Retreat! (OOC)

Out of character chatter about Retreat! can go here to avoid cluttering up the Roleplay thread.This is for longer questions and answers related to that Roleplay. Basically: if it needs a back-and-forth, put it here.
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Agreed. I figured the spa was a good pause point anyway. We can return to it if we need to see more of what happened there.
Only if she wants to be. There are other ways she might approach this.
Yep. The spa seemed a logical place for such a meeting. The restaurant is more likely to have social responsibilities attached to any time there.

Sure.

Though rather than deleting, you can strike it out, but we can also just include any chance meeting with anyone as something that happened before you went back to your room.

Sounds good.

Do we think you are actually going that far? The book says:
It sounds more like you are merely looking around for clues, and you are in the exact right place, I don't really see any impediment to your finding what you need.

If you do want to trigger the Move, show us how you tap into your darkest self. What you are actually doing to gain this effect will dictate what the consequences might be on a Miss, or the price on a Partial Success.

No matter what, we will still get you where you need to go, but this might change how you feel when you get there.

That's a good point! You're right -- I don't think Let it Out is necessary here

Thank you for pausing! I want to engage this material, for sure, but life was unkind this week. I'll post shortly.

@Drgwen: It has only been a few days, but you can decide how much your vampire bite tooth-scratch comes into play with massages and possibly swimming [ref] (you might have a swimsuit that covers that part of your shoulder?)

Mostly up to you... unless the dice say otherwise and it comes up as a consequence (we don't do Hit Point Loss, we do narrative:).

No problem from me.
It might be my naivete, but this is a proper bite, with significant bleeding and all, so I would assume most people who see it would not think 'kinky'? You would need to sell it. It is up to you how you want to shape the 'bite', be it a 'scratch line' or a 'bite mark' or whatever, it is your body, you have to live with it.

Actually, on second thought, given how the bite was given it probably looks more like a tear than a bite. She was lunging as she did it, it had to tear through demon armor, etc. So I think it would look more like an animal bite than a kink mark.

OK, I'll address it if/when it arises IC.

But that is fungible. You can say that it looks more and more like a bite the more you look at it... if that feeds you anxiety. :)

Up to you.

Ha! Yes. I love it. Like a teen with a hickey.

@Delirium would Persephone know who Henry is, do you think?

lolol little innocent Emma!

I’m good with concluding too. And what’s funny is, Persephone did not even notice if she was hot or not. She was in predator mode and all she saw was prey.

@Delirium, was Henry around when Emma was at college with Persephone? I don't recall the timing. I thought that might have been from before you came to London?

So true. :)

Persephone? What's the play?

Given how obsessed she was in the first few years of her time in London (based on the story on Emma's sheet), perhaps Persephone has seen photos? And after all, she knows Henry is here somewhere.

@vagueGM Persephone is definitely going to guess it's Henry.

Agreed. I will pick up from there.

He did just realise [ref] he should not have mentioned the 'secret society'... it is meant to be 'secret', after all. :)

Looks like this is might be a Mislead, Distract, and Trick [ref] to get him to spill the beans. But it could also be a Persuade [ref] since your "--a suite, actually. You should see it!" could easily be (mis)construed as an invitation for him to join you in your room...

If you are 'inviting him up' then he might just outright invite you to join them tonight (messing up the numbers... but he does not know that:). But you will need to deal with his drunken ass pawing at you (or whatever) and may need to run delaying tactics between now and dinner to keep him off you in the between-times (... unless ...).

Yep. That was sorta what it looked like.

Persuade [ref] never requires your to keep you promise or follow through on your seduction, but people will remember that you 'led them on' and your actions will affect what people think of you later. In this case, Persuade turns out to be the more offensive Move, Mislead, Distract, and Trick [ref] could turn out to be much easier to brush off as 'hey, I did nothing'. :)

I only mention this because this is an important NPC, he is part of Emma's sheet. So your choice of actions will affect her as well, especially when he finds out you two are friends... but maybe his altered mental capacity will allow you some extra freedom (sure will help with the lie of 'we went to college together', maybe he remembers that as 'we went to college together' ... but about Emma?)? Discovering your 'good intentions' might help offset this, but that might mean revealing to him —that you believe in— a world of magic.
If you are trying to Persuade him with (hinted) 'seduction', then roll Persuade. I think the trigger is met.

