[1969] Stones Like Black Teeth

[Ashdown Crier]

The concert is in full swing when you arrive again, though it's as if a rewind button has been set. The protest songs play like a lifeless soundtrack in the background, the denizens of the town have returned to their places, where they were when you arrived the first time. The throngs of young people still mill about but they seem now more like ambient noise.

Among the crowds, whether they're on the stony beach or up on the grass, remain all the same familiar faces.

To the north, around a the largest crackling bonfire, Juniper and Nasir stand a pace apart, dark circles around their eyes and not even acknowledging one another. They remain a healthy distance from Algernon (who is now sagging and surrounded by empty beer cans). Rabbit is simply acting strange while clutching his caustic flask of alcohol.

To the south, around the smaller bonfire sit Rylan and Finn. The older men look like they've possibly been in a fist fight but don't acknowledge it past their re-ignited political banter. The young babysitter Leila looks uncomfortable and near sick now, as if she would like to dart away at the slightest provocation.

(Vivien, a nine-year-old child, plays nearby in the ocean. She has not caught Professor Crab, though she does toe at the dead shell of one).

To the west is the stage and another band plays as the Dead-Eyed Hipsters cluster around the back of the stage surrounded by an army's worth of cigarette butts. Ezra is there. Preacher, the drummer, has a bloody nose and isn't bothering with her crying band mate anymore. Melany is also there, fiddling with an amplifier with a near infuriating repetition.

The hopeful personality of the event seems to have slipped away and the societal ambient noise seems like a looped and rolling laugh track. Each townsperson sits fixed in their place, ready to talk and share, like players on a stage.

Full cast bios here.

 

[Ashdown Crier]

persuasion.
Making it successfully through the meta will be largely predicated on the characters' ability to find the information they need in a timely manner. Persuasion is not an easy thing in an era where the player characters don't belong, so this is much tougher than it sounds. Persuasion is based on a single d20 roll for every question you ask or favor you request. This means if you make one roll to get an NPC to give you an answer to your question, that doesn't carry over and mean they'll answer your next question. You must roll anew for every new question.

Please remember we are roleplaying. Just because you roll high doesn't mean that a character will automatically open up to you and spill all the beans; you still have to earn their trust first! Consider spending a little while buttering them up or intimidating them first: particularly successful attempts will earn persuasion roll bonuses at the discretion of the GMs.

Each NPC has a different threshold for persuasion, which is in the cast post of your main thread. The lower the number, the easier to persuade. Low-rating NPCs are unlikely to have valuable information to share, however.

Sharing information will be vital to the event. You may create your own PRP threads in the event forum for this purpose.

If you chose to purchase an upgrade to your ability to persuade in phase one, please note this at the top of your post. There are three or four people handling each thread, so this makes it easier for all of us to keep track of who's got what bonuses.

Quick Reference of Persuasion Rolls
Sunny Shore: N/A
Maren Greenmantle: N/A
Leila Townhome: 16
Cam Rylan: 10
Preacher Maria: 14
Melany Dubhslaine: 8
Juniper Wilcox: 6
Rabbit Vaughn: 4
Algernon Mixlin: 14
Nasir Vasile: 4
Finn Derouen: 10


Please quote iloveyoudie to interact with:
Algernon Mixlin
Leila Townhome
Cam Rylan
Nasir Vasile
Finn Derouen


Please quote kuropeco to interact with:
Maren Greenmantle
Preacher Maria
Juniper Wilcox
Rabbit Vaughn


For any NPCs not listed above (Ezra, Melany, Vivien, etc) please quote shibrogane.

 

[Ashdown Crier]

combat.
Combat will be very simple. Combatants roll 1d20 per round. The lower number takes five damage. Everyone has a pool of 25hp, which is persistent throughout this section of the meta: unless healed by another character, your hit points will not increase or decrease outside of combat. Should both combatants agree (oocly), the fight can end or be interrupted before a combatant is knocked out. Reaching zero means that your character cannot join any other fights for the rest of the meta unless healed. Some fights have the chance to end in death or incapacitation: these will be clearly labeled and clearly avoidable.

