Today on SuperIdols! RPG, our heroes have scattered to the wind in the wake of their disastrous performance. How is everyone holding up on their own?
Today on SuperIdols! RPG, our heroes have scattered to the wind in the wake of their disastrous performance. How is everyone holding up on their own?
Episode 8 Transcript: https://superidolsrpg.wordpress.com/2021/11/25/episode-8-soloists-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:
- Alice
- Aunt Jen (a.k.a.: Jennifer Corsair)
- Karen
- Drew
- Kyle Mitchell
- Amberlee
- Diana
- Ashley
- Mary Rain
Featured Patrons:
- Wulfy
- Amairylle
- LadyPlague
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SuperIdols! RPG is now a proud member of the Be Gay Roll Dice podcast network!
Featured BGRD Podcast:
- The Eternity Archives: https://www.theeternityarchives.com/
Join the Be Gay Roll Dice Discord!: https://discord.gg/cQ9h2me
BGRD Twitter: https://twitter.com/BEGAYROLLDICE
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Logo Art: Prissmbell (@Prissmbell)
Character Art: Onsta (@onstamonsta)
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, Freesound.org, and the YouTube Audio Library. 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.
[cold open with serious, ambient music]
Eryn: All right, so... In the aftermath in the fight from Saturday, it has been a couple days since then now. Thankfully, no one ended up in the hospital afterwards for longer than maybe an evening. Just enough to treat some bruised ribs and maybe a swollen jaw. Superidol bodies are built pretty tough and they can take a lot of damage without transferring much of that over to their regular forms. Queen Bee was able to treat some of Karen’s bee stings with some supplies from the school infirmary and got her home safely afterwards. But the club members all scattered to the wind after the fight and have not contacted each other since. It’s been a couple days since then. There was a news story about the incident the next morning. There’s some cell phone video online. But it’s not as big a story as one might expect. This world is kind of used to collateral damage from superidol fights. So there’s some outcry from some of the usual anti-superidol factions as well as messages of support from people who are just concerned about the wellbeing of whoever these kids are. But all in all it’s not as big a blip on the radar as you would have expected it to be. And it is now Monday. It is Labor Day so you are still off from school this day. What are you doing?
Dana: I am probably curled up on my bed watching anime on my phone.
Luca: I think Allen is trying not to get noticed too much. They’re in their room and they’re working on the apology note.
Maria: Ann is mainly being kind of working out. That’s her de-stressor I feel.
Tea: Angie’s been pouting in her room this whole time. Listening to angry hip hop. Maybe there’s a fighting video game that she picks up only when she feels like she wants to punch stuff.
Drak: I think I’ve been cooped up in my room. Probably haven’t talked. Probably just gone downstairs to eat breakfast, do my thing, and go straight back to my bedroom to sulk.
Eryn: Yeah. Of course Jen has been super worried about you. She’s tried to get you to say what’s going on. But after a while it became clear that you weren’t really up to talking about it so she’s kind of reluctantly let you be and just tried to make sure you’re eating at least. So I think it’s probably Monday afternoon, evening, or so. How do you find yourself on the cusp of having to go back to school the next day?
Drak: I’m probably back downstairs in the living room, checking my backpack to make sure I have everything ready for tomorrow. I maybe find the piece of the photo that we had to put together for the essentially scavenger hunt for the club room.
Eryn: You hear a soft knock on your dear and from behind the door you hear,
Alice: Valerie, are you--? Can I come in?
Valerie: Uh, yeah, yeah.
Eryn: And you hear the door kind of softly open and you see your sister Alice peeking through the door. She doesn’t quite come in yet but she does peek in on you at least.
Drak: And I think that I probably just start crying?
Eryn: And your Aunt Jen walks in at this moment and sort of notices that you’re basically breaking down over this piece of paper. So of course she sort of rushes to you and goes,
Aunt Jen: Oh, oh, honey, honey. Oh, oh no, what's wrong, honey? Oh are you okay?
Valerie: Well, everything’s terrible and everything hates me.
Alice: I know I can’t really change your mind much on this but you know that no one blames you for what happened, right?
Valerie: I mean it – mmm... It was my fault. So obviously if they’re not blaming me then they’re wrong and... I don't know why I’d want to be in a group with someone that would let such a stupid mistake pass anyway.
Alice: Mm...
Jaiden: I – I don't know if I’m going to, what if I can’t be an idol. What if I can’t be a superidol? What if I just don’t have what it takes?
Aunt Jen: Shhh. It’s okay.
Eryn: She rubs the top of your head and says some cooing words.
Aunt Jen: It’s... I have full faith that you absolutely can be anything that you want to be. I don't know what happened on Saturday, but I know that it’s nothing that you can’t overcome. I know you too well to doubt you.
Allen: ...It was kind of the end of the world. We were a complete disaster and Allen was the worst.
Eryn: Aw... Yeah, I think your mom wasn’t quite sure what happened. Maybe found out a little bit more from the news story the next day. But knew enough to know you were pretty shaken by it and has been trying to take care of you, give you your favorite foods and whatnot, and otherwise just kind of give you your space and give you some support as you can.
Luca: Allen was very grateful for that but also worried that they told too much and now she’s going to reconsider her support to the whole superidol thing.
Tea: ...She would not tell any of her family what’s going on. And she’s got the lock on her room. She emerges to like get some junk food whatever. She’s a teenager, she can eat whatever she wants and gain nothing.
Eryn: Yeah and your parents know your moods come and go, so they think it’s just another one of those things. So they’re just giving you a wide berth for now. Freddie might be trying to get in your space but even he kind of gets it when you’re in a certain angry kind of sullen way. Maybe your dad will try to make a token effort to reach out to his Pumpkin. But he doesn’t really push very much. He doesn’t really know how to do that kind of thing very well.
Tea: Yeah. And the trust is gone between them so she doesn’t usually talk to them at all.
Maria: ...She’s kind of a known figure at the local boxing gym where they have to keep replacing any sand bags or boxing bags she goes up against because he ends up doing that whole Videl in Dragonball Z thing where it ends up bursting when she punches through it. Captain America, that would have been a much better and more relevant reference.
Eryn: Well, either one yeah.
Maria: So she’s just a mainstay there over the last few days. It doesn’t really have any physical effect on her because she’s always stone unchanging. But it’s the physical action that destresses her.
Eryn: That makes sense. Just being able to like punch it out basically.
Maria: Yeah, exactly.
Eryn: Have you been envisioning anyone in particular that the punching bag’s standing in for or is it just general getting that physical activity out?
Maria: Sometimes it’s the three idols they were facing. Rare time it’s Violence Violet and even rarer time it’s Ann herself.
[long pause, music begins fading out]
Eryn: You’re say you're writing this apology note.
Luca: Oh yeah writing the note and just saying, Karen, I hurt you and I did not mean to and I promise I’ll be more careful in the future and I’m sorry. They’re trying to write something sincere but they just keep repeating things.
Eryn: Aw. I feel like you have a little wastebasket next to you that’s full of crumpled up apology cards.
Luca: Yes.
Eryn: And you said there’s a care package to go with this as well.
Luca: Oh yes.
Eryn: What do you think is in it?
Luca: There’s two new light sticks.
Eryn: Those things aren’t cheap too.
Luca: And one t-shirt from an idol group that I think Karen likes. And one small jar of cannabis-infused honey that was quite expensive.
Eryn: Aww. That’s literally sweet but also just emotionally sweet. So while you’re writing this card you hear a soft knock on the door and you hear…
Allen’s Mom: Allen, are... Are you okay? Am I okay to come in?
Allen: Yes, yes, come in. Please.
Eryn: Your mom kind of comes in behind you and sees you still at the desk. I think she might have checked in on you a little bit earlier. And she gives a soft smile and gestures to the care package on the desk next to the card that you’re writing.
Allen’s Mom: I think that your friend is really going to appreciate this. I’m so proud of you for trying to do right by her.
Allen: Uh, thank you mom. I hope it’s going to be okay. I don’t want her to hate me for that.
Allen’s Mom: I don’t think she will. Based on what you’ve told me about her, she seems certainly like the forgiving type. You’ve always described her as being easygoing I think.
Allen: Yeah, she’s very chill.
Allen’s Mom: Hm. I’m more worried about her medical condition. I’m very glad you were able to treat you as quickly as you could. I guess those first aid courses certainly did not go to waste.
Allen: Yeah they wouldn’t let us work with the bees until after we knew what to do.
Allen’s Mom: Yes, I suppose we can thank Professor Phillips for that as well.
Allen: Of course, I’ll thank him.
Allen’s Mom: He may not know exactly what caused his bees to swarm out and sting a person multiple times, but I think he probably will need some support after the fact.
Allen: Yeah… I really didn’t want this to happen.
Allen’s Mom: I don’t think anybody would have necessarily. You’re certainly doing as much as you can to make it right.
Allen: Yeah, I’ll try to help out Professor Phillips too.
Eryn: She puts her hands on your shoulders and gives you a little squeeze and a mom kiss on the head.
Allen: Thanks, Mom.
Allen’s Mom: You’ve always been so responsible.
Allen: I just don’t feel very responsible, but thank you.
Allen’s Mom: I understand that. And I do hope that you’re able to, well, I suppose control these powers of you’re a little bit better in the future. But you’re still learning, it’s very new, I understand that. And I know that you’re a good learner.