@Delirium: Speaking of Emma's playbook: We were chatting about potential playbooks for Emma to change into later. Maybe take a look a the newly released (preview) playbook The Witch [announcement].

I have not looked at it in detail, and I am not sure '(a magic user who) prioritizes the health of her community over some grand quest for power' is what we think of when we think of Emma but she could grow out of her selfishness?

It is also a high Heart playbook, so that is cool for Emma. :)

No kidding.

Maybe it is just my innate optimism... but people can change? :)
The whole business of changing playbooks is tricky. But surely, unless the situation under which you change merits it, you would keep (most of) your existing Stats? So we might not care about the new playbook's starting Stats... except that they do suggest to us what that playbooks needs.
Let's not worry about it now. It should be a while before we are ready to make that change, and they are releasing new playbooks, so, when it comes time, there may be options that are a perfect fit? Else it may need to be a messy, life-altering change.

Changing playbooks is an opportunity to reinvent oneself? But yeah, probably too much to ask. :)

Thanks for letting me know! And yeah I’m enjoying it too. You do a great job of playing Emma!

Do you want to continue this awkward non-conversation, of shall we fast-forward through the dinner to the 'games' after? We can assume or reference anything that may have happened between Emma and Persephone and anyone else.

I figure there will be some 'team' element to the 'games'. Do you two want to end up on the same team together, or do they separate you? When we go out into the park for the finale part, who do you want to have with you? It might be 3 teams of 4, or 4 teams of 3, or some other combination (there were meant to be 12 of you, but now the numbers are odd).

I like the idea of Persephone getting shoved back at Henry, in part because of what it might mean for Persephone and Emma’s relationship.

Sounds like a plan... (I suspect the word 'terrible' should have been inserted in there, but can't see how to fit it... oh well, never mind:).

How many people in each team? 3 or 4?

Three is magic number, yes it is

OK, for this part they seem to pairing you off as 'couples' so 'Sin and Kat are on another team.

William is a 'senior member', which senior member do Persephone Henry get 'paired' with? Charlotte or Reginald?

Does Emma end up with Percy, or some other rando?

We currently have three members of our party unnamed, we could put them on a team together with whoever is left and mostly forget about them?

Go for it. Interesting that they don't pair him with Wakefield, who brought him. Perhaps the Persephone/Henry pairing has other meaning? :)

One's a boy, one's a girl, there is little else to distinguish them so far. Choose based on that, else I will toss a coin. If you would prefer some 'second-tier management' like Lawrence Wakefield, we can do that too.

You can assume all my characters are fair game. :)

ah, good! I like that assumption!

Oh Noes! Did GP eat it, or did you forget to post it? Do we need to look into it?
Such a pity you did not post first, we all know that posting first means you win! :)

I think we can treat Emmas 11 while using a specialist skill (coupled with her familiarity with escape rooms) as her coming out on top for this bit?

Yep I think so. This is definitely more her thing than Persephone’s, plus that’s a good roll!

To possible i somehow wrote it but didn’t post it, yes. I don’t see it on my laptop but it might be in my desktop. Nothing significant was lost, though, so no biggie.

Definitely. You are more aware of what to look out for, so I will drop even more hints than I have been, and some of them will be explicit.

I don't think it will extend to dice modifiers, this game does not really do that (outside of Study a Place of Power?), but if it comes up (maybe on a Figure Someone Out?), feel free to ask for a +1.

Mainly it serves as fictional positioning for Emma to 'ask questions' (of the fiction, if not of the NPCs) and learn more about the risks (not her forte, worrying about such things, though:).

