[CCrusaders] Bert says, "Log on."

[CCrusaders] Roger says, "good luck with turning that kid back into a real boy or whatevs"

[CCrusaders] GM exclaims, "Then I guess we have everybody!"

[CCrusaders] Eben exclaims, "w00t!"

GM exclaims, "Welcome back to the newest installment in the ongoing adventures of the CROWNSFORD CRUSADERS!"

GM exclaims, "Last session: you stopped the power plant from melting down! And in the process, you rescued Patrick Peterson and reunited him with his mother. Congratulations!"

GM asks, "This session: it's a new day, and you're all rested up after your most recent ordeals. The power was out last night, but the team at the plant has it back on this morning. What do you want to do now?"

GM says (to Wanda), "By the way, there's something you've noticed..."

[CCrusaders] Eben asks, "Did we decide we did indeed go to the hospital to get fixed up?"

Wanda exclaims (at GM), "!"

GM says (to Wanda), "Cuddlepaws has always been fairly independent. But you realize that it's been a few days since she's been home."

[CCrusaders] GM says, "Yup! Your consequences are now in recovery."

Wanda exclaims, "Oh. Oh no!"

Wanda asks, "And she doesn't wear the headband anymore so we can't track her?"

[CCrusaders] GM says, "Mild ones will recover after the first full scene, moderate ones after this session, and major ones after this scenario."

GM says, "Indeed."

[CCrusaders] Eben asks, "I was about to posit that her collar had a tracking device I had put in it, like a POD or whatever they're called. Can that be true, or should it not be?"

Wanda asks (of Jacob), "Cuddles is missing! Can you ask your friends about her?"

[CCrusaders] GM says, "I think it shouldn't be, since she's not wearing the fancy high tech collar anymore."

Jacob says, "Uh, sure."

[CCrusaders] Eben says, "Sounds good."

Eben says (to Wanda), "I'm sure Cuddlepaws is fine; she wanders off all the time."

Wanda says, "But if I assume she's fine and then later it turns out she's not..."

Jacob says, "Yeah, I'm sure she's fine. And not, uh. You know."

[CCrusaders] Jacob asks, "I saw that symbol recently, where was that?"

[CCrusaders] Jacob says, "the Witchy one"

Eben sends another text to [sigh, goth chick medusae girl]: 'Hey, we got sidetracked, but now we're actually working on tracking down whatever's going on with this shadow cult if you want to stop by."

[CCrusaders] GM says, "That was on the profile of the user 'astrid' on the Withered Path, that web forum Melissa had been visiting recently."

[CCrusaders] Jacob says, "Right, thanks. So Jacob immediately is paranoid about tht, but doesn't want to scare Wanda."

GM exclaims (at Eben), "You get a response!"

[CCrusaders] Eben says, "^[.*]^Melissa"

GM says, "'Melissa is not your friend. Do not attempt to contact her again.'"

Eben says, "Well, crap."

Jacob asks, "Hey, ask if that's Astrid?"

Jacob says, "Or maybe don't ask."

Eben asks (of phone), "Oh, hi! Is this Astrid?"

Jacob says, "I don't know."

Jacob chuckles nervously.

GM says (to Eben), "There's no answer."

Jacob says, "Ok, I'm gonna go ask the pigeons if they've been terrorized by a white cat lately."

Eben exclaims (at phone), "Well, anyway, let Melissa know we'd like to help if she's up for it. Thank you!"

Jacob says, "Always so polite, he is."

[CCrusaders] Wanda says, "Well, he does play bingo with a former supervillain"

GM says, "(Other loose plot threads, in case you've forgotten: the shadow portal you found and closed down in the first session, the other users you saw on that message board, the laptop and bottle that Melissa left behind after your encounter with her.)"

[CCrusaders] Jacob asks, "Oh yeah, the laptop. What, if anything, have we done with it so far?"

Wanda says, "Let's analyze the bottle! I'm a chemistry major, this should be easy"

Eben says (to Wanda_and_Jacob), "I'm going to try to send an attachment to this text that hacks the phone to reply with its current coordinates. Can you guys help? We have like a minute before she turns off the phone."

[Crows-Nest] Wanda says, "Later: the bottle is made of glass"

Wanda says (to Eben), "I can certainly try"

Jacob says, "Sure."

[CCrusaders] GM says (to Jacob), "'You turn it on. A message appears on the screen: 'Facial Recognition Failed'.'"

[Crows-Nest] Jacob paints his face white and adds eyeliner. "How about now?"

GM exclaims, "This sounds like a Challenge!"

[CCrusaders] Jacob says, "Don't want to derail the current phone thing, but if I found a photo of Melissa on the interwebs, I wonder if I could trick this laptop."

GM says, "It would require a combination of Crafts, Burglary and Will. Each at +3 opposition."

[CCrusaders] Eben says, "Well, I'll take Crafts! Oddly enough. Though I don't think Gadgeteer applies."

[Crows-Nest] Wanda says, "Crafts +1, Burglary zero, Will +2"

[CCrusaders] GM says (to Eben), "Agreed."

Eben rolls Superb (5) + 4dF: 0 -1 -1 0 | Good (3)

[CCrusaders] Jacob says, "I will take burglary."

[CCrusaders] Wanda says, "I'll take Will then ^^"

Jacob rolls Good (3) + 4dF: 0 0 0 -1 | Fair (2)

[CCrusaders] Jacob says, "Boo"

Wanda rolls Fair (2) + 4dF: -1 0 +1 +1 | Good (3)

Eben sets their current fate point total to 2.

GM says, "That's two successes at a minor cost and one failure."

Wanda sets her current fate point total to 2.

GM sets his current fate point total to 3.

Jacob sets her current fate point total to 3.

GM asks, "Are you going to accept that, or?"

[CCrusaders] Jacob asks, "How badly do we want this, or do we want to find her some other way?"

[CCrusaders] Jacob says, "'Cause I've got FP, but it's also the first roll of the session"

[CCrusaders] Eben asks, "Can I spend a fp for Jacob's roll?"

[CCrusaders] GM says, "If you can justify how your aspect is helping him, yes."

[CCrusaders] Eben exclaims, "Sure: I'll tag 'I can build something to fix this!"

[CCrusaders] GM exclaims, "Everyone narrate your contributions, and then I'll tell you the results!"

