Look Out!

## Premise

The mysterious device found on the Halloween parade float raised suspicions among many members of our little group, but it seems that the next threat comes not from inside the city, but from Endsville. Or at least, that’s the safe assumption to make as dozens of tiny flying mutants swarm the city. How will our heroes deal with this situation?

## Cast

* Zen (DM)
* Tailwind (Tallestnull)
* Shaun (Verl)
* Brittney Megan Bronson (Talatala)
* Kat Afka (Lordlyhour)
* Nikola N. Change (Authorticity)

## Plot Summary

Tailwind is taking a look over the strange device recovered from the Halloween parade in their shack at the junkyard. From the outside, the device could pass as a normal speaker, but Tailwind pops the cover off and finds a small vial of Catalyst V wired in as a component of the device, and a seal for Bronson Technology on one of the device's components. Tailwind stores the vial of Catalyst away from their other stash of Catalyst, and then checks on the stickbug and Factoid. Tailwind has been experimenting with what the stickbug will eat (metal, small bugs, and leaves). Nikola and Tailwind both fail to roll Insight on the stickbug to tell if it's hostile. Tailwind has also been carefully feeding Factoid old unwanted school notes and textbooks. Nikola gifts Tailwind a gentle parenting book to help with Factoid, which they immediately start feeding to Factoid, completely missing the fact that Nikola wants them to read it.

We cut to school later that day, last period, where all 5 of the PCs are in separate classes. About 20 minutes before the school day is over, all of the gang notice that several mutant creatures are flying around campus, apparently looking for something. Shaun can't tell if anyone else in his class has noticed anything odd, only Nikola's teacher has noticed, everyone else can tell that very few people seem to have noticed, and no one is reacting. Nikola raises their hand and points out the mutants outside to the teacher, who insists nothing out of the ordinary is going on.

Kat immediately excuses himself from class for "unspecified reasons" and runs off to find the others. Tailwind sneaks out of class, leaving a balloon with a face behind as a decoy, and heads to their locker to get ready. Kat runs into Tailwind's classroom and runs off with the balloon. Nikola's teacher gets frustrated with them insisting there are mutant birds outside and sends him to the nurse's office. Nikola pulls Shaun from his class, saying there's a 'family emergency'. Nikola, Shaun, and Kat all try to go collect Brittney from class, but Brittney telekinetically locked the door to her classroom. Kat wants to go for Brittney through the ceiling, but Nikola telepathically convinces him to let them make a distraction first.

Nikola knocks on the door, and the teacher has Brittney open it. Nikola makes a pitch to the class for everyone to sign a petition to start an anime club. Kat descends from the vents and kidnaps Brittney from the classroom, and Nikola leaves the anime club petition, which Kat has somehow already signed. Tailwind meets up with the rest of the group and pops their decoy balloon, which Kat was still carrying. The five head to the roof and try to figure out why the flying mutants are here, and Tailwind tells them all what they learned from examining the soundmaking device. Kat suggests using the device from the Halloween parade to repel the flying mutants, and Tailwind says that may work. Brittney checks the news on her phone and sees there is no mention of the flying mutant swarm. Brittney says the group should lay low since no one else is making a big deal of this, and heads back to class with the offer to meet up behind the school if things aren't back to normal before school lets out.

Kat casts Speak with Animals and tries asking some of the nearby mutants why they're here. The mutants respond that they are searching for "green" and "paper". Kat tells Tailwind that the mutants seem to be looking for Factoid, and Tailwind wants to get back to the junkyard ASAP. Nikola calls home and tells one of their grandmas about the teacher trying to gaslight them, and the grandma calls the school and yells at the school admin, providing a distraction for the kids to sneak out of the school. Kat directs some of the mutants to a nearby bank in an attempt to distract them with "green paper". School lets out and Kat returns to kidnap Brittney, who quickly puts on her civilian disguise to not be seen with him.

On the way to the junkyard, Nikola and Tailwind notice some police robots trying to catch the flying mutants with nets, without much luck. They pass the 8-12, where Perspicuity is shooing some birds with a broom from the store's roof. Kat tries to convince the birds to leave Perspicuity alone, but fails. At the junkyard, some mutants are looking through the trash heaps. Tailwind picks up the living scarecrow from Push-Ups for Power-Ups and tries to scare the mutant near the shack away with it, but isn't very successful. Brittney suggests they just leave Factoid somewhere public for the mutants to take them, but the others shut that idea down. Nikola says he or Brittney are the best options to handle the device, but Brittney quickly shuts down the idea of her handling the thing. Nikola suggests they get the device rigged to a remote control, which Tailwind agrees to try implementing. Brittney takes a phone call and ignores the group for a bit.

