GhoStory 1.01 You May /Not/ Return

Name: Alice Cardullo
Gender: Female
Age: 16

Description / Appearance:

Again, magic bubbles around the hands are solely there for the purpose of not having to draw hands.

Personality & History:
Founder and president of the Paranormal Club and not much else. If there is a way to get out of doing any work she considers 'pointless', which is most schoolwork, she has probably tried to do it to varying degrees of success. She is rather notable for exasperating her teachers by arguing with them or constantly asking about how what they are learning will be useful later in life.

She's pretty cynical and the idea of making an occult club in a school founded by clergymen is her type of humor. But on the few occasions where she's had to respond to some question about the paranormal she seemed to know her stuff.

Physical: 1[] 2[] 3[]
Morale: 1[] 2[] 3[]
Consequences:
Mild (2):
Moderate (4):
Severe (6):

Skills:
Good (+3): Lore
Fair (+2): Empathy, Will
Average (+1): Notice, Provoke, Resources


Name: Mary Anne Jacobs
Gender: Female
Age: 16

Description / Appearance:


Personality & History:
A small southern girl who's part of the journalism club, she's a pretty bright girl and not much seems to get past her. She gets along well with most of the class, even the ones who don't like talking to people much. She seems to have some sort of bad history with Alice.

Eager to meet the new students joining her class this year she quickly made friends with Sydney Blackbourne. Together they investigated the wave of kidnappings that was happening in Providence, through which Mary Anne became involved in the paranormal world. While not a contracted she has met paranormal creatures and for a time was kidnapped and awaiting sacrifice by Gordon and his cultists.

Physical: 1[] 2[] 3[]
Morale: 1[] 2[] 3[]
Consequences:
Mild (2):
Moderate (4):
Severe (6):

Skills:
Good (+3): Investigate
Fair (+2): Empathy, Notice
Average (+1): Will, Stealth, Rapport

Name: Anthony
A popular guy who's looking to follow his parents into politics, he's in some student leadership positions already. Pretty much an average student in other respects.


Name: Chloe
Chloe has a very bubbly and outgoing personality that makes her well suited to making friends, easily making her one of the most popular kids in the academy. She's a bit of a rumor monger and also is part of the field hockey team.


Name: Hannah
A strange artistic girl who usually forgoes paying much attention in classes in favor of drawing in her notebook, for what its worth she is pretty good but that doesn't stop the teachers from constantly scolding her. She can be a bit lethargic when it comes to doing work and attempting to get her to increase her pace is far more trouble than its worth.


Name: Kevin
One of the few to get to the academy by academic achievement, Kevin's a bit isolated from the rest of the class ignoring contact in order to focus on studying. It goes without saying that he's the best student in your class, aiming to get into some of the best universities in the world.


Name: Lauren
Lauren is an introverted girl and is by most accounts just an average student, she's apparently a fan of MMO games which might explain how little you see of her outside of class. Only other thing of note is that she's permanently excused from P.E. for some sort of health reasons.


Name: Lenny
The biggest guy in your class, and maybe the entire academy, he's by and large a silent fellow doing a little below average in class and not paying too much attention to the popularity game. He's from Texas and his parents are owners of an oil company.


Name: Oscar
A wiry exchange student from Peru usually seen with a mischievous smile, he hangs out in the back of the class with Lenny and occasionally hits on the girls. He doesn't talk much about what his parents do but apparently they're very important in his home country.


Name: Priya
The daughter of an Indian entrepreneur who immigrated to the US and made it big creating and selling start-up tech companies. She's pretty shy and avoids confrontation with most people opting instead o focus on her studies, making her one of the better students in your class.


Name: Sharon
A really hyperactive and tomboyish classmate who loves playing sports. Her personality can be brusque and blunt as a hammer but her success on the field still makes her relatively popular. Her mother is apparently a congresswoman from a neighboring state.

Born in the UK to a family of Indian Descent, Tanya has spent most of the life in the company of her twin brother Max. The more athletically inclined of the two, Tanya has taken the role of the elder sibling, looking after Max despite his habits of getting into trouble. This protective tendancy was reinforced by their arrival in the unfamiliar surroundings of America several years ago when their parents migrated across the Atlantic.

Tanya's athletic tendencies became more obvious as she aged, taking part in every form of sport she encountered, from Baseball to Judo, Football to Tennis, Hockey to Archery, with the same easy grace. This quickly became noticeable after her arrival in St. Iggy's; as within six months she had found a place on practically every sports team in the school. However, the event that truly cemented her claim to being the schools leading Athlete was her involvement in the close-fought hockey game with rival school St. Cull's. Scoring twice in the second half of the game, she proved instrumental in their eventual victory, which slingshotted her up the social ladder.

More importantly in her eyes, the game was a bonding moment with fellow team members Chloe and Sharon. Before that, Tanya had struggled to make friends, the reserved manner she had obtained growing up being perceived by the local kids as stand-offish and unfriendly. Brought together by their co-operation on the field however, the three became quick friends and began to hang out together on a regular basis, with Tanya providing a voice of restraint to the other more impulsive girls.

With the arrival of the new year, Tanya made the unexpected choice of joining the paranormal club. Exactly what prompted her to this decision is the subject of some discussion amongst the rest of the students, especially given the clubs less-than-stellar reputation. During club time Tanya seems to spend most of her time devoting herself to schoolwork, although she is often distracted observing the antics of the club's various other members.

Omega124 said:

Order one: Seeing as they already met and both disavow schoolwork and authority, I see Maddy instantly drawing herself towards Alice. Therefore, Maddy will make arrangments to meet up with Alice afterschool.

Order two: The other person I see Maddy trying to get in contact with in more is Chloe. Since Maddy was always the social butterfly in her old circle of friends, she'd probably would find her outgoing, friend-making antics to be welcoming.

Order Three: While making new friends are important to Maddy at the moment, she knows she's not exactly the brighest girl on the street, and this classwork is soooooo much harder than her old school was. She realizes she's going to have to put in more effort to get the same grades she got back at home. Therefore, she'll study for the upcoming test.

Click to expand...

Meeting up with Alice after school is a simple enough task to accomplish, she spends most of her free time outside of her dorm on a bench right at the edge of the school grounds by the forest with a tablet and a newspaper, the difficult part was trying to find anything to do with her.

"So... are you sure you don't want to do anything? Anything at all?" you ask for the umpteenth time, by this point the long blunt you had rolled up was almost used up entirely. As a stoner you could easily respect just wanting to relax and not do anything strenuous, but Alice seemed about as good for that as brick wall.

"I'm good." She quips while keeping her eyes glued to her paper.

The problem you assumed, came from the fact that while although Alice seemed a lot like you at first glance there were a couple of key differences that were giving you trouble. The most obvious was that unlike you, Alice was hardly an outgoing person which was making the direct approach to making friends rather ineffective. In fact if anything she seemed much more guarded here than when she was in the club, barely talking beyond two word responses to your questions. While you were a rebel against mainstream society you still didn't try to exist outside of it like Alice was apparently trying to do isolated away at the edge of the campus.

Still, you were determined and at this point trying to crack Alice's barrier of nonchalance had become something of a challenge. If the direct approach wasn't working you'd have to switch to more subversive means.

"...What are you doing Maddy?"

"Just setting up a game of checkers, its a pretty easy game to play without having to pay much attention." You explain while moving the first piece up.

Alice stares at you silently for a moment before shrugging and moving one of the pieces on her side. Smiling you begin to play the board game in general silence, while Alice is surprisingly good at the game she isn't as good as you are and soon you manage to draw the majority of her attention towards the game as she is put on the back foot. It's good to know that you're still able to make friends at this new school, but Alice alone is hardly going to cover your socialization needs.

