9.6 KiB
9.6 KiB
Current position in timeline: Immediately after the party fight at Ben’s house. Most guests fled. There are 5 dead teenagers in Ben’s living room. The PCs are still on-site, processing aftermath and deciding next steps.
0) Core Players & Terms
PCs
- Ben Mulkerberg (“Lil Stinky”) — rich kid posing as block dealer; primary target of Pip’s grudge.
- Joe Football — co-conspirator/escalator; pragmatic and willing to do violence if framed as “pre-empting a threat.”
- Soren Silversong — volatile ally; arrived to help after the Circle explosion fallout; tends to solve problems through intimidation and chaos.
Antagonist / Gang Thread
- Pip Tumblefoot (“Pip”, halfling teen) — Circle kid / small-time criminal; manipulative; has a grudge against Ben and now blood in the water.
- Pip’s crew / goons — teens and adjacent scumbags; not all are Pip loyalists, but they travel in the same orbit.
Location Anchor
- The Circle — gas station / hangout / informal meeting point where Ben first got set up and later caused the explosion.
1) Session 1 — The First Circle Incident (Ben Gets Marked)
1.1 Setup at The Circle
- Ben is hanging at The Circle killing time (he has no car yet).
- A small, swarmy halfling approaches and asks if he’s “Lil Stinky.”
- Ben clocks him as an easy mark and starts posturing:
- brags
- tries to pressure for a discount / plays dealer hardball
- attempts intimidation/social dominance.
1.2 The Trap Reveal
- The halfling smirks.
- Three sets of headlights come on — Ben realizes he’s been had.
- Intended vibe: “you’re not in control, you’re being sized up.”
1.3 Insight Branch (You ran a fork here)
- Ben makes an Insight check to interpret the halfling’s intent.
- Success: Ben realizes this is not a negotiation; it’s a setup → RUN.
- Failure: Ben believes it is a negotiation and might talk his way out / “work together,” which opens comedic RP where Ben tries to bargain while being actively boxed in.
Outcome (established truth):
- This encounter marks the start of Pip’s leverage over Ben.
- Ben is now “the kid who wants to be scary” in the Circle orbit — a perfect target.
2) Between Session 1 and the Big Pivot — Pip Gains Leverage
2.1 The “I Know Where You Live” Move
- Pip later sends Ben a photo of Ben’s house.
- This matters because it establishes:
- Pip can cross the boundary from “gas station beef” to “family/home threat.”
- Ben’s biggest vulnerability (being rich + his parents) is now in play.
2.2 Stakes Clarify
- This conflict becomes more than reputation:
- retaliation can hit the house
- Ben’s parents are potential targets
- exposure of Ben’s “W-block lie” becomes a pressure point.
3) The Circle Explosion — The Point of No Return
This is the moment the sidequest stops being “high school gang antics” and becomes felony-grade magic violence with real bodies.
3.1 Return to The Circle (Ben + Joe)
- Ben and Joe go to the Circle together.
- Joe chooