Today on SuperIdols! RPG, Diana's back! And this time? She brought friends. What is she doing here? How did she get in? And most importantly: what are our heroes going to do about it?
Today on SuperIdols! RPG, Diana's back! And this time? She brought friends. What is she doing here? How did she get in? And most importantly: what are our heroes going to do about it?
CONTENT WARNING: BEE SWARMING SCENE FROM ROUGHLY 01:06:15 - 01:11:15. Timestamps may vary depending on app. Scene begins after a cloud of daggers starts raining down and lasts approximately four minutes. There is a bee buzzing auditory effect before the attack to signal that it's starting.
Episode 7 Transcript: https://superidolsrpg.wordpress.com/2021/11/25/episode-7-transcript/
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Cast:
- Dana Lexa (she/her, @AuthorX) as Valerie Pearce / Violence Violet
- Tea (they/them, @Nonbinaritea) as Evangeline "Angie" Blake / Bane Raven
- Maria (she/her, hir/hirs, @ThatAceGal) as Ann Davil / War Cry
- Drak (he/him, @Drakoniques) as Jaiden Lott / Elementum
- Luca (he/they) as Queen Bee
- ErynCerise (she/her, @eryncerise) as The GM
NPC Name Spellings:
- Karen
- Diana
- Rosette
- Ashley
Featured Patrons:
- Apple
- Circus
- Sensei1477
- Matthew F.
Featured Podcast:
- CtrlGroup RPG: https://ctrlgrouppod.com/
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Logo Art: Prissmbell (@Prissmbell)
Character Art: Onsta (@onstamonsta)
Opening Theme: "Le Chevalier Noir 'version_instrumentale'" by Cyborgjeff (used under license from Jamendo Music)
Ending Theme: "Lax" by Lance Conrad (used under license from Storyblocks.com)
Other incidental music and sound effects for this episode are licensed from Storyblocks.com and Freesound.org, with the exception of "Fireworks" (a Creative Commons track by Gmode). For inquiries about specific tracks, please contact the GM on Twitter @eryncerise.
This campaign is played using Masks: A New Generation, written by Brendan Conway and published by Magpie Games, with custom moves by ErynCerise and Zak P.
SuperIdols! RPG is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
Eryn: Hey there everyone, just giving a quick heads up at the start here. There is a fairly intense scene in this episode where a character gets swarmed with bees. Can’t imagine who’s responsible for that. If you have a serious fear of swarming insects, you can use the time codes in the episode description to skip over that part. [Transcript note: Scene is from roughly 01:06:15 - 01:11:15. Timestamps may vary depending on app.]
Also just want to give a slight apology for some of the game mechanics used in this episode. We forgot to use a fairly key mechanic in Masks: Enter Battle Against a Dangerous Foe. This move can give players extra Team points if they answer a short series of questions about the encounter they’re going into. So if you’re playing your own Masks games out there, uh, don’t forget that like we did. There’s also an instance of at least one move where I did not keep track of which results were on which roll lists, so I think someone takes a result from the wrong list at one point.
I know a lot of listeners out there have no issues with rules mistakes. But, personally, I do want to try to play the game as smoothly and accurately as possible, even considering all the homebrew stuff. So I do want to acknowledge any issues when I catch them. That said, the way the game mechanics shook out here still resulted in, I think, a phenomenal session. Big kudos to all the players on their stellar work here. I really hope you all enjoy.
So, without further ado, previously on SuperIdols RPG.
Diana: I don’t think I introduced myself, by the way. I’m Diana.
Bane Raven: I feel like your expectations are a bit high here.
Diana: They should be high. Have you seen the competition on the high school circuit? It’s insane.
Bane Raven: You don’t seem to be able to handle stress very well.
Diana: I’m handling it very well!
ViVi: Let’s just calm down and discuss this. There’s no reason to start pointing weapons at people.
Dana: I say, pointing my energy sword.
Diana: The power side of superidol-dom is, like, part of idol-dom. Like, if you can’t defend yourself in a fight like this then what are you even doing here?
Bane Raven: Well you could just... infiltrate over there and dismantle it from the inside.
ViVi: Honestly, it sounds like you’re way more serious about this than your president is.
Diana: Maybe I could do a better job of getting in power over there. Yeah, I think that’s what I’m going to do. You know what, thank you. I think I will do that.
Eryn: And she actually sort of smirks a little bit. And I’m going to have you mark Afraid.
[electronic music plays]
Eryn: Hey there everyone and welcome back to SuperIdols RPG. As always, I am your GM ErynCerise and with me today are Dana,
Dana: Hello,
Eryn: Tea,
Tea: Hello!
Eryn: Drak,
Drak: Hello
Eryn: Maria,
Maria: Hey.
Eryn: And Luca.
Luca: Hi.
Eryn: Hello everybody. I am very excited to continue the last episode’s scene with you all. We left you on a bit of a cliffhanger it seems.
Tea: Diana has her turn.
Dana: Yes.
Drak: Oh boy, yeah.
Eryn: It’s been a few episodes and now she’s back. So yes, if you don’t remember from last time, you all had just listened to Jaiden play an example of the song he wrote for you all but nerves got the better of him and he kind of didn’t play it the best that he could and now he’s feeling a little ugh, tug on the collar kind of.
Tea: Oh no.
Drak: Yeah.
Eryn: And this is the perfect time for Diana and a couple of girls that you don’t recognize to stride into the room like they own the place. So they are currently walking through the door. What do you all do?
Tea: So Angie has a condition, I think she’s still Angry.
Eryn: Mm.
Tea: Yeah, apparently to clear this I have to hurt someone or break something important. So I guess she turns around and sees them and maybe see red a little bit. This is just another scoop of shit on a shit day. It’s one of those the Kill Bill [imitates warning siren sound] kind of thing. She puts her hands on her hips and glares.
Diana: Nice to see you too, Evangeline.
Eryn: She catches your glare.
Angie: Um, hi Diana. What are you doing here? On a Saturday? In a locked school?
ViVi: That you don’t go to?
Jaiden: Oh, wait, she doesn’t go here?
Angie: She doesn’t go here.
Queen Bee: She doesn’t go here?
ViVi: She doesn’t go here.
Ann: Who the fuck is this?
Eryn: So, no, she looks fairly at ease. She crosses her arms and says,
Diana: Oh we just happened to be passing by and noticed a few of you going in through the back, so we thought we’d just drop in and say hi..
Jaiden: Hi.
Angie: Hi.
Drak: Jaiden goes up to them and gives out a hand.
Jaiden: My name’s Jaiden.
Eryn: She seems a little weirded out that someone is being friendly to her. She was definitely expecting some type of "You!" type of entrance because she knows what she’s about. So that kind of catches her off guard a little bit but she’s like,
Diana: Oh, um, yes, hello. I see you have made some progress since last time, haven’t you? You seemed have to picked up a few more members. That’s more than I had expected, that’s for sure.
Dana: I think ViVi looks over at Jaiden and goes,
ViVi: No, she’s the other idol team. We’re not – we’re not friends with her.
Jaiden: Oh.
ViVi: She tried to join and then sabotage us and I still don’t understand what the whole point of that was. But no, she’s not, don’t be friends with her.
Jaiden: Oh. Okay.
Drak: He retracts his hand, gives her a weird look, and backs away slowly.
Eryn: And she raises her hands in that "Okay, fine" kind of way. But she says,
Diana: You’re right. It didn’t end up mattering in the end. I think we all agreed that was kind of a silly plan. But I’m not just dropping in for no reason. I did want to stop by and say thank you. Because we had some developments on our end at Fort McArthur as well.
Eryn: And she gives looks to the two girls who are standing to her left and right. One of them is a girl with these disgustingly perfect strawberry blond ringlets. A shorter girl. Very bubblegum pop teenager kind of person. And the other girl is a thin girl with thick, curly, black hair in low buns and she looks a little more quiet and a little bit more holding back than the other two. The three of them kind of stand together in a kind of – what’s the pose I’m thinking of? Is there a Mean Girls pose? It’s one of those poses.
Tea: Are they all crossing their arms
Eryn: Yeah they’re all crossing their arms with varying degrees of smugness. So Diana says,
Diana: We’ve had some developments on our end too. Uh, after your very helpful suggestions, uh, Angie and Valerie about. uh, having a little talk with our former club president, uh, I was able to also get, uh, a bunch of the other members on board. Turns out when you get people together in a room without the president, people feel a little more free to express their opinions and express their desire for new leadership. So you,
Eryn: She gestures very confidently to herself.
Diana: Are looking at the brand-new president of the Fort McArthur Idol Club.
Queen Bee: [sarcastic] Oh my god we’re so happy for you.
