For this next adventure, I drew a card from the GMA deck to get an element and some icons. I got Water, Death, Sun, and Shield. That shaped the next quiz that I'll be doing.
Raul and his class walked outside of the gymnasium to see a frightening sight. The weather was grim, with the wind howling and rain pouring. In front of them was a flooded area, with only roofs and some treetops poking out of the water. Before he could react, Admiral Hammer placed his hand on Raul's shoulder.
"It's part of the quiz son," Hammer said with a grim look. "Don't go messing with the storm just yet."
Hammer gathered the students together. "We're jumping right into the next test minnows. For this one, we are going to be looking at your ability to use teamwork to rescue civilians."
Mr. Arms pointed at the house furthest away from the group and continued from where Hammer left off, "On that rooftop, a family is trapped and trying desperately to avoid the flood. Your mission is for you and your teammate to work together and save them before the deluge swallows them."
Raul squinted his eyes and saw that there were, in fact, real people on the roof! He was taken back by their use of real humans out there for such a dangerous test, but it only meant that the stakes were real. This is the real super world, Raul thought to himself. No more games.
"You all will be assigned a partner and you'll have thirty seconds to plan your move, then one minute to rescue the victims. Starting... NOW!" Mr. Arms and Adm. Hammer gave out slips with everyone's names on it.
Did I get teamed with Craig?: No But
Raul drew his slip and mentally begged that it wouldn't be CJ. He opened the slip and breathed a sigh of relief, before his heart sank. It looks like he got Melvin. While Raul didn't hate Melvin, he was very worried about how his bug bites were going to do anything in this situation. Still, this is the hand he was dealt, so he straightened up and went to get Melvin.
The two did a quick run down of the situation and decided on a good plan of action. Just in time too, because they were first.
For this challenge, I used the Pyramid Tests in ICONS Assembled. The way it works is that I am trying to achieve a Massive Success. So I have to roll skill challenges to get it. Getting lesser successes can add together to create a better success. So 2 Moderate Success create 1 Major Success, and 2 Major Success create a Massive Success.
Pyramid Test: Difficulty 7; Time Limit 4 Pages
Page 1
Raul closed his eyes and focused on the environment around him. The thermal shifts in the clouds, the wind vectors blowing across the land, the small globules of water and dirt in the air. He clung to these and began forming a new weather forecast for this.
Raul rolls his Weather Control to calm the weather: 4-1+6=9; Moderate Success!
The weather calms from a severe squall to a light breeze, as the sun rays begin to part the clouds. Melvin leaps into action, bounding from tree top to roof top.
Melvin rolls to leap. He needs 2 Moderates or 1 Major Successes to make it to the family: 2-6+6=2
Melvin spends a Determination Point to re-roll the result: 4-2+6=8; Moderate Success!
Melvin slips up a bit on one of the roof tops, but he is able to catch himself on a gutter and make it to about half way to the family. Raul was fairly impressed, realizing that he underestimated the kid. Still, it wasn't over yet.
Page 2
However, it looked like things weren't going to go as swimmingly as they had hoped. Jetting from beneath the waves were two masked villains, one with a shark motif and the other with an unusual octopus costume. The two began throwing debris at Raul to disrupt his concentration. Without a second thought, Raul forms a twister around him and blasts off into the sky to dodge the barrage.
Raul rolls to dodge: 5-2+5=8; Moderate Success!
Raul is just barely able to dodge the debris, but with his broken concentration, the thunderstorm began reforming with a vengeance. 'This can't be fair,' Raul thought to himself. He could hear Adm. Hammer laughing loudly and shouting, "Never forget, there are always nasty surprises to be had during a disaster!"
Does Melvin continue on to rescue the family?: No But
Melvin froze with fear, feeling the pangs of terror deep in his stomach. Without thinking, he turns back and tries to leap onto the shark villain harrying Raul.
Because he is attacking the villains but not directly going for the rescue, I rule that this roll doesn't count for the Pyramid Test.
Melvin rolls to leap and grab: 6-5+8=10; Major Success!
Melvin careened through the stormy sky and landed on the face of the shark villain, biting him constantly.
"Gack! Ge... Get him off me! He's BITING ME!!" the shark villain was flailing and panicking as the octopus villain went towards him.
