In fact, she looks vaguely familiar...

She's about the same age as him, he thinks... but then the same is true for most of the people in the line, because college.

Still...

(Insightful roll, please, to attempt to figure out where you've seen her before...)

Goodwill rolled 7 using 2d6-1 ((2,6)).

Hold One:
--Why does this person want to help me?
--Why does this person want to get in my way?
--What is at risk if the plan as I understand it goes ahead?
--What pieces of the plan am I missing?
--How can I protect other people?
--How can I protect myself
--What haven’t they taken account of?

---

The girl looked familiar, but he was not placing the face. Sometimes when a person was taken out of their usual context, his brain just didn't process their identities the same way. It was like that back home, that time he met the local Fire Chief at the movies, even after seeing him in uniform a dozen times before. He'd recovered just in time to spare himself the embarrassment that time, but it was a close thing.

If she was coming over for him, hopefully he'd figure it out before sticking his foot in his mouth. If felt like her name was on the tip of his tongue...!
This message was last edited by the player at 22:51, Fri 14 Dec 2018.

...So... which one are you picking...?

Scraps cavorted about nearby, playing with the butterflies, students and flowers each in turn.

He was a generally happy little soul, and his tongue and tail showed this.

Answer: pay attention to whatever Scraps does next.



It's, uh... well you can't quite think of her name at first, but you do remember where you've seen her before-- she went to the same high school as you!

(Please give this gal a (first and last) name...)

"Laura!" Gil managed to remember the name just as she arrived. She'd sat behind him in tenth-grade English. She'd been a couple of inches shorter and maybe twenty pounds heavier at the time, but she seemed to have carved off that persistent bit of baby-fat since the last time he'd seen (or maybe just noticed) her. It had been a large high school. "Laura Dalton? Well I'll be! I had no idea you'd be going here, too!"

Well, he had to assume that last bit, but why else would she be there, of all places and times?

"How are you?"

"Oh, I'm not, I'm just here to visit someone today..."



"Wow-- it's not really a very long story, but it's kind of intense... but if you're sure you don't mind hearing a sort of sad story, I'd love to tell it to you... Talking about it would probably make me feel better, I have to admit..."

Oh, lord...! Tales of woe. This was probably going to be the last thing he needed in his day. But how could he say No? He couldn't.

"Sure," Gil replied, flashing a sympathetic smile. "Tell me what's wrong."

It occurred to Scraps that Gil wasn’t watching him any more ... and was giving his attention to someone else.
With a “Bark”, he came barreling over to where Gil was talking, and deliberately (in that way that only dogs and children can do) began demanding Gil’s attention.

Suddenly, Scraps began to growl at Laura; placing himself between the girl and Gil, he seemed very defensive.
His tail and ears were down, and his teeth showing as he uttered his primal warning for her to stay away from Gil.

"Hey, settle down there, wonder-pup," Gil said, looking down at Scraps. The dalmatian puppy was usually pretty sharp when it came to judging people, but Laura was just some girl he knew from high school. She couldn't possibly be dangerous, could she?

He scooped Scraps up into his arms. It was partly to calm the dog, and partly to have a grip on him should he need to fly away. Because despite Scraps being just a puppy, Gil couldn't help but think that sometimes he was the smart one of their duo.

"Something you need to tell me...?" he asked again, not looking forward to the response.

GO SOUTH.

Saul twitched. Someone with a deep booming bass voice was in his head.

GO SOUTH. GO NOW. SOMETHING IS ABOUT TO HAPPEN. A BATTLE. YOU WILL WANT TO TAKE PART.

Laura pretended (with only partial success) to miss Gil's tone... but she didn't like him picking up Scraps, that was obvious. "Well, since you remember who I am, you'll remember I was, ah, heavier when you knew me. But that was a few years ago... I left your high school after our sophomore year. Moved out to California. Lost weight while I was out there."

"See, everyone always hated me, but in a pitiful sort of way. What I wanted to be instead was like the mean girls, the real nightmares on wheels that everyone hated because they were afraid of them. Changing high schools was a good way to start over, and to really work on my getting a more aggressive personality. And it worked."

"And you know what? The more they hated me? The better I felt. And no one hated me more than the mean girls who already ran that school, because soon everyone was even more afraid of me than them. They hated me so much that one day when I was walking home, the richest one even tried to give me a little bump with her car. Imagine her surprise when her car took more damage from it than I did."

Laura seems a little taller suddenly--

--Oh. It's because her feet aren't touching the ground anymore. "See, I think there's something about our town, because when I saw you on TV as Goodwill, I realized you were the same as me. Except that you want to be liked. I don't. Though I have to admit, I got a little overexcited with what the papers called the Mean Girl Massacre. My original plan was to make them all look like accidents. So that's sad. And now you've picked up your puppy, so it's going to be harder for me to kill 'im. So that's sad too. Good thing I brought these henchmen along..."