Eben has been tinkering around with various phone attachments and hacks for some time to do goofy things like make someone's alarm go off, or take a random picture. He shows them to Jacob, who realizes that there were backdoors he hadn't heard of before that would be perfect in this situation.

Eben spends a fate point, leaving them with 1.

[CCrusaders] Wanda asks, "Remind me how Will was relevant to this challenge, please?"

[CCrusaders] Wanda says, "(I'm blanking)"

Jacob'a ha!' at Eben and writes some code to do the thing

[CCrusaders] GM says, "Will is for brainy figuring-things-out."

[CCrusaders] GM says, "E.g., programming."

[CCrusaders] Wanda says, "ok good"

[CCrusaders] GM says, "(It's also for willpower and other mental stuff, like concentration.)"

Wanda is good at hacking the (spider)web. She git pushes and is generally super committed.

Wanda uses multiple laptops in parallel even though it's overkill, just because she has the extra limbs

[CCrusaders] GM says, "Yay."

[CCrusaders] Wanda says, "(One of them is just DOOM)"

GM says, "At first, it seems like it didn't work. But then you start to get a trickle of data back."

Eben says (to phone), "":animated hearts emoji with backdoor location-replier:"

GM says, "The backdoor must be running in a low-power background process, to keep itself from being detected. So it could be a while before you have enough information to act on. But it's definitely working."

Eben exclaims, "Good work, guys!"

Wanda exclaims, "Woo!"

GM asks, "What would you like to do in the meantime?"

Eben asks, "Faces?"

Wanda asks, "Did we hear back from the pigeons about Cuddles?"

[CCrusaders] Jacob says, "I was kind of serious about the photo thing and trying to hack into the laptop that way"

[CCrusaders] GM exclaims, "Sounds good! +3 Investigation to find a good photo of Melissa online!"

Jacob rolls Legendary (8) + 4dF: -1 +1 +1 -1 | Legendary (8)

Jacob uses his super sight to quickly go through photos and find the best, most recent ones, with the best lighting.

GM asks (of Jacob), "You easily find a school photo on the local high school's web site that *says* it's Melissa Humbert. It's a couple years old, and honestly, it doesn't look that much like her. Blond hair, no makeup... could this really be the same girl?"

Jacob wow.

Jacob resizes it, crops as needed, and prints it out.

GM says, "You now have a printout of a photo of a blond teenage girl."

[CCrusaders] Eben says, ">USE PHOTO WITH LAPTOP"

Jacob mutters, "I don't feel creepy at all", as he tries to gain access to the laptop with the photo.

GM says, "'Facial Recognition Failed'"

Jacob boo.

Jacob says, "That would have been too easy, I guess. But boo, nonetheless."

Wanda goes south.

Eben says, "Here, I bet we could update it to how she looks now."

Wanda has arrived.

[CCrusaders] GM (to Wanda) | Eben says, "Here, I bet we could update it to how she looks now."

[CCrusaders] Wanda says, "Thank you"

[CCrusaders] Eben says, "You got a boost; you could make the boost 'easily modifiable' ;-)"

[CCrusaders] Wanda says, "I somehow triggered the numpad"

[CCrusaders] Wanda says, "(which is mapped to the cardinal directions)"

[CCrusaders] Wanda says, "sorry about that"

[CCrusaders] GM asks, "Is someone attempting to modify the photo?"

[CCrusaders] Eben says, "The numpad was scarred at an early age by a terrifying encounter with a spider."

[CCrusaders] GM says, "Ha."

[Crows-Nest] Jacob will roll "crafts, arts and"

[CCrusaders] Eben asks (of GM), "Is there still an 'Arts' skill in FATE? Or was that only SotC?"

[CCrusaders] Wanda says, "hehe"

[CCrusaders] GM says, "I would call this Deceive."

[CCrusaders] Eben exclaims, "Well, I have Deceive 3!"

[CCrusaders] Wanda says, "I have it at +2"

[CCrusaders] Wanda says, "So I'll assist"

[CCrusaders] Jacob says, "I only have a +1, but can alsohelp"

[CCrusaders] Eben says, "Nice."

[CCrusaders] GM exclaims, "I thought you were the good guys! But you're just a bunch of liars!"

[CCrusaders] Eben says, "We lie in pursuit of the truth."

[CCrusaders] GM exclaims, "Deceive vs +3 to edit the photo!"

[CCrusaders] Wanda says, "To paraphrase Blake, a lie told with good intent beats all the truths-- wait that doesn't work"

Eben pulls up his photo editing software, quickly closes the modified 'Back to the Future' poster with him as doc, Jacob as Marty, and Wanda as the DeLorean, and gets to work on the Melissa photo, getting suggestsions from the other two.

Eben rolls Superb (5) + 4dF: 0 -1 +1 +1 | Fantastic (6)

[Crows-Nest] GM says, "(Ha ha ha.)"

GM exclaims, "Now *that's* the Melissa you know!"

Eben >USE PHOTO WITH LAPTOP

GM says, "'Access granted'"

GM exclaims, "You're in!"

Jacob yiss.

Eben scans the files on the laptop, and visits the forums, looking for recent relevant posts !

GM says (to Eben), "Melissa is apparently logged into her account as Melificent, and she has a number of private messages that you can read through if you like."

Eben does so, glad that he already told Melissa he was going to.

Wanda peeks.

[CCrusaders] Wanda says, "To be fair, I barely need to peek, I could just mindread Eben"

[CCrusaders] Wanda says, "while looking away"

[CCrusaders] Eben says, "Or lipread me because I mumble out loud to myself."

GM says, "Most are from astrid. They're all very supportive, encouraging, and mentor-ly in tone. They're mostly tips on magical rituals."

GM says, "There are some that are talking about a big plan astrid has, that she wants Melissa to help with, to increase their power by breaking down the barriers between this realm and the shadow world."

Eben says, "Wow, that... doesn't sound good."

GM says, "She mentions the Crownsford Crusaders as well, warning that you're the enemy, and saying that if she gets a chance, Melissa should try out her magic powers against you."

Wanda says, "Ohhh that's why we got ambushed"

GM says, "You also find a couple of messages from 'drnic729'. They're kind of annoying technical questions about how magic works. He sounds like kind of a dork who doesn't really get the difference between magic and science."

