Bluff City 15: When Justice Is Done Pt. 3
Amaya / thegreatelsewhere#8305
[Note - timestamps every five minutes, search for #]
[Opening recap]
Austin: It’s there that we begin. You’re here because Grouse got a tip from a… a source, who is also someone who has some powers. Or - or seems to be that sort of person. But you’ve never dealt with him before directly until now. And his name is Mr. E. Masque.
[Jack de Quidt’s When Justice is Done begins playing]
Austin: He has told you, as a show of good faith, that there will be an armed robbery happening here in the middle of the night. [laughs]
Austin: The reason that the truck flipped over is cause something pushed it over from below, and that something is… seems to be a woman who looks like a shark person. And this is - this is Thresher. This is the supervillain Thresher.
Austin (as Thresher): Why are you protecting casino money? Get outta here!
Art (as The Champ): You know what? Shut up! That’s why.
Austin: Alright, so no one stops Mr. Good from going back out. So, we just get the shot in the sewer. We get the panel in the sewer of you kind of tracing Thresher’s steps. And you find like, their changing area, and near a coat rack, you find a hard cardboard coupon for two dollars off at Royce’s Rollcarts. So we get that. And then we get a panel of… of Thresher, talking to a figure. The figure is silhouetted, and she is like angry-pacing back and forth, and she like punches a wall, and she’s like,
Austin (as Thresher): I can’t - [sighs angrily] you know I need this money! [sighs] There’s gotta be another score. There’s gotta be something big.
Austin: And then the final panel, like, is the reverse shot. And it reveals that she’s talking to Mr. E. Masque. And he says,
Austin (as Mr. E. Masque): I think I have something in mind.
Keith (as Mr. Good): [whispering] How is this a clue?
Jack (as Paternoster): [whispering] Oh… I’ve heard about this. It’s - it’s - I think - I think that we hand in this coupon, right? And it’s like a special coupon. And then they give us someone who’s pushing it, who will communicate some information to us.
Austin (as Alvarez): I don’t know what it is - I like you, kid. You seem like a good head on your shoulders. [sighs] I heard there’s a thing going on. Do you have a phone number? I can text you about it. Just know - I’m not gonna say what it is, but um… you know.
Art (as The Champ): What are we gonna do?
Janine (as Grouse): I mean, look, most of us… well… She saw some of us, she didn’t see all of us.
Jack (as Paternoster): I mean, I can’t show my face there.
Janine (as Grouse): I’m also worried it won’t be cool with her if we just show up with a plus one.
Keith (as Mr. Good): Do you guys want a look- a second lookout?
Janine (as Grouse): Mmhm.
Jack (as Paternoster): I just don’t want… I don’t want my photo on the front of the tabloids next to the words “did a crime.”
Keith (as Mr. Good): It sounds like being a celebrity hero is like… makes it harder to be a hero.
Austin: And so, she walks you through what’s about to happen. It is a… auction for local art that is being run by the Veranda family. And, Thresher explains to you that there is a… a painting up for auction by some sort of unknown artist that was actually stolen by the Veranda family, and she has a buyer, who, she explains,
Austin (as Thresher): ...is gonna give us enough money so that none of us have to worry about anything.
[Music fades out; recap ends]
Austin: Alright. Let’s zoom in on the action. Let’s get ready for this to pop off. Thresher, Alaina - er, not Alaina, uh… Alandra Alvarez tells you, to go ahead and move up, Team - Team Tuna Fish.
Austin (as Thresher): We’ll be right here in the van, getting ready for it.
Austin: And the vans are parked down on the street, just like at the bottom of the boardwalk ramp, basically. And the two of you head up, and you sneak up.
Art (as The Champ): We’ve gotta wait long enough for it to be plausible, right?
Janine (as Grouse): I mean. [pause] Yeah, but we still -
Austin: [overlapping] Yeah, like she gives you like - you synchronize watches, right? It’s like okay, in five minutes, pull the - pull the alarm, or whatever. You know?
Janine: Yeah.
Austin: But you can get up there in a minute.
Art (as The Champ): [overlapping] Yeah, so we should just do like, three, right? Like…
Janine (as Grouse): I - yeah, I’d say like four. We should go on four.
Art (as The Champ): Alright, that’s further than I wanted, so that’s - that’s great.
Janine (as Grouse): Well, you know, plausibility. You’re right. Like, if we do it too soon… [pause]
Art (as The Champ): Yeah, then -
Janine (as Grouse): I mean, I guess we could do it right when we get there? Cause then we could, we could be like oh, I thought you meant to do it now! [laughs]
Art (as The Champ): No, I think like, waiting just not long enough is fine. Like, maybe we should desynchronize our watches.
Janine (as Grouse): Well, she’s not gonna check our watch.
Art (as The Champ): [quietly] Well, she might. Then we’d have… look, the watch…
Janine (as Grouse): Ah - [sighs, laughs] I mean -
Austin: You’re on a boat.
Janine: Sorry, what? [laughs] [#00:05:00#]
Austin: You’re on a boat? You’re on the boat. Get off the boat.
Janine: Oh.
Art: [overlapping] Well, we’re - we’re just waiting for three minutes. I don’t know what to do in this three minutes.
Austin: Okay. [laughs]
Janine: No, we should - we should still be in position, but like, just…
Art: Well, we’re here! This is our position.
Austin: I don’t know, cause you have to like - there are guards, and stuff. You know? You gotta be a little careful.
Janine: Yeah, we’re not like -
Austin: I thought you were -
Janine: What alarm would we be pulling from a boat?
Austin: Yeah, you’re - mm. You’re not literally on a boat. It was a - it was a metaphor.
Janine: Oh. Okay. [laughs] Okay.
Austin: About being stuck on a boat, you have to get off the boat?
Janine: [laughs] Okay. Alright!
Art: I thought we were by the alarm. How do we - who do we need to get past to get to the alarm?
Austin: Well, there’s like guards and stuff, right? So you go up to the - you leave the van, and you walk up.
Art: And we’re in shark masks. [laughs]
Austin: You’re in shark masks! Yeah.
Art: Alright.
Austin: And you’re at the bottom of this [laughs] this boardwalk ramp, and as you like start to walk up it, you see that there’s like, oh! There’s people going into this venue, still. There are a couple of people in suits. There’s like one bouncer outside. Maybe you can see Franklin’s silhouette up on the roof, waving at you or whatever. And then there are two guards who are patrolling… it’s like a building on a pier, and so like the outside of the building there is like a… a little boardwalk that wraps around the building. Do you know what I mean? It’s like, there’s a pier, and then on the pier there’s this building, so you could walk on the wooden boardwalk that’s around it. And that is the side that she wants you to go on, is like the southern side or whatever, the right side of the building, where there’s a side door and an alarm. But there is definitely a guard walking back and forth. How do you - how do you deal with this guard?
Art: I got a plan. It’s great.
Austin: Uh-huh?
Art: Um. [laughs lightly] And it’s important to remember, whenever I [reading] charge into a fight without hedging your bets, you can shift your Danger up and any other label down. [stops reading] We can decide if this counts. I’m gonna kind of like jog up to the guard, and be like,
Art (as The Champ): Yo, that building’s on fire!
Art: [Janine laughs] And then when he turns, I’m just gonna deck him.
Austin: Yeah, I think this just happens, right? There’s not - this is not a… In the same way that I didn’t make Franklin roll to get on top of a building, because that’s what Franklin does, you are the Champ. You knock out single guards like this all the time. So you knock him the fuck out. He goes,
Austin (as Guard): Oh no, a fire?!
Austin: And then [laughs] and then he gets hit in the face. Alright, and just drops to the ground, like in a slump.
Keith: [overlapping] How do you know this guy was single?
Austin: You know, cause I’m the GM. [Janine laughs] I kind of have access to all the information, you know?
Keith: [overlapping] Right, yeah. [laughs] Yeah, that’s one of the things is when you - in -
Austin: In Masks, you have to determine…
Keith: [overlapping] in this game, one of the things in Masks, you have to determine if someone’s single or not.
Austin: Relationship status, yeah yeah yeah. You don’t have to know what type of relationship -
Keith: [overlapping] Yeah. Every character has a name, alignment, and relationship status.
Austin: Yes. A relation- just single or not.
Keith: Common law. [Austin laughs]
Austin: Yes. [Keith laughs]. So yeah, you have - you have access to this door. You pull the alarm? Is it time?
Art: I mean, it’s - I hope it’s a little before time.
Janine: I mean… yeah.
Austin: Okay.
Janine: We’re pulling it early, so.
Austin: We get the panel of the handle -
Art: [overlapping] But just a little bit early.
Austin: on the fire alarm, we get the alarm going down, and we get alarms going off inside. Paternoster, everyone is like - the music is interrupted, the paintings are all, like, up on the stage, and the person who’s on the stage is like,
Austin (as Person on Stage): Alright, everybody, we should, uh, calmly exit. Except for the guards, who - these are very valuable paintings! [Jack laughs] Please remain here, guards. [laughs awkwardly] Cannot - [whispers intently] we can’t let the Veran - [frustrated grunt]
Austin: And we see…
Keith: Can -
Austin: [overlapping] Vinny Veranda is here, and he, like, stands up in front of, he’s like,
Austin (as Vinny): Everybody stay calm. The exit is to the rear or the sides. Please move immediately and slowly.
Austin: And he stays behind, along with some other people in suits. You see - Paternoster, inside, you see that the guards inside do have guns, they’re just holstered right now. They’re like jacket holsters, like in interior holsters. Franklin.
Keith: Yeah.
Austin: What were you gonna say? You were gonna say something.
Keith: Sorry, yeah, it was a bad plan. I was gonna try to throw my voice to let whoever announced to the guards and to say that that is against the law. [laughter] You cannot ask someone to stay in a building when a fire alarm is pulled. You will be fined $10,000 or so depending on the state.
Austin: I think the mafia probably doesn’t care so much.
Jack: [laughing] It’s so good! At a mafia event, just this little voice coming down from the roof like, that’s a crime! [laughter]
Austin: In fact, I think you see like the Chief of Police is here, and he leaves. And also, I want to be like - the Chief of Police was wearing a mask, and this should, for the viewer, it’s like the same mas- if you scrub the DVD, you’ll see it is the same type of mask that the cops were wearing in There Is No Greater Love.
Jack: Oh, at the - at the gala?
Austin: At the gala, yeah. Yeah. Um, what… what does Team Alarm do at this point?
Janine: [pauses] Birds.
Austin: Is it time for birds?
Janine: Right?
Austin: [overlapping] Alright, what -
Janine: [overlapping] I think it has to be time for birds. You can’t burn that advantage. You need to get the paintings out while Thresher’s crew’s still scrambling.
Austin: [overlapping] You’ve gotta use - so, yeah, the alarm goes off. Thresher’s crew starts moving, is like,
Austin (as Crew Member): Well - agh, it’s too early! Oh, th- fuckin’ Tuna!
Austin: [laughs] Give me your Power Move.
Janine: Uh…
Austin: This is, this is…
Janine: That would be Freak?
Austin: Yes. This is… Unleash Your Powers.
Janine: Okay.
Austin: I know what you’re thinking, this is a strange way to unleash powers, but here we go. What is your Freak? 1? [#00:10:00#]
Janine: 1, yeah.
Austin: Okay. [clicks mouse]
Janine: 7.
Austin: And that is another 7. So, on a 7-9, when you Unleash Your Powers, mark a condition or the GM will tell you how the effect is unstable or temporary. I’m gonna do the latter. The…
Janine: I don’t get to choose?
Austin: Uh… mm. I guess you could. [uncertainly] Mm…
Janine: Mark a condition or the GM will tell you how the effect is unstable or temporary?
Austin: [overlapping] Yeah, I guess you’re right. Yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah. I was reading that ‘or’ as a thing - as a choice for me, but not - not - no, I think you’re right.
Janine: Do you really like your idea?
Austin: Yes, but I - you can mark a thing instead. I’ll find a way for my idea to show up at some point, probably.
Janine: Well that seems unfair! [laughs]
Austin: Well, because my thing is a thing that’s true about the - my thing is a thing that’s true about the area, which will show up eventually. It’s just, this was an opportunity for that thing to show itself. [pause] But you could - but -
Janine: Hm… [laughs]
Austin: I’m not saying that the thing you’re doing will be unstable or temporary. I’m saying that the… the - that will be fine, because you will have marked a condition, but the card I’m going to play, I’m gonna play that card at some point, because it’s a thing that’s going to get put into play. Do you know what I mean?
Janine: [overlapping] Okay, well let’s just do that then. [laughs]
Austin: We don’t need to! If you want to mark a condition instead and get the -
Janine: [overlapping] No, let’s just do the thing!
Austin: [overlapping] Here, I will tell you the thing.
Janine: [overlapping] Let’s rip the bandage off.
Austin: Wait wait wait - I’m gonna tell you the thing, right? Which is…
Janine: Okay. [laughs]
Austin: Which is, if you take the condition, retrieving the art will be successful. You will have the art, because the effect won’t be unstable or temporary. If you don’t, then - if you don’t mark a condition, then the effect will be unstable or temporary, which means that I’m almost immediately going to put the art at threat.
Janine: Okay. I’m going to take a condition then.
Austin: Okay. So, the birds… Which - which condition are you taking?
Janine: I’m taking Guilty, because this is technically a crime, still. [laughs]
Austin: This is definitely technically a crime! What does Guilty affect again?
Janine: Uh, -2 to Provoke Someone, -2 to Assess the Situation.
Austin: Okay. Those are - that’s a big minus.
Janine: Yeah.
Austin: That’s not great. Um, okay. [pause] So… [pause] Sorry, I’m just making sure of a thing. So what’s this look like?
Janine: So this is… [sighs] You know, I’m gonna say it’s probably… it’s a few birds, that come in.
Austin: Mm-hmm.
Janine: And Chanti has told one of them specifically what to take, and has told the others to just… take whatever they think they can - just, just take anything.
Austin: Mm-hmm.
Janine: But - and just take, just take any painting they want. Not - not even the ones that Thresher was gonna target specifically.
Keith: [laughs] Wait, why?
Janine: It’s just -
Austin: How - okay, wait. I have a - actually important question.
Janine: Uh huh?
Austin: How do you know which is the right painting?
Janine: [pauses] Mm -
Austin: I guess she - did she show you the specific right one?
Janine: I thought she told us, like, here are the paintings that we like.
Austin: She…
Janine: Here’s the - here’s the big painting. Here’s the good painting.
Austin: I don’t… Did she - did I say that she told you the good one? Yeah, I guess she said… [sighs uncertainly]
Janine: “This is the painting that was stolen.”
Austin: Yeah, she did say there was one painting that was stolen. So yes. That means I can describe the painting here, yeah. [pause] Okay. So yeah. Then - then yes. They grab all the paintings - they grab all the paintings they can. [laughs] Paternoster, birds have arrived. There are sprinklers going off. Birds have come in through the sky- the sky, uh… lights. I almost said sky vaults, which is way wrong. And they begin lifting the paintings away. And I think the one… at one point they have to pull like a - a cover off of one of the paintings, to check to see if it’s the right one. [laughter] So you actually get just an albatross, like, revealing this giant painting.
And, the giant painting is of a… a little girl, seated on a - like a tree swing, basically. And it is called… It is called Gale Green on a Bench, actually. And so it’s a, it’s like a seated - it’s like a, it’s a bench in front of some trees. And you can see that it’s like, it’s a… yard that is, like, right up against the beach. So it is like, green grass, but behind the green grass is the ocean, and some sand. And there is something - as soon as you see the painting, you make - your eyes connect with the little girl’s in it, Hilda. And like, there is a real presence there that is very strange. And you can see that there is a… an artist’s signature, and it is H.H.
Jack: Huh.
Austin: Which is probably, we know, Hector Hu.
Jack: But that doesn’t necessarily… this is -
Austin: Hilda doesn’t know that.
Jack: When - also, when I look at it, this is a painting, right? It - I don’t look at it -
Austin: [overlapping] No, the eye thing is weird. The eye thing is weird. There is something -
Jack: [overlapping] There is something magical about…
Austin: [overlapping] There is something supernatural about this painting. Yes.
Jack: Okay. [#00:15:00#]
Austin: Immediately, there is no doubt about it. Hilda is s- like… There is a - you are struck by something about the - in fact, in fact, in fact, you may… need to take Afraid. I think you take Afraid, when you see this.
Jack: Oh, I am frightened of this painting?
Austin: You are frightened of this painting.
Jack: Is it specifically the - am I frightened - okay. We need to talk about painting fear.
Austin: Yeah. [laughter]
Jack: Am I frightened because I am encountering a painting that is supernatural, or am I frightened because something in the gaze of the girl in the painting instills fear in me?
Austin: It’s both. And I can - and it’s, it’s both. It’s that the - something in the painting is made to communicate something about the gaze of the girl. The gaze of the girl is… So this game is all about Influence, right? This game is all about people judging other people. And even though this is a little girl, there is something in her gaze that makes you feel… like you should never show your wings. There is something deeply judgmental about her. So maybe it’s actually Insecure, and not…
Jack: Yeah.
Austin: And not Afraid. There is something about her that says, there is a right way to be a little girl, and it is the way I am a little girl. With a beret in my hair - er, a barrette in my hair, and a very nice Sunday dress, and I am seated very consciously and carefully on this bench, and my - my hands are folded, on my lap, and… she is just like, completely staring through you.
Jack: Wow.
Austin: And all of your, like, broadness, and your expressivity, and your flight - you’re just grounded, in this moment. Um, and then the birds pick it up and [laughs] fly this painting out the roof! [laughter]
Jack: [laughing] And the end of that sentence is “and then it is stolen by albatrosses!”
Austin: By albatrosses! [laughter]
Jack: Which is…
Austin: Well, and so then, a moment later - and this is me playing that card, but it’s not gonna fuck up the painting -
Jack: Mm.
Austin: So you, Franklin, you see the paintings fly out of the -
Keith: Yeah.
Austin: [laughs] from the inside.
Keith: Mm-hmm.
Austin: And for a brief moment, one of them - one of the birds has a red dot sight, or like a laser sight pointed at it. And you trace the laser sight back across to another building back on the… back behind the… the boardwalk, like back in the kind of city part of the city, a couple of blocks away. And there is just a sniper watching this building. And you can see he’s kind of like, he’s a little schlubby, he has like a lot of big hair. Uh, but he has this fucking sniper rifle aimed at this bird. And, you - you hear a… like, the sound of a bullet flying past. And it doesn’t hit the bird. The birds get away, because what Janine chose was… mark a condition, instead of the effect being unstable or temporary. And so the birds begin to fly to safety… wherever that is? Where is that? Is it like, the amphibious vehicle out in the water, and they’re gonna like dump it in?
