PSE RPG Chatroom - 2024-03-30

Sciborg

5:48 PM

-v-

\o

\o/

o/

Details for how fighting works (slightly modified for simplicity from the rulebook):
- Take a turn whenever you want, but everyone gets a turn before anyone gets a second.
- When you're going, you get one Action, which can be basically anything that involves a single roll, OR moving between "zones" on the map. ("Zones" are within the panda area, the keeper storage area, construction, in the trees, or general outside areas.)
- You take Stress equal to the difference between the attacker and defender's roll + skill. Running over 3 physical or 4 mental stress means you're out. Alternatively, y…

Sciborg

I am concerned

bobble

6:03 PM

look I expect Eve to throw at least one (1) knife or something and I need rules for that eventuality

Sciborg

Fowler will be performing the highly complex combat maneuver of "running to hide behind Garrett"

bobble

Even with two moons up, only a little light filters through all the fog. Blue wizard’s-flame (non-burning) lamps splutter along a few paths; half appear broken. A door on the side of the construction is open to a cart full of boxes. Loud creaks come from some sort of machine inside the entrance. Two voices bicker about whether the Gryphons or the Lochs will win some upcoming lightball game. Inside their enclosure, the pandas don’t appear to be moving. One baby is sleeping in the open.

^ pre-written description of what the scene is like before anything interesting happens.

Ginger

hello

bobble

Hi!

Where are y'all to start?

Sciborg

Fowler would like to start inside the enclosure if possible, definitely because he is guarding the pandas and not because he is cuddling with them.

Mithical

6:08 PM

Once it got dark, Eve would have moved into the tree that had previously been selected, and set up two items: the spyglass, and the blowgun (with tranquilizer darts).

Ginger

Garrett is standing in the shadow of the map board, holding the recon tablet

bobble

Fowler, roll Lore

Sciborg

+2 on +2 = +4.

bobble

"I'm *telling* you, Amanta has *nothing* on Yor! *Nothing*!"
"COULD YOU TWO SHUT UP WHEN I'M LEVITATING THINGS"

@Sciborg The door to the construction is, as you may expect, not properly locked, just closed.

Sciborg

Fowler, unsurprised, motions to it. "Someone should lock that door."

Mithical

6:13 PM

"I'd love to, but I'm already in a tree."

bobble

A few of the boxes float off the cart, while a very bored-sounding fourth voice says, "Keep going, we have a deadline". Eve can see the owner of the fourth voice has a very shiny bald head.

Sciborg

Fowler sighs, checks to make sure the tiny lump that is Dollop is asleep, and goes back to staring contentedly at the pandas.

Mithical

Hmm, no hard hat?

Ginger

Garrett is wiggling the tablet's display; they didn't quite set it into the socket correctly earlier. The metal band on their wrist glints in the moonlight.

bobble

No hard hat, he's watching from the door next to the cart. A supervisor of some kind.

Whoever's doing the levitating drops the boxes, steps out of the construction, and shares a meaningful look with the supervisor; both scan the area. Eve and Garrett, roll Stealth.

Unless you're not trying to hide, that is.

They don't seem very concerned by the panda enclosure so Fowler is safe

Mithical

6:17 PM

+1, add to +4 for total of +5

Ginger

+1, add to +1 for +2

Garrett is not Stealthy :(

Sciborg

Fowler idly starts humming and skirting around the shadows on the sides of the enclosure, keeping an eye on his companions.

Ginger

they are behind the board though

so probably not visible from the construction?

bobble

You're getting a bit of a bonus from me (or they're getting a penalty) because of the board, so you're safe too.

Ginger

nice

bobble

6:20 PM

The levitator fishes a metal ball out of their pocket and tosses it through the wards - it's small enough to pass through. It tinkles as it flies, hitting the ground near Fowler.

Mithical

What are the other two doing?

Ginger

Garrett doesn't have a clear line of sight to the other people, so they don't know that anything's happening

bobble

The supervisor is watching the wards now, and the two voices inside the construction area have stopped arguing, though perhaps they were just temporarily shut up

Sciborg

Fowler starts and jumps out of the way of the ball. "Someone just threw something!" he blurts out, loudly.

Mithical

"Chirp, G, we have action. Stay sharp."