Drak: [genuine] Wow, congratulations.
Ann: Seriously, who the fuck is this?
ViVi: I’m so glad for you. Now would you kindly get the fuck out of our practice space.
Angie: Yeah we’re so happy for you but we’re in the middle of practicing. Or we’re about to practice. But, uh, thanks. So happy for you.
Diana: Oh but that’s exactly what I came by to see. I did want to see if you have been practicing because I’m so excited with these new developments I wanted to test my skills a little bit if I possibly could. I think my friends here agree.
Eryn: And they both give a bit of a nod here,
Diana: That we’re kind of curious to see exactly what we’re up against going forward. This isn’t the team from last year. Who knows? You might having something worth offering to the competitive circuit. And I don't know, I like fun too. It might just be fun to, you know, have a little sparring match so to speak.
Jaiden: Um, I’m not feeling too good right now. Could we have the sparring session another time maybe?
Diana: Oh I’m sorry our schedule is just so packed.
Eryn: And the girl with the ringlets pulls out a very, very nice-looking clipboard by the way.
[Tea gasps]
Eryn: It’s clearly very expensive. And flips over a piece of paper to reveal an immaculately constructed schedule. And she taps a nice silver pen on it showing,
Diana: Um, our practice schedule is quite booked up for the next week or two. And we’re trying to prepare for a big charity event coming up. So we really can’t spare the time any other time. And we would be much obliged to do this now if you are so inclined.
Angie: So you were just in our area, hanging around our school, on a Saturday, and just happened to find us here, follow us here, and now you’re challenging us to a battle?
Eryn: The girl on the right on Diana shrugs, the girl with the darker hair. She goes,
Rosette: It’s our neighborhood too. We’re entitled to walk down it aren’t we?
Luca: This is our school.
Rosette: We’re allowed to walk past and see people we know and possibly want to get to know better and approach them.
Angie: Normally people knock on the door and they don’t just walk into a closed school on a Saturday.
Tea: I look over at Valerie. I feel we would share a look in a way.
Dana: Yes.
Tea: Like who does this bitch think she is kind of thing?
Dana: Yeah I look back and I kind of shrug and I say,
ViVi: Well she didn’t get anywhere without us last time, so it makes sense.
Eryn: Diana does look kind of steamed at that, but the girl with the darker hair pats her on the shoulder like it’s okay, it’s okay. So the sense I’m getting here from you is that you’re a little suspicious, yes?
Tea: Yes.
Eryn: You might want to be Piercing the Mask, I would be guessing.
Drak: Yeah.
Tea: Uh, yeah. -2 because I’m mad.
Eryn: Oh, fun.
Drak: Oye.
Luca: Oof.
Dana: Um, it might be better if I Pierce the Mask because I also feel that way.
Eryn: Yeah we can have Valerie Pierce the Mask, she seems suspicious too.
Dana: Okay.
Tea: Yeah we’ll just say Angie isn’t seeing clearly and is probably just like a few more snarky comments to getting ready to throw down. Valerie is like I’ll be the calm one here.
Dana: Uh, that’s a hit.
Eryn: Got a 7. So when you Pierce the Mask, you can ask one off that list. So "What are you really planning?", "What do you want me to do?", "What do you intend to do?", "How could I get your character to blank?", or "How could I gain influence over you?"
Dana: In this case I’m definitely asking "What are you really planning?"
Eryn: Alrighty then.
Dana: If I recall correctly, I’m still transformed from the previous session. So I point my psychic construct sword at Diana and say,
ViVi: What are you really planning?
Diana: So direct, oh my. I like that about you Valerie, that’s why I took your advice to such heart.
Eryn: So as you listen to her speak, despite the bravado, the clear smugness here, you do get the sense that she genuinely does want to have a showdown because your battle last time kind of got interrupted and she wants to have a proper showdown. But in terms of why they’re here, you can tell she’s definitely not telling the truth about having just dropped by. And as you think about how else they could have known you were here, you kind of remember, when you went to the back of the school earlier to let Angie and Karen in, you saw out the back of the school that Emily was out there. And Angie might recall that she looked a little bit nervous when she was talking to her. So you might deduce that the only other person in the area might have had a hand in tipping the other idols off.
Dana: I think I say to Angie,
ViVi: We should have a talk with Emily after we’re done with this about how they all knew how we were getting inside, coming in through the back.
Eryn: You do catch the others frowning a little bit before trying to cover their expressions.
Tea: Angie nods slowly and she cracks her knuckles.
[Eryn chuckles]
Drak: Jaiden just shuffles over to Queen Bee and goes,
Jaiden: I’m really not up for a sparring session right now. I might end up holding you guys back.
Queen Bee: Oh, come on, that’s not true. I’ve seen what you can do. I know that I should not have picked you up like that got you all shook before you had to play. But you’re Elementum. You’re good. You’re really good. You’re a triple threat. You’re a composer, you play, you dance. I mean, you might the only one I’m worried about in this whole thing.
Jaiden: Uh, oh.
Drak: If you could see him blushing, he would be right now.
Eryn: Well that definitely sounds like a comfort and support from Queen Bee.
Luca: Uh yes, let’s see how it goes.
Eryn: Queen Bee is in a good condition for it, she has no conditions marked.
[pause for dice rolling]
Luca: Yeah!
Drak: Oh damn.
Eryn: Hell yes.
Tea: Yes.
Maria: Oh, sweet.
Eryn: So on a hit they hear you, so Jaiden you get to, uh, mark potential, clear a condition, or shift Labels.
Drak: I’m definitely clearing a condition.
Eryn: And on a 10+ we also add a Team to the pool. Or we can add a Team to the pool or clear a condition. So if you’re clearing a condition, you can either clear two conditions or clear one condition and add Team to the pool.
Dana: Um, no you can also add Team to the pool or clear condition yourself is for the person that rolled it.
Eryn: Oh I see, never mind, sorry.
Dana: So since Queen Bee doesn’t have conditions right now...
Luca: I’ll add a Team to the pool.
Drak: Awesome. And how many conditions do I clear?
Eryn: Um one.
Drak: One.
Eryn: So that’s enough to transform at least.
Drak: Yeah, I clear Hopeless.
Dana: There is a stipulation that says they only get to do that if they open up to you.
Eryn: Oh yeah so we probably want Jaiden to continue this conversation.
Jaiden: Okay. I was really nervous about flying to a new country and to a new school and a new idol club. And I guess that kind of showed in that performance. But thank you. That really meant a lot.
Queen Bee: It’s okay. Change is good. You can reinvent yourself. Be someone new. Be better.
Drak: He nods.
Jaiden: I’ll try my best.
Eryn: And in the meantime while you’re having this conversation, because I don’t think Diana would have stopped for the two of you, I assume Diana is still talking to Angie and Valerie mainly, because those are the two people in the room that she’s familiar with. So Diana still looks directly at the two of you and is like,
Diana: Well, so, what’s your answer? Can we look forward to seeing you, I don't know, maybe out in the field in 10 minutes?
Dana: ViVi looks at the rest of the group and says,
ViVi: Well, maybe we should just get this over with now.
Ann: I still don’t know who she is.
Jaiden: I’m not entirely sure either but I guess she wants to spar.
Queen Bee: All I know is she’s basic, and that’s all I need to know.
Ann: Oh I wasn’t disagreeing. I’ll smoke her. I’ll smoke any of them. But I’m just saying I don't know who they are.
Jaiden: Um, excuse me, what’s your name?
Diana: Oh yes, how terribly rude of us. We definitely should introduce ourselves to the brand spanking new members of the Fort McNally Idol Club. My name is Diana - President of the Fort McArthur Idol Club, I’m sure you know. And these are my two associates/idol-mates.
Eryn: She gestures to the girl on her right with the dark hair.
Diana: This is Rosette.
Eryn: And Rosette gives you a wave and kind of a nicer smile than the other two. And she gestures to the person on her left.
Diana: And this is Ashley.
Eryn: And Ashley gives you a mega smug grin and taps the pen on the clipboard again.
[Tea gasps]
Tea: Twisting the knife.
Diana: And we…
Eryn: And they kind of all actually clasp hands at this point and raise their hands and do a little mini pose kind of.
Diana: Are Sagittaria!
Eryn: In kind of a "tada!" type pose.
Dana: Oh no, they’re so coordinated.
Eryn: They are very coordinated, you do have to admit.
Jaiden: Can I ask why you went with that name?
Diana: I think you’ll see that when you see us on the stage.
Eryn: And with that they do the turn in unison and power walk down the hallway out towards the back where they came from.
Tea: Okay, so they said 10 minutes, right?
Eryn: Yes.