Janine: I feel like they would probably go to Waxwing’s place, right? Like…
Austin: Okay. So then they immediately start taking off headed north with this painting.
Janine: It’s very much about securing those paintings.
Austin: Yeah yeah yeah. So yeah. They, they fly offscreen, and we get, um…
Janine: And also a bunch of albatrosses in an amphibious vehicle is like, too far, even for us, I think. [laughs]
Austin: Okay, that’s fair. So yeah, we, we like - taking the shots at the birds, taking the shots at the birds, missing, and then we get - we actually get the reveal that like, the sniper is Sonny. Is Sonny Veranda. Who has, in - since Fia-
Janine: Son of a bitch.
Austin: In the Fiasco outro, we saw, of course, turn into like a weird hitman. And Sonny like, takes - like dr- like, puts down the sniper rifle, and run- starts running down a different unfinished building [laughs] towards the ground, to go figure out what the fuck is going on at this place.
Keith: Now -
Austin: Not - not chasing the birds, but going to - to the art…
Keith: Okay.
Austin: thing.
Keith: You answered my question, which was… do you think he’s here watching the art show, or did he have an unrelated hit on one of the birds?
Austin: On one of the birds! [laughter] Yeah - yep. Yes. It was one of the - it was a rival bird wanted him taken out. It was a whole situation. Lover’s quarrel, I guess.
Keith: A pelican wanted one of the albatrosses gone. [Austin laughs]
Austin (as Pelican): I’m the king of these here sands, see!
Keith (as Pelican): I got the biggest mouth! [laughter]
Austin (as Pelican): When you’re done with him, I want him to fit in my mouth! [laughter]
Keith (as Pelican): I want to swallow that boy whole! [laughter, groans]
Austin: So, um… Franklin, this is - this is -
Art: [overlapping] Maybe this is -
Keith: [overlapping] Swallow him whole.
Austin: Yep. Anyway. Elena, there’s a fire alarm, there are guards running around, there are people screaming and yelling. I think probably this is the moment. The moment that the birds have taken this thing away, we get the other reveal here, which is… we get, um… I think probably you spot from outside looking in that in all of the chaos, from a back door, Mr. E. Masque comes in. And the - the way it’s… the way it is… drawn, he is like, stiff like a board. And, I mean, he’s floating, basically, but the way that that’s portrayed is like, you’re seeing it through a window, over a countertop or something, and his body is just perfectly vertical. Inside, Paternoster, you can see that he is in fact, like, floating… just barely off the ground, like - [#00:20:00#]
Keith: Sorry, whose body?
Austin: Mr. E. Masque.
Keith: Oh, okay.
Austin: Is basically floating into this room. And is like,
Austin (as Mr. E. Masque): [angrily] Where is the painting?
Austin: And he has a mask on that m- that is like, it animates in claymation to various, like, emotional states.
Jack: Oh, god.
Austin: And in - very sl- like, low frame-rate claymation. And so it goes from this grinning to this very bad frown, and is, like, looking for this painting now. And he has arrived, and was, you know, supposed to be here to get the painting after it was stolen, and instead, it has not been stolen.
Jack: Did he see it get stolen by birds, or has he just heard from like, from someone, that’s just like… everything’s gone wrong.
Austin: In fact, I’ve changed my mind. He didn’t - he did not, in fact… He did not, in fact, walk in from another room. He turned - he was the door, and turned from a door into a man.
Jack: Oh my god.
Austin: So, yeah. Imagine that happening.
Jack: [overlapping] So he’s just been here all along.
Austin: All with the same, like, claymation effect, basically.
Jack: [laughs] So it’s just like - Paternoster stares down a painting.
Austin: Yeah.
Jack: Painting is stolen by birds.
Austin: Yep. Yep.
Jack: Door turns into man. [laughs]
Austin: And then Thresher and the gang show up behind you. [laughs] And you are in this room.
Jack: Oh, god.
Austin: And there are still, like, two guards here plus - three guards. Two guards plus Vinny. Um… and then Elena and Pat- and - and Grouse outside one door, and then…
Keith: And I’m right above, right?
Austin: [overlapping] And you’re right above. And Franklin is above. And no one knows where Franklin is.
Keith: Yeah.
Austin: Except for Sonny, but Sonny isn’t here yet.
Jack: Oh, geez.
Austin: What do - who does something?
Keith: I do something.
Austin: What do you do?
Keith: I li- okay. Yeah, I just ju- I land onto… Mr. E. Masque.
Austin: Oh, can we actually do - we get like, recognition from Thresher of Mr. E. Masque, and then we get Thresher recognizing Mr. E. Masque and then Paternoster, and, you know, we get… Elena - or sorry, uh, Thresher, saying,
Austin (as Thresher): Mask!
Austin: And then the Mask saying,
Austin (as Mr. E. Masque): Paternoster!
Austin: And then we get you jumping down. [laughs] Are you Directly Engaging a Threat? [pause] It sounds like you -
Keith: [overlapping] Am I? Yeah.
Austin: [overlapping] That sounds like what you’re doing.
Keith: [overlapping] Oh, I am very directly engaging a threat, yeah.
Austin: Alright. When you Directly Engage a Threat, roll Danger. Also, this feels like one of your things. This feels like, uh… oh, wait, no it doesn’t. No it doesn’t.
Keith: It’s - no, it’s -
Austin: You have to actually take them down, huh?
Keith: It’s if I finish it, yeah.
Austin: Yeah yeah yeah.
Keith: I also - and I also am rolling a -1 for Danger.
Austin: Okay. Well, this should be great.
Keith: Is, uh…
Austin: Oh! Oh, this is actually - wait wait wait, wait wait wait wait wait. We have to do a special thing.
Keith: Okay.
Austin: This is - because it’s the beginning of a fight, this is like a thing - this is… When you enter battle against a dangerous foe as a team, add 2 to the Team pool. So you got those.
Keith: Okay.
Austin: If the l- who’s the leader of this team? [pause] Still Grouse? It was Grouse last time.
Keith: [overlapping] Um, Grouse.
Jack: [overlapping] It sounds like - no, I was the leader…
Keith: It was Paternoster.
Austin: Oh, it was Paternoster last time.
Jack: I think this is Grouse. Or Elena. Grouse or Elena.
Keith: Oh, I didn’t realize each one had a different leader. I thought it was just - we just picked.
Austin: Um, you decide who the leader is. I think some teams have a leader -
Keith: [overlapping] Different leaders different times?
Austin: [overlapping] Like, who’s the leader of this mission. And then other people say like, no, I’m Cyclops, I’m the leader.
Keith: Right, yeah. Cyclops does say that, right?
Austin: All the time.
Keith: So… Is this a - is this a… No, I guess this is a sneak attack, so it’s not that. Um…
Austin: No no, wait wait wait. We have to finish the team mechanics thing first. This is the thing I’m saying.
Keith: Yeah yeah yeah, right.
Austin: So. When we enter battle against a dangerous foe as a team - which, this is happening as a team, even though you’re hitting first here. Like, this is like a big thing. So, if the leader, who I guess is Grouse? Is this Grouse? Are we saying Grouse is the leader of this plan?
Janine: I think so, yeah.
Austin: If the leader has influence over every teammate, add another Team. Does not, right? [laughs]
Janine: Nope. [laughs]
Austin: If everyone has the same purpose in the fight, add another Team. What is your purpose in the fight? [pause]
Janine: To…
Keith: Beat up the criminals.
Austin: [overlapping] Considering you’ve already - you’ve already secured the paintings. So yeah. What is, what is -
Jack: Take down Thresher.
Austin: Take down Thresher?
Keith: Yeah.
Austin: Is everyone on board with take down Thresher?
Janine: [hesitantly] Yes? Art’s saying okay.
Austin: Oh, is Elena - okay, I didn’t realize Elena was AFK. Okay.
Keith: Um… yeah, I guess take down… Thresher? I guess I’m more concerned about Mr. E. Masque.
Jack: Mr. E. Masque is -
Austin: [overlapping] It is fine to not be on -
Jack: Yeah.
Austin: To - to not get this extra bonus point.
Jack: Yeah. Mr. E. Masque kind of feels like the - the bonus objective, for me.
Austin: Mm.
Keith: He seems like the bo- it seems like we ha-
Janine: [overlapping] Also, like, is your character concerned, or are you concerned?
Austin: Right.
Janine: Is another difference. Cause like -
Keith: [overlapping] Well, Mr. E. Masque is the - is the bo- is like, our target’s boss.
Janine: But we don’t know that. He’s also helped us. Right? Like… [#00:25:00#]
Austin: Yeah. We out of character know that. In character, she was not like, “And then Mr. E. Masque told me what to do.”
Janine: Mr. E. Masque was the one who pointed us towards Thresher in the first place.
Austin: Yeah.
Janine: To be like, “Hey, you should take her down.”
Keith: Ohhh.
Austin: Yes.
Janine: Yeah.
Keith: Oh, I thought that we knew that he was two-two-timing us.
Austin: In fact, right, we can - we can expand that previous sequence, right? To where before you jump - jump on - on him, he says what happened, right? This is a comic book. So, he says like - he says,
Austin (as Mr. E. Masque): Thresher.
Austin: And - and she says,
Austin (as Thresher): If you were here, why did you need me to steal the painting?
Austin: And… uh, and he says… uh, I just needed to be sure…
Austin (as Mr. E. Masque): I just needed to be sure.
Austin: And… I’m just trying to think, how would it come out in this way. [pause] He says your name, he says,
Austin (as Mr. E. Masque): Paternoster.
Austin: And Thresher says,
Austin (as Thresher): You know her?! She tried to stop me the other night!
Austin: And he says,
Austin (as Mr. E. Masque): I needed to be sure you were desperate.
Austin: Revealing the he, in fact, sent you after her so that she would be desperate enough to do a job like this,
Jack: Hmm.
Austin: which definitely was going to involve violence, and also acting against the Veranda family,
Jack: Mm-hmm! [laughs]
Austin: who you don’t fuck with in Bluff City.
Keith: Mm-hmm.
Austin: So. Then you jump down. So, we have to - are figuring out - Art is back. We are figuring out… the, like, team roll thing. If any member - we were trying to figure out this one, which was, if every- if everyone has the same purpose in the fight, add another Team. So given that information -
Art: [overlapping] What’s everyone’s purpose in this fight?
Austin: That is my question.
Keith: My - my stated purpose was that - we just heard [pause] that this was sort of all orchestrated by Mr. E. Masque.
Janine: Mm-hmm.
Keith: And so, then I’m - and I’m going to jump on top of him. [Austin laughs] Vio- with violence.
Austin: Right. [Janine laughs]
Art: Alright. I don’t think we can get this die, then. Or this point.
Austin: What is your goal?
Art: I’m gonna mess up some Verandas. We got unfinished business.
Austin: That’s true, you do have unfinished business with them, cause they are the ones who made you, right?
Art: Yeah, I’m -
Austin: And gave you your powers.
Art: I’m gonna - I’m gonna rough up some… some mafia. [Jack laughs]
Austin: Great. Not all - not on the same purpose. Um… “If any team member mistrusts the leader of the team, remove a Team.” Does anybody mistrust Grouse?
Jack: Mm-mm.
Keith: No.
Art: No.
Austin: “If your team is ill-prepared or off-balance, remove a Team.” No, no, we’re good.
Jack: No, we’re - we’re prepared.
Austin: Totally.
Jack: We’re just apparently prepared to do a variety of things. [laughter]
Austin: Yeah, a hundred percent. Anyone working with the team can spend - as a - as a reminder at this point, anyone working with the team can spend Team, 1 for 1, to help a teammate, give them +1 to their roll. And team members can also spend Team to act selfishly. When you act selfishly, say how your actions ignore [laughs] or insult your teammates, removing 1 Team from the pool, and shift one label up or one label down, your choice. You can use this option after rolling to alter the label you are rolling with.
Keith: Um.
Austin: So -
Keith: So, are we adding, what, 2 to the Team?
Austin: No, we’re not - I don’t think we’re adding any, unfortunately. It’s just 2 - 2 total.
Keith: [overlapping] Didn’t we get the first - oh, okay.
Austin: Yeah, no, you didn’t get any of the questions. [laughs] Unfortunately.
Art: No, didn’t we all trust the leader?
Austin: That’s not - that’s -
Janine: But that’s for taking one away, if you don’t.
Art: Oh.
Austin: Yeah. You then lose one, if you don’t trust the leader.
Art: Oh.
Janine: Mm-hmm.
Austin: Alright. Give me a Directly Engage a Threat.
Keith: Okay. I - this is a sneak attack, so I’m - you know. I don’t think it is, but this - this is not being dramatically under fire, even though… there’s a bunch of them down there? Cause it’s a sneak attack?
Austin: [pause] No, it is not being dr- is that a thing? Do you have a thing that’s like, when you’re dramatically under -
Keith: I have a - yeah. I have a thing that lets me roll Savior instead of Danger, for being dramatically under fire.
Austin: [overlapping] Yeah, no. This is not that yet. No.
Keith: Next move it would be that.
Austin: Oh, yeah. Almost certainly.
Keith: Yeah. Okay. [pause] Oop, I should roll it before I close that. Roll… Danger.
Austin: Danger’s at -1 right now.
Keith: Do we - do we have to help before, or is it after?
Austin: You can help after. I think.
Keith: Okay. [pause] 6. Miss.
Austin: That’s a miss, but you’re 1 off, so yeah, someone could add Team… here.
Keith: [overlapping] I’m 1 off.
Austin: What - what happens? What goes wrong, and how can someone help you?
Keith: [pause] What if, uh… am I pitching this? I - I can pitch who helps me, and how.
Austin: [overlapping] Yeah, anybody can pitch it. Yep.
Keith: What if, uh, what if I’m a little bit - what if I’m like, gonna miss by like, a little bit, and… Paternoster sort of, like, uses a wind gust to blow me back onto the - onto course. Like, or into. For, like - into harder.
Austin: Paternoster?
Jack: Oh, like a - like a - like… like a wing beat?
Keith: Like a whirlwind, li- yeah. Like a wing beat. Like a big flap, to give me a boost.
Jack: Um, yeah. I can - I, I can -
Keith: Can you do a boost like that? Is that a thing that you do?
Jack: I can flap my - I a- I assume I can. I mean, I imagine it’s more out of shock at - at seeing you just, like -
Austin: [laughs] Fall.
Jack: Just fall, um, than anything else.
Austin: Like, you know that if you don’t do this…
Jack: It’s gonna be -
Austin: Franklin’s gonna fall from the fucking ceiling onto the ground, headfirst. [#00:30:00#]
Keith: Marble ground, probably.
Austin: Probably.
Jack: Right. [pause] Yeah yeah yeah, yeah, I can definitely do this.
Austin: So, you - you push him back, and he lands right on Mr. E. Masque instead. On a 7-9, pick one: Resist or avoid their blows, take something from them, create an opportunity for your allies, or impress, surprise, or frighten the opposition.
Keith: [pauses, sighs] What does impress, surprising, or frightening them do? As a - like, mechanically?
Austin: So, mechanically, what it would probably do in this situation would give… So, these characters don’t have HP. They also get conditions, sort of like you do. And, those conditions are sort of their HP, and if they ever fill in all of those conditions, that would - that would make them leave the scene. You can do that by hitting them and doing damage, so to speak, right?
Keith: Mm-hmm.
Austin: Like, doing this will already probably do that. But choosing impress, surprise, or frighten the opposition - well, the two things I would do here is… it would be… let me see, what can he - what can he get? He can get Afraid. I think he would feel Afraid, which would make him do certain moves in response. Like, he would - I’d play him as being afraid of this moment. And then also, I think one of the - I think maybe two of the mafia guards would try to flee. Because like, um, this is some superhero shit? Nah, I gotta go. [laughs] So that would impress, surprise, or frighten the opposition.
Keith: Yeah. Let’s, um… let’s frighten them.
Austin: The - the note here is you will take a blow from this. If you don’t pick -
Keith: [overlapping] That’s fine. I want to frighten them.
Austin: Okay. So, you - [laughs] Between the two of you, the two mafia guards are like,
Austin (as Guard): This is above our paygrade, boss!
Austin: And they start heading out to the side exit. [stage whisper] They don’t know Elena is there, but Elena is there, so we’ll get to that in a moment. [normal voice] And then yeah, Mr. E. Masque - I think you land on him. Do you like, just tackle him to the ground, basically?
Keith: [pause] Yeah, yeah. Right to - yeah. It’s sort of just like, hands on back, and sort of driving him into the ground.
Austin: And you see his face turn to shock, like in that slow, claymation thing. Which - I don’t know how you do that in a comic book, in retrospect. I should have picked something that wor- I guess this is like, three panels of it slowly changing. That’s not very efficient paneling. [laughs] Um. But it changes -
Keith: Sometimes inefficient paneling is efficient paneling.
Austin: That’s true. That’s true. And you can see he’s ver- he’s actually incredibly scared in this moment, and so he… God, what - okay, so - [pause] I -
Keith: [overlapping] Oh, I know how you do it. If we just want to have -
Austin: [overlapping] No, I know what his powers are, and… you don’t.
Keith: Oh no, I - sorry, no, I mean like, the uh… how to panel -
Austin: Oh, please.
Keith: the mask changing.
Austin: Mm-hmm.
Keith: It’s the sort of like, when you have someone turning their head in the comic books, but their head - it just, their head is drawn in two different positions with movement lines. But in this case, the movement line- it’s the movement lines, and then when he looks the other direction, the mask is like a different…
Austin: Yes.
Keith: It has different… shapes on it.
Austin: We get a shot of you pinning him to the ground, and he grabs onto your shoulders in fear, and I need you to Take a Powerful Blow to see if this works.
Keith: Okay.
Austin: When you Take a Powerful Blow, roll +conditions marked. Right now you have no conditions marked, so just roll 2d6. [pause] You want this to be low.
Keith: [pause] Fuck!
Austin: That is an 8, unfortunately.
Keith: Is it - it’s the, it’s the three stages, so this is the middle?
Austin: Yeah. This is the middle one. On a 7-9, choose one. Either you let - I’ll explain what this - what’s happening here, and then you can decide - you lash out verbally, provoke a teammate to foolhardy action, or take advantage of your influence to inflict a condition; you give ground, your opposition gets an opportunity; or, you struggle past the pain, mark two conditions.