Allen: Yeah, I thought I did. I didn’t use the bees the whole time. I wasn’t going to use them. I just... Ann almost fell on me and I panicked and they just swarmed out.
Allen’s Mom: No, I completely understand. I’m not sure I would have done much better if I were in the same situation if I’m being honest.
Allen: But you’re not an idol. I’m supposed to be able to do these things.
[sad piano music fading up in background]
Eryn: Alice sighs a bit at this and pushes open the door and takes a few more steps inside.
Alice: You know I don’t like hearing you talk like this. I know it feels cruddy to have experienced something like that. I know I can’t even imagine. But honestly, the superpowers thing, like, no one really knows how that all works. Like... Do you really think that because you don’t know specifically how to control this yet that you are somehow, like, specially inept at it?
Valerie: [deep breath] Maybe? I wasn’t supposed to have this power anyway. Maybe there’s a reason for that. Maybe I didn’t get any powers because I shouldn’t have them because I’m just going to hurt people because I was never going to be an idol and I… [about to cry]
Alice: Oh…
Eryn: At that, she comes to give you a huge. That sounds like a crying on the shoulder moment.
Jaiden: It's all over... The videos are all over Twitter. That was our first battle and we... We essentially wiped ourselves out.
Aunt Jen: Oh I see. I wondered when I heard some rumblings about something that had happened at the school. I didn’t want to pry much. But oh, I see. So you – did you have some kind of altercation with somebody then?
Jaiden: Yeah. Um, this other group, I don't know, they seemed to know the rest of our group – Val and, um, Queen Bee? I don't know. I thought it was just a friendly thing but they seemed to be – so they challenged us to battle them. And I got stung, Karen got stung, knives falling from the sky...
Aunt Jen: Oh goodness, oh I... Well maybe I don’t completely understand but I certainly know what goes on in this city and there’s... There's been a lot of rough stuff, let’s say.
Jaiden: If we couldn’t even handle that, how are we going to handle the actual big leagues? How are we supposed to get to the level of like the Bom Bom Bros?
Eryn: She gives a soothing back rub, like the kind she would give when you were both growing up. This is a familiar thing for both of you.
Dana: I just kind of accept it and cry on her shoulder.
Alice: I know, it's... I don’t even know really know what to say but I do know that even though it does suck to know that you’ve hurt someone with your powers, I don’t think that means that you don’t deserve them or that you should never had had them or that you are a particularly bad fit for them. I know you wouldn’t remember this, you were too young. Heck, I barely remember it, I was a little kid back then, but back when all the super power stuff was just being discovered, it was a nightmare. So many people who got powers at first were young, up-and-coming musicians. Teens, college students, pop starlets. It was a whole world full of confused young people who not only didn't have a handle on how the world was working yet, but they could set things on fire with their minds and lift cars and fizzle people out of existence. It was... It was real rough for a while there. Even being that young I could tell. I guess the point is I really don’t blame you for things getting out of hand. The world is still kind of in its infancy about all of this. No one really knows everything about how powers work or how people use them or why people get them. It seemed a lot of people were a pretty bad fit for their powers. Even the people who just got them normally. So I don’t think you’re to blame for not knowing just about as much as everybody else doesn’t know.
Valerie: I guess, at least I didn’t make anything explode.
Alice: Yeah. And at least everything was inside that bubble. I guess those dinguses thought ahead at least.
Valerie: Mm-hm.
Alice: But yeah, no I think you’re new at this. I think you’re still young. I think a lot of people hurt a lot of people when they’re young whether they have powers or not. It’s just going to happen. I know I have before.
Valerie: Thanks.
Alice: And you’re still allowed to feel like you’re in the pits about it. I don’t want to force you to lighten up or say, like, "get over it" or anything. But I do want you to feel like you’re not a monster or you don’t deserve what you’ve been given.
Valerie: Okay. Mm, okay. I still don’t know how I’m going to… You know, I thought that I practiced, I could go in and I would be in charge and everyone would see that I should be at the front and I got my chance and I blew it, so...
Alice: I think you’re going to have lots of chances though. Like I said, I think the world is kind of prepared for this at this point. There’s lots of ways to protect people if things go wrong. And people kind of understand that this kind of thing happens I think. This isn’t going to wreck things for you immediately I think, at least.
[piano music still soft, but more soothing]
Dana: I kind of pull back and wipe away my tears a little bit and I say,
Valerie: Well it sounds like Evangeline messed up too so she can’t hold that over me.
Tea: ...I think she really did feel like she was the leader of this group and she feels like she failed pretty significantly even though maybe to the outside rational adult observer this is a case where some teenagers were put in a situation that they weren’t prepared for at all and suffered because of that. But she feels like it’s a personal failing, that she’s failed as a leader. That being said, I don’t think she – well I know she doesn’t regret punching them and beating them up. Yeah, I think to her, that was justified considering the situation.
Eryn: Especially since no one was laid up in the hospital for very long.
Tea: Yeah, thankfully.
Eryn: It was the least they deserved.
Tea: And it was mostly because of what happened to Karen I think was why she felt that was justified. Yeah, so that’s where she’s at. She was relieved that it didn’t go viral in that kind of way because they’re both kind of unknown school performers.
Eryn: You have a couple of the random standard remix things have come out on IdolTube after the fact. Like, the explosion set to an autotuned thing or whatever. But nothing huge viral.
Tea: Exactly. And she goes out of her way to avoid them. She doesn’t want to dredge it up. For her even though it’s obvious she’s an intense person, she thinks she has a level head on most things as a leader and definitely did not react in a leadership kind of way that day, just in general.
Aunt Jen: Of course, you were caught off guard, nobody would expect you to be amazing right out the gate. But all things considered, you’re all still standing, right?
Jaiden: Yeah.
Aunt Jen: And I imagine I would have heard a lot more about it if it was something that had been truly disastrous for all the parties involved.
Jaiden: Yeah I think Karen probably came out worst. She got stung a lot.
Aunt Jen: Have you heard from her at all? Do you know if she’s doing okay?
Jaiden: I think she’s doing okay. Queen Bee helped with her stings.
Aunt Jen: That’s good. Well from what I know of what you’ve told me about Queen Bee, that would be kind of person to take care of that kind of thing for sure.
Jaiden: Yeah. [sniffling]
Aunt Jen: But no, I understand it being difficult. It is going to be – I don’t want to give too many illusions. It is going to be rough even in the high school version of whatever the superidol industry is right now. But I’ll tell you right now, I would not have welcomed you into my home for this if I did not believe you could handle this.
[music fades out]
Drak: I think at that moment Jaiden looks up at Jen and his eyes just well up, anime style.
Eryn: Oh.
Jaiden: Really?
Aunt Jen: Absolutely. I know you’ve been working at this since you were, what, seven? You’ve already been preparing for this their whole life. You’ve got a way bigger head start on this than a lot of people who jump into this with just nary a care in the world it seems.
Drak: I think he gives a determined nod and tries to wipe his eyes.
Jaiden: Okay, I’m going to keep trying. [pause] I want to do you proud.
Aunt Jen: I think you will. I don’t think – I know you will. And, actually…
Eryn: She motions for you to stand up for a second.
Aunt Jen: …actually there’s something I would like to give you if you will allow that.
Jaiden: Of course, what is it?
Eryn: She kind of gives you the "come here" finger and motions for you to follow her. She takes you downstairs into the basement and points to a door that’s used for storage that you haven’t really explored much. She opens the door and goes into the back of the room and pulls a couple things aside and then pulls out what looks like a big, long case with a suspiciously guitar-like shape.
Drak: Oh my god. Okay.
Aunt Jen: I was going to save this for your birthday. But I think you might just need this sooner than that.
Jaiden: Oh my god.
Drak: He’s going to rush over to the case.
Eryn: It’s got a – it’s actually a really eye catching case too. It’s this electric blue case and when you open it up which I’m sure you’re probably going to open it up.
Drak: Absolutely yeah.
Eryn: The guitar inside is this beautiful, beautiful electric guitar—insert prestigious brand name here that the GM totally knows the name of. And it has this flashy, eye-catching design of a blue lightening bolt splashed across the front of it. And she says,
Aunt Jen: This hasn’t come out of this case in a long time. But I think I know exactly who deserves this.
Jaiden: M- Me?
Aunt Jen: No, Santa Claus. Yes, of course you!
Jaiden: Wait was this yours?
Eryn: She gives you a bit of a grin.
Aunt Jen: I said I didn’t have a lot of experience, but let’s just say I had a bit of a wild side when I was younger.
Jaiden: No way. Wait, wait, wait.
Drak: And he’s going to pull out the guitar and just hand it to her.
Jaiden: Can you play something?
Aunt Jen: I guess you’ve put me on the spot now. I guess it’s only fair.
Eryn: And of course it doesn’t sound like much because it’s not hooked up to anything. But she takes the guitar and sort of slings it over her shoulder with a surprising ease which you wouldn’t have expected before but now makes sense. And she plays something – she actually plays a Bom Bom Brothers song for you. The riff from one of your favorite songs from you. It’s not perfect because clearly she’s a little bit rusty but her fingering is still pretty decent. The song is recognizable even despite the lack of amplification. It sounds pretty good.
Drak: Jaiden is applauding like he’s at a live concert.
Jaiden: That was-- Why did-- How did I not know?
