A Watershed Issue

## Premise

In the last game, the party faced off against and managed to defeat a slime monster that slunk away into a storm drain. Surely that won’t have any consequences! Now it’s time to see how the city is responding to the incident, and maybe investigate the tremors shaking the ground…

## Cast

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

## Notable NPCs

* Rhett Bronson (Mayor of Wellspring City)
* Unnamed ink monster (killing centipedes in the subway tunnels)
* Perspicuity Witt (Owner of the 8-12 convenience store)

## Plot Summary

### Part One

The game opens the morning after the last session with a news broadcast where mayor Rhett Bronson tells the public that the commotion downtown in First Day on the Job was caused by a car crash instead of a slime monster. He also advises the public that there will be small tremors in the city as a result of the construction to rebuild the damaged buildings. Following the broadcast, Nikola decides to start a conspiracy board, with the fact that Mayor Bronson is suspicious as the first item. Tailwind decides to start making a Bingo card for Bronson's news announcements.

Nikola calls Shaun to talk about the news announcement, and they both agree it was bullshit. Nikola loops Tailwind and Kat into a conference call and they theorize the mayor has some kind of earthquake machine, though Shaun points out that at least no one will be looking for mutants. Nikola also loops Brittney into the conference call, and Brittney says that she can't share any details of what her father is doing. Everyone leaves the call to head to school. On the way to school, Brittney, Kat, and Tailwind do notice slight tremors in the ground, and Tailwind notices that policebots are guarding the subway entrances.

At school, Tailwind starts doing some repairs in the air ducts, while Nikola, Kat, and Shaun agree that Tailwind should be getting paid for what they do. After morning classes, everyone but Brittney eats lunch together. Brittney reads the minds of her popular friends and finds out that the other students at school believe the mayor's fake announcement this morning. Nikola telepathically sends Brittney small tidbits of gossip throughout lunch. Tailwind explains that they fix things around the school for free to repay a debt they have to the school. The group decide to investigate the subway tunnels after school to see what's actually causing the tremors. Tailwind offers to put together some tests to figure out the limits of everyone's powers, and the group discuss Tailwind's mutant stickbug.

After classes, Nikola invites Brittney to join them in investigating the subway, and Brittney accepts, eager to test out her powers. The five head to a nearby subway station, where Tailwind disables the policebot guarding the entrance with an electromagnet. Tailwind starts disassembling and looting the robot, and Shaun picks them up and carries them off into the subway. The group change into costumes and Kat and Tailwind figure out where the tremors are coming from. As the group walk through the subway, a giant centipede bursts through the wall.

Brittney restrains the centipede with a tentacle (Maximilian's Earthen Grasp), and Tailwind hits it with Fireball. The centipede tries to attack Kat and Brittney but fails. Shaun rages and attacks the centipede with his tail. Nikola fails to hit the centipede with Toll the Dead, but Kat manages to hit it with his swords and kill it. Nikola, Tailwind, and Brittney notice that there are still tremors, and head into the tunnel the centipede made to find the source.

Nikola struggles with his footing in the centipede tunnel and winds up transforming back to normal to navigate better. Tailwind also struggles and winds up falling down the tunnel until Shaun catches them. Tailwind accidentally shocks Shaun, who is unphased. The centipede tunnel opens out into a sewer tunnel, where two giant worms are tunneling. Nikola tries to reach out to the worms telepathically and fails because the worms have no language, but does detect another sapient mind somewhere below the city. Nikola warns the others that they're not alone down here.

The group attack the giant worms, focusing their attacks on one worm at a time. Kat hits the worm with his sword, Shaun fails to hit it with his tail, and Brittney hits it with Mind Sliver. Tailwind hits the worm with Shocking Grasp, and Nikola casts Toll the Dead, and Kat finishes off the first worm with his sword. The second worm attacks Kat, and Shaun crits a hit on it with his tail. Brittney hits the second worm with Mind Sliver, and Tailwind fails to Shocking Grasp it. Nikola hits the worm with Mind Sliver, and Kat hits the worm with his sword and kills it.

The group immediately turn their attention to trying to find the person Nikola sensed, but Nikola gets a headache and fails to pinpoint where the person is. The group, now that they're free to look around without the worms distracting them, investigate the sewers and the many surrounding insect tunnels looking for signs of the person down here. Nikola manages to push through and lock onto the other person's mind and hears their creepy voice, but their head literally splits for a moment, and they become near-catatonic with a line of glowing green splitting their design and pointing towards the other person. Kat and Tailwind notice loose black ink splattered on the ground in the direction Nikola is pointing. The group decides to go try to find the mysterious person.