"Now's my chance!" Raul yelled, blasted off to the family.
Page 3
The house that the family is on begins to collapse. Raul pushes himself hard to reach them, leaving a cyclone trail in his wake. But the storm was getting worse and worse and it was hard to maintain focus among the turbulence.
I spend a Determination Point to activate 'Force of Nature', giving me a +2 to my effort.
Rolling to reach the family: 6-5+5+2=8; Moderate Success!
Because I got 4 Moderate Successes, those are converted to 2 Major Successes and then 1 Massive Success.
Raul grabs the family and holds on for dear life as the house they were on gets swallowed by the water. Hammer blows his whistle while Mr. Arm shouts at Raul.
"Congratulations! You and Melvin were able to save the family with a couple of seconds to spare! Bring them on in!"
Raul landed roughly on the ground and let the family go. Looking at them, he saw that they actually had gills the entire time.
"Shhh," the youngest son winked at Raul. "We want to make it seem super dangerous. It'll be our secret. Though I think my dad hates your friend now." He pointed at Melvin making it out of the pool.
It's now time for Craig to go with his teammate, Alex.
Does Craig make it over: Yes And Twist!
I drew a card to reveal Crown Sun Sword, meaning a conflict is reveal between two rivals. Oh boy!
As soon as Hammer blew his whistle, Craig armored up and leapt into the air, clearing the villains and the water in a single bound. He grabbed the family and gave Mr. Arm the thumbs up.
"Jesus, he did that in a single leap!" Melvin exclaimed to Raul. "I can't believe how strong this guy is!"
Raul nodded as he watched an embarrassed Alex walking off the pool. "Man, I didn't exactly do shit that round," Alex said disappointingly. "I got him next time."
As Alex was getting out, Craig decided to play a prank on Raul. He slapped the flood water, sending a decent sized wave at Raul and soaking him to the bone.
"Haha that's a good look on you Soggy!" Craig yelled, laughing out loud. "That's what you get for thinking you could one up the champ!"
Raul lost his temper and fired a blast of hail at CJ, denting his armor a bit. Craig wiped the ice off of his face. It was go time!
Initiative
Raul:1+4=5
Craig: 3+3=5
A circle of students formed around the two fighters, chanting and screaming and yelling for a fight. Craig rushed to Raul, hoping to teach the twerp a lesson in messing with him.
Craig rolls his Prowess against Raul's 5: 3-4+6=5; Marginal Success!
Because it's a Marginal Success, the damage is halved to 4. However, Raul has no resistance, so he takes the full 4 damage.
He wound his arm back and slugged Raul straight in the stomach, knocking the wind out of the poor kid. Raul is not happy, but he knows enough about Craig's fighting that he doesn't want to be anywhere near the guy. Raul flies up into the air and launched another blast of hail and wind at Craig.
Raul rolls Will against Craig's Coordination of 6: 4-2+6=8; Moderate Success!
Craig takes 2 damage.
Raul tags CJ with the full force of his hail blast, but Craig is able to withstand a great deal of it thanks to his natural metallic armor.
Do the teachers notice this and stop it?: Yes And
Admiral Hammer and Mr. Arms steps in, grappling the two and holding them back.
"Knock it off you two!" Arms's normally friendly demeanor was drowned out by seething anger. "You both are heroes in training. Fucking act like it!"
With everyone calming down, Arms spoke again, "You two need to see Student Services right now about this. We do not tolerate unsanctioned interstudent fighting here."
"But he started it!" Raul stammered angrily.
"GO! NOW!" Arms was not playing around.
"GO! NOW!" Arms was not playing around.
And so Raul and C.J. headed over to be disciplined on the first day of school. Will our heroes set aside their differences? Will they be expelled? Find out on the next session!
Final Thoughts
So more and more, I'm finding that writing these sessions up are a lot harder than playing them. They certain take a lot more time, but it's a bit enjoyable. I'm also enjoying ICONS a bit, though I do plan on doing more with Qualities and Stunts once I grok them a bit more. The 1d6-1d6 method is perfect for solo play and I definitely recommend it. I'll also have to write up some actual stats for more students as we come along. I plan on continuing this as well as finishing the Mythras solo session write up in the future.
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