Calling All Stars

## Premise

Big news! The famous movie director, the Engineer, is looking for new actors and three lucky toons have made it to the final rounds of auditions. Do they have what it takes to impress this hardy veteran? And will they be able to survive the unexpected task he throws at them? Either way it is sure to be a wild ride!

## Cast

* Modmad (DM)
	+ Engineer as NPC
* Luis as Tobias O'Chrowelle
* Staria as March of the Blooming Flowers
* Crankyteapot as Lucky Jack

## Notable NPCs

* Willow
* Sidewinder Sam

## Plot Summary

The three potential actors are sitting in the foyer of Dodo Studio, waiting for their auditions. Set on the table in front of them are three health potions and, after a moment, they grab one each. Lucky Jack also grabs a piece of fruit, not realising it is plastic until he has bitten into it. At this point an owl comes to let them in, telling them to be quiet as the Engineer is still in the process of shooting a scene. Unfortunately, as March is entering he trips over something on the floor and Tobias O'Chrowelle falls over him, causing a huge racket that is thankfully covered by the current shoot. The pair are mortified but attention is quickly turned back to the set where a giant monster is breathing ice onto a miniature town filled with running people.

Not long after, the 'monster' calls a cut and the Engineer shrinks down from his magically, massive size to greet them. He asks them what they think the meaning of the movie was but they are all stuck on the surface level of giant, monster movie. This puts the Engineer a little out, as he is currently trying to branch out in movie styles and was trying to do a metaphor about the cold snap that happened in Toontown due to recent events.

However, he quickly brushes this off and moves onto the auditions, randomly assigning roles to the three for a mock scene. March gets assigned the role of the villain, Lucky Jack is the hero and Tobias has the role of the comic relief character that the other two are trying to win over. Neither Lucky Jack nor March do well at first, however, Tobias knocks his part out of the park, very much impressing the Engineer. This makes Tobias really happy and he changes colour, causing even more interest from the director. After some critique and advice to the other two, they try again with vast improvements.

Satisfied with that, the Engineer asks the three to prove to him what makes them special and why he should hire them. Tobias says he's good at getting into characters. Rolling with this, the Engineer lets him pick a costume and Tobias tries to do a pirate impression. It doesn't go that well so the Engineer decides to demonstrate by jumping on Tobias and waving a sword in his face. This startles Tobias into falling over but on his next go, he imitates the Engineer and does a much better impression. After that, March shows off his stuntsmanship by doing acrobatics all over the studio. Then Lucky Jack does a dramatic villain performance on one of the toppled over buildings. The Engineer is very happy with all of their performances and decides to move on to the next part of the audition. He starts up a humongous and deadly-looking obstacle course machine and is about to send them through it when the office phone rings and an owl frantically waves him over.

While the Engineer is gone, the three have the chance to look around the studio a bit but it isn't long before the Engineer comes back out and begins to usher them to another point telling them that something has come up. Following his lead, the four of them step through a teleportation circle that takes them to the Warne Desert (where the Engineer has shot some of his famous movies). Once there, he gives them a rundown of the situation.

A few days before, his beloved train Willow (which had been seized by McCodger's bailiffs to pay off his debts) had been stolen and he just got word that they were expected to be in this area very soon and that (instead of their final test) he would like them to help him get his train back. They all agree, delighting the Engineer.

After letting them know that the owls and crows with them were going to be there mostly for filming and to worry more about the fight that was almost guaranteed to be waiting for them, he gets them onto some horses. This does not go well at first (as none of them have ever ridden before) but after a bit of coaching, they are ready to go. The Engineer then gets on his own blind mule, Bonnie, and they begin riding towards the edge of the cliff. The Engineer asks them to trust him and so, unsure what to expect but trusting all the same, they follow him off the side of the massive cliff.

They freefall down, getting very close to the bottom before the Engineer signals to the owls following on broomsticks to cast feather fall and slow their descent. They land on the ground right near to where the train is, getting a drop (quite literally) on the group of bandits, as they quickly race to close the remaining distance between them. The Engineer races onto the tracks in front of the train, causing it to come to a halt right in front of Bonnie before he is flung up onto the first carriage. With the train stopped, this gives the others just enough time to jump onto the train (Tobias only just managing to do so) before Willow begins to rewind and take off backwards. As she does so, several weasels and hyenas climb out of the carriages and onto the rooves to confront them. March holds a bunch of them off to allow the Engineer to begin making his way to the engine. Meanwhile, Jack is dancing and taunting the guy near him while Tobias makes his way forward through the less heavily guarded insides of the carriages. Tobias notices that the train is full of cargo but the lighting isn't good enough for him to make out what it is.

As the Engineer makes it to the fuel caddy, the coal underneath him explodes with gunfire, pushing him back as a large snake emerges. Seeing this, March and Jack swap places so Jack can take on the goons while March tries to make his way forward to back up the Engineer. However, the Engineer calls out to them to try and get to the engine while he holds off Sidewinder Sam. He goes to attack but the snake is too fast, hypnotizing him before wrapping him up in his coils and squeezing. This jolts the Engineer awake only to find himself stuck.

March is torn about the new orders before deciding to trust the Engineer as he begins to climb along the side of the fuel caddy. Meanwhile, Tobias emerges from inside the carriage to see the situation before recklessly deciding help and taunt the giant, venomous snake. Of the few remaining goons left, one of the weasel tries to follow March along the outside of the train while another tries to shoot the Engineer. He misses, hitting Sidewinder Sam and decides to jump off the train rather than deal with the wrath of his temperamental boss.

Seeing Tobias put himself in danger, the Engineer explodes out of the snake's hold and slashes right through one of Sam's eyes. In a blind rage, Sidewinder Sam lunges forward and bites down hard on the Engineer. Jack uses this moment to insult the snake before casting an illusion of fire on the coal to make him believe he's on fire. To add to the confusion Tobias casts dissonant whispers at him before healing the Engineer some health back. Meanwhile, March makes it to the engine and gets some good hits on the hyena driving the train. When the goon tries to punch back, March trips him and he lands on the Johnstone bar, pushing it back in the forward direction and causing the train to come to a sudden stop. Up above, everyone but the Engineer manage to keep their footing and the director flies back and hits the side of the engine. As the train begins to travel forward, March knocks the prone hyena out the door and into the weasel following him, sending them both off the train. Willow then helps guide him through the process of how to drive her and March sets them on a course for home. As he does this, he turns on the intercom, letting everyone know he's in control and for the remaining weasels and hyenas to drop their weapons (which they do).

Meanwhile, the Engineer attacks Sidewinder Sam again and the snake, confused and hurting, slithers away from the imaginary flames and onto the next carriage. Tobias climbs on top of the still seemingly on fire fuel caddy to give the Engineer his health potion before the pair intimidate the snake into fleeing the train altogether. Elated, the Engineer hires the three of them on the spot before the group then make their way back to the studio.

Once they arrive however, they are greeted by the unwelcome sight of Scru McCodger's lawyers, who are here to take the train back. Before the Engineer can step in, the others shoot them down, telling them that they were the ones that lost it in the first place and that they didn't do anything to get it back. Adding in the threat of the film footage for proof, the vultures reluctantly concede and leave and everyone else celebrates.

## Session Recording

Calling All Stars

Transcript