### Part Two

Shaun picks up Nikola, who is still incapacitated, and uses them as a compass to navigate the twisting tunnels dug by the worms. Nikola is focusing hard on their mental connection to the mysterious stranger, trying to ask who they are, but the mysterious figure does not answer. The group come out of the worm tunnels and back into a dark subway tunnel, which appears empty to everyone except Tailwind, who spots a shadowy ink monster in the darkness. Tailwind points the monster out to the rest of the group.

Tailwind greets the ink monster, who says they shouldn't be down here and asks why they are. Tailwind asks why the ink creature is down here and the monster shows the corpse of a giant centipede it killed. Nikola again asks who the monster is, but it refuses to answer and asks who Nikola is instead. Nikola tries and fails to read the monster's mind. Kat pipes up that they're meddling, and the monster says they're out of their depth. Nikola returns to their normal, non-mutant appearance, and everyone but Tailwind notices that the ink monster seems interested by Nikola's transformation. Kat tries to block Nikola from the monster's view.

Shaun and Nikola ask for more information about what's going on and what's up with the giant worms and centipedes. The monster says that the bugs are mutants, and that mutants don't belong outside of Endsville so the group should go back there. Brittney challenges the ink monster to a fight, and the others try to talk her down. Shaun tries to provoke Brittney, using her real name. Kat tries to use Cure Wounds on Nikola to help with their headache, and Nikola tells Shaun to bring them further away from Kat, using Shaun's real name in the process.

Nikola asks how the mayor knew about the worms were down here, and Tailwind asks how the worms got down here in the first place. The monster dodges the question, saying that the answers are unimportant and all mutants in Wellspring City will die anyway. Nikola gets the sense that the monster does actually know something about the mayor, but doesn't know how the worms got here. Brittney taunts that the ink monster should look in a mirror, and it gets very angry. Nikola mentally recruits Brittney to help get the others out of the subway.

As the group makes their way towards the nearest subway exit, Tailwind tries to sneakily take a photo of the ink monster. The ink monster sees the camera flash and tackles Tailwind despite Kat's attempt to hide them with a cloud of smoke. The ink monster destroys the phone that Tailwind used to take the picture, and Tailwind casts Tasha's Hideous Laughter to get the ink monster off of them. The group run out of the subway and Brittney casts Friends on the robot guarding the subway exit, so they all manage to escape before the ink monster recovers.

The group duck into an alleyway and quickly change out of their costumes. Nikola suggests they get off the street, and Tailwind suggests the nearby 8-12 convenience store. As the adrenaline wears off, Nikola starts to deteriorate, and Brittney casts Calm Emotions on the group to help everyone calm down. Shaun gives Nikola a piggy-back ride to the 8-12, where the group meet Perspicuity, the owner of the store. Perspicuity says the group can hang out in the back of the store to avoid anyone that may be following them.

Nikola apologizes to Shaun for using his name in front of the ink monster, and Shaun and Kat say the group should probably come up with new names for when they're in disguise. Shaun brings up the possibility of them being captured and experimented on if anyone finds out they're mutants. Tailwind brings up the idea of setting up some tests at the junkyard so everyone can figure out their powers. The group goes up to the roof of the building, where there are some garden beds and pillows, and everyone huddles together under Nikola's blanket to talk.

The group discuss what to do going forward. Brittney brings up training to grow their powers, and Nikola brings up that they should make sure they hide the fact that Shaun and Brittney know each other, since their names were used. Kat plays devil's advocate and suggests not meddling in future monster attacks, but everyone decides to continue stepping in when they're needed. Everyone starts to brainstorm superhero names and the scene fades out.

## Notes

Kat's costume is a gas mask. Brittney's costume is an old anime cosplay. Tailwind and Nikola wear the same disguises as in the previous game, and Shaun just changes to his slime form.

If Nikola needed to hide a body, they would ask any of the other members of the group.

While looking for the person in the sewers, the players got 3 nat 20s in a row.

Author describes Nikola and Shaun as "the ones that carry each other".

Brittney and Shaun's real names are spoken in front of the monster.

The FNAF song that Zen got stuck in his head at the beginning of part 2 was "Trust Me" by CK9C

## Session Recording

Part One

Part Two

## Art Gallery

Title card for part 1 of the gameMayor Rhett Bronson the second, drawn by Doc8-12 owner Perspicuity, drawn by MiraThe ink monster from the sewers, drawn by Doc