Ha! Why am I not surprised. :)
That sounds like Mislead/Trick.
Absolutely. About time you get to use your special Moves.
That answer would depend on two things: What you are trying to do (mechanical outcomes), but mainly what you actually do (the fiction).

Persuade seems a good fit for getting his clue off him, but remember that Persuade an NPC only works on NPCs, and Persephone is with Henry, so you may need to separate them before you can use that Move on him. Mislead, Distract, and Trick can work on PCs as well, and may be a way to distract Persephone while you work on Henry? @Drgwen: Are you happy with this PCvPC action?

Go for it.

Get in The Way [ref] can reduce Emma's roll by 2, so we only need to bother with the Move if that will make a difference. Persephone can still do whatever she likes in the fiction, Move or no Move.

Understood 100%! And Persephone certainly doesn't want him either -- but she is willing to use him to get what *she* wants too, namely, access and power. Which she tells herself she will use for good, namely, to free Kat and herself. Whether she wants to use it for that once she acquires it, however, remains to be seen!

Apologies for the break in posting! Had a bit of a busy week and since it looked like Emma and Persephone were headed for the park, I figured it would be good to wait for them to join me anyway! I’ll get a post up later today :)

No worries.

Yes, I really had to ask. :)

Ha! My dice luck... *shakes head*

So even on a miss, I can still transform Persephone will be giving a debt to her Demonic Patron and choosing the grow shadows wings, allowing her to travel much more quickly to get to Emma before she is sucked in -- hopefully.

For her friend? Yeah, Persephone will sacrifice herself.

I have seen evidence of that elsewhere as well. :)
OK, note it in the Debt Ledger, also check that the first post is still accurate and up to date.
Is this more of your White Hope? :)

She is already in [ref].

You are welcome to change what you pick, but I do believe that being able to fly might be your best route out again... when it comes to it. (What ever you pick will be helpful for what you face.)

He does not know what he saw, I am leaving that mainly up to you.

"We can't always get what we want."
OK, I will bring you some. :)

OK. Mark it down.
On the contrary! The previous clues pointed you to the fact that winning would suck, but you chose it anyway. :)
Name it. It is up to you what you find.
Understood.

Yeah. Rolling before we talk about viability can be a problem for working with the outcomes.

What sorts of things did you have in mind?

Maybe you are looking for a weapon? If so, do you want something strong Persephone can use to smite your immediate foe? Or do you want something small and subtle that you can use in your faceoff against the 'real threat'?

Do you want to find... I am not sure what else you could find... maybe a small hint about the current foe that could possibly lead to a small advantage later if you play it right?

There is obviously nothing here that 'answers your questions' or 'shows you the way out'.

That is definitely their intent (actually they intended for a weak and harmless sacrifice, but they intend violence). But there are almost always other ways out of almost all situations, and this is no different.
Sorry, I forgot who I was speaking to. Of course you do. :)
OK. Let's see what Persephone's action [ref] brings and work something out based on that?

A fairly safe bet might be to use this as a Distraction (Mislead, Distract, and Trick) [ref], that may only buy you an edge in which you can take your next action, but has little risk.

Otherwise this really looks like '• impress, dismay, or frighten someone with a display of demonic fury' from your Let It Out Abilities [ref], don't you think? As you say, this may cost you in the 'patron attention' department, as well as other, more subtle, consequences going forward, but just don't roll badly.

What do you think?

Yes, this is the intent I was going for! I will add a roll to my post then!

Lol rolling +Spirit means +0, so I rolled a 6!

Adding a roll to a post does not change the content of the post, and is often the best way to handled it, as detailed in Don't placeholder. Just make sure everyone knows that it has been done (but then, we always like talking about our rolls anyway, so that will happen OOC:).

If you need to add content to justify the roll, as you did, then a new post is perfect.
Hehe, yeah, when you roll it. Get better at rolling! :)

It did not bring anything good. :)

Looks like it is fight or flight.

@Delirium: Do you want to find your clue/advantage now, before that conflict, or after?

How's that [ref]? It has an immediate advantage and way forward, and hints of more to come.

Please do.

