Student: Haunts

Name: Amanda Marie Williamson
Nickname: Haunts
Age: 16
Appearance: 5' tall with curly black hair and extremely pale skin that makes her eyes seem even darker than they are, medium build, wears a lot of black
Notable Skills: Drawing, Writing, Poetry, Tennis, Driving, Swimming
Quirks: speaks in a dull monotone, writes a lot of fanfic, loves horror movies/books/stories, bisexual, has a tarot deck but doesn't actually know how to read it

Amanda has been having nightmares and adding them to her sketchbook for as long as she can remember. It's a daily ritual for her, binding the nightmare to the page and trapping it there. If she doesn't, the nightmares come out. She's also very protective of her sketchbook, because anyone else looking at the drawings in it calls the nightmare out to come for them-- and the creatures she dreams of can be very dangerous. After a couple of incidents in middle school, Amanda started leaning in on her reputation as The Spooky Girl, adopting a very goth style of dress and finding catharsis in the horror genre. She makes it a point never to sound particularly interested in anyone or anything, but she quietly enjoys her studies and gets good grades. Her parents collect her for holidays and hold to the hope that someday she'll gain some sort of mastery over this peculiar ability. So far though, she's never been able to conjure a monster deliberately; it only happens when she's dreaming.

Student: Goblin

Name: Vic
Nickname: Goblin
Age: 15
Appearance: 4'3, wiry build, indeterminate gender, with a wide mouth and teeth like a shark. Soft, black hair in a ponytail. Toes and fingertips are equipped with short, black claws.
Notable Skills: Hiding, Biting, Exploring (Good Sense of Direction), Well-Spoken, Good with Numbers, Climbing, Computer Helpdesk
Quirks: draws maps, keeps a collection of camping supplies in a daypack in their room, likes exploring hard-to-reach places, good listener and keeps secrets, doesn't want to own anything more than they need

Goblin claims that they'd been living in the school for nearly three years before they emerged from hiding and started attending classes. Before that, they'd been living in the forgotten corners of a library before a newly-installed security system tripped them up, and before that there might have been an orphanage. Despite their somewhat feral appearance, Goblin has a rather serene, unflappable air about them. 

Their anomaly is notably unusual in that it combines some physical changes (small size, green skin, teeth and claws) with minor telekinesis and short-range teleportation. The telekinesis is enough to lift a couple of books, gum up a mechanis, or work a lock -- and it includes feedback, so Goblin can actually feel what they're doing with the power. Their teleportation can take them as much as ninety feet in any direction, but requires a three-second warmup.

Goblin's companions are mostly the other physical misfits -- Nightfox, Troll, Magehand, Tendril, and Leaves, among others -- but that doesn't seem to come from being shy or uncomfortable around people with more conventional appearances. Those just seem to be the people that Goblin thinks could use a friend.

StV: Sneaking Out

"Hey, Fox." Goblin perched on a high branch, looking down at the fire that really shouldn't have been burning here in the small wooded area at the back of the estate. "You're out late."

"Couldn't sleep," she said, then drew a breath and forced herself to speak in a friendlier tone. "Come on down, if you like."

Goblin was her own age -- at least, she thought so -- but looked younger, young enough to make their gender impossible to determine at first glance -- and Nightfox had never asked. It wasn't her business. They kept their own schedule and the teachers allowed it, which was already more than she needed to know. 

There was a quiet whump as Goblin landed beside her, their descent softened by their abilities. "Ah," they said. "Fire. I don't see real fire very often."

Nightfox shrugged. "It's cold enough now. And it gives me something to stare at."

"Yeah," Goblin told her. "Me too."

At the moment, Nightfox's configuration was a mix of feline and humanoid. She could change that by an act of will, or it could change by reflex. When she'd first arrived here, she'd felt like she was finally gaining some control over her power; for the last several months, though, it had felt more like she was coming to terms with the ways in which her power controlled her.

"I miss fire," Goblin told her. "I've missed you."

She glanced at them. "You're still my friend."

"You're still mine." They turned their eyes back to the flames. "But you haven't been around."

"No," Nightfox admitted. "I haven't. Not for you, not for anybody."

Goblin was quiet for long enough that Nightfox thought they weren't going to speak further. Then they said, "Can I help?"

Nightfox growled -- frustrated, not angry. "I don't know. I just wish... I wasn't like this. Sometimes. Sometimes it's magnificent and I don't want to give it up. Sometimes I wish I could do this and still be beautiful."

"You are beautiful," said Goblin. "Furry, sure. But look at you. Even with the fur, you're beautiful. Like me, and being short and green. Still beautiful."

