Sanity not included
Startled, eleven year old Terryn hugs her present to her chest, and wishes, not for the first time, that Mommy were here. Mommy would know what to do. Mommy...
A distant memory springs to mind. Another child lays on the ground, crying over a skinned knee. Mommy drops her coffee and rushes to his side.
"Mommy would help people who needed it," Terryn murmurs. Scewing her courage to the sticking place, Terryn prepares go investigate, but spares a glance at her present.
...It could be something that could help, right?
Terryn quickly attempts to open her present with her characteristic care, unwrapping it rather than tearing into it like some of the others.
It's kind of funny. Sufficiently advanced stupidity is like sufficiently advanced science; eventually, you find something you can't solve.
Tell Me, Have You Seen the Yellow Sign?
The singing had been nice of course. Kendall had just finished coaxing a shy lad into joning the chorus by showing off her own slightly off key singing voice. Let none ever speak of it again, but at least the lad was well and cured of his own nerves.
St. Nicholas asked her what she wanted for Christmas of course, as if she still believed the story—but for the others around, she did. But the real present was waiting in the kitchen. If she got there soon enough, the big cuts and a chair at the real table.
Not that Christmas meant nothing but food. Even as Kendall was curtly ordering the kids around her to gather up for dinner, she didn't bother telling anyone not to grab their gifts. It would have been rather silly as she was tearing hers open when the crazy stuff went down.
The noises in the kitchen and the lights going out—and her right next to the lit Christmas tree like a target beacon. Holy mother, I've seen this movie. I don't like it anymore... Well, she wasn't blond. That must have upped her survival chances right there, right?
She immediately put a hand over the nearest kid looking as if he was about to wail, and made a shush gesture with her other hand. First things first, she began to shoo the kids into crawlspaces, under tables, anything. This place wasn't well made for hiding but something.
One of the others took the chance to continue opening her gift. In between making frantic, sorta subtle shush motions and whispers, Kendall did returned to her own gift. May as well see it at this point. Albeit, Kendall still carefully undid the rest of the wrapper that she'd been tearing open but seconds before.
Blood Mage Apologist
Perry wasn’t particularly excited about the upcoming Christmas party- very, very few of the ones he’d attended had gone well before. It wasn’t the fault of the previous foster homes and orphanages he’d been stuck in before, of course, but attending a Christmas party and being urged to be thankful and all that kind of rang hollow for kids like him.
He’d already been shuffled to different orphanages for most of his life, and he’d never known his parents- what was there to be thankful for, besides not having become a druggie?
That was why he’d been conversing with the other kids instead of really celebrating for most of the day. He’d been nice to the guy dressed up as Santa, of course, but otherwise, Perry had treated the day just like any other.
Which was why the sudden chaos had surprised him so much. In a different place, he might have expected something like this, but the St. Nicholas Orphanage had always been calm, its workers kind.
Gagging at the smell of smoke, Perry glanced around, trying to squash down his terror at the sound of some kind of horrible swarm coming for them. He spotted Kendall ordering kids into hiding spaces, and the fifteen year-old was suddenly glad that she was so bossy. He quickly did the same, trying to get anyone nearby into safe space.
Once everyone in sight was hidden- which wasn’t saying much, considering that the darkness made it a bit hard to see the other kids- he scrambled over to his gift, tearing wildly at it, trying his best to look brave. There had to be something inside, right? Had that Santa guy known something about this?
edited 22nd Dec '17 7:41:10 AM by Cwest5538
Wooze looks at Glass with a 'please take her away' look
As each of the chosen children finish opening their presents, they are suddenly bathed in dazzling light- and a feeling of incredible power rushes through their bodies! All of them change visibly, though some more radically than others. see here for each one's Stats: [1]
edited 22nd Dec '17 9:27:19 AM by Sijo
Rae-Anne had mostly grown out of believing in Santa. She was eleven. She knew how the world worked. Rich kids got presents no matter how bad they had been. Poor kids didn’t get anything no matter how good they were.
That applied to things like monsters. Or it was supposed to. The sudden blackout and the smell of smoke and the sounds of...something entering the building weren’t a big deal. It was probably just a fire or something.
