vault backup: 2025-12-03 14:59:55

.obsidian/workspace.json

@@ -14,7 +14,7 @@
               "type": "markdown",
               "state": {
                 "file": "AndrewNotes/Avalon/02_Sessions/session_5.md",
-                "mode": "source",
+                "mode": "preview",
                 "source": true
               },
               "icon": "lucide-file",

AndrewNotes/Avalon/02_Sessions/session_5.md

@@ -294,3 +294,106 @@ Offer a DC 13 Persuasion- if they succeed, they get what they want (within reaso
 >“Here is the only thing this ridiculous piece of cardstock can touch today: the **detentions**.”
 >“If I honor it, I waive the after-school punishment and the formal mark attached to _this_ incident. That is all.
 >You still attended a dangerous failure. You are still now on Mister Vaelor’s ‘safety briefing’ schedule. You are still on my informal list of ‘students who will be nowhere near my sublevels without permission’.”
+
+# Transition Out
+[TODO]
+>[!quote] To Ben:
+>Your sending-stone buzzes in your pocket with a cheap little default tone.  
+The screen lights up with a contact you remember all too well from the Circle the other night:  
+**PIP** – black-lettered, no emoji.
+>new messages pop up one after the other:
+
+paste into discord:
+`pip: hey lil stinky`  
+`pip: fun run the other night`  
+`pip: but my boss aint laughin`  
+`pip: circle. after school.`
+`pip: tonight.`
+`pip: dont make me come find that nice house up the hill`
+If Ben is difficult, pip sends's a photo of his house.
+# Ben's Folly
+Run this last, after the school encounters for the day:
+## Arriving 
+TODO- DND Beyond this map
+>[!quote] Opening
+>The Circle is the same as always: magic pumps humming, a flickering neon sign in the window, smell of grease and sugar and old cigarettes.
+>The parking lot’s mostly empty except for **three beat-up vehicles**:  
+– a rusted-out sedan with one mismatched door,  
+– a compact wagon with a cracked headlight,  
+– and a low hoverboard rack with a halfling-sized helmet dangling off it.
+>Leaned against the sedan, smoking something that smells like burnt sage and cheap weed, is **Pip**.
+>Small, wiry halfling, bleached tips on his hair, hoodie two sizes too big, rings on every finger. Same smug little smile he had before he tried to box you in with headlights.
+> Two older human kids lounge nearby – one on the hood, one flicking a lighter open and shut – watching the door like bored guard dogs.
+> Pip flicks his smoke away and grins without warmth.
+> “Well, well, well. If it isn’t **Lil Stinky**, live and in person. Thought maybe you’d ghost me again.”
+
+Ben says something- Pip gets to the point:
+>[!quote] Pip
+>“See, here’s the problem,” Pip says, stepping closer. “You didn’t just waste my time the other night when you took off.  
+>You wasted my **boss’** time.”
+>He jerks a thumb toward the sedan.  
+> “He had product riding a nice, quiet little arcane route right under your fancy academy’s field. And then, like magic – poof. Route’s dead. Signal drops. Stock goes cold.”
+> Pip taps the side of his head.  
+>“And you know when that happened?”  
+>He looks up at you.  
+>“Same night you and your little friends were playing spelunker under the bleachers.”
+>**Beat**
+>“My boss has people who read the maintenance chatter,” he says. “Talk of ‘Node B2’, ‘output failure’, ‘student signatures in the tap cell’.”
+>He spreads his hands.  
+>“Now, I’m not a genius artificer, but even I can do the math:  
+>**you down there + line dies = my supplier pissed.**”
+
+## If Ben is cocky/dismissive:
+>[!quote] Pip
+>Pip’s smile gets thinner.
+>“Cute,” he says. “Real cute.”
+>He steps in just close enough that Ben can smell the smoke and the cheap cologne. “Here’s the thing, Lil Stinky:
+>My boss doesn’t care about the **technical** explanation. He cares that his route through ‘AVL-ACAD B2’ died the same night some rich kid from up the hill went for a joyride in the tap cell.”
