CONFLUENCE 03

[metamods]

THUNDERSTRUCK

This time there was warning. Any being with precognitive abilities finds themselves brought to their knees a few hours before the event, plagued with a hazy vision of chaos and fear. There's not enough detail to say what is to happen, but at least they have the where and when.

Excelsior, Washington.

The people seem annoyed when they are told to evacuate. After all, Excelsior was built to last. This is a city exempt from the unpredictability of nature. They have weather control systems set up to ensure nothing disrupts their research. This a city built upon scientific advancement, with every inch of infrastructure reliant upon it, and they are confident that they are safe within its borders.

And even without the stubborn minority, the Alliance knows there isn't enough time for a full evacuation. But still, they try. They call upon every available hero to race toward whatever chaos may be about to drop over the city. The Society has sent a few faces too, more quietly. Whether to help or hinder is anyone's guess, as there's whispered encouragement to do both.

The city isn't anywhere near empty when the air goes very still. Everyone and everything pauses and looks skyward as a few drops of rain begin to fall, and the artificial sky fades to reveal roiling clouds.

The Confluence begins.

ITS RAINING (SUPER) MEN

Rain slashes sideways as the skies darken, taking unnatural colors with every flash of lightning. It's beautiful and awe-striking, but knowing that somehow this bizarre phenomenon is the calm before the storm keeps anyone on the ground from enjoying it. Even the those who lack self preservation in the scientific community don't want to investigate the cause of this.

There's a flash of light and a boom. Those still caught in the streets waiting evacuation brace themselves.

And then people begin to fall.

If you are one of these people, you awaken to find yourself hurtling towards the ground at breakneck speed. You come into awareness just in time to register you're about to make impact with the ground, or a car, a building, whatever is underneath you. The impact pulverizes the surface strike, leaving a sizable crater, and as you pull yourself up you find yourself unharmed. Yet there's energy crackling in the air around you. If there are bystanders near you they whip out cellphones to capture the occurrence for their followers or for scientific posterities, crowding around the craters a buzz of excitement. Some of the more fearful ones simply turn and begin running in hopes they can beat the storm.

CRYPTO OR CRYPTID

Confluences give people powers. That's part of the deal. And while those of you who just fell from the sky are discovering your new gifts, others are also suddenly uncovering their own brand new talents.

Excelsior isn't exactly known for natural superpowers. Most of its heroes are self-made geniuses, armed with metasuits or other augments. Those that do have powers got them from scientific accidents, transforming due to experiments gone wrong or accidentally tumbling into toxic waste. They have emergency medical protocols ready for that - not for random people on the street suddenly gaining abilities.

Newly empowered townspeople may jump in to help deal with the evolving chaos, but their lack of control of their powers makes them a bigger threat than whatever threat they were trying to stop. Others will shamelessly take advantage of the chaos to live their villainous dreams, robbing stores and taking revenge on their shitty bosses, landlords, or exes.

The reserve members of the Guardian Alliance spring into action. The heavy hitters are elsewhere, trying to deal with the loss of power and getting the city back online, and so you're left with the rookies trying to keep pace. Many of them are inexperienced and unable to keep up with the raw power and ruthlessness of newly awakened metas. Fantastic, an aerokinetic and one of the newer recruits, seems to be the only one even remotely holding his own.

It's clear they need your help to contain this!

The storm doesn't peter out after the new arrivals have all landed, either. The panic and chaos below seems to fuel it to a second peak. Clouds roil, electricity snakes, and the thunder builds into a deafening crescendo. Then with one final, blinding burst of light, everything goes dark and quiet.

The power is out.

More than just the power — Excelsior is out. The powergrid has been downed, its internal networks corrupted, anything that makes the city function is completely fried, that last surge of the storm apparently having acted as an EMP blast. All of Excelsior's internal systems are now offline. The lights are all out.

Vehicles are stalled out in the streets. And then comes the first crashing boom of a falling hover car. There are more still in the air, but anyone who might be in a position to save them will have only moments to do so before they smash apart on whatever or whoever is unlucky enough to be stuck below them.

And it's not just that. Hospitals are now without power.

VLOG SQUAD STRIKES BACK

In every disaster, the best and worst of human nature can be found. The best shines in every outstretched hand and combined effort, in every life saved. The worst is a gaggle of young adults that live together in the city's least favorite content creator house, known with equal parts irritation and secondhand embarrassment as The Vlog Squad. It seems five of the eight streamer/vlogger/influencers have developed meta powers, including one with the power to record, edit, and broadcast with her mind. The entire group made an on-stream pact to become (non-guild affiliated) supervillains, and their views are skyrocketing.

One of them jumps off a building to demonstrate how he can put holes in everything below him.

Playlist, the ringleader with a sizable following on Youtube and TikTok, has the ability to Freeze, Rewind, Fast Forward reality. Be unlucky enough to be caught in her gaze and find yourself frozen in place, talking in reverse, or zipping around faster than you can control. Good luck getting someone to understand you when you sound like a chipmunk.

Then there's there's the second in command, Filter, an up and coming Instagram star. Filter's powers seem to be tied to their phone. If they get a picture of you in the air - welcome to anti-gravity, you're now stuck floating like a balloon until someone can get you back to Earth. If they slap a sepia filter on an unflattering photo of you, you're now encased in stone until someone drops a compliment. Each filter does something a little different and the unfortunate effects are yours to find out.

The rest of their squad is less notable, both in terms of power and in terms of following. There's a young man who can project his voice for miles around. A young woman who can compel people to dance to the beats dropped by her literal soundcloud. There's one unfortunate fellow whose only real power seems to be to turn people's heads into emojis for 30 seconds.

They're targeting known heroes, but will settle for property damage if it means getting attention. New metas may find themselves accosted by a unpleasant young adult with a camera, mockingly asking if they plan to become heroes. No matter the answer, the result is the same - they'll mock your choice and reasoning and try to get away with a cruel prank.

POWER RESTORED

The power is restored. With it, a belated message makes it to guild and society phones: the guild says restrain the Vlog Squad however you can and await authorities.

Meanwhile a very different message hits the airwaves. Mechanima's digitized voice comes across official channels, torn between amusement and annoyance. He says deal with them, don't care how you do it, but start with the broadcaster.

Once that's done, the guild places a call back to its headquarters to bring everyone back with a teleportation spell. The spell reaches out for whatever metahumans it can find in the area and pulls.

All the metahumans who were involved in the Confluence — new arrivals and old — to a white training space that has already transformed into a luxurious waiting room.

Atomight arrives quickly and makes the following announcement:

Thank you for your help out there. The casualties would be so much higher were it not for those of you who risked your lives to save strangers. To those of you grappling with your new abilities, please rest assured that this room will give you a much needed reprieve. We have staff on site who can work with you to gain control of you new abilities, and nullifiers if you find it's still too much.

You are the third set of newly powered individuals this confluence has brought. Though many of you are native to this world, others among you have come from far off universes. To those of you who have been flung far from home, we'll put you in connection with the others. Many of them are here today and can advise you of what your new reality is here.

We of the Guardian Alliance are committed to doing everything we can to get you home, and to give you some time to get your feet under you. And as this may be your home for a while longer, I wish to formally extend an invitation to those of you who wish to use your powers to defend the innocent to join us.

They hand out cellphones to all present. Once everyone gathered has been looked over and attended to they're directed to the Diadem in and handed a credit card.

Later into the night, another message comes across those phones. The Society of Villainous Reformation formally extends an invitation to all those villainously inclined. Reply for more info.

IN SUMMARY

• New arrivals are falling from the skies. They're unharmed despite what should be a lethal impact. People in the city also begin developing superpowers upon landing.


• Players are free to create their own powered NPCs for these encounters and can use them.


• A notable group of online content creators called the Vlog Squad have developed powers and are terrorizing the city and are livestreaming every minute thanks to their powers.


• The Vlog Squad has declared on camera that they do not intend to join any guild and are already showing signs of disrespecting the code. For those already committed to guilds, this means:

  Atomight will ask player characters in the Guardian Alliance to deal with them peacefully.
  
  Mechanima demands that members of the Society of Villainous Reformation deal with them — whether this means incapacitating them, forcing them to join, or killing them is their choice.

• If anyone wants to engage Mechanima or Atomight, HERE is a top level where we will summarize their responses to PC questions and comments. Please also reply to this comment with what your character plans to do with the Vlog Squad. We encourage you to make posts on the OOC comm plotting out conflict and responses. You may also use this top level to ask event-specific questions about the effects on this page! (Please refer general questions about the setting to the FAQ, and refer any player plots to the PLOTTING page.)

VLOG SQUAD ENCOUNTERS

For each event with a clear antagonistic NPC force — such as the Vlog Squad, in the February arrival — interested players can pitch their characters' encounters with those NPCs. Whether characters are heroic and suited to the role or not, the aim is the group effort of pitching in, so we highly encourage collaborating on these encounters. Once enough NPC encounters have been submitted, we'll determine if and how the trouble has been addressed, and select one of those encounters to be the final, conclusive one in the game. Everyone else's encounters will also have taken place, but may have been temporary stopgaps in addressing the conflict rather than a conclusive blow. For this Confluence, we are asking that submissions be finalized by 3/5.

How it works:

• Reply to the relevant top-level comment with an encounter and/or questions about the encounter. The mods are happy to go back and forth with before locking in exactly what a character or group of characters does. Any conversations between characters and NPCs will most likely be happening prior to combat unless specified by the players.


• The mods ask that players present two options. In one version, the character or group of characters kills, immobilizes, or otherwise apprehend the villain(s). In the other version, one way or another, the villain escapes or overcomes the character or group of characters. Players who wish to have a specific spot in the timeline (near to the beginning or near to the end) should make this request explicit, and the mods will make efforts to accommodate this.


• The mods will RNG the results for the final encounter. For all other submissions, the escape/overcome option is selected. Open calls for collaboration which result in multiple player characters contributing to an idea or solution (see: Kamala Khan's solution to the Cerberus fight) have a much higher chance of being the final encounter, as we want to reward player collaboration and innovation. Please be sure that after everyone has weighed in you return to the top-level comment to report exactly what is happening and who is doing what.


• The mods will reply to player submissions with a brief outline of how all of the run-ins go, whether it's a fight or a slapstick series of hilarious accidents that involves the character(s).

Request NPC encounters using the following form —
<B>Characters involved:</b> Name (username) <b>Details of the encounter:</b> What's the plan? <B>How might the villain escape or overcome the player character(s)?</b> <B>How would the player character(s) kill, immobilize, or apprehend the villain?</b>

EXAMPLE—

Character(s) involved: The Iron Giant and Hank Hill
Details of the encounter: Hank will ride in Iron Giant's hand as they search the city for the Vlog Squad, eventually spotting them in a public park. They land explosively in the middle, throwing all of the squad off of their feet while the Iron Giant sends out a signal to scramble their livestreams and begins trying to catch the offenders up in both hands. Hank will try to tackle at least one of them.

How might the villain escape or overcome the player character(s)? Playlist slow motions Iron Giant and they easily duck its grasp, and Filter leaves Hank floating upside down as they make their escape.

How would the player character(s) kill, immobilize, or apprehend the villain? Iron Giant grabs Playlist before she can slow it, then picks up and captures all but Emoji; Hank throws a branch and beans that guy right in the head. Iron Giant gathers him up too, and they turn them in to the first batch of emergency responders they find.

Comments

[helpdesk_hero]

"You need to explain the Scions you invoke to me sometime, but for now, let's do our best here," David said, letting himself be guided along. "Something tells me I'm going to hate these Confluences."

But David follows, trying to stay calm.

"I don't want to do this alone anymore."

[portolan]

“Will do.” He has a growing list of Ivalice things to share with David.

He hears something in David’s comment. Whether it’s the words or the tone, he doesn’t know, and it doesn’t matter. Balthier turns back, voice lower, free hand finding David’s face.

“David, look at me. You aren’t alone. You have the Guild and you have me.”

He thinks of Fran, and how strange it’s been operating without her.

“I think maybe it’s best if both of us are more intentional about when we go at these alone. I — I’m really glad I just happened to be in this area when I was.”

Because he doesn’t like the thought of David out here alone like that. Feels like somehow he failed in it even happening in the first place.

[helpdesk_hero]

The guilds? David huffs at that.

"I trust the Alliance and the Society as far as I can throw them. And given my strength and the depth of their membership rosters, that's nowhere."

They are necessities here, not trusted individuals. But David was relieved to have Balthier here. That much was something he could trust in.

"Come on, let's see if we can't find the asshole."

[portolan]

He doesn’t push. But when he does meet some of David’s friends he’s probably going to say something about keeping an eye on him or offering to help. It’s not that he believes in the Society and the Guild; it’s that he trusts in people’s own self-preservation, and he trusts in the benefit of not being alone.

They aren’t far from the bike. Balthier only releases David’s hand to swing his leg back over the machine. He calls the power back on, keeping it just an inch above the ground for David to board. He’s not tired yet, but he’s not fresh either. He’ll have to keep an eye on that.

