vault backup: 2025-12-03 16:21:06

.obsidian/workspace.json

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

AndrewNotes/Avalon/02_Sessions/session_5.md

@@ -95,6 +95,8 @@ Non-negotiable in world facts Ellias will NOT bend on:
 >“Okay,” he says. “Before Larkvale drags us into his vivisection lab, we need to get our story straight. Because right now, the system logs say: Node B2 flagged a critical load, **Students** were detected in the tap cell, and an output line physically failed while someone was manual-adjusting it.
 > “So. In your own words: what happened down there?”
 
+Call for a group insight check. On Success, they know Elias' priorities. On fail- he's hiding something.
+
 Remind them- They know a guy!
 
 ## Cooperate
@@ -143,6 +145,8 @@ If they commit to wanting to expose the whole conspiracy:
 > Or do you want to stay in the game, keep your access, and maybe actually find out what was on the other end of that branch before it fell on someone else’s head?”
 
 ## Extortion
+
+Make an intimidation vs insight check. If Elias wins: If Ben wins, he gets the shield section only.
 >[!quote] Elias
 >He laughs humorlessly.
 >"You are threatening the only person on this campus who can explain these graphs to admin in a way that doesn't end with "'and then we expel them'".
@@ -176,6 +180,8 @@ GM NOTES- Make the office in DND beyond if you have time.
 >“At 22:24, Mister Vaelor filed a report of ‘near-catastrophic load failure avoided by emergency triage.’”
 >His eyes narrow.  
 “You three were down there. So. Tell me exactly what you were doing in my tap cell.”
+
+Make the main speaker make a deception/persusaion check. On a good roll, Admin thinks them idiots, not saboteurs.
 ## If they follow the spin
 >[!quote] Larkvale
 >“So your position is:
@@ -187,6 +193,9 @@ GM NOTES- Make the office in DND beyond if you have time.
 >“That is also your position, Mister Vaelor?”
 >Elias: “Yes, sir. Stress curves show we lowered the overall load before the line failed. If we hadn’t—”  
 >Estrada cuts in: “If you hadn’t, my field might have gone up like a fireball. Yeah, I saw the replay.”
+
+Group deception check: On a high roll, Larkvale reluctantly accepts their bravery. On a fail, he thinks they're hiding something, and pushes further.
+
 >Larkvale: “The logs support part of that narrative. B2 was redlining. Manual adjustments brought it down, then something broke. 
 > What I cannot decide is whether I am looking at an act of **reckless bravery**… or an act of sabotage wrapped in a heroic story after the fact.”
 > Estrada grunts: "They're idiots, not saboteurs. They're been a pain in my ass since day one, but if they wanted to blow the field, they wouldn't have stayed to turn the valves."
@@ -257,6 +266,14 @@ If they mention the unknown branch:
 > D'Serris: “Do try not to break anything else you can’t put back together, children.”
 > The transmission ends.
 
+Call for insight checks-
+
+>[!quote] On Success:
+> He’s not monologuing because he’s evil; he’s genuinely scared of the root – and fascinated by them as data points. You’re not pawns _yet_, but they are absolutely being watched.
+
+>[!quote] On Failure:
+> He is cold, condescending, and vaguely threatening.
+
 >[!quote] Larkvale
 > Larkvale straightens a stack of papers that doesn’t need straightening.
 > “Here is what is going to happen,” he says.
@@ -310,7 +327,26 @@ paste into discord:
 `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.
+
+Call for a DC 13 Insight check:
+>[!quote] On Success
+>You get a cold little drop in your stomach.  
+>This isn’t a “let’s talk business” text.  
+>The way he phrases “my boss” and “route” screams **this is about more than your $25 bags**.  
+>And that last line about “that nice house up the hill” isn’t a bluff – he’s done enough homework to know where you live.  
+>If you blow him off again, he’s not just going to be annoyed; he’s going to be **under orders** to make an example out of you.
+
+>[!quote] On Failure:
+>It reads mostly like wounded pride and flexing.  
+>Pip’s pissed he got clowned, sure – but this feels like more of the same: “I’m hard, meet me at the Circle.”  
+>The bit about your house feels like a scare tactic. He probably doesn’t actually want trouble in the rich-kid neighborhood; that’s heat he can’t afford.  
+>You’re pretty sure if you show up with a good story or talk fast enough, you can spin this back around.
+
+If Ben waffles about not showing up:
+>[!quote] Narration
+>Your stone buzzes one more time.  
+>Photo attachment: a grainy, night-shot of your **actual street**, your driveway in frame.  
+>Headlights wash the front of your house.
 # Ben's Folly
 Run this last, after the school encounters for the day:
 ## Arriving 
@@ -327,6 +363,13 @@ TODO- DND Beyond this map
 > 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.”
 