The thought didn’t make her feel better, because the thought of the orphanage burning down only made her more scared.
She could see some of the other kids in the kitchen opening their presents, and as much as she wanted to think they were being stupid, she had to admit to being curious about whatever “when the time came” meant.
If she was going to die, she at least wanted to know what her present was. With uncharacteristically shaky fingers, she began ripping off the wrapping paper.
There was nothing inside. But Rae-Anne was filled with a sudden rush of something big and strange nonetheless. It quickly faded, replaced by the same feeling of fear, and she wished she could get out of here. She wished that she was small enough to squeeze through the crack in the wall. She wished she could fly away from all of this.
If she hadn’t been panicking, she might have noticed everyone and everything getting bigger, or the red feathers that grew in a second, or her nose and mouth melding together and getting harder and pointier.
At any rate, she did notice when she had suddenly become a small robin, perfectly normal except for her unnaturally red coloration that matched the hair she had once had.
edited 22nd Dec '17 2:36:00 PM by emilyorthoclase
All the children could see right now, were dark human silhouettes, which on their own would not be that scary, except they were hanging on the walls and roof like bugs!
And there was the creepy chanting: Gnik si supmark! Gnik si supmark! Gnik si supmark!
Kendall can somehow see perfectly well in the darkness, tough in shades of red. And she can see that the figures look demonic, but they wear normal human clothes! There is a total of five of them, and they are heading towards the untransformed children!
edited 22nd Dec '17 3:33:51 PM by Sijo
Blood Mage Apologist
Perry had been through many things, but the strange feeling of what felt like lightning shooting through his veins was certainly a new one on him. The teenager dropped his present and stared at his hands in terror. They were crackling with red and purple energy, smoking. He was shocked into silence- no pun intended.
Something in the back of his mind told him that whatever the hell was happening, it was dangerous. That it could hurt people if he wasn't careful. But he wasn't going to let anyone get hurt. Not himself, not Rae, not Kendall, and definitely not Terryn.
He was a tough guy, right? He was tough. He could take a hit like none of the other kids could. if it came down to it, he'd make sure as many of the others escaped whatever the heck was happening, whether it be a simple fire or a terrorist attack or something worse.
That was when he noticed that the odd energy in his hands had spread across his body, forming a kind of glowing armor. A few seconds of more inspection revealed that it looked like a body-suit of some kind, made of lightning. Maybe it would protect him?
Naturally, it was at that moment that Perry noticed the shapes on the ceiling. Terror struck him, but he couldn't show it. Something in his gut told him that these things were bad news- maybe the fact that they were hanging on the ceiling, or chanting like they were straight out of a horror movie?
Whatever it was, the other emotion that dominated Perry's thoughts was the desire to get rid of these things, especially as they were heading towards the other kids- something he was not going to allow. They were going to have to go through him if they wanted to hurt anyone else.
Guided by instinct, he raised his hands at them, almost as if to protect himself, and they exploded. A wave of rolling crackling lightning surged forwards towards the things on the ceiling, aiming to incinerate them!
edited 22nd Dec '17 3:37:44 PM by Cwest5538
Wooze looks at Glass with a 'please take her away' look
Trans Terminus Homo
Keiron was sitting motionless in his wheelchair, having opened his present just before, in front of him now stood a Centaur, surprised to say the least, at the same time it felt wonderful, though all appreciation for the sudden change had to wait, seeing - or rather hearing - that there was ominous chanting now... something about a king or something? No matter, what, it was bad, Chrion drew his bow quickly, not even wondering from where he procured it just now, aiming at the creatures but for now not shooting.
"One may feel fear in the face of danger so long as one banishes fear when danger actually arrives"
It was too dark for Rae-Anne to really see what was going on - robins didn’t have much better night vision than humans.
She could make out jagged shapes creeping in the shadows of the roof and walls, and they were getting closer to her and the other kids.
She began to flap her wings. To her amazement, she began to take off, and then she was off the ground.
She was flying. She was doing something she had never dreamed of being able to do.
