(No, I can't think of anything. I'd love to have some way to slip back into my Judge Midnight outfit, but I just can't see how that can happen. I guess I'd better just head on in...)

You may want to consider spending some XP on either a portable fog bank or an ability that confuses viewers as to your identity.

Just sayin'

You step through the door.

The classroom is in disarray.

The desks have been pushed against eastern wall of the room.  Students are seated on top of the desks, facing away from the center of the room and staring out the window, even though the venetian blinds are down.

This appears to be the "screen" the snipers were talking about.  There's no way there is enough visibility into the classroom where any of the snipers could take the shot without risking one of the students who are acting as human shields.

The other students are huddled against the southern wall.  They all turn to look at you as you saunter in.

Standing in the middle of the room, dancing, is a woman, naked except for a bomb strapped around her midsection.  It looks like the classic "mad scientist" type of bomb.  Sticks of dynamite all connected by wires to a central mechanism which looks like an alarm clock that is swinging in between her breasts.

It's sad that the nudity and the bomb aren't the truly weird things about her.

There's a small elf perched on her shoulder.  It looks like a child's toy or a Christmas decoration.  It's palm sized.  With a big, doofy looking grin and wearing a red and green jester's outfit.  It's eyes are moving clockwork like left and then right.  Left and then right.  It's mouth is open and a recorded voice accompanied by tiny recorded horn music is singing

If you're happy and you know it
Say achoo

The woman says "Ah!  Choo!"

If you're happy qand you know it
Say achoo!

You aren't sure how the elf is remaining attached to her shoulder despite her shimmying dance steps.

But the truly weird thing here are her eyes.

She has no pupils.  No whites.  Nothing.  Her eyes are instead filled with a spiraling pattern.  Like one of those magic wheels they spin at the fun fair.  A wavy, circular line that just spins round and round and round inside her ocular crevice.

The elf stops singing when you come in.  The woman stops dancing.

(Hey, when I get some more...)




(Science roll-- looking at the bomb and its wires to see if I can figure out a way to disconnect it with the magnetic glove:

15:38, Today: Van Caldwell rolled 2 using 2d4 ((1,1)).

Well that's just great.)

next XP will be handed out after we get out of this bit.

A quick glance at the bomb...huh.  That is one amateur job.  You think.  Could be.

Yeah.  You think you could use the gloves to yank on it.  Sure.  Why not?

Well.  Maybe not.

The woman turns to stare at you.  The elf whispers something at her.

She smiles at you.  "Are you here to meet my demands?  Wait.  Did I have demands?"

Okay... the elf is the biggest problem (perhaps not counting the bomb). That's his control. It's got to have metal parts... but if it's glued to her... Then me trying to rip it off with the glove might just piss them both off on top of not working...

"We don't know your demands. I'm here to ask you about them." Van points to the elf. "Er, who's your friend?"

She blinks.  For a moment the weirdness in her eyes hesitates.

"Did...my friend?  I have a friend?"

The elf's metalic mouth opens and a thin, reedy, reverb-y chuckle admits out of it.

If you're happy and you know it
Say "Back OFF!"

She shakes her head.  "Uh...yeah.  You should back off."

If you're happy and you know it
Say "I'll do IT!"

"Yeah!  Yeah!  I'll...uh...what'll I do?"

Van didn't know what to do. He didn't really have any hostage-negotiation training. What Judge Midnight was best at was strength and speed.

Hell with it.

With his Shadow speed and strength, before anyone could do or say anything else, Van rushed forward suddenly to grab the elf and destroy it. The woman barely seemed to realize that the elf was on her shoulder, nor how much it was influencing her. It had to go.

(08:49, Today: Van Caldwell rolled 7 using 3d4.  Wow I sure hope this works-- kill the elf--. – 7

Oh shit, I copied the wrong part. The results were 1, 4, 2.

If you're still willing to take my word for it, that 4 = a big success.

If it bugs you that you keep having to take my word for it, I hereby mention once again that all you'd have to do to fix this problem forever would be to adjust the default setting of the Dice Roller to Record Each Die...)

Nah.  I trust ya

Before anyone can say Husker Do!, you are standing before her and have your hands on the elf.

There's an electronic sounding squawk as you wrench the elf off her shoulder.  Seems someone used some kind of adhesive, because you take part of her skin off with it.  But better she have to get some stitches rather than become a bunch of splotches on what's left of the smoldering wall.

The kids all scream and start to throw themselves to the ground, clutching the top of her heads.

Erma screams and starts to fall backwards, her eyes starting to spin counterclockwise and her mouth coming open.

From inside the elf, you hear a telereceiver squawk out

...party pooper... or something like that.  When you suddenly feel the elf start to vibrate in your hands.

Suddenly, something occurs to you...

Wouldn't it be ironic if the elf was also a bomb?

(Well first of all: This is exactly part of why I specifically said Van rushed forward suddenly to grab the elf and destroy it. The "and destroy it" part was pretty specifically for this part of this situation-- the point was to crush it and/or tear it apart so it didn't say nor do anything else.

If me saying that just now didn't change your mind about anything:

Well, great.

Well, the penalty on the new move is only mitigated by keeping on trying to use Shadow Strength and/or Speed, since that's the only way for me to keep rolling more than 1 die with a 1-die penalty...

08:34, Today: Van Caldwell rolled 3 using 2d4 with rolls of 2,1.  Keep the elf from hurting anyone, especially not me nor the kids.