Chloe on the other hand is a different story, making new friends is much more easier when they're willing to meet your efforts halfway, and you soon find yourself included into her group. Talking to her you soon find yourself whisked back to that old style of just hanging out with friends and talking about whatever came to mind first. Being able to form that foundation of normalcy after being thrown into an entirely new school, and especially after the occurrences of the first paranormal club meeting, is rather therapeutic and makes you feel much more relaxed and at peace. Now if only Chloe would hang out a little further from the school so you could be able to smoke some weed without being at constant risk of getting caught.

Gained: [+2 Empathy, +2 Will] These are one use boosts that you may apply to a roll next mission.

Red_Spy said:

1. Continuously pester Alice about the events of the "first" club meeting prior to Robin waking up in a house in the middle of the woods with people he barely knows. Continue to pester even after full story is learned.

2. Mary Anne seems like a friendly enough person to interact with new kids. At the very least she seems to be the most likely, judging from the description.

3. Start looking into the history of the school. When it was founded, by who, and any other notable early events.

Click to expand...

The school was founded way back in 1750, when Rhode Island was still a colony by more traditional Protestant clergymen who came to the state to get away from the more extreme Puritans in nearby colonies. It initially served students of all ages as an academy to prepare them to go to the few universities in the new world at the time such as Harvard, then New College, which was in neighboring Massachusetts Bay Colony. The only real event of note in the school's history was in 1815 when the clergymen who ran the school transferred over most of the decision making to a board of governors who were picked from families that had donated the most to the school.

By pestering Alice you are brought up to speed on how the club initially went out looking for a place they could call a club room with all the spots having been taken. Apparently you were the one that lead them to the strange house, and when they entered they found a dead man inside. You lost your memories when you were attacked by a man who was exiting the house from up the stairs, who exerted some sort of control over very odd smoke. After you inhaled some of it you were out like a light, and the rest is history. A pretty far fetched tale but then again so is having your arm catch on fire by touching a bubble.


"So, I heard you was new to St. Iggy's, I reckon that makes me part of the welcoming party then."

It turns out you didn't have to try very hard to interact with Mary Anne, as a new student to the school you've attracted the young journalist's attention rather quickly.

"The name's Mary Anne, most people just call me by one or th'other though so you don't gotta bother with sayin' the whole thing."

"Hi, I'm Robin. Nice to meet you." You greet her cordially. After the events of the first paranormal club meeting it is refreshing to be able to talk to someone separated from the whole mess.

"About time they started sending more guys into this school. Lemme tell ya, playing musical chairs when it comes to gettin a partner for a dance ain't fun for nobody but the guys." you can see Mary Anne's friendly smile disappear into an analytical face eying you up "buuut you seem like more than a pair of dancing legs. Real shame Alice snatched you up before I could wrangle you into joining the journalism club, we could always use new members to help with making the school newspaper. Can't accept defeat yet though, just because she got a head start doesn't mean we're out of the running yet."

"Well, I don't think there's a rule that says I can't join more than one club. Unless you and Alice have something going on..." you feel a bit awkward, as an outsider to the school you didn't have much of a clue as to the ins and outs of who's rivals with who.

She laughs "Oh I'm just messin with ya. Probably. Things are usually pretty dull around here so you gotta learn to look for the excitement in whatever we can get. Anyways where was I? Ah yeah, welcoming party. So I guess it's my responsibility to give you a tour of the place."

"Oh, I've already done that during orientation day." you explain but Mary Anne just wags her finger at you.

"No no, you've seen the school they've dressed up all nice for all y'all new students and the parents. No one around to get in the way of it being such a pretty school. But now that you're here you need to get a proper tour of the place where you'll be living, know what kind of company hangs out where so you can be sure you'll know what kind of friends your chosin."

Before Mary's so much as finished her explanation you find yourself dragged off by the hand as she walks you through the school pointing out where which cliques hang out, places students go after class and on the weekends, and urban legends about the place. The tour takes up nearly the entire day but you can't help but feel you got something out of the trip, at the end Mary Anne invites you to drop by the journalism club if you ever want to talk.

Gained: [+2 Notice] This is a one off boost you can use to add onto a roll next mission.

KaiserElectric said:

1. Study
2. Research anything to do with that weird time-traveling house we got stuck in.
3. Hang out with Mary Anne a bit. She seems nice.

Click to expand...

You do what research you can into the house, fortunately for you there aren't many abandoned houses around the woods in Providence. Unfortunately for you there isn't much easy to access information on those houses either. From what you were able to gather it was a manor belonging to a Loyalist family during the revolutionary war, after the family left as the war concluded the land was bought by a family from Salem that fled the witch trials. You cant exactly tell what happened to the family after that bit but apparently their troubles followed them into Rhode Island and they ended up losing the house.


"So, I heard you was new to St. Iggy's, I reckon that makes me part of the welcoming party then."

It turns out you didn't have to try very hard to interact with Mary Anne, as a new student to the school you've attracted the young journalist's attention rather quickly.

"The name's Mary Anne, most people just call me by one or th'other though so you don't gotta bother with sayin' the whole thing."

"H-hello, I'm Sydney..." you mumble out in a tiny voice, most introverts weren't that good at introductions and you certainly weren't bucking the trend there.

"Well don't you look like the cutest thing! It sure is nice having some more girls in the class," you can see Mary Anne's friendly smile disappear into an analytical face eying you up "buuut you know what they say about the quiet ones... You fixin to cause some juicy scandals for me to cover while you're here Sydney?"

"S-sc-scandals?" you can hardly believe the forwardness of the dixie girl.

She laughs "Oh I'm just messin with ya. Probably. Things are usually pretty dull around here so you gotta learn to look for the excitement in whatever we can get. Anyways where was I? Ah yeah, welcoming party. So I guess it's my responsibility to give you a tour of the place."

"Oh, I've already done that during orientation day." you explain but Mary Anne just wags her finger at you.

"No no, you've seen the school they've dressed up all nice for all y'all new students and the parents. No one around to get in the way of it being such a pretty school. But now that you're here you need to get a proper tour of the place where you'll be living, know what kind of company hangs out where so you can be sure you'll know what kind of friends your chosin."

Before Mary's so much as finished her explanation you find yourself dragged off by the hand as she walks you through the school pointing out where which cliques hang out, places students go after class and on the weekends, and urban legends about the place. The tour takes up nearly the entire day but you can't help but feel you got something out of the trip, at the end Mary Anne invites you to drop by the journalism club if you ever want to see how they go about investigating stories.

Gained: [+2 Notice] This is a one off boost you can use to add onto a roll next mission.

Celticfury said:

Order 1: Study for Test

Order 2: Interact with Chloe. Try to emulate Tanya by performing some impressive athletic feat.

Order 3: Attempt to match Tanya's best time in track during the evening, when the area is not in use.

Click to expand...

One thing that didn't much change from the UK to the US was physical education, some 5000 kilometers and it was still the most miserable time of the day where you had to get all grimy and sweaty for no purpose whatsoever. Only difference was in the US the sky didn't even have the damn decency to be overcast most days so it was hot on top all of it, but at least you were inside today. Today it was decided that you'd be splitting off into groups to do some workouts with the climbing rope and shortly you found yourself in a group with Chloe.

The blonde was quick to wave you over with a smile "Hey Tivra, don't see you much outside of Tanya's games. How's it going?"