Rae-Anne made a note to do this again when everyone she knew wasn’t in danger of imminent death.
She aimed at one of the shadows coming closest and flew towards it, making the loudest twittering sounds she could. If nothing else, she could serve as a distraction.
Unfortunately, the monsters saw Perry charging up, and three of them managed to drop down out of the blast's path in time. Two however, were not so lucky. The purple-red blast roared as it struck them -and all the hall's ceiling- and the creatures screamed in pain! Both fell to the floor, smoking! (the roof, too caved in, though in small, harmless debris.)
Of the three still standing, one headed straight for their attacker. "GNIK SI SUPMARK!!" it screamed at Perry, and this time, it felt even worse somehow!
Whispers from the Abyss: Small Cone Area, win a Mind Contest or suffer a -2 dice penalty to Agility rolls. This last until target makes a 20 Mind check or 3 pages elapse (whichever comes fist)
The other two continued running toward the other, normal children!!
Realizing that the monsters were not easily distracted, Rae-Anne flew towards one of the monsters and began pecking at its head as quickly as possible.
The monster was not hurt at all by the pecking, but it was annoyed enough that it tried to swat the "bird" away, to no avail- it was just too small and fast. Meanwhile, the other monster grabbed a boy, who screamed in terror!
Tell Me, Have You Seen the Yellow Sign?
The nuns of the orphanage would be delighted to know that Kendall's first reaction was an expletive. The bastard children of Nyarlohotep were lined up on the walls staring at her and her charges like starving morlocks. And the damned things really looked like damned things. Faces distorted and horned, some antlered some melted?—fitting if they'd gone through hellfire—some with fanged some tusked. Beyond that, she saw wear from three piece suits to patchy jeans in further mockery real people.
And everything was in red. Now what?! Was something on fire? Come to think of it, Kendall did smell smoke. But everything was glowing! And she was glowing...and floating. Come to think of it, the kids behind her were looking at her oddly. "Uh, don't worry..." she started. Then hell plunked off the walls and broke loose.
"[Expletive redacted for convent rules]! I mean, I got this!" Some of the others—who were supposed to be hiding!—were hasty though. Keiron found a bow somewhere, Perry was shooting freakin lightning, and Rae-Ann had vanished. Ok, maybe they can be out of hiding. Her own morlocks gave her no time to search, they went straight for the kids.
Also, that meant earlier was real...
But Kendall wasn't about to set the orphanage on fire—or accidentally hit wherever Rae-Ann was. Instead she focused on smoking up again only bigger—much bigger, enough to envelop the children while they escaped. "Everyone remember those fireman commercials. Crawl and put your shirts over your noses. Everything will be fine!" Well, Kendall had no idea if that was true, but she did know that anything that came close she would reach out and burn!
In the midst of the smoke, she herded everyone toward Keiron and the kids nearest him. One of them could wheel the kid away, while she blasted things and gathered up the others...
edited 22nd Dec '17 6:27:43 PM by CenturyEye
Look with century eyes... With our backs to the arch And the wreck of our kind We will stare straight ahead For the rest of our lives
Kindle's Side Effect roll for Body of Smoke: 2. Oops.
The young girl soon realized that controlling her new form wasn't that easy. Instead of merely providing cover, she started smothering the other children! Fortunately they were already fleeing through the rear exit, though the one held by the monster could not escape.
Ok, only Chiron and Terryn need to act now, then Page 1 of the first Combat Scene will be over.
edited 22nd Dec '17 7:08:03 PM by Sijo
Sanity not included
As the golden light washed over her, Terryn squeezed her eyes shut, turning her head away. She felt her body stiffen and for a moment, fear flashed through her. She shouldn't have opened that box!
Then, a strange calm settled over her. She felt... heavier. More connected to the earth, in a way she couldn't quite describe. Slowly, she opened her eyes, and jerked back in surprise. Everything was so... small. The room, the box, even the other children were positively tiny compared to her. She could probably pick one of the other children up with one of her hands... her massive, rocky hands.
...Maybe that'd be a bad idea.