Aunt Jen: Uh, it’s a long story. And one that I’m not really at liberty to tell much of, unfortunately. But I will say, I think those days are behind me. And I think this is…
Eryn: She slings it up over her head again and gives it back in your direction.
Aunt Jen: This is definitely suited for somebody whose days are still ahead of them.
Drak: He takes it, slings it over his head, and strums it a little bit.
Eryn: Beautiful little sound.
Jaiden: I can’t wait to show everyone else.
Aunt Jen: I know that you have your own – your powers can conjure things. But I think having this to practice with without having to go full power mode I think will help you a lot. Even so, there’s something about the analog ways that I still trust a little bit more than these new-fangled super ways, whatever they are.
Jaiden: I’d say I disagree but I really don’t, this is so much cooler.
Drak: And he’s going to move the guitar to the side and hug Jen.
Eryn: Aw. You get a big hug for sure.
Jaiden: Ah... Alicia! I need to show Alicia!
Aunt Jen: Yes you absolutely should. I’m sure she’s dying to hear about your first week of school too.
Jaiden: Oh boy, I hope she doesn’t worry. I don't know how much of the story I should tell her?
Aunt Jen: I trust you to tell enough. She’s a pretty – she’s got a pretty good head on her shoulders. She can take a decent amount but I think you know where to toe the line.
Jaiden: Yeah. I wonder how she’s doing actually. And mum and dad.
Aunt Jen: Yeah, last I heard they were doing pretty alright. Busy as always I’m sure. But no complaints that I’ve heard anyway.
Jaiden: I’ll admit, I miss them a little bit.
Aunt Jen: Thank goodness for Skype I suppose.
Jaiden: Yeah I want to see if I can call them.
[low-key guitar music plays]
Eryn: And certainly occasionally you’ve been in contact with Drew, your best friend. And on this Monday evening, just before you have to go back to school the next day, you find yourselves in a place that you know pretty well. As all good super hero cities have, you’re in the abandoned warehouse district. And you find yourself on the roof of one of the particular warehouses that has a nice, easy ladder to get up to the roof. And you’re up there with a nice stash of bottles and other pieces of garbage and a couple of aluminum baseball bats up there. And one of your favorite past times is just to hit the shit out of a bunch of garbage to work out your feelings.
Maria: Exactly. She messages Drew and is like "smashing shit, wanna come?"
Eryn: “u know it” he texts back with all lowercase letters and just the letter u for you. So you meet Drew there in the later evening there. He knows the spot so when you climb the ladder up to the warehouse you find him up there leaning up against whatever structure is up there on top of the roof and hefting one of the baseball bats in his hand and he's like,
Drew: Hey big girl, what’s up?
Ann: A lot, which is why we’re going to sending a lot of shit shattering today. That’s what I’m here for.
Drew: Well you know I’m always down for some shit shattering.
Eryn: He gives the bat a hit in his palm there.
Drew: Shall we get to it?
Ann: Yeah.
Maria: She just cracks her knuckles, which makes an odd grinding sound from the stone.
Ann: You know it.
Eryn: He sets up a couple of prime beer bottles up on the edge of the roof there ready for hitting. And as he’s setting them up he says,
Drew: So I haven’t heard much from you since the start of the weekend. Is anything up?
Maria: Out of character question, would it be ok if I assume he already kind of knows some stuff about it?
Eryn: Yeah. The videos out there, there is news. It’s certainly not out of the realm that Drew would have heard about it. In fact you kind of get the sense from the way he’s looking at you that maybe he knows a little bit more than he lets on. This might be more of a letting you talk about it kind of thing than a genuinely "what happened?" kind of thing.
Maria: Ann is just like looking at her own bat trying to stare at it and not Drew and goes,
Ann: What’s there to talk about? Made a mistake. Got too close to people. Things got fucked. Now I’m here with the only person who hasn’t let me down.
Eryn: He kind of frowns at that like,
Drew: Wait, no, I… Okay.
Eryn: He shakes his head.
Drew: We’re not doing the bit, like, you know that I know that you know that I know. I saw the thing. I figured that’s what you wanted to talk about. That’s plenty enough to want to hit some shit over. But the mistake wasn’t that you got close to people. What are you talking about?
Maria: Ann looks at Drew without taking her eyes away from the bat and goes,
Ann: Look, you saw what happened. I saw what happened. Hell I was part of it. We... Everything went to shit. People got hurt. I... I... Agh!
Maria: She does that thing where you scream with your hands by your side but she’s still holding the bat as she does it.
Eryn: Drew kind of shrugs and goes.
Drew: Yeah, like, fuck that sucks but, like, shit happens, right? This is like the whole super whatever the fuck. That stuff is dangerous. Stuff happens. Whatever. You just don’t fuck up next time, right?
Ann: Look.
Maria: And Ann leans down so they’re facing eye to eye.
Ann: The thing is I can trust myself. I know what I’ll fuck up and what I won’t fuck up, I know what I'm getting with me. I know what I'm getting with you because I know you. But other people. They’re just so… chaotic. That’s the word.
Maria: You can tell for a second she was trying to think what the word was.
Ann: I don't know what they think. I don't know how they act. I thought they were cool and then that girl went fucking buck wild and started throwing those other girls to the ground and, Jesus.
Drew: Jesus fuck, that’s what I was going to say. That’s scary shit even for you. That was even just on the video I could tell it was intense. But I don't know, do you get the sense that she’s a bad person or anything? Or did she just fuck up too?
Ann: Look, everyone’s used to thinking that I’m the person that does that shit because, well…
Maria: Her eyes look down on her body.
Ann: …look at me. I’m literally a brick shit house. It gets really annoying because every day I have to hold back from stupid words people say to me and stupid shit people do to me, I have to hold back so I don’t do that shit. And when I saw her doing that, it just reminded me how easy it is to lose control. I wanted to do that, you know. I don't know if I’m mad at her because I didn’t do it or because she did it.
Drew: I get that. I get that. I know it’s – I mean, it’s kind of frustrating when you put so much effort into trying to hold back and not hurt people or make yourself more appealing to, like, the normies or whatever and then you see someone just – It’s like at the fucking Princess Daisy meme, you know, the one where it’s "You ever get tired of being nice? You ever just want to go ape shit?" I can understand. It feels like that. It almost feels like it’s not fair, doesn’t it?
Ann: That really sums it up, doesn’t it Drew?
Drew: Yeah.
Ann: Not fair.
Drew: Yeah it’s not. And it sucks that she couldn’t hold back and not hurt those kids. But like I said you fucked up. I’ve fucked up. It sounds like whoever this girl is has fucked up. I’m pretty sure she hasn’t tried to like call you or text you or anything since then I’m guessing right?
Ann: No but I guess I can't really judge them for that, because apart from when I texted you my phone has been silent as the grave.
Drew: Well…
Eryn: He kind of shrugs again.
Drew: What do you want to bet that everyone else is feeling as just a big of a sack of shit right now? I don’t think anyone feels good about that. I would guess, I don't know them, but I would be that everybody’s just feeling kind of weird right now and probably not, like, I don't know, resentful or everything. Just confused. Hurt. Stuff... I don't know... Point— I don’t even know what I’m saying.
Eryn: And he swings the bat at one of the bottles and sends it clear across one of the other warehouses and you hear it shatter across one of the other side roads.
Drew: Point being that it’s not your fucking fault. Well it kind of is everybody’s fault but it kind of isn’t? I don't know. I just feel like it’s not your fault for trying to make friends and it’s not theirs for trying to be a group with you either.
[soothing lo-fi piano music starts playing]
Ann: I get real annoyed when I’m over here being an irrational bitch and you act all mature and logical.
Drew: Oh no my mother would be so disappointed with me.
Eryn: He knocks another piece of trash off the building.
Ann: What would Natalie think?
Maria: It’s me coming up with on the spot that his mother’s name is Natalie.
Eryn: Yeah.
[pause with music still playing]
Eryn: It’s getting kind of late in the day. I feel like by this point you’ve got school looming on Tuesday and you’re feeling a little bit restless probably and sitting around feels like not quite enough.
Tea: Yeah.
Eryn: So what do you think you’re going to do to address that?
Tea: I’m going to go out and I’m probably going to want to dance for a bit in a place that I feel safe doing it where nobody else is really watching. So I’ll say that there’s this room in the warehouse district near where there’s a warehouse where there’s some underground dance battles that go on.
Eryn: Oh absolutely there are.
Tea: Yeah. And she’s been there before. That’s how she unlocked her powers actually. She was dance battling and unlocked some stuff. But she goes there with her good friend Kyle who has taught her a lot about hip hop. But there’s a practice room that the two of them go there. So she would probably go there for a bit to burn off all of the restless energy she’s feeling. And then there’s a park nearby so she would do that afterwards, would be her most likely.
Eryn: Yeah so you go to the warehouse district. You go into the practice room and you dance your heart out like no one’s watching because literally, no one is watching. There’s a lot of very powerful leg and arm motions. There’s probably some sort of breakdancing moves I would imagine. Do you think you would be transformed to do this or just as you?
Tea: I think it would just be as her. I don’t think she would feel good transforming right now.
Eryn: That would make a lot of sense yeah. I wasn’t sure there for a sec. I was like wait a second, no. I was going to say you might have even cracked a floor or something like you did a long time ago but not in that form, you wouldn’t have.