Well, crap. 2.

If the elf is a bomb, it can't be a huge one. Probably just one that's dangerous for me to keep holding... or throwing toward the kids. So I don't dare throw it toward the windows, where the kids are...

Kids east, kids south, door west, which involves its own problems.

Northern wall seems safe. Van'll try to throw it there.)

I should have been more clear in my intentions.  Sorry. It was a bit of a long night and I was rushing to get through posts.

Before you crush it, I wanted to give you the warning it was, potentially, a bomb.  Or something.

If you want to keep trying to crush it, you may.  If you want to throw it, you may.

So am I safe in assuming you are going to crush it?  You can do so easily enough.  But I just want to be sure so I know how to narrate things forward.

Sorry for the confusion.  Thanks.

(Got it. BECAUSE i got a 4, you were trying to warn me that in your story, it was already rigged with explosive potential.

Let's try the northern wall.)

Yep.  Your 4 got you a Spidey Sense moment.  Or Midnight Tingle.  I'm going to be using that from now on.

You hurl the elf at the northern wall.

It hits and blows, though not quite in the way you may have been expecting.  A large mass of foam shoots out, soon blooming into a large, stiff mass about the size of a grown man.

Erma falls on her face, passing out.

The kids are screaming and start running for the exit.  You can hear cops outside shouting.

You have time for one action and then you better figure out how to make yourself scarce.

Aw, crap.

There is no TIME to try to save Edna The Unfortunate Bomb-Wearing Person. She'll be okay, or she won't. Probably not, but I've done all I can do. It's time to get out of here NOW.

"GO, KIDS, GO! RUN! GO! NOW!"

Whichever kid is last to leave, Van picks the kid up and runs out the door with it shouting "EVERYBODY MOVE! THE KIDS ARE ALL OUT BUT THE BOMB'S STILL ARMED!" because
1. warning them
2. they're gonna be less likely to look at the face of a cop heroically carrying a kid to safety.

Van is running downstairs, carrying the child, in the same direction he came up to this floor...

(14:04, Today: Van Caldwell rolled 4 using 2d4 ((2,2)).

Annnnnd slight fail. Non-disastrous fail. Thanks, dice. Thanks so much.)

Hmmmm.  I'm going to use this opportunity to make your life a little more interesting.

You grab up one of the kids and hug them, rushing out and yelling.

The bomb squad outside seem shocked, but start pouring into the room as you vacate it.  As you hit the stairs, you keep waiting to hear the Edna-Shattering-Ka-Boom.  But it doesn't come.  Maybe the bomb was a decoy all along?

As you near the bottom of the landing, the kid pushes back, managing to leverage themselves back far enough so they can peer into your face.  The kid's eyes seem to narrow.

But then another cop is running up to you, asking what is going on.

You're soon surrounded by "fellow" cops who are waiting for your answer.  One of them offers to take the kid from you.

Van hands the kid over. "What about Jackson?" I ask. "Has anyone seen-- hold on! --Stay right there, all of you! Back in a minute!" Van runs to where he left that one officer he knocked out, and his Judge Midnight clothing... (Hoping they don't follow him...)
This message was last edited by the player at 18:23, Wed 03 Apr.

They all seem to be much too busy with the whole bomb-kids crying thing to worry about you.

You quickly don your Midnight Masque and are soon your own resplendent self!

What now?

Hey Sir.  Hope you are well.  Let me know if you are waiting on me for something.  If not, I will see you when you get back.

Thanks

Now is time to get the hell out of here-- unseen, if possible. (Do I need a plan or a roll or both for that?)



(Yeah sorry-- I told all my players, but you were the one person I didn't stop to take time to tell.

On the other hand, that wasn't right away-- by April 9th, I still hadn't gotten around to explaining even to them where I was, I don't think)

No need for a roll.  There's so much chaos at the moment, you should be able to slip away without much trouble.

Any idea about your next steps?  Or do you need a lead in?  Your call.

Thanks

The first thing Van's gonna do is high-tail it back home, change clothes to not all-black, and then go straight to the office and do some work in case anyone decides to check on where he is!

You polish off the paperwork in your in-tray and realize the sun went down ages ago.  Outside, the city is lit up like a Christmas tree.  That's right.  It's Friday.  People are going out to unwind.

The evening edition has an update.  All the kids were rescued with only minor injuries.  Edna is being detained at Saint Madeline's hospital under heavy guard.  The Police Chief's office has not issued a statement other then to confirm none of the kids were harmed.

No one shows up to escort you downtown.  It sounds like they haven't connected you to anything.

Yet.

Mwah ha ha

Whew (for now). Van checks in (from a pay phone) with Judge Midnight's messaging service...

You have two calls.  Both from your buddy at the paper.

Wilkins' first message is fairly brief.  Hey Mister Mystery.  Got a tip on that lady you're missing.  Someone saw her after she split.  She was seen in a dinner with a guy a day later.  I'm trying to get the details

The second message is also brief though whinny.  You gotta give me the details on what happened.  And you know what I'm talking about.  I shared info now it's your turn.  Call me.

Sure, why not. Van switches pay phones and calls 'im.

Ezra starts right in once he realize's it's you.

"Okay.  Spill.  What happened with at that school?"

You can narrate what you tell him, or you can summarize.  But if you are telling him something, I need to know what you tell him.

Thanks