"Oh-- well you know, it's going..." that was awkward, why couldn't Americans just make small talk about the weather instead of pseudo-personal questions?

Thankfully Chloe seemed to be pleased with just about any type of response and was quick to retake control of the conversation and the two of you proceeded to talk about your summers and some of the new kids that had shown up this year. Chloe seemed in particular interested about the new kids who joined the paranormal club and what you guys did, you managed to skillfully skirt around those questions though.

"Oh looks like its almost our turn for the rope." exclaims Chloe drawing your attention back to the task at hand, "You're sis's still got the best time on that at 50 seconds, Sharon and I've been trying to win that spot back. For America of course." /laughs

You stare up the rope which is connected to the ceiling, it seems pretty intimidating but if those girls can do it in such a short time why cant you? It'd be a great opportunity to impress the class and your sister. Setting your mind to it you walk up to the rope and flex your boney hands, it doesn't occur to you that your body might not be the best suited for this type of work out.

Jumping on to the rope you nearly fall off as it swings under your weight, hardly able to get a grip with your feet you attempt to pull yourself up by your arms. However your lack of upper-body strength quickly comes back to haunt you as you find yourself unable to do much more than put one hand over the other. A burning feeling in your hands comes as you swing back in the opposite direction like a pendulum and you find yourself grasping air as you fall and hit the back of your head against the mats on the floor.

Slightly stunned for a second you manage to put yourself back into a sitting position, excusing yourself with an "I-I need to go to the restroom." before the others can get a good look at your face which is burning with embarrassment.

You lay low for the rest of the day avoiding looking at anyone directly and hoping that no one would ever mention the incident with the rope to you. Promising to make up the embarrassment to yourself you find yourself at the track later in the evening, creeping as quietly as you can so as not to attract any attention you make your way to the empty stadium. Switching to a pair of running shoes you stretch for a second before going up to one of the many lines drawn on the track.

Trying to match Tanya's time for two laps on the track can't be that difficult, all you have to do is will yourself to keep running and you can power through it. As you take off from the starting position you feel confidence coming back to you, full of energy and drive you pumped your feet hard and dashed across the first 100 meters with good time. But as you began to round the track you could feel a burning feeling building up in your calves, halfway across the first loop your side begins to cramp up and getting enough oxygen to keep up your pace is becoming very difficult. As you reach the halfway point in your goal you find yourself wanting to call it quits, surely this was good enough. No need to further subject your body to torture in order to prove something when no one's watching right? Still you some how manage to keep pushing yourself, telling yourself that the end was just around the next few steps right until you reached the line.

Nearly collapsing you check your time, many minutes behind your sister. Groaning you feel a bitter taste in the back of your throat, all in all today was a thoroughly terrible day. A prickling feeling began to build up on the back of your neck and you turn around, fearing that someone had been there to witness you. Thankfully for what remained of your ego that day the stadium was mercifully empty, picking up your stuff you began to head back to your dorm.

Gained: [+2 Physique] This is a one off boost you can use to add onto a roll next mission.

Dem Taqat said:

Action 1: Studying. Tanya works her way steadily through the initial rush of homework, and skims through some of her notes to make sure she understands everything.
Action 2: Interaction with Sharon. Tanya goes to hockey practice with Sharon and Chloe, pushing herself harder than usual after feeling inadequate in the events of the paranormal club.
Action 3: Interaction with Chloe. After hockey the three girls hang out together. Tanya lets Chloe do a lot of the talking, and concentrates on enjoying the other's company and trying to forget all the weirdness that happened a few days ago.

Click to expand...

"Centering!"

"I got this shot!"

"No! This one's mine!"

You push your legs to your limits as you overtake Chloe and aggressively smash the puck with your stick sending it rocketing into the opposing net. Unfortunately the shot is lacking in precision and ricochets off the pole, allowing one of the opposing defenders to take possession and drive the puck up the field.

"What the hell Tanya? I had Chloe lined up for that shot." gripes Sharon as she moves back to the center field.

"I thought I had a better shot. Sorry." You retort keeping a watchful eye as your defense tries to repel the opposing team.

This wasn't working at all, the events from the last paranormal club meeting were fresh in your mind and were affecting your judgment. You weren't feeling too pleased about it, but you had to channel those feelings productively so long as you were still on the field. Already you can see the defense retaking control of the puck and beginning to pass towards your side of the field. Distancing yourself from what happened yesterday you clear your mind and grit your teeth, keeping clear of the defense you made sure to make yourself open for a pass.

One of the defenders passes it back your way and you find yourself on the attack again. This time you focus your mind as you charge up field, scanning for weaknesses in the defense. An opportunity presents itself as the defense begins to overcommit too many people to try and block you leaving Sharon clear on the other side of the field. Shooting the puck between the legs of the defender in front of you, you quickly maneuver around them and pass to Sharon who sends the puck flying soundly into the net.

"Time out! Good scrimmage girls."

Breathing a sigh you sling your hockey-stick over your shoulders and walk over to the bleachers with Sharon and Chloe. The latter of whom seems happy to fill up your part in the conversation as you sit back and relax. Apparently the first cooking club meeting went very well, the new freshmen members were "way more annoying than we were back then" but beyond that all was well and good. Hannah and Lauren were still being anti-social, Oscar was still getting Lenny into mischief, Mary Anne was getting to know the quiet new students. All in all, it was nice to be back with your friends where everything made sense and you didn't have to deal with dead bodies, time travel, or weird men with guns.

Gained: [+2 Athletics, +2 Contacts] These are one off boosts you can use to add onto a roll next mission.

1. prolly study more
2. hang out with alice more
3. talk to hannah

Click to expand...

You study, cramming for the upcoming exams.

***

You meet up with Alice again at what has become your semi-regular lunch spot on the bench at the edge of the school grounds. Over the course of the meetings Alice has slowly become less guarded with you, not by much but you've got her speaking in full sentences now. When you get there you see Alice finishing off a cup of yogurt and reading something on her tablet.

"Hey Alice, ready for another rematch?" You ask as you set the fold up board down on the table.

"Five losses, ten ties, three victories." Alice recites nodding.

You feel a slight wince of disappointment at the reminder that you're only barely keeping the lead in your games, if it weren't for Alice choosing such a remote place where you'd be sure to take the opportunity to get high you're sure that you'd be dominating the games. As it is your effectiveness tends to go down the longer you play, but you're not about to let a competitive streak get in the way of having fun and playing chess with Alice buzzed is better than sober. Rolling up a blunt you set up your side of the board and fish in your pockets for your lighter.

"How do you deal with it?" Asks Alice as she moves her first piece.

"What?" you mumble at the out of the blue question.

"Well you guys just got your life's changed because of that 'snow', and the only one of you who seems bothered by it is Max." Alice explains while tapping her fingers against the bench as she watches your move.

You lean back for a second and look up at the clouds while you think about her question "Well... I guess I'm fine with it because it isn't hurting me; if it doesn't hurt me then I can learn live with it. Besides, I can become a goddamn rocket, how cool is that?"

"Pretty cool I guess." Alice says flatly keeping her eyes focused on the game.

"So. Would you not be happy if you got these powers forced on you?" You ask after a moment of silence broken only by the tapping and scraping of plastic pieces against the board.

"I'm pretty used to not being in control of my life." she responds dryly, but you notice her demeanor change the second the words come out of her mouth as if instantly regretting it. You know enough about dealing with people to know that it's a bad idea to press her on this right now, it seems that Alice still isn't fully comfortable around you outside of club activities. Instead you put your focus on the game as you capture more pieces and eventually for her to capitulate.