Ginger

6:22 PM

they are watching the feed from the tablet

so they might have seen the thing

bobble

The ball starts hissing smoke, though it's difficult to see with the fog. Fowler has to roll Physique.

Feel free to jump into action whenever, otherwise they'll keep methodically doing their plan.

Sciborg

+1 for Physique.

Fowler immediately rushes blindly towards whatever direction he thought he saw the sleeping baby panda.

bobble

That'd be either one point of physical stress or a minor consequence of a Hacking Cough.

Sciborg

I'll take the Stress point.

Ginger

the tablet does have audio output, but Garrett realized that might not be great for a covert job and manually disabled it earlier

Mithical

6:25 PM

Eve needs them to get closer for a dart to be effective.

Sciborg

Fowler coughs and stuffs the sleepy Dollop into his shirt, trying to protect her, as he squints through the smoke and looks for the baby.

bobble

The supervisor has dropped any attempt to look like they're supervising the actual construction, and has now wandered closer to the wards, incidentally going nearer to Eve's tree.

Ginger

the smoke is obscuring the video somewhat

does Garrett recognize anything about the ball or the smoke?

bobble

They keep failing to see Fowler because of penalties for fog, which I find funny

Ginger

(they have access to the sensors built into the device)

Mithical

6:28 PM

As soon as he's within range, Eve aims the blowgun at his back and sends a dart his direction.

bobble

It's a modified prank ball used to release funny smells, e.g. in professor's offices

Ginger

clever

Mithical

That's a -2 roll, with a +4 Stealth (used when attacking when hidden). Can I Invoke my High Concept Aspect to get a bonus here?

bobble

Sure

Fowler, you've run into the pandas

Sciborg

How many babies are there?

bobble

6:32 PM

There are some clanks from inside the construction area; the two voices have migrated to be closer to the door than wherever they were operating equipment from.

There are two, and one parent alongside.

(By the way, the reason they're not talking out loud is they're now using comms. The lack of dialogue is intentional, not that I forgot)

Sciborg

Fowler scoops up the two baby pandas, one in each arm like two squirming potato sacks, and tries to shout at the parent. "I'm going to borrow them for a minute, okay?"

Then he starts looking around frantically to try and find the doors.

bobble

Roll Physique again - you had to take a deep breath to shout

Mithical

So, assuming I did this right, that's a total of +4 for a tranquilizer dart at the supervisor (using the Invoke to gain a +2 for my -2 roll)

Sciborg

@bobble +0 this time.

bobble

You options are go to the max stress or get a cough

This is fast acting gas.

@Mithical he drops without knowing what hit him. You can add more description if you like.

Sciborg

6:34 PM

Fowler starts hacking and coughing, barely keeping his grip on the pandas.

bobble

(I remind Ginger that they are allowed to try to hack comms, in addition to more normal kinds of fighting)

Sciborg

Over comms: "Chirp - kooffffff - Chirp has Thing One and Thing Two."

Ginger

@bobble thanks for the reminder, how do I do that?

Garrett isn't very aware of what's happening in the enclosure, but if something goes through the construction door it'll activate the bug

Mithical

Eve takes a deep breath, aims the blowgun, and stops. The path has a slight decline, and the guy was about to go right into that section, and so the dart would have gone over this guy's head. Pausing a second, she re-aims, waits until he's at the exact right spot, and then fwoosh.

bobble

Describe what you're doing (trying to tune something? trying to pick up frequency? i dunno what technobabble) and then roll as if you're trying to create an Aspect - you'll be facing a flat difficulty of 5.

Ginger

6:37 PM

What's going on? I can see lots of fog

Do you have the parent?

Sciborg

KOFFFFF - HANWNWNHHNNNGHG - they threw something in here.

bobble

Fowler, you first run into the non-construction door, which is locked

Mithical

Chirp, acknowledged. Covering you. One hostile down.

Ginger

So I see. I can't hear them all that well

Ya think they're using comms?

bobble

The wizard who was doing the levitating audibly swears, then throws up a light charm, looking wildly in all directions

Sciborg

6:39 PM

Fowler, coughing and wheezing violently, tries to feel his way to the other door.

bobble

Both pandas aren't moving any more - knocked out

Mithical

Does the light charm provide a good enough target for another dart?

(How many darts would be reasonable to have?)

Sciborg

Going to pass out if this keeps up - KOFFFFFF.

Ginger

Garrett sticks their head around the map board

bobble

The construction door opens and Garrett picks up two identical burly women, with gas-mask artificy devices, step inside.

The light charm does show you exactly where wizard-guy is, however, he's now cast a basic shield charm as well, of which you can see a shimmer

Ginger

6:41 PM

Garrett feels an inexplicable feeling of having lost their keys, followed half a second later by extremely loud static, and then crisp high-resolution audio of Fowler wheezing

Sciborg

Fowler now sounds like he's smoked ten packs of cigarettes today when he gasps out, THE PANDAS - OPEN THE DOOR -

Mithical

"Dammit," Eve mutters to herself. They've shielded. Time to get a bit more hands-on.

bobble

The women would look surprised to see Fowler, if Fowler could see them. Fowler does notice a knife whistle past one ear, barely missing.

Ginger

Do you think they're using comms? Might be able to listen in... or distract them

Mithical

Eve is going to drop out of the tree, as quietly as possible, and then sprint towards the wizard.

bobble

6:43 PM

Roll Stealth again, then

Sciborg

Wheezing, Fowler staggers at the sound of the knife hissing past and hugs the pandas tightly, trying to keep them from being hit in the crossfire.

He's still trying desperately to find any open door.

Mithical

Ugh, another -2 roll.

bobble

Well, Fowler, unfortunately both your hands are occupied, and the only open door is blocked by two attackers.

Mithical

For a total of +2. In the Foggy area.

bobble

Want to Invoke the fog?

Ginger

6:44 PM

Garret mutters "Sure, whatever" to themself and starts fishing around in the backpack for their Aetheric Pineapple™

Mithical

Sure

Sciborg

Accepting his fate, Fowler's wheezing voice crackles over the comms: Chirp is about to go down.

bobble

They don't seem to want to hurt the pandas either and have elected to advance on you; the one in the front has a knife in either hand. Her voice burbles through the mask - "Drop the pandas, this doesn't have to be messy"

Mithical

At that, muttering something about "babysitting", Eve will change her course towards Fowler.

Ginger

Garrett frantically pulls the Pineapple out and tries to remember the formula for white noise generation

bobble

6:46 PM

@Mithical They're not going to notice you until/unless you're on top of them

Mithical

Hang on there, Chirp, coming in.

Ginger

how do aspect rolls work again? I'd like to roll to link the Pineapple to their comms

bobble

The smoke has started to clear; as Garrett might remember, these prank balls have a very limited amount of gas they can store

Sciborg

Fowler hacks and coughs, and manages to respond to the command, with all the trembling bravery a man who normally sits in his apartment cuddling with a budgie can muster: "Why do you want them?"

bobble

Regular relevant-skill roll, if you succeed you can name the Aspect and get a free Invoke

"Now."

Ginger

6:48 PM

right, can I roll for Crafts?

bobble

Sure

Sciborg

"They're - wheeze - not yours."

bobble

Eve, you arrive just as the (other) knife lady lunges at Fowler.

Sciborg

Fowler is trying to distract them long enough for help to arrive.

Ginger

Crafts +4, roll +1 for +5

Mithical

6:50 PM

Time for another Invoke then: "Julia! Stop!"

bobble

That's a tie, so the aspect exists (with a free Invoke) but will go away on first use. (Translation: you're in, but so barely in that doing literally anything will kick you out again)

Ginger

Garrett sucks air through their teeth and mentally adds one to their "terrible hacks" counter.

bobble

Julia stumbles and instead ends up aiming for Fowler's legs. Fowler, want to try to dodge? Athletics.

Ginger

I linked it, but I can do basically one thing and then it'll break

Sciborg

+1 and +1 = +2 on Athletics, oh dear.

bobble

6:52 PM

Want to try to help him, Eve?

Ginger

what's happening that Garrett can see from their vantage point?

Mithical

"Stooping to steal baby pandas, Julia? Is that what mercenary work has fallen to?"

@bobble Sure, how do I do that, besides distracting Julia further?

bobble

Eve (if she's inside), Fowler holding two pandas, and the backs of Julia + other lady

Roll something for the distracting.

Ginger

Say when and I can blast any or all of them with static

Mithical

+2 to +1 Contacts

bobble

6:54 PM

Also, you can see the other lady readying some device, below the general eyeline of the other participants.

Julia misses entirely and has tripped.

Sciborg

Fowler jumps back and stumbles, gasping at the suddenness of almost having his kneecaps sliced open; he is trembling so badly at this point that he will definitely collapse if anything so much as breathes in his direction.

bobble

The wizard hasn't come around yet; Eve at least would know that he would've arrived by now if he went directly.

Sciborg

He tries to thank Eve, but coughs instead.

bobble

"Eve. Fancy seeing you here."

Mithical

Chirp - fly.

2

Sciborg

6:57 PM

Fowler takes the hint, and starts sprinting for his life.

bobble

Eve, the other woman is probably Denise, Julia's sister, who favors darts. (This you get from Contacts, too)

Mithical

"Oh, you know how much I like the zoo, Julia. Remember when we went looking for cats at the shelter together?"

As she's speaking, Eve is priming her spike ring.

bobble

Julia isn't actively fighting any more. The other lady, however, has a dartgun readied and aimed at Eve.

Sciborg

Fowler runs full tilt towards the hopefully-still-open door that the women entered through, praying he can get out of here before his lungs give out.

bobble

"I recall that you attempted to ascertain which were the more dangerous fighters."

Ginger

7:00 PM

is the viewing area elevated above the level of the keeper/construction area?

Mithical

Hoping to give Fowler a better chance, Eve is stepping towards the sisters, hands wide apart, not holding anything.

Sciborg

Garrett, comes Fowler's wheezing, barely-alive voice on the comms, Eve is fighting them, please open the door please open the door please -

bobble

Slightly elevated, yeah.

Ginger

Garrett starts at the message, and then panics at its urgency; they are nowhere near the door

bobble

Dartgun lady shifts her aim to Fowler and lets fly. Eve, got any eventualities for that? Fowler, you probably don't notice, since your back is turned and you're wheezing too hard to hear.

Sciborg

7:03 PM

Fowler has descended into some kind of mental "this is too much to process" shutdown mode and is just frenetically chanting, - please open the door please open the door -

Mithical

Eve grins at the memory. "Ah, of course. What use is a kitten who can't hold their own?" At any point if their attention shifts to Fowler, her plan is to dive at whichever one's legs and a.) knock them off balance b.) use the spike ring to knock them out.

bobble

Garrett, if you're looking around, you probably notice that the wizard has successfully liberated a large shooting weapon from the fallen supervisor and is heading back towards the rest

@Mithical Dart lady is actively firing at Fowler

Ginger

how do I roll for having something on hand?

Sciborg

- please do something please do something Dollop isn't moving help -

Ginger

I know what I want

Mithical

7:05 PM

Well then, too late for Fowler, but Eve is diving at Denise.

bobble

What is it?

Fowler, you've moving rather unpredictably because of the pandas, so I'll say - flip a coin (or any other sort of 50/50 chance, e.g. 1-3 on a d6) and a tail/low number means you're hit.

@Mithical Diving with a weapon or just your body?

Sciborg

@bobble I rolled a Google d6 of fate and thankfully rolled a 6.

Mithical

No visible weapon, but the plan is to use the spring-activated spike ring that's coated with a knockout poison

Ginger

@bobble a little metal ball covered in adhesive that functions as a sort of shock device and can release a violent, uncontrolled pulse of magical energy into the first object it hits; they're generally used for stress-testing equipment intended to be used in magically volatile areas

bobble

Dart whips around to outside and buries itself in a mound of dirt.

@Mithical Roll to attack, we'll see how well Denise avoids you

Ginger

7:08 PM

it's a rather blunt tool, but Garrett will try to use it to force the door to open

Sciborg

Fowler has gone full tunnel-vision mode and his entire hyperfocused being is honed in on getting to that door at all costs.

Mithical

Total of +3

bobble

Well, you hit Denise (poor antagonists rolling poorly), and now Julia is going for your neck.

@Ginger roll Resources

Ginger

+1 on the roll, +2 for resources = +3

consistently mediocre today lol

bobble

She lets out a string of very inventive curses, several directed at your parents, and tries to dance away unsucessfully

@Ginger congrats you have it

Mithical

7:11 PM

Time to pull out a knife, then. "Ah, I've missed our dances. You always - hrrmph - knew how to keep things interesting."

Ginger

Garrett fishes around in their backpack for the shockball, and desperately looks at the distance to the door

bobble

Roll Athletics to avoid Julia's knife.

By the way you have successfully distracted them from Fowler

Ginger

would they be able to run over and slap it on manually? if not they'll try to throw it

bobble

Sure, run.

Sciborg

- wheeze - GARRETT - wheeze -

bobble

7:13 PM

Wizard sees and runs after you though.

Mithical

+2 roll, +0 skill

Ginger

welp

Garrett sees the wizard, looks at the door, makes a split-second risk calculation, and (throwing the tablet onto the backpack) sprints from behind the board to slap the sphere onto the side of the door

bobble

She rolls a -3 (what is up with the dice???) and, even with skill bonuses, thus deals no damage. However, she does have a leverage advantage with a knife over your body.

Sciborg

At this point Fowler's mind is flashing with both images of his life and images of all the favorite birds he may never get to see again.

Ginger

It activates instantly and discharges its entire internal battery directly into the frame

hopefully in a useful way :p

bobble

7:15 PM

Fowler there is now a very obvious door. It seems whatever the attackers had planned also weakened the protections enough for this to work.

Ginger

lucky us

Mithical

"Ooh, that is hot." Eve grins at Julia, obviously enjoying this little fight.

Sciborg

Fowler dives for the door and presumably collapses directly into Garrett, this time being the one to fall into them and not the other way around, with two very heavy unconscious baby pandas in his arms.

bobble

The wizard heaves the weapon up and points at the pair of you. "This is a flamethrower. You know what that is, yes? Good. Drop the pandas."

Denise has at this point keeled over, as still as the panda parent, and cursing until she lost consciousness.

She does leave behind a dartgun which is in Eve's reach.

Ginger

Fowler, get ready to run

Garrett decides now is a good time to activate the static generator, focusing the entire thing on the wizard

Sciborg

7:18 PM

"Never!" Fowler hacks out, horrified at the idea of the pandas being hurt and entirely disregarding himself.

bobble

"Stay down." Julia holds the knife with one hand and seems to be rooting around a pocket for something else.

The wizard wavers and goes cross-eyed.

Mithical

"Oh, of course, sure. Here, you can even have the knife."

In a misdirection attempt, she's going to toss the returning knife in the opposite direction, and then grab the blowgun as Julia's distracted by that.

Ginger

Garret leaps for the muzzle of the flamethrower, trying to point it away from Fowler and use its weight to knock the wizard off-balance and backwards

bobble

Dartgun is going to be Shoot.

Ginger

Eve? Help??

bobble

7:21 PM

Wrestling for the flamethrower is going to be Physique.

Sciborg

Fowler attempts to push himself into another run while Garrett is doing this, staggering as his legs threaten to give out from under him.

Mithical

Oh, that is not good. -3, +1 to shoot, for a total of -2.

Ginger

oh dear :b

Sciborg

Eve, are you - wheeze - okay?

bobble

Where are you trying to go? I'll note that the bird food stand is nearby, or you can run somewhere else.

Mithical

7:22 PM

Little busy!

Ginger

-1, no skill bonus... this doesn't end well for me does it

is there anything I can reasonably invoke here

bobble

@Mithical It goes wild

Mithical

"Oops."

bobble

Say you have a previous incident involving wrestling for live weapons?

Sciborg

@bobble He's definitely going to make a break for whatever is nearest that doesn't have any animals, since he doesn't want any animals getting caught in the crossfire. Maybe the sky ride.

Ginger

7:23 PM

what do I need to make this not a failure

bobble

Carrying the pandas the whole way?

Ginger

jumping directly at a dangerous weapon was probably, in retrospect, a bad idea

Sciborg

If he can manage it without passing out, yes.

bobble

Honestly he has a 4 but rolled ANOTHER -3, so a 1 will tie

Ginger

alright, two fate points for that invoke I guess

bobble

7:25 PM

I will require you to describe this previous incident

Sciborg

Chirp is - cough - evacuating the cargo.

bobble

I was asking about carrying them because, well, there is a very nice cart with boxes in it nearby, if you want.

Sciborg

Oh he'll definitely take that option.

bobble

Julia located what she was looking for - a length of reinforced rope - and says, "Just let me tie you up, tell your superiors you lost the fight. 'Cause you did. Like you always do."

cart is right outside the construction

Mithical

"That's a low blow, Julia. That's low." Eve is waiting for the knife to re-appear in her hand, behind her back. "You don't remember that time at the beach? I think you'd agree I won that time."