Wanda says, "Ohhh that dork"

Wanda says, "I still feel bad for accidentally knocking him out with my mind"

Eben says, "I mean, he's right; magic and science are basically two approaches to the same underlying reality of the universe, but I'm sure they can be unified."

[CCrusaders] Eben asks, "We guessed drnic was the guy we met before who we fought then sort of teamed up with, then fought us again?"

[CCrusaders] Jacob says, "That was Jacob's assumption yes"

[CCrusaders] Eben exclaims, "Doctor Nichols!"

[CCrusaders] Wanda shakes her many limbs at her backstory! 'Curses'

Eben looks for any indications of particular locations Astrid wanted Melissa's help with (like the place that other shadow portal was set up.)

GM says (to Eben), "There *is* one message. It doesn't give any context; it's just an address: the corner of Hill Ave. and Nineteenth St."

Eben frows, wondering if that's where the lightning bolt strike was.

GM says, "It is not."

Eben pulls it up on GPS, looks in the area, correlates it vs. info trickle from Melissa's hacked phone.

GM says (to Eben), "The area seems to be a fairly non-descript part of town. And you don't see any obvious correlation with the data you've collected so far."

Eben asks (of group), "Well, you want to go to this place while we're waiting to see what's up with the phone?"

[CCrusaders] Jacob says, "We're totally gonna go and get jumped."

Wanda asks (of Eben), "Does that message predate our hacking?"

Wanda says, "Just in case they've caught on and are trying to fool us"

Eben also looks for newer members of the Withered Path forum with IDs like 'torChols'

Eben checks the date stamp.

GM says, "It's from a couple weeks ago."

[CCrusaders] Eben says, "(since drnic729 got banned)"

GM says (to Eben), "Hee. Sure, you find a user called 'nfergus', which you recognize as an alias that Dr. Nichols as used in the past."

GM says, "It's been less active than drnic729, just lurking. Presumably to avoid getting banned again."

[CCrusaders] GM says, "(AFK for a moment -- feel free to talk and plan.)"

Eben checks to see if new users can direct message people.

Eben says (to others), "I wonder if Dr. Nichols would be willing to help. He likes animals, and they did kill that dog to set up that portal."

[Setting the zoned flag.]

Eben says, "I almost said it couldn't hurt to have his help, but then I remembered his approach to stuff, and it actually could hurt, so hmm."

Eben says, "I'd at least like to know what he's up to, though."

Wanda says, "Yeah, he's kind of a disaster magnet."

Eben says, "But I also feel like if we don't get his help, Astrid's going to use him somehow herself."

[CCrusaders] GM says, "(Back.)"

GM says (to Eben), "It looks like there's a waiting period before new users are allowed to post or message people. So if you want to make contact with him, it won't be as simple as just sending a DM."

[CCrusaders] GM asks, "So what are you doing now? Trying to find a way to contact drnic729, checking out that address, analyzing the bottle, something else?"

[CCrusaders] Wanda says, "I'll analyze the bottle real quick then we contact Old Nick"

[CCrusaders] GM asks, "OK! Are you looking to get some specific information from it? Or a general 'we now understand it better' aspect?"

[CCrusaders] Wanda says, "Chemical composition of its contents? So probably an aspect to use later"

[CCrusaders] Wanda says, "since I can't think og a specifc question"

[CCrusaders] GM exclaims, "OK!"

[CCrusaders] GM exclaims, "+4 Lore!"

Eben considers, then signs up from his phone for a new account, "nflow" ('Ebb and, get it?") and then sends a message to nfergus in reply to one of his DMs: "Hello, Doctor N! This is your old, uh, frenemy I guess; we had to stop you a couple times when we felt things were getting out of control, but I always felt your heart was in the right place. Sorry about your lab; you disappeared afterwards and we couldn't find you to make amends. At any rate, just wanted to let you know that there's bad stuff going on with an 'astrid' on this forum that we're trying to track down to stop. We don't know much, but we did find a dog's ghost she had killed to power a shadow portal, which doesn't bode well. Borrowing this account so I could send you this; you can ping me directly at 'nflow' if you want. Glad to see you're doing OK, and keep up that good science work! Just don't, you know, hurt people. -EM"

Wanda rolls Average (1) + 4dF: +1 -1 0 +1 | Fair (2)

[CCrusaders] Wanda says, "If I spend an fp, I can make it"

[CCrusaders] Wanda says, "But spending an fp for a free tag later... hm"

[CCrusaders] Wanda asks, "Is there an amusing way to fail here?"

GM asks (of Eben), "Did you get the comment about not being able to send messages from new accounts?"

[CCrusaders] Jacob says, "He's sending from her account"

[CCrusaders] Eben says (to GM), "It's from Melissa's account, which we're logged in to."

[CCrusaders] GM says (to Jacob), "Oh! Right."

GM says, "OK, the message has been sent."

GM asks, "You're not sure how long it'll be before he logs in again; is there anything else you'd like to do to try to get to him in the meantime?"

[CCrusaders] GM says (to Wanda), "I don't know about amusing, but... yeah."

[CCrusaders] GM asks, "Will you fail?"

[CCrusaders] Wanda exclaims, "I fail!"

GM says (to Wanda), "The bottle itself is clearly just ordinary glass. But the residue on the inside... it's some kind of black, whispy substance that defies all of your attempts to chemically analyze it."

GM says (to Wanda), "But while you're trying to figure out what it is, you manage to accidentally inhale a bit of it. It feels bitterly cold inside of your lungs (or whatever a spider has)."

GM says, "And there is now a free tag against you on your 'Shadow Poisoned' aspect."

Wanda says, "Guys, I don't feel so good"

[CCrusaders] Eben says, "I have sort of a mental block against trying things like reverse DNS lookups for people on the forum, as it seems sort of out-of-genre."

Jacob looks over, huh. "What's up?"

[CCrusaders] GM says, "I'd be fine with it."

Wanda says, "Science's not working on the magic stuff. And I think I breathed in some of the magic stuff too. Ugh"

[Crows-Nest] Jacob says, ""Don't do Magic Stuff, kids."

Wanda says, "I don't need any extra mutations, I'm still recovering from that electric blast"

Eben says, "Oh, ow; I'm sorry."

Wanda says, "My chitin's all stiff"

[CCrusaders] Eben says (to Jacob-and-Wanda), "If you guys want to try reverse DNS stuff on Astrid and/or drnic/nfergus, I'm happy to help; otherwise I say we go to 19th and Hill."