***

Hanging out with Hannah goes much more smoothly as you quickly learn that the artist girl is kindred spirit when it comes to 'trees'. Upon learning that you usually get stoned by smoking she immediately decides that it is her duty to introduce you to hash brownies and enlists your help in making them.

"So how'd you get into this in the first place?" Hannah asks in her quiet voice.

"Well, I had this friend Nina back in my old school who got into it before I did. So when we'd hang out I'd see her smoking and decided to give it a try, it was pretty nice until I got caught." you explain while cracking open some eggs.

"Mmm, yeah it's always better to get high with a friend." Hannah nods "Not a lot of stoners in St. Iggy's, everyone's too straight-laced for that."

"Tell me about it." You snort as you recall the majority of your class.

"So you still keep in touch with Nina after you got busted? Or did they get her too?"

"Nah, just me. I still see her on facebook but it's not really the same hanging out online as in person."

You pause for a moment as you think about your response, between the excitement of the Paranormal Club and your new circle of friends it's been a while since you've really missed Nina and all your friends back home. While you feel kinda bad about how quickly you've been able to move on, your new life has been keeping you busy between tests and club activities. And as such you've had little time to sulk over how suddenly you were ripped away from your old life, even now pausing to reflect about it just makes you feel troubled in your stomach.

The brownies get put into the dorm oven and Hannah sets them to bake before turning back to you "So, umm, if you want we could watch a couple of movies I got downloaded on my computer, it's mostly anime."

"A movie sounds great." You say as the opportunity to distract yourself presents itself.

Gained: [+2 Empathy, +2 Craft] This is a one use boost that you can apply to a roll next mission.

1. Start looking up information on the internet about these paladins of George III. Though if anything is found I would be

quite surprised.
2. Start bugging Alice into making the Paranormal Club actually more focused on what its supposed to be about, given the

recent happenings. (NPC)
3. Pay very close attention to the scales over the management orders duration. Mainly focused on seeing if and when they

go away, though if they change in any way that should be noted to. If they do go away, note down how long it took, whether

that be hours or days.

Click to expand...

Despite all of your efforts to search you can't find anything relating to paladins connected to George III or the English monarchy in general. You did learn that the paladins were originally a group of warriors under Charlemagne who fought against the invading Islamic Caliphate.

***

"Come on, we gotta do something other than just sitting around doing nothing!"

Alice looks up from her yogurt snack and gives you a flat look, you had managed to track her down at lunch at a bench at the edge of school grounds.

"What are you talking about Robin?"

"Well given that those cultists have been kidnapping people and we got weird powers and dreams recently, we should be investigating this more. We're the paranormal club after all!" You explain waving your scaled arm for emphasis.

"I don't know if you forgot about the whole almost dying part or enjoyed it, either way that little part is a bit important to me. Just a bit." Alice retorts as she continues eating.

"But what about those sacrifices we saw earlier? Those people are going around killing others, we can't just ignore that!"

"...If people's lives are at risk and the rest of the club is going I'd go too. But I'm not about to put everyone's lives in danger when we don't have to. That'd be irresponsible."

"But-"

"Robin, I understand that you're excited about all of this, probably more than anyone else, but you're asking me to deliberately put us in danger when we don't have to. Plus you're the only one who was changed to be more durable than the rest of us." Alice sighs and looks you in the eye again "If you really want to go investigating these cultists without us I can't stop you, but I can tell you to be careful. No one knows how safe those changes will keep you and there are worse things than getting physically hurt."

You sigh and go back to the main school grounds, it seemed like she wasn't going to budge on the issue any time soon. Still you can't say that the time arguing with Alice was entirely wasted.

Gained: [+2 Empathy] This is a one use boost that you may apply to a roll next mission.

***

You pay attention to your scales and, to your increasing horror, they show no inclination of going anywhere. Hiding them with long sleeves and bandage wrappings you have to make do in order not to scare anyone about it.

1. Study study study
2. Experiment with my powers a bit, seeing what I can clone and seeing how long the clones that I create last.
3. Mary Anne

Click to expand...

You study, cramming for the upcoming exams like most of the other students. Unlike them you have much more ease memorizing the material.

***

While experimenting your powers you discover two things: The first is that you can only clone one thing at a time, it would seem that during the all of the heticness of discovering that most of the club had obtained powers the fact that some of the items you were making had been disappearing escaped your Notice. The second thing being that, as far as you could see in the days that passed, your cloned items seemed to last for an indefinite period of time. They could still be broken normally in that time period but they stayed around until you made another one.

***

"Sydney! How nice of you to drop by again." greets Mary Anne from her corner of the journalism clubroom.

You give her a small smile and hurry past all the other club members to her side.

"How are you doing today?" you ask

"Aw, as good as ya can be before a test." Mary Anne shakes her head "People always do less work on the newspaper when a test's right about to come up which means the few of us that really care get stuck picking up the slack. Don't worry your pretty head though, we've got a killer story coming up."

"Oh really?" you ask, curious as to what the Dixie girl could be hiding.

"Yep," she nods contently "rumor is that some people have been going missing around these parts lately. It's done got the police all wound up about what's been happening."

Your mind instantly flashes back to the forest clearing where you saw the sacrifices being rounded up by the cultist. You shiver as you recall how close some of your fellow club members came to being added to that number when they attacked one of the cultists and again when Tanya disrupted the ritual.

Apparently your shiver was visible to Mary Anne who immediately starts trying to comfort you about the disappearances "Don't worry though! We're safe as can be here in St. Iggy's, the disappearances have only been happening to people in the bad parts of Providence who were out late at night. There's no need to worry about someone here going missing at all."

"Right, of course." you say giving her what you hope is a confident smile. It seems to placate Mary Anne at least.

"Well, if you want to help you could start with helping me look up some information on the story then. Got to see if there's anyone nearby who might be connected to one of the missing people that we could interview for our story. I'm going to be checking to see what scraps the police have been feeding the news about the investigation."

You nod and move to a computer where you pull up a list of the missing people and begin to set about helping Mary Anne.

Gained: [+2 Investigate] This is a one off boost that you can use on a roll next mission.

Order 1: Study, and try to ignore the questions that will likely emerge from Helen.

Order 2: Ask Mary Anne (the girl who writers for the school paper) if she can find any information on a former student by the name of Helen Smith. Tell Mary that the Helen probably lived a long time ago, maybe a century ago. If asked why I need this info, make up an excuse that doesn’t sound too crazy.

Order 3: Start looking up information about ghosts, specifically: how to prevent/ward off possession; ways to ward off ghosts themselves; why ghosts are such stuck up blighters. Be vigilant and try to avoid letting Helen see what you are doing.

Click to expand...

First action was dealt with on steam. Helen's academic cheating assistance acquired.

***

"Well I reckon I could look in some of the old class yearbooks and papers, the name strikes me as familiar for some reason, but you owe me big time for this'un Max."

"Right, right, of course." You say as you take a quick glance to make sure that Helen hadn't followed you here. It'd be rather awkward to explain how you were looking her up when she was right next to you all the time.

"Well you'll have to give me some time so check back after the test rolls around. Gotta focus on my grades first after all." says Mary Anne waving you off as she begins typing into her computer.

***

"AHAHAHAHA!! You look like an insane hobo!" cackles Helen as she doubles over poking you in the forehead.

