[Game Thread] Chapter 1: New Beginnings

[Malkavianmilkball]

Panacea Emilia wakes up to her alarms beeping. She brushes her teeth and hair with her travel gear and makes her way to assist Shiyan in the kitchen tent. "You asked for volunteers in the kitchen? I'm no chef, but I can boil water." She grins and sees the layout for a cold breakfast of cereal, fruit, orange drink, and coffee. "Well even I can't screw this up" She helps Shiyan lay out of the chosen foods and then enjoys her own box-made-bowl of cereal as she watches people trickle in and grab their own food. After the food is ready and she has finished her own, Emilia makes her way over to Shiyan. "That rain storm was lucky. What was that dance with the swinging arms you were doing? If it was a rain dance it certainly worked. You could help a lot of drought stricken lands with a dance that fast on return." She says casually, almost in a joking manner.

 

I'll get to Julian's conversation after this. This would have happened before most people arrived to the tent for breakfast.

[Cardassian]

Shiyan bowed in acknowledgement to the newcomer "Doctor and Chef, a woman of many talents" He fills measuring cups of coffee and flavored drink "When the water boils, pour one cup into each pot and stir until they're mixed well. Then take them off the stove to cool", he hands her two ladles "Coffee ladle, Drink ladle scoop them into these dispensers. The two with a yellow dot is coffee, the two with white dots are flavored drinks" She grins, "Well even I can't screw this up"

Shiyan bows "Yes, it was fortunate. I've heard it is rare to have rain in this region. Good thing the summer is coming to an end. July through September the temperatures are usually cooler. It is January through June that is painful. Ah, it was a Kata, focusing my mind to balance my Ying and Yang. Not a dance, but it brought the water vapors into alignment. The drought is the result of water being out of sync."

As the group continued preparing breakfast, Shiyan approached Emilia near the end of breakfast "I will be staying here today. I want to see if there is a new tent we can use to replace this one and I found a nice inventory that I can make dinner. I'm not certain when the group will return from their shift, but I want to have dinner ready for them when they step off of the buses."

He began writing signs and posting them at the entrance and exits of the area (since there was no tent, it was a taped off section with picnic tables) [Dinner Time 6pm-8pm] [Tonight's Dinner; Sirloin Steak, Mashed Potatoes, Mixed Vegetables, Vanilla Cake], [Grab a water drop the empty bottle in this can]

[Malkavianmilkball]

Panacea "Kata? Very interesting!" Emilia smiles with polite interest. "You'll have to tell me about it sometime if you are willing. The spirituality of Eastern cultures has always interested me." She stirs the coffee as directed."Kata indeed?... She thought to herself. After breakfast Julian pulls her aside before they retrieved their assignments to ask Emilia something in private. She adjusts her baseball cap and gives Julian her attention, presuming it to be some kind of medical concern.

[RedMoney]

Julian follows Emilia to the medical tent where he assumes they can have a modicum of privacy. He seems nervous, not necessarily of Emilia, but he glanced around as if someone might be listening in. Finally he sighs heavily to psyche himself up and speaks very quietly.

"So uhm, my burns seem to have fully recovered to perfection, despite yesterday looking rather severe. I'm rather... worried about it. After seeing that little girl with the doctor teddy bear... I feel like I can trust you're a compassionate person, though. Do you happen to... know much about mutant biology? It probably sounds crazy but I'm worried I've spontaneously developed some kind of mutant regeneration ability. I know that sounds wild but... And please keep this between us... I -am- a mutant. I already went through the more typical phase of developing powers when I was in my teens, but I've never heard of mutants randomly gaining new powers like this."

He rubs his forehead, looking a bit stressed.

"Jeez... I must be out of my mind telling you all this. I've kept being a mutant a secret my whole life, and I don't even know if you know anything about them. Sorry to dump all this on you, just please keep it between us..."

Julian let's out a huge sigh, a bizarre wave of relief washing over him that vastly contrasts with how nervous he was. He chuckles a bit.

"Oh man, saying that out loud was crazy... I'm a mutant. Right... any thoughts about late onset powers there Doc?"

