Worm d20: Final Fantasy X-20

"Aaand now you have both of your DM proxies making kissy faces at each other."

"Regent, keep that up and I swear that I will find a way to get Rune back into the campaign and drop rocks all over you."

…

"Hey, Brian," Colin said as the young man took a seat. "Glad you could make it."

The young man awkwardly adjusted his glasses as he glanced around the otherwise empty table. "What's this about?"

"Oh, I'm just asking everyone to do a quick encounter individually. Speaking of which, can your sister swing by tomorrow afternoon? Or not until the weekend?"

"Weekend will probably be better."

Colin scribbled a quick note to himself. "Great. Anyhow, feel free to do whatever you want here. This is your show—your chance to build up your character a bit more. The only rule is you are not allowed to tell anyone about the events that happen in these. Deal?"

"I guess so."

And nothing of importance happened that day.

…

"Sarah."

"Colin. What's this all about?"

"Absolutely nothing."

"O…kay? Brian told me about this individual encounter gimmick of yours… and yet I can't help but notice that you have no notes or even your screen set up."

"I'm not leaving anything where you could possibly find it, this time. I'm learning from my mistakes. So. Would you like to talk about the weather?"

"What."

…

Colin smiled reassuringly at the diminutive redhead sitting across from him.

Rachel… did not look reassured. "I—I'm running an encounter with who now?!"

…

"What are we doing?"

"You tell me, Aisha. What would you like to do?"

The teenaged girl shrugged. "Can I wage more psychological warfare on some nameless mooks?"

"Sure, we can do that."

"Will this count for XP?"

"Yeah."

"Ex-cellent…"

…

"I hate you."

"I love you too, Little Brother."

Paul—Jean-Paul to the person sitting beside him—turned a gimlet-eyed glare towards his right. "How did you manage to swing this?"

Colin shrugged helplessly. "Cherie emailed me. She was complaining that you've been ignoring her lately for no reason."

"I'm in school. That's a pretty fucking good reason."

"This did not stop your friend from bringing his sister in," the dark-haired woman sitting to Paul's left pointed out. She fingered a forelock of her hair, currently streaked with red dye, with one hand.

"We're halfway across the country from Home," he protested.

"I've missed you too, Brother Dear," she cooed. She wrapped her free arm around his shoulder and pulled his head in to cradle it against her own.

Paul sighed but didn't bother trying to pull away, resigned to the futility of the action. "Colin, we may be buddies from the same town, but I followed you to this school for several reasons—and you're honestly pretty low on the list. One of the top five was to get away from her."

"She's only here for a week or two. She'll be out of your hair before you know it."

"You gave her a role in this campaign," the Frenchman hissed.

"Well, that just means you'll have to do your best to figure out how to overcome this."

Paul squirmed slightly to free a hand, then pulled out his cell phone. "I'm enlisting Taylor for ideas."

"Hey now," Colin backpedalled. "Let's not go too far…"

"Taylor? Who is this 'Taylor'?"

…

"Hey."

"Hey, Colin. What's going on? Everybody's being all hush-hush about this stuff you're doing—nobody's telling me anything." The tall girl grinned and was nearly bouncing in her chair with excitement. "So what's the scoop? Secret campaigns? Secret bosses? Horrible backstories to work through?"

"You, Taylor, get to break in your new minions."

"…Okay. I… think I can still work with that… But seriously, what's the scene? Shaking down the new tenants? Extortion? Building the framework for my own mafia Family?"

"Pest control. Your day begins when Charlotte calls to let you know about a pair of households complaining about a rat infestation."

"…You're kidding me."

…

"The Nine are a big enough threat that every major power left in Brockton Bay has gathered for a meeting. Kind of like what you did earlier for the Azn Bad Boys, but now even the Protectorate are getting involved."

"Hold up," Brian raised a hand. "Rache, you haven't done anything to piss anyone off lately, have you?"

"I—I've been good," she assured him.

"Taylor?"

The darker-haired woman traded glances with Sarah. "Maybe the Merchants?" she hazarded.

The blonde shook her head. "Skidmark will have a beef with Faultline, if anyone. I think we should be okay."

"Good," Brian sighed and slumped back in his seat. "Now, this time we've got the Travelers and Coil's group on our side. Let's just keep our cool—don't say anything stupid and we should come out of this meeting in much better shape than the last one."

…

"Fuck." Brian slammed his head against the table. "Fuck!" he repeated.

Paul leaned over to whisper into the ear of the group's latest guest. "He's been doing this ever since the meeting ended," he said helpfully.

"This I can see," Cherie said.

"Fuuuuuuck!"

Sarah sighed. "And this," she said, "is why you don't say the first thing that comes to your mind when the DM has explicitly said talking is not a free action."

Taylor crossed her arms defensively. "They wanted to take away my kingdom. I'm not letting that happen. It's miiiine!"

"Fuck you and the horse you rode in on!"

"The Travelers send Genesis back to keep an eye on the gathering, so hopefully you won't be missing much," Colin narrated. "Until then, all of you have nothing better to do but…"

Aisha raised a hand. "Um, I stayed back too. Didn't you hear me calling for a Stealth check?"

"When was this?"

"In between the third and twentieth iteration of 'fuck' from Grue," Sarah told him.

Colin peaked over the screen. "Roll again."

The teen rolled her eyes, but followed the command.

"Right… okay, Imp successfully stays behind as well, so this is pretty much what they're all planning."

"From the Universe Comes Knowledge. My Existence Shall Integrate Damnation, Eternal Worry, And Yieldless Suffering."