[CCrusaders] GM says, "Hacking the site and doing a reverse DNS lookup on them would be Burglart. +3 and +6 opposition, respectively."

[CCrusaders] Wanda says, "As a girl spider of action, I'm happy going to 19th and Hill"

[CCrusaders] Eben says, "I can help! I have a +1."

[CCrusaders] Jacob says, "One second"

[CCrusaders] Jacob says, "Ok, sorry"

[CCrusaders] Jacob asks, "Two burglary rolls?"

[CCrusaders] GM says, "If you want to try for both, yeah."

Jacob rolls Great (4) + 4dF: +1 0 +1 -1 | Superb (5)

Jacob rolls Great (4) + 4dF: +1 0 0 -1 | Great (4)

[CCrusaders] Jacob says, "Welp"

[CCrusaders] GM exclaims, "Success on drnic729!"

[CCrusaders] Jacob asks, "Would a tie on the second get us a success with minor cost, or what kind of roll was it?"

[CCrusaders] Jacob says, "I can spend a FP"

GM says, "You manage to hack into the site -- fortunately it's just running WordPress -- and get drnic's IP, which you're then able to correlate with the ISP to get an address! It's for an apartment here in the city."

[CCrusaders] GM says, "It would, if you think it's worth it. Or you can follow up on the leads you have and try it again later, if you'd like."

[CCrusaders] Jacob says, "Yeah, let's do that (try again later)"

Wanda says, "Let's have a chat with everyone's least favourite mad scientist"

[CCrusaders] GM asks, "Shall we cut to the apartment building?"

[CCrusaders] Wanda exclaims, "Cut away!"

[CCrusaders] Eben exclaims, "Sounds good!"

GM says, "You climb up the stairs to the hallway where drnic729's apartment is. You notice that one of the apartment door's is slightly ajar, and it's the same one that you're looking for."

Eben knocks and calls out. "Hello? Anyone home?"

GM asks, "As you knock on the door... who would like a compel of Dr. Nichols' Security System?"

[CCrusaders] Eben says, "Ha, I'll take it."

[CCrusaders] GM asks, "Everyone else?"

GM gives a fate point to Eben.

[CCrusaders] Wanda says, "I'll take it"

GM gives a fate point to Wanda.

[CCrusaders] Wanda says, "He literally has Wandata from last time he can use"

[CCrusaders] GM asks (of Jacob), "Are you going for it as well?"

[CCrusaders] Jacob says, "Sure"

GM gives a fate point to Jacob.

GM exclaims, "As Eben knocks on the door, it swings open, and you all see a bright flash of blue light!"

GM says, "There's a disorienting falling sensation, and as you recover your senses, you find yourself in a strange alien jungle, surrounded by tall stalks of twisted fiber."

Eben blinks.

Wanda says, "What the f----"

Eben looks around for any immediate threats.

GM says (to Eben), "You seem to be alone."

Eben pulls out his phone to check his coordinates, if indeed he gets any GPS signal here.

GM says, "You are able to get a signal, although it's weak. And it claims that you're in exactly the same place you were in before."

Wanda jumps up to the top of the tallest stalk!

Jacob hmms.

GM says (to Wanda), "From here, you're able to see over the tops of the 'forest'."

Eben asks, "Hello? Dr. Nichols?"

GM says (to Wanda), "You see, in the distance, what looks like an enormous living room. There's a television screen that seems like it must be hundreds of feet across, a mile-long couch, a wastebasket the size of a skyscraper."

Wanda exclaims, "We've been shrunk!"

Wanda asks, "Nichols has a shrink ray now?"

GM says (to Wanda), "In the far distance, atop a table the size of a small mountain, you see a device with a flashing blue light on it pointed at the doorway you're all standing in."

Wanda asks (of Eben), "I'm the size of a Earth spider now?"

Wanda exclaims, "It's so weird!"

Eben says, "Ha."

Eben exclaims, "Well, hmm. Let's trek to that device!"

Wanda asks (of Eben&Jacob), "Need a ride?"

Jacob says, "Yes, please."

Wanda does her best Delorean impression.

[CCrusaders] Wanda says, "Which essentially just means lifting two of her legs on one side."

[CCrusaders] Wanda says, "While looking cool"

GM says, "You set out on your march! Along the way, you encounter a massive orange mass of puffed corn and fake cheese powder that could easily serve as a house if you hollowed it out."

Wanda says, "That would be so corny though"

GM says, "Various stones and boulders of grit that you need to walk around or climb over. A small cloud of lint."

GM says, "Man, Dr. Nichols really needs to vaccum more often."

Wanda says, "Those aren't dust bunnies, they're dust rhinos"

GM exclaims, "Eventually, you reach the leg of Mt. Table!"

[Crows-Nest] Wanda says, "A forgotten Larson ref"

Eben says, "Hmm, I wonder if consuming food in this form would suffice when you were larger. The relative sizes of the atoms would mean..."

Eben mutters to himself for a while.

GM says, "The top of the table is far above you -- clearly out of the range of the portal gun."

Wanda says, "We were worried about being jumped, but I guess it's time for me to do the jumping"

[Crows-Nest] Wanda asks, "Would I need to do physique to carry Eben with me?"

[CCrusaders] Wanda says (to GM), "except here"

[CCrusaders] GM says, "You would."

[CCrusaders] GM says, "It would be a +4 Overcome."

[CCrusaders] Eben asks, "Are there places to put a portal here?"

[CCrusaders] GM says, "At ground level? Yes."

[CCrusaders] GM says, "E.g., the side of the table leg."

Eben puts a portal here at ground level on the side of the table leg so that Wanda only has to carry someone once.

[CCrusaders] GM says, "Just carrying one person will just be a +2 Overcome."

Wanda rolls Good (3) + 4dF: -1 0 0 +1 | Good (3)

GM exclaims, "Success!"

Wanda exclaims, "Grandpa carry!"

Eben puts the second portal at the top so Jacob can join us.

Wanda scoops up Eben in between her mandibles and hoppity hop hop up.

[CCrusaders] GM says (to Eben), "The top is too far away for that: your portals only reach three zones."

[CCrusaders] Eben says, "Oh, hmm."

[CCrusaders] Wanda asks, "Can he aim mid-jump?"

[CCrusaders] Eben asks, "Could I send Jacob back to the workshop from the base, then retrieve him from the top?"