Tea: Okay so we watch them leave and Angie turns around and she snaps her fingers and points to Karen. And she says,
["When Johnny Comes Marching Home" military march music starts playing in background]
Angie: Karen. We’re going to need those glowsticks.
Eryn: Karen gives you a grin.
Karen: Can do.
Eryn: And she grabs her bag and slings it over her shoulder and gives a big thumbs up.
Tea: And she looks at Jaiden. And she says,
Angie: Jaiden?
Jaiden: Y-yeah?
Angie: You good?
Jaiden: I think so, yeah. Yeah.
Angie: Good. What’s our band name because I have no idea and I just want to punch them.
Jaiden: I don’t think we came up with one. We haven’t really come up with a style yet? I don't know.
Ann: I kind of like that. Think how much it’s going to piss her off to get smoked by a band that has no name.
Angie: Maybe we just pretend we’re refusing to tell her.
ViVi: Yeah.
Jaiden: Yeah, I’m okay with that.
Queen Bee: They don’t get our name.
Ann: I can rock with that.
Angie: Sounds good, sounds good. Okay, so quick plan, ViVi?
ViVi: Mm-hm.
Angie: You’re going to lead us off. Queen, can you follow along with whatever choreography ViVi will come up with?
Queen Bee: In my sleep.
Angie: Perfect. So we’ll do that and this will just be practice for the concert…
Tea: In an amount of time that I forgot about. Is it two weeks?
Eryn: Yes.
Tea: One week?
Eryn: Two weeks.
Tea: Two weeks.
Angie: This will be good practice for the concert in two weeks.
ViVi: Alright.
Jaiden: This is my first ever spar. I’ve never done this before.
Drak: And Jaiden’s just trying to psych himself up.
Angie: Well ViVi and I have gone head-to-head, you could say, with Diana before and I won against her then and I’ll do it again.
Queen Bee: So what’s her thing besides making mania?
ViVi: She has a bow and arrow.
Dana: And then, ViVi’s eyes kind of light up.
ViVi: [realization] Oh Sagittarius.
Jaiden: Okay, I guess that makes sense.
Angie: That’s okay I guess.
ViVi: Yeah.
Angie: Anyway, can I go punch them now?
Jaiden: Uh, okay. Let’s, yeah.
Queen Bee: Yes.
ViVi: Yeah. Yeah.
Eryn: Okay so you’re all preparing to go out there now?
Dana: Mm-hm
Angie: Yeah.
Eryn: Alright. So the lot of you, it’s your turn to power walk down the hallways of the empty school where no one can see you but don’t worry about that. You are confident. You are badass. Are any of you going to transform before you get out there or are you going to do it when you get it out there?
Tea: I’m going to do it when I get out there.
Drak: Yeah me too.
Eryn: Alright. So you head towards the back of the school. You thrust open the back doors into the sunlight. And you see your regular track and field. But there’s something on the field that wasn’t there before.
[epic cinematic music]
And it is actually a stage set up. With sort of two platforms facing each other that have room enough for the both of you to stand on either end, one group on each platform. There are speakers. There are amps. You don’t know how exactly this got here, but it’s there now.
Jaiden: Um, how – is – is this normal? Is there always, like, stages ready?
Angie: Uh, maybe we can keep this stuff after we’re done. Let’s go.
Queen Bee: Yeah.
Eryn: Alright so you head towards the stage.
Dana: Mm-hm.
Tea: Yes.
Drak: Yes.
Eryn: And you can see that Sagittaria is standing on one of the stages. They haven’t transformed yet but they are clearly standing at the ready. So are you going to go to the stage now too, or are you going to do something else first?
Dana: ViVi just walks towards the front of the stage and creates a set of stairs with her powers and just walks straight up.
Tea: I’m going to say I like jump on the stage.
Luca: Yeah, me too.
Tea: Just vault on there.
Eryn: And Rosette actually gives you like a soft clap like oh that was impressive before Diana is like,
Diana: Hey stop that.
Drak: I just walk up the stairs like normal. I just see everyone doing all this cool stuff and I’m like "What? Okay."
Maria: Ann walks up to the stairs on the stage, looks up at the stairs, and takes one long leg and steps up on top of the stage.
Eryn: Perfect.
Drak: They’re doing all these cool things. Oh no.
Eryn: Maybe Queen Bee can carry you up again.
Queen Bee: Oh yeah, jump in.
Jaiden: Oh no I’m good, I’m okay.
Queen Bee: Okay.
Eryn: So you’ve climbed up on the stage. You’re not far enough away that you have to shout terribly loud to hear each other but you have to raise your voice a little bit at least. So Diana calls over to you.
Diana: Alright, so you know how this generally goes or do I need to explain the rules to you?
Drak: Jaiden immediately raises his hand.
Jaiden: Yeah, can you explain the rules? Please?
Diana: Fair enough. It’s everybody’s first time sometime.
Eryn: And the other two kind of titter behind her. And she starts to explain.
Diana: So the way these usually work, it’s an amp versus amp kind of competition.
Eryn: Out of character, if you have seen the wonderful film Scott Pilgrim vs. the World, it’s exactly that kind of amp versus amp battle where you have the two impressive stage set ups facing each other with room for an audience in the middle, even though there isn’t an audience here right now. And then Diana continues.
Diana: So, we all decide on a song we’re going to play. We take turns singing verses and choruses and then we sing the final chorus in unison. And then whoever is still standing by the end is the winner.
Angie: Okay.
Tea: Out of character, I hope we don’t get smoked.
Jaiden: We’ve got this guys.
Eryn: And also now that you’re on the stage, you hear a hum around you and a slight shimmer and you can see there is one of those anti-powers barriers around the space, similar to the one that is in the club room except much fancier.
Tea: Mm.
Luca: That’s considerate.
Angie: How did they even get all this here?
Queen Bee: Our school is really underfunded.
ViVi: Their school definitely has better funding than ours.
Angie: Do they just have roadies that go with them and build stages wherever they go.
Ann: That’s the dream.
Eryn: Ashley laughs.
Ashley: This is courtesy of my daddy. He's one of the up-and-coming scientists in the field of nanotechnology and just happens to have access to some of the latest and greatest miniaturization technologies.
Eryn: And she holds up kind of a little pod in her hand that looks like if this space were smaller, it would fit in that little pod.
Jaiden: Holy heck.
Eryn: This is basically Ant-Man tech is what they have.
Maria: I’m going to punch her in her Dragonball Z Capsule Corp face.
Dana: I was going to say.
Drak: I was thinking like Dr. Who – the Master.
Angie: [sighs] I used to have a rich dad for stuff too. Let’s get started.
Ashley: It’s great, isn’t it?
Eryn: Ashley give you a big wink.
Tea: Is she the one with a clipboard too?
Eryn: Yeah she’s the one with the clipboard.
Drak: Oh boy.
Eryn: And the disgustingly perfectly curled hair.
Angie: Oh I think I have a new rival.
Eryn: You can change your rival any time you want.
Dana: ViVi kind of looks back and forth between Ashley and Angie like oh damn, this is definitely a thing that’s happening.
Angie: I can’t believe I forgot my clipboard at home.
ViVi: The one day.
Angie: Yeah. Okay.
Diana: So the last thing we need to do before we start then is decide on a song. I’ll even be fair to you and let you decide on the song.
Jaiden: Guys, what song are we playing? Did we even discuss that?
Eryn: For copyright purposes, this probably shouldn’t be a real song. You can make one up.
Angie: Um, what about one of …
Tea: Out of character, I can’t remember the other artist from Valerie’s agency?
Dana: Oh, Mary Rain.
Tea: Yeah.
Angie: I think ViVi’s leading us. So you should pick the song and we’ll follow your lead.
ViVi: Alright.
Dana: Yeah I probably name something that Mary Rain would have put out because it’s something I would have practiced that other people might have heard.
Eryn: Sure, I’ll just throw a name out there. How about, Downpour?
Dana: Perfect.
Maria: Rad.
Drak: I like that yeah.
Eryn: Alright.
Dana: It definitely sounds like something a wannabe goth would be practicing with.
[all laugh]
Eryn: So you call out the song name to Sagittaria and they nod like yep, we have that in our library. So they go to the little laptop that’s off to the side that clearly controls a lot of this and they set it up in the system. Also the way these competitions tend to work, the speakers play the song but if you have your own instruments you can add to it and embellish it.
Angie: Okay.
Eryn: And at this point since there’s clearly a big stage out in the open in the field where people can see it, you notice people who are walking by on the street start to take notice. You can see them peeking over the fence of the school like "What’s going on, huh?" So you are starting to attract a small crowd even before having started.
Diana: Alright, is everybody ready to go?
Jaiden: No wait. Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait.
Diana: Yeah?