You're attempts to look up ways to prevent possession are a failure, a miserable, miserable failure. Having nearly no experience dealing with researching paranormal creatures and shifting through what is fact and what is fiction you decided to go for the shotgun method of finding a way to ward off ghosts. The end result is you covered in icons of various religious denominations, a necklace of garlic, legs bent in a lotus position, holding a burning candle in one hand and three sticks of incense in the other all while butchering a Buddhist chant.

Gritting your teeth you feel your face becoming flush due to embarrassment. You blow out the candles and immediately switch into face-saving mode mumbling about how it wasn't your fault the damn websites didn't check their facts and that it was at least worth a shot. Unfortunately the jingling of all of your accessories sends Helen into another fit of giggles. It would seem your searches for a solution to the ghost problem would be better spent going to experts about the occult.

Dem Taqat said:

Action 1: Research the Coloured Fog. Alice seems to know a bit about the paranormal; maybe she'll have some ideas about what this stuff we keep encountering is, or at least some suggestions about where else to look for information.
Action 2: Obtain a Weapon. The paranormal club has been endangered in every one of their meetings so far; and that is not a good statistic. Time for Tanya to call on her contacts in and experience with martial arts to get herself some simple blunt weapon to take on their adventures; some sort of stick or club should do the trick.
Action 3: Studying. Tanya distracts herself from her other worries with work; after all, there is a test coming up and she needs to prepare as best she can.

Hopefully those all work. I'm fairly sure action 3 is acceptable at least.

DT

Click to expand...

"Why do you think I'd know anything about what those cultists were using?" asks Alice defensively when you decide to ask her about the yellow fog. She didn't seem to be in the happiest of moods when you cornered her at lunch judging by her glare over her bottle of milk.

"Well, you do seem like the closest person we have to an expert on the paranormal so I'd have the best chance asking you if you knew anything about it or where to start looking." You explain, attempting to ease any feathers you might have ruffled.

"In case you haven't noticed paranormal is called that because it isn't supposed to be real, any source that may be reliable is pretty much indistinguishable from a hobo rants about." Alice huffs "And the categories 'yellow' and 'fog' are more than a little vague for me to work with."

"Alright, alright. You got nothing, I get the message." You say backing off, it would seem that this line of investigation had failed.

"...Jangchi. There's nothing to prove that it is that but it could be. I barely know anything about it though, and doing research on some old Chinese myths is agonizingly slow. If you really want to know more about it then drop by my dorm whenever you have time again." Alice grumbles before downing her glass of milk and returning to her meal.

Well it looks like that's all you're going to get for now.

---

Managing to get your hands on a weapon was no easy task as even blunt sparing weapons can be expensive to acquire. Thankfully after twisting a few arms and calling in more than a few favors one of your teammates who practices martial arts came through for you.

Unwrapping the package reveals a wooden sword, or bokken as the girl had called it, a very simple one at that lacking a crossguard or any embellishments. Still you suppose it is far better than nothing.

Weapon: Sword Mk 0
Name: N/a
Aspect: Training Weapon - The bokken is a weapon meant to teach beginners how to wield a sword (+1 Fight when attacking)
Aspect: Old Red Oak - ???

---

Your plans to study go as planned. It feels oddly calming to be doing something as normal as studying, and makes you feel more relaxed and prepared for the upcoming tests.

Action 1: Research With Alice - Alice sounded like she had some ideas about this smoke those guys were throwing around, I

should check up to see if there's anything new she can tell me. It might even be related to my orbs somehow, I seem to

recall them looking a bit similar.
Action 2: Catalouge the Colours - These orbs should make understanding people a lot easier, but I'll need to figure out

what each of the colours means to get there. After what happened to Sydney, I want to know which emotions I'm adjusting

ahead of time, just in case.
Action 3: Get Help from Hannah - Hannah seems like the crafty type, I should try asking her to help with making a way to

carry this Bokken I got. I bet it would get in the way a lot less if it was on my back, and I'm not so good with a needle

I want to try making something like that on my own.

Click to expand...

Checking up with Alice again during one of the more mundane club meetings you get a date agreed to for when you will do further study on the smoke or Jangchi as she called it. Finally a few days before the exam you receive a knock on your door, opening it reveals an impressively large stack of books that almost conceal Alice behind them.

"If you could help bring some of these in that'd be great." she mumbles from behind the stack.

After you help her get accommodated in the room you take a closer look at some of the books Alice brought in. There's a lot of old decrepit tombs that would have given librarians an aneurysm from the state that they were in, you can barely read half the titles on the spines of the books. Opening one at random you notice that the actual pages of the book are in much better condition than their covers would suggest.

"You can start with that one, it's one of the few non-occult sources, from a missionary that spent quite a bit of time in Southern China so you'll want to focus on that part of the journal. You should be able to find some reference to Jangchi or poison air in there." Directs Alice as she pulls another book from the top of the pile.

"We're gonna have to read through all these books?" You ask dubiously as you size up the pile of books.

"I told you it wasn't going to be fun," your companion states "but there's barely any worthwhile sources online so this is the only way we're going to get much out of it."

Many long hours of reading through some of the driest most dense text you have ever seen at least has resulted in allowing you to glean a few pieces of valuable information. The first thing that you are able to establish is that the cultists were probably manipulating Jangchi as it fits the bill of yellow fog that can cause memory loss among other nasty mental effects to those who breath it in like loss of senses, severe head pain, and temporary insanity. In local myth the fog is mostly regarded as a natural phenomena so you don't get any information on people wielding it as a tool. You did however learn that ancient remedies to the fog usually came in the form of filling the air with smoke and incense to overpower it.

***

You set aside a page in one of your class notebooks to catalog the colors of orbs you see as you go around your day to day activities. What with tests coming up soon there seems to be quite a few purple fear orbs around people.

Purple - Fear
Red - Anger
Grey - Annoyance
Yellow - Curiosity/Confusion
Blue - Sadness
White - Excitement
Maroon - Embarrassment
Silver - Confidence
Gold - Joy
Brown - Boredom
Pink - Lust
Indigo - Love
Green - Disgust
Black - Hatred
Rainbow (cube only) - No ing clue

***

"Fine, fine. I'll make you a sack for that stick if you stop bothering me, but you'll have to buy me coffee for a week. Just let me get some measurements first." grumbles Hannah after you finally succeeded in wearing her down, it almost seemed like it was hopeless but you managed to bribe her in the end.

As one of the jocks of the class you never really got to know a quiet introvert like Hannah all that well so getting a sheath for free was out of the question. Still you were able to turn on the charm enough to get what you wanted and a few days later Hannah hands you the sheath in question, made out of cloth it has a strap for you to carry it on your back and the mouth has a few strings that you can tie shut if you chose to.

[Modifier: -1 to your Resource rolls for the next mission.]

Omega124 said:

Spend two rounds studying, one for hangng with Alice

Click to expand...

Studying

***

Studying Part 2: Return of the textbooks

***

Again you find yourself eating lunch with Alice by the edge of the forest. The club president has a frown on her face when you see her sitting at the bench.

"Something wrong Alice?" you ask as you take a seat beside her.

"No, no. Nothing wrong yet." she responds while dumping some corn flakes into her yogurt.

"Yet? That doesn't sound too convincing." you say while preparing a small blunt for yourself. The police have been more active around the school than usual making it much harder to replenish your supplies of weed forcing you to have to ration yourself.

"Let's just say I have a bad feeling that things are only going to be getting worse soon." Alice mutters while turning towards you, "C'mon let's just get this game going."

You shrug but comply and begin to set up the board between the two of you. "Sure, but if you want to talk about it I'm here you know. Us outsiders gotta stick together you know?"

A silence hangs in the air between the two of you for a moment interrupted only by the clacking of the plastic pieces against the cheap board.