There was a moment of silence—only broken by the continuing thumps against the table—as everyone parsed through what Brian had just said.

Jean-Paul's sister looked impressed. "English Major?" she guessed.

"Fine Arts…" Paul replied, blinking in surprise. "I think."

…

"Wait, what do you mean I can listen in through my bugs?"

"You did it earlier after that whole snafu with Bakuda. You don't remember?"

"…My God, think of all the opportunities I've been missing!"

Colin narrowed his eyes. "Thanks for that, Sarah. Thank you so much."

"Anytime!"

…

"So the Nine are recruiting. We need to figure out who their targets are. And we have the secondary—or primary—goal of trying to figure out how to kill Jack Slash before he can leave the city, or the whole world ends."

"Say what, now?"

"Dinah's prophecy. Weren't you there when Colin told us about it?"

"When was this?"

"Um, just after the raid on the PRT Headquarters, Coil was introducing us to information on the Nine and when the subject of Jack came up, the little tyke started pulling a Trelawney."

"Oh, was that when I was busy inflicting justice on Rachel?"

"Y-yes…"

"So," Cherie interrupted. "I am part of this so-called Slaughterhouse Nine. And now I know my boss is to end the world. What is to keep me from just telling him so?"

"Player Knowledge," Paul informed her. "Even if you know, your character does not."

"Then, what if I find a way to bring it up in such a way that my character does know?"

Sarah allowed a grin to stretch across her face. It was not a pleasant one. "Oh. Oh. You wanna play that game? Bring. It. On."

…

"Anyhow… " Colin interrupted. "You and the Travelers settle in for a planning session. You know about Cherish—"

Heads turned to look towards their guest, who smiled and waved cheerily.

"Original," Paul commented.

"Says the little boy who named himself 'Ruler'."

"—Mannequin, Crawler, and Shatterbird. From the information Genesis and Imp overheard, nobody's quite sure who Jack Slash, Bonesaw, or the Siberian picked."

Rachel shifted uneasily in her seat, but since she always fidgeted, the action went completely unnoticed.

"Crawler, Trickster informs you, went after the Traveler's sixth member. You'll be introduced to her shortly. Any questions before we get to that, though?"

"Jack Slash is the mastermind, right? The one with plans within plans and a psychotic streak to back it up?"

"Yeah?"

"Taylor, is there something you'd like to tell us?"

"Hah! I wish!"

…

"He's like a dog?" Taylor asked Rachel. "What is he, then?"

"Er, I don't think it'd be in character for me to answer that?" Rachel glanced at Brian for clarification, who simply shrugged helplessly.

"Can I spill?" Sarah asked.

""No player knowledge,"" the whole group chimed together in a singular, tired voice.

"Damn. Well uh, random Spot check then. Fifteen."

Colin rolled, then muttered something darkly. "Well, looks like you've managed to spot a group of shadowy figures in your exit."

"Perception check, using my power bonus," Sarah replied. "Added together… twenty-three."

"Well, they weren't really hiding anyhow. The Siberian, Jack Slash, Bonesaw, and Cherish emerge from the shadows. Jack takes the lead and smiles at you, saying, 'This is not an exit.'"

"American Psycho? Nice!" Sarah raised her hand towards Colin, who grinned and slapped it with his own. "Kudos for the non-Monty Python reference."

"Eh, it'd be out of character for Jack to reference a comedy."

…

The whole room fell silent as Cherie finished her explanation of the Nine's 'testing' procedures.

"What the—" Taylor blinked. "That's… that's kind of messed up, right there."

"I have earned your sympathy now. I am an anti-villain, just like you, yes?"

"Nooo, that's just messed up."

"Well. It seems you are quite the thinker. I warn Jack about you."

Colin shrugged. "Skitter, Jack warns you not to make any sudden moves or he treats it as an attack."

Cherie stretched. "This is fun, it's almost like I control the Bad Guys myself."

Sarah grinned. "And what if I let Jack know how much fun you're having pulling his strings like that."

"Player knowledge," the other woman parroted back at her.

"Maybe. But you like messing around with people's heads. Just look at your little brother, here."

"Leave me out of this."

"See, I know you want to make yourself part and parcel of this campaign just to screw with Paul here, so you've set up things so even if the Nine lose, your character might still come out on top. Now, the easiest way for you to do that is if—"

"Tattletale, you take six slashing damage and are silenced."

"What?!"

"You're up against a sociopathic mastermind who likes being in control and playing his own mindgames… and I never retracted the ruling for today's session that talking is not a free action during encounters. Jack… is not happy to be having his monologuing interrupted."

"Oh bullshit."

"Twelve damage for a sneak attack bonus. You are bloodied."

"Ffff—"

…

"Shatterbird. Fuck, I forgot! We need to warn people somehow."

Everyone at the table stared at Taylor as if she'd grown a second head.

She didn't look amused. "What? Seriously, she shatters glass. Silicates. It's not just windows, it's anything electronic. It's like an EMP but worse. Imagine, people in their rooms, it's not just their windows blowing in, it's their wall-mounted clocks, their computers in their faces, their cell phones in their pants…"

"I'm not sure what surprises me more, the fact that you're actually worried about other people, or that you've managed to come up with that many ways that the power of 'manipulating glass' can be used to inflict grievous bodily harm on someone. And in such a short period of time."

"If all my people die, who the hell am I going to be ruling over?"

"…aaand faith in reality suddenly restored."

ooo