We may wait for Persephone before we resolve it.

I’ve added the roll to my post! It was an 11 so maybe we could apply ‘create an opportunity for an ally’ to give Persephone some sort of bonus or better positioning for whatever she does next

See? That's how it's done. :)
That sounds like a great plan.

Persephone, feel free to narrate how Benji's action gives you an opportunity to get the upper hand, and how you take advantage of it. Let me know if you need help coming up with something.

Emma: Do you give your saviors some hint about what you think you learned? That this thing may not be as dangerous as it looks [ref]? Maybe they can use such information in their attack/defence plans?

Yes, it is there to herd you, it may not be much of a fighter. Knowing this may help their confidence and strategy... if they even believe Emma? Was just a thought, in case Persephone wanted to use that as part of her Opportunity.

Maybe, if the GM allows, the opportunity Benji creates for you could be an opportunity to do more damage than you might have been able to do otherwise? He could throw you his sword maybe?

You are? Or Persephone is? The characters is supposed to be frustrated, they appear to be in a bad situation.

If you, the player, are frustrated, then how can we fix that?
You could still choose to Inflict Terrible Harm, at least doubling that (though I tend to treat that text from the Notes as guidance, and not as 'exactly and only +1', so whatever is 'Terrible Harm' in the context). (Maybe get someone else to roll for you?:) Remember that, even a shotgun only does 1 Harm more than that.

If you want to retcon it and say that you chose to Mark Corruption and take an extra pick we can talk about it. I did not look at the Move, so I apologize that I did not offer that back then.
We already established that the tunnels are a bit too small for flying in, but the wings could still help (with balance, or confidence) if you choose to flee down the empty tunnel.

It will obviously help that that is exactly this guy's intention. You won't even need to roll for that.
Absolutely. Something like that. You can't really throw her the sword you are using to create the opportunity to attack...

Benji could easily buy Persephone enough time to find a nice bone-club or bone-spear on the ground.

The other, obvious, Opportunity, is for Persephone to see how it reacts to Benji's attack and notice for herself that it really is not all that much of a threat, that, between the three of you, you can actually quite easily deal with it.

Which leads us to the next point...
I am not sure how to untangle the contradiction there. You are feeling weak, unarmed and unarmored... How do you convince it you are a threat?

I can actually make it work, but it is a stretch. Do you want me to go for it?

It does not sound like 'down that passage, away' is what Persephone is asking for. :)

But that might be the only 'answer' it can give.

I think even on a 10+ the demon gets to choose one of the following for Benji’s Turn to violence roll:
 • they inflict harm on you
 • they put you in a bad spot
 • they create an opening to flee

Yes, indeed. It Inflicted Harm on you... you just didn't notice. It is 'harm as established' and it has been established that this guy is not much of a fighter. :)

I assumed that was what happened. How else did you appear threatening while being weak? You can't easily threaten someone if you are weaker than them.

The Opportunity from Benji's roll was that you had the opportunity to roll Persuade with threats.

The 'counter offer' (from the 7-9) is that this demon does not know anything about anything, especially not about how to get out, but it is not threatening you anymore, that job is done (and it failed).

It is an unfortunately part of the game, the rulebook suggests just this sort of strategy to make the leveling work.
I am not sure how it makes any difference, though. Either you roll it now for Chaudry, or you don't roll it, you can't do it later.

Both Emma and Persephone can roll. Sorry if my use of 'either ... or' made it sound like it was one or the other. You can both roll, either of you might know something.

We'll see what Persephone gets, and how the information is distributed between you.

First you can add the color:red to the [ f] tag, no need to run it separately, unless you want to. So: [ f=font-aniron small color:red]

On an 11 on Put a Face to a Name you get to say if you know something special and useful about them, or if they Owe you Debt. I don't see how a Debt would be in play here, but it is still up to you. What do you choose?

'Worthinton' being Wentworth?
It absolutely does, to the right people. Most people have no idea, those who are in the know often don't give full names. Do we know your Surname? Middle name? Benji's? Chaudry's?