[Classic Gamer]

”Thankful for the wonders you worked for breakfast. Doubly thankful for the coffee. ” Ian said as he sipped his second cup. After finding out that Shiyan was staying behind to continue to mind the cooking tent, Ian nodded his thanks again. “Probably a good idea. We are not exactly an army, but we will be operating on our stomachs just the same.”

Ian looked at the issued poncho and played with it a moment, before tucking it away. “This may be a good idea too, but maybe more as shade than to keep off any more sudden rain downpours.” He wanted to engage in a little more camaraderie with the others, but found that he did not have the skills for it that the others had displayed. So instead, he made his way to the Ute and awaited further instructions.

[Malkavianmilkball]

Panacea Emilia closes the flap of the tent and listens to Julian with a practiced interest and concern. When he reveals his nature she holds up a hand and Intuition check Intuition (Ex) Dice Roll: 1d100 76 double checks that there is no one outside the tent. After checking she gestures for Julian to continue. When Julian finishes revealing his concerns she sighs. She had caused this young man undue stress with her deception, and further put him in a vulnerable position by revealing his nature to her. Perhaps it was time for a bit of vulnerability of her own. "Thank you for sharing this with me. I know it could not be easy. I'll admit I'm not an expert of mutant genetics, though I have read some interesting papers published by a Henry McCoy on the subject. The good news though is that you don't have to worry about developing some new healing power... probably?" She pauses for a moment as she considers the oddity of the mutant condition before continuing. "The truth is that you didn't regenerate over night, I healed you and the others." She holds up a hand to forestall any questions. She starts to paces back and forth in the tent as she works herself up to continue. "I'm not a mutant like you, sadly my story is a bit more complicated. The short of it is that my powers come from the blessing of the goddess. Yes gods are real, at least some of them. You said you're from New York didn't you? I heard they have a Norse god in the Avengers don't they? Well anyway the Greek goddess Panacea picked me to be her errand girl from birth. It came with a host powers, and a lifetime of trauma. I once spent a entire year of my life in the underworld, no not hell, the Greek one. Its more shadowy and ironic punishments than hellfire and brimstone."

[RedMoney]

As Emilia confided her own secret, Julian sort of just stared with his mouth hanging open slightly. It took his brain a moment to reset and finally form a coherent thought. His brain defaulted to what he considered charming flattery before he could get anything else out.

"You know when you said you were Greek I wondered if you were also sculpted from bronze but I didn't realize the sculptor was Apollo himself. Well, your secret is safe with me. Personally I've been torn about letting people know what I can do because I could potentially start teleporting into the danger zones and searching for people. I don't know the area well enough to feel safe going in alone. Who knows what we're going to find. Man I have so many questions now but we've got to get to work soon I guess. We should absolutely chat more when there's time yeah? I'm going to find the others and get ready to head off for now though."

Julian, still contemplating his place in the universe over what he was just told, made his way over to the Ute.

Wild. Absolutely wild. You're a lucky man Julian, you just spilled to some random pretty woman even though you had a million better options because you've got no damn self control. Greek goddess powers huh? And she can heal people... She's going to absolutely be needed when we get deeper into the impact site. Get your mind out of the gutter and keep her safe.

It was a strange feeling though, to suddenly feel much less alone on the other side of the planet.

"Oh hey Ian, Alysa, Shiyan, we're heading out today right? So we have a driver somewhere?"

[Malkavianmilkball]

Panacea "Carved from Bronze? Makes me sound like some sort of wonderful woman" She thinks to herself as her and Julian makes their way to their designated pickup point for the days work. "Does anyone know where our coordinator is?" She asks when they arrive and sees the others at the ute.

[The Rat Queen]

Anima Alysa Raine Alysa smiled at Julian's greeting, then shook her head at Emilia's question, responding, "No, I was just asking if we should go check on them." Gesturing toward the loaded truck, she added, "We've got a full truck to unload, I believe, and it's not going to get cooler as the day carries on." She didn't want to wander off, because if she did and the IRC volunteer showed up, they would just be delayed more as they went to go collect her. On the other hand, if something were wrong, precious time was passing as they stood around irresolute. Making up her mind, she looked to her fellow Section-8ers and said, "I say we go check the tent and make sure they're okay. Perhaps they're just running a bit late, but I'd rather be safe than sorry. Who's with me?"