Tea: Yeah I feel she feels both proud and not proud of herself of how she performed when she was transformed in front of an audience I guess. That was also the first time they were in front of an audience now that I think of it. The other time, other than ViVi or Valerie, she never really performed in front of people with her powers in that kind of way.
Eryn: Yeah.
Tea: It’s not the usual dance recital.
Eryn: Even when you performed for Jaiden and Ann and all of them when they first arrived, I don't know if you showed your powers in that instance. Just the danceabilities most likely.
Tea: Exactly. And there’s no way for her to be like yeah I break stuff. I’m going to break the floor.
Eryn: You did your fireworks maybe, that was about it.
Tea: Yeah she has that visual stuff. Otherwise her strength is her dancing. That’s kind of where she gets all of her – that’s how she feels is that this is the thing that she’s grown up with that she knows and she feels comfortable practicing the way that she always used to.
[techno music plays]
Luca: I think it’s time to maybe get out of the house.
Eryn: Sounds good. So you have a little bit of a ways to go to get to Karen’s house. You did take her there. She directed you to where she lives after the fact. And it is a decent ways away of the school. Just within the boundaries of the school district. It’s in a suburb on the end of town so it takes a bit to get there. You may need to, like, take your bike or travel partway as Queen Bee, whatever you think works best.
Luca: I think the bike would work best.
Eryn: You head out to the suburb. You get to the end of her street. She sort of lives in a house. She lives in a basement suite underneath a larger house in this one neighborhood. So to get there you have to go around the side of the house and go to the side door and there is its own bell there you can ring.
Luca: I would put on the visibility jacket, the delivery service, and ring on the doorbell.
Eryn: Alright after a few moments from the inside you hear some footsteps coming upstairs from behind the door. The door opens and there stands Karen. She definitely looks a little better than the last time you saw her. She looks well rested. She’s certainly still covered in blotchy marks but they’re covered quite liberally with blotches of calamine lotion. It’s pretty clear she’s been taking care of herself so she actually still has a smile on her face as she answers the door and says.
Karen: Yes?
Allen: Hi, I’ve got a package for Karen?
Karen: Hm, I wasn’t expecting a package…
Allen: It’s not an internal order. It’s from someone else. I’m sorry it’s redacted.
Karen: Re- hm… how interesting.
Eryn: She reaches a hand out.
Karen: Can I see that card?
Allen: Please.
Karen: Hm.
Eryn: She takes the card from the package and she sort of snatches it and starts reading it in front of you. She looks it over and she reads it and she smiles a little bit more than she was. She smiles very warmly. And she says.
Karen: Ah. I see who this is.
Eryn: And she looks to you and says.
Karen: Did you happen to meet the person who sent this for delivery?
Allen: No I’m sorry it’s all digital through the app.
Karen: That’s a shame. I wish I could tell her just how thoughtful it is and how much I appreciate it.
Allen: Alright. I hope you get the chance.
Eryn: As she takes the rest of the package from you, she reaches to grab your hand a bit before you turn away and she says,
Karen: You know I have an extra bit of tea on the kettle downstairs. You seem like you’ve come a long way. Did you want to have some tea?
Allen: Maybe just a cup? Just something quick? I’m on the clock but yeah a little bit. thank you.
Karen: Don’t worry we’ll get you fixed up. I make a mean chamomile.
Eryn: She leads you down the stairs into her basement suite. From the door it’s just a straight shot down a stairwell. There’s no access way to the upstairs from here, it just goes straight in. And once you’re at the bottom of the stairs and into the suite, it is actually quite spacious as basement suites go. And you’re standing in a living room that is, let’s say, a media nerd’s dream. She has a very impressive multi-monitor computer rig set up in the living room. There is a big flat screened TV. She has a ton of different game consoles from multiple different generations. There’s a bunch of fun art on her walls, paintings and prints and a variety of different styles. A very impressive living room set up.
Allen: Wow, this is amazing.
Karen: Thanks I try to keep the place nice.
Allen: You did all this?
Karen: Kind of had to.
Eryn: She leads you room towards the kitchen which is a little bit smaller but no less nice. Since it’s a basement, there’s not as much light as there would be in an upstairs suite but there is some light that streams in. She’s got the kettle on just like she said. She opens her cupboards and pulls out a couple of mugs that are very cutely color coordinated in the colors of some of her favorite idol groups.
Allen: You are a really stylish person.
Karen: People may not know that about me but I do like to cultivate a sense of style for myself on my own time.
Allen: That’s really cool.
Eryn: She gets the kettle going and gets some tea bags for the cups.
Karen: I didn’t get your name by the way, what can I call you?
Allen: I’m Allen. We go together at Fort McNally.
Eryn: She puts a finger to her chin an thinks for a moment and then makes that "Oh!" kind of face.
Karen: Yes I think I’ve seen you outside back where the bee colony and the compost is. Yes?
Allen: Yes I work with Professor Phillips. We do a lot of composting and sometimes we clean up the grounds after games.
Karen: You know what they say, if it ain’t green, it ain’t clean.
Allen: Yes.
Eryn: She kind of stares off into space and smiles.
Allen: We don’t really talk much but I know you and I heard you – what happened the other day.
Karen: Yes you can kind of tell can you?
Eryn: She gestures to the blotches of calamine lotion on her face.
Allen: It’s looking good. It seems good. I’ve seen a lot of bee stings. They’re healing nicely.
Eryn: She nods.
Karen: Yeah it’s thankfully – it looked a lot worse than it was. A lot of those bees didn’t feel up to giving up their stingers. It was kind of chaotic more than anything else.
Allen: Those idol things are like that, right? They can just go crazy at a moment’s notice. Fire and explosions.
Karen: Um, you don’t know the half of it. I’ve been in the Idol Club at the school for a few years now. Our club has always been a little, hm, low key, but certainly has been involved with some aggressive adversaries, let’s say.
Allen: Stuff like that happened before?
Karen: Oh yes. We try to keep it to ourselves mainly. But it’s just part of the idol thing. It has been for almost two decades now it seems like.
Allen: Strange to imagine you or Amberlee with explosions and lasers.
Karen: You should have seen her too.
Eryn: She looks wistful as you mention Amberlee’s name.
Karen: I don't know if you ever saw her perform but when she got up on the stage, she was literally radiant. Her powers were based on sunlight.
Eryn: She laughs.
Karen: I guess they still are. But she wasn’t the best at accepting the nature of what idols are like outside of her bubble.
Allen: Hm. Can’t be easy. I mean, you think it’s just going to be dancing and being awesome and just having these powers. And then it just hits you that they’re real.
Karen: Yeah. I don’t think the world has really accepted that yet. It’s been, oh what is it? 15 years since the first time these powers started appearing? And as far as I’ve been told, no body was really ready for them back then either it seems like. And I don’t think anyone even knows the half of it in terms of what they’re really capable of.
Allen: They’re still pretty cool though.
Eryn: She grins
Karen: Why do you think I’m still in this club. I may not have powers of my own but I’m a big supporter of anyone who takes the risk that comes with it and still tries to bring smiles to people's faces.
Allen: That’s a nice way to put it.
Karen: Thanks I like to think of myself as a poet of sorts.
Allen: I’m glad to see you’re doing better.
Karen: I guess yes you could probably imagine what I might have looked like.
Allen: I’ve been told. There’s some videos online. It looked scary.
Karen: Yeah it’s all over IdolTube and IdolGram. I’ve had far too many trolls trying to make fun of me. But that’s how it goes with the internet as well.
Allen: That’s awful. I’m sorry.
Karen: Don’t worry.
Eryn: She points to her stings.
Karen: I have a pretty thick skin, let’s say.
[smooth jazz piano plays]
Valerie: I think I’m going to go back to watching anime for a bit, but thanks Alice.
Alice: Yeah no worries. I’ll come in when it’s lunch time. I’ve got some mean grilled cheeses coming. Just you wait.
Valerie: Thanks.
Eryn: She gives you another hug as she leaves. And then she leaves you to your anime watching.
Dana: Alright.
Eryn: How much longer do you feel you’d be in bed watching anime?
Dana: Probably another 15 minutes before getting bored of it at that point after spending two days doing nothing but that.
Eryn: Did you get to the end of a good season at least?
Dana: No it’s probably just a 100 episode show that’s full of filler.
Eryn: Fair enough. And what do you think you do once you set your phone down?
Dana: I Think I go to my closet and start laying out an outfit for the next day and leave my room and get a glass of water and wander around the house without talking to anyone in particular.
Eryn: You get a few sympathetic looks and words from your parents as well. They know that something happened and they generally kind of know what it was because it was on the news but they know you aren’t up to talking about it at the moment.
Dana: I think they also trust that this is something I talk to Alice about this kind of thing and if it were something they really needed to intervene in, she would tell them.
Eryn: You definitely do notice the pantry when you go to get some water and whatnot, you notice there are extras of your favorite snacks in the pantry.
Dana: Aw.
Eryn: After this, do you think there’s anything you do with the rest of you day or what do you think?
Dana: I think that’s it. It’s past the tantrum stage to the sort of emotional recovery stage of the breakdown.
Eryn: That makes sense. You’re doing your emotional puttering around, more or less. You spent the afternoon doing exactly what you said. And then later in the afternoon your phone starts to ring at some point. And you recognize the Caller ID. It says Rain, Mary.
[phone vibrates]
Drak: I think I’ll take it to my room.
Eryn: Okay so Jen kind of lets you go up to your room and take the case and the guitar with you. I can’t remember, did we say you had a keyboard or something up there already?