“I’m going to put the cloak on and then take us up. Hold tight; I’m we are compromised I may need to cut us quickly up or down.” He shouldn’t be compromised but it was a rookie oversight to not discuss a bail scenario.

[helpdesk_hero]

David really needed to get around to having Balthier meet the people important to him. Though he would be annoyed to know that Loki had gone and well, threatened Balthier. He'd have words. A lot of them.

Mostly though he'd be tired to hear that it happened, and warmed to know Loki cared that much. For now, though, there was something more important to do.

"Alright, You know I'll hold on. And if someone attacks, I'll do my best and see if I can make a blade or something to fend this fucker off."

[portolan]

Balthier reaches for the Mist. He knows it isn’t there but it’s the fastest way he can pull up spells. He fashions it over them and the bike, encouraging any eyes that land on them to see whatever is on the other side. Effectively invisible. He can feel a little pressure at holding that spell and the bike, but it’s not much strain.

“You can see the appeal of having had a magic-using partner with a ranged weapon in this set up. Alright. Let’s go.”

He eases the bike up. It vibrates gently but is otherwise silent. The buildings here aren’t too tall, maybe six or eight stories. So he clears them and starts to zig zag over the mostly-empty streets.

[helpdesk_hero]

"I'm usually the teammate in close proximity, no matter my team."

He could use Kate right now, his archery queen, or Billy with his magic. But David? He didn't like being in a position with no ranged support.

But damn, they're lucky they weren't in the core of downtown, tha'ts for sure.

"I'm doing my best to see if they're around. Even have the glasses running secondary analysis. Dammit I need to make an upgraded processor to carry with me."

[portolan]

“I’m usually ranged and magic support — Fran usually drove.”

But even if he could teach David to drive his bike — presuming it wasn’t tied to his magic alone — the magic he did have was mostly just smoke and lights. And his gun had six bullets. Gods he felt so useless here.

“Any way to look for victims? They may be more plentiful.”

[helpdesk_hero]

"Only by eye, just like for Filter. I'm not able to tap into all the security systems here, not without my hands physically on them."

So there was only so much he could do with it.

[portolan]

"My territory then."

At least there was something he was genuinely useful at. He drops lower, maybe only ten feet off the ground and goes slower. Easier to spot anyone hiding that way, and he's more interested in victims at this point. He'd like to take down Filter, but his fear and anger are subsiding, and more importantly, David is safe.

They find some a few blocks in. A pair of young teens with their legs literally frozen in place.

[helpdesk_hero]

"Your territory?"

David wasn't sure what that meant. But they were going lower and he wasn't going to argue. Especially when they caught sight of some youngsters. David cursed and, since they weren't really that far and he knew how to do a controlled fall, he let himself hit the ground rolling and then he was moving over to the youths.

"Yeah, Filter sucks."

[portolan]

"Good old fashion scouting -- one of my more useful piracy skills."

As David's arms come off his middle and the weight of the bike shifts, a wave of panic rolls through Balthier. He turns sharply, just in time to see David rolling gracefully back to his feet.

"I'm going to check the intersections."

Not worth being snuck up on, not when they know what Filter can do. With David off, he pushes the bike a little faster, looping the block and adjacent streets. He sees one more person with frozen legs, and assures them he'll be back, but no Filter.

"Any luck?" he asks David upon return.

[helpdesk_hero]

When Balthier returns David is just finishing dealing with the second person. It had htaken him some time to figure out how to deal with this whole mess. In the end it had taken warm hugs to get them free. Damn this was a silly thing.

"Yeah. Seems Filter has a whole other power. That's three affects I've seen now. I hate it a lot."

[portolan]

"That makes two of us. How did you get them free? There's another person a block over with the same problem."

Balthier doesn't know what a filter is, and isn't entirely aware of how he fixed David's situation. But he's glad it's two for two on not causing any lasting damage.

"Do you know what triggered the spell? Does he have an object, do we need to incapacitate his hands?"

Because Balthier really wants him off the street. And he's thinking about how to do that given their resources and limits.

[helpdesk_hero]

"Hugs," David answered, having to chuckle. "Frozen legs, I tried to figure out what sort of picture you'd take for that. Thought about a blue scale filter. Is cold, and often used in media as a short hand for being sad, or even for home sometimes? Figured a hug was a welcoming thing."

So yeah, camera, he'd been talking to people.

"It's his phone, I think? Or he's manifesting it through his phone."