[Malkavianmilkball]

Panacea "I think the point is to take the "Ute" as they call it, and drive it to the disaster area to hand out the supplies to those in need." She shrugs. "I could be wrong though, so I agree we need to find our coordinator. They will know the plan for the day.

[Anarchy]

None are within earshot of the conversation between doctor and patient, of that Emilia is confident.

Alick limps about the area without wearing rain gear, calling out the name "Berzil", seemingly not concerned at all with getting soaked. Diabetes is a common affliction for Indigenous peoples around the world, especially those from the Torres Strait Islands, the observant will notice flashes of the prosthetic limb when Alick's pant leg lifts slightly, or the strangely-skinniness of one of his legs.

Berzil, Alick's 7 year old son scampers into sight, adeptly spinning a Bullroarer
Ritual musical instrument and a device historically used for communicating over great distancespiece of wood attached to a string, which produces a roaring vibration sound. A bit of early morning sunlight peeks through the clouds, causing the moisture-rich air to shimmer and dance above the tiny boy when he swings the musical device overhead like a lasso, his smile infectious. Scooping up his son into crook of his arm, and tickling him with the other, the International Red Cross chef leaves a smile in his wake for the volunteers gathered around the ute, possibly since he should still be in bed convalescing, and departs carrying the squirmy boy, who laughs a strangely breathy atonal laugh suggestive that he is severely hard of hearing.

Blood-warm rain comes down in a constant deluge, inclement weather contributing deleteriously to the city's flooding, but also providing a source to collect clean drinking water, and reducing the spread of the fires that still rage through parts of the city. The heat is already in the low 30’s Celsius, en route to 41+ Celsius, and the high humidity conspires to fog up eyeglasses and windows alike.

Soft wet tapping reaches your ears just as you lay eyes on the cane-wielding volunteer splashing through growing puddles to get to you. You recognise the elderly International Red Cross dowager as the administrator that had sorted you all into Section-08. Moss grows not under her feet as she offers each of you a greeting and never breaks stride, clambering into the You estimate the ute weighs approximately 2,200 kilograms, with a likely maximum load capacity of perhaps 1000 kilograms. awaiting ute with the rain playing a pitter-patter tune on a waterproof-poncho stained with vestiges of rust-hued dust. The words are a Scottish Brogue, with just enough of a lilt for those that are well-travelled to recognise someone originally from Glasgow, “Load up dearies. Work to do.”

She introduces herself as Grandma Grace Lamont, “as in Grace-ful”, which the Glaswegian explains is apropos, since she assures you that she is certainly full of it. When she thinks no one is looking Grace sneaks a soft cinnamon cookie, impishly chuckling as her arthritic fingers toss the sweet into her awaiting maw without offering one to anyone else.

She adjusts the air-conditioning to stave off the heat of the morning and flips on the Ute's radio, which reports that the comet’s impact near Atherton on the Tablelands, located above Cairns, has blocked the flow of the city's water from the Crystal Cascades, but there is a hopeful update that the engineers expect water to flow to select areas of the city within the next week. Explaining why the IRC are using so many methods to collect rainwater in your encampmentMandatory water rationing continues.

One thing that one might not expect from someone so old is a lead-footed maniac behind the wheel, but that is what you get the instant the last seat belt goes click. Smoothly operating the manual transmission with a calmness that belies taking corners fast enough that you brace for the inevitable roll over. Though she seems to come within a razor’s edge of oblivion, she never crosses it, keeping all 4 wheels on the damaged tarmac, and looking almost bored in the process. Conversationally Disconcertingly driving on the left side of the road in a right-side drive vehicle, something that takes a bit of getting used to when you were raised in a different contextmaking small talk, as if simply relaxing on a beach, she shares with a tinge of a Scottish accent, “My sixth husband Callum, God rest his soul, made his living robbing banks, but was always horrible with directions, so I made sure he always got home safe. Such a sweet man, too sweet for jail, even despite the snoring and stealing my pension checks between jobs.” She contentedly hums, leaving the comforting scent of cinnamon hanging in the air, just missing exposed rebar by scant millimetres, leaving you to wonder if you really just heard that not only was this lady was a criminal, that was possibly on the lam, but she was still actively breaking the law when she was of retirement age.