[CCrusaders] Jacob says, "Ooh, clever"

[CCrusaders] Wanda says, "That sounds smarter"

GM says (to Wanda), "You climb up the table leg easily with your sticky spider limbs. Around the point where Eben thinks you're at the furthest his portals could reach, you hear something approaching."

[CCrusaders] GM exclaims, "Sure!"

[CCrusaders] Eben says, "(actually, does Jacob return to normal size in the workshop? Hmm.)"

[Crows-Nest] Wanda asks, "Weird idea: Eben does a chicken impression, allowing Jacob to possess him, and then I can carry them both?"

[Crows-Nest] Wanda says, "(I'm kidding)"

[CCrusaders] Eben says, "OK, let's say there's a blue portal to the workshop at the base of the table leg."

[CCrusaders] GM exclaims, "OK!"

GM says, "It sounds like helicopter blades, and as it gets louder, you see what it's coming from:"

GM says, "An approaching housefly, the relative size of an elephant."

Jacob eeks!

Wanda says, "We're tinyyy"

[CCrusaders] Eben says, "Yeah, that's smaller than I was envisioning; cool."

[CCrusaders] Jacob says, "Can I talk to houseflies? They're animals."

[Crows-Nest] Wanda says, "Why is this housefly blasting Ride of the Valkryie"

[CCrusaders] Jacob :D :D :D

[CCrusaders] GM says (to Jacob), "In theory! Wanda, Eben and the housefly are presently a few zones above you at the moment, so you'd probably need to find a way to get closer for it to hear you."

[CCrusaders] Jacob says, "Fair enough"

[CCrusaders] GM asks, "What is everyone doing as the fly zeroes in on the climbers?"

[Crows-Nest] Wanda asks, "Can I command the fly to flee?"

[CCrusaders] Wanda asks, "With Influence?"

[Crows-Nest] GM says, "You're not sure if insects have enough of a mind to understand commands."

[Crows-Nest] Wanda exclaims, "Oh right!"

[Crows-Nest] Wanda says, "I'd forgotten that, thanks for the reminder"

[Crows-Nest] Wanda says, "(I would need both Animal talking and Influence to do that)"

[CCrusaders] Eben asks, "I suppose I could yellow portal the table leg here if we wanted to scamper back down quickly?"

[CCrusaders] GM asks, "You could. Are you doing that?"

[CCrusaders] Eben asks, "I mean, houseflies don't eat live prey? Usually?"

[CCrusaders] Wanda exclaims, "You could also Hello Ocean it!"

GM clears the initiative.

[CCrusaders] Eben says, "I suppose if it looks like it's attacking anwyay, I'll portal us away."

GM exclaims, "And the fly is here! Time for initiative!"

Wanda rolls Good (3) + 4dF: +1 -1 0 +1 | Great (4)

GM rolls Mediocre (0) + 4dF: -1 -1 +1 -1 | Terrible (-2)

Wanda registers Wanda at init 4.

GM registers fly at init -2.

Eben rolls Fair (2) + 4dF: -1 0 0 +1 | Fair (2)

Eben registers Eben at init 2.

[CCrusaders] Jacob asks, "I am not there-there, should I roll and see if I can help somehow, or?"

[CCrusaders] GM says, "Yeah, you're only about three zones away."

Jacob rolls Good (3) + 4dF: +1 -1 0 -1 | Fair (2)

[CCrusaders] Eben says, "I'm about to connect our zones, so go ahead."

Jacob registers Jacob at init 2.

GM advances the initiative: WANDA(4) Eben/Jacob(2) fly(-2)

GM exclaims (at Wanda), "It looks hostile!"

GM exclaims, "You've never seen a fly eating a spider before, but there's a first time for everything!"

[CCrusaders] Wanda says, "How close is it"

[CCrusaders] Wanda asks, "Adjacent zone?"

[CCrusaders] GM says, "It just entered your zone."

[CCrusaders] Wanda exclaims, "OK!"

Eben says (to Wanda), "If you want to wait for me and scamper, I can portal us away."

Wanda says (to Eben), "I trust you! *holds action*"

GM advances the initiative: Wanda(4) EBEN/JACOB(2) fly(-2)

GM exclaims, "Eben!"

Eben opens an orange portal on this level of the table leg!

Eben dives through.

GM exclaims, "Jacob!"

[CCrusaders] GM says, "(Or Wanda, if she wants to unhold her turn.)"

[CCrusaders] Jacob asks, "Does wanda want to go there?"

[CCrusaders] Jacob says, "Timing"

Eben exclaims (at Jacob), "Ack! Hostile elephant-sized fly!"

Eben says, "It can't fit through the portal, at least."

Wanda dives after Eben.

GM asks (of Wanda), "Are you taking an action as well, or just moving?"

Wanda says, "I'll make a protectice circle of fire to hopefully ward off the bug"

[CCrusaders] Jacob says, "And burn the rug? :D"

[CCrusaders] Wanda says, "It's Nichol's rug, who cares"

[CCrusaders] Jacob says, "Hehe"

GM exclaims, "Create Advantage! +4 opposition if you don't want to light the rug on fire!"

GM says, "+2 opposition if you don't care about lighting the rug on fire :)"

[CCrusaders] Wanda says, "Hmm, I should be better than this... but a part of me still hates Nichols, so +2 it is"

Wanda rolls Superb (5) + 4dF: -1 -1 0 -1 | Fair (2)

[CCrusaders] Wanda says, "haha"

[CCrusaders] Wanda says, "I made the right call"

GM exclaims, "You light the rug on fire!"

Wanda says, "*boosh*"

GM says, "Which isn't an aspect that you can tag for free, but you do get a boost from it."

Wanda says, "Fire is weird at this scale"

GM exclaims, "Jacob!"

Jacob welp.

[CCrusaders] Jacob wants to... not be standing in a rug that's on fire.

Jacob looks around...

[CCrusaders] Eben says, "It's only on fire outside of the circle."

[CCrusaders] Eben says, "You can talk to the fly now, if you like."

[CCrusaders] Jacob says, "Oh, that's fair, I guess."

[CCrusaders] GM says, "The fly is still up by the portal, since it hasn't had its turn yet."

[CCrusaders] GM asks, "Do you want to hold your action until it does?"

[CCrusaders] Jacob says, "And yeah, let's see what the fly does."