Jaiden: I just want to transform. Hold on.
Diana: We’re about to do that now!
Eryn: Diana shouts at you, she snaps. Rosette kind of gives her a tap on the shoulder again like "Come on, hey." And Diana breathes like "Yeah, alright."
Jaiden: I’m sorry I don't know how this works. Do we do it at the same time? Do we do it one after the other? How do you?
Diana: You just do it. When I say go, everybody transform and then we start.
Jaiden: Ok is it on 1, 2, 3? Or 1, 2, 3, go? Or 3, 2, 1 then--
Diana: Go!
Eryn: Diana starts transforming
[all laugh]
Eryn: She still has anger management issues.
[upbeat music plays]
Angie: She’s not the only one.
Eryn: Diana and her group are transforming now so you all are free to transform now as well. And this will be the first time we get to use the group transformation move.
Tea: Ooh!
Dana: Mm-hm.
Drak: Oh.
Eryn: Yeah, if multiple idols transform as a team to take on a major for, serious rivals, supervillain mini-boss, a big time supernatural threat, anything like that. Then you all collectively decide which idol has the greatest personal stake in this conflict. That idol gets the Spotlight. The idol with the Spotlight chooses a bonus from the Transformation Surge list, and this bonus is taken in addition to any other surge bonus that idol may have already taken after transforming. So this will activate basically after all of you have done of your individual transformations.
Maria: And time for Ann to sleep.
Eryn: Ann can be setting up her guitar maybe in the background. Just hooking it up to the speakers.
Drak: When Jaiden sees them transform, he’s going to say,
Jaiden: Oh, okay, I’m going to do that too.
Drak: And then he starts transforming.
Tea: For the, I don’t think it’s the Spotlight. I think Angie kind of delegated it to ViVi just because that’s what they were already planning to practice so I think they were going to go with that. I don't know if ViVi has the biggest stake but that’s what we’re working towards anyway so we might as well use it as a practice sesh?
Eryn: I think that makes sense.
Dana: Yep. I think she also has, like, big stakes in proving she can be a lead.
Eryn: Very true. So once all of you have done your transformation Label shifts, we’ll do the bonus for that then.
Drak: Oh yeah. I moved Freak up and Mundane down.
Eryn: Alrighty. Also, since I mentioned Transformation Surge, I should remind you this is a thing you can do. If, when you’re shifting your labels, as part of a transformation, if you try to shift them up higher than a +3 or lower than a -2, you would mark a condition and leave your labels unchanged, but you get to take a bonus from the transformation surge table. So if you want to do that, that’s available to you. You don’t have to.
Drak: I’ve got too many conditions already.
Eryn: Yeah it’s not a good idea for Jaiden, but if anyone else wants to.
Drak: Yeah.
Tea: I’m going to transform. And I chose Danger to go up and Mundane to go down because I’m already -2, might as well go all the way.
Eryn: So those shifts are done. And in that case, ViVi, you’re able to take one of the bonuses from the list under Transformation Surge.
Dana: Yeha I’m going to go with "You feel strongly that you know how to handle this situation and won’t hear otherwise. Take an additional Label shift. If you would gain another surge bonus, do not take it." And I put in my notes what I did in my notes when I first transformed which was +Mundane, -Danger. I’m actually doing the opposite of that. So Danger up and Mundane back down.
Eryn: Okay sure. I guess I should just read the whole list because this is the first time we’re talking about it.
Dana: Yeah.
Eryn: So the possible bonuses you can get from Transformation Surge are:
"You fire up your allies with passion and gusto, add a Team to the pool.";
"You inspire hope with a few words of sincerity, clear a condition for a teammate.";
"You feel strongly you know how to handle the situation and won’t hear otherwise, take an additional Label shift" and everything else that Dana just said;
"When people see you, they know everything will be alright. Bystanders may take the opportunity to escape safely to a nearby location. At the GM’s discretion, bystanders who have some emotional attachment to you may pass up this reprieve to watch you in action.";
"You dazzle your opponents. Lesser enemies will flea or backdown while more powerful ones are daunted for a moment.";
and, "You attune with your surroundings and find something others have overlooked. The GM must reveal one useful object or detail in the scene that may give you an edge if used correctly. The GM is not obligated to tell you how to use it correctly."
Alright so you have done your additional Label shift, that should be all good. And you are all officially set. You are all transformed, on stage, facing down this new group, Sagittaria, who is also finishing up their transformations. And what they look like is, you’ve seen Diana before, but not all of you have, so I’ll redescribe her.
[ominous piano music plays]
She looks a little bit shorter than she was in her regular form. Her regular form is dark hair in a ponytail with comfortable clothes and jeans. In this form she’s a bit shorter, a little more boyish looking. She has a blue Ramona Flowers haircut with gray eyes and she wears this big white DnD-style ranger outfit with silver trim and moon insignia and she has a quiver of arrows on her back and if you’ve seen her before, you know they aren’t tipped with traditional arrow heads, they’re tipped with microphone heads.
And the other two, Rosette, when she transforms, she’s a bit of a shorter girl normally and you see her shoot up. She’s very tall. She’s still very twiggy so she’s a tall, lithe figure and her hair sort of breaks out of its buns into this incredibly long, black, curly hair that goes down to their knees. It’s so full it’s almost like a cape with all these daisies and golden pearl beads that are woven into it. She has a drapey white dress that kind of looks semi-Roman inspired with the hem still short enough to let her dance.
And the third member, Ashley, when she transforms she gets a little bit shorter and very cutely plump and she now has this very bright bubblegum pink hair in a 1950’s Hollywood pinup like a Rita Hayworth kind of hairstyle and she has a cute white top with an off the shoulder puffed sleeves and poufy white skirt and fluffy thigh high stockings. So they’ve all got this kind of white ensemble theme going between them with flowy, airy clothing.
Drak: Woah.
Eryn: And this is when the music kicks in and things kick off.
[dark electronic rock music plays]
So the song starts on the speakers and Sagittaria takes the initiative to start on the first verse. Diana takes lead vocals with Rosette and Ashley taking backing vocals. And you kind of have to admit, they are pretty impressive considering they didn’t know what song they are singing, they know how to harmonize, they clearly have been practicing together already. They’re hitting so many of the right notes.
They’re not perfect. You’re encouraged to see they aren’t totally perfect because it’s still their first week, but it’s incredibly impressive because it is their first week and there’s just been a power shuffle at the club. They’re improvising choreography, moving their arms together and watching each other and placing their hands together and moving in almost a Bacchanalian style that’s very fitting with what they’re doing with their outfits.
And as they do this, Ashley throws up what looks like a cloud of glitter into the air above her and it glows these kind of rainbow aura colors that are very, very pretty. And you can hear people nearby at the fences going "Ooh, ahh, that’s so pretty".
Drak: I think Jaiden is one of those people. Like,
Elementum: Oooh.
Eryn: And as they finish up their main bit of this section of the song that they’re doing, they kind of all turn towards you at a point and to punctuate the end of the first chorus, Diana pulls an arrow out of the quiver at her back, pulls it back, and it starts to glow with a white energy. Like, the bow was already an energy, bow but the arrow starts to glow with this energy too. You didn’t really see this last time because the fight didn’t really get this far. It starts to glow and she shoots it out towards your side of the stage and as she does this, Ashley and Rosette send out waves of this glittery dust and also a barrage of white feathers to create this dazzling attack headed straight for you. I think since ViVi is in the center of the formation, right?
Dana: Yes.
Eryn: I’m going to say that’s heading straight for you ViVi.
Dana: Yes. I see that coming and with a determined expression, I raise my energy sword up and swing it straight down in an attempt to split that arrow and that effect as it’s coming towards me. And the Sword extends to match the size of that dazzling effect as I bring it down.
Eryn: Awesome.
Dana: And I’m trying to sort of split that so it disperses without hitting me or any of my teammates.
Eryn: Awesome. I’m really excited to see how this works out. So I’m going to have you roll to Directly Engage a Threat.
Dana: Alright. That is a 7.
Eryn: Nice. Good old reliable sevens.
[Tea sighs]
Eryn: So on a 7-9 you pick one. You either resist or avoid their blows; take something from them; create an opportunity for your allies; or impress, surprise, or frighten the opposition.
Dana: I’m going to impress, surprise, or frighten the opposition.
Eryn: Alright so the attack is still going to hit you and have some sort of an effect, but you’re still going to be able to one up them in a way.
Dana: Yes.
Eryn: What do you think that looks like?
Dana: I think the arrow with the microphone splits – No, actually it’s the opposite. The effect – the swirling particle effect, like it’s a video game. But they're dispersed in either direction to the left and the right, but the arrow itself is unaffected and hits me in the chest.