Grace explains that you are currently en route to help clear the road as needed, as you transport much-needed supplies to the IRC's Southern Emergency Response Station, as the encampment you just left is the lifeline for resupply for each of the forward support areas. This resupply is days late, as the supply chain was delayed due to flooding near Melbourne, leaving the aid stations critically low on crucial medical supplies.

People will die, unless you hurry, and Grace is definitely the woman you want to call when you need to get somewhere with rapidity.

With startling rapidity Barlow Park is far in your rearview mirror, each block flashing by showing signs of superficial damage, which resolves into whole swaths of businesses that have been destroyed. It is eerie to see so many abandoned cards sitting lifeless in front of closed stores and homes with shattered glass lining the sidewalks, many likely having been ransacked by the opportunist and desperate alike. You see evidence where city crews have been at work to shift rubble aside, though none are in evidence currently, leaving a tight path eastward the approximately 5 kilometre journey to the esplanade. Grandma Grace’s psychotic pace slows as the driving becomes more akin to an erratic slalom course. As you pass a burned-out husk that used to be a hoon's ride, she explains that people are desperate, and the pace also makes it less likely that opportunist folk of low morals (her word is "lavvy heid", which she loosely translates as "toilet head" for those that inquire) will set upon the vehicle.

It is lucky she has slowed the pace, as just over halfway to the aid station aboard ship, a filthy pre-pubescent girl darts into the road before you desperately waving her arms to get your attention. She is If an opportunity is afforded for examination, you learn: All wounds are non-life threatening/superficial. She needs food, water, some minor medical treatment (predominately on her hands, feet, and knees), and to get warm her teeth are chattering with the exposurescraped, bleeding, soaked, and definitely not dressed for the weather, as all she has on is a filthy towel wrapped around a colourful bikini, and cheap shower-type flip flops. Grace barks out an expletive and yells, "BRACE!", as she deftly operates the ute's brakes and handbrake in an attempt to bring the ute to a stop before she hits the girl, who has collapsed to her knees in exhaustion, but the fates conspire against you all as the ute starts to hydroplane and lose its grip on the road.

No one could have avoided this accident, no matter how skilful they were behind the wheel.

The hit is inevitable, and unless someone intercedes the girl will be no more.

[Tag PCs; everyone may take a single action before the impact. These actions will transpire simultaneously, so there will not be time to build off another's actions, or to see what anyone will do (read: act independently of the others as you would in this situation please). All heroes have +125 Karma from their original starting total]

[Malkavianmilkball]

Panacea Riding with Grace was more harrowing than Emilia had anticipated as the Ute zips through the disaster zone. Emilia watches the ruined city zip by as she listens to Grace prattle on. Grace reminded Emilia of her grandmother. women who grew up during the World Wars were just built different it seemed. Bank Robbing and outliving six husbands, was she some sort of black widow? Emilia tenses as she sees a girl approach and tenses as she sees the girl collapse right in their path. "Brace!" Grace shouts as she slams on the breaks. Adrenaline pumping into overtime, Emilia feels the truck start to lose traction and not even pausing to think how stupid it is what she is about to do, she opens her door, wraps one arm around her seat belt and the other around the door frame and Strength Feat Adding Karma to the roll Dice Roll: 1d100 62 slams her feet into the speeding pavement. Her shoes squeal on the pavement as the rubber is shredded by the road like passing them over a sander. They are torn to tatter revealing her feet beneath. Force Field Rank 21 Absorb 21 damage vs physical sources. Material hardness=Concrete, Beta Cloth, Iron, Bullet-Proof Glass. Golden sparks start shooting off as her feet dig into the asphalt. She held on hoping to shift the truck to one side, out of the path of the girl.

