser Harm, or you end up in a risky position. You can Push Yourself or accept a Dark Bargain for another d6, and someone can Help for another d6.

The Dark Bargain I'm offering is that Brilliance gets a chance to run away.

"Huh. Who'd've thunk." Nobody says as she finishes cowering. The vaguely european blonde-haired girl in the blue jean outfit says, half of her face obscured by a magatama and the other half in mostly clear view. She's carrying a cartoonishly large hammer over one shoulder, wrapped in chains, it's illuminating the immediate area around her where the light peeks from the chains.

"Not really a fair scenario, though. I guess next time we subdue everyone's shades instead of destroying them all... cause now we have a lot more people without shades." She looks over her shoulder briefly to the goo-brid, "Shhh, help or quiet." she says with a shooing motion. The creature can easily see her grin. "Hey, shiny girl. Are we gonna help Brilliance and Phil learn to get along, or am I gonna abscond with So-Many-Gemstones?"

Alruna shakes her head and the lines of red shift to purple.

"Shiny? Shouldn't it be glowy," she asks in a confused voice. She shakes her head again like someone trying to shake water out of their ears.

"Okay, this is weird. I don't know what's going on, and you're asking me what we should do. We must be in trouble."

Behind Nobody, two of the drones, still glowing red, begin harassing the girl/gelatinous cube hybrid. The other four take up position behind Alruna like wings.

The two drones harassing the hybrid monster is just flavor. I figure Aina would be wanting to get back at the monster that made Aila cry, and I thought the idea of her retaining enough control of the drones to annoy her? it? whatever you call a girl/gelatinous cube hybrid. Nothing that'd require a roll, just something funny in the background.

"No, I'm glowy. Hammer is literally a lantern. Next you're gonna try to be the team mascot..." Nobody scoffs. "But... no, it's not that I don't know what to do, it's that I want to do what you want to do. I'm not much of a leader. I tend to just do what I want all willy-nilly. Which is usually what others want. Unless I don't want to do what they want. Have to have just the right amount of capriciousness for the persona. So, what we do is we appeal to Phil's good side. They've been jerks to him and now he's super angry, and we murdered his shade, so now he doesn't really have that little inner kid that goes 'oh no, I shouldn't rip people to shreds' in his head." Nobody says, semi-sagely, semi-off-the-cuff.

It didn't matter that she didn't know, Aila didn't know she didn't know. But she'd done something similar before. "Important things are to keep him from killing anyone, and keep everyone from killing him. I've been stalking one of the cleaners, and I think death might make everything a whole lot worse." she casts a glance at the goo-person, before driving forward. She'd definitely be keeping an eye on the weird hybrid person while everything was going on up ahead... they seemed shady and they hadn't responded to much of anything in a helpful manner. They were even darkly sardonic. That was the worst kind of sardonic.

After a brief pause, she adds a "Huh.", stuttering in her movement for a moment, before continuing forward like she knew precisely what she was doing. Chessa would just have to believe in the Rhodesians that believe in her. "Brilliance, you've got some 'splaining to do!"

I'll accept ending up in a risky position.

She Who Reads The Pattern struggles not to comprehend the actions resulting in Brilliance's situation, but to translate into a language fit for Salvia's throat under the spider's shell. "It's over, Brilliance. You gamble against probability, but I know you to be smarter than that. You know what you wager, you know what you stand to gain, but the odds are not what you thought they were. Situations shift, paradigms mutate. You can see, or maybe imagine the strands of destiny, the diverging paths whether you triumph or fail. At the moment, you stand to lose much, and we stand to lose you: and I know a word without Brilliance would be less than the current one, whoever you take with you."

I think this should be Analyse, to try and bring Brilliance back by appealing to a logic and rational side of him. I'll push myself for an extra dice. Does it count as "Addressing a challenge with knowledge and subtlety" for XP?
Analyse: 3d6 ⇒ (5, 2, 5) = 12

If this fails, someone good at Moe (or Sun apparently, in this edition) could be helpful.

"I guess I'll talk the big guy down, then," Alruna says before leaping over to where Phil the Manticore is. With a deep breath, she dismisses the helmet and reveals a face much akin to the twins with white hair streaked with red and mismatched eyes, one blue, the other crimson.

"Hey, Phil, Right? Sorry about the shadow thing. I... I didn't know that was part of you,"she says, awkward but earnest. "Guess we're both having a bad day."

Empathize: 2d6 ⇒ (5, 6) = 11 Woo!

While there was a lot to be aware of in the room, from the Manticore to the others in the room, as well as (and perhaps more importantly) the Erohin, there was still a touch of awe and admiration for Suzu. Calmly, Ao looked from the arrow in his hand, to Brilliance's position, his face as expressionless as it was when he was working. There had been Erohin here, and things had gone wrong. Interesting, that. One hand still in his pocket holding the matagama, he began to tighten his grip on the arrow, testing to see how strong it and its enchantment was.

Phil's roar was something that he did not expect, picking himself up off of the floor and recovering as best he could. The arrow had fallen from his hands when he tried to shield his ears. Steadying himself, he was able to catch some parts of what was being said, though comprehension or hearing was slow to return.