There are some exceptions to the five damage rule:

>Your character has a firearm. Firearms inflict 10 damage, but they also subtract 3 points from your roll. You must call that you're using a firearm when you make your original roll and this cannot be retracted.
>Your character is using magic. Magic inflicts 10 damage, absolute, no matter what your opponent rolls, but it takes a round for your character to focus enough to make it do. So you'd call magic (with no roll) in the first round, take 5 damage from your opponent, and in the second round (if you're still standing) your opponent takes ten damage from you. You must still roll to dodge their attack.
>Your character is healing another. Healing doesn't require a roll. You just post that you're healing and who the target is, and they regain 5 health.
>You can't perform two actions on the same round. You can't attempt to block and heal at the same time; nor can you attempt to attack and heal.


ADDENDUM:
In a 2v1 situation where one character is attempting to block for another, all characters still roll. Blocking doesn't automatically succeed. For the block to be successful, both characters (blocker and blockee) have to roll above the attacker. The attacker takes no damage in this situation.

Formula:
A = Attacker
B = Blocker
C = Defended

A outrolls B + C: A succeeds in attacking C, C takes 5 damage.
A outrolls B, but not C: B takes 5 damage, block is successful.
A outrolls C, but not B: B fails to block, but does cause damage to A. A + C take 5 damage.
A is outrolled by both B and C: No one takes damage. Block is successful.

 

[Ashdown Crier]

xxx  

[lizbot]

America Jones - Stage - Persuasion + 1, Persuasion - 2, HP: 21

America catches herself in a slight crouch, still wincing at the now silent siren wail. She can't quite get the handle of what's happened, but she's watched Groundhog's Day and so maybe it'll only take a minute to reorient herself. In the meantime, though, the girl takes a seat near the stage and rests her head in her hands, for a moment mimicking the worn air of the gathering.

Mr. Bitterberry is in a more pleased state, flying up off her shoulder and inspecting the area for dropped popcorn. When he finds himself in the cigarette graveyard, America borrows his eyes just in time to witness the bluejay pick up a cigarette butt in his mouth and waddle stealthily toward Ezra.

shibroxgane

rolling for totally ninja eavesdropping

edit: wow I guess that cig was the perfect camouflage, he's just one of the gang, kids

 

[shibrogane]

"Mels," Ezra is saying. "Mels, c'mere, babe." A staticky thump of bass interrupts him. "Mels," he repeats. "Mels!"

She stops. "That stupid little girl," says Melany, gray eyes vacant. She twines a wire between her fingers, pulls it tight, tight. "Mina Mercer. No. ********. No." She leans over the cabling. Her hair is falling out of her pristine sock bun. "Vivien. That's her name. That cliff. Why would they let her go there alone. Ezra, what?" That last because he's caught her hand in hers. "Ezra?"

lizbot

 

[MoonRazor]

That... whatever that was. It didn't sit well with either of them. Ves slumped against Rylan, who just managed to spot and catch her before she collapsed to the floor. He hauled her back upright.

"That. Was. No." Ves mumbled, rubbing her temples.

"Mm," Rylan managed to say, squinting out at the beach before them. There was a peep from Imp, who had managed to find his way to them, and the firefighter noticed suddenly that his shrike vision was back. The previously-dark beach felt only dim now, those bonfires crackling away like hot light. "What uh, what now."

Ves groaned and waved her hand vaguely in the direction of the south bonfire. "You'll probably freak the older you out. But that kid is your kid- his kid, I don't know."

Rylan glanced over at the child, oddly familiar, playing in the water. And then- "Is that Vivien? She's my kid?"

"I don't know. Yes. Just go talk to her. Maybe she'll be helpful."

-----

Rylan to Vivien, Persuasion -2, 21/21

He wove his way past the bonfire, out to the water's edge. If Vivien was really the alternate Rylan's daughter... He wondered what that meant, how that connection played into the 2016 timeline. Did he meet her somehow in every cycle?

He watched Vivien nudge the dead crab for a moment, then said, "Oh no. They're not as much fun when they're dead, huh?"

shibrogane

-----

Ves to stage, +1 persuasion, -2 persuasion, 21/21 HP

She found herself wandering past the stage, thinking she might sit somewhere for a second to recover when she noticed the drummer from before, standing with a bloody nose.