Keith: [whistles]
Austin: Mr. E. Masque has locked eyes with you, and we get a panel of your face starting to make the same face that he is making. He is trying to possess you.
Keith: Possess me! Okay.
Austin: Yeah.
Art: Hm.
Austin: You can feel him probing into your -
Keith: [overlapping] Alright, yeah. I want to verbally lash out - [pause] Oh, okay, you - you do your thing.
Austin: That’s all. He is trying to breach into your mind and - and take over your mind.
Keith: I’m gonna verbally lash out. Do I have to provoke a specific teammate, or can I give a general lash out -
Austin: You pick a teammate. Yeah, a teammate. A particular fol-
Keith: A teammate.
Austin: Mm-hmm.
Keith: [pause] Who - who to- who do I lash out at? Um… Are there still birds around? Can I yell at Grouse to -
Austin: [overlapping] No.
Keith: No? Ah.
Austin: Oh - uh, no, they flew out. They’re safe. They all - they are -
Keith: [overlapping] They all flew out?
Austin: They made it out, yeah.
Keith: [quietly] Damn. That would’ve been fun. [pause] Oh, you know, I - here’s - I think that I yell… We haven’t - we don’t have this scene yet. I don’t want to do - ah, this sucks. Maybe I should just - maybe I’ll just take two conditions. [laughs]
Austin: Yeah. You’re not ready to yell at your friend for -
Keith: Well, no - well -
Austin: You’re not ready to be mean? [laughs]
Keith: Yeah… [pause] Well. No, okay. This one’s the - this is the good one. I give ground and my opponent gets an opportunity. [#00:35:00#]
Austin: Okay. So - so you basically, like, back away, because if you don’t, they will take control of you, here?
Keith: Mm-hmm.
Austin: So, I - I am going to give you a condition here, which is… [clicks tongue] You don’t get brain-controlled, thankfully, but you do take - how does this make you feel? When this happens, actually? I’ll just ask you this question. How does - how does someone kind of poking around and trying to control you and - like, make you feel?
Keith: Um… let’s see.
Austin: Is it Afraid, Angry, Guilty, Insecure, or Hopeless? [laughs]
Keith: I guess it’s either Insecure or Hopeless, beca- like… Insecure because I don’t have real superpowers. Maybe someone else could’ve…
Austin: Mm.
Keith: ...like, resisted easier. Or Hopeless because my mind almost got controlled, which is not a good feeling.
Austin: Yeah. Pick one. Tell me which one, and take that condition.
Keith: Um… [pause] I’m gonna do Insecure.
Austin: Alright. So, mark Insecure for me.
Keith: This is -2 to Defend, -2 to Reject What Others Say.
Austin: Yeah. That makes sense. Elena and - and Grouse, two mafiosas are running towards you?
Art: Um, left to my own devices, I’m gonna try to double clothesline them. [laughter]
Austin: Grouse, are you leaving him to his own - or, leaving her to -
Art: [overlapping] Thresher is not out here, right?
Austin: Thresher is not out here. Thresher is inside.
Art: Alright.
Austin: Are you leaving her to her own devices, Grouse?
Janine: [pause] I kind of feel like Elena’s got this, to be honest.
Austin: Oh, yeah. Yeah, this isn’t even a roll, the -
Janine: [overlapping] And I probably want to go, like, change into my costume.
Austin: Okay.
Janine: Like my good person costume.
Austin: [laughs] Do other birds show up with parts of your cos- like, how do you do that? [Art laughs]
Janine: I mean, how does any hero ever do it? [laughs]
Austin: I don’t know, but it - I’m - I don’t know. Is it -
Art: I mean like, Superman does it at super speed in a phone booth.
Austin: Right.
Janine: Mm-hmm. Um…
Austin: Batman - Spiderman has it on underneath, and like, pulls a mask out of a pocket or whatever.
Art: Batman is dressed by some sort of robot in his Batpole.
Austin: [pause] I don’t like calling it that. [laughter]
Keith: Batpole?
Austin: In his Bat-
Keith: What’s wrong with Batpole?
Austin: Ehhh.
Janine: [uncertainly] Mm.
Art: I mean, that’s what it’s - that’s canon.
Austin: Yeah, I know…
Janine: I think this is - I - okay. The answer is to make it look really cool and comic-y, so I think the thing that happens is that Grouse sort of… has a moment of just like, yeah, okay, she’s got this, and then bolts around, like, the side of the building. Like in a - like in a space between the wall and like, dumpsters or something.
Austin: Mm-hmm.
Janine: And it’s like a - it’s like one of those really long panels of her just like, running, and sort of like as she’s running she runs into like, a cloud of birds, or something, and then they scatter, and then she’s got her Grouse outfit on.
Austin: [overlapping] Love it. Love it. Thank god. Perfect.
Art: Thousands and thousands of birds throughout Bluff City have little bits of Grouse’s costume at all times. [laughter]
Janine: They also know how to do her hair, because she has - she has sort of loose, curly hair as a civilian, but her hero outfit is definitely like, it’s in some tight braids on the top of her head that kind of like… are tall, so.
Austin: Honestly, thank god.
Janine: [overlapping] There’s just some bird hairdressers in Bluff City. That’s just how it is.
Austin: Perfect. Cool. [pause] Where are you headed, Grouse? Elena, you knock these fuckers out. This is not a thing. [Janine laughs]
Art: Yeah. Uh-huh.
Janine: Grouse is - is headed around to kind of… get behind Thresher’s entry point.
Austin: Mm-hmm.
Janine: And like, block her in.
Austin: Okay, yeah. I think you do that for sure. I think as you’re coming around, though, you see that coming down the block is Sonny. Running down the block towards you is a hitman, dressed like a hitman is dressed. With like -
Keith: [overlapping] A hitman can be dressed in a bunch of different ways. I’ve played the game.
Austin: [overlapping] Fuck! Yeah, I’ve played that game. That’s true. [laughs]
Keith: He’s dressed like a hitman is dressed, which means he’s wearing a chicken costume!
Austin: Right. That’s it. This is a big - a big chicken costume, for the -
Janine: So I can control him, then, is what you’re saying. [laughter]
Austin: That’s exactly it. He didn’t know - his one weakness. [laughter] Yeah, so I think you spot him running towards you in like, a nice suit, also. And so you’re between Thresher, who has not seen you yet, Thresher’s sharks, and then Sonny, outside. And then Paternoster, you’re still inside and surrounded. So I think what we get it - Paternoster - we get that wide shot angle of you surrounded by everybody and kind of looking around, and then we jump from that to the shot of - or the panel of Grouse, like, coming around the weird front corner of this place, behind where Thresher is but ahead of where - where Sonny is, and then the birds putting on your regular costume, your Grouse costume, for you. Is it like, you’re in a flock of birds, and then the next panel is you’re out of it, and you’re in Grouse mode?
Janine: Mm-hmm.
Austin: Perfect. So what do you do?
Janine: So Vinny’s not out here, then?
Austin: No. Vinny is inside.
Janine: Okay. So there’s nothing… in -
Austin: [overlapping] Sonny - [#00:40:00#]
Janine: getting in the way of me just going behind Thresher? Or like…
Austin: Mm-mm. Sonny - Sonny is on the ramp. Below you, to your south. So he would be behind you if you just took a left here.
Janine: Uh, you know, this thing I was gonna do still works, honestly. So it’s - [laughs]
Austin: Okay.
Janine: It actually works whether it’s Sonny or Vinny, so it’s fine. [pause] So… yeah, okay. Grouse doesn’t love the idea of Sonny, like, being at her back.
Austin: Sure.
Janine: You know, like, regardless of what he’s doing, that’s not - that’s not a good position. But also, I don’t know that she, like… I think she has, like, a vague understanding of - of who he is. Like, she has access to the information about the criminal shit going down in this town, of course.
Austin: Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.
Janine: So she knows that much. But I think there’s like a look of… She’s like, looking at him as she’s coming around the corner, and then there is like a look of recognition in like the panel shot of her face, kind of thing. And then… [pause] I think as Grouse, like, takes that corner,
Austin: Mm-hmm.
Janine: and her big, like, ruffly feather-neck-part probably obscures this for a bit, but then she like, takes that turner - that turner?
Austin: Uh-huh. [laughs]
Janine: Takes that corner. [laughs] And there’s… She takes that corner and there is like a - like a shape in the shadow behind her, with like, bright, bright eyes. That is… singularly focused on Sonny, because Elena is not the only being with a vendetta against the Veranda family. [Jack laughs]
Austin: Ah. That’s a hundred percent true. [laughs]
Janine: Uh, or even the only being that was kept for their entertainment and leisure. [pause] It’s Rupert. [laughs]
Austin: It’s Rupert. It had to be Rupert.
Jack: The - the meanest bird in Bluff City.
Janine: It had to be Rupert.
Austin: Uh-huh!
Janine: Rupert was like, probably close by, and then like sent a message like,
Janine (as Rupert, telepathically): He’s mine.
Austin: [laughing] Yeah. Uh-huh.
Janine: And she’s like, oh, it’s him. I see. [laughter]
Jack: Rupert was nearby, like, destroying a vending machine, or something. [laughter]
Austin: God.
Jack: Just some, like [laughs] entirely petty act of vandalism.
Austin: [laughs] So what do you - so what does this look like as a roll? I’m gonna slide us back over to moves, really quick. Also, you’re not gonna trigger Reading the Files on Sonny, I’m guessing? Which is -
Janine: Um… I mean, that’s about the superhuman world.
Austin: He’s right on the edge, at this point. In a comic book story, you know? Like, super-
Janine: [overlapping] Also, it’s - the line for that is specifically, “when you first encounter an important superpowered phenomenon.”
Austin: Yeah. The - yeah.
Janine: But he’s like, standing there. You know?
Austin: He’s standing there. Yeah, that’s fair.
Janine: He’s not like, standing there with like…
Austin: [overlapping] Does his like, weird hit-
Janine: [overlapping] magic smoke coming off of him or something, so.
Austin: Right. Yes, yeah. So yeah, so I think this is - this is… What are you trying to do? Like, what is the - what is the end result that you want here?
Janine: The end result is that… Rupert is going to engage Sonny while I deal with Thresher. While I get in behind Thresher and like, carry on with the main plan.
Austin: Yeah. I still think this is Directly Engage a Threat.
Janine: Mm-hmm.
Austin: Right? This is not Unleash Your Powers. Uh - I guess it’s Unleash Your Powers, if your goal… It could be Unleash Your Powers if your goal is not to fuck up Sonny, but to - but to distract Sonny. Do you know what I mean?
Janine: I mean, that’s part of the complicated problem of this, is like… This - Grouse doesn’t have a goal here. Grouse is like, Rupert, I know…
Austin: No - you as the -
Janine: I know this is important to you. But like, it’s… You know, it’s…
Austin: Yeah. I - I - you as the… the co-comic book writer. Is the end of this panel, if the roll goes well, Sonny knocked out on the ground? Or is it you behind Thresher, safe to get in a good hit? Do you know what I mean?
Janine: I think to be fair to Rupert and Rupert’s story, it should be the first one.
Austin: Okay. Then yeah. Then - then it’s Directly Engage a Threat. So roll Danger.
Janine: [pause] It’s not great, but, yeah.
Austin: Which is a 0 for you, yeah.
Janine: It’s a 0. Uh… [clicks mouse]
Austin: That’s a hit. 7. On a 7-9, pick one: Resist or avoid their blows, take something from them, create an opportunity for your allies, impress, surprise, or frighten the opposition.
Janine: I think the thing that makes the most sense is to create an opportunity, right?
Austin: Yeah.
Janine: Like, that’s kind of what the intention of this is in general.
Austin: Mm-hmm. So what’s that look like? What’s the - what’s the opportunity you’re creating?
Janine: [pause] I think the opportunity I’m creating is that like… We’ve established that Rupert is incredibly dangerous and scary. [laughs]
Austin: Yeah.
Janine: I think the opportunity is - is that like… Sonny’s hands are full for the time being. Even if it’s -
Austin: [overlapping] For like the remainder of this sequence, basically.
Janine: Yeah. I don’t want to agree to anything, but he’s got some shit to deal with that is not a bunch of teens or paintings.
Austin: That’s true. Yeah. I will say that… I think what we get is like,
Austin (as Sonny): [laughs incredulously] You fucking bird. I - I can’t - [#00:45:00#]
Austin: And it’s just like - what’s it look like when Rupert shows up? Like, does Rupert just appear behind him?
Janine: Um, Rupert appears from behind me.
Austin: Okay.
Janine: And is like -
Austin: And like, cuts off.
Janine: You know, it’s - I’m thinking of like, the eyes shining in the dark, like, weird, vague, shape. There’s like a couple panels of that, and then it’s like, maybe Rupert runs under a streetlamp or something and you get like, the red feathers, and the…
Austin: Mm-hmm.
Janine: The - the glinting beak, and stuff. I feel like Rupert should have like a nice neck scarf or something. I don’t know why. I just feel like -
Austin: [overlapping] Love it. Good.
Janine: I just feel like Rupert should have some flair.
Austin: [overlapping] What color is the neck scarf? [laughs]
Janine: Maybe, like, striped?
Austin: Mm-hmm.
Janine: Like a very tone-on-tone kind of subtle stripe. Or like, one stripe is like, sort of - sort of shiny, so it catches the light.
Austin: So yeah, so we get a shot, then, of Rupert showing up, and like lun- jump-lunging at - at Sonny. Sonny, like, just turns his guns at Rupert and starts trying to shoot this bird, but the bird is too powerful and too fast, and knocks the pistol away. Are you turning to go in behind Thresher, at this point?
Janine: Yeah.
Austin: Okay. So. The - as soon as you get, like, you get into the kind of lobby of this building, and… we don’t get - I don’t think we get to see why this happens [laughs], or you don’t get to see why this happens, but it’s you, like, running into this lobby space, and then an explosion, and you’re, like, backlit by an explosion, [Janine laughs] as a - as a grenade goes off, that Sonny throws, presumably at Rupert, that Rupert has knocked away and destroyed the main door out here. And also has like, started to shake the foundations of this building. Like, that - this building is an old building. This is not - grenades were not meant to be thrown at this building. [laughter] At this weird, old, like, heritage pier. And so the door out is - is now blocked. Or, the main door out - the side doors are still available. But the whole building shakes at that point. And then - and then we don’t see more of - of Sonny, or… or of… Rupert.
Who else - who goes next? What do we see then? We cut from that. I think we see Thresher, like, turn to face you, Grouse, at this point, but we don’t see - then that cuts to a different sequence. Elena, Paternoster, Franklin? What’s going on?
Keith: I know what I’m doing, unless someone has something specific.
Jack: No, go ahead.
Art: Yeah. I’m just focused on getting inside, but I’m - I’m happy to… shelve for a minute.
Austin: [overlapping] You can be inside whenever you want.
Keith: I think that - I think that… Fra- like, Franklin is - is still… like, you know. Fight scenes happen super fast. Everything is sort of all happening at once. I think Franklin is still like, in the middle of that same first couple seconds with Mr. E. Masque,
Austin: Mm-hmm.
Keith: where I fall and then almost get, um… uh, what, possessed? Was the word you used?
Austin: [overlapping] Possessed. And then Paternoster - yeah. Paternoster, like, used her wings to do a burst of air that knocked you - that would knock you out of the way.
Keith: Yeah. So, I’m… I’m going back all in on Mr. E. Masque. I’m - I think that I’m just going to try to… I guess pummel is the word? I’m pummeling Mr. E. Masque.
Jack: Oh my god! [laughs]
Austin: Okay. What’s that look like? On the panel. On the - on the page.
Keith: So, I’m - I’m - I’m thinking of him as sort of standing… or floating, still?
Austin: Yeah, he’s floating. He’s floating, yeah.
Keith: Sort of like -
Austin: Or, he’s - he gets back up. Because remember, you had knocked him down.
Keith: Right, okay, so standing.
Austin: So I think he - we get him, like, floating back up.
Keith: Floating back up.
Austin: Yeah.
Keith: Okay. So floating back up. I think that I’m… You know that stance that’s everywhere? And like, sort of like a - a… When you get knocked down, and it’s sort of like, one knee on the ground, and one, like, foot, like, kneeling?
Austin: Mm-hmm.
Keith: And like, ready to - ready to go, back up.
Austin: Yeah.
Keith: I think that - like, from that to a lunge, straight at… Mr. E. Masque.
Austin: Perfect. Give me a roll. That sounds like Directly Engage a Threat.
Keith: Yeah. So this is - this is going to be +Savior?
Austin: Yes. Cause you have Suck It, Domitian, or whatever.
Keith: Yeah.
Austin: Suck It, comma, Domitian.
Keith: Can we say - can we come up with something else for that? [laughs] I guess it’s too late now. It’s just such a mouthful.
Austin: It’s too - it’s the end of this - yeah. It’s a very weird, inside…
Keith: [overlapping] Just call it Suck It.
Austin: Uh-huh. [laughter] So go ahead and give me a Savior roll.
Keith: Okay.
Austin: Your Savior is 3.
Keith: Yep.
Austin: We also have to make sure this roll looks right, cause I have to see a thing. [pause]
Keith: Look at that, look -
Austin: Full hit! I don’t have to see shit! [Jack laughs]
Keith: Alright! Full hit!
Austin: I was - I wanted to make sure that it didn’t trigger… cause you’re Insecure, right now.
Keith: Yeah.
Austin: Which is -2 to Defend, -2 to Reject What Others Say. And I wanted to make sure that that didn’t just automatically apply to Superior - or, to Savior, rather, since that’s defending.
Keith: Okay.
Austin: It shouldn’t, cause it’s not -
Keith: [overlapping] How, um -
Austin: You’re good. So 10! So 10, you - [#00:50:00#]
Keith: How do I clear that, by the way? Where’s, uh, clearing conditions?
Austin: So, if you look on the screen in front of you, on like the - the conditions thing? Did I bring you back over? Yeah, I did.
Keith: Yeah, yeah, yeah. So it’s take - “take foolhardy action without talking to your team.”
Austin: Without talking to your team. I don’t think just - um…
Keith: [overlapping] Yeah, no, this is attacking, right?
Austin: This is right on the line. This is right on the line.
Keith: Yeah.
Austin: This isn’t “foolhardy.”
Keith: I just got the condition, and I’m willing to…
Austin: Yeah, sit with it for a little…
Keith: be conditioned for a little while longer.