The problem with humans: They are so changeable, so, even if one gets someone's true name, from their own mouth, it might not work next month, after they have had some 'life altering experience' and see themself differently.
What are you thanking it for?

We all know the power when a parent breaks out the middle name. That invocation means we are in trouble. :)

We could probably even obfuscate our true name by modulating how we say our full name. This is all new ground for our characters.
OK. Thanking it for thinking about helping you. Will probably help get it to help. Just confirming that we were on the same page that it had not actually done anything to help ... yet.
It's working!
Oh, sad. :.(
OK!

I think you might need to Persuade or Trick it into giving you its name, so you can contact it again in the future?

Also, side note: I haven't been engaging with the Corruption mechanics and I really need to start doing that, I think. I'm gonna go re-read them, because they feel especially fitting for this character.

Then don't roll. Now we have to deal with it.

I think the 'seduction' is clear and the demon is already a little smitten with you, though it thinks you are also a demon... though Persephone also thinks she is a demon... so that's alright? :)
With Viviana there is a high likelihood of her making contact. This poor demon will have a hard time, but we shall see. :)
He's game if you ever take the time to find out. But he is 'at work, right now'.
Completely up to you when and how much you engage with that. If you want to talk about it, we can take a look.

Sorry, I was responding to what you had said here (ref), namely, Apologies if I should not have rolled.

Concerning Corruption, I just needed to remind myself of what my trigger is, so I can consider activating it more often. OK I'm good to go forward.

You still have to do it in the fiction before you can roll it, though. I was saying you might need to do something if you wanted that result. You haven't done anything to get its name, so you don't get its name. You have flirted enough that it is keen to please you, though, in hopes of a later date and the implied 'kissing'. :)

I already hinted at the way out [ref]. :) But we can find a another, corrupting, way.

How does this action lead to your Corruption? Mark it on your sheet.

I already sorta answered that, with the flirting leading to it being smitten with you, but the complication being that it can't easily contact you, so that will be complicated.

Now, after the fact, you add the request for its name —which you weren't asking for [ref]— so we have to deal with the mechanics:

• What counter offer does it make? The obvious one is reciprocity, but you already indicated you were not keen to give your true name in return.
• Or, what payment does it demand before agreeing?

What are you willing to give?

Fortunately this guy likes you. :)
Sorry to have contribute to that.

It mainly felt like you were rushing to get things done so as not to slow things down. Take your time and lets chat before we add things to posts, there is no rush.

Are you trying to trick him into thinking you are not 'the sacrifice' but, I don't know, maybe with 'the establishment', impatient for results?

(Feels like you should have a way to Mislead, Distract, and Trick [ref] with Heart (for more than just those you have Shared a Moment of Intimacy with) we can look for one. Maybe you can leverage Persuade [ref] into this? I am not sure.)

Do you want to add such a roll?

Persuade with threats? I am not sure you have established yourself as someone who can threaten him as of yet. Not sure that will be an option later, after he realises who you are. We can try.
OK. You will lose your element of surprise, giving him time to 'react', and all.

Are you going in 'alone', or do you have your backup with you?

Drgwen, please don’t feel obligated to take the sword if you don’t want to, but I thought it would be good to give you a chance to turn to violence too if you like! I’d been planning to offer it to you while we were walking in the tunnel but we moved on a bit too quick :P

VagueGM, I would like to take advantage of Emma’s ‘distraction’ to sneak up behind Chaudry and grab/restrain him. Does that sound feasible and what would that look like mechanically?

You are coming from the same direction she is, so it would be tricky to sneak up behind Chaudry.

• Either Emma would need to severely distract him (a 10+ in Distract [ref] could do it, else a 7-9 might buy you a moment to get in position, but not before he gets off a single spell).
• You could use your 'vampire super speed' (Let It Out: • perform a fantastic feat of vampiric strength or agility [ref]) to do so quite easily.

If Emma wants to try a Distraction, a Vamp Let It Out could cover for a middling roll.

You two decide.