Sciborg

7:28 PM

Fowler jumps into the cart and deposits the pandas into an open box, then, suddenly rethinking now that he knows the pandas are out of the melee, heaves in a shuddering breath of liquid courage and darts back to go help Garrett.

bobble

"That was because Rene had those cute shorts on and I wasn't looking at you. Doesn't count."

Sciborg

His mind-chanting is leaking into the comms again: I'm going to go to an aviary after this and I'm going to look at so many birds and everything will be fine -

Ginger

Several years ago, before coming to NINJA, Garrett was doing some contract work for Dangerous Devices and Diversions, Inc: the authoritative people for doing stupid things with deadly weapons. Groups like that tend to attract people who aren't quite right in the head; Garrett once had to wrestle a ten-pound crossbow away from a man who was planning to use it to murder "the inventor of taxes, and also pain"

bobble

@Mithical Knife re-acquired

Ginger

(I g2g pretty soon, unfortunately)

bobble

7:30 PM

Flamethrower is now held by both of you. We can declare that you're both effectively out of the fight for now, just fighting for control

Sciborg

Fowler grapples frantically, not at all used to being the type of person to grab deadly weapons, and yells, "Not the pandas!"

Mithical

"Fine, fine. I'm not opposed to you tying me up. The safe word is "bananas", alright?" Eve holds both hands behind her back as if waiting to be tied up, the knife concealed in one hand.

bobble

Julia rolls her eyes. "Once again, Eve, I'm taken. You were at the wedding. Not that I invited you, no, but you were there anyways." She goes to tie you up.

Fowler, roll Physique

Sciborg

@bobble +0, hehe I'm in danger.

Mithical

"I wouldn't have missed it for the world." Knife out, slash the rope, and trying to use the last dredges in the spike ring to knock her out non-lethally.

Ginger

7:35 PM

(I do have to go now, really sorry y'all)

o/

(nw <3)

\o

you can say I'm wrestling the wizard :p

Sciborg

we shall avenge the panda babies for you

Ginger

7:35 PM

excellent

bobble

@Sciborg you only aren't hurt because Garrett is helping, but you are thrown out and against the boxes.

@Mithical roll?

Sciborg

Fowler slams into the boxes and finally crumples, like all his meager strength is finally giving out.

Mithical

+2 roll to +2 Fight, for a total of +4

bobble

You cut the rope and poke her leg with the spike ring; only barely, so (based on past experience) it will take a few minutes to actually knock her out, though she'll start feeling woozy almost immediately.

"Hey!"

Sciborg

Eve, the pandas are in the cart, comes Fowler's weak voice over the comms. Take care of Dollop if...

Mithical

7:39 PM

"Sorry, baby, just doing what I gotta. Give my love to Christine, will you?" Eve blows a kiss and darts off, trusting on the wooziness to keep her from following.

bobble

Eve can probably hear crashes and grunts from where Garrett and the wizard are fighting over the flamethrower.

Mithical

Two more hostiles down. Night incoming.

Sciborg

The response is drowned out by more coughing.

bobble

Hey, you can roll Physique again to see if your system is clearing the gas

Sciborg

-3, wow the dice hate me.

Mithical

7:41 PM

Birbman is not very tough

bobble

@Mithical a knife misses you as you leave

... yeah, keep the cough

Mithical

Typical Julia, always been a sore loser.

Sciborg

wheeze

Fowler's head slumps down against his chest.

bobble

You're not quite losing consciousness but it's a close thing.

Mithical

Eve is rushing towards Garrett and the wizard. Chirp, G, status report?

Sciborg

7:43 PM

The reply seems to come with great effort. ...Garrett needs help...

Mithical

Hold on, I'm on my way.

bobble

The wizard sees Eve incoming, appears to remember that he has magic, and flashes a light directly at her eyes. This distraction from fighting Garrett means he does lose a hold on the flamethrower.

This means that when Eve arrives it is three (two armed and one half-asleep) versus one wizard.

Mithical

"Gah! Man, did you have to do that?"

bobble

He doesn't answer and instead throws up a strong shield against flying objects.

Sciborg

Fowler struggles to push himself upright, trying to crawl up into the cart.