Austin: Yeah, I think that that’s - I think that’s fair. So, when you Directly Engage a Threat, on a 10, pick 2. So pick 2 of that same list that Chanti just had.
Keith: Okay. Alright, so, at this point, we are at - everyone left is like, a - a villain. Like a big villain, even.
Austin: The - Thresher has some, some sharks with her.
Keith: Okay. Um… okay, I -
Austin: But yeah, this is a villain-ass villain. You don’t want to - you don’t want to get hit here. Getting hit here from - from - I almost said Domition - from Mr. E. Masque, will mean taking a powerful blow.
Keith: Yeah. Right, yeah. So that - that, I guess, answers two of my questions. It means that I do want to avoid their blo- resist or avoid their blows.
Austin: Okay.
Keith: And it means that I’m not super concerned with doing impress, surprise, or frighten again.
Austin: Okay. Cause you did that once.
Keith: So… I did do that, and it worked to get, like, a bunch of the toadies and bootlickers out of the way.
Austin: Yes. That - [laughs] yeah.
Keith: [laughs] Still funny! So - um, for me, at least. So, I think that I’m going to… oh, you know what? I was gonna create an opportunity for my allies, but I couldn’t think of anything that we were going to take from them, and I think that that means that whatever I do end up taking from them is something that I’m totally not expecting. So I want to take something from them.
Austin: So, okay. But now I’m going to say what are you - what are you trying to take from them.
Keith: Oh! Sh- oh, okay.
Austin: See? That’s not like, uh… [Jack laughs]
Keith: I think - alright.
Austin: It’s not like you rolled Thief, you know what I mean? Like.
Keith: Alright. Yeah.
Art: You rolled Piñata.
Austin: Um… I’m trying to think if there is something you could take from them.
Keith: Oh! Why don’t I take his mask?
Austin: Yeah! Yeah, uh-huh!
Keith: Can I take his mask?
Austin: Yeah, you can take the mask. [pause] Are you sure you want to take the mask?
Jack: Oh, no, I feel like this is a real - ooh, we should - hmm.
Keith: I - I’m tem- I’m demasking… Un-Mr. E’d Mask.
Jack: I don’t think there’s anything under there.
Keith: Well, we’ll see.
Austin: So. There’s gonna be a bit of a retcon here.
Keith: Okay.
Austin: Not for this game, but for Bluff City in general. If you haven’t listened to past Bluff City episodes, don’t even worry about what I’m about to say. You pull off this mask, right? And… So you just like yank it out. You just like, you’re pummeling this dude, and you can see… We get the claymation change of the face, you know, three panels in a row of the face changing.
Keith: Yeah.
Austin: And I think you just sma- you just smash it. You don’t take it. Unless - do you want to like, rip it off, or do you want to just break it?
Keith: Yeah, I want - I’m like, intentionally like, like, who is this guy?
Austin: So you rip it off and pull it off, and underneath, you see… I’m gonna link you to it.
Keith: Oh my god, it’s Aaron Eckhart!
Austin: That’s - it’s Aaron Eckhart under there! [laughter]
Jack: There he is! [laughs]
Austin: You see a chitinous shell with sharp spikes on the top. [pause] Just gonna pop it right into chat.
Jack: Oh, no. I know what this is.
Austin: It is the top of a horseshoe crab that is underneath there. And the spikes on the shell - and you also have - it also straight up - like, when you pull it off, this giant, weird stinger at the bottom of it, like, where his chin is, like, almost like a goatee sharpened to a point - sharpened to a knife-like point - appears. And it is just a horseshoe crab, like, shield, like, shell, where his face should be.
Keith: I’m -
Austin: And you pull at that, and that is his face.
Keith: Yeah, I’m kind - I’m, like, oh, it’s another mask! And, but it’s not. [laughter]
Austin: It is not. It is not. And you feel - like, you pull, and his whole head comes up with it. And so here’s the retcon. Previously, I was not clear on which - or, I wasn’t a hundred percent sure, when you first saw one of these people, back in a previous game - I’m not gonna spoil which one, because I don’t want to spoil it for people who are listening to these out of order - I think I described it as the bottom, as the like, the legs and shit, as -
Keith: As this? As that?
Austin: As that.
Jack: Ugh!
Austin: It is - that is not this. That is not this.
Janine: Huh…
Austin: It is the - it is the shell.
Keith: This second thing is worse. [laughs] The - this, I think, is worse!
Austin: [overlapping] Oh, it is! And we’ll get there. Realize I’m pulling it off the table because I have to deploy it in a later game.
Keith: [laughing] Okay!
Jack: So, for the listener, if you don’t want to look this up, we’re looking at a kind of… it’s the color of a crab, right? That kind of like, orange color of a crab.
Austin: Yeah.
Jack: And it is… shiny, and… [sighs] It looks -
Keith: It looks kind of like a scorpion with a helmet on.
Jack: Yeah. It’s - it’s -
Austin: A little bit.
Art: [overlapping] Is this a facehugger from Alien?
Austin: That’s the b- the bottom is.
Keith: [overlapping] It kind of looks like that, too.
Austin: This animal is not. And what this thing is is not. [pause] For the listener at home, you should recognize these from a previous episode in which they dealt with weird people wearing pea coats with horseshoe crab heads.
Keith: Or, if you’ve ever been to a beach, ever. [laughs]
Austin: Yeah. If you’ve ever been to a beach ever. Lot of these horseshoe crabs out there.
Keith: Totally docile, not harmful at all, but people, like -
Austin: They’re chill. They’re totally chill.
Keith: They’re super chill. [#00:55:00#]
Jack: They look cool as hell. But they’re also very frightening-looking.
Janine: [overlapping] I hate looking at it. I hate looking at it.
Austin: Mm-hmm.
Keith: The underside really is disgusting. It’s - yeah.
Austin: And we’ll get there. Just - it needed - I needed -
Janine: [overlapping] There’s like barnacles, and… [sighs]
Keith: Yeah there’s barnac- yeah, barnacles inside.
Austin: [overlapping] This faction is not the bottom side. This faction is the shell side.
Jack: So wait, just to be clear as well, it’s not like he’s - it’s not like it’s sitting… It’s oriented like it’s climbing up a wall or something, right? Like, we’re looking…
Austin: At the shell.
Jack: It’s not like a horseshoe crab has been put on his neck like a hat.
Keith: Right. It’s - they’re not the… the facehuggers, but it looks as if this guy is getting his face hugged.
Austin: Here’s a - yeah, here, wait one second. This is a good - this is a pretty good image. So it’s like, at the top is like, the rounded…
Jack: Oh, my god.
Janine: [sighs loudly]
Austin: The round- this is a really great mask that I found, isn’t it? At the top is the rounded, like, the broad end of… The front of a horseshoe crab. The front is flat, and like, and it rounds, and curves, and then it wraps back down and around, and then it comes to this long spike tail.
Keith: Honestly, this, um… this would look - this looks like a really great, like, trash punk robot.
Austin: Oh, it super does. Yeah. If you do a search for “copper horseshoe crab wall hanging” [laughter] on Google…
Jack: How you doing, Janine? [laughs]
Janine: [laughs] I really don’t like it!
Austin: You will find what we’re talking about. “Copper horseshoe crab wall hanging.” [pause] Oh, here’s a good one. This is good cause it’s - it’s like - it’s as if… It’s as if Mr. E. Masque is tilting his head, and I think he does this. It just goes, tilt, but the spike, the like, the - the -
Keith: Whoa.
Austin: Just stays completely still.
Janine: Ugh!
Austin: And it just like, turn…
Janine: Hang on, I gotta put something here that’s less disturbing.
Keith: [overlapping] That actually kind of makes it seem kind of cute.
Austin: [laughs] Okay.
Jack: Yeah, yeah, yeah. Let’s, uh…
Keith: For me this now is giving it -
Janine: [overlapping] There. Okay. [laughter]
Jack: Oh - no -
Janine: This is way less bad.
Keith: [laughing] The tilt is now giving it sort of like a golden retriever vibe for me.
Austin: Uh-huh. The tilt’s good. The tilt is good.
Keith: Yeah.
Austin: Alright. So. And I think you get like -
Janine: [overlapping] I feel so much better now.
Austin: You get that he says into your mind,
Austin (as Mr. E. Masque): What did you expect, Franklin?
Keith (as Franklin): Human face! I expected a human face!
Austin: [laughter] Great.
Jack: Oh, my god.
Austin: Uh-huh! So, now what? Oh, I guess - I guess - uh… Oh, you just took something. Yeah, that’s good. Yeah. Rest of y’all. Elena, the door is right in front of you. Paternoster, things are popping off everywhere.
Jack: Uh, yeah. I think I want to - I think I want to Unleash My Powers.
Austin: Okay, but what do you want to - what are you doing? Tell me what you’re doing.
Jack: I’m gonna try and… So - am I to assume that, like… Are Thresher and the sharks - which is my favorite ’80’s synth band.
Austin: Mm-hmm.
Jack: Are they coming bursting through the door with Grouse hot on their heels? Or are they kind of just -
Austin: [overlapping] Now they’ve turned - they’ve turned around at Grouse - at the explosion that is separating Grouse from the exit now. I’m gonna delete that door.
Jack: Right, so -
Austin: So they have now spun to your back. Or at least some of them have, right? They are like now surrounding Grouse a little bit, in this lobby.
Jack: [breathes deeply] I want to try and draw the attention of Mask and Thresher, so that they can be more easily kind of… you know, got, by -
Austin: You’re kiting them. In MMO terms. [laughter]
Jack: I’m kiting them - I’m kiting them - exactly. I’m kiting them towards me.
Austin: Okay.
Jack: And I think… No, I… I don’t know how the order of describing this works, right?
Austin: Mm-hmm.
Jack: Cause I describe what I want to happen. And then I roll. And then…
Austin: Mm-hmm. And then we see how that -
Jack: [overlapping] I roll Freak. And then we see how it goes?
Austin: Why are you - what are you rolling Freak for? Are - you’re rolling Freak for Unleash Your Powers, is what you’re rolling.
Jack: Yes. Yes.
Austin: With the - with the hope of getting their attention, basically.
Jack: Yeah. Um…
Austin: And this is not Time for the Show? Your other move? No, I guess not.
Jack: I thought about this. The problem with Time for the Show is that it… It’s more about interacting with, like, NPCs nearby. So I could do that to be like… [pause] So it says name two NP- name one or two NPCs present.
Austin: Mm-hmm.
Jack: The named NPCs must either volunteer help or information, express admiration, or ask for your help. GM’s choice.
Austin: Mm-hmm.
Jack: On a miss, your display catches the attention of someone watching in the wrong way. Um… [pause] I - like, I could see an argument for that being a more hostile - a more hostile move than how it first seems.
Austin: Yeah. I - I think it’s actually secretly - I mean, it’s very hostile in that it’s about manipulating people and their willpower.
Jack: [laughs] One hundred - one hundred percent. And I have a good Paternoster thing for it. I’m just thinking about what I kind of want to achieve with this move, and… what I want to do is create an opportunity.
Austin: Right.
Jack: I want…
Austin: Yeah. And I think you’re right.
Jack: [overlapping] I want the very star thing of like, I want eyes on me so that other people can do… well? [#01:00:00#]
Austin: Yes. Yeah. That - and if you’re looking to create an opportunity - um… Or, then that’s - Provoke Someone is about saying something. You’re using your powers, right?
Jack: Yeah.
Austin: You know, I think it might be Time for the Show, still. Because Unleash Your Powers is overcoming an obstacle, reshaping your environment, or extending your senses, right? You’re not reshaping the environment, you’re kind -
Jack: Ooh - I’m gonna reshape the environment.
Austin: Oh! Okay. Well then that’s the thing you’re doing.
Jack: [overlapping] Because the flamboyant display is gonna be about reshaping the environment, I think.
Austin: Okay. Okay, well then show me what happens. Tell me what you do.
Jack: So, I think that -
Austin: That’s the actual thing that we fucked up here is. We should’ve just sa- I should’ve said do the thing you’re doing,
Jack: [overlapping] What do - yeah. [laughs]
Austin: and then we’ll fit the move to it.
Jack: Yeah, and then we can work it out.
Austin: Yeah.
Jack: Yeah. Yeah. That’s - that’s just - it’s the second retcon this episode.
Austin: Mm-hmm.
Jack: So, I think in the panel, we get, like, these boxes, which is like, whatever the jazz song that the jazz band was playing earlier.
Austin: Mm-hmm.
Jack: And I don’t think it’s playing now, but I think that readers will just be like, oh, that’s the song that was playing in the thing.
Austin: [laughs] Uh-huh.
Jack: And Paternoster just like, lifts - I think she’s been sitting in her chair this whole time. As the fight has been kicking off, she’s just been sitting where she was, as the room empties.
Austin: [overlapping] Right. Where she saw the painting, and the painting, like…
Jack: And the girl in the painting, like, gave her a bad look.
Austin: Yeah.
Jack: And she just lifts out of her chair, and her wings kind of open behind her. And I think that the light from the wings and the stage lights catch all the glasses on the table, and the chandeliers, and the glass in the frames of the paintings. And you know when a prism catches the light? It - it - um… You know, it scatters it across the room. It, like, shatters it across the room.
Austin: Mm-hmm.
Jack: And everything is covered in this light. I think what we see - cause we know Paternoster can fly, and has, like, strange light control, is… those colors, except rather than having the sort of translucency of light, and the fadedness of light, they are bright colors, moving across all the surfaces.
Austin: Mm.
Jack: And I don’t know whether or not people are… I don’t know whether or not I’m trying to get people interested, because it’s just like, oh my god! What the hell! A woman has risen into the air, and now everything’s colors! [Austin laughs] Or, if there’s something like the Dishonored terrifying hypnotism power, where there’s something about the movement of these lights that is… that is enticing.
Austin: Mm-hmm. That’s Unleash Your Powers. Gimme that - gimme that good roll.
Jack: Oh, cute.
Austin: What is your… What is your Freak? 1.
Jack: My Freak is 1.
Austin: Okay.
Jack: Let’s see how this goes. Ooh, can I take a Team?
Austin: Uh, Team is after the fact.
Jack: [overlapping] Oh no, that’s only if you’re working together. I’m thinking Gambits again.
Austin: [overlapping] Or, if you’re doing something very selfish. But this does not feel selfish, at all.
Jack: No. No, I’m making an opportunity for someone.
Austin: Yeah.
Jack: [pause] Okay!
Austin: Alright, that is a 7. So on a 7, you do it, but you mark a condition, or the GM will tell you how the effect is unstable or temporary.
Jack: Do I get to choose this, or do you get to choose this?
Austin: You get to choose if you want it to be a condition, and you can tell me the condition. Or, you can tell me to make it unstable or temporary, and I’ll tell you which one and how.
Jack: I think absolutely make it unstable or temporary.
Austin: I’m going to make it unstable. [pause] You rise into the air. Everyone looks - not at first. Everyone doesn’t look at you at first, because there’s already a floating person here. There’s a big shark person. Like, okay. [Jack laughs] It’s a superhero fight.
Jack: Yeah, it’s just like, this is a bad evening in Bluff City.
Austin: And then attune yourself just so to the light, and the prism effect begins. And then it doesn’t stop. And the colors get brighter and brighter, and the… the kind of prism of light coming out of your wings sharpens until it is… they are - they are hard beams of light. And the glasses get so bright in their - like, so you catch a light - uh, you catch a glass with a red ray of light coming out of one of your - your kind of… stain-glassed wing part - compartments, wing sections. And it fills with the color red until it shatters. And then the - and then the red light keeps going and hits the table, and the table begins to color in red. And then likewise for yellow, and green, [laughs] and blue. [Jack laughs] All - it’s just like someone has held up a prism, and you have - like, but not even a prism. It’s like - okay! I know what it is. [laughs] Spoilers! For Nancy Drew, Last Train to… whatever. [laughter]
Janine: Through Blue Moon Canyon.
Austin: Blue Moon Canyon. Sorry. [laughter]
Janine: God!
Austin: You know there’s a sequence in that game where all the sudden there are a million laser beams going everywhere? [laughs]
Jack: Yep.
Austin: It’s that sequence.
Jack: Oh, my god.
Austin: There are just lasers bouncing all over the place. And at first it’s just light. They’re bri- they’re kind of broad beams of light. And then they tighten until they’re sharp lasers, and then until they’re lasers that are imbuing color into things, and then they all pop and shatter. And so everyone - so that is why it is unstable. You’re gonna hold this for a moment or two - in fact, I think… [pause] Ooh, uh… I think - yeah. Here’s what’s happening. This place is going to fall into the fucking sea. [Jack laughs] You’re destroying this place. It was already - the grenade didn’t help, and now you’re bringing this place even further down. [#01:05:00#]
Jack: [groans] Is there just a shot of like, some people in the - in the shop across the street, just seeing, like, light, just streaming out of the auction house? And being like, wow, this is -
Austin: I think what we get is actually people down on the other end of the boardwalk, looking this way. And it’s just the laser light show happening, and I’m like,
Austin (as Onlooker): I didn’t know there was a laser light show scheduled for tonight! We should have gone. [Janine laughs]
Jack: Sound of like [laughs] breaking glass.
Austin: Yeah, exactly. So that is what’s happening. This place is falling apart.
Jack: Cool. Am I still in the air? I can’t control -
Austin: You are still in the air.
Jack: I’ve lost control of this, right?
Austin: You’ve - yeah, it is unstable. Yeah, you’ve lost control of it. A hundred percent. But, everyone is like, turning and looking, and there’s this moment when everyone is now like, ah, shit, I - do we have to get out of here or what? Um, Elena, let’s go to you. So you haven’t - are you back?
Art: Um, so like, what’s - what’s Thresher up to? Cause right now, I haven’t blown my cover yet.
Austin: [pause] Oh, that’s fair. You haven’t. Thresher is about to square off against Grouse.
Art: Alright, I can’t -
Austin: Or was, before everything was about to just like, pop off, basically.
Art: I can’t help with that.
Austin: [pause] [laughter] Why? Wait - okay.
Art: Well I can’t help - I can’t help Thresher against Grouse.
Janine: [overlapping] Thresher.
Austin: No - oh, okay. I thought you meant you can’t help… Grouse. I was like damn.
Art: Can I get the map page back?
Austin: Yes, you can. [pause] Boop.
Art: [pause] But I can definitely engage with Mr. E. Masque if that’s still…
Austin: That’s still -
Art: I don’t know how much being a crab-face has - has, uh…
Austin: You might not have even seen it, right? I think we get - in fact, in that - we can backfill that panel to where Franklin’s pulled off the mask. We - Franklin sees - you know, we see, the - we see [laughs] the face mask of the crab, but behind Mr. E. Masque is Elena, getting ready to charge in.