"...It's just that Tanya almost got herself killed a while back, and it looks like we're not going to get a choice about getting involved deeper with these cultists. I guess I'm just worried about what might happen next, so... just be careful alright?"

A smile creeps across your face "That's it? You don't gotta worry about a thing, I'm an expert in being careful, otherwise I'd have been caught plenty more times."

"...Thanks." mutters Alice while she moves another piece, you manage to see in her body language that she has calmed down a bit.

Gained: [+2 Empathy] This is a one use boost that you can apply to a roll next mission.

Red_Spy said:

1. Bug Alice over the [management order duration] for information about what he missed/why someone was shot/other things of that nature.

2. Apply ice pack directly to scales. Observe result.

3. Maybe failing is not something he wants to do. Let's study, just this once.

Click to expand...

"Alice! Why is everyone saying that Sydney went crazy and tried to kill Tanya?"

Alice sighs as looks at up at you from the bench where you managed to find her "Because they are wrong mostly."

"Well I thought it was pretty odd that she would have shot someone but what actually happened? You were there right?"

"The cultist that Tanya and Max beat up from earlier managed to hunt us down. He didn't seemed to pleased about her killing some of his friends when she messed up the ritual so he went in for round 2 with us and brought a gun to shoot her up with this time. Max and Tanya were able to put up a pretty good fight though and held him off long enough for that old man you saw in your first dream to show up and interrupt the fight. He was some creepy skeleton dude who told us to stop interfering and to quit working with the paladins, then I guess he left Tanya for dead and went away with the cultist."

"But what about Sydney's finger prints being on the gun?"

"During the fight Sydney managed to grab the gun and she threatened the cultist with it. I guess we didn't think to get rid of it while we were in such a hurry to help stabilize Tanya. Thankfully between what we told the police and the fact that the cultist's fingerprints were still on the gun she didn't get charged with anything."

"But the rumor still got out that she tried to kill Tanya?"

"Pretty much."

Gained: [+2 Empathy] This is a one use boost that you may apply to a roll next mission.

***

You put ice against the scales and feel the familiar burning sensation that the cold ice has against regular skin as it saps away your heat. However the cold ice doesn't seem to be doing enough damage to your body to provoke a change nor does it show any sign of causing the scales to recede at all.

***

Studying

KaiserElectric said:

1. Study!
2. Research the figure from my dreams who appeared as a skeleton. See if he has any connections to the missing people.
3. Keep working with Mary Ann and the journalism club!

Click to expand...

Studying

***

Your investigation into the disappearances produces no connection to a walking skeleton, surprisingly. Although you do begin to see some patterns in the disappearances, from what you can tell they seem to be concentrated in the north side of Providence. Perhaps with some more investigation you would be able to narrow down a likely area of operation of the cultists

***

You decide to spend some more time with Mary Anne and the journalism club. After the events of the last club meeting you've been having to deal with the quickly spreading rumors that Tanya was attacked by you. Having left the cultist's gun behind with your fingerprints on it caused you to attract more than a bit of unwanted attention after the club took Tanya to get professional medical attention but thanks to their testimonies and the fact that the gun still had some of the cultist's finger prints on it you were spared being charged with anything.

Still that didn't stop the school from spreading around rumors that you did it to your great discomfort. You were slightly worried that Mary Anne would have also heard the rumors as well, already some of the club members were glancing in your direction when they thought you weren't looking.

"Well if it ain't the the gal everyone's talking about! You wouldn't believe half the things people been saying." greets Mary Anne from her usual spot in the club room.

"H-hello Mary... I guess it was too much to hope that you didn't hear about that." you mutter.

"Nothing get's past me" claims Mary Anne wagging her finger "I also heard how the people who were there said you didn't do it. And if you ask me its a damn fool thing to think that a girl like you could go and shoot a friend."

"Thanks Mary, that means a lot given how most of the school has been acting."

She waves you off "Everyone else is just getting all excited because those disappearances have gotten folks on edge. Best we start focusing on our story and everything will blow over. So how has your investigation going? I managed to find someone who was a neighbor of one of the missing peoples."

"Well... I managed to find out that most of those disappearances have been going on in the north part of town."

"A good start!" The Dixie girl praises "That's more than the police have released so far. And it makes sense since the interviewee is located there as well. I figure that after I go to Rodger Williams Park to do the interview we should have enough material for the story, if you can dig anything else up that would be great."

"You're actually heading to the part of town where the disappearances have been happening?" You ask with a hint of worry in your tone.

"Aw don't worry you're head about it, it's not like everyone who lives there is in constant danger. I'll be fine." placates Mary Anne.

Gained: [+2 Notice] This is a one use boost that you can apply to a roll next mission.

Celticfury said:

Order 1:After admitting that yes, I may have somewhat been a little hasty in judging her so harshly, work with Helen to puzzle out the capabilities of her wisp form, to the best of my abilities.

Order 2: Follow up with Mary Anne on the info I requested about Helen Smith.

Order 3: Work with Alice to find any information about these 'paladins' the old man mentioned.

And at some point, I think Helen deserves a 'Thank You' for saving Tanya.

Click to expand...

You begin to experiment with the limits of what you can do with Helen in whisp form. You spend quite a bit of time practicing possession with her and training on better synchronizing herself with your body so that you two could overcome the problems that come with suddenly having longer limbs than she's used to and your soul's natural reaction to push out an invading presence. Overall you begin to make progress.

You also attempt to see what happens when you shove a whisp into an inanimate object, you begin by practicing on a broom. The sensation that comes from it is quite similar to how your soul feels when it tries to reject an invading presence but multiplied tenfold. The broom begins to shudder as you force the whisp in leaving your arm numb until the handle snaps and breaks. All in all it looks like you'll need more practice before you can get Helen to possess an inanimate object.

***

"Howdy Maxie!" Calls Mary Anne with a wave as she sits down next to you during lunch. "I found your girl, why didn't you just say you were interested in serial killers in the first place? Would have made my job a lot easier."

"S-s-serial killers!?" You spit take at the sudden announcement by the Dixie girl.

"Ah don't worry about it. Lots of normal folk are interested in them, all about that morbid curiosity you know. Personally I prefer the modern ones but different strokes for different folks and all that."

"Well, what did you find?" You whisper trying to keep the shock from creeping into your voice. Out of all the things you would have guessed about Helen's past a murderous killer was pretty much at the bottom of the list right next to shy housewife.

"So this Helen Smith was apparently a regular girl for the most part for most of her life born in 1900." Begins Mary Anne "Her father was an officer in the army and her mother was a nurse and the daughter of a well respected family. They sent her to this school during World War 1 so that she'd have a place to stay while they went over to Europe to fight the Kaiser."

"Unfortunately for them they didn't end up coming back to the States. The father was killed by an enemy sniper and the mother was died while trying to help a couple of soldiers who were trapped in a trench with a live artillery shell that didn't detonate initially when it hit the ground, it went off while the rescue operation was underway and got quite a few people."

"Apparently the death of her parents sent this girl over the deep end and she began hunting people down at night and killing them. She'd leave messages cut into their skin to her dead parents, real messed up stuff. It kept on going on for months until she got overconfident and tried to kill this large lumberjack who managed to survive the first stab and put an end to her by braining her with his axe. They managed to connect her to around 18 murders after her death although she's suspected of a few more than that."

"No way." You breath, despite not liking Helen all that much you have a very hard time imagining that this girl who saved your sister being a serial killer. Serial killers don't heal people after all, right?

