Crown Tower Hotel
Yellow Brick Row
ALicia, Emerald Star, The Witch

Winter on the West coast was always cold and wet.  Emerald City was on the edge of a rainforest locale, after all.  And the mountains to the East demanded their seasonal tribute.  No weather-system moved East without paying the toll.  But this winter, the storms were worse than usual.  Seismologists said that the storms were related to the fracturing of the pacific plate north of Hawaii.

The Emergency sirens had given warning nearly fifteen minutes before the giant wave had made landfall.   Most of the waterside had been cleared and the Yellow Brick Row had been all but abandoned, shuttered down in anticipation of the the fierce onrush of water,

When the tsunami made landfall, it wasn't an enormous wave of towering height.  But ther were waves up to nine feet, and the inexorable force pushed further island than Emerald City had seen in a long time.

When they arrived on-scene, they were met by a thick-set black man, Captain Malcolm Forsythe.  He was a bear of a man, encased in, of all things, a wet-suit.  He waved them over.   A couple of military trucks rolled up on the little park area he'd positioned himself on, and a couple of army-types got out.

"Thank-you for coming."  Forsythe said, nodding at the heroes.  "This is a rescue operation.   There are five people trapped in a flooded sub-basement of the Crown Tower hotel.     Divers couldn't get to them for the debris.  We are planning to pump the water out, but the army corp of engineers is going to need some time.  Lachesis and SolidState are already inside and Lachesis requested backup.  I don't know who agent Fugazi is, but you're who we've got."


Even as he spoke, the background behind him pixelated and resolved into the familiar skyline of Emerald City's buildings.

First priority is the safety of any civilians.  After that, identification and containment of the metahuman." Forsythe grimaced.  "This is classified as a code red indigo. "


We've lost contact with the otel security guard who'd originally radio'd us.  But our guys inside confirm that the survivors in the sub-basement are being kept alive by one of them.  It sounds like whoever it is has erupted.

We need to get the people out, safely.  And whoever that new meta is, they need to be debriefed as soon a possible.   What can you bring to the table?"


So, your characters know that this is a psychic/digital simulation.   But it's realistic enough that you can't actually tell the difference.  You've had enough assurances that while this is psychic in nature, it's a collaboration between two other metas on-contract with AEGIS. They can't go digging in your head.  They can, with the proper equipment hooked up to you, provide a fully immersive VR scenario.

Now's a time to ask questions before heading in...   I'm more than willing to narratively create things that haven't been defined yet.  Because your character is awesome and they should be able to do awesome things!

This message was last edited by the GM at 23:27, Fri 01 May 2020.

Star tries not to be distracted by the advanced simulation but it's difficult for her not to admire how realistic it was.  The hint of pixilation does little to dampen her admiration but it does strike home the need to get on with the training.

"I'm not familiar with that agent," Jenni tilts her head, silently wondering if this was one of Lachesis' subtle barbs at Forsythe, "but we can definitely help.  I can stay submerged indefinitely and clear the debris."

One nagging thought, "The security guard that called this in, do we know if he was also in the sub-basement?  Anyone else in the building?"

She glances to her companions so see if either has further questions before preparing to, literally, take the plunge.
This message was lightly edited by the player at 20:23, Sat 25 Apr 2020.

"I'm pretty good at moving things too," Alicia informed Mr. Forsythe, expecting the usual degree of skepticism in return due to her reduced size.  "But I'm going to need some help with staying underwater or else I'll have to resurface frequently to catch my breath," she conceded.

"I might also be able to slip past the debris if you want me to try to find the survivors and reassure them that rescue efforts have begun," the tiny woman offered.


"Is there a map available?  I think that would help us figure out where they may have gone, where we can move stuff, and how to get everyone out again once we find them."

@Alicia, @Emerald Star

Forsyth nodded at Alicia.  "Here's what we've got."

He laid out couple of large vellum rolls, detailing the floorplan of the first floor and basements.