+>He taps your chest once, lightly, with two fingers.  
+>“He told me to collect. Money. Info. Or respect. In whatever order I can get it.”
+## If Ben says "We tried to save it!"
+>[!quote] Pip
+>Pip cocks his head, listening, expression unreadable.
+>“So you’re saying,” he drawls, “that if you **hadn’t** gone under there, my boss’ route might’ve fried completely with zero warning.  
+>That you _saved_ his pipeline, and the crack was just… collateral.”
+>He considers this, then shrugs.  
+>“Maybe. Maybe not. I don’t have clearance to read the graphs. I just know: before you, route was working. After you, route is dead and my boss is looking at me like I’m the weak link.”
+## The Deal:
+>[!quote] Pip
+> Pip leans back, and calls off his muscle. You get the sense this more a negotiation than a mugging.
+>“Look, I’m not here to stuff you into the trunk,” he says. “Bad for business. You’re on campus, you sell to kids with allowances. You’re useful.”
+>“So here’s what we’re gonna do.”
+>“You keep doing your little dime-bag hustle at school. Pretend you’re king of W-block, whatever helps you sleep in the big house.
+>In return, when **weird shit** happens with the grid again – lights, voices, glitchy taps, teachers freaking out about ‘leylines’ – you **tell me first**. Not your mom. Not your counselor. Not that try-hard TA.”
+>“You hear about a node going red, a hatch opening, a ‘subnode’ whatever? You send me a ping. I pass that upstream. My boss gets **advance warning** instead of nasty surprises. Everybody’s happy.”
+>“You play ball, that little debt from the Circle? Forgotten. I’ll even cut you a better rate on your next re-up. Call it a ‘thank you for your service’ discount.”
+>“You don’t play ball?”
+>He jerks his thumb at the hill behind you, where the fancy houses sit.  
+“Then maybe one night some bored goons take a drive up Madera, check out the view. Maybe they don’t break anything. Maybe they do.  
+Either way, you’ve got more to lose than we do.”
+
+### Ben Accepts
+>[!quote] Pip 
+>Pip’s grin returns, wider, more relaxed.
+> “Knew you were a smart kid,” he says. “All bark, some brain.”
+> He pulls out his own sending-stone, taps it against yours; a small rune flashes as your devices sync.
+> “There. Direct line. When the Academy’s tap sneezes, you text me ‘bless you’ and a few details. That’s it.”
+> He steps back, gives you a little mock salute.  
+> “Stay safe, Lil Stinky. I’d hate to have to find a new campus plug.”
+### Ben Rejects
+>[!quote] Pip
+>Pip’s face goes flat. He takes a slow drag of the second smoke he’d lit somewhere in there, flicks ash at the pavement.
+>“Okay,” he says finally. “Okay.
+>That’s your play. I respect a bad decision. Keeps the universe interesting.”
+>“But then we’re done with ‘favours’ and ‘discounts’. Next time my boss says, ‘That kid at the Academy cost us a route,’ I don’t have any reason to say, ‘Nah, he’s useful.’
+>Next time something breaks under your school, I’m not asking questions. I’m just picking a target to make a point.”
+>Think it over, Mulkerberg. When the lights flicker in your fancy little canyon, you’re gonna wish someone in this parking lot was rooting for you.”
+### Ben Fakes Acceptance But intends to Betray
+Insight Vs Deception contest on Ben Vs Pip (TODO- Pip Char sheet)
+If ben wins, go to the accept route. If Pip wins:
+>[!quote] Pip
+>Pip squints at you, then chuckles.
+> “You’re not the first kid who thought he could nod and smile and then pretend my number doesn’t exist,” he says.
+> “Tell you what: we’ll call this a **trial run**. You feed me something useful next time your school hiccups, I’ll believe you’re serious. You don’t?”
+> He clicks his tongue.  
+> “We go back to Plan C: you learn what it feels like to be on the wrong side of my boss’ mood.”