GM advances the initiative: Wanda(4) Eben/Jacob(2) FLY(-2)

GM exclaims, "The fly can't fit through the portal, and wouldn't understand space-time splicing even if it did, so it flies toward you!"

GM says, "And it makes a +2 Overcome to try to fly a second zone in one turn."

GM rolls Great (4) + 4dF: 0 +1 -1 +1 | Superb (5)

GM exclaims, "Success with style! It's now only one zone away from you, and it has a boost!"

GM asks, "Jacob?"

[CCrusaders] Eben asks, "Can it make it down into the carpet?"

[CCrusaders] GM says, "Not on this turn."

Jacob will try to talk to the fly and convince it that we are friendly. Some sort of overcome with rapport, I suppose?

[CCrusaders] Eben says, "I mean phsycially, in genral."

[CCrusaders] Jacob says, "Or an advantage"

[CCrusaders] Jacob says, "Whichever makes sense"

GM exclaims (at Jacob), "OK! Rapport Overcome vs. +4 to try to reason with an insect!"

Jacob rolls Great (4) + 4dF: 0 0 0 +1 | Superb (5)

Jacob says, "Weeeee come in peeeeeeeeace."

[CCrusaders] GM asks, "What do you say?"

[Crows-Nest] Wanda says, "We need a scene where Jacob and Eben hold on to Wanda's back as she zooms across the ground, leaving two flaming trails behind, before vanishing into a portal."

[CCrusaders] Jacob speaks with a fly-ish accent

Fly says, "Buzzz! BUZZZ! Foooooood. Buzzz."

[Crows-Nest] Wanda says, "Pretty fly for a bird guy"

Jacob says, "We don't taste very good. Especially me."

Fly looks at the three of you.

Jacob says, "That one is old and chewy, and the spider, well.. she can make fire."

Fly says, "Oooollld taste bettttter?"

Jacob says, "You'd need a lot of saliva on that one..."

Fly says, "Oooollld thinnngs alwaaaays taste bettttter..."

Jacob says, "Ok, uh. New tactic... Uh."

GM says (to Jacob), "In response to your comment, the fly begins to salivate..."

[CCrusaders] GM exclaims, "You have opened up a rapport with the fly! It's not attacking you *yet*!"

GM advances the initiative: END OF ROUND

GM advances the initiative: WANDA(4) Eben/Jacob(2) fly(-2)

GM exclaims, "Wanda!"

Wanda asks (of Jacob), "Is it working? Do I need to go full Meteor?"

Eben says, "We could just move back and forth until it gets bored."

[Crows-Nest] Wanda says, "I feel like using my collateral damage while being tiny is cheating"

Jacob asks, "I think it still wants to eat Eben, but maybe back down for now?"

[Crows-Nest] Wanda says, "Plus it's not even a big bad"

Wanda backs down!

[Crows-Nest] GM says, "It's a very, very small bad."

Eben says, "But scaring it away seems reasonable? I dunno; I didn't think flies went after non-dead food, so who knows what's up with this guy."

Jacob says, "Ooh, yeah. I should have told it you want to eat *it*, Wanda."

Jacob asks, "Be scary?"

[CCrusaders] Jacob says, "Tiny spider packs a mean bite."

Wanda will try to scare the spider! (Provoke?)

GM exclaims, "Provoke vs. +4!"

Wanda rolls Superb (5) + 4dF: +1 -1 +1 0 | Fantastic (6)

GM asks, "You succeed! Narrate how you scare it away?"

Wanda's newly reinforced chitin clicks and puffs up, heating up with flames, and she makes aggressive snapping gestures with her mandibles.

GM exclaims, "The fly boggles, with its huge, multifaceted eyes, before backing off!"

GM says (to Jacob), "You hear it muttering as it leaves -- something about 'spicy foooood'."

GM exclaims, "And you're out of initiative!"

Jacob whew.

Wanda says, "That worked! I usually don't need to try to be scary"

Eben asks, "Wanda? Maybe put out the fire?"

Wanda says, "Oh! I keep forgetting it's bad for humans and non mutants"

GM says, "The fire has been spreading, and Dr. Nichols' carpet seems especially flammable."

Wanda will try to put out the fire hastily

GM says, "Putting it out, at the size you are now, will be a +6 Overcome."

Wanda rolls Superb (5) + 4dF: -1 +1 0 -1 | Great (4)

[Crows-Nest] Wanda exclaims, "I'll spend an fp!"

[Crows-Nest] Wanda says, "on my High Concept, I'm a fire spider"

Wanda spends a fate point, leaving her with 2.

[Crows-Nest] Wanda says, "So I just succeed"

GM exclaims (at Wanda), "That would be a tie -- but you find it's difficult to maneuvre with your limbs being so stiff!"

GM says, "(Tagging Fused Joints.)"

[CCrusaders] GM says, "(Which leaves you 2 below -- are you tagging anything else?)"

[Crows-Nest] Wanda says, "Then I spend a second fp on Family First! I don't want Eben to get hurt"

Wanda spends a fate point, leaving her with 1.

[CCrusaders] GM exclaims, "Success with a minor cost!"

[CCrusaders] GM says, "(That cost being a burned spot on the carpet.)"

[Crows-Nest] Wanda says, "Haha"

[Crows-Nest] Wanda says, "I'll take that"

Wanda struggles with controlling the flames but eventually girlbosses them into nothingness.

Wanda asks, "Everybody okay?"

Eben says (to Wanda), "Good job! Thank you; we destroyed his last lab; I'm not super keen on destroying this one, too."

Eben peers up the table leg. "Back up, then?"

Wanda says, "Technically we destroyed his lab before last, then we evicted him from his last lab."

Wanda exclaims, "Let's get back up there!"

[Crows-Nest] GM says, "And then the fourth one sank into the swamp."

Eben climbs on Wanda's back. "Onward!"

Wanda rolls Good (3) + 4dF: -1 0 +1 +1 | Great (4)

[Crows-Nest] Wanda says, "I succeed at my Physique roll"

GM says, "This time, you're able to make it up to the top of the table without incident."

GM asks (of Jacob), "Are you using Eben's portals to go to his basement and back?"

[CCrusaders] Jacob says, "Yeah, that's a good plan."

GM says (to Jacob), "As you step through the portal, you fall what seems like several feet, but is probably only millimeters."

Jacob oof!