"Yeah way." nods Mary Anne, "Either way that's what I got for you and now I can call you on a favor when I need one in the future. Don't think I'll forget about it so quickly."

"R-right..."

***

Despite Alice's declaration that it was a lost cause you begin to do some research into the Paladins that the old man in your dream mentioned. Unfortunately you can't find anything relating to paladins connected to George III or the English monarchy in general. You did learn that the paladins were originally a group of warriors under Charlemagne who fought against the invading Islamic Caliphate.

Dem Taqat said:

Action 1: Experimenting - After seeing how bursting an orb affected the others, I've started thinking maybe it isn't as limited as it looks. Perhaps I can find a way to create new orbs, or just to move them between people.
Action 2: Studying - Much as I'd like to be out playing hockey with my friends, Its a bit too soon after getting shot. I might as well catch up on my studies, see if I can't do a bit better on the next test.
Action 3: Interact with Chloe - Fortunately that doesn't stop the three of us hanging out as usual. I'm sure Chloe will love to fill me in on all the crazy rumours going around on what happened to me, but maybe its best if I don't go in to too much detail on the subject. Crazy rumours are one thing, rumours I'm crazy are another entirely.

DT

Click to expand...

You use the free time you've gained from having to rest due to your injuries to start exploring how far you can push the limits of your powers. The first thing you check is rather simple enough to accomplish, seeing if it was possible to transfer orbs between people. It's a good thing you did too as you've managed to find a way to keep yourself amused lying in the dorm-hall by swapping around other people's emotions and watching them react to a sudden burst excitement while studying or confusion while walking to class.

You're second task is what takes up most of your time however as you struggle to find a way to create orbs of your own, as you don't know where to start on this task exactly it quickly becomes a frustrating experience of doing anything from trying to will orbs into existence to attempting to split existing orbs (it just caused them to burst which lead to a couple of regrettable situations when you were practicing with a maroon orb). All the while you felt a nagging feeling that it was just out of your grasp, finally during a particularly boring history lesson in which you were feeling completely lost amongst the jumble of names and dates of various unimportant early American presidents a yellow orb appeared in front of you out of nowhere. Since then you've been able to forge yellow orbs with some difficulty but making other orbs is still out of your grasp.

***

Studying

***

You find hanging out with Chloe and Sharon to be a calming break from the core of weirdness that the paranormal club seems to attract without fail. You hear some fairly normal things about how Maggy has apparently been spending most of her time hanging out with Alice at the edge of the school grounds and how Robin has been continuing to corner Alice outside of classes to talk to her. You hear some less normal things about how your brother has been getting Mary Anne to investigate some random dead person.

Unfortunately the main thing on anyone who isn't hiding under a rock's mind is your shooting and the ongoing investigation into it.

"C'mon Tanya, we've been friends ever since you came here can't you tell us about what went on there?"

"I already told you what I told the police Chloe, there was a crazy guy who came into the school and shot me." You say grinding your teeth, it had been pretty hard

"But that doesn't explain why they found Sydney's finger prints on the gun." Chloe quickly turns to Sharon for support "Don't you think something's weird about this Sharon?"

Sharon shrugs her shoulders "If Tanya says that's it then that's it, I ain't gonna ask her to snitch."

You breath a sigh of relief, for a while it had looked like Sydney was going to be in trouble for having held the gun but between the remains of the cultist's finger prints and the testimony from the club and yourself that she hadn't shot you she managed to avoid any charges. It still didn't stop half the school from spreading rumors about her having some bad blood with you though.

Chloe huffs but agrees to drop the line of question and to your relief the rest of the day goes on without incident.

Gained: [+2 Rapport] This is a one use boost that you can apply to a roll next mission.


[Modifier Expired: -1 Resource to rolls]

Red_Spy said:

1. Do some research into middle eastern mythical creatures that could be shortened to Qari.

2. Using the pictures of the captives he took, try to figure out what they are.

3. Annoy Alice.

Click to expand...

Rolls: 0, 0, -, +
Result: +2
Difficulty: +4

You fail to find any creatures in your research of Islamic and pre-Islamic myths that sound similar to what the old pointed eared man said earlier.

***

Rolls: 0, 0, -, 0 / +, +, -, 0
Results: +1 / +3
Difficulty: +2 / +2

While you are unable to identify the species of the red-headed boy, figuring out what the old man was proves to be easier. From his short stature and pointed ears you feel reasonably comfortable in identifying him as a elf, one from Germanic myths to be specific.

***

"Aaaaliiiice"

"Fuuuck offf"

"Oh come on, no need to be so rude. I just wanted to say 'hi'." you say folding your arms at her

"We literally saw each other in class ten minutes ago Robin." Alice deadpans as she sits down on a bench and unpacks her lunch.

"Yeah but we can't talk in class."

"Sure you can, you just have to deal with the consequences later."

"Look I just wanted to talk to you about some club stuff, did you know that the short man who was being held captive is actually an elf?"

Alice sighs "Club stuff is for club meetings, and yes I did see that."

"And that storage closet actually had a bunch of cool stuff in it like unicorn horns, imp horns and ectoplasm!"

"Well that would explain the fire." notes Alice in a resignated tone as you continue to bother her

"Wow, you know about alchemy?" you ask with a tone of surprise, "Why don't you teach us about that during club meetings?"

"Because its dangerous and I don't want to." she grumbles while shoveling some yogurt into her mouth.

As lunchtime goes on you continue to pester her to teach you about alchemy but fail to get her to agree to do so, still you can't say its a lunch wasted.

Gained: [+2 Empathy] This is a one use boost that you may apply to a roll next mission.

KaiserElectric said:

1. Study as usual.
2. Hang around with Mary Anne, just to make sure she's okay after what happened.
3. Thoroughly search that laptop.

Also, just for fun, can I anonymously send Max some flowers while he's still in the hospital, without it counting as an order?

Click to expand...

Studying

***

Today you ended up staying behind after most of the journalism club members left to help Mary Anne stack the pile of newspapers neatly so they can be delivered to the classrooms. You feel a sense of pride in them as the story that you and Mary Anne worked on is on the front cover of the papers.

"Well that's that then." says Mary Anne as she ties a string around the last stack to keep it in shape, "Thanks again for helpin' me out with this. I was fixin' to have everything in order earlier but I kinda ended up missin' a day, too busy playing the damsel in distress you know."

You shake your head "It's no problem Mary, I'm just glad you're feeling alright after all that's happened."

The dixie girl laughs a bit nervously while tugging her braid "Well what kind of investigative reporter would I be if I ain't gettin' into trouble every now an' then? I'm just happy y'all showed up before anythin' bad happened."

You drop the last stack of newspapers by the door of the clubroom and dust off your hands on your uniform's skirt when you feel a hand fall on your shoulder. Turning around you see Mary Anne looking at you with a serious expression.

"Sydney, I get the feelin' this ain't the first time you've had to deal with those kidnappers with your club. I know y'all looked like you knew what you were doin' but still you gotta be careful alright? If you go missing I don't know if I'd be able to get you back safely."

You nod and feel a bit warmer from her concern "Don't worry Mary, we're errm mostly careful about that stuff."

Gained: [+2 Investigate] This is a one use boost that you can use next mission

***

Setting down the laptop you took from the cultists down in your room you get to work at trying to break into it and seeing what information you can acquire from it. After some difficulty you manage to break through the password and access the files on the laptop.