The first floor was the lobby, "The Nook" restaurant on one side, a concourse sloping slightly downward toward the rear, where there were a couple of boutique stores, a Starbucks.  Behind the lobby, the back-of-house was a small labyrinth of corridors leading to a loading-zone and a kitchen staging area, and rear-access to a spa center.

The lower-level had the swimming pool, sauna, and steam-rooms, changing rooms and a business center.  The rest were back-of-couse corridors, the security office, and several rooms for catering.  The sub-basement led housekeeping and supplies, in-house laundry and all sorts of storage rooms.

Forsythe indicated that SolidState had identified that the survivors were located in a housekeeping storage area (everything from blankets and pillows to toiletries and extra wall-safes, but that it was pretty much flooded to the top.  Only the presence of the newly-erupted meta, believed to be Michael Mangatang, a filipino teenager, was keeping them alive.    Apparently, he'd created some sort of force-field bubble and was populating it with air.

Yeah, I can see how getting Jake finished off would help here :)

"We've got scuba tanks available, but it'd take us a while to modify them for your stature." Forsyth said. "I'm open to suggestions."

"As to the guard.  Bryan Hayes.   We don't know what's happened to him.    Second year with the hotel.  He knows his way around.  But @Lachesis had suggested there may be other metas on-site.  And we just don't know enough yet.   Hayes is a secondary objective.  If you can locate and extract him, do so.  I don't like it, but we've got to do what we know we can do, first."

Forsyth also indicated that SolidState went in through the lobby.

He hasn't yet advised that he's been engaged by a hostile meta.

Lachesis went in via one of the rear entries, the corridor with the shops, starbucks, etc... leading to a stariwell or elevators that would take her down to the swimming pool area, if she could get past the debris.

Lachesis did advise that someone had talked to her, and she didn't believe it was friendly.

So.. .whast's the plan?

Emerald Star checked for a comm unit before glancing to Alicia, "Seems that if there's ants in the nest our teammates have already stirred them.  I don't see any reason to be subtle.  I say we go straight through the front door, down the elevator shaft, and try to get to the trapped civilians asap.  If we encounter any hostiles one of us can engage while the other continues on to the rescue."

"Course, tactics aren't my forte," she shrugged to Alicia, open to alternatives.

If she does have comm's she'll call for a status check from SolidState and Lachesis.  Otherwise they'd have to find the pair inside.  Chances are the Aegis agents would make their presence known.

It's fair that you've got comms...  You guys can go ahead and post in the Crown Tower thread...

Hearing Lachesis' alert over the radio, Jenni turns to Alicia, "If the diver's trapped underwater I can free him and continue on with Lachesis to the storage area where the hostages are.  If you can make contact with SolidState maybe we can all rendezvous there?"

The plan had already changed and they hadn't even entered the ruined building yet.  Not a good sign.

Glancing at the map again to find stairwell 5 and a route from the rear of the building, an emerald aura envelopes EM as she rises from the ground "Keep your comms open and call out if you run into hostiles," she advises.

With a trail of green the solar powered heroine streaks away toward the entrance where she expects Lachesis would have entered.

Try to follow Lachesis' trail to stairwell 5 and make contact before rescuing the diver

The tiny woman sighed and then smirked in recognition of the all-too-familiar occurrence of not having equipment or other useful things suited that were appropriately scaled to her size.  I can't even get a break in a simulation, she joked to herself.

"No worries.  We'll find a way somehow," Alicia informed Forsyth.  Even though this was a simulation and there was no actual lives at risk if they failed, her competitive nature was making her treat this seriously.



"That works for me," Alicia agreed.



"Okay.  Stay safe," the shrunken superheroine cautioned, forgetting momentarily that the threats were not real in this virtual world.

As she dashed toward the hotel, she imagined what the environment would be like as part of planning her strategy.  Hope there are no sharks that got washed in, she teased herself in her thoughts.  That's sounds like one of those bad, low-budget, made-for-TV movies -- Hotel Sharks or something.  I wonder what C-list actress they'd get to play me.