Art: Yeah, I think that’s right.
Austin: And just to be clear, Mr. Good, Franklin, is your rival, right?
Art: Yeah.
Austin: Okay.
Art: And what’s my rival move right now?
Austin: You just get… what is your rival move? Oh, it’s always the s-
Art: Oh, I didn’t -
Austin: Did you not write this down?
Art: It’s not always the same. I should’ve written it down somewhere.
Austin: Mm-hmm. Uh…
Art: Where are they? I’ll know it when I see it.
Austin: [pause] It is… Defender, Friend, Listener, or Enabler?
Art: I think I picked Defender.
Austin: That seems likely.
Art: And what does that do?
Austin: When you leap in to defend your love or rival in battle, roll +Danger instead of +Savior to defend them.
Art: I’ll - I’ll - I’ll roll and - I’ll do that. I’ll defend…
Austin: Franklin?
Art: Yeah.
Austin: Hell yeah. So, are you gonna roll to Defend? And also, you have a thing for this. When you charge into a fight without hedging your bets, you can shift your Danger up and any other labels down.
Art: Yeah, I’ll do that too. And I’ll -
Austin: Oh, wait -
Art: I think I’m trying to like, do a kind of… I’m doing a sor- you know, I’m trying to like, fit the Danger thing, with this?
Austin: Mm-hmm?
Art: So I think my defense is kind of like, I’m gonna bowl into Mr. E. Masque, and like, defend by - by trying to pose a bigger threat.
Austin: Sure.
Art: And then like - like, push him aside, and get in between.
Austin: So, a thing is,
Art: [overlapping] Like, it’s like - poink.
Austin: [overlapping] you can’t increase any label over 3. Something else happens.
Art: Oh, then I guess I’m not gonna do that. I guess I’ll just roll the Danger that I have.
Austin: I think that there is something that happens if you could do that, though. If a label would shift up +3 or down past 2, then no shift at all occurs. Neither of the two labels that would change goes up and down. Instead, mark a condition, a negative emotional state that starts affecting your actions.
Art: Can I just… not?
Austin: Yeah, you can choose not to do that.
Art: Use the move? [laughs] Yeah.
Austin: Yes. Though, if you did, and marked Angry, you could then use your Thick- and Thin-Skinned move, which is whenever you have Angry marked take +1 up ongoing to Unleash Your Powers. But that’s really getting very pedantic and - and rules-lawyer-y here.
Art: Yeah, I don’t think that’s worth it. So I’m trying to impact Mr. E. Masque. Oh, I was about to - to ping my…
Austin: Sorry, I wanted to read what Defend is.
Art: [overlapping] It’s - it’s not important.
Austin: Yeah, so when you Defend someone or something from an immediate threat, roll +Savior. For NPC threats, on a hit, you keep them safe and choose one. On a 7-9 it costs you. Expose yourself to danger or escalate the situation. So go ahead and give me that Defend. Give me that… Savior roll. Your Savior is -1.
Art: But it’s Danger, cause it’s on a rival.
Austin: Oh, it is Danger. Right. Yes. [pause] Oh, wait. No it isn’t. It’s not Danger. [pause] Oh, it is Danger! It’s Danger from that move.
Art: [overlapping] From Bull’s Heart, yeah.
Austin: From the move that you don’t have written down. I’m like, where is it Danger? So yeah, go ahead and roll Danger.
Art: [laughs] Oh, that was a bad roll!
Austin: Oof! [laughs]
Art: But luckily it was +3.
Austin: So, you had an 8. On a 7-9, it costs you. Expose yourself to danger or escalate the situation. You still choose one: add a Team to the pool, take Influence over someone you protect, clear a condition. [#01:10:00#]
Art: I guess I will add a Team to the pool, because I don’t have a condition to clear and I already have Influence over…
Austin: Mr. Good.
Art: Mr. Good.
Austin: That’s true. Alright, so let’s add another Team to the pool. Hell yeah. But, you… you expose yourself to danger. So what’s this look like? You just charge in and like, shoulder down?
Art: It’s like - I - it’s like I - it’s a, it’s a… putting - putting myself in between the two of them by moving him.
Austin: How are you - what’s the movement look like?
Art: I think it’s just like a bu- it’s like a shoulder tackle.
Austin: Okay. Oh, so, sorry - by - you say “him,” you mean Mr. Good? Or do you mean…
Art: I mean Mr. E. Masque.
Austin: Mr. E. Masque. Okay. Of the two misters, Mr. E. Masque.
Art: Yeah.
Austin: So you shove him, like, to the side.
Art: Not like a damaging shove, but like a…
Austin: Yeah, yeah. I got you. I am bringing us back to the map.
Art: [overlapping] Like now, there’s gonna - like, like… I think my - my f- my… yeah, like that.
Austin: And then you’re like, here?
Art: Or maybe he’s more like here?
Austin: Okay. So you’ve done like a little -
Art: Or here.
Austin: Like a little… You’ve like, come in and spun him around in some way.
Art: Yeah.
Austin: You hit him so hard, you like, charge through him, and then turn and take a stance, being in between Mr. E. Masque and - and Franklin. Got it. So, you… here’s the thing though. Like, as soon as you do that, you like charge past, you… like, take a - like a defensive stance, you like, hands up, fighter stance. And then we just see, like, a drop of blood hit the ground. Because as you crossed, as you passed through, you didn’t know about this, like, dagger-like neck spike. This chin spike that has now… caught you. And you immediately, like, you have your hands in a fist, and you’re balling them up as much as you can, and you immediately feel like Mr. E. Masque is puppeting you a little bit. And, like, your right hand opens up, and then does like the thing where like, one at a time, each finger closes, and you are not telling them to do that. [pause]
And you’re able to resist it, but Mr. E. Masque has basically - because you’ve been hit by this - by this, like, poison needle, the poison is - is mind control. So. You feel yourself being kind of mentally attacked by Mr. E. Masque now.
Art: Cool.
Austin: Mm-hmm. Grouse! How you doing, surrounded by all those sharks?
Janine: Well, I’m not completely surrounded, right? There was an explosion and a bunch of garbage behind me.
Austin: Ye- right, yes. Yes. [laughter] Correct.
Janine: Um… So… mm. I think… [pause] I [laughs] this is… okay. So the thing I want to do - I’ll just say - the thing I want to do is, like, talk to Thresher.
Austin: Yeah! It’s how comics work. [pause] What do you say?
Janine: [overlapping] Particularly because when Elena and Chanti were infiltrating Thresher’s group, Grouse didn’t actuall- or, Chanti didn’t really say anything.
Austin: Mm-hmm.
Janine: Chanti was just, like, kind of there. So they talked a bit at like, the shop, but… Grouse is relying on her voice not being too much of a giveaway.
Austin: Uh-huh.
Janine: But I think the thing that - that Chanti wants to say is basically like… [pause] Do I kno- hang on. Do I know the Mr. E. Masque stuff? Did I overhear that also?
Austin: Which stuff? The weird face stuff?
Janine: The like, him showing up, and then Thresher being like, what the fuck, man?
Austin: Yeah. Yeah yeah yeah. Yeah. Totally.
Janine: Okay. [pause] Then I think the thing that - that Grouse says to Thresher is like…
Janine (as Grouse): I know this isn’t the kind of job you usually take on. You weren’t - you know. You got tricked into this. You still have a way out here, if you play your cards right.
Austin: Okay. That sounds like a Provoke to me.
Janine: Whoops. That’s not good. [laughs]
Austin: You know. Well.
Janine: That’s bad for me right now.
Austin: It is. Provoke is… is… If you Provoke someone susceptible to your words, say what you’re trying to get them to do - which you’ve done - and roll +Superior.
Janine: You don’t think it’s Pierce the Mask?
Austin: No. That’s seeing a person. You’re - that’s like -
Janine: [overlapping] Okay. Well, I’m trying to - I was trying to like, reach out to her as a per- it’s fine.
Austin: That’s not about… doing a thing.
Janine: I guess.
Austin: I mean, that’s not about, like, convincing her of something.
Janine: I guess. Uh…
Austin: Give me that Superior.
Art: [overlapping] You could’ve Pierced the Mask before, to answer the question how am I gonna get your character to do blank.
Austin: Yes.
Janine: Mm…
Austin: But that’s a different thing than what you’ve just done.
Janine: Yeah. I also don’t know if that would even…
Austin: [overlapping] And also, your Superior is 2, isn’t it? Oh, but it’s - you’re Guilty.
Janine: [overlapping] Yeah, but I have Guilty. Yeah.
Austin: [overlapping] Cause you did - cause of your crimes. Uh-huh.
Janine: [overlapping] So it’s -2, so I basically have 0.
Austin: Uh-huh!
Janine: Which is not that bad, really, but.
Austin: That’s not that bad.
Janine: [overlapping] Tougher to roll.
Austin: [overlapping] You’re a superhero. You’re a teenage superhero. Give me that roll.
Janine: Did that do math? That gave me a 10.
Austin: It - it did. You rolled two 6s. [#01:15:00#]
Janine: Plus -2.
Austin: Plus -2, and got a 10.
Janine: Wow. Shit.
Austin: So you fucking aced it. Holy shit.
Janine: Fantastic! [laughs]
Austin: What do you - so wait, what did you say again? [laughs]
Janine: Um… I said, like,
Janine (as Grouse): You know, I know this is bigger than the kind of job that you normally take. You know… you know, we can do damage control here. This doesn’t have to end as bad as it seems.
Janine: Like… basically, kind of like a - like a…
Austin: Mm-hmm.
Janine: I want to be on your side here. Don’t do anything - anything foolish.
Austin: So sh-
Janine: Not “on your side.” But like, I want to… you’re not the worst person in the world, kind of thing.
Austin: [overlapping] Yeah. She’s like,
Austin (as Thresher): [breathing heavily] ...Shit. Fuck, what am I gonna… Sharks, move out!
Austin: And,
Austin (as Thresher): Start digging!
Austin: And they start to dig their way out of the grenaded lobby. And she looks at you, and says…
Austin (as Thresher): I never liked birds, but for you, I’ll make an exception.
Austin: And turns her back to you, and starts, like, using her big tail to start trying to like, bash an exit out from this part of the room. So yeah. You’ve - you have successfully brought her basically out of the fight. [pause] Actually, at this point, I think she like, sees them digging, is like,
Austin (as Thresher): This is - [sighs sharply]
Austin: And then just slams her big Thresher tail into the ground, [Janine laughs] which shakes the entire place again,
Janine: Great.
Austin: but does break a hole, so that she and hers can just hop out real quick. [laughs]
Janine: Can I shout after her, like,
Janine (as Grouse): Don’t bite off more than you can chew!
Janine: That kind - something like that? [Austin laughs] Something?
Austin: [laughing] I think we get the panel of her disappearing, you getting that idea - we get, like, big eyes on Grouse, like - [gasps] [laughter] And then you shout it, and then you like, wait to hear if she says anything back. And then we do just get, like, a little line, as if the sound is coming from that way, that’s like,
Austin (as Thresher): ...Heh.
Austin: From her having heard it and given it a positive, if - albeit somewhat, uh, restrained response. Alright, so that leaves Vinny, who also - this is over his fucking paygrade, Mr. E. Masque, Mr. Good, The Champ, and Paternoster, who is out of control. [pause] I think Vinny is like, looking for anoth- Vinny has begun, like, holding onto the wall, and slowly walking his way, like, down and around this entire, like, towards the side door to get away. What are the rest of you doing? Paternoster - or, or you know, let’s go Mr. Good. Elena has gotten in front of you to defend you. How are you feeling? What are you doing?
Keith: Um… got in front of me to defend me… I guess I’m - I guess I’m, like, super thrown off by the face, right? That’s gotta be what…
Austin: Oh, yeah. Yeah. And I think you can immediately see that Mr. E. Masque is trying to exert, like, mind control on… on Elena.
Keith: Oh, right! I forgot about that part of it. Yeah, okay.
Austin: You see that instantly. Cause you know that he was trying that with you.
Keith: Yeah.
Austin: And then - so you immediately see the like, hand open close thing that you know is not Elena doing that, you know?
Keith: Mm-hmm. Yeah. Well, I - I… [pause] Shit, what is the - can you go back to the other - to the, to the move list, real quick?
Austin: Yes, I can.
Keith: I want to read… uh, what is it… [pause] There was something that was - that was - it was a mundane roll that I thought would be good, but I can’t remember what it was. Oh, I - I think I wanted to - [laughs] I know that I literally pierced the mask, [laughter] but I think I wanted to roll for Pierce the Mask on Mr. E. Masque, but right - but… he seems like he’s busy. I think I have to stop this other thing first.
Austin: Uh, yeah, that sounds like a good plan.
Keith: Yeah, I’m just gonna - I think I’m gonna roll to Directly Engage a Threat, is what I’m gonna do.
Austin: What are you doing? Tell me what you’re doing. Like, what’s the screen? What happens on the screen?
Keith: I’m… I think I’m gonna try to break eye contact, and - and I’m - by doing that, I’m going to make… Mr. E. Masque’s eyes face up to the ceiling, because I’m punching him in the chin, on, like, an uppercut.
Austin: So you like, slide under to do this big uppercut. Okay.
Keith: Yeah. Mm-hmm.
Austin: Give me a Directly Engage the Threat.
Keith: The other thing it could be is… is - is Defend. Is Defend.
Austin: It could be Defend, also. A hundred percent.
Keith: Both are ba- both - so… I - I think because I - so, I have the condition that makes it harder to Defend.
Austin: Mm-hmm.
Keith: But Defend is better anyway, so it’s kind of a wash. [Austin laughs] I think this works better as Defend. Sort of reciprocal Defends from… from us.
Austin: Yeah.
Keith: And so I have… So, it doesn’t do the penalty, right? So…
Art: Well, I was doing it as a flex.
Austin: [laughs] Weird flex, but okay.
Keith: [overlapping] You were doing it as a flex. Okay. So, would I do… situational penalty -2?
Austin: And that is a 9! Hey, that could be a 10, if someone spends Team.
Art: That was also… Oh, never mind. That’s not a - what 12-2 is. [#01:20:00#]
Austin: [overlapping] That was not a double 6. It was still a good one, though.
Jack: There’s a version of this where I could see myself spending a Team, by like… [pause] you know, having absolutely zero control, and then trying to just, like, wrestle this firehose of…
Keith: Hold -
Jack: of laser light?
Keith: Hold on, sorry. I think that it might have calculated this incorrectly. I’m not pos-
Austin: Oh.
Keith: So I have +3 in Savior.
Austin: You do.
Keith: And - and so, this is… 4 - I rolled a 4 and a 6.
Austin: You rolled a 10.
Keith: And then it added -1?
Austin: Which is not right. [laughs] It should be -
Jack: [overlapping] Huh.
Keith: [overlapping] It should’ve added 1.
Austin: [overlapping] 10 + 3, which is 13, minus 2. [laughter]
Keith: [overlapping] Minus 2.
Art: Minus 1, which is 12- which is 11, yeah.
Austin: 11, yeah.
Keith: Yeah, so I - I think this -
Austin: So yeah. This -
Keith: This didn’t do it r- so this is a full hit. I think.
Austin: It is a full hit.
Jack: Oh dang.
Austin: You got a full hit.
Keith: Yeah.
Austin: Alright. So, when you Defend, again, you can add a Team to the pool, take Influence over someone you protect, clear a condition.
Keith: Did we add Influence to the pool when I got the full hit last time?
Austin: We added - you mean Team to the pool.
Keith: Team to the pool? Oh, that’s right.
Austin: Yes. We added Team to the pool from Defend. That was from - that was from the Champ’s Defend, is what that was from.
Keith: Ohh, oh that’s for Defense specifically.
Austin: Not for -
Keith: I thought it was for full hits specifically. Got it.
Austin: No. No no no.
Keith: Okay.
Austin: So again, it is either add a Team to the pool, take Influence over someone you protect, or clear a condition. So you could clear and secure, you could take Influence over Elena, or you can add - add a Team to the pool.
Keith: Um… I’m going to -
Austin: Also, I have a really important question about how this is framed in the - in the comic, but we’ll get there in a second.
Keith: [pause] I’ll clear - I’ll clear my condition.
Austin: Okay.
Keith: Let’s do that.
Austin: So go ahead and clear Insecure. So here’s my question. Also, you should mark “help a teammate when they most need you.” Is a thing you should do.
Keith: Oh, yes! Yeah.
Art: I feel like this is when I medium needed someone.
Austin: Well, yeah. Okay. Listen.
Keith: You were going to be possessed!
Austin: You’re gonna be possessed. That would’ve sucked, right?
Keith: Yeah.
Art: You don’t know! [Austin laughs]
Austin: Maybe it would’ve been sick to be -
Keith: Hey, listen, I was Inse- I was Insecure, and I got my - I got my thing back, so.
Austin: Mm-hmm. That did happen.
Keith: And it makes perfect sense, because I was like oh, maybe I can’t take this Mr. E. Masque guy, and then I’m like oh, I guess I can take this Mr. E. Masque guy.
Austin: Yeah, I guess that’s actually super okay. [pause] When you fulfill a marked drive, strike it out and choose one: mark Potential, clear a condition, or take Influence over someone involved.
Keith: [pause] Wait, what?
Austin: Which is - so you just cleared out one of these drives.
Keith: Oh.
Austin: You did one of these things that you were supposed to do, help a teammate, so now, mark Potential, clear a condition, or take Influence over someone involved. Which is now - at this point - it’s either Mr. E. Masque or Elena.
Keith: Influence over Mr. E. Masque, what does… Is that - that’s how you beat one of these villains, right? Is you…
Austin: Influence allow- opens the door to certain things, so like… You know, so, for instance, Chanti just used Provoke on Thresher. She didn’t have Influence on Thresher, but… because she - I don’t think she needed it, to make that case. I think to make a case for someone - on someone like Mr. E. Masque, you need to have Influence over them, right? He is not here to hear what a superhero has to say about shit. He’s operating at this whole other level. Unless you have Influence on him, in which case he might be interested in hearing what you’re saying, or you might be able to Provoke him into doing this or that thing, you know?
Keith: Yeah.
Austin: In a sense, what I’m saying is actually, I think y’all did have Influence over Thresher, because she is… at heart, a good person who is in a tough situation and knows that. You know?
Keith: Yeah.