She didn't have much time to dwell on her transformation, however, as all hell broke loose. Suddenly, there was cult chanting, and along the suddenly very low ceiling came shadowy figures that made her feel deeply uncomfortable. Lightning cracked through the room and smoke filled the air as the orphanage turned into a warzone. Overwhelmed by the sudden activity, Terryn didn't know what to do.
Until one of the figures grabbed a child.
That was all Terryn needed to see. Snapping from her stupor, she lumbered forward, like one of Tolkien's Ents, and with an angry growl like grinding stone, she swung her arm in a wide arc to clout the offending figure.
"Pick on someone your own size!" she roared, with the voice of a rockslide.
It's kind of funny. Sufficiently advanced stupidity is like sufficiently advanced science; eventually, you find something you can't solve.
I'm going to assume that was an Intimidation attempt, because taking a swing at the monster might hit the child as well.
As Tara rushes to help, she realizes her footsteps are literally smashing the floorboards beneath her! Fortunately there is no basement or she might have crashed through. It doesn't slow her down, but it does ruin the floor.
Her new size and form are also threatening enough that even the monster finds himself intimidated! -2 Dice penalty to all rolls
He lets go of the child -who immediately runs away- and takes a defensive position against Terryn.
Despite the darkness - and the odd red tint of her sight- Kendall noticed that the tattered clothing the three demonic figures wore was rather unusual: one was dressed in a suit, and hefted a suitcase as if it were a weapon; another one wore a policeman-like uniform, complete with baton; and the last one was dressed in- a nun's habit!? She even held a ruler menacingly, as if mocking the archetype.
Trans Terminus Homo
Chiron took a few steps back, trying to get in front of as many of the children who weren't fleeing already as possible, quickly getting out an arrow and letting it loose on the demon(?) with the suit
"One may feel fear in the face of danger so long as one banishes fear when danger actually arrives"
Rae-Anne, still a robin, fluttered around the room. She couldn’t tell if anyone was left, and the feeling of helplessness wasn’t making her feel better.
If only she was bigger. If only she was something like an elephant, or a hippopotamus, or a dinosaur.
Yeah. A dinosaur. Something big and tough, with razor sharp teeth.
In a matter of seconds, she had grown to twenty feet in size and shed all of her feathers, to be replaced by leathery skin. Her wings became tiny arms, her legs became huge and muscular, and she grew a tail and a mouthful of sharp teeth.
And with her new form, Rae-Anne felt strong enough to take on the world.
She threw her head back and roared, as if to say “Come at me!” to the remaining monsters, before swinging her tail in what she hoped was their general vicinity.
edited 23rd Dec '17 2:34:23 PM by emilyorthoclase
The monster howls in pain as the centaur's arrow strikes, delivering a grievous wound! 17 points of damage.
Page One Over
Page Two Begins
With surprising speed, the monsters attack; Only Chiron manages to act first. The one in the suit target Chiron, the one in the habit attacks Kindle, and the one in the guard uniform attacks Peril.
edited 23rd Dec '17 3:52:27 PM by Sijo
Trans Terminus Homo
Seeing his arrow hit made Chiron flinch a bit, he never shjot a bow before, muc less at something... living? It was a demon(?) though still, it felt strange, nonetheless, helping the others was more important now, so the Centaur quickly procured another arrow and shot it at the demon in the suit again
"One may feel fear in the face of danger so long as one banishes fear when danger actually arrives"
Once again, the arrow strikes unerringly, the well-dressed demon gasps, and falls to the floor, motionless. 23 points of damage.
Meanwhile, the "Guard Demon", furious at his failure to enspell Perry, takes a swing at him with a strangely glowing baton!
...Only to have it just barely glance off the boy's strange aura, much to its chagrin!
Finally, the Nun Demon screams GINK SI SUPMARK!! at Kendall, attempting to confuse the smoky girl's mind.
But her mind proves too strong, and the curse fails!
Ok, the rest of you can act now.
Monster's stats [1]
edited 23rd Dec '17 4:55:24 PM by Sijo
Tell Me, Have You Seen the Yellow Sign?