Eryn: Alright that makes sense I’m going to have you take a condition for that.
Dana: Mm-hm.
Eryn: What would you like to mark?
Dana: I think either Angry or Afraid would make sense.
Eryn: Sure, either one’s fine.
Dana: I think I’m going to take Afraid because I think that’s more interesting.
Eryn: Alright. Oh yeah, considering it adds a -2 to Directly Engage.
Dana: Yes. Plus I was clearly certain that I would not have to move an inch and I still got hit.
Eryn: Yeah. So Sagittaria still looks impressed by this though, the fact you’re still standing and no one else in your group really got affected by it. So they look approvingly at you as they gesture for you to take your turn in the song next.
Drak: Oh okay.
Eryn: So I think the way we’re going to do this is I’m going to allow everyone to do one discreet action on your turn. And we’ll say that applies to this whole part of the song.
Drak: I think Jaiden runs to the back of the group and summons the drum set.
Eryn: Okay. And this is definitely – you’re under a lot of emotional stress. I would call that an obstacle so I would still call that an Unleash Your Powers.
Drak: Right. Oh god, guys, I have three conditions. This is probably – I’m not Hopeless.
Dana: That’s good.
[pause for dice rolling]
Drak: Oh hey!
Eryn: Hey!
Drak: Hell yeah.
Eryn: So you absolutely do that. You summon your drum set. It looks even more badass than usual because you’re so fired up for this whole situation right now. I think that’s all it is, it works, right?
Drak: Yeah.
Eryn: So you start to play your drums in time with the song and you amplify the rhythm of the song and bring out more qualities to the rhythm that aren’t in the original recording and you’re feeling a lot more confident now than you were at the keyboard in the club room a while ago.
Drak: Yeah the drums were always his main instrument. He was always a dabbler with the keyboard so he feels more at home right now. As he’s playing the drums
Eryn: Awesome.
Drak: And how does holding Burn work? Does that count as an action?
Eryn: Oh yeah, did you use your Burn up?
Drak: Yeah. Can I roll it now?
Eryn: Yeah, sure.
Drak: I’m getting lucky, wow, okay.
Eryn: 14, you get all the burn. On a hit you get 3 Burn. This section of the song that you’re in is the verse, so when we get around to the chorus after this, I’ll let you do something with your burn if you want.
Drak: Yeah.
Eryn: We’ll move to someone else next. Who wants to go next?
Tea: I guess I would. Angie has a move called Thick and Thin Skinned. It says whenever you have Angry marked, use +1 ongoing to Unleash Your Powers.
Eryn: Yeah. So you have super strength, you have fireworks. That would apply to using either of those things to doing something impressive on stage. And I would say, for the sake of how your character is set up, I would say you can apply that to your dance skills, doing some sort of dance skill that’s difficult for someone without powers to do.
Tea: Okay I guess I’m going to apply that to dance. I assume as we’re performing, the three of us are kind of taking turns walking to the front, maybe?
Eryn: Sure.
Tea: I guess if that makes sense we’re like cycling.
Eryn: Yeah like cat walk style.
Tea: Between each other. It gives me and Queen Bee an opportunity to do something.
Eryn: For sure. I think I see it probably like Jaiden and Ann might be more set in their places because they have the instruments to worry about, but the more mobile members are moving about more in the center.
Tea: Yeah. So, um, I guess I’ll do a feat of strength.
Eryn: Sure.
Tea: And because I’m angry I get a +1 ongoing.
Eryn: Sure, what kind of feat of strength do you think you’re doing?
Tea: I feel I want to do a complicated dance move but I don’t know enough about dance to describe it.
Eryn: We can just say it’s a complicated dance move too.
Tea: Yeah maybe I’ll look up more stuff. At first I was gonna say break dancing but I don’t think that fits with the rest of the group. But she is mad, so yeah, she’s going to do some breakdancing. That’s what she’s going to do. What do I roll for feats of strength?
Eryn: It’s going to be Unleash Your Power because you’re using feats of strength to do this incredibly impressive breakdancing.
Tea: Okay. [sighs] Okay. It’s an 8.
Eryn: Okay so you either mark a condition or the GM tell you how the effect is unstable or temporary. I think something like this, unstable or temporary wouldn’t be appropriate so I am going to have you mark a condition because this a complicated stressful move that you’re trying to pull off. What do you think is most appropriate for that for you?
Tea: I would say Insecure?
Eryn: Yeah.
Tea: Yeah definitely Insecure.
Eryn: But you definitely do pull off the move. You take the center stage for a moment. Valerie is singing her part in the verse and after she’s sung a few lines of it, she sort of does a dance move to give you the center stage. And as Valerie sings, you pull off this insanely complicated physical stunt while you’re dancing. There’s definitely at least a flip or two involved. There’s spinning. There’s, "Oh shouldn’t she have broken a bone? Oh god!" And even Sagittaria winces and is like "Oh wow."
Tea: No, I’m just that flexible.
Eryn: But you definitely do it and you definitely get attention. You’ve got people clapping from over the fences and Karen has got all of the light sticks in between her fingers and is waving them over her head. She’s the only one in the center between you two, by the way.
Tea: And she’s facing us.
Eryn: And she’s facing you.
Tea: Can I end it with a Kamehameha move with fireworks?
Eryn: Absolutely. That’s aesthetic. You can take that for free.
Tea: Yeah. In their faces.
Eryn: It’s not enough to have an effect on them since it’s just visual.
Tea: Yeah just bragging. Even if she can’t believe she pulled it off.
Eryn: Alright so Angie has done her big move, who wants to add to this?
Luca: I think I can do another complex dance move. Running all over the amps.
Eryn: Nice. Yeah they’re definitely stacked up behind all of you so there’s something impressive to go up and over and climbing over them.
Luca: There’s going to be a lot of twisting and twirling as I go up and down. Wouldn’t that Unleash your Powers?
Eryn: I guess Unleash would be best, yes.
Luca: Unleash Your Powers.
Tea: Yes.
Eryn: Okay so now the good rolls are coming. Okay so you do that to absolute perfection. So describe that for us.
Luca: So I start running up the amp, turn the foot, twist, do pretty much kind of like the breakdancing move thing Raven did but vertically and move all around, and then I climb down with a series of flips and land in the center.
Eryn: Oh, so cool.
Drak: That’s awesome.
Tea: I picture this as I’m doing the cool dance move and then I do a point or something. To make it look 100% natural.
Eryn: Yeah.
Tea: But awkwardly but then she just manages to pick it up and go with it.
Eryn: Maria, what do you think Ann is doing during all of this. I know you’re probably on the guitar but you’re welcome to do other things as well.
Maria: Is there a mic?
Eryn: Oh yeah. There’s mics wherever there need to be.
Maria: Ann is going to lean into her mic and kind of ad lib within the song but make it fit. Is that okay with everyone?
[all agree]
Maria: While she goes wild with the guitar she sings into it,
Ann: You think you’re the king shark, when in reality you’re just a fish on a hook.
Eryn: That’s definitely a good Provoke.
Maria: I’ll roll to Provoke. That’s +Superior, right?
Eryn: Yep. You got an 8. So on a Provoke, I get to choose what happens from this list, from how I understand it.
Maria: I think so.
Eryn: They are either going to stumble, err, or overreact. I think considering who is in the center of their group, I think I’m going to have Diana overreact a little bit. And, Ann, you can take Influence over Diana.
Maria: Sweet.
Eryn: Yeah so you’ll have +1 ongoing for the rest of this fight against her.
Maria: Awesome.
Eryn: So for that, Diana stops where she is and turns sharply towards me and is like,
Diana: Do you hear what they’re saying? You can’t let her talk to me like this. I don’t even know who this is!
Eryn: And Rosette tries to calm her.
Rosette: Diana it’s fine, we’re in the middle of something, focus.
Diana: Urgh fine!
Eryn: And Diana is seething and you can hear laughter coming from the people by the fence as well. They’re laughing at Sagittaria having this little moment and they’re definitely on Ann’s side.
Maria: Yeet.
Eryn: So that was the end of the first verse. It feels like it would take a lot of time to do a whole other go-around. Maybe this is good for the verse and the chorus.
Dana: Mm-hm.
Eryn: So this covers the whole first verse and chorus that you do and it hands back over to Sagittaria and they’re ruffled but ready for another go.
Dana: I was thinking, given what we know about Mary Rain and a song called Downpour, it has to be some kind of – the lyrics have to be about how everyone is horrible to me and thinks they’re better than me and then turn around after the first verses that I’ll show them I’m going to be better than everyone, it’s got to be something very, the world is terrible, it’s all a Downpour. I’m not a songwriter…
Eryn: You’re doing great so far.