Austin: Whereas - and so like, seeing heroism is going to be something that she has to contend with. Whereas, seeing - this guy doesn’t give a fuck what you - teenagers think. You know?
Keith: Yeah. I’m a - I’m a bug-faced man! I’m a crab-faced man!
Austin: Ah, yeah. Not a bug, please. Thank you.
Keith: I’m a chitin-faced dude!
Austin: Exactly.
Janine: Sea bug.
Art: Aren’t they - aren’t they kind of bugs?
Austin: Kind of bugs.
Keith: [overlapping] They’re kind of bugs, yeah.
Austin: Yeah. But you can also mark - mark a Potential, which is get an XP. Or - or clear a condition. But you’ve already cleared a condition, so.
Keith: I’ve - yeah. Yeah. Yeah, I’ll take… You know, at first I was thinking maybe retaking Influence over the Champ, but I think Mr. E. Masque would be more fun to do.
Austin: Alright. Sounds good. So add that to your Influence over. That’s fun. So here’s the reason. Here’s the thing that happens. This is the thing I needed to know how you - how it’s, like, drawn. You did an uppercut to this big, bug-faced man, this crab-faced man, who has a big needle-like… chin-knife thing.
Keith: Yeah.
Janine: Oh god.
Austin: Right?
Keith: Mm-hmm.
Austin: Which means, like, in my mind, it’s drawn from the side, and you angle your fist exactly right so you can connect behind it without getting stabbed by it, which is like, the gutsiest, scariest shit you could do, because if you get cut by it, you know that you will also get mind controlled.
Keith: Yeah.
Austin: So is that - is it - is that what it is? Do you just, like, go under it? And you just - like, it’s like, an inch away from cutting you?
Keith: Yeah. Yeah, I think - or it, it - yeah. It’s that, and then - which means that you get some of the throat in there, which is the worst.
Austin: Oh, yeah.
Keith: Yeah.
Austin: And I think it like - it rattles, and then… you can break free, Elena. You’re able to like, break free, and - and get your head back about you. At this point Vinny has gone through the side door and is jumping out. Paternoster? Grouse? What are you two up to? [#01:25:00#]
Jack: [pause] [laughs] How do I - how do I - [pause] How do you come back from this?
Austin: That’s a good question. How do you come back from this? [pause] Also, I’ve dropped -
Jack: [overlapping] I’m a human Catherine wheel right now.
Austin: [laughs] I’ve dropped all those - the basic moves in the little - little sidebar, so we can stay on this map and people can still look at their moves.
Jack: Oh, rad.
Janine: Are we on the m- are we supposed to be on the map?
Austin: Oh, did I move you off the map? My bad. There you go. Now you should be good. Mm-hmm.
Jack: [sighs] [laughs] I kind of feel like Elena and Franklin kind of have Mr. E. Masque in hand right now.
Austin: Yes and no.
Janine: Mm…
Art: Don’t worry, I’m gonna fuck this right up.
Austin: Love it.
Jack: [laughs] Um…
Austin: Can you - here’s my question. Can you stop this?
Jack: I don’t know. That feels like a roll. It feels like something I’m also… I feel like this is something I’m also interested in doing. I don’t want to knock this building into the ocean more than I’m knocking it into the ocean already.
Austin: Mm-hmm.
Jack: So yeah, what is a roll that is, like…
Austin: So this is the thing, is, like, I… There is… I - so I almost - you didn’t fail that roll, right? You just mixed successed it, right? So that was not a… thing.
Jack: Yeah. It became unstable.
Austin: It did become unstable. A thing that it said at the time was… [pause] I didn’t - I didn’t do this at the time, so I didn’t, uh… one second, let’s see. So it says, unstable is about unintended additional consequences, often dangerous to you or others. We got that.
Jack: Yep.
Austin: Unstable effects never take away from the core success of the roll. You still did what you intended to do,
Jack: Mm.
Austin: which definitely happened. Everyone turned and faced you, and everyone was scared, and everyone… you know. Both Vinny and Thresher leaving is a long-term result of this. You know, Thresher probably would not have been willing to leave if not for… both Chanti’s success, [Jack laughs] but also you setting the stage with this whole place crumbling. But they add an additional element that complicates the situation. Collateral damage, unintended consequence, or worse. The GM might even make you roll to take a powerful blow as a result of an unstable effect. So, one of two things could happen here. You could Take a Powerful Blow from this. That could be you trying to hold it in, is like… stopping the light from going out, which is great. Or, you could take a condition. But I kind of like Take a Powerful Blow here.
Jack: Yeah, and I think I know - I think I can… I think I know how I would like to narrate it.
Austin: Mm-hmm?
Jack: Which is, I think I go up through the roof.
Austin: Okay.
Jack: And we just get this like, extremely wide shot of - of…
Austin: Yeah.
Jack: Very distant shot of this just kind of like, ball of arcing light, coming shooting out of the roof of the opera house.
Austin: Mm-hmm.
Jack: And then just like, four discrete panels of like, a wing mirror on someone’s car breaking, a newspaper box exploding… as just like, various light beams just, like, arc briefly across Bluff City.
Austin: Yeah.
Jack: And then I think - I don’t know whether -
Austin: [overlapping] So give me the roll, because we don’t know how it ends. You have to do this, Take a Powerful Blow.
Jack: I have to roll…
Austin: Yes.
Jack: Oh, I have to Take the Powerful Blow. Right.
Austin: [overlapping] You have to Take the Powerful Blow. It’s a move.
Jack: [overlapping] I just thought I got to -
Austin: No.
Jack: I just thought I got to narrate taking a powerful blow.
Austin: Mm-mm. That’s a good setup, though, cause now we’ll see how badly it goes.
Jack: Right, totally.
Austin: Give me just - there’s a little button next to conditions that you can hit.
Jack: Oh yeah, okay.
Austin: And you have 1, so you -
Jack: Do I want this to be a high number or a low number?
Austin: You want this to be a low number, and so the fact that you already have one condition marked, which is Insecure, [Janine laughs] as your powers are falling apart is perfect.
Jack: Okay, here we go.
Austin: 7!
Keith: Ooh! Mm…
Austin: Okay, that’s middle of the road. When you Take a Powerful Blow, roll +conditions. On a 7-9, choose one. You lash out verbally, provoke a teammate to foolhardy action, or take advantage of your Influence to inflect - to inflict a condition; you give ground, your opposition gets an opportunity; you struggle past the pain, mark two conditions. So, that, to me - I mean, it could be any of them. You’d have to figure out how to frame that.
Jack: Oh. I think I’d like to mark two conditions.
Austin: Okay. Which ones are you marking?
Jack: I am going to mark… [pause] [laughs] So - so I think the moment this realization comes is as - is as I get my powers under control.
Austin: Mm.
Jack: And there’s just - a light go out, and we get this, like, extreme closeup on the face of Paternoster, like 300 feet in the sky, at night, in Bluff City. And I think I’m Afraid… and I think that I am Guilty.
Austin: Mm-hmm. And then -
Jack: [overlapping] And I just begin to fall back towards the…
Austin: [whispering] Oh, man. [pause] The pier.
Jack: The auction house again. Yeah.
Austin: Yeah. Uh-huh. You’re just like, full-speed falling. And the light is like - I think the light at this point is flickering out, basically, you know? So it’s like, it’s no longer doing damage, but then we do get this still like, a disco-ball effect [laughs] of you falling, and this flick-fli-fli-fli-flick as you’re falling down. So people can still see you, you know? [#01:30:00#]
Jack: Mm. Oh yeah.
Austin: Grouse, what do you do?
Janine: Um…
Austin: Or whoever. Paternoster is falling from the fucking sky.
Janine: [overlapping] Hang on, is - I want to catch Paternoster [laughs] is the thing I want to do.
Austin: Uh-huh?
Janine: And I think this is a very good time… for bird telekinesis? Right? [laughs]
Austin: Oh yeah. Sure. A hundred percent.
Janine: [pause] So… I think the… It seems like a - it seems like a bit much to have, like, birds swoop in from the ceiling again and have to like, do that. I think it’s cooler if… I think it’s cooler if the birds swoop in from the hole that Thresher left.
Austin: [laughs] Mm-hmm.
Janine: Because then they can, like… I think we agreed that bird telekinesis could be… a lot of things. [pause] Uh, so I think… yeah, I think this is like, they sort of… swoop in, and like, I’m imagining [laughs] I’m imagining the formation that like, the Snowbirds and stuff take where it’s like they’re kind of like a - like an arrow, but maybe there’s two birds at the front, instead of one, so they split symmetrically around Grouse and then reform to catch Paternoster.
Austin: So are they like, catching Paternoster, like, in their beaks? [pause] With their bodies?
Janine: I imagine - I imagine -
Austin: What types of birds are these? [laughs]
Janine: This is m- this is maybe overthinking it, but, um… I want, like, seagulls. I want seagulls, so -
Austin: [overlapping] Okay, so smaller birds.
Janine: Well actually, no. We had - we had like… We had some seagulls already. I don’t want to - mm…
Austin: There’s a lot of seagulls here. This is the shore.
Janine: I know. Uh… I kind of want, like, a -
Austin: [overlapping] I thought we had the big ones? What are the big ones?
Jack: We had an albatross.
Austin: We had an albatross, you’re right.
Janine: [overlapping] We had an albatross. We’ve had mockingbirds, I think. We’ve had seagulls.
Austin: Mm-hmm. We did.
Janine: We’ve had, uh, Ruperts.
Austin: Mm-hmm. [laughter]
Jack: Whatever the hell he is.
Janine: I think… cock of the… mock?
Austin: It was a whole thing. A whole thing.
Janine: M- mo- yeah.
Austin: Half fake, so.
Janine: Um, anyway. [sighs indecisively] I kind of want these to actually be, like, those kinds of like, wading birds that have, like, really long legs.
Austin: What, cranes and herons and stuff?
Janine: Yeah, like cranes, herons. I’m not sure what you’d get when - for, like, salt water of those, but there must be something.
Austin: There are herons in the marshes and stuff near here.
Janine: Yeah.
Austin: So.
Janine: I - I feel like it’d be cool if it was, like, a… arrow-shaped, or like a chevron-shaped formation of herons, and then like, the first - the first pair, like… The first pair use their beaks, but then the ones behind like maybe catch… It… They like, use the beaks. They can like, guide Paternoster onto her back.
Austin: Right.
Janine: And then the others like, kind of catch her like that.
Austin: Mm-hmm. They don’t like, open up her wings so she can glide with them?
Janine: That seems very complicated.
Austin: It does. [laughs] Okay.
Janine: Although we also do have bird hairdressers, so.
Austin: That’s true. We did. That’s true. Uh, give me - give me the roll.
Janine: [overlapping] I think it’s just cool if they just like, set her down. [laughs]
Austin: Uh-huh. Well, we’ll see what happens when you roll, actually. [laughs]
Janine: Yeah, that’s true. What would this be?
Austin: I think this is… [pause] This feels like Defend also, right? [pause] From an immediate threat. The threat is the ground? Yeah, this is Defend.
Janine: Yeah. [pause] Okay. [pause] That’s Savior.
Austin: Which is - yeah, what is that, Savior?
Janine: Yeah.
Austin: Yeah. Which you have what in? Oop - well, there goes the roll.
Janine: 0. Or 1? I have 1 in Savior.
Austin: Yikes!
Janine: I got a 5. That’s not good.
Jack: Oh, my god.
Austin: You got a 5. You hard miss.
Janine: [laughs] This is bad.
Jack: Mm…
Austin: What falls apart here, Chanti?
Janine: [sighs] Um…
Austin: Do the birds not listen? Are they not strong enough? Is it out of range? [pause] Are you distracted by Mr. E. Masque?
Janine: Oh, I know what it is. It’s like - it’s this - this formation that looks really beautiful, like, flying in. [laughter]
Austin: Mm-hmm.
Janine: But the formation I described [laughs] has, like, a big flaw for the way I described this maybe working. [Jack laughs]
Austin: Uh-huh?
Janine: Which is, there’s nothing under those first two. They all spread out.
Austin: No.
Janine: Maybe they were - maybe the birds were like, oh, she has wings. Well, like, the ones on the outside will catch the wings. But the wings are all, like, fucked up.
Austin: Uh-huh. [sighs]
Janine: So, I think maybe they like, grab Paternoster - [laughs] Paternoster by the ankles to like, initiate this plan, but then what that does is just, like, drops her upside down.
Austin: [sighs] Boy.
Jack: Oh, my god.
Janine: Instead of - [laughs]
Austin: I’m gonna need two things.
Art: [overlapping] I - I didn’t know your Savior was a 1. I would’ve done this, cause - cause Paternoster is my love.
Jack: [overlapping] So now -
Austin: We’re gonna - wait wait wait. Yeah. So here’s the two things that are gonna happen. One, I need you to mark a condition, Janine.
Janine: Mm-hmm.
Austin: Chanti.
Jack: Am I just falling upside down, now?
Austin: You’re gonna need to make a fucking… make a har- or, make - take another blow.
Jack: Oh - [groans]
Austin: Take a Powerful Blow. And now you have a conditions 3.
Keith: Oh, boy.
Jack: So the powerful blow here… I - I know what this is.
Austin: Well, roll the dice and see what it is first, right? [#01:35:00#]
Jack: Yep.
Austin: Let’s see if it’s bad. Cause that way you can know how to condition.
Art: Oh, but it’s +3 now?
Austin: It’s +3 - oh, that’s a 14! [laughter]
Art: Ka-POW!
Austin: [laughing] It does! It says ka-pow on our screens! [pause] So! Um…
Jack: Oh, my god. I have to tweet this and say, “this is also bad.” [laughter]
Austin: So, on a 10+, when you Take a Powerful Blow, roll +conditions marked. On a 10+ choose one: You must remove yourself from the situation, flee, pass out, etc., you lose control of yourself or your powers in a terrible way, or two options from the 7-9 list. [laughter]
Jack: [laughs] Oh, my god. So my options are, remove myself from the scene.
Austin: Yeah.
Jack: Lose control of my powers in a terrible way.
Austin: Uh-huh.
Jack: Or two options from the 7-9 list. Which are -
Austin: Yes. Lash out verbally, provoke a teammate to foolhardy action, or take advantage of your Influence to inflict a condition; you give ground, your opposition gets an opportunity; or, you struggle past the pain and mark two conditions. Which would be all of your [laughs] - your things, right? [Janine laughs] Or damn near it?
Jack: It would be… [sighs]
Austin: All of them.
Janine: Hopeless and Angry are a suitable reaction to what just happened, though. To be fair.
Austin: Uh-huh.
Jack: I mean, I think - I think I… I think I might remove mys-
Austin: Mm-hmm.
Jack: What I want is the visual of Paternoster hitting the water, right? I want, like, her fall to have been slowed by the bird - [laughs]
Austin: Mm-hmm.
Jack: By the bird disaster, such that it’s not… fatal.
Austin: Fatal, yeah.
Jack: But like… I feel like it’s both a very superhero and a very Bluff City image to see, like, a living disco ball burst from the ceiling of a - of an auction house, [laughs]
Austin: Mm-hmm.
Jack: seemingly be attacked by a group of birds, and then fall clean into the ocean.
Austin: Yeah.
Jack: So I think… yeah. I mean, I don’t know that - I don’t know that I want to narrate what is happening to Paternoster once she hits the water, cause we can do that later. Like, this is just, I’m -
Austin: [overlapping] No, I think you’re just - yeah. Splash. Yeah.
Jack: Yeah.
Austin: Great shot, though, of just like this ball of color slamming into the ocean, and then the waves kind of kicking up, the water kicking up, and it just says “splash.”
Jack: The - and the, like, the surf is like, briefly colored before the… the light flickers and dies.
Austin: Oh, yeah. And I also think a big wave is coming this way now.
Jack: Amazing.
Austin: Which is great. Also, hey, Elena? Chanti just really fucked up saving your love.
Art: Mm-hmm.
Austin: Real bad. What do you do?
Art: [sighs] Ah… I don’t know what to do. I don’t know how to… I don’t know how to punch this.
Austin: [overlapping] Get yourself into the seven- how old - how old is Elena?
Art: I think it was 16?
Austin: Okay. [laughs]
Art: 17, maybe?
Austin: Think about being 16.
Art: Yeah, um… I mean… [laughs] I mean, I have two conflicting impulses.
Austin: Mm-hmm.
Art: I’m just gonna talk this out, right here. [pause] I’m gonna go with three, [Janine laughs] I have three conflicting impulses, because I want to weave in my existing impulse.
Austin: Yeah.
Art: One. I want to go just like… be mad, right? I want to just go… [Janine laughs] you know, shove Grouse for fucking up, like.
Austin: Mm-hmm.
Art: Two. Second impulse. I want to just dive in the water…
Austin: Mm-hmm.
Art: After… Paternoster. And three, I still don’t like that Franklin defended - had to defend me.
Austin: Yeah.
Art: That’s - that’s some bullshit, right here. [Austin laughs]
Keith: I’m sorry?
Art: I can punch people on the neck just great. I don’t need this shit.
Austin: [laughs] Rivalry’s great.
Art: Yeah.
Austin: Someone helps you, fuck you. Fuck off!
Art: Yeah. I’m helping you. You don’t help me.
Austin: [laughs] I help you!
Art: I help you. That’s how the helping goes, here. Oh, no.
Austin: So what are you thinking?
Art: Um…
Austin: Oh, is there - one second. I want to make sure - I love this effect, and I don’t think we should change it, because I like what just happened. But, I do want to make sure that there was nothing we could have done here. One second. Um… so yeah. I - I have to bring this up. Which is, you could have all spent Team to go save - or, two of you could have spent Team to save Paternoster from hitting the water. Oh, wait. No you couldn’t have. This is so much higher. You would’ve had to have spend - you only have 3 Team, you couldn’t have. Okay. Phew.
Art: [overlapping] Well, we could’ve spent Team to -
Austin: I forgot that Jack rolled 14. [laughter]
Art: We could’ve spent Team to bump that 5.
Austin: You could’ve spent - yes. That’s what you could’ve done. Yes. Two of you could’ve spent Team to bump the 5 to a 7. I’m fine playing forward from this, because this is a great sequence, and maybe it’s… telling, that we didn’t spend Team. [#01:40:00#]
Art: [pause] Um…
Jack: Yeah…
Austin: Or, we’re the sort of comic that goes, “but that’s not what really happened.” [laughs]
Janine: Mm. [laughs]
Art: No, I’m not in that kind of comic. [Austin laughs] [pause] I think I’m going in the water.
Austin: Okay.