Tailwind heads into the shack, closes all the blinds, and begins piecing the device back together. They're able to get the device back to how they remember it being assembled, and add on a short-range remote with a wire. Tailwind hands the device off to Nikola and asks where the device should be set up. Nikola suggests taking it to the top of Bronson Tower with Brittney's help, using a fake school project as an excuse. Nik asks if Kat could navigate the vents in Bronson Tower, but he hasn't visited in a while and isn't confident he could. Nik thinks he has the best chance of making it inside Bronson Tower without raising suspicions, and asks Kat for a coat or something that could disguise their transformation if needed, which Kat enthusiastically agrees to.

Brittney's call ends while Kat tries to find Nikola a disguise, and Nikola tells Brittney they're planning to use the top of Bronson Tower to deploy the machine. Brittney argues against the idea, and says it would be better to sneak Nikola in. Nikola says that they're asking for Brittney's help and would owe her a favor, and Brittney reluctantly agrees and walks Nikola through some rules for the tower so he won't draw attention. Nik brings up the fact that their mom Quartz used to work for Mayor Bronson as an intern, and says they can use that as additional proof they should be allowed in the tower if needed. Nikola asks for Brittney's help picking out a disguise, and she helps them pick out an outfit. Tailwind shows the two how to take the vial of Catalyst V out of the device in case things go bad. The group decides that Kat will come inside the tower and hide in the vents at Brittney's room (with Brittney giving directions to the roof), and Shaun and Tailwind will hide outside the tower.

The gang head to Bronson Tower, and Shaun and Tailwind hide in a nearby alley. The other three head inside the tower, where Kat makes conversation with some of the employees he remembers while Nikola and Brittney power-walk through the lobby. The trio take the elevator to Brittney's penthouse apartment using her keycard, where Kat enters the vents and Nikola and Brittney head for the stairs to the roof. Nikola remarks this is too easy, and then while passing a landing, the door opens and Mayor Bronson steps out into the stairwell. Brittney greets her dad and tells him she's working on a school project with Nikola, and Nikola puts on a more formal persona and introduces themself. Mayor Bronson recognizes Nikola's name and asks after Quartz and their other moms, and tells them to give Quartz a hello. Nikola explains the fake experiment, and Bronson gives them the go-ahead to use the roof and heads down the stairs. Brittney hurries Nikola up the stairs and unlocks the door to the roof. Nikola telepathically suggests that there may be cameras on the roof, though neither of them can tell if there actually are, and both make a show of setting up their experiment.

Nikola pulls out a wind sock and attaches it to the noise device to hopefully disguise it, setting it up and then using some umbrellas on the roof to construct a 'windbreak' to hide in. Nikola telepathically rants about Bronson asking about her mom, but Brittney tells him to keep it to himself. Nikola activates the device, which starts making the same annoying noise. Most of the party manage to resist transforming, but Nikola is still emotional and is forced into their mutant form. Brittney casts Calm Emotions to try to help Nikola. The flying mutants all start flying away from Bronson Tower at once, repelled by the device. From the vents, Kat sees activity pick up in the offices as people start to notice the mutants flying away, and a couple of police robots enter Bronson's office. Kat texts Brittney to let her know, but Brittney is preoccupied with comforting Nikola and doesn't see the text.

Nikola eventually recovers a bit and sits up, and suggests they might be able to use Sentry to get off the roof if needed, but Brittney points out there may be cameras and it's suspicious if they come up to the roof and never coming back down (via the building). Nik tells Brittney to update Kat via text, prompting Brittney to see Kat's text and warn Nikola. Brittney and Nikola decide to stay on the roof for several minutes after turning the device off, to look less suspicious. Outside, Tailwind notices that the police robots are on alert and some are heading to the tower. Kat decides to take the vents to mayor Bronson's office and texts Brittney to let her know, and Brittney immediately spam-texts him not to, but he ignores it. Brittney tells Nik what Kat is trying to do, and they offer to try and distract the mayor by asking about their mom, but Brittney thinks that won't work.