Without quite thinking, she said, "Are y- Would you like a tissue or something? I'm sorry, I didn't mean to interrupt, but you. Well. You were bleeding."

kuropeco

 

[kuropeco]

(au) Preacher Maria - west stage


She sways a little, head turning slowly to face the woman speaking to her. It seems to take Preacher's eyes a moment or so to focus, and when they finally do, she raises her eyebrows, letting out an inelegant snort that's slightly watery sounding from the blood.

After a pause, she says, "If you've got it, I'll take it. Take this...take..."

She trails off, staring just off to the side of the woman's face.

moonrazor

 

[Blade Kuroda]

Shun Kuroda 24/24 | Stage

Shun wasn't entirely certain what had just happened. Chel had just come up to him saying something about Melany when people started to scream as an alarm blared. Something snapped and now he was back where he had started. It wasn't the same, though. The mood had taken a dive.

He glanced around at some of the people at the concert. He could swear that they seemed a bit shaken. Did they all just go through that experience as well? The detective considered going back towards the northern bonfire, but decided against it. Instead, he made his way towards the stage.

Rubbing his head, he glanced around, pausing momentarily as he spotted Melany messing with an amp. Some guy was with her.

"Oi, want some help with that?" he asked, motioning to the cables.

Shibrogane

 

[Daekie]

Ashton Carver 21/25
-2 to all persuasion rolls due to heavy disorientation

The world rewound - snapped back like a rubber band -- Ashton noticed that, of course, but mostly what Ashton noticed was that he was three steps away from vomiting onto someone's shoes. Like the good neighbor he was, he made it a few steps before his head started spinning too hard and threw up all over the cold pavement, gagging so hard he swore he could feel his teeth individually extruding and his ribcage moving upwards.

Well, ******** all of that, really.

Quote:

ashton has stumbled off into the corner and thrown up, please give him a towel, someone, anyone

 

[shibrogane]

"No," says Vivien. She stops nudging the crab corpse and looks up at Rylan. For a moment, her brow furrows in confusion. There are dark shadows beneath her eyes and an odd sheen of sweat to her disfocused stare. At this angle, it is clear that she has Rylan's nose--or other-Rylan's nose--or something.

She says, "I didn't do it," and pokes the corpse again.

MoonRazor

Melany stops after another hissing thump of bass. "It's broken," she says. "I... I don't know how to fix it?"

Blade Kuroda

 

[Blade Kuroda]

Shun Kuroda 24/24 | Stage

Shun turned away from the thumping of the bass. That was a bit of an unpleasant sound.

"Do you know how it broke? I might be able to fix it, but knowing that much may help."

He didn't like Melany, but this version of her wasn't necessarily the heinous b***h that he knew. Acting like he had a grudge against her wouldn't get him far here.

Shibrogane

rolling just in case

 

[cibarium]

south bonfire -- Eve (P+2, C-1), Leila (C+1)

Like a falling dream that startled you awake upon landing, Eve and Leila were jolted back to the second they'd arrived in the truck bed. After checking with each other with some exchanged glances they looked around and noted the sense they shared: things hadn't rewound quite right.

The redhead of the pair slowly uncrumpled the top of their lemon bar bag and peered inside. A generous and untouched abundance of treats peered merrily back at her. She silently offered them out with a smile once again, trying to stay mindful around her younger self: she looked even worse than before.

"Did anyone else feel that?" Eve asked, peering among the bonfire crowd.

iloveyouDIE

 

[iloveyouDIE]

south bonfire || Leila, Finn, Rylan

The group glanced to Eve and Leila quizzically, Finn this time furrowing a bruised brow, "Excuse me?"

Leila still looked sick as she and Cam glanced to Vivien periodically, but this time around they all ignored the lemon bars.

cibarium

 

[cibarium]

south bonfire -- Eve (P+2, C-1), Leila (C+1)

Eve shook her head and waved a hand to dismiss her previous question. "Is she alright?" she asked Cam instead, following his gaze to Vivien.

iloveyouDIE