Drak: Yeah.
Eryn: Okay so you’re getting a whole little suite going here.
Drak: Yeah. [laughs]
Eryn: Just wait, we’ll get you a drum set one of these days.
Drak: Yes, please.
Eryn: You take it up to your room. You get settled. You take out your phone and you dial that familiar number.
Drak: I think I set my phone up on the desk so it’s like standing up. And when Alicia answers I’m not in frame and I poke my head in frame.
Jaiden: Hey.
Alicia: Hey!
Eryn: She’s lighting up like a Christmas display.
Alicia: AH! Jaiden. Hi, hi, hi, hi, hi! Why haven’t you called sooner? Oh my god, oh my god, oh my god you have to tell me everything.
Jaiden: I’m so sorry, I got really busy. I had to do a lot of catching up because I missed a few days. But yes that’s why I’m calling actually because I have – I had the wildest day today.
Alicia: Tell me all about it.
Jaiden: I had my first superidol kind of battle.
[Alicia Squeals]
Jaiden: Well not today, it was a couple days ago actually.
Alicia: Are you kidding? Already? That’s so cool
Jaiden: It was. It was. And we didn’t win. But that’s okay because failure is just the first step to success, right?
Alicia: Right.
Eryn: She does look a little disappointed that her big brother didn’t win but she’s not mad at least. She’s more like, aw.
Alicia: Well you’re going to show them next time that’s for sure. I know my big brother is going to be the best superidol anyone’s ever known.
Drak: If Jaiden could blush he’d be blushing right now.
Jaiden: You bet I am. I’m going to make sure I do you right.
Alicia: They probably cheated too, however superidols can cheat.
Jaiden: I’m going to admit it was more on our end.
Alicia: Ooh.
Eryn: She looks interested at that. Big old seven-year-old eye brow raise.
Jaiden: We haven’t really – it was our first bout as a group so I guess our powers hadn’t really – we weren’t great at cooperating with each other just yet I think. Um…
Alicia: Oh no, are you fighting with your bandmates?
Jaiden: Um, no… I haven’t talked to them in a while. A couple of days now. But we’re not fighting. I think we just need our space I guess.
Alicia: I guess?
Eryn: She looks confused.
Alicia: I guess I’d want to talk to someone to make it easier. I mean, I’m glad that you called me. I’ve been waiting for you to call.
Jaiden: I’m sorry I took so long. I’ll admit, I kind of kept a couple of days sulking.
Alicia: Oh.
Eryn: She looks unimpressed.
Jaiden: I know. I’m over it now though.
Alicia: That’s good. That’s important.
Jaiden: I’ll be sure to give you updates a lot more frequently this time.
Alicia: That’s what I like to hear.
Jaiden: Oh, speaking of updates,
Drak: I poke my guitar into frame as well.
Jaiden: Look what I’ve got.
Alicia: Ooh! What is that? Where did you get that?
Jaiden: Jen! She gave it to me. Apparently she used to play?
Alicia: Really?
Jaiden: Yeah.
Eryn: She has that mind blown wild-eyed look like
Alicia: Woah! That’s so cool.
Jaiden: That’s what I said.
Alicia: Mom and dad never told me.
Jaiden: They never told me either.
Alicia: Did she have like – Is she like a secret celebrity or something?
Jaiden: I’ll be honest, that’s what I’m wondering as well. But I asked her for some details but she said she wasn’t at liberty to say. So I think it has to do with mom and dad as well. So do you think you can get some info out of them?
Alicia: Oh I’m not going to stop bugging them til they do. Don’t worry.
Jaiden: Okay I’m going to try and – I probably shouldn’t bug Jen because she has a lot of work to do but I’m going to keep asking her persistently until she tells me.
Alicia: That’s what little sisters are for.
Eryn: And she’s looking very devious and looking over her shoulder back to where your parents, you can see them across the kitchen actually. They can’t really hear everything that’s being said but they’re raising their eyebrows at the look Alicia is giving them.
Drak: If I can catch their eye I give them a little wave.
Eryn: They wave back. They know this is your call with your sister and they’ll probably get a call from you directly at some point.
Jaiden: Okay, hold on, do you want me to play you something?
Alicia: When would that answer ever be no?
Jaiden: I know, I wanted to make sure you didn’t have plans. Okay here we go.
Drak: He tries to play the Bom Bom Bros song that Jen played earlier. It’s probably not as good as Jen’s because I don’t think he’s that used to playing a guitar. But he slowly goes through the notes trying to get through it.
Eryn: That’s more than enough for Alicia. She recognizes the song. She starts bobbing her head. She mimes a microphone and starts singing along with the parts that you’re playing.
Drak: While I’m doing this, could I transform?
Eryn: If I want to, sure.
Drak: It kind of reminds me of the time I first transformed. Messing around, probably singing and dancing to this exact same song.
Eryn: Yeah. Yeah do it.
Drak: I think while he’s strumming the whole transformation sequence happens where a gentle breeze starts to go around the room and it picks up faster and faster, whips up some dirt and there are mini tornado and he catches aflame and he’s doused by a sudden shower of water. And then as the steam fades he’s in his idol costume. And I think I’m going to raise mundane, because I feel like trying to impress his sister is probably a mundane thing.
Eryn: Probably yeah. I’d say either Mundane or Savior. Whichever you would prefer.
Drak: Ooh, I think I’m going to go with Savior then. And then Superior I guess would go down because he’s definitely trying not to prove anything.
Eryn: He’s not trying to prove anything. That makes sense. Yeah. In general I think I’m starting use Savior as the music-related stat. It doesn’t fit perfectly but yeah.
Drak: I think that works. As he transforms he probably starts getting a little bit more comfortable with the strumming of the guitar. He definitely has to fix the whole not having an amplifier thing. But he keeps playing for her however long she seems to stay interested, honestly.
Eryn: If you want, since we know your powers can create instrument stuff, you could summon an amplifier and it comes to life with the sound of the guitar during that.
Drak: Oh my God, yes, okay, yes.
Eryn: To bring full body to the sound.
Drak: Yes I think right after transformation, I don't know how to do this without destroying the ground. I think he can just materialize Rock in the shape of an amplifier and it seems to just work as an amplifier as well.
Eryn: Absolutely will allow that. Alright so you create this amplifier with the base of stone. Sorry did you say the whole thing is made out of stone?
Drak: Probably not the whole thing, just the majority of it to keep the theme I guess.
Eryn: Yeah sure. You materialize this seemingly carved from earth and stone and whatnot amplifier that hooks itself up to the guitar and the sound of the guitar enriches the room. It reverberates across the walls and across the connection of your phone of course. And as you finish up this riff and the elements star to calm themselves a little bit afterwards, you get that pose at the end where your eyes kind of close like [exhales] taking a breath afterward. And when you open your eyes you see Alicia just applauding and screaming.
Alicia: Aah! God, oh my God! Jaiden, Jaiden, Jaiden, Jaiden that was the coolest thing!
Jaiden: Thank you.
Drak: I think Jaiden is like he can’t stop smiling. I think seeing his sister so excited, it’s probably one of the other reasons why he’s doing this. He’s smiling from ear to ear.
Eryn: She says.
Alicia: I don't know how you lost before but you are absolutely never going to lose again, that was the coolest thing I’ve ever seen in my life.
Jaiden: Thank you.
[calm electro music plays]
Eryn: As you finish up in the room, you’re panting, you’re sweating, you’ve been doing this for at least an hour or two at this point, you hear from the door an echo-y slow clap. And standing in the door is Kyle Mitchell, speak of the devil. Can you describe Kyle for us, because he has a very interesting look if I remember correctly?
Tea: Yes. For those BTS listeners out there, I modeled his personal style after J-Hope from BTS. And it’s a lot of, um, there’s no polite way to say it. Sometimes it’s like tacky hip hop well. A lot of bright colors. A lot of big shoes will big soles like Balenciaga – he’s a big fan of those. But also the kind of raver jewelry. Big rings and stuff like that. Colorful and stickers on his nails and stuff like that.
Eryn: Kind of California bleached highlights in his hair?
Tea: Exactly. I get the California vibe when I thought of him originally. And a lot of – there’s always something neon for some reason that he’s wearing. Either there’s a belt that’s really bright for some reason or the print on his shirt, but he seems really attracted to bright colors in general.
Eryn: The first thing you see when you turn around is you catch that familiar flash of green and pink on a belt and a really splashed graffiti style graphic print t shirt. And he gives you a slow clap and says.
Kyle: I didn’t think I’d see you around here. I haven’t seen you lately, brah. What’s up? That was awesome.
Tea: Brah? Sorry. [laughs]
Eryn: Just keeping with the surfer aesthetic.
Tea: I totally feel it. I’m trying to think maybe there’s this makeshift mirror that’s in the room, you know? So that you can watch your technique and stuff like that. And maybe they happened to find one in the warehouse area somewhere near a trash bin and they’re like oh we’ll use this. And that’s what they use to practice in this room so they can watch their own technique because that really helps when they’re dancing.
Eryn: Yeah so maybe you don’t even have to turn around to see Kyle, you see his reflection in the mirror behind you.
Tea: Yeah I feel she looks up. It’s probably one of those moments where the song finished and she’s panting all tired and she looks up after she hears the claps and she kind of laughs a bit and she says
Angie: [panting] Well I’ve been, I’ve been busy.