Maria: Yeah really good.
Dana: Some sort of statement of the world is terrible to me so I’m going to be terrible to the world.
Eryn: That sounds like something Mary Rain would like. Oh, I just realized, we didn’t do your part in the verse did we? I had you defend but I didn’t actually have you do your thing.
Dana: Yeah I wasn’t sure if that counted or not.
Eryn: Sorry about that. Yeah we’ll let you do one more thing before Sagittaria continues then.
Dana: I was thinking about the structure of that and the chorus has to end in a big dramatic it’s a downpour with a long, drawn out downpour. ViVi has been singing the lyrics while the rest of the group does backup or improve lyrics in the background and on the final dramatic line in the chorus, I raise my sword up and several daggers of the same kind of purple energy appear in our half of the stage and aim towards Sagittaria in a downpour.
Eryn: Oh yeah.
Maria: That’s awesome.
Tea: Yeah.
Eryn: Okay then. Is that Directly Engage or Unleash Your Powers? I think it’s more of a Directly Engage than overcome your powers because it’s not overcoming an obstacle I guess.
Dana: Yeah I think I’m engaging them directly.
Eryn: Okay so you get to do another Directly Engage.
Dana: Yep and I’m fine with that.
Eryn: Oh no.
Dana: Oh that’s a miss. I don’t think that’s a miss that can be helped with a Team either.
Eryn: Yeah unfortunately not. That is a 3. Okay then, so what do I want to do to you? Oh.
Drak: Oh no.
Eryn: Okay, I know what I’m going to do. So Sagittaria have been watching you this whole time. They’re getting a little ruffled but they’re good at what they do, much to your chagrin, and they’re watching what you do carefully and they see you gearing up to do something. And Ashley, the girl with the pink hair now is actually going to, she has this dust sort of raising around her again and instead of glowing and parking this time she’s forming it into a big barrier in front of the group. And as your daggers come back, the whole barrier thrusts out at once and bounces the daggers back at your stage. I’m not going to inflict another condition on you because I don’t want to do that every time but I do want to up the stakes. So that attack is coming back at all of you.
Dana: Do you think rolling Take a Powerful Blow would be appropriate?
Eryn: Probably would be I think because it’s coming at all of you. I don’t want to make you all directly engage or defend or whatever.
Maria: No chance Ann would be able to take the brunt of it?
Eryn: Yeah I think I will have all of you roll to Take a Powerful Blow. Everyone take turns rolling this.
Drak: Oh boy. I’m going to – okay.
Tea: What do we roll for that?
Eryn: For Take a Powerful Blow, it is Roll +Conditions Marked.
Drak: Okay.
Dana: Yeah at the top right of the character sheet there’s a button next to conditions.
Eryn: Yeah. Oh, and, um, so Drak you rolled a 10 and unfortunately, for Take a Powerful Blow, that’s bad. This is the one move in the game where you want to roll low.
Drak: Yeah.
Maria: Oh no.
Drak: Ooh.
Eryn: Angie rolled a 12.
Maria: Oh no
Luca: Oh god.
Eryn: Valerie rolled a 13
Dana: This is a massacre.
Drak: We’re getting destroyed.
Tea: Oh no.
Eryn: This is a bad time to be having good luck. Ann got a 7 and Queen Bee got a 9.
Tea: We all got hit.
Drak: Oh no. Oh no.
Tea: Ohhhh.
Eryn: Oh boy. Is that everybody? I think so.
Tea: That’s everybody.
Eryn: Okay then let’s see. Let’s figure this out. So for the people who rolled 10+, you must choose one of these choices, you – well also, you have one extra option in addition to the regular list because it comes from the Transformation move. You can either remove yourself from the situation by fleeing, passing out, or other means; you lose control of yourself or your powers in a terrible way; or you choose two options from the 7-9 list. Or you detransform.
Tea: What’s the 7-9 list?
Eryn: The 7-9 list is 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 and mark two conditions. Oh sorry, Detransform is on the 7-9 list. Sorry, I forgot.
Drak: I’m going to give ground and lash out.
Tea: That’s what I’m going to do too.
Dana: Is everybody just going to be lashing out at each other?
Eryn: Yeah.
Tea: I think I’m going to lash out at ViVi.
Drak: How is ViVi looking in conditions? Could they take another lashing out?
Dana: I have two conditions. So.
Maria: I have none.
Drak: What does lashing out do exactly?
Eryn: It can do one of two things. It’s either provoking a teammate to foolhardy action. So I think that would involve the formal Provoke move. Or you can take advantage of your Influence to inflict a condition on them. And taking advantage of your Influence is also a formal move.
Drak: Yeah I’m going to lash out, not to inflict a condition, but provoke ViVi to do something foolhardy.
Eryn: Alright.
Tea: That’s essentially what I’m going to do too.
Eryn: Since there’s a lot of lashing out going on, rather than having you all do this individually, I’m just going to say probably after this big shower of daggers that hits you, a shouting match is going to break out. We’ll deal with that in a sec. I want to first figure out what the rest of you who haven’t chosen are doing yet. Maria, I haven’t heard from you yet, right?
Maria: I’m going to lash out too at potentially Queen Bee. Is that okay, Luca?
Luca: Oh yeah, absolutely.
Maria: I’m going to take advantage of Influence as well if that’s okay.
Eryn: Oh sure.
Luca: Absolutely.
Maria: Vary it up.
Eryn: How about Queen Bee?
Luca: Lashing out is tempting, but I think I might try to struggle past the pain and mark two conditions.
Eryn: You’re going to take like three conditions then.
Luca: That’s one condition away from being detransformed, right?
Eryn: Yeah, detransforming is an option as well.
Luca: I’m not ready for that. I think I’m going to get...
Eryn: Let’s say everybody’s taking lash out verbally. The opposition is definitely gaining a lot of ground. Queen Bee is struggling past the pain and Ann is taking advantage of her influence over Queen Bee. So let’s resolve the thing with Ann first here.
Maria: Okay.
Tea: I have, for Bull’s Heart, I have Enabler, so when I provoke my Love or Rival, I roll +Danger if you’re trying to get them to do something rash.
Eryn: I’ve been looking forward to this.
Tea: Yeah. I’m sorry Dana.
Eryn: Let’s do Ann’s thing first.
Maria: Just before we go, Dana, did you choose your options?
Dana: I was trying to figure out what "You control of yourself or your powers in a terrible way" would look like, I’m trying to figure out what it would look like and I’m not sure. There’s going to be a lot of lashing out and provoking me so lets see how that resolves before I decide.
Luca: Sorry if I was pushing you, I wasn’t sure if you said.
Eryn: No I don’t want to miss anybody’s action.
Dana: It’s a good thing to ask.
Maria: As the daggers come straight into Ann she gets knocked back a few steps and lines up with Queen Bee and is like,
Ann: Come on, where the hell where you there? It was coming right at me.
Maria: I think it would be funny the idea that obviously Queen Bee got hit with one but she just ignores that.
Eryn: Yeah there’s just a scorch mark on Ann’s granite skin somewhere.
Maria: And I'm going to try and take advantage of my Influence?
Eryn: Yeah to take advantage of your Influence over someone, you surrender the influence you hold over them to either give them -2 on a move they just made, inflict a condition on them, or take an additional +1 on a move. In this case, it has to be inflict a condition. You erase your Influence over Queen Bee on your Character Sheet.
Maria: Will do.
Eryn: And Queen Bee has to take a condition.
Luca: I’m going with afraid.
Eryn: Sure. You’ve got a giant golem yelling in your face. I think that’s reason enough to be afraid.
Maria: That is fair.
Luca: I think at this point instead of lashing out, I’m going to lose control of my powers in a terrible way.
Eryn: Ohhhh.
Maria: Oh shit.
Luca: The bees are going to swarm out.
Elementum: ViVi I thought this was just a sparring session, why--? These daggers really hurt. Can you do something else, please, something that doesn’t hurt us as much?
Eryn: You get to roll Provoke on this. You’re trying to provoke Valerie into doing something. Non-specific, something.
Elementum: Non-specific.
Dana: Something else.
Drak: My Provoke isn’t too bad.
Eryn: You got a 7 on that. For PCs on a 7-9 if they do it add a Team to the pool. If they don’t do it, they mark a condition. Which of those do you think would be more appropriate?
Drak: Add a Team to the pool.
Eryn: Alright. So there’s some incentive for ViVi to... do something, let's say.
Bane Raven: Ugh! The daggers have to go in THAT direction. Break their stage if you have to, I don’t care!
Tea: And I have to roll Provoke.
Eryn: Yeah +Danger.
Tea: I have a +2 in Danger and I also have influence over Valerie so that’s also a +1.