He has a vague idea of how he can help.

bobble

7:47 PM

... imma gonna make you roll Physique again

Sciborg

hahaha, -2

very on-brand

Mithical

"I'll warn you now that I'm almost out of non-lethal weapons. I'd recommend dropping the shield and taking a dart."

bobble

"Where're the others? Did you hurt them?"

@Sciborg you very much do not make it

Sciborg

Fowler collapses halfway there and just decides it might be nice to take a floor nap for a minute.

Mithical

"Oh, I just had a nice chat with an ex-girlfriend, that's all."

bobble

7:50 PM

He glances around, assessing his odds, then asks in a small voice, "does the dart have side effects?"

Mithical

"A splitting headache and a small chance of peeing your pants. The knife's side effects include a lack of breath, excessive bleeding, and death."

bobble

He gulps and drops the shield, squeezing his eyes shut.

Mithical

Fwoosh.

bobble

Poor wizard topples over.

Mithical

"Well, I'm surprised. Usually when I make an offer like that people don't actually take me up on it."

bobble

7:53 PM

Now that you're closer, Eve, you recognize one of his armbands as what they give out to second-years at Westlake Wizardry.

Mithical

They got students for this job?

Sciborg

Fowler, half-conscious and dozing on the floor, is having vague, half-senseless mental flashbacks of taking his roommate birdwatching. His roommate doesn't like birds nearly as much as he does, but his roommate always grudgingly goes and tolerates him rambling about birds. He's a nice roommate. He's always so nice. He really should ask his roommate what he likes to do. That might be nice...

bobble

He does look too old to be a student, at least not a second-year. Might be a drop-out.

Mithical

"Fowler? Fowler? Chirp?" Eve waves a hand in front of his face.

Sciborg

...might be nice to take him out for coffee or something... Fowler blinks groggily awake and stares, nonplussed, up at Eve. "Are the pandas okay?" he mumbles.

Mithical

7:55 PM

"I haven't checked. I thought you had the pandas, I was dealing with the mercenaries."

Sciborg

Fowler raises an exhausted arm to point at the cart, with the box full of probably still unconscious baby pandas.

Mithical

Eve misinterprets the stretched-out arm and grabs it to help Fowler to his feet.

Sciborg

Fowler staggers and immediately stumbles over to go look in the Baby Box.

bobble

The pandas are still asleep, though not the deathly stillness of the knockout gas

Sciborg

"...They're okay," Fowler mumbles, relieved, and reaches in to floof their fluff.

bobble

7:57 PM

congrats, you have thwarted the panda thieves, and we end at the right time :)

Mithical

:D

Sciborg

:D

bobble

hopefully combatty part was fun, ninjas?

Sciborg

that was shockingly dramatic given that it centered around panda babies

bobble

i ended up throwing out the rules and we just vibed

Sciborg

7:59 PM

sometimes you gotta just throw out the rules and vibe

Mithical

heh

I may have been too invested in making verbal jabs along with the physical jabs

Sciborg

i was fully invested in the scorned lesbian drama

bobble

are there any verbal jabs you're particularly proud of? i can make one the bookmark title

@Sciborg Eve, crashing her ex's wedding

Mithical

probably the safe word comment although that may be a bit risque for the bookmark :p

Sciborg

i liked "You know how much I like the zoo, Julia"

bobble

8:02 PM

How about the kitten comment?

Mithical

sure

bobble

NINJA Session 5: "What use is a kitten who can't hold their own?"

2 hours ago, 1 hour 51 minutes total – 317 messages, 4 users, 3 stars

Bookmarked 5 secs ago by bobble

it makes no sense really but i liked it

Sciborg

as a character epilogue, i like to think this experience has led to Fowler realizing he can Have Friends and he goes on to make one (1) singular friend in his roommate, and he switches his focus to Zoo Security instead of Zoo Burglary after realizing that some zoos aren't all bad and could use some help. and he's still very scared of Eve

bobble

I was going to let you have an epilogue session where you attempt to report back to Dr. Grythal what happened.

Sciborg

oooh, excellent

i forgot we have one more

bobble

8:16 PM

I harbor a suspicion that the debriefing will not go as smoothly as possible

Ginger

8:42 PM

@bobble yup!

I love mobile

NINJA Session 5: "What use is a kitten who can't hold their own?"

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