"Er...sorry" Kendall half-grumbled at the coughing children who were at least running to safety—relatively anyway. She looked around for a moment, but everyone was busy fighting monsters. (Of course!) Like she should be... And no one saw that anyway! What everyone must have seen though...
Huh, well Kendall supposed the giant T-Rex from nowhere was probably Rae-Ann. To be sure, she called the girl's name at the dinosaur anyway.
But she had her own company. The nun went straight for her—figures!—screaming mumbo jumbo. Kendall glanced at the ruler and sucked her teeth. Can't paddle smoke... "You know," she said to the nun-morlock, eyes glowing dangerously, "the real deal taught me to look before you leap..."
Kendall wouldn't feel any regret over this. Nun-morlock is the one who jumped in here and came right to her—after seeing the kids run away. What happens next is its own fault. "Shield your eyes!" Kendall shouted more for the others' benefit than the morlocks as she sparked fire over the monster. "Except you," she muttered semi-pointlessly to the soon to be charcoal.
edited 23rd Dec '17 5:25:12 PM by CenturyEye
Look with century eyes... With our backs to the arch And the wreck of our kind We will stare straight ahead For the rest of our lives
Sanity not included
Seeing Perry in peril, Terryn turned to the child she'd rescued. "Get out! Stay with the others!" she urged, before charging to Peril's aid, rocky fists swinging for the unfortunate demon. "Get away from us!" she roared.
These creatures were deeply upsetting her with their continued aggression, and she was having none of it; she five minutes ago, she was an eleven year old budding environmentalist who wanted her mommy, but right about now, she was a ten foot behemoth with the size, strength, and general patience of a cave troll. When she said to leave someone alone... anything that valued its safety had better listen.
edited 23rd Dec '17 5:57:53 PM by Dragon573
It's kind of funny. Sufficiently advanced stupidity is like sufficiently advanced science; eventually, you find something you can't solve.
Night Of The Krampus!
A Basic Action Super Heroes Adventure
(copyright 2016 the Skirmisher Game Development Group)
Scene 1
St. Nicholas Orphanage is a church-run orphanage of the sort rarely seen anymore in real life. It is situated in the poor neighborhood of Grey Harbor. Many of the children have been in and out of institutions just like it for years. At one end of the hall is a stage, at the other the door to the hallway leading to the kitchen. Between the Stage and Kitchen, on one wall there is a door to the front foyer. In the other wall, a similar door opens onto the back lane behind the Orphanage.
The children are occupied singly or in groups, awaiting with varying levels of interest the promised Christmas Party. Most are paying little attention to their wider surroundings until they hear a commotion from the front foyer.
The children of St. Nicholas’ receive a surprise visit from "St. Nicholas", who begins the Orphanage Christmas Party with his exuberant entrance. While all the children receive a present, five children are told to wait and open theirs “when it is time.” St. Nick will then move his attention down the line of children, eventually leaving with a cry of Merry Christmas! and a claim that he has many others to visit.
After the departure of St. Nick, the excitement of the party wanes and the afternoon drags until there is another interruption in the routine of the day. A delivery — a hamper with a red ribbon, including all the trimmings for a Christmas feast! Sister Angelica tells the children to put their presents under the institution’s meager Christmas tree, while she hauls the unexpected boon to the kitchen.
The smell of roasting turkey that begins to waft from the kitchen is enticing. The employees of the orphanage — be they nuns, caretakers, security guards, or officials- — enter the kitchen one by one.
Suddenly, a calamitous crash, accompanied by a terrible squawk, are heard coming from the kitchen, rapidly followed by the smell of smoke. As the din of the crash dies away, the yellowed lights overhead flicker and die, leaving the only light that of the Christmas Tree. You hear the sound of the kitchen door open with a slam, and a disturbing scrabbling sound that raises the hair on your neck as several "somethings" enter. But it is too dark to see anything by the light of the tree on the stage, as the room is filled with wails and cries from the other children.
Players! What do you do?
Note: If you open the presents, you will be transformed into your superpowered forms. I will then provide you with your character's game stats. You may post the children's reactions to their transformations.
edited 22nd Dec '17 5:27:21 AM by Sijo