Eryn: So that’s a 14.
Maria: Oh beans.
Eryn: On a 10+ both of the conditions apply. If Valerie does what you say, add another Team to the pool and if she doesn’t, Valerie marks a condition. So I think this is leading very nicely into whatever Valerie is going to do.
Dana: Mm-hm.
Eryn: What do you think would be appropriate here?
Dana: I think I’m going to lose control of myself or my powers in a terrible way.
Eryn: Seems to be leading towards that, yes.
[ominous music plays]
Dana: I... [sighs] ViVi looks very obviously, like even her unnaturally pale appearance when she’s transformed kind of heats up in an embarrassed blush. And she says,
ViVi: Fine!
Dana: And then thrusts both hands up into the air and attempts to just destroy the stage. This is just losing all sense of composure, and just being like, "Fine. Tear it all down."
Eryn: I think this will also go on in concern with whatever is going on in concert with Queen Bee as well. So Queen Bee, what does your loss of control look like?
Luca: I’m afraid of getting hurt. This is the first time I’ve been truly in danger since becoming a superidol. So I lose control and all the bees from the hive start swarming out in a frenzy. And I’ll just... I think they might – I think they might attack the audience.
Eryn: Oh. Oh, oh! This is interesting. Because remember, you’re enclosed in a power-proof barrier and there’s only one audience member inside the barrier.
Maria: Shit.
Luca: No, no!
Drak: Karen...
Tea: Oh no.
Maria: All is not well in Waffle Town.
Tea: This went south so fast.
Maria: That’s Masks.
Eryn: ViVi I don’t think you have to roll for this because it’s part of Take a Powerful Blow. So this is what happens. Everybody is yelling at each other on stage and Sagittaria is looking smug about this and they’re getting ready to break in with the next part of their verse because that’s how these things work. What they don’t see is ViVi summoning more daggers but just an immense cloud. Way more than ViVi thought she was capable of conjuring. This is a solid mass just made out of these glowing purple daggers. It’s like a giant purple space cloud, it’s that thick.
And it hangs in the air ominously as it’s pointed directly at the opposite stage for a moment.
And then you hear a thunderous buzz of hundreds of bees in the background coming up underneath the cloud and it underscores these daggers shooting forward at high velocity directly into the stage. And the stage starts to collapse.
Sagittaria, because they have such an opportunity because of all your moves, they are prepared to react to you at least. They weren’t prepared for the destruction of their stage. That’s still catching them off guard. But they’re prepared enough and coordinated enough to react in time. So what they’re going to do is: Ashley throws another cloud of her pixie dust into the air over them. And Rosette manifests a bunch of feathers which form into these angel wings on all three of their backs. And the combination of those two things causes them to levitate and fly up above this destruction that’s happening, this complete and utter annihilation of the opposite side's stage.
And the bees are honing in on the first thing that isn’t their Queen or their Queen’s attendants is Karen, standing in the middle of the field, with her glow sticks raised and her eyes just wide.
And she is... consumed.
[female screams at a distance]
[music gradually fades out]
Eryn: Actually, I’m sorry, is this too much for anybody? I know some people have issues with insect things.
Maria: I was going to check in after…
Eryn: Yeah I’m checking in now. Is this okay? We can back this up and change it.
Luca: I am okay, but I am going to mark Guilty.
Eryn: Sure.
Dana: I was thinking I would also mark Guilty just for everything going on.
Eryn: Yeah. Oh boy. Um. Okay. So as this all completes, the song fizzles out as the laptop is also destroyed along with the stage. What are you all doing as this continues? The cloud isn’t stopping. The destruction is not done yet.
[downbeat electronic music fades in]
Drak: I’m rushing to Karen.
Tea: Yeah.
Maria: Ann’s going to do the same.
Drak: I’m scared because I don’t want to use my powers but I feel that’s what Jaiden would do. I want to see if I can use the wind part of his powers and blow as hard as he can to get the bees off of Karen.
Eryn: Sure. I think this would count as a defend someone because you’re trying to defend her from these bees.
Maria: Oh yeah.
Drak: Oh boy. Okay. Um, I got a -1 in that. Hopefully I don’t blow Karen away. Okay, yeah.
Eryn: Oh, ohhh that’s a four.
Maria: Oh yeah mark Potential.
Drak: Do we have any Team points by chance?
Luca: I think I have a Team point.
Eryn: Yeah if two people contribute a Team point, no three people have to and you do have three Team.
Maria: Yeah I’ll contribute.
Luca: Yeah.
Bane Raven: Yeah I’ll contribute a Team point.
Eryn: Okay. Queen Bee is helping by trying to call off the bees somehow.
Luca: Yeah, I’m trying to reign them in.
Eryn: And then Ann and Angie, how are you helping?
Maria: Ann is being big and tough and swatting at bees with her bare hands. Swinging with her arms to get them cleared away.
Tea: I’m going to try and take Karen out of the powers and hoping the bees will be contained but Karen will be fine. That's her plan. Carry her and get her out is the plan.
Eryn: I think that will help get Jaiden’s roll up to a 7.
Drak: Yeah.
Eryn: So on a 7-9 it costs you. You expose yourself to danger or escalate the situation.
Tea: Oh no. You’re allergic.
Eryn: Oh no you are, you’re right!
Drak: Yeah I’m going to expose myself to danger.
Eryn: Oh no.
Luca: Jesus.
Eryn: Okay you expose yourself to the danger of these bee stings. You then do one of the following. You can either add a Team to the pool, take Influence over someone you protect, or clear a condition.
Drak: Um, I don’t have influence over Karen, so I’ll take influence over Karen.
Eryn: Okay, alright. So through your combined efforts, Jaiden brings up the power of the wind and creates a gust that clears a bunch of the bees away but several are still kind of on Karen. Ann and Angie help to get the remaining bees off and protect her and carry her away. Obviously her skin is starting to show signs of an allergic reaction. Not as bad as you would think, actually. She might not be terribly allergic to bees, but there’s sting marks, for sure. And with that many bees, it’s a lot of red marks.
So you manage to get her out of there. The stage is still in the process of being utterly annihilated and Sagitteria is still levitating over all of this with their angel wings. The audience outside is actually starting to run out onto the field now because clearly something has gone wrong and people are in trouble. So they're rushing in to see if they can help.
Dana: I think while this is happening, ViVi just turns around and runs away the opposite direction that everyone else is going.
Eryn: Ooh, yeah. That’s fair. And I think that clears a condition if you have the relevant one, am I right?
Dana: Yes, that clears Afraid.
Eryn: Okay, so ViVi has fled the scene. What is everybody else doing right now?
Drak: I exposed myself to danger, am I in trouble?
Eryn: I’m will say it’s not going to be that bad. You only exposed yourself to danger, you didn’t get in a huge amount of trouble. I’m just going to say you did get a couple stings on your arms are exposed the way your costume is so a few bad welts on your arms. Are you allergic enough that you need an EpiPen or is it just that you get a really bad skin welt?
Drak: I think just unusually bad skin welt. I don’t think EpiPen-- I don't think it would be that extreme. But very inconvenient and very painful.
Eryn: And what does everyone else do?
Tea: I want to do a move. I want to Punch Everyone.
Eryn: You might have a bit of time getting to the people you want to punch, but we'll see.
Tea: Yeah. But the move is whenever you charge into a fight without hedging your bets, I can shift my Danger up and any other Label down. So I’m going to put my Danger up to 3.
Eryn: Nice.
Tea: And I think my Mundane is going to go down to -2.
Eryn: Alright.
Tea: And yeah, that’s where I’m at. And I’m going to try to engage a threat towards the three of them. I don’t care who I hit, I’m just punching.
Eryn: Sure and with your super strength I’m going to say you have enough leg strength to actually launch yourself up that high.
Tea: Yeah, I’m pissed.
Eryn: Yeah, I guess that is Directly Engage a Threat. Roll them bones. [pause] That is a 12.
Maria: Ooh.
Eryn: Very good.
Tea: I’m going to take something from them. Hopefully their airborne-ness and they’re on the ground or something.
Eryn: So resist or avoid their blows and take their aerial position. That is more than acceptable. So with your incredible leg strength, you launch yourself up with an 18-foot vertical leap. And you just uppercut Diana directly in the bottom of the chin and she goes arcing backwards away from the damage but definitely goes flying onto the ground. And you’re still airborne enough to, after you do that, grab the fronts of the outfits of the other two and pull them down with you as you fall and just slam them on the ground.
Tea: And I stand up and I say,
Bane Raven: We’re the last ones standing.
[music ends]
Luca: Ooh.
Eryn: And silence stands in the air, although people are running in now to see if anybody else is hurt or see if they can help Karen or see if anybody else is hurt. But your words hang with potence in the air.