Eben, after Jacob goes through at the base, re-sets it for up here.

GM says, "You've never seen Eben's basement from quite this angle before. It's really quite amazing, all the equipment and machinery towering over you like this."

GM says, "You notice a resistor that's as big as you are that's rolled underneath a chair, just as the portal in the wall flashes and swaps over to the top of Nichols' table."

Jacob takes a moment to go push it into a more visible location for later.

[CCrusaders] Jacob says, "Or try to anyway"

[CCrusaders] Wanda asks, "Wait, can he even climb back up?"

[CCrusaders] Jacob says, "That is the many dollarbucks quesiton"

[CCrusaders] Eben says, "He can climb the resistor."

[CCrusaders] Jacob says, "If I can move it"

GM says, "The bottom edge of the portal is about head-height for you."

GM says, "And you can move the resistor! Fortunately, they roll pretty well."

[CCrusaders] Jacob says, "Ok, so."

[CCrusaders] Jacob says, "Sorry, thinking this, probably too much"

Jacob rolls the resistor over to the portal and tries to prop it up a little so he can reach a little better to get through the portal.

[CCrusaders] Jacob says, "prop it up against the wall, I mean"

Eben reaches through to help pull Jacob up.

Jacob says, "Much thanks."

GM exclaims, "And you're now all together on the table!"

Eben examines the blue flash device!

GM says, "You can see the same device that Wanda saw earlier, some distance away. And next to it, a person."

GM says, "The person is about the same size as the three of you."

[CCrusaders] Eben asks, "And is Dr. Nichols?"

Jacob hm!

GM says, "They're sitting on the table, facing away from you, looking up at the device."

[CCrusaders] GM exclaims, "It's hard to tell from here, but it certainly seems possible!"

Eben asks, "Hello? Dr. Nichols?"

Jacob sneaks up closer to take a look before they notice us.

Jacob oh.

Jacob kind of just freezes, in a sneaky pose.

Nichols turns around. "What? Who's there? How did you get in here?"

[CCrusaders] Eben says, "Ha; sorry."

[CCrusaders] Wanda says, "hehe"

Wanda exclaims, "The door was open!"

Eben says, "We came to talk to you, knockd on the door, and your shrink device got us."

Wanda asks, "Did you get caught by your own security system?"

Wanda says, "Because that's what it looks like"

Nichols says, "Q4! And Q4's... friends."

Wanda rolls more than half of her eyes.

GM says, "Nichols is walking toward you, gradually crossing the tabletop. He scowls."

Nichols says, "Yes, yes. Go ahead and laugh."

Eben asks, "So, I take you haven't been able to reverse the shrink-flash? Can we help?"

Nichols says, "I should have installed a ladder on the device. There's no way to get up to reach the buttons from here."

Wanda says, "Well, good thing I'm here."

Nichols says, "Oh, Q4! That's right!"

Eben says, "OK, can you please call her 'Wanda'? That's the name she wants to be called."

Nichols says, "You would have to get up and change the dial from 'shrink' to 'grow', and then re-aim the lens at -- what? 'Wanda'? Well, if that's what you want, Q4. Uh, I mean 'Wanda' -- at all of us..."

[CCrusaders] Wanda says (to Eben), "Awwww"

[CCrusaders] Wanda says, "You're the best ^^"

Nichols says, "And then set the timer, and then climb back down here before the timer goes off. Do you think you could do all of that?"

[CCrusaders] Eben asks, "How many zones away are the buttons?"

Wanda says, "As a lost princess of an alien planet who can turn into a fireball and perform psychic mind heists while juggling a chemistry degree? I'll see what I can do."

[CCrusaders] Eben says, "(or anything else)"

[CCrusaders] GM says, "Let's say two."

[CCrusaders] Wanda asks, "So an Athletics roll?"

Eben fires a portal next to the dial, first.

[CCrusaders] GM says, "That sounds good! Overcome with +4 Opposition."

[CCrusaders] GM says, "And if Eben is helping with portals, you can add +1 to your roll."

Eben exclaims (at Wanda), "Aww, you're not lost. You're right here!"

Wanda rolls Epic (7) + 4dF: -1 +1 +1 0 | Legendary (8)

GM exclaims, "Success with style!"

GM asks, "Do you want to describe it?"

Wanda says (to Eben), "Thanks Grandpa! You're right *sproing! zippity zip zip*"

[CCrusaders] GM says, "(Was 'zippity zip zip' the narration? :) )"

[CCrusaders] Wanda says, "Pretty much :D"

GM exclaims, "There's a bright red flash of light! And then all four of you are awkwardly standing on a wooden table in Dr. Nichols' living room!"

Eben exclaims, "Phew!"

Nichols climbs down with a bit of difficulty. "Well, thank you. I don't know if it quite makes up for mugging me before when I was trying to help you, but still."

Nichols says, "Did you... did you put out a cigarette on my carpet?"

Eben says, "We were trying to defend ourselves from an agressive fly."

Eben says, "And I do apologize about the lab; you disappeared before we could try to make it up to you."

Nichols says, "*Oh*, Flybert."

Wanda says, "We just scared it off, don't worry"

Wanda says, "Flybert lives"

Nichols says, "That's probably for the best. I still have more experiments to do on him. I'm trying to cure him of his desire for living flesh."

GM says, "Nichols closes the door and waves irritably toward the couch. Apparently you're all invited to sit down."

Wanda sits on the wall.

Nichols says, "So. What did you come here for? I know I haven't been breaking any laws this time. And I don't *think* I've accidentally enslaved anyone lately, eiher."

Eben catches Nichols up on what's been happening; basically what his DM was.

GM says (to Eben), "He appears intrigued."

Nichols says, "So it *is* magic, after all?"

Eben exclaims, "Or close enough!"

Eben asks, "Do you know anything helpful about this 'astrid' character? Or any theories about how the shadow portals might work?"

GM says, "He seems to be in a dilemma. On the one hand, he doesn't trust you at this point and has a bit of a grudge from last time. On the other hand, his spirit of scientific curiosity is eating away at him, and he *needs* to share what he knows with *someone*."

Nichols says, "...maybe."

Eben's eyes light up. "Ooooh, you figured it out, didn't you? That's amazing; excellent work."

[CCrusaders] GM exclaims, "Buttering him up enough to break him is a +2 Rapport Overcome!"

[CCrusaders] Eben exclaims, "RP first!"