Kyle: Yeah I guess you’re just starting school and stuff right? Me too down at the whatever place I go to. Who cares?
Angie: Yeah over there.
Kyle: Fort McDougal whatever it is.
Angie: Yeah and I, I joined the Idol Club.
Kyle: Righteous. That’s awesome. No wonder I haven’t seen you around. You must be preparing a bunch of awesome stuff for that.
Tea: Yeah. I’m thinking in the timeframe of the game it has only been a week, right?
Eryn: Just under a week, even. You would have started Tuesday this past week.
Tea: Yeah it feels much longer. So it hasn’t been very long. So probably would have been the first time they saw each other after school started.
Angie: Yeah, I’m the co-president.
Tea: She does a little pose. But I feel she says it in a way that maybe tips him off that she’s not feeling as proud of that as you would normally.
Eryn: I think he picks up at that. He quirks an eyebrow up and he’s like.
Kyle: That’s…
Eryn: Hang on, I need to get into this weird headspace to do this voice. [laughs]
Kyle: Oh yeah, that sounds awesome… question mark? You don’t seen super psyched.
Tea: There’s this thing that dancers do sometimes when they’re done dancing they kind of collapse on the ground in the star position. And she goes like,
Angie: I fucked up so bad.
Kyle: It looked pretty good to me. You finished in a pretty good pose… or is this something else?
Angie: No, Kyle! The president thing.
Kyle: It’s only been, what, three days? How did something fuck up so quickly? That’s kind of impressive if I’m being honest.
Tea: She rolls her head over dramatically to look at him and she’s like,
Angie: Well, have I got a story for you.
Tea: She does a little twist thing and jumps back up and it looks cool or whatever.
Eryn: Yeah and he gives you a little in solidarity shoulder wave kind of thing. Like a popping and locking kind of thing.
Tea: I got you what it meant.
Eryn: He gives you one of those and strides into the room and is like,
Kyle: Tell me more, I’m all ears…
Spongebob Voice: Five minutes later…
Kyle: Ah, rad! I love scavenger hunts!
Spongebob Voice: A little longer than a few minutes later...
Angie: But then it turned out that Diana is from another school…
Kyle: What?!
Angie: I know!
Kyle: This is crazy, this is like some kind of radio drama shit. What the heck?!
Angie: I know, right?
Spongebob Voice: One hour later...
Angie: Diana shows up out of nowhere with her school.
Kyle: I wouldn’t put it past McArthur, that sounds exactly like the kind of thing they would do to be honest.
Angie: But I don’t understand why they would even do that.
Kyle: Seems like you kind of riled up them up a bit. I guess it makes sense. You didn’t intentionally stir the pot, but the pot got stirred is what I’m saying.
Angie: Yeah. Yeah it probably is because we are really super cool.
Kyle: Of course, nobody’s doubting that.
Angie: Yeah that’s true.
Tea: She’s just nodding.
Eryn: He gives you a little playful punch in the arm.
Tea: She laughs and she says,
Angie: Anyway they challenge us to a performance battle and Freddy got gum in my hair that morning and I was late and I forgot my clipboard.
Kyle: No!
Angie: I know. I know. Don’t even talk to me about it, I still can’t stop.
Eryn: I think when you have come to your warehouses to practice and stuff, he has noticed you have a fascination with looking over the schedules on the board, on the wall, seeing what the stationary is and what not.
Tea: Yeah I probably put the schedules on the wall.
Eryn: Yeah you put the schedules there and he admires your handiwork.
Tea: With the stationary and little stickers and stuff like that.
Angie: I know. I know. I can’t believe I forgot it. I’m still kicking myself. Although, that was the least of our problems as a group. But we agree that we’re going to do a performance battle against them.
Kyle: Right.
Eryn: And as you say this it looks like a lightbulb goes on in his head and he like kind of digs in his very large skater boy pockets for a phone – a gigantic phone, everything is very big.
Kyle: Wait a sec, hold on. So this was Saturday right, you say?
Angie: Yeah.
Kyle: Is that the thing – I think I saw a little bit about that. What that – was that you all?
Angie: Yeah, it was us.
Eryn: You see him pulling up Idol Twitter or whatever IdolGram. That’s what it was. You see him pulling up IdolGram and pulling up a few clips of the performance and the explosion in history.
Kyle: Oh. Oh wow. That was – yeah that was a thing for sure. Holy crap.
Angie: Yeah I think the worst part was, um…
Tea: I feel like it’s one of those things where we watch the video and she does a play by play.
Angie: We were doing okay and…
Kyle: Look at those move… I taught you that move! You did it so perfect!
Angie: I almost did, yeah, it was almost perfect.
Kyle: No don’t sell yourself short! You did so good at it.
Angie: Thanks. Well um, yeah it was going well until this.
Tea: And then that part where ViVi’s powers start to, we get hit by the wave and all the stuff starts to happen.
Kyle: This is the Valerie chick that you mentioned?
Angie: Yeah that’s her. She’s pretty cool, right?
Kyle: I mean I can’t see very well. The pixels kind of are blurring the face a bit. But yeah kind of from what I can see.
Angie: The worst part was there was this girl on the other team and she had a way nicer clipboard.
Kyle: How dare.
Angie: I KNOW! It was a really nice clipboard.
Tea: She looks kind of dejected about it because it was her thing. And then this other girl stealing her thunder, essentially.
Kyle: This fake plastic looking girl. How dare she.
Angie: Yeah and apparently she also just has mini stages that she can just make big wherever she wants because her dad owns a big fancy record company or w whatever.
Kyle: Now that you say it, I think I might have met this girl before. I think she was trying to get us to use some of that tech down here. When we told her we had all the space we needed, she kind of stormed out in a huff.
Angie: Good. Fuck her as far as I’m concerned.
Kyle: Yeah fuck her. She had the two, you know, what do you even do with that?
Angie: You’re so right.
Kyle: She had that vibe that she was talking down to everybody all the time.
Angie: And who does that? Certainly not me!
Kyle: Hey, you got confidence. Sometimes maybe it goes a little too far, but I know you’ve been working on that.
Angie: Yeah well I don't know I do think I’ve done a pretty good job making sure that everyone on the team is hyped up and making sure that we worked together on anything. And I don’t think I could have done that before the competitions and everything and the dance battles. So that’s true. But anyway she’s a bitch and I hate her.
Kyle: I do too. Solidarity.
Eryn: He pumps his chest a bit.
Kyle: To hating whoever that bitch is.
Angie: Anyway, I remember Karen is actually nothing but supportive and has hyped us up this whole time. Honestly she’s really chill. I bet you’d really get along with her to be honest.
Kyle: Nice, nice. Yeah. Bring her by sometime. Wait is she a girl that was in the middle of all..
Eryn: And he scrubs through the video to where there’s just a cloud of bees in the middle of the stage space.
Angie: Yeah. Yeah.
Kyle: Ooh. Ooh that’s not – is she okay?
[Chill music plays]
Eryn: She takes the kettle off the burner and she pours the cup, she gives you a yellow cup and sort of directs you out into the living room where the couches are.
Luca: I follow and take the cup with both hands. Smell it.
Eryn: It has that nice chamomile flowery scent to it. Very nice. Seems like she got a particularly good blend.
Luca: Sit down and take a couple good small sips.
Eryn: After you sit down she reaches for a remote and she switches the TV on.
Karen: Do you mind if I show you something, actually?
Luca: No, no, go ahead.
Eryn: She flips the smart TV over to IdolTube. And she brings up a video from what looks like her personal channel. It’s an unlisted video. And it is a video recording of the Fort McNally Idol Club from last year. You can see it was dated October 2019. It looks like a Halloween performance. You don’t recognize anyone on the stage, but based on sheer energy, you would be that the girl in the center with the volumes and volumes of big, poofy blonde hair is probably Amberlee because she is just bouncing all over the stage with energy and playing to the crowd and smiling and singing and gesturing and dancing. And every now and then she’ll let forth a big sun beam out over the crowd that showers everybody in these sparkles and rays.
Allen: She was something else.
Karen: Mm-hm. I bet she still will be. She still wants to continue this as far as I know. Sadly, it’s kind of rough for someone like her. She isn’t a fan of how the industry works. And even though that industry doesn’t really touch us as much in the high school circuit, things like the CING Star Tournament are trying to prepare us for it.
Allen: I didn’t really think about that much how the industry works with Rain Shadow. I don't know enough about idols.
Karen: They’re kind of a conundrum aren’t there?
Allen: There’s so much more underneath everything. Every aspect of it. You think it’s just being on the stage, it’s a whole world.
Karen: It would have been weird enough without the superpowers angle. Fame itself is kind of a weird beast. Now we’ve got some literal weird beasts with it as well. What do you feel about that?
Allen: It makes for an interesting world.
[calm electro music plays]
Kyle: It sounds like she understands it was a mistake, right brah?
Angie: Yeah I guess.
Kyle: So it’s cool, right?
Angie: I don't know, I don’t feel cool.
Kyle: I got you. Sometimes stuff can be cool but it doesn’t feel cool. You know what I mean, brah?
Angie: Yeah I know exactly what you mean.
Kyle: Even around the dance warehouses and stuff. This stuff happens all the time. We try to keep it powers-light around here. Before you got powers I think maybe two or three people had powers maybe. But there’s always someone who wants to try something. That’s the way the world is. That’s the way people push things I guess. Do you remember that one asshole who straight up tried to piledrive Lindsey into the concrete? Brah I wanted to kick the shit out of him so bad. You don’t do that shit.