Tea: And I guess do I remove my Angry condition?
Eryn: If you want to.
Tea: Because it says to clear if I hurt someone or break something important.
Eryn: Yeah.
Tea: I think we did a lot of that.
Dana: Yeah.
Luca: Yep.
Maria: Yeah.
Eryn: You can do that. I know Angry benefits you though, so whatever you want.
Tea: Yeah I don't know if take foolhardy action without talking to your team counts, but I also did that, so I don't know if I can remove two conditions or that’s too much.
Eryn: Um... I think sure, I’ll allow it.
Tea: Okay. I wasn’t intending for that but then I was looking and I was like, "Oh wait I did do that."
Eryn: Yep, because that is a foolhardy action.
Tea: It sure was.
Eryn: And you sure didn’t ask anybody.
Tea: No I just did it.
Eryn: And if you were worried by the way about actually causing serious medical harm to anybody, when you’re in your magical idol form, standard magical girl superheroics apply. You can take more damage than a human would, just any idol, that’s a thing. So you don’t have to worry about so much.
Tea: I feel like Angie would worry about that later but not right now.
Drak: Yeah.
Eryn: So you’re not going to put them in the hospital for having basically just slammed these two teenage girls directly into the ground at terminal velocity.
Tea: Well that appeases me as a player.
Eryn: But you did hurt them for sure.
Maria: Can I do a thing?
Drak: Sure yeah.
[sad piano music plays]
Maria: After seeing everything is off, the bees are off, she’s going to see what just happened and rushes over and grab somebody’s shoulder and twist them around. Not twirling but holding Angie to attention. She does that and is like,
Ann: What the hell is that?
Tea: I think she looks around, she sees Karen outside of the sphere on the ground. And I guess there’s bees everywhere? Are the bees a little more under control now?
Luca: They’re not actively attacking anybody. They’re kind of all over the place. If you bump into them, they might sting you, but they're not attacking.
Tea: She kind of looks at the aftermath of everything. And then she just starts crying. Just sobbing. Maybe it was too much.
Maria: Ann was fully prepared to go on a big rant about how she’s the leader and she’s supposed to be better than that, but the moment she sees her crying, Ann doesn’t do it but it looks like she’s about to roll her eyes before kind of pulling Angie into a half-hug and just going like,
Ann: Fuck, it’s been a bad day.
Tea: I think all I would do is just hug Ann back.
Maria: Yeah Ann doesn’t have a lot of emotion but she’s like you got to try something so…
Eryn: Actually this might be a good opportunity for a "when you share a vulnerability or weakness with someone" move, possibly. With yours it would be when you share a vulnerability or weakness with someone, you give them Influence and Hold 2. You can spend that Hold as if it were Team in the pool. And you can hold that till next session as well.
Tea: Yeah that sounds good.
Eryn: And you’d also put that Ann has Influence over you.
Maria: I’ll jot that down.
Eryn: You have this moment of Ann just hugging you and crying and it’s been... a day. And how about Jaiden and Queen Bee? How are they hanging in there right now?
Luca: I'm... Right now I just want to make sure Karen is okay. I want to lift her up and carry her to the infirmary or just keep saying,
Queen Bee: I’m sorry, I’m so sorry I didn’t mean to.
Karen: It’s okay. I know stuff happens.
Eryn: She actually kind of laughs a little bit.
Karen: This isn’t even the worst it’s ever been. This happens with superidols.
Luca: I start crying.
Eryn: Aw... That’s probably also a moment for that vulnerability as well then, too, yeah. So when you share a vulnerability or weakness with someone.
Luca: I shift my Mundane up and my Superior down.
Eryn: And you also tell them a secret about who you really are. Is that okay or-- We don’t have to do that part.
Luca: I, like, it’s okay.
Queen Bee: I’m so sorry, I’ve been taking care of those bees for months, they’ve never done anything like that. Professor Phillips is going to be so mad. I’m so stupid I’m sorry--
Karen: No you’re not. It’s okay. It happens. It does happen. I’m sure you took care of them very well. Power stuff, it just gets out of control sometimes. I know. It's—ah, god, it stings... But I don’t blame you. It’s okay.
Queen Bee: I’m taking you to the infirmary. Jaiden, you need to come too. You’re allergic.
Drak: Jaiden is limping.
Karen: There’s no one in the infirmary right now.
Queen Bee: That’s okay I know what to do. I know what the things are. I know the meds.
Karen: Okay.
Eryn: So you take Karen into the school to take care of her. And Jaiden, how about you?
Drak: I think he’s just very quietly limping and holding his arms to his chest as he walks behind. He doesn’t say anything. I think he’s texting his aunt with his other free hand saying, Can you pick me up please?
Eryn: You get a text back from her pretty quickly like, Sure I’ll be right there. And in the background there are people tending to the members of Sagittaria. The two girls hit the ground with enough force that they immediately detransformed and they’re just all kind of a little woozy. And as you all spread out away from this scene, there’s just an air around this whole area as the barrier dissipates and you all go out that this wasn’t supposed to happen this way.
[melancholy piano plays a little longer and then finishes]
And I think we have to leave it there.
[all agree]
Maria: Everyone good?
Eryn: Is everyone good?
Drak: Yeah.
Tea: Yes.
Eryn: Yeah that was intense.
Tea: I’m a little bit emotional but I definitely didn’t expect it to take that kind of turn.
Eryn: Me neither, oh god.
Dana: I will say this session was the most – yeah, that’s Masks baby.
Tea: Yeah it’s like Apocalypse World games. It's just one roll, so many different things.
Eryn: And now I know for the future I need to be careful with my Take a Powerful Blows on the group.
[all laugh]
Tea: That was a learning session for everyone!
Eryn: I think I need to figure out a better way to handle group attacks.
Drak: I thought it was pretty dramatic.
Eryn: No it was a great session but I don’t want this to happen every time.
Maria: No it was so cool. It was a good thing. It was a good type of intense. It’s just good to check in – even if it’s not an intense session. Still got to check in and make sure everyone’s doing 100.
[all agree]
[mellow guitar music plays]
Eryn: Thank you so much for listening to SuperIdols RPG. Our cast for today was Dana Lexa as Valerie Pearce, Theawinde as Evangeline Blake, Maria Fanning as Ann Davil, Drakoniques as Jaiden Lott, Luca as Queen Bee, and ErynCerise as the GM. Special thanks go to today’s featured VIP Patrons: Apple, Circus, Sensei1477, and Matthew F. This campaign is played using Masks: A New Generation, written by Brendan Conway and published by Magpie Games, with custom moves by ErynCerise and Zak P. Our opening theme is "Le Chevalier Noir (Instrumental)" by Cyborgjeff and is used under license from Jamendo Music. Our ending theme for this episode is “Lax” by Lance Conrad, and is under license from Storyblocks.com. All incidental music and sound effects for this episode are licensed from storyblocks.com and freesound.org, with the exception of Fireworks, a Creative Commons Track by GMode.
If you liked this episode, please consider liking and commenting on the YouTube upload, or leaving us a review on your podcasting platform of choice. Stick around for a teaser for Ctrl Group RPG, a podcast featuring BIPOC and Queer Players testing the latest and greatest RPG systems so you don’t have to. Thank you again for listening, stay well, and goodbye until next time.
Announcer: Do you want to take a break from traditional DnD podcasts? Do you want to spice up your table with some new, exciting systems? Welcome to CtrlGroup. We are a TTRPG podcast dedicated to testing the latest and greatest in systems, hacks, and betas across the wide world of tabletop roleplaying. Enjoy our rotating case of queer, people of color, and even sometimes some special, special guests. Here’s a taste of what you can find on CtrlGroup. Monster of the Week.
Man: Alright Legolas, you need to slide down these bodies like Legolas to the stairs at Helm Deep, and you need to shoot this guy with a crossbow. And while you distract him with a crossbow, I’m going to grab Jax so he doesn’t get his eyeballs ate.
Announcer: Pasion de las Passiones
Man 2: A gun shot. A gun shot.
Man: Suddenly a gunshot rings out.
Man 2: On Dom’s lapel we see a laser pointer.
Announcer: Lasers and Feelings
Omnipotent Voice: People of earth. Your attention please. This is Prosthetic Vogon Jeltz of the Galactic Hyperspace Planning Council. As you will no doubt be aware, the plans for the elements of the outlying region of the galaxy require the building of a hyperspace express route through your star system. And regrettably, your planet is one of those scheduled for demolition. The process will take slightly less than two of your earth minutes. Thank you.
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Transcription by Cassie Hauschildt: https://www.chtranscription.com/
Proofreading by ErynCerise
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