After getting a bit turned around in the vents, Kat does end up looking into Bronson's office without being detected. The mayor is not actually present at the moment, and the cops are just guarding his desk. Kat texts Tailwind to update them on the situation and ask for advice on what he should do. Tailwind recommends that Kat lay low and sneak out as soon as he won't be noticed, because if he gets caught in this situation he is screwed. Kat hears the police bots talking about the building being searched for the noise device, and texts the information to Brittney. Brittney tells Nikola that the police are searching for the device, and the two of them split it up and stash it in their hammerspaces. Brittney takes the Catalyst because she's less likely to be searched, and Nikola labels the rest of the device as "reclaimed trash" and takes it. The two of them tidy up the roof before heading back down.

While Kat is still in the vents, Mayor Bronson storms into his office with some more police robots. The mayor confronts the police, saying they told him the device was destroyed during the parade and that he wants it recovered. He sends the robots to fan out around Bronson Tower, and Kat texts Tailwind to warn them. Tailwind and Shaun head to a nearby BronsonBucks and buy some snacks, then head back towards the junkyard. Brittney and Nikola head down from the roof to Brittney's room. Mayor Bronson leaves his office, and Kat heads to Brittney's room to meet up with the others.

Kat relays what he found out from spying on the mayor to the others, and Nikola takes Brittney's hand to comfort her and hold her back from killing Kat. Brittney tells Kat she won't keep helping him if he keeps doing stupid things like this, Kat brushes it off, and Nikola says the group care about his safety. Kat says he doesn't mind risking himself for the group, and the group head to Brittney's room and start doing some homework. Kat is disappointed to see Brittney's room is sparsely furnished and not decorated and comments on it, but Brittney says that she doesn't like clutter. Nikola starts writing an essay over pollination levels to cover their tracks while the other two fight.

There's a knock on Brittney's door, and Mayor Bronson's assistant says that Bronson has some questions for Brittney and her guest. The two head to mayor Bronson's office, where he welcomes them in with a friendly tone. He asks if they saw anything unusual from the roof, and when Brittney mentions the flying "pests" leaving, Bronson says they suspect someone had set up an animal-repelling device. Nikola and Brittney both say they didn't see anything strange. Bronson buys it, and sends Nikola out of the room to discuss some "family business" with Brittney while Nikola waits outside the door. Nikola can sense Brittney's fear, and tries to make their mental connection a source of comfort for Brittney as they wait outside.

Mayor Bronson confronts Brittney about not noticing anything after he asked her to keep her eyes open. She deflects that the roof isn't a good vantage point, and Bronson demands she pay more attention. Brittney tries to claim she thought the animals were just migrating, but Bronson cuts her off and says they both know better. Bronson says that undesirable things are happening in the city and they must be stopped at any cost, and after Brittney agrees, he dismisses her. While Brittney opens the door to leave, the mayor catches sight of Nikola looking foreboding. Nikola comforts Brittney through their mental link throughout the encounter.

Nikola texts his mom about meeting mayor Bronson and clarifies that he's safe, and she texts back that she's glad he's safe and loves him, which he doesn't respond to. Nikola summons everyone to a movie night at the junkyard to unwind. Tailwind's shed is undisturbed, but it's clear Factoid and the mutant stickbug were affected by the noise device earlier. Brittney isn't in the mood for movie night, but does decide to go because Nikola was the one to invite her. Nikola mentally celebrates that Brittney is participating in a group activity.

## Notes

This was the longest Heroes of Wellspring City game yet, played in a single 6-hour session with 2 breaks.

The speaker device is **not** powered by the Catalyst V, but the Catalyst is an important component of the device.

Brittney says the group should have killed Yllwyll when they first met him.

Author mishears Yllwyll's name as LOL.

At about two hours in, Tala got a phone call and had to step away, prompting Brittney to be engrossed with her phone in the game.

Kat's disguise kit is a full wardrobe. It includes some clothes left behind by Brittney when they were still friends.

Nikola promises to one day let Kat give them a makeover.

Brittney has picked up 'farmerisms' from being friends with Nikola.

Kat refers to Mayor Bronson as "mayor your dad" to Brittney.

Kat is the only member of the group with a happy family life and good relationship with his guardians.

## Art Gallery

Title card, drawn by ktKat taking Tailwind's balloon decoy from their class, drawn by ktKat descending from the vent to kidnap Brittney, drawn by kt