Nightfox was surprised by the tears in her eyes. "Thank you," she said after a moment. "And yes, in case you need to hear it from somebody else. You're beautiful too."

"I know," said Goblin, and went back to watching the fire.

Voyages of the Dauntless: Imperial City

Pre-game notes to myself...

The capital city of Domitas is visible a full day before your arrival. The city itself has spread well beyond its three sets of gleaming marble walls, expanding to fill the whole of an ancient valley. At its center, the palace sits atop a single stone peak, surrounded on three sides by steep cliffs but angling down gently to the north. You're still too far away to see the details, but you remember the city's five districts from earlier visits: the aristocratic enclave of the central peak, the temple district to the north at its base, the trade district to the west and the artisan's district to the east. To the south, hidden discreetly behind the palace and deep in the shadow cast by it, is the warren. You'll be there before too much longer; what are you doing? 

The last time you came through here, the public airdocks were located at the western edge of the trade district. The district, it seems, has now grown around them, but the clean heights of the marble towers are exactly where you remember them. A flash of light catches your eye; one of the Guides is using a mirror to signal you in the Imperial Code. Who recognizes it? Roll for piloting. 

They're directing you to Tower Seven, East Dock. What are you doing?

There is a delegation waiting, with a smartly-dressed human woman in front. She marches out from the tower as soon as the ship is secured, trailed by a half-dozen armed men. "This is the Dauntless?" asks the human woman, looking around at the deck of the airship as if she owns it already. "Who is the captain?" What are you doing?

"I am Harbormaster Jade Tanisborn," she tells you, "and on the authority of his supreme majesty King Augustus Agrippo, this ship is now formally impounded on suspicion of transporting illicit goods." She glances at the small troop of guardsmen who have crossed the ramp behind her. They are all holding cocked and loaded crossbows. "If there is a gnome present, have him step forth. It will not go well for you if you do not." What are you doing?

The note reads, Check the rat. The Dauntless doesn't have a rat, not since you threw Scratch over the side. What are you doing?

The Temple of Xandria is a simple brick building in a district of marble, basalt, obsidian, and granite. The wide single door sits at street level and is already open, spilling the day's light into the interior. Large, arched windows of clear glass add further light. There is an unusually wide desk just inside, with four people sitting along it: three humans and one half-elf. The half-elf is speaking with an elderly human, who is apparently complaining about his landlord; a human woman is filling out paperwork, and the other two human men appear unoccupied and (roll Perception) might be engaging in a discreet game of cards hidden by the desk. What are you doing?

"I am Darek Frostbreather," says the robed dragonborn, as he looks you over. "What brings you to the Temple of Xandria?" How do you answer?

Villain: Sandman

Name: Augustus "Gus" Anthony Wilson
Alias: Sandman
Age: 47
Appearance: 5' 6", with sandy blond hair cut short, clean-shaven, light brown eyes, pot belly, light skin
Job: Aspiring Criminal Mastermind, bank robber

Gus Wilson was a building inspector for the city of Greenville, TX until he discovered that he was also an anomaly. Tired of dealing with irresponsible and recalcitrant contractors, departmental politics, and the constant scrimping and saving that came with his undersized government paycheck, he turned to robbing banks instead. To do this, he uses the simplest and most direct of his powers: the ability to put other people to sleep by an act of will. 

With everyone in the building unconscious, he simply walks in, empties the registers, and leaves. With gloves and a ski mask, he's able to avoid identification by video footage and other security measures. Victims of his power report restful sleep and pleasant dreams, which are also a result of his influence. He's quite capable of producing nightmares instead, but chooses not to. 

A couple of jobs back, he happened to hit a bank where one of the patrons had telepathic defenses strong enough to resist his power; as a result, Gus has now caught the attention of a mob boss in Dallas who would very much like to recruit him. 

Gus' other abilities are dream-based: he can influence the nature of someone's dreams, enter them himself, or even travel through dreams to emerge elsewhere -- though his one experience with the latter suggests that it's extremely dangerous, so he saves that for serious emergencies.

Well, I think we survived.

 We still have one more family dinner left, but that one'll be at a restaurant and should be fairly simple. We have some family activities planned, which -- fortunately -- mostly don't require a lot of my emotional investment, so that should be okay too. On the whole, I'm coming into Black Friday (was yesterday Thursday?) feeling pretty good and ready to start watching some seasonal movies. 

Thanksgiving 2024

I'm actually grateful for a lot of things, particularly my family, but for today I'm just going to drop this here because it's seasonal.