Angie: Me too. Fuck that guy.
Kyle: Especially if they don’t have powers or anything.
Angie: Why would you do that to just a regular person?
Kyle: People don’t know their own –
Eryn: He realizes what he’s going to say and who he’s saying it in front of and what powers that person has.
Angie: It’s okay. You’re right. We have to be responsible with them.
Kyle: [accent gradually shifting from Californian to Brooklyn as he talks] Yeah I guess that’s what I’m saying. People make mistakes and stuff. This was this other time, I don't know if you were here for this or not. But there was a dude who had fazing powers and he tried to pass his arm through another dude’s arm and he got stuck. Two dudes had their arms fused together at the elbow? It was some weird scary shit.
Angie: What? Oh my god.
Kyle: And when the fazing dude got his powers under control the other dude still couldn’t move his arm for like a week after that shit because nerve endings and shit were still messed up.
Angie: Oh my God!
Kyle: Yeah but those dudes are still cool with each other. They still hang out here. They know it was a thing that happened. It was an accident. Accidents happen. A weird accident but still.
Eryn: I don't know why he’s turning Brooklyn all of a sudden, he’s Californian. Evidently I can’t hold that accent for very long.
[both laugh]
Tea: Maybe he’s just Canadian and he interchanges them.
Eryn: He was never from California.
Tea: Yeah.
Eryn: I love it.
Tea: Yeah. Anyway her shoulders sag and she’s like.
Angie: Yeah you’re right. And on top of that, I think the one thing I learned was that we were not ready for that competition. But maybe now we know how to get ready for a competition.
Kyle: Yeah it sounds like you were in over your head. Someone came to you when you weren’t ready. There were a lot of things going on. There were a lot of bees going on. Anybody would be kind of frazzled in that situation, you know what I’m saying brah?
Angie: Yeah. I punched Diana and it felt really good and I have no regrets.
Kyle: Right on. Sounds like she deserved it if she’s spying on you and shit.
Angie: Yeah.
Tea: I feel like she’s nodding and the wheels are turning. You know it’s like old Angie is coming back.
Kyle: And if I do know whoever this other girl is, the one I’ve seen around here, if I see her around here again do you want me to say anything to her or pass on a message or I don't know?
Angie: Um, I mean, kick her out again. I don’t want her around. If she’s going to try to sell us stuff, we don’t want that. And I don’t want her to donate anything. We have what we need.
Kyle: Yeah but if she’s in this group that’s colluding with this other girl from your school or whatever that sounds like there’s more afoot than just some sales of weird shrinky growy tech.
Angie: Yeah and why would she even – when did she come see you guys?
Kyle: I don't know I guess a few weeks back. I think you were busy with something. I know there was stuff going on with your folks so I didn’t want to bother but she did come around a few weeks back. Yeah.
Angie: Hmm.
Tea: She’s narrowing her eyes.
Angie: It could be a coincidence.
Kyle: It could be.
Angie: But I don't know why she’d want to try to hawk her daddy’s products towards us. I don't know let’s be honest, we clearly can’t afford it.
Kyle: The company is like Crimson Signal or something like that. It even sounds sinister and stuff.
Tea: She pulls out her cell phone and types Crimson Signal in her notepad app. Just to look them up later. Yeah.
Kyle: Man. I guess I don't know what to say other than I hope the people in your club are okay too after this. I think they’ll understand that this was everyone in under their heads and try better not to fuck up next time I guess.
Angie: Yeah well if they don’t I think I can try to help them with that.
Tea: She punches the palm of her hand.
Kyle: I bet you can.
Angie: In retrospect that looked really threatening. That’s not what I mean. I’m not going to beat them up. I’m only going to do that to Diana.
Kyle: It’s a power move, I get you.
Angie: Yeah. Yeah okay good.
Eryn: Kyle springs himself back up to his feet at that and offers his hand to help you up if you need it too.
Tea: She probably takes it. And now that the wheels are turning she’s like.
Angie: Kyle I have to come up with choreography, can you help me?
[downbeat guitar music plays]
Maria: Ann sits down on the edge of the building, like a cat, she just swipes one of the beer bottles off the side of it and goes,
Ann: I don't know. Valerie and Evangeline, Angie, whatever, they seemed cool. They were the “experienced” ones. Then like that happened. And Queen Bee was like – they lost control but they tried to do something about it. They ran out. They got Karen. Oh fuck, Karen. They got Karen out of there. And then Jaiden, that kid’s like a sunray and even he’s fucked up over this.
Drew: I don't know what to tell you. It sucks all around. But I think – again, point is I don’t think it helps to like blame yourself entirely for it or to even blame any one of them entirely for it. It just sounds like stuff went to pot.
Ann: It did. It did.
Maria: Ann just kind of sits there for a second looking at the ground and her shoes.
Ann: Fuck, where do we go from here?
Drew: Forward, I guess? Where does anyone go?
Ann: As much as I hate it, it looks like that’s where I’m going to have to go.
Drew: I’m going to hold you to that.
Eryn: You’re sitting on the ledge on the side of the roof and he kind of reaches up because he has to reach up to put a hand on your shoulder. He looks up at you.
Drew: Because you know I’m always here for you. I like hanging out with you and breaking shit and working things out with you. But it can’t just be me, alright? I know it was shitty what the others did to you before and I’m glad to be here for you now. But I think if it’s just us, forever. It’s just going to be lonely for the both of us. I want you to have other friends. I want you to have a support system. I was talking about my mom earlier. That’s one of the most important things she’s taught me I think is the importance of having people there for you. More than just one person. A family, kind of.
Maria: This is an angsty teen thing, but Ann can’t cry anymore, physically. She looks at Drew and you can tell – if this was a comic we’d flash back to how she looked before with her having tears in her eyes and then flash back to how she looks now which is the same except stone faced.
Ann: You’re a good friend for giving it to me straight.
Drew: Absolutely.
Eryn: And he looks up at you and nods. He gets what you’re feeling even if you are stone faced.
Maria: Ann stands up and is looming over Drew and leans down and slowly wraps her arms around him and pulls him into a hug.
Eryn: You two hug for a good 30 seconds to a minute or something and he says quietly to you,
Drew: I’m going to keep being here for you, alright big girl? And they are too. Once you all talk to each other and work it out, I’m pretty sure.
Ann: Sounds good. Sounds real good.
Eryn: And actually, this very sweet moment is actually interrupted by the sound of some glass being kicked across the road below. And you hear people cursing under their breath like
Distant Voice: What the fuck is all this glass doing here? What the god damn shit?
Eryn: And you get a peek over the side. It’s hard to see who’s down there in the dark but it looks like a small group of people. A few adults in dark suits and one smaller person with kind of curly hair. And they’re walking towards one of the other warehouses in the area.
Ann: What the fuck, you see this Drew?
Drew: Yeah.
Eryn: He gives a peek and tries not to be seen. He ducks down a little bit.
Drew: There’s not supposed to be anyone else around here. Those folks look way too prissy to be around here. I wonder what’s going on.
Eryn: And you see them walking towards a warehouse kind of kitty corner across the way that’s much bigger. It looks a little bit nicer than the one you’re on top of but still run down. It’s completely unmarked.
Maria: If this was a comic Ann would have a caption under her that says "It’s not my problem, it’s not my problem, it’s not my problem." And then it goes, "...It’s my fucking problem."
Ann: Drew, Drew, stay here okay? I’m going to check it out.
Drew: You know I’m not going to listen to you.
Eryn: And he goes with you wherever you’re going
Ann: Welp, tried.
Maria: And she makes sure he has a bat on him before she lets him follow.
Eryn: You both have your bats on you and, as quietly as you both can, considering you’re a literal stone golem and a pretty beefy teenage boy, getting down this metal ladder as far enough as you can. But you’re far enough away it should be alright. You get a bit closer and you see them enter the warehouse. And you can kind of sneak up to the windows and get kind of a view inside where you see there’s not too many lights on but there are a couple. And it looks like you can see the group a bit better now. They’re a trio of suits who are with someone you actually realize that you recognize. The curly haired person that they are walking with is actually Ashley who was with the Sagitteria girls on Saturday. The girl with the disgustingly perfect ringlets and the clipboard that’s better than Angie’s. And you see them inside of the warehouse, they’re talking as a small group of people. Some of them are in what looks like mechanics jumpsuits and a few other are in polo shirts with the letters CS embroidered on the front pockets.
Maria: Would I know what CS stands for?
Eryn: Probably not.
Ann: Shit, I know her, it really is my problem. Drew, do you have any idea what this cold ass shit is?
Drew: Not a clue. I think I might have seen a few people going in and out of this warehouse before but I never thought much of it before. Not people in Men in Black suits. What the fuck is going on there?
Maria: I’m going to try to listen in. Kind of leaning over as close as I can without being seen. Would that be Assess the Situation or something?
Eryn: Yeah that’s probably good actually. Wow, using moves, actual moves in one of these sessions.
Maria: Plus Superior. Oh shit, 11.
Eryn: Nice.
Maria: First thing I’m going to ask is "What here is the biggest threat?" And I’m going to ask what here can I use to figure out what’s going on.