+Another DC 13 insight:
+>[!quote] On Success 
+>The muscle aren’t just props – they’re keyed in, hands free, eyes tracking your movements. They’re here to back Pip’s play, not just hang out.
+
+>[!quote] On Failure:
+>They read as background noise – old buddies, bored, half-paying attention.
+
 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.  
@@ -337,12 +380,22 @@ Ben says something- Pip gets to the point:
 >“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**
+
+Ben makes a DC 14 insight:
+>[!quote] On Success 
+>He’s not guessing. Someone with access to the maintenance chatter actually tied your **biometric pings** to that failure. Pip is working off **real intel**, not rumors. There’s no easy “you can’t prove anything” out here.
+
+>[!quote] On Failure:
+>It still feels like coincidence to you. Creepy, but maybe he’s just pattern-matching and bluffing harder than he should.
+
+>[!quote] Pip
 >“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.
@@ -356,8 +409,19 @@ Ben says something- Pip gets to the point:
 >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.”
+DC 15 Persusuasion from Ben
+>[!quote] On Success 
+>Pip actually pauses, looks back at the sedan, then at you.
+>“Huh,” he says. “So you were the idiots with fingers in the dam, not the ones swinging the sledgehammer.”
+>He shrugs. “I can work with ‘idiots who tried to help’. Makes my report sound less like ‘total disaster’ and more like ‘unexpected maintenance’.”
+> His posture softens a notch; 
+
+>[!quote] On Success 
+>Pip lets you talk yourself out, then shakes his head.
+>“Look, I don’t have clearance for ‘maybe.’ All I’ve got is ‘before you, route worked; after you, it didn’t.’  
+>That’s the story my boss cares about. I don’t get paid to run hypotheticals.”
+
 ## The Deal:
 >[!quote] Pip
 > Pip leans back, and calls off his muscle. You get the sense this more a negotiation than a mugging.
@@ -380,6 +444,8 @@ Either way, you’ve got more to lose than we do.”
 > “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.”
+
+If Ben tries to haggle, call for DC14 Persuasion. 
 ### 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.
@@ -418,14 +484,20 @@ If ben wins, go to the accept route. If Pip wins:
 >The boys’ eyes follow her. The girls straighten up when she passes—some out of jealousy, some trying to copy the way she carries herself.
 > She tosses her hair and a group at the next table actually sighs.
 > **A beat**
-> From where Soren sits, it's efforless.
+> From where Soren sits, it's effortless.
-> Every smile Millie gets is one SOren never does. Every glance, every compliment, ever "oh my gods, Millie, you're gorgeous!" lands like a tiny thorn under her skin.
+> Every smile Millie gets is one Soren never does. Every glance, every compliment, ever "oh my gods, Millie, you're gorgeous!" lands like a tiny thorn under her skin.
+
+Call for a perception/insight check from Soren, on a fail, move on:
+>[!quote] On Success
+> You notice Millie adjusting her hair obsessively. Her eye twitches when someone mentions her math grade.
+
+>[!quote] Narration
 > The hum under Soren’s feet—the same buried vibration that’s always there on campus—tightens a notch.
 > A thought that doesn’t sound _like_ her own drifts up, soft as a finger tracing her spine:
 > “Look at her.  
 > All that attention for nothing. No blood spilled. No work done. Just hair and teeth and noise.”
 
-Let soren respond- or ignore. The voice pushes more:
+Let Soren respond- or ignore. The voice pushes more:
 >[!quote] Narration 
 >Millie leans in to say something to the boys. They laugh so hard one nearly chokes.
 >**“They’d forget her in a week if she vanished,”** the not-quite-her voice murmurs. **“They wouldn’t forget _you_. Not if you made it… memorable.”**
@@ -450,6 +522,7 @@ At this point, call for a DC 14 wisdom save.
  > Millie laughs at something, looks vaguely in Soren’s direction without really _seeing_ her, and moves on.
  > For now, shes untouched. Soren is not.
 ## On Failure
+>[!quote] Narration
 >The hum under your feet swells—like the ground itself just took a slow, deep breath.
 >The voice doesn’t whisper this time; it **leans in**:
 >“Enough watching.