 

Karma spent of Strength feat Spending 36 Karma to shift 61 dice roll into 98 for a Red Result, 156+25(Daily Karma)=181-36=145 Total Karma

[RedMoney]

Julian did his best to take in the scenery of the outback while not becoming disoriented from the jarring ride. This was not really the sort of atmosphere conducive to getting to know his teammates, either, though he tried his best to work in conversation with the others. The idea that this six time divorcee was a career get away driver tracked with Julian as he braced himself during one of their aerial moments. Then, just when Julian was getting used to being tossed around like luggage, it all went to hell in a handbasket when some random woman jumped out into the road and directly into the path of a speeding vehicle.

A classic hero moment. Julian tried not to hesitate. Staying out of his head was important in moments when he needed the light to bend to his rules instead of all the preconceived notions of the mechanics of how teleportation works based on physics. Teleporting others is hard, teleporting while moving doesn't break your inertia, teleporting works by yadda yadda... the pseudoscience of it all was just the disbelievers' rationalization of a miracle, in Julian's mind. So, in this moment, Julian put his faith in the universe's plan that landed him in this situation and acted.

First, Julian needed to teleport to the disheveled pedestrian. Simple enough perhaps? His

Dice Roll:

1d100

93

remarkable teleportation still potentially had limits, and teleporting multiple times would push his

Dice Roll:

1d100

79

typical endurance to the limit.

Second, Julian would need all of his 126 Karma spent for the stuntpower to pull off the stunt, timing his grab as he cascaded just over where she lied in the muddy road. He hadn't hopelessly pawed at a woman this awkwardly since his first middle school dance, simply grabbing on to what he could and hoping for the best.

And finally, Julian would need to stick the landing somehow, he should be fine as long as his

Dice Roll:

1d100

37

endurance didn't fail him in the final moments.

Julian opened his stunt with grace and reflex that could potentially rival the greatest of heroes some day. He simply vanishes from sight and suddenly appears almost directly overtop of the woman in the road, grasping on for just long enough to move her along with him, trying to ensure he is well far enough away from the moving vehicle for both of them to avoid the path it takes.

Unfortunately as he reappears and tries to make a landing, he starts to loose consciousness and eats the dirt, rolling across the ground in a heap and unable to keep himself awake to roll with the impact properly.

[Classic Gamer]

Slow down. Slow down. Ian thinks but does not dare voice his concerns. And with Grace’s confession about Callum, Ian decided his silence was the right choice. Who would have thought he would be in Australia providing aid after a humongous set of meteors touched down, left to the mercy of a get-away driver?

But despite his trepidation, Ian had to admit that the elderly woman seemed to be more than capable enough at making the vehicle do exactly what she wanted it to do. But even Grace can’t control someone else’s actions. So when the young girl darts in front of the vehicle, Grace is forced to yell out only a quick warning to the others as she tries to maneuver to avoid loss of more than one life.

With little time to react himself, Ian tried to use his

Air Control (Amazing) Adding karma to the roll Dice Roll: 1d100 51

powers to lift the girl slightly enough into the air so that she was above the vehicle in case a collision was otherwise avoidable. If all went well, Ian could sit the girl gently back down on the ground out of the vehicle’s trajectory.

 

50 Karma Spent

 

https://www.rpgcrossing.com/showthre...49#post9886149

[The Rat Queen]

Anima Alysa Raine Alysa found herself wishing she'd trusted her instinct and entreated 'Grandma Grace' to slow to a sane speed in case anything happened...such as a child darting into the road. Grace might not have listened, particularly after hearing Alysa's RP accent, but it might've planted the seed. Now they were sliding inexorably toward a girl in the road who had no chance to dodge. Likewise, Grace had no way to avoid the girl, and the meeting would not be a happy one. Alysa chanted and waved her hands, extending her power in a manner similar to what she had done with the tent, but a little trickier, forming a Absorb (16 - Ex) damage.cushion of invisible force around the girl crouched on the ground to protect her from the impact.