[portolan]

"I think we need to add cameras and filters to my lesson list. I'm glad for your quick thinking and familiarity. Here, get on."

He forgets he needs to say that. He and Fran had so much synergy. It's strange to feel so close to David personally but have no real idea how he operates in the field.

"Let's free up that other fellow and see if we can't find Filter. I can send a decoy of one or both of us to distract him, and I should be able to get close enough to knock his phone away. Maybe we destroy it, or you lock it, we can disarm him."

[helpdesk_hero]

"Yeah, we'll go over that another time," David sighed, before mounting up behind Balthier. Give him time, Balthier, and you'll learn him, not that this is a good time to see all David can do in the field.

"I will do my best. Worst comes to worst, maybe I can just kick him in the face."

[portolan]

He knows better if he slows down to think. He and Fran took much longer to become friends, and a good two years to have anything like the field team they grew into. But he's feeling raw tonight.

David's comment gets a laugh, though.

"I can get you close enough. Just say the word."

They stop briefly at the other frozen fellow. Sure enough, a hug melts him right out. Balthier lifts them up again, but they lose any victims; Filter must have switched filters.

There's a ruckus and a flash off to the right, so he heads that way. They come into a break between some of the bigger buildings into a city park. And there's Filter. He holds them near a building, Filter's back to them for the time being.

"Ready?"

[helpdesk_hero]

"Word," David whispered teasingly into Balthier's ear. Sorry, he's just trying to make this lighter. For both of them. But the location is a good one for an ambush, and David nods his approval.

"This is your part then, my star. Dazzle him with confusion."

[portolan]

Balthier grins. The lightness is appreciated, as is the pet name. It grounds him, soothes the part of him that was still worried after the effects of the filter.

He raises the bike even as he pulls into the Mist, making sure they stay invisible while he casts a duplicate of them. It will run parallel, but fifty feet ahead of them. He feels pressure in his head. Running the bike and two spells is going to take concentration, but all he has to do is get David close to Filter.

He pushes the bike forward, and the double moves, catching Filter's attention. He uses the distraction to bring them up close behind him.

dammit notifications work

[helpdesk_hero]

When they're close enough David slips quietly from the bike and steps up behind Filter. His hope was that Balthier could get himself to safety, and meanwhile... Well, David knows how to fight. He grabs Filter's arm and pulls the man back against him, just into David's foot sweeping low to knock the asshole off his feet.

"Yeah, I'm back asshole," he hissed at Filter.

booo notifs tho no worries i was in back to back meetings today

[portolan]

David had mentioned fighting but Balthier hadn't actually thought through it. He's impressed. He was never particularly good at hand-to-hand himself.

Unfortunately, Filter manages to get a click in as he goes down, and his flailing body means he catches just enough of Balthier to apply a new filter.

Three things happen. One, Balthier drops the illusion spells, making him and the bike visible. Two, he completely drops the spell powering the bike, sending him tumbling over the front of it. And three, he now has an eyepatch, a comically large pirate hat, and a hook for a left hand. None of which are going to go away until someone says "Aye aye, captain." Oh, and he's suddenly entirely preoccupied with finding buried treasure.

[helpdesk_hero]

This was barely anything. David was a master of no less than seventeen different fighting styles, and that was before he got weapons involved. In fact, he was just about to demonstrate it more before he heard something behind him and... Oh dear.

Immediately Filter was forgotten, which was best for the Vlogger, who got up and rushed away. David, meanwhile, was rushing to Balthier. And not laughing. HE could laugh later.

"Are you alright, Balthier?"

[portolan]

He will have some bruises to match David's tomorrow, though luckily the absurd hat kept him from hitting his head directly.

However, that is far from his mind. Instead, he gets up, and immediately starts wandering around looking for a giant X. That's where there be treasure, o' course.

David's voice penetrates the spell enough for him to look back. Ah, yes, the fair lad he needs the treasure to impress. "Arr, thar be treasure nearby. Avast ye! We search!" And he's back to looking for that X, hooked hand held inexplicably like he's about to give a speech.

[helpdesk_hero]

Yes, it was absurd. AS all of this was. But Balthier getting up, ignoring him, and wandering off? Away from his bike? That wasn't good. Shit.

"Balthier, please, I'm going to ask you to focus here for a moment. There's no treasure nearby, I promise you."

Lies, the jewelry store they'd been to was. But it wasn't under an X.

"Darling, I need you to help me figure out how to help you."