Yeah, no worries! I agree that the move probably shouldn't trigger since you weren't actually intending to Distract him. I'll do Let it Out instead :)

I will post his reaction, then Benji can do his thing.

You can probably add the roll to your post [link], then narrate it on a hit, or we can chat on a miss.

I added the roll! It's a 6 :(

It was never really the venue for a sit down chat. :)
But all is not lost.

Why? Aside from the presence of the new demons, your response seems in character (and in denial:).

Yeah, that is going to happen anyway. That was his plan, all along.
You still have an open doorway behind you, and a moment to act. Maybe you can Escape a Situation [ref]? There is an opening. Your companions could Lend a Hand if needed.

No, they don't seem to stay open very long once triggered.

Sure, you can find it again.
I was looking at the options, and none of the other ones really fit, or are desirable (the only thing you could leave behind is your phone, and that would cripple you too much to still be a success).

You could also leave your companions behind, that will be pretty unrighteous, but do we want to go that route? Fit as you are, they can both probably outrun you with their supernatural abilities, so that would need to be pretty deliberate.
This would be in addition to, and bigger than, taking a Corruption from Escape.

If you have any ideas of what it might cost you, I am listening... else the price may come to bear later.

---

On an unrelated topic: If you took another Corruption as part of opening the portal, what Advance would you take?

Firstly, just a reminder that, once you take that Advance, every time you roll a 12 or more on any Heart Move you take Corruption, so that is a Move with ongoing story.

Make sure you are happy with that. you can't turn it off.
If you take the Corruption and take that Advance, that will be all that is called for to get you and your friends out, the portal will open easily, almost like someone is opening it for you...

What do you say?
Possibly... but who can say? You don't remember anything you don't remember... :)

Sounds like a plan. Feel free to describe the sensation of the portal if you want, and where you come out, too. The cops are there, or at least: you see blue lights.

I can edit that for you, no worries. Tell me when it is safe. I will let you know when I start and when I finish.

It should be as simple as changing the 3/3 to 4/4, but I will test on a test sheet if that messes up any formatting. I may also add a 'heading' for Moves from Other Playbooks, so we can track them more easily.

When you are back, decide if you traded true names with the demon. If you did, then you know (or were told (can you remember?:)) its near-unpronounceable name and can contact it later, if you can work out how do so. If you didn't, then it has your phone number, but will it will have to work hard to get in contact with you via this strange and arcane technology.

Editing...

Done editing.

A lot happened in a short time. Some Moves snowballed. :)
Feel free to show us that, or mention it in the RP so it is canon.
Do you have a name that you use to refer to this demon in your head? Its name is possibly very long. (I have been thinking of him as 'Boomer'.:)
Yeah, we will see how that goes... How this demon feels if it discovers it was misled. :)
Probably. I am sure that helps. This is just flavour, so it will be up to you how much this comes into play (or it may be affected by future rolls, we can deal with it when it comes up).

Sure. You might have a better insight into their true nature. Is there anything specific you want to know?

The first one was meant to look scary and scare a poor helpless and clueless victim into running to the trap.
These guys look like they are meant to restrain someone. Their purpose is to keep the poor helpless and clueless victim on the altar. They might not be fighters, but they are probably fairly strong. You can tell that much for free.
OK? You will need to make him give you answers.
You would need leverage to use Persuade [ref], it isn't mind control or anything. What you are asking for defines what counts as Leverage, 'cooperation' is a strong term.
That seems quite appropriate for this guy. You would need to put yourself in a position to have a conversation before you can Figure Him Out, but, given your current form, that may work.

I hate to ask you to roll dice... but, depending on how you play it, you may need to Persuade him to talk (easier than Persuading him to cooperate fully), then you can start to get your claws into him?

ha! I don't mind rolling. I usually enjoy RPing the Misses, to be honest! OK will do.

Hey @Drgwen, it might have got lost in the flurry of posts, but did you want to borrow Benji’s sword? Totally fine if not, but I just want to know in terms of deciding what Benji does next

Okay, all good!

lol another bad Miss. I am like a clumsy Clouseau-esque demon.