At these words, a swarm of 2 dozen henchmen rushes onto the grounds, armed with knives and other simple weapons (no guns). They start robbing the students in the crowd...

Hearing a voice in his head was disconcerting. About as much as the first few times he transformed.

"You better not be who I think you are." Saul said to himself in the alleyway, thankful he wouldn't be heard. "Because you really shouldn't have enough presence of mind after all the measures I put myself through." The teenager said under the backup mask he puts on. It was there just in case he ends up depowered while on the job.

The only other thing there was to do was put his messenger bag in the bin, surrounded by car pines to keep the bin smell away. "It's about time I got Fired Up!" He says, transforming while racing south to try and see what scene the voice was intending him to find.

Scraps squirmed in Gil’s arms, and growled at Laura Dalton.

Great. The loony-tunes girl had brought an army of thugs. Gil needed to deal with them first, before anyone got hurt.

Nearby, one guy who looked as though he'd be at home on a Harley threatened a couple of students with a chain. Coming at these students from a different angle was a guy who looked as though he would be at home in a dumpster. He was slapping the end of a baseball bat into his open palm as he moved to cut off the students' escape, moving sideways and a little backwards to block the path they were on.

"Hyper puppy trip attack!" Gil snapped, and gave Scraps a boost out of his arms. Scraps had been trying to get out of Gil's arms to begin with; this would basically allow the young dog to launch himself into the path of the bad guys. Unless he had other ideas, or saw a squirrel, or one of any number of other diversions and distractions appeared, that was. Gil then turned and launched himself at the next nearest target in the opposite direction, who turned out to be another hobo-looking fella with a length of pipe.

"Call them off!" Gil shouted, grabbing for the pipe. "Laura, don't DO this!"

Scraps leapt from Gil’s arms, launched forward by Gil into a Hyper puppy trip attack! as the two had practiced so many times.   It was one of their power moves ... a synchronised effort; two bodies, one intent.

Scraps landed running, snarling.   ANY villain would be shocked and intimidated ...
          - rolled 4 using 2d6+2 with rolls of 1,1.  Hold ‘em off.
... IF Scraps’ ears hadn’t slapped him in the face at that moment.

In his confusion, Scraps twisted in a sudden panic, and his feet sort of, well, got confused also.

Run, Scraps, run.
See Scraps run.
See Scraps faceplant into the grassy knoll, and go tumbling head of tail with a yelp for help ... finally skidding to a halt at the feet of Baseball Bat Bum in a tangled, pretzel knot.

Laura dives at Gil, fists forward... "Now, why would I call them off? Why shouldn't I do this? Call me Spite, by the way. It's a name I much prefer..."

(Gill may choose to meet Spite's attack, to try to dodge it, or something else...)

(Scraps gains 1 xp...)

When Scraps sorts things out again, he's facing a very furry cat... who has a very evil look about him...

The cat attacks...

(GM rolls dice)

...But, in his initial attack, fails to do any real damage...
This message was last edited by the player at 17:46, Tue 25 Dec 2018.

"I don't know. Sprite seems more appropriate. A petty and fleeting person, too small to see the big picture." Scorch Scale revealed himself on the corner rooftop of a nearby building. "But from here, that could mean anyone." Scorch Scale wasn't just talking about the height advantage he had.

With that, he billowed a wide flame to hit a sizable section of the goons without harming the other, innocent students below.

It's Clobberin' Time!
20:17, Today: Scorch Scale rolled 10 using 2d6+2 ((6,2)).

-You hit hard
-You avoid most of their retaliation

"And how is any of this my fault?" Gil asked sharply, planting his feet as though to meet Laura's charge. Then at the last moment, he pivoted to attempt a bullfighter's dodge and let Laura crash into a nearby garbage can (which positively reeked in the August heat).

---

This feels like it ought to be Agility, but the descriptions of the various action types make it sound more like a Forceful move. Please advise.

Now, Scraps is still just a puppy.   And he tends to be overly enthusiastic, especially when he meets a new friend.

When the kitty leapt at him, Scraps through the rascally cat was wanting to play ... and Scraps immediately forgot about the nastiness around him, and barked with delight, his tail suddenly wagging.

He dodged sideways to avoid the cats playful overtures, then leapt forward to playfully chase his new friend, expecting that (like the cats he'd played with in the past) Mr Whiskers would take off for the nearest tree.
          -  rolled 7 using 2d6+2 with rolls of 1,4.  Hold 'em Off
               ... -Give them a choice between backing off or be stunned

This was A FUN GAME!

(No, I say Agility... roll Agility...)

The cat is furious... he stands his ground! Scraps was making such a show of pretending to be fierce, he accidentally bit the cat, hard!

But... the cat's bite marks just... disappeared!

The cat could bounce right back from a little damage, just like Scraps!

The cat was madder than ever about being bitten, though...!

(GM rolls more dice... Mr. Whiskers still fails to do damage, although he comes closer to doing so than last time...)