Nichols says, "Well, I've been working on this for months. Of *course* I've figured a few things out..."

Eben says, "I managed to create an imitation of their portals for my own, but they don't seem to act like the ones they made, especially the ones powered by shades. I guessed that..." [launches into probably-wrong theory on stuff, because if there's one thing nerdy people love, it's correcting people.""

Eben rolls Great (4) + 4dF: +1 -1 +1 -1 | Great (4)

[CCrusaders] Jacob says, "Hehe"

Nichols says, "What? No, obviously not. It's nothing so complicated as that. It's just a straightforward matter of planar cosmography and dimensional harmonics... look, just wait here."

GM says, "He leaves the room for a moment, then comes back towing a big, old-fashioned chalkboard on wheels."

Eben can't keep the delight off of his face, not that he's trying.

GM says, "On the front of it are assorted diagrams and equations about shadow portals and how they relate to physics, along with some more vague notes on how 'magic' might play into this."

[CCrusaders] Wanda says, "yay"

GM says, "Nichols uses this as a visual aid to correct Eben on several key points."

Nichols says, "...based on the several anomalies appearing in the city that I've been able to detect so far."

Eben asks, "Oh, wow, you even have an anomaly detector? Can I see?"

Nichols says, "Oh, certainly."

GM says, "He shows you a device that looks like probably operates along the same lines as your Shadow Realm Particle Phone Enchancement."

Nichols says, "I've been driving around and around town for weeks collecting data with this and recording all the locations I could find."

Eben asks, "Awesome. Did you have a plan for what you were going to do with this information?"

[Crows-Nest] Wanda asks, "Does Nichols even *know* SQLite?"

Nichols says, "I was thinking of submitting it to the Northern Journal of Eclectic Sciences, or maybe to Technological Enlightenment Weekly."

Nichols pales.

Eben says, "Yeah, they love this sort of stuff, and you've been really thorough."

Nichols says, "You're not going to steal my research, are you?"

Eben says, "No! I'll even write you a letter of recommendation, if you want. Used to work with one of the editors of TEW."

Nichols says, "Phew."

GM says, "Then he flips over the chalkboard. On the back is drawn a crude map of Crownsford, with five spots marked with circles. One of them has an X drawn through it, along with a question mark."

Eben says, "But I think something nefarious is going on here, too. Astrid said something about 'weaking the bonds between the shadow realm and this one', which doesn't sound pleasant for its inhabitants."

Nichols says, "Oh dear. That *does* sound bad."

[CCrusaders] Eben asks, "Is the X/? the one we dismantled?"

[CCrusaders] GM exclaims, "It is!"

Eben says, "Hey, your X-slash-question mark is the one we found and dismantled. It was powered by the shade of a dog."

Eben shakes his head sadly.

Nichols says, "'Shade'? What do you mean?"

Eben says, "When people die, they pass through the shadow realm, and sometimes they get stuck there as, I dunno, a ghost or a shade or something, before being able to move on."

Jacob nearly blurts out "dead", but hushes as Eben explains.

Nichols says, "Are you making fun of me?"

Eben says, "This is the second time we've found this group harnessing shades to power crap."

Eben exclaims, "Nope!"

Eben says, "Here, hang on..."

Nichols says, "Remarkable!"

GM says, "You also notice, looking at the map, that one of the circles is around the intersection of Hill and Seventeenth."

Eben fumbles with his phone, and pulls up some of his notes with the technical details Nichols would appreciate.

GM says (to Eben), "Nichols is fascinated and copies down several things from your phone onto his chalkboard."

Eben says, "Anyway, this is exactly the information we needed to try to stop them; if you need any help writing it up, I'm more than happy to help. I'll put in a good word for you with the mayor, too."

Eben asks, "And that shrink ray of yours is amazing! Are you writing that up, too?"

Nichols says, "Thank you! That was just something I put together in my spare time, to deal with anyone trying to steal my *important* research. Do you think it's impressive enough to bother writing it up?"

Eben says, "I mean, I've never seen anthing like it before."

Nichols says, "Huh! Well, in the meantime, if this 'Astrid' is trying to break through the barriers to dimension delta, then we have to try to stop them somehow. Do you have any plans?"

[Crows-Nest] GM says, "Narrator: Eben had seen something like it before in a previous arc, but has apparently forgotten about his other granddaughter."

Eben says, "Now that we have the locations, we can get there and deal with each like we dealt with the one before. That should help, but eventually we'll need to figure out what it was leading to. If you want to come with us, you're more than welcome; it'll be dangerous, but you'd be able to get better readings."

[Crows-Nest] Eben says, "Ha, right."

[Crows-Nest] Eben says, "That was just her personally, right? I guess plus stuff she touched."

[Crows-Nest] GM says, "Yeah."

Nichols says, "It's tempting, but that data you shared with me will take some time to analyze and integrate into what I already have. I'm going to be busy working on that for a while."

Nichols says, "But I'll be here if you need me."

Eben nods. "Sounds good. Do let us know if you figure out anything else."

Nichols says, "I will! Good luck."

Wanda says, "Let's go shine some light in dark places"

Eben says, "And thank you again."

Nichols says, "You're welcome. Maybe you *can* be trusted."

Eben exclaims, "We try!"

Nichols says, "And goodbye, Q-- Wanda."

Jacob mutters, "No, you."

[Crows-Nest] Eben says, "Aww."

Wanda says (to Nichols), "Goodbye, Doctor Nichols."

[CCrusaders] Wanda says, "/scene"

[CCrusaders] GM says, "And rather than starting another scene, I think this is a good place to wrap this session."

[CCrusaders] Wanda says, "/session"

[CCrusaders] Eben exclaims, "Sounds good to me!"

[CCrusaders] Jacob says, "Woo"

[CCrusaders] Wanda says, "We had a little problem and then did some science"

[CCrusaders] Eben says, "Groan ;-)"

[CCrusaders] GM says, "And I just added June to the schedule, if anyone wants to update it with their availability."

[CCrusaders] GM says, "The next game is in two weeks, on May 20, at the usual time."

[CCrusaders] Wanda exclaims, "Woo!"

[CCrusaders] Eben exclaims (at GM), "Thanks again!"

[CCrusaders] GM exclaims, "You're welcome!"

[CCrusaders] GM exclaims, "And thanks to all of you for coming!"