To be clear, I think that is an accurate description of Persephone’s work as an agent of demons. She’s really not great at it just yet. And yes, I am fully aware that the "deal" she was trying to strike was … suboptimal for all involved. So it’s no wonder than her patron was like, Nope

Honestly I was torn between physical violence and a demonic bargain. Guess I chose poorly. But hey, violence may still be on the table.

The Move does say "When you seal a bargain", so it is probably a bit premature as well. Making a random offer to a stranger is not 'sealing a deal'.
Hehe. We can treat this like a fumbled Dark Bargain, and piss off your Dark Patron. What would that entail? You used them to get your current demon form, do you even lose that, right here? Dark Bargain and The Devil Inside seem like they should be withheld for the future, what about your credit cards and condo? (I don't think they will put you out yet, but you may have to make do on your own for a bit? Does The Lanesborough turn your card down and demand payment?).

Since you were not actually triggering the Move, I will also accept that this was a Persuade to bring him to a deal, but that is less interesting than overstepping and trying to make deals you have not laid the groundwork for. :)

Violence is always on the table, so this was the right way to go about it, violence first would probably take other options off the table (have you read Dogs in the Vineyard? Its rules for 'escalating to violence' are quite a thing. It is a game worth playing... once (maybe the Jedi version).)

With teeth and sword, you could take out one of them... though they are hard on your teeth. On a 9 you don't usually get to choose from the 10+ list, but, if you want to give the two (or three?) demons two choices from their list, I will let you take a pick from the 10+, choosing to bite and sword will destroy the one you tackled.

I think, of their options, that you will take 1 Harm (they don't hit that hard, and are not 'armed').
If you give them a second choice they will also 'Put you in a Bad Spot'. Is that damaged teeth that make it hard to feed for a while (biting stones) or is it about getting out and Emma's portal? Your choice.

I kinda fear it will come back to much the same thing anyway. Emma ran for a while [ref], so the chances of your being near that portal to see it, and of your being able to get back to Persephone and then back to it, are low. You may be presented with a hard choice of following Emma out (and dealing with the cops) or staying here and trying to help Persephone.

What do you think? How far do you think you followed the two demons? Did you catch up to the one that was sent to check?

@Drgwen: How do you feel about Benji abandoning you?

Sure! I’ll take the extra choice from the demon’s list and choose ‘inflict terrible harm’ from my list to take out one of the demons then.

Benji doesn’t intend to follow Emma out. He wants to take care of these demons as quickly as possible to stop them from hurting Emma and then go back to help Persephone. He’s not aware of the portal at all, so he probably thinks Emma’s just run off into the tunnels somewhere (which is why he thinks he needs to deal with these demons so they don’t corner and catch her). Therefore, I guess losing access to the portal would make sense for the Bad Spot?

Let's say Benji caught up with the one that was sent to check as well, but did not get far enough to see Emma vanish into the portal

Yes, that is true. We all know that Emma does not share her information... till it comes out in a book. :)
Not really, since that was happening anyway, unless you were right there.

It was sort of a soft second choice, so we will work out something in the fiction based on what you do next. It needn't be big.

Nope, was writing that up as we spoke. :)

Was waiting to see if others were with you.

True! I'm happy to go with the cracked fang then :P

Cool, You can list that as your Faint Harm, but it will mainly be narrative, play with it and let it heal when you feel you are done.

@Delirium: I don't think we need any Moves to persuade the cops to let you go. After their one last question [ref] they will see you up to your door. Unless you want to continue.

Honestly, those were mainly to continue from Benji's 'what to expect after feeding a vampire' symptoms [ref], and were there to add an extra element of 'if I die down here... will I turn' to the confrontation with demons. Since you are no longer 'at risk of dying', we can let those fade, it was probably just the start of the same cold David had [ref].

I throw out a lots of potential plot-hooks. If the players don't take them they simply fall away.
Not especially, but then, you weren't really in a situation to test that. :)
There will be plenty more.