Art: And I’m like -
Jack: [overlapping] So are you just running out of the back of the thing and just diving in?
Art: I think so. And I don’t think that Elena is particularly good at this.
Austin: [pause] What is “this?”
Art: [overlapping] I think this is like -
Keith: Swimming?
Art: I mean -
Austin: Yeah.
Art: Diving after someone is not - lifeguards are not swimmers, you know? Like…
Austin: Wait.
Art: Or, they are, but.
Austin: Yeah. [Jack laughs]
Art: But like, the skill of life- you don’t learn how to be a lifeguard in your swimming class, I guess is what I mean.
Austin: Mm-hmm. [pause] I don’t know that we need a roll for this. Like, this is - you’re going to go get her, you know? But it’s - you’re out of the scene to do it. Right?
Art: Yeah. I’m - I think I’m okay with that.
Austin: I don’t want to like - I’m not rolling for you to miss saving her. You know? [laughs] That’s not - no one’s drowning tonight. That’s not what this is.
Keith: [overlapping] So it’s… So right now we’re two out of the scene?
Austin: Two out of the scene.
Art: I’m very good at rolling to not…
Austin: [laughs] Fair.
Art: I think that’s still Defend. I think I would do very well, but.
Austin: I suspect, yeah. If you want to roll, you can roll, but I think that that’s… So Elena -
Art: [overlapping] Give it a roll.
Keith: [overlapping] Do you just like - be - to just - to not both be out of the scene?
Austin: No, it’d be like - I -
Keith: [overlapping] It’s either you’re out of the scene or…
Austin: She has to go swim into the ocean and save…
Keith: Yeah, fair.
Austin: Like, no one’s gonna be like, alright - Mr. E. Masque isn’t gonna be like, “and I’ll wait here for you to get back.”
Keith: “Fair’s fair!” [laughter]
Austin: [laughs] Yeah. I appreciate that you gave it a roll just to see, Art.
Art: Yeah. It was a 12.
Austin: And you would have succeeded easily.
Art: Yeah.
Austin: Alright. So Franklin, Paternoster - no, Paternoster, you’re also in the ocean. Franklin and Grouse, you are now in this - in this building that is - that is - I don’t know why I moved you, Grouse. I didn’t mean to do that. Uh, that is slowly collapsing, and Mr. E. Masque is here, and I think is like, beginning to float a little bit higher now. And I think that he says…
Austin (as Mr. E. Masque): You are fools to deal with this! This is beyond your comprehension.
Austin: And that’s just in your heads. He isn’t saying this out loud.
Keith (as Mr. Good): Deal with - deal with what?
Austin (as Mr. E. Masque): There are worlds and consequences you cannot comprehend.
Keith: Can I get the move list back?
Austin: Yeah. Uh - you have it in the sidebar now. Like, in where your sheet is.
Keith: Oh. Side?
Janine: Handouts.
Austin: Should be basic moves one and two?
Keith: Oh, got it, yeah.
Austin: Your handouts, yeah yeah yeah.
Keith: Okay. Um…
Austin: One is the one you probably want. Two is like, some other stuff.
Keith: Yeah. [pause] God, I -
Austin: I think he just says - he says, like,
Austin (as Mr. E. Masque): Begone, children!
Keith: I - so, like, on some level I want, like, more information, right?
Austin: Mm-hmm.
Keith: But I’m also like… fucking, this is - this villain sucks, and is a villain.
Austin: Mm-hmm.
Keith: And so I’m Dir- I’m just Directly Engaging a Thre- I’m - I am like, tac- in the middle of him being like…
Austin: Yeah.
Keith: Like, “you, stop the blah blah blah,” [Austin laughs] I’m just going and just tackling him again.
Austin: Alright, yeah. [Janine laughs]
Keith: I think I want to try to arrest him? I think I’m just gonna be like, like,
Keith (as Mr. Good): You’re under arrest!
Keith: [laughter] Like, try to like - like -
Art: Oh, that’s not gonna work. [laughter]
Keith: Well, you know. Franklin’s Franklin. [cat meows]
Austin: Grouse, what were you gonna say? We can roll this thing, Franklin. We’ll -
Janine: I was gonna say, should this have triggered Been Reading the Files?
Austin: Sure. Yeah, cause - did you not do it last time?
Janine: I haven’t Been Reading the Files, Mr. E. Masque.
Austin: Alright. So then give me your - you give me Reading the Files, and - and… Franklin, you give me this attack. [laughs] This is definitely… This is one hundred percent Directly Engage. [pause] So, Janine, you got a - Chanti, you got a 9 on Been Reading the Files.
Janine: Mm-hmm.
Austin: On a hit, tell the team one important detail you’ve - you’ve learned from your studies. The GM will tell you what, if anything, seems different than you remember. So what is one thing you know about Mr. E. Masque?
Janine: [pause] Would this be different than the thing we’ve already established about him?
Austin: Which is what?
Janine: That he’s like a… kind of… half criminal? Like, he kind of dips around on both sides of it, does minor stuff.
Austin: Yeah. That’s - yeah, I think that’s fair. So yeah, I think you’re able to -
Art: [overlapping] He’s a crab-face man?
Austin: You don’t know that part. That is the th- that’s part of the thing that is different.
Janine: [overlapping] Yeah. That’s the new part. [laughs]
Austin: And I can - I can say that like, this is - seems to be a different scale of conflict, than what… Like, Mr. E. Masque is… To use real comic book things, Mr. E. Masque has been - had been, for Goldfinch, a sort of Mysterio-level character, or a Mistel- Mister- Mixel- what - ah, I can never say that guy’s name. [#01:45:00#]
Keith: Mister Mxylptlkz.
Janine: Mxyzpk-
Austin: -ptlk?
Art: Mxyzptlk. There’s a ‘z’ in there.
Austin: Mxyz- Mxyzptlk.
Keith: Mxyz-
Austin: In that - no, you know, oh, and maybe actually what’s being revealed is actually, here it is. We thought he was a Mysterio. We’re learning he’s a Mxyzptlk. Which is, oh, you’re a goofball who does illusion magic and shit. Like, you - you’re just a weirdo, buddy. And like, oh wait, no, you are actually connected to some weird interdimensional strangeness. I think the things that you’re seeing here are like, in the records, you have like Waxwing’s records that are saying like, oh yeah, I’m pretty sure this guy just like uses, like, modern technology to do… you know, not illusions, but just like, tricks of the eye, and is not actually involved in any sort of… superpower shit. This is very clearly that. And also, even… someone who’s like, been involved with minor heists, mostly.
In fact, I think maybe - here’s a thing you know. There was a case that Waxwing and Goldfinch actually worked together, that was about a bank robbery. And they were pretty sure that… Waxwing was pretty sure that the robbery was… involved Mr. E. Masque, and the Coast Guard. But… Goldfinch rejected her evidence, and said that it didn’t add up. And instead, they ended up pinning it on somebody else, who - who ended up confessing to the crime, and the cops took it from there. And the Coast Guard and Mr. E. Masque were ruled to be not involved. Or, not “ruled” - like, Mr. E. Masque didn’t come up in the court case. [laughs] But the Coast Guard was certainly like - oh, that’s a conspiracy theory. [pause] Somewhere, out in the world, Florence Slowly was also part of this, Jack, you may recall.
Jack: Yeah. Was this the one that fell apart?
Austin: Mm-hmm.
Jack: This was the one that she investigated and just like, meh.
Austin: Franklin - not Franklin, sorry. Hector - Hector Hu told Florence Slowly, your Noirlandia character, that this was a… a… robbery done by the, um… the Coast Guard. And that was like, a dead end. That did not come together.
Jack: Yeah.
Austin: And what we now know is it didn’t come together because Goldfinch told the cops it doesn’t come together. And they took her word.
Jack: Huh.
Austin: Because she’s Goldfinch.
Jack: [pause] Goldfinch… told…
Austin: Mm-hmm. The police. That it was not the Coast Guard.
Jack: When it -
Austin: And by extension, it was not Mr. E. Masque, who, like the Coast Guard, is this weird… hermit crab-face guy.
Jack: Hmm.
Keith: The Coast Guard is also hermit crab-faced guys?
Austin: Oh yes, oh yes. Again, from Noirlandia.
Keith: And, only that - [laughs] only Waxwing and that one rickshaw guy -
Austin: Uh-huh! They were on it.
Keith: That know it? [laughs]
Austin: Uh-huh. [pause] So yeah, that’s the thing you know, is like, oh, is this - this guy was just tied to like, weird bank heists, not strange, interdimensional paintings. But, you know. Maybe when you get back and get to read more of the files, you will see, in fact, that… some of the things that went missing in those banks - from that bank - were some old paintings.
Janine: Hmm.
Austin: Alright, give me the - the attack roll, Franklin. Did you already do that? No.
Keith: I didn’t. I wasn’t sure if I’m doing Savior or Danger this time.
Austin: Um… this is just Danger, I think.
Keith: This is just Danger?
Austin: Yeah. I don’t think this is near a dr- um, no, you know what, you’re dramatically under fire. But you’re dramatically under fire by the giant wave coming this way.
Keith: Right.
Austin: This place is going to fall apart any second now. So yeah. Go ahead and give me a Savior. [pause] And that is a 9. So… when you get a 9, it is, you trade blows. Pick one: Resist or avoid their blows, take something from them, create an opportunity for your allies, impress, surprise, or frighten.
Keith: I’m gonna create an opportunity for my allies.
Austin: What are you - what type of opportunity are you creating?
Keith: [pause] I want to create enough of an opening for everyone to be able to - everyone else to be able to leave.
Austin: Cool. That’s fine. So - so what does that look like? Are you pinning him to the ground? Are you…
Keith: Yeah. Yeah. I was trying - I was trying to subdue him.
Austin: Mm-hmm.
Keith: I don’t think that I do, because I rolled a 9, which means that I’m going to end up taking blows.
Austin: Mm-hmm.
Keith: But I at least get far enough to where it buys some time for people to start running away.
Austin: Yeah. So I think, at this point, everyone can get away. Give me Take a Powerful Blow as the wave hits this dock. [pause] So, just roll conditions, which I think you - [#01:50:00#]
Keith: [overlapping] Take a Powerful Blow… oh, so I guess I could detain Mr. E. Masque, if the blow is from the wave.
Austin: I mean, the blow is from - the blow is from the sequence.
Keith: [overlapping] Just from either?
Austin: Do you know what I mean? Like, that’s just -
Keith: Yeah, yeah yeah.
Austin: You’re holding him down. You’re trying to detain him. This wave is gonna wash you all away.
Keith: Let’s see… roll +condition. So it’s just -
Austin: [overlapping] Yes. You have 0.
Keith: Just a basic roll?
Austin: Just 2d6. Yeah. Flat roll. [pause] That is a 7. On a 7, you lash out verbally, you give ground, opposition gets an opportunity, or you struggle past the pain and mark two conditions.
Keith: I’m gonna mark two conditions.
Austin: Okay. Which ones do you mark?
Keith: Hopeless.
Austin: Okay.
Keith: And Insecure.
Austin: Okay. So then, yeah, what we get is - so Chanti, how do you get out of this? As this is… As Mr. E. Masque is held up?
Janine: [overlapping] Y’all laughed at me when I said we had an amphibious car.
Austin: That’s true. I did. [Keith laughs]
Janine: But we have a fucking amphibious car!
Austin: So you hop in that and drive out into the sea?
Janine: Get the hell in, everyone. We’re going shopping.
Austin: [laughs] I mean, the thing is, we now, because you’ve marked these things, and… I guess we get this shot then, of like, this place fucking falls all the way apart. It completely, just like, you know, implodes, and then… The - the two of - or the three of you, I guess? Which is Chanti, Elena, and, uh… I almost said Hella. No, [laughs] Hella is not here. Um, Hilda. Hilda?
Jack: Um, no. Didn’t I… So - was I resc- was I, like, full on, properly - am I back?
Austin: [overlapping] Yeah, sorry, I was just asking your name, Hilda.
Jack: Oh. Yeah, Hilda.
Austin: Yeah yeah yeah. Hilda. I - we get, you know, we definitely get the panels of Elena grabbing you from the sea. A hundred percent. And like, pulling you out from drowning. No one was gonna roll to make you not… That sequence is over. You’re back in this scene. But you might be knocked out still, or you might be, like… out of it.
Jack: Just like, spluttering water, and…
Austin: Yeah, totally. But you’re able to get in this car, for sure.
Jack: [laughs] In this amphibious car.
Art: [overlapping] Cause I rolled and I nailed it.
Austin: You did roll and you nailed it. You didn’t need to roll. [pause] The… what we then get, though, is… Mr. Good, you’re in this collection of… you know, now, driftwood. These - this pier that’s fallen apart. This collection of wood, and brick, and metal… and wires. It’s dangerous. And you see Mr. E. Masque is also pinned down, and is like trying to get out from underneath some - some - some planks of wood, and stuff, and you kind of have a choice here, right? Which is like, you can keep engaging here, or you could go. But you did not choose the thing that gives him an opportunity to escape.
Keith: Mm-hmm.
Austin: So you still have an opportunity to continue this fight, if that’s what you want to do. But you are one on one.
Keith: [overlapping] Yes. It is what I want to do.
Austin: Okay.
Keith: [pause] Um. [pause] The - the - I’m… I - this is still dramatically under fire. It has to be. I’m - we’re both -
Austin: This is now one hundred per- you are now alone fighting someone who used to fight Superman, right?
Keith: And - yeah.
Austin: You’re fighting a Superman villain, and you are Robin.
Keith: Right. Yes. And, uh, and also we’re, like, in the water, and it’s dangerous, and there’s waves, and debris.
Austin: [overlapping] And - yes. Yes.
Keith: [sighs] 9.
Austin: That’s, again, not great. Same choices as before.
Keith: I can - can I not take a - a - can I not, like, use a thing?
Austin: You could now probably - yes. You could now use - selfishly use a Team if you wanted to.
Keith: Yeah. Yeah. I’m totally selfishly using a Team, for sure.
Austin: So, the way that works is you… where’d it go…
Keith: [overlapping] There’s no one else here, I’m not -
Austin: [overlapping] Teammates can also spend Team to act selfishly. When you act selfishly, say how your actions ignore or insult your teammates. Remove 1 Team from the pool.
Keith: [overlapping] I think just by continuing to engage, is ignoring or insulting my teammates.
Austin: Sure.
Keith: By like - just like, like, oh, this, I’m, you know. [pause] The - the outcomes here are like, I could lea-
Austin: [overlapping] Oh this is - this is actually - wait wait wait.
Keith: Yeah?
Austin: This is not going to help you. Unfortunately.
Keith: No? Why’s that?
Austin: Because the way this thing works is you get to shift a label. Your label is already at +3, it can’t go up to +4.
Keith: Oh, it doesn’t increase the roll, it just shifts the label?
Austin: It shifts the label. Yeah.
Keith: Okay.
Austin: So unfortunately, even doing that will not - it does not give you a +1.
Keith: Well -
Austin: It only gives you a +1 when someone else spends it, but everyone else is out of the sequence at this point. This is a -
Keith: Can we, um… let’s see… how about, uh… shit. Okay. Alright. No, that still wouldn’t work. How - [pause]
Janine: [pause] Can I like, double back in the car? Like…
Austin: No. You’re - you - you’re -
Janine: Okay.
Austin: You -
Keith: [overlapping] Okay, this -
Austin: [overlapping] I mean you’re, like, close enough that if Franklin wanted to come, if Mr. Good wanted to get in that car, Mr. Good could go get in the car.
Keith: So -
Austin: But you can’t be… you cannot be both saving the people who are out in the ocean with the car, and also here helping.
Janine: Yeah.
Keith: My - my slight… my slight rewind, cause I didn’t really understand how the Team worked.
Austin: Yeah.
Keith: We don’t have to - we don’t have to allow this, but uh… if instead of Directly Engaging I’m Provoking, and then I can use 2 Team to bump that up. But. [pause] Because that would be Superior, which I have 0 in. And that would then - using 2 Team would be a 2. [#01:55:00#]
Austin: You can… You’re only able to remove - remove 1 Team, to act selfishly.
Keith: Oh, okay.
Austin: To remove 1 Team from the pool.
Keith: Oh, and that still wouldn’t work with the math anyway.
Austin: Mm-hmm.
Keith: Yeah, that’s fine. I’ll just take the - take the 9.
Austin: So yeah, what do you do? As you directly engage this threat.
Keith: Well, it’s, like, so hard to fight in the water, right? Like, it’s like, what the fuck - it’s like the weirdest thing. Um, I -
Austin: [overlapping] It’s hard to fight in the water. There’s logs, there’s… again, there’s like, loose electrical cables.
Keith: Yeah. I -
Austin: This is all very fucking dangerous.
Keith: I think that what I’m doing… [pause] Oh, this is good. I bet - I bet I grab the cables, carefully. And I like - use - like, pull - like, find a top one to sort of pull myself with some momentum, and sort of kick… You know what I mean?
Austin: Uh-huh. You’re doing like a Spiderman kick.
Keith: Yeah. Like, I’m doing - yeah. I’m doing, like, the web-sling.
Austin: Yeah.
Keith: But, it’s - instead of in the air, it’s in the water with electric cables. [laughs]
Austin: You know - okay, I want to be clear. Those are electric cables. They’re still electrical. Their nature.
Keith: Yeah, but if you grab the rubber part you’re - you’re fine.
Austin: Okay.
Keith: Right?
Austin: Uh, yeah, you know, probably.
Art: [overlapping] You know, water conducts electricity real well.
Keith: [overlapping] Um, a 9, who knows if I am fine. But theoretically, I could be fine.
Austin: We’re gonna - well, we’re gonna, here’s what’s gonna happen is - you’re - so you do this kick. What’s the thing - what’s the option you’re taking from… from Directly Engage a Threat? Resist or avoid their blows, take something from them, create an opportunity, impress, surprise, frighten.
Keith: Um… on a 9… Oh, I’m gonna resist or av- or avoid their blows.
Austin: Okay. So yeah, you just like slam into this dude, and you see… He like, you slam into him and it pushes him around and he, like, thrashes out. And… let me see his moves really quick. He… grabs at the cable. And you see - he like, grabs the cable from - from - like, that you’re swinging on.
Keith: Yeah.
Austin: And the part with the electricity. And he holds it above the water, and he says,
Austin (as Mr. E. Masque): Leave now. You don’t belong here.
Keith: [pause] Yeah.
Austin: And he’s gonna dip it into the water. And theoretically electrocute you both. This seems to not be a concern for him. He fights Superman.