Eryn: Alright to figure out what’s going on I’m going to say you spot what looks like, let’s say, an air duct leading outside that looks like it would have better acoustics. You’ll lose some visibility on the situation but you’ll be able to hear what’s going on at least. You can still just barely see the figures in the window, but you’ll be able to hear the conversation if you move over there. As for the biggest threat, let’s go through what you hear in that case. You move towards this air duct as you hear some of the speech going on. You can hear muffled words about – you do hear the word Saturday. And you can see Ashley kind of pulling something out of a side bag that she brought with her. It looks like a bunch of debris. But as they talk about oh it’s a shame, oh what happened? But as they talk somebody clicks something and you the debris growing back up to full size and you can see it’s the ruins of the pocket stage that was destroyed by Valerie and it still looks like it did after the fight, it’s still ruined and in pieces. but it was still able to grow up to full size. And the people around go
Mystery Person 1: Oh, oh that’s very impressive. I’m very pleased to see the shielding on the growth component works better than we anticipated. It would be great if we could get the next model to use that shielding on the inner core as well. We just need to figure out how to do that without also dampening the core’s ability to do its work.
Eryn: They all agree on that. And that’s what you catch from that conversation. The threat seems to be that there’s something about this pocket stage and whatever core that it has that has some ability that is not entirely clear but could be more than people bargained for, possibly.
Maria: Upon hearing all this Ann shakes her head and says,
Ann: I am too dumb for this shit.
Drew: I feel that.
Eryn: Drew agrees with a big nod.
Drew: That’s the shit from Saturday, right?
Ann: Yep. That’s one of the girls – one of the ones who pretty much embarrassed us and then got her shit knocked in.
Drew: Seriously? What the shit? What are they doing? They look like a bunch of mechanics and egg heads. This is like new tech or something, right?
Maria: Ann is still listening in but clumps to the side wall and is like,
Ann: God dammit if only we knew.
Eryn: Do you think Ann would stick around to hear more or would she leave it at that and try to report back?
Maria: She’s going to sit here more and she’s going to pull out her phone and hit record. It’s going to get minimum amounts because it’s recording from 20 feet away but she’s not smart enough to remember it.
Eryn: You put your phone up near the ventilation shaft. You’re not getting great recording but you are getting snippets of talk about "inner core" this and "shielding" that and "shareholders" and you get one snatch towards the end where someone says,
Mystery Person 2: This will be very good for Crimson Signal’s business interests.
Maria: Ann just slumps her head because she’s aware this is some supervillain bullshit she’s in now.
[pause, then a phone vibrates]
Dana: ...I’m going to look at myself in the mirror in the vanity and take a deep sigh and put on my serious face and answer the phone.
Valerie: Yes?
Mary Rain: Hello Violet, darling. I was hoping to hear from you this weekend. I’m a little disappointed you haven’t reached out.
Valerie: You may have heard I’ve been a little bit busy.
Mary Rain: Yes I’ve seen a few very interesting stories in the news this weekend. And I want you to know, Violet, that I am very pleased by what I saw.
Valerie: I’m glad to hear that. I want to live up to your expectations as an idol.
Mary Rain: I was frankly a little overwhelmed with what I saw. Overwhelmed with delight. I am very sure that you will bring Rain Shadow into an era of success it has never seen before and I’m very, very excited for you.
Valerie: Well, of course I will be performing as the lead in the group’s next performance. So I would have to perform no less.
Mary Rain: I could not have asked for any better promotion for the event myself. This is wonder. There will absolutely be people who visit the venue just to see the people who displayed such power.
Valerie: Of course. That’s also why I wanted to reach out to you before, so we could get access to the venue through Rain Shadow’s resources.
Mary Rain: Yes, absolutely, Grace has told me that you are looking to tour the venue beforehand. That would be absolutely alright. Just let me know when you’re thinking of going and I will contact the venue myself to let them know. There is one teensy thing I need to from you about this, Violet.
Valerie: Yes?
[eerie piano music starts playing]
Mary Rain: Remember that I gave you these powers for a reason. Anyone on the face of the earth can sing a little tune or dance a merry little jig. Giving a competent performance, that’s expect. It’s the "super" in superidols that makes us what we are. It makes labels like Rain Shadow who they are. Audiences don’t just come out for the music anymore. They’re all there for the light show—for the sound and the fury. For the thrill of seeing all that we still don’t know about our universe and this magnificent phenomenon that has blessed our world. You are a fountain of power now, Violence Violet. You’ve shown me that much. And during this performance, I need you to prove to me that you are grateful for it.
Valerie: Of course. I want to be an idol more than anything and you’ll see that come through in the performance.
Mary Rain: I expect nothing less, Violence Violet.
Eryn: And she is trying to shift your Freak up and your Savior down. Do you want to accept this or reject it?
Dana: Yes I will accept that Label shift.
[music continues]
Jaiden: Okay you need to go to bed because I’m pretty sure you have school tomorrow, right?
Alicia: Aw, yeah I do.
Jaiden: I promise I’ll call you tomorrow right after school.
Alicia: Yay. Okay, I’m looking forward to it.
Jaiden: Love you.
Alicia: I love you too, bye.
[music continues]
Tea: She probably has to take a bus, ugh!
Eryn: Yeah he’s walking you to the bus stop. He knows how that all works. So as he’s walking you there he’s like,
Kyle: Well I guess I wish the best of luck to you. I have all the faith in you, I really do brah.
Eryn: He’s trying to shift you Savior up and your Danger down. He doesn’t think you are a threat.
Tea: I think I’ll go with that.
[music continues]
Allen: Amberlee in that video, she... shines. It’s a good thing that something like that is happening.
Karen: I think the powers angle of it, yeah it’s dangerous and yeah, we’ve been, well I’ll say it, we got hurt a few times, kind of bad. But it was always worth it to see how everybody smiled when it was working.
Allen: I think I get that.
Karen: I’m glad I could teach you that, random person who goes to my school.
Allen: Yes, I’m Allen.
Karen: Nice to meet you Allen, I’m Karen.
Allen: It’s nice to finally talk to you.
[music continues]
Ann: Okay, I think that’s our cue to leave, Drew.
Eryn: He agrees and you both skedaddle before anyone can notice that you’re there. And I think you get at least a few more warehouses away before you feel like you’re safe and Drew breathes like,
Drew: What did we just hear? Who do we tell about this? Is it something we need to tell? Is this just how business people do shit? Is this even illegal?
Maria: Ann puts a hand on Drew’s shoulder to calm him down and is like.
Ann: Drew, listen to me. You didn’t see anything. Do not tell anyone you were there. Do not say anything. Do not put yourself in the way of this. I’ll do something.
Drew: I will agree that I didn’t see anything. Not going to agree you’re going to do this shit on your own but I definitely won’t do anything that will put us in danger.
Ann: Don’t think I’m going to be doing that on my own.
Maria: Ann kind of opens her phone. She’s not going to send a message right away but drawing up Jaiden and Queen Bee’s numbers and hesitates for a second and then adds Valerie and Evangeline's as well.
[music continues]
Mary Rain: I expect nothing less, Violence Violet.
Eryn: You can hear Mary smirk over the phone somehow as the phone beeps off.
Dana: And I just... [sighs]
[piano music finishes and fades]
[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: Wulfy, Amairylle, and LadyPlague. 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 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, and the YouTube Audio Library.
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. You can also support this podcast on Patreon at patreon.com/eryncerise. All SuperIdols patrons get access to behind the scenes content, like session after talk, as well as our session zeros for all new player characters. VIP Patrons get that as well as early rough-cut episode releases, rotating shout outs in our ending credits, and access to bonus episodes. For this episode in particular, VIP patrons will be able to hear the complete, extended versions of all the individual solo sessions for each character.
SuperIdols RPG is now a proud member of Be Gay Roll Dice, a network for RPG podcasts made by LGBTQIA+ creators. You can check out all the great independent queer shows on our network at Twitter.com/begayrolldice and join our queer as hell Discord at the link in the description. Today’s featured show is The Eternity Archives. What do you get when you throw a buff lizard princess, a nerdy Tiefling, and a sweet human office lady into an interdimensional library? The Eternity Archives, an actual play podcast where three friends save the multiverse by playing as many TTRPGs as possible. Thank you all for listening, stay well, and goodbye until next time.
Echoey Voice: You hear whispers. Powerful voices that speak to you of destiny and danger and temptation.
GM: So let’s go ahead then and jump into the 13th Age.
Player 1: Zen will tilt her head back, look up to the sky, and shout,
Zen: Linda!
Player 2: The prince of shadows, he gives us stuff to do and in this case he wants us to get that amulet. It’s on its way to the Lich King.
Player 3: Meanwhile, Ryl is following strangers through alleyways.
Player 1: So I’m using a maneuver called Carve an Opening.
GM: The escalation die goes up to 4.
Player 3: I am going to cast Chaos Bolt
Player 2: I am going to use Grim Intent.
GM: And she rolled a 17 versus your AC.
Player 2: That’s the most exciting thing that could have happened.
Player 3: Ryl would probably just scream in terror.
Echoey Voice: You hear, feel, a tearing in your mind like a rope has snapped and suddenly you’re adrift. When you open your eyes, suddenly, you’re alone. This is the Eternity Archives.
GM: Find us online at theeternityarchives.com or wherever you prefer to listen.
Transcription by Cassie Hauschildt: https://www.chtranscription.com/
Proofreading by ErynCerise
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