Browsing through the files you find references to yourself and the other club-members as well as some mysterious group called the paladins as well as constant references to something called the Awakening. From what you can piece together the gunman you first saw, or Gordon as he's referred to in the files, is the leader of the cult and has allied it with two other groups to achieve this Awakening, you figure the leaders of that are the woman and skeleton you saw in your dream. The phrase 'energy preparation' is constantly repeated in the files and from what you can tell refers to the ritual sacrifices. The hidden base you found was apparently one location of storage of captives and energy preparation, you are also able to determine the locations of two other bases hidden across the city.

You do some more investigation into what this Awakening could be but are unable to piece together anything more than it apparently requires a lot of energy preparation in specific places across the city.

Gained: [Locations of bases]

***

Flowers are sent anonymously.

Celticfury said:

Order 1: Rest and recover from my injuries. If possible, talk to Isaac about his life/afterlife.

Order 2: Study.

Order 3: Interact with Sharon.

Click to expand...

While still in the hospital you relieve some flowers that were sent anonymously.

***

"I see you've decided to stick around." You say to Isaac after the nurses have left your room leaving you with just him and Helen for company.

"Well you's sure more interesting than a park." He says adjusting his old uniform.

"That's why I'm still here." mutters Helen although with less enthusiasm than usual.

"So what did you do before you died?" you inquire, "That redcoat makes me think you were a British soldier."

"Well its actually just blood, I had a white uniform you see and it stains pretty badly. I was alive during the rebellion against the crown. I was born an' raised in Rhode Island as a slave, during the rebellion General Varnum of the Patriots said that any able-bodied negro slave willing to fight would be freed if he did. I took up the chance as soon as I could an joined the 1st Rhode Island Regiment alongside my brothers. During the battle of Rhode Island I got torn up by the enemy, most of us got out alright though."

"Huh, so what have you been doing since then?"

"Well I was just floating around the place I died really, saw the place change around me. Never really wanted to head anywhere else."

The afterlife, you decided, sounds like a pretty boring place to be as a ghost. Still you ended up with the two keeping you company during the time in the hospital which was nice.

Gained: [+2 Fight] This is a one use boost that you can use next mission.

***

Studying

***

Your interaction with Sharon is short and boils down to thanking her for the get well card and a few remarks on Tanya. Ultimately you see little way to keep a longer conversation going with a girl who is so different from you.

Gained: [+2 Athletics] This is a one use boost that you can use next mission.

Dem Taqat said:

Action A: Ask Alice - About an aspirational attempt at academic achievement. Alice has a point that we don't really understand much of what we're getting into. That said, she pretty clearly has a better idea than the rest of us, and I should see what she's willing to share. I doubt I can learn all of it in a week, but if I can get some idea of the basic rules of this stuff then that is sure to be a huge help, and even if she won't tell me anything herself, she might be willing to point me to where I can do my own research.
Action 2: Experimenting - Now I have some idea where I can move the orbs, and it looks like I can create them from my own emotions, it's time to try something a bit off the wall. I know I can alter the intensity of the orbs, but it's possible I can alter them in other ways as well. Perhaps I could find a way to combine two of them, or maybe I could find a way to orient them towards a specific person or object. After all, some of these are far more useful if I can guarantee the emotions won't be directed at me.
Action 3: Interact with Sharon - Now that I'm finally capable of playing again, I can't wait for the next Hockey game. It'll be great to get back to something I understand after all this research, and maybe it'll take my mind off what happened to Max. Speaking of which, I noticed both Sharon and Chloe sent Max Cards, and I should convey them his thanks when I get the chance.

DT

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"What is it this time?" Asks Alice flatly after you manage to corner her after class.

"Look, about last time, I realized you were right about us not understanding what we're getting ourselves into. I mean, it seems like the only one besides you who knows anything about this paranormal stuff is Robin and you've seen what happens to him whenever he gets curious." you explain to her.

"...Well, I suppose its a good thing that you understand that. Although it would be better if some of the others could internalize it as well." mutters Alice after a small pause.

"Right so then you'll help me then?"

"What?"

"Well you do know more about all of this than any of us, and if you could explain this magic stuff to me it'd help me from getting hurt due to ignorance. Even if you can give me just a basic idea of what we're working with that would be a lot better than the guesses I'm working with now."

"You don't understand what you're asking for." Alice states flatly

"That's the whole point!" you half-shout with frustration.

You notice Alice's rainbow cube switch colors to form a swirling violet for a long moment of silence while she ponders your request.

With a low sigh she begins to speak "I'm far from an expert but I guess I can teach you a few things. The first and most important thing you should know is that magic has its own agenda, it wants to be used no matter what it is and it can impair your judgment if that desire is strong enough. Humans posses an innate resistance to this as they are not well connected to the paranormal, but since you aren't an ordinary human anymore I guess you ought to know that the more you use your magic and explore the paranormal the more you will erode that resistance. As magic becomes more effective on you the only defenses against it are self-discipline and enough knowledge of magic to know when you are being influenced before it is too late to escape it."

"So its like that weird hand that Max broke? When I looked at it I heard a voice asking me to make a wish."

"It's a good thing you didn't." states Alice grimly "As I said magic wants to be used, no matter the cost to the user, and that Monkey Paw is certainly one that would have cost you greatly. I wouldn't be surprised if you've been using your powers often so its most likely your lack of knowledge of the paranormal that has kept your innate resistance high enough to avoid being influenced by it. I won't stop you from trying to find out more about this, you'll probably end up learning one way or another eventually, but I only think its fair that you know what you're trading away before you do so."

***

You experiment with your powers again, exploring the limits of how far you can push the utility of your powers. You begin by attempting to see what you can make by merging orbs together. As you go through your day you have the opportunity to grab pretty much any color of orb that you've seen, by the time you finally found a relatively safe spot to practice in your dorm you have ended up with a pink, green, and grey orb to experiment with.

Slowly pushing the two orbs into each other you notice them begin to shake and lose shape as they are merged together, when they do so you are left with an ethereal wisp floating in your hand. With a small pang of guilt from using your dorm-mates as guinea pigs you toss the wispy ball into the orbit of a girl walking down the hall with two of her friends. Upon hitting her you see two things happen in quick succession as it lands in her orbit, first the wisp multiplies and new wisps jump into the orbits of her friends, then the girls suddenly lose their footing on the ground and stumble in the hallway. The noise of them crashing into the floor attracts a lot of attention and the now red-faced girls are helped up to their feet with stuttered explanations about a sudden gust of wind.

Looking to your remaining grey orb you begin to look to ways to orient it towards something of your choosing. After many attempts of failed experimentation and more than a few events of your dorm-mates snapping at one another you discover how to produce a thread from the orb that stays with you or an object you connect it to even after entering someone else's orbit.

***

"Hey don't mention it Tanya, what kind of friends would we be if we didn't at least send your brother a card when he got those nasty burns?" asks Sharon rhetorically after you thank her and Chloe for sending Max get well cards. Her attempt to coolly brush off your thanks is foiled by the maroon orb floating by her in plain sight.

"Still I think it's a great thing that you guys did." you say as you strap on your mask and grab your stick in the changing rooms as you prepare for the game.

"Forget about it, lets just get out before coach get's mad about us taking too much time again." adds in Chloe as she heads out through the doors, white orb trailing beside her.

You take to the field against the opposing team and begin to relax as you settle into the familiar rythm of the game, beyond the orbs floating around the players it doesn't feel all that different from before. The same fans are cheering you on, the same teammates are supporting you and the same school is counting on you to bring them victory. You lunge for the puck as it drops marking the start of the game, all in all it looks like its gonna be a good day regardless of the outcome.

Gained: [+2 Athletics] This is a one off boost you can use next mission.