Keith: Okay, so… I, um… [pause] I’ll - obviously, I reject this.
Austin: Mm-hmm.
Keith: This is my whole thing.
Austin: Oh, I guess actually this is a - so, if you’re rejecting this, then you actually have to do the Reject move.
Keith: Okay.
Austin: Which is… Which is, to Reject Someone’s Influence, roll.
Keith: Roll flat?
Austin: Yeah. Roll… on a hit, you successfully hold -
Keith: [overlapping] Or - I have Influence over Mr. E. Masque. Does that help me here?
Austin: [overlapping] You could - people can have - people can have Influence over each other, yeah. You can - you can have…
Keith: No, but does that help my roll? Do I have, uh, or is it still flat 2d6?
Austin: Um…
Art: I don’t think that helps.
Austin: No. I don’t think it does either.
Keith: Okay.
Art: Cause you’re not comparing Influence, you’re - you’re resisting -
Austin: [overlapping] No. Yes. Oh oh oh! Wait, one second.
Keith: Okay.
Austin: Your initial… we actually have to go back. That was a 10.
Keith: That -
Austin: That 9 was a 10.
Keith: Oh, it was? Why?
Austin: Cause you have Influence over him.
Keith: Oh! Great! Awesome.
Austin: Yeah. A hundred percent.
Keith: Wow.
Austin: So, you hit him head on. You don’t take damage, or whatever. You get, in fact, two of those things. So resist or avoid their blows, and… and then you get one more of those things. So, actually, this is still gonna keep going, unfortunately, because this is how the system works.
Keith: That’s fine. Yeah. I don’t mind.
Austin: So what is the other thing you’re taking? Besides resist or avoid.
Keith: So the other thing I’m taking… is…
Austin: It’s take something, create an opportunity, or impress, surprise, or frighten.
Keith: [pause] Um… I’m trying to think… [pause] Creating an opportunity for my allies - that seems like it’s out of the cards, cause there’s no allies here. Um… Oh, I know what - I know what it is. He’s frightened.
Austin: Okay. Yeah, okay.
Keith: [overlapping] Cause like, he fights Superman, and who the fuck am I?
Austin: [overlapping] Actually, he was already frightened, so now he’s - he is… yeah yeah yeah. So now he is not just Afraid, he is Hopeless.
Keith: Okay.
Austin: Which is - cause you already made him Afraid, earlier in this fight.
Keith: Okay.
Austin: So. And so, Hopeless… yeah, okay. So just to, like, peek behind the curtain, when villains get one of these conditions - when they get Afraid, Guilty, Hopeless, or Insecure, they lash out and do specific things. What he does is… uses the - so he grabs that electricity, the electrical wire, and just, like, sparks… you know, some nearby fuel that’s in the water, or something, or like maybe one of the pieces of wood, and like, catches it on fire. And so now this whole place is burning. The whole place around you is on fire, and he like, floats up out of the water, and says… [#02:00:00#]
Austin (as Mr. E. Masque): I don’t need to beat you here, Franklin. [pause] You can’t kill me. You can’t take me in. [pause] Leave with your life.
Austin: And that is the thing you’ll have to Resist, if you want to reject it.
Keith: Okay. Now I’m Resisting this. Yeah.
Austin: Yeah. Yeah yeah yeah. So, that is…
Keith: And that’s - I just want to read that. That’s Basic Moves 2? Is that - that’s probably where that is?
Austin: Mm-hmm. That’s on a - uh, when you Reject Someone’s Influence… So, either you accept what they say, or reject their Influence.
Keith: Yeah.
Austin: If you accept what they say, you’d leave, and I’d adjust your labels accordingly.
Keith: Mm-hmm.
Austin: Or maybe I would just adjust your labels. You could still stay. When you Reject Someone’s Influence, roll. On a hit, you successfully hold onto yourself and tune them out. And that’s just roll 2d6.
Keith: I can’t - I did -
Art: [overlapping] Wait. Counterpoint. Why do you want to stay?
Keith: [pause] Why do I want to stay?
Austin: So, Mr. Good has a drive that is “take down a threat on your own.”
Art: Alright…
Keith: And also to reject someone who tells you that I shouldn’t be here.
Austin: Yeah. Both of those things.
Keith: So I have - this is, like, relevant for two of my drives.
Austin: Mr. Good believes that he’s a superhero even though he doesn’t have any superpowers, and is happy to throw his life away.
Keith: Um…
Art: Cheers. [laughter]
Keith: So… Should I - I did roll already to Resist. It’s this 8 right here.
Austin: [overlapping] Oh, did you? I didn’t see that. Yeah, it’s the same roll then.
Keith: [overlapping] That was from before. That was from before.
Austin: Yeah, it’s the same roll.
Keith: It’s the same roll though?
Austin: 8.
Keith: So we’re just gonna keep it? Okay.
Austin: Yeah, let’s keep it. So…
Keith: So, now I pick one of these - this list.
Austin: Mm-hmm.
Keith: It’s… clear a condition or mark Potential by immediately acting to prove them wrong, shift one label up and one label down, your choice, cancel their Influence and take +1 forward against them. [pause] So I - I’m kind of stuck between immediately acting to prove them wrong, or… cancelling their Influence and taking +1 forward. Those are both really good.
Austin: They’re both very good.
Keith: And would both help me here.
Austin: Mm-hmm.
Keith: [pause] But I think that I’m gonna cancel their Influence.
Austin: [overlapping] That seems accurate.
Keith: I think a bad thing would be to have the villain have Influence over me.
Janine: That’s good.
Austin: Yep. Alright.
Keith: And also, yeah, it seems accurate. So yeah, so that’s what I’m doing. So I have +1 forward. How - now how do I get this guy in the air?
Austin: I don’t know.
Keith: Um… what sort of debris is around me?
Austin: What type of debris do you want for this sequence?
Keith: I want to, like, throw something that’s on fire at - at him. [laughs]
Austin: Sure. There’s - there’s -
Keith: [overlapping] Catch him on fire.
Austin: And - you want like a - a propane tank that was running some like, uh… hors d'oeuvres, like heating some hors d’oeuvres, and like, it’s now literally spitting fire. You have that.
Keith: [overlapping] Oh, yeah. Or even like - even like a - like a congealed pile of… like… Sterno. [laughs] Just like -
Austin: Yeah, Sterno stuff. That’s great. Sterno fluid. You’re gonna throw a big thing of Ster- a flaming Sterno at him. That’s actually better.
Keith: Yeah. That’s what I’m gonna do.
Austin: Go ahead and give me the Directly Engage a Threat.
Keith: Alright.
Austin: Again, this is - this is using the good one, for you. This is definitely under fire.
Keith: Yeah, yeah. Yeah, this whole scene, I think, is the good one.
Austin: Literally. Ooh - okay. Well.
Keith: Ooh, boy.
Austin: That’s a 5.
Keith: Yeah.
Austin: Again, you can’t - you couldn’t boost this if you wanted to. Make a… give me a conditions. Give me - Take a - Take a Powerful - actually. I think is actually… You see it beginning to go bad. You see - like, you pick up this pile of Sterno,
Keith: Yeah.
Austin: and you see the spark hit. Mark Afraid, and then roll conditions.
Keith: Mark Afraid…
Austin: And then Take a Powerful Blow. You should also reject someone who tells you you shouldn’t be here, so you did that one, at least. [laughter]
Keith: Okay. What happens when you clear - when you do the condition? What do you - what do you - or, sorry, when you clear a drive? What do I do there?
Austin: You get Potential, you take Influence over someone involved, or you get -
Keith: Oh, wait! I just had +1 forward! That’s a 6, not a 5.
Austin: That’s still a failure.
Keith: Is it?
Austin: Yes.
Keith: Oh, right, yeah. Man.
Austin: I thought - I did think of that, sorry. It’s right on the line.
Keith: [overlapping] Eh. Yeah, and then a 6 is still a fail, yeah. So… wait, sorry, what do I do with the - with the cleared drive?
Austin: We’ll deal - it doesn’t - none of those should affect this.
Keith: Okay.
Austin: I’m double checking, but for whatever reason, it’s not in that… thing.
Keith: I thought one of them was clear a condition, right?
Austin: Oh, it is. I think you’re right. I think one of them is clear a condition, so you could clear one of these conditions.
Keith: Okay. [pause] Let’s do… I’m clearing Insecure. So even though I’m - oh, I meant to do Afraid. [pause] Wait, am I Afraid or Angry? What did you say?
Austin: Afraid.
Keith: Afraid, yeah.
Austin: Yep. Still have to do a condition roll.
Keith: Condition roll… [pause] Where is…
Austin: It’s above all your conditions. That’s Take a Blow. [#02:05:00#]
Keith: Oh, oh, right. It’s this one.
Austin: [overlapping] Alright, so that is a 9 -
Keith: [overlapping] So - that’s - that’s wrong. That’s wrong. That’s the wrong - that’s the wrong thing. I have to reroll it.
Austin: Oh.
Keith: That - I - that was a flat 2d6.
Austin: That’s just - oh, we can… You can keep that roll. That’s a 9+2 is an 11.
Keith: Is that… good?
Austin: Nah.
Keith: Okay. Oh, I was just gonna reroll the right button. But we -
Austin: You rolled a - you rolled a 9.
Keith: Okay.
Austin: We’re gonna keep the roll.
Keith: Oh, okay. Oh, this is the higher one is better. Got it.
Austin: [overlapping] That - no -
Keith: [overlapping] I mean worse.
Austin: Those are worse. [laughs]
Keith: The higher one is worse. Got it.
Austin: Yeah. So on a 10+ you must remove yourself from the situation, lose control of yourself and your powers in a terrible way, or two options from the 7-9.
Keith: Alright. Lose control of my powers in a terrible way. That doesn’t really mean anything for me.
Austin: That doesn’t really work, yeah. No.
Keith: Take a Powerful Blow… two… okay. I can’t lash out verbally.
Austin: Yeah. Not really a person here.
Keith: So it has to give up ground, and mark two more conditions.
Austin: [overlapping] And mark two. [laughs] Yeah.
Keith: [pause] So I guess I really only have one option, which is… that I must remove myself - I must - I have to run away.
Austin: Yeah. [pause] Do you run away? Do you… Like, you get blown back by this Sterno. This Sterno explodes and blows you onto the shore.
Keith: Okay.
Austin: And then I think you have that choi- or maybe it’s into the water. It’s into the water. Because it’s in between where you see that he is, like… He is - he begins to levitate the - like, some of the broken driftwood, up into the air, and is building something with it, that looks sort of like a door, in shape. And you’re between him, and between your friends, and I think it’s just like… even if you started swimming at this point, you wouldn’t be able to make it there. And… so, you fled this scene, right? That’s the thing that’s happened here?
Keith: Yeah. Mm-hmm.
Austin: Yeah. And then he builds a door out of broken driftwood, and then floats over to it, opens it, and - and then walks into the nothing, and disappears. And then I think Chanti rolls up in a car. In an aqua car. [pause] What’s the horn like on this thing, Grouse? Grouse.
Janine: Um, I think it is, uh…
Keith: [sings “Dixie”] [laughter]
Janine: I imagine - I imagine it’s a horn that, like, you can program, and there’s a very limited sort of range of notes. Kind of like when you’re making an Animal Crossing town tune.
Austin: Mm-hmm.
Janine: Or like, town song. So I imagine it’s like the… the melody of a song that - that Chanti really likes. No one else has ever heard it. [Austin laughs]
Art: I’m just glad it’s not “Dixie.” That was the word idea. [Austin laughs]
Janine: No. It’s just like something that to most people’s like, that’s a - that’s a bunch of sounds, sure.
Austin: Mm-hmm.
Janine: And then to her, in her head, she’s - she’s like humming the lyrics, like, she knows.
Austin: [laughs] Great. [pause] So yeah, you get in. And -
Art: It’s “Thnks fr th Mmrs’” by Fall Out Boy. [laughter]
Janine: [laughing] The song that no one knows!
Austin: Uh-huh. Not in Bluff City. Yeah, we all - we’ve all forgotten it.
Keith: Are you sure it’s not m-misters? [laughs] I’m pretty sure it’s m-misters.
Austin: So yeah, you’re able to drive away. [pause] I guess we want like a little bit of an epilogue here, but not a long one.
Keith: Yeah.
Austin: Which is just, back at the base.
Keith: Yeah.
Austin: You have all the paintings.
Keith: I look like shit.
Austin: You look like shit.
Keith: I’m wet, and bleeding everywhere, and all torn up.
Austin: Yeah. And so is - Paternoster is also all fucked up. And you have that thing in the morning.
Jack: [overlapping] Yeah, and like, my wings - my wings are kind of like, broken.
Austin: Yeah.
Keith: I was -
Jack: I think that was yesterday mor- I think that was probably this morning.
Austin: [overlapping] Yeah, yeah, no. Paternoster - Hilda. You always have a thing in the morning. [Janine laughs]
Jack: Right. I have a - I have another thing tomorrow morning.
Austin: Uh-huh. Elena, how are you doing?
Art: [pause] Pretty okay. [laughter] I’m very strong. I avoided a lot of direct confrontation. And, um…
Austin: [laughs] Oh, lord.
Art: I had a little dust up with my rival and got to save my love. I think this is a pretty good issue of The Champ Monthly. [laughter]
Austin: [laughs] This is how you end up getting a side comic. This is it. This is what happens.
Art: Yeah. I mean, I’m the Wolverine here. I’m the breakout star.
Austin: Uh-huh. And - and Grouse. How are you feeling?
Janine: I’m also pretty good. Like, I’m feeling okay about - I got - I feel like I got most of the bullet points on - on that -
Austin: Mm-hmm.
Janine: On the list of what I wanted out of that situation.
Austin: Yeah.
Janine: I think the thing I’m doing, though, is like - it’s me and a bunch of those birds with the really long, skinny, curved beaks fishing, like, broken glass and stuff out of -
Austin: [groans]
Janine: Out of [laughs] poor Mr. Good.
Austin: Jesus christ.
Keith (as Mr. Good): I almost - I almost got them.
Janine: [overlapping] I got some tweezers, but they’re just in there with the beaks.
Austin: Right. Yeah. Yeah, “I almost got them.”
Janine: Like a little - little team.
Austin: Perfect.
Janine (as Grouse): You did.
Keith (as Mr. Good): I was so close. [Austin laughs]
Janine (as Grouse): You got closer than the rest of us.
Austin: Any final thoughts here? I - I think this painting is just in this basement. You’re in the basement. Which, someone pointed out today - y’all have a basement on a pier - on, like, an arcade pier. [laughs] Which… would be seen, because it’s a pier. You can see underneath piers? So it’s definitely some Batman type shit that’s hiding it. [#02:10:00#]
Jack: Yeah.
Art: Or there’s a -
Janine: [overlapping] It’s just like, mirrors around the sides. It’s just a bunch of mirrors that reflect like… [laughter] They’re - the mirrors are set slightly behind the supports on the pier.
Austin: Uh-huh.
Janine: So, you see, like, the reflections of the water, and you see a reflection that looks kind of like the other leg across the underside, so people kind of don’t think about it too much.
Austin: Yeah.
Art: Oh -
Janine: But every now and then a duck gets up there, and it’s kind of confusing.
Austin: Perfect.
Janine: Not a duck, but. [Jack laughs] Whatever. [laughs]
Austin: A duck. There are ducks.
Janine: Ducks, I guess.
Art: [overlapping] Are we sure we like that better than it just being under the sand? That’s better than under the sand? [laughter]
Janine: Yes.
Austin: Who could say? Different artists have different depictions.
Janine: [overlapping] Mirrors - are you asking me if trick mirrors are better than it just being in a place that makes sense? Yes! [laughter]
Keith: Why do there need to be trick mirrors? Why not just concrete walls, that just are just sitting on the sand?
Austin: The - this is a good point.
Janine: Cause it’s on a - p- pier. I don’t know.
Austin: People are gonna be like, why is there a concrete…
Janine: [overlapping] I was picturing in a pier like over the water.
Austin: Mm-hmm.
Keith: Everyone’d just be like, oh, it must be where they keep extra, like, arcade machines that aren’t working.
Austin: Any other stuff before we wrap here? Does anyone want to…
Keith: I’m bleeding and I’m just - I’m just playing a game.
Austin: Okay.
Jack: I think -
Keith: I’m just playing, like, another arcade game. [laughs]
Janine: I thought you were gonna say Morrowind.
Jack: Or - or the two Vitas.
Austin: Yeah. [Janine laughs]
Keith: Like, the b- like, it’s, oh, this is… Not just acting like it’s another day, but it’s like, this is how it goes. Every time, this is what it is.
Austin: Uh-huh. What were you gonna say, Hilda?
Jack: I think that Paternoster is just refusing to make eye contact with the… with the picture. The picture of the girl.
Austin: [overlapping] It’s making - it’s trying its best to make eye contact with you.
Janine: Eugh.
Jack: I mean, I… [sighs]
Austin: Yeah, go ahead?
Jack: Is this the sort of thing where I can, like… sit facing away from it?
Austin: Yeah.
Jack: In the sense that, you know, when you’re like a kid and you wake up in the middle of the night,
Austin: Mm-hmm.
Jack: and the - the coat hanging on the back of your door, it takes a shape, or whatever?
Janine: [overlapping] Is looking at you?
Austin: [laughs] Yeah.
Jack: Yeah, and you’re just like, I’m not gonna - I’m gonna turn my face to the wall, and I’m gonna look out that way.
Austin: You… [pause] So, I guess, yeah. We get you turning in one panel. And then we get - we get… Waxwing coming down the stairwell in the other one. And, first, her eyes go wide at you all, and she like, rushes over, cause… she sees how fucked up you are. And she is like,
Austin (as Waxwing): Jesus! What - what have you got - [sighs] Was this - the pier - you?
Keith (as Mr. Good): Well, it wasn’t, like, totally us.
Jack (as Paternoster): [pause] It was mostly us.
Austin (as Waxwing): Why didn’t you call for help?
Keith (as Mr. Good): We thought - I thought I had it. We thought - we all thought that we had it, at different times.
Austin (as Waxwing): [sighs]
Austin: And she like, sighs, and turns to see all these paintings. And she’s like - she scans them for a second, and then she looks at the one with this like - the little girl, and like, walks over to it, and like, stares back at it. And then she’s like,
Austin (as Waxwing): Why do you have a painting of Goldfinch?
[Jack de Quidt’s When Justice is Done picks up and plays to the end]
[#02:16:34#]