Well, this is a miss with an explicit price, it 'displeases the powers you called upon to sanctify the deal; you must perform an act of contrition before you can invoke their influence again.' and it is their influence that gives your demonic powers. Maybe you might still be able to use The Devil Inside, that would prove that that is part of you, not from your Dark Patron? We shall see? Do you want to try now and get an answer?
I don't know about 'easily', but yes, it should not be too hard to recover your DPs favour. Doing a good job with Viviana might do it, or even recovering this situation with a rival?
Agreed. You are welcome to play out as much 'fear of sexual assault' as is appropriate, but —while you don't know it— Benji is asexual, and there to protect you (and loan you a coat, (even if it is riddled with rats!:)), so, do with it what you want.

What do you think? 'Cold-Blooded: When you keep your cool by flouting mortal social conventions and expectations, roll with Blood instead of Spirit.'? It sure sounds like it.

As in I can roll Keep Your Cool (with Cold-blooded) to try to avoid a fight?

It sounds like that is what you are trying to do. I can't promise a complete 'avoid a fight', it will depend on what you do next, but otherwise you are in a fight already, it will continue if you can't stop it.

Sure! Sounds good to me! I'll add a roll in my next post

Cool.

I'm not sure:

• They are a hotel, they deal with people trying to scam keys from them all the time.
• In addition, you were just the subject of a police investigation.
• In addition, they know you. They greeted you and Henry by name when you arrived...

It will take something spectacular to overcome all these obstacles... and then 'Mr Sinclair' will just call security, proving you lied.

How do we make this work?

I hadn't thought of that one. Yeah, using your wiles to get them to give you the key sounds exactly like what that Move is for. Go ahead and add the roll, you have met the trigger.
If you want, but he will say 'no'. Go with the above option instead. :)

We have a choice with the cost.

Maybe it is Unstable, meaning you don't get much time before 'Sin can call security (your choice, at that time, if you get out before they get there, or if your push you luck and risk getting caught). ('Limited' seems about the same but less interesting, we don't exactly want them to accompany you to the door, or anything.)
Maybe it is Costly, meaning it will cost you later, you will be found out and reported. I fear Emma will just be in denial about this, despite the camera footage, so this seems a weak option? (Pushing your luck with the above option may lead to some of this anyway, but that will be up to you.:)

What do you think?

OK. That sounds like Unstable, you don't know how much you can get before it falls apart, for whatever reason.
That will happen, but that is a 'tomorrow problem' for after you leave, that does not get you out of his room. :)

Absolutely! That is definitely Persuade with threats!

You have to roll a 2 to fail! And a 6 gets you a perfect...just don't roll more than an 8... :)

Nice!

My word, I go away for eight hours and miss so much! Emma’s been busy.

losing two of my three playbook features for one miss seems like a very hard move, is all I meant, so hopefully it’s reversible without too much of an ordeal.

And I’m glad we’re in the same page vis a vis the nakedness.

We may have gotten a little overeager. Sorry.

I think Emma's story is mostly complete, now, anyway. So we may shortly have to wait for everyone else to catch up.

True, but they all come from the same place. (Unless they don't, which could be a thing to discover.)
Don't piss your Dark Patron off, they are your patron and you serve at their pleasure. :)

It is always so hard to predict how much time people will have or need. We all want to make use of those moments when everyone in a scene is available at the same time, but it can get a little overwhelming for everyone else. If we had some way to predict these things we could have spun this off into its own thread, but that doesn't actually help anything and those predictions fail all the time, ending up with many threads with a handful of posts. :(

I am stepping away for 12 hours, anyway. We can have a chat with Henry and Kat tomorrow, at a more leisurely pace.

I am not sure your taking his woman changes this. You are essentially Overlooking a Harm done to you [ref], so they Owe you a Debt. 'Sin is not disputing this, so you can mark it and call it in if you get a 'next time'. We can mark it with 'Sin, but you can try Call it in with any member of the Ivy Club.

This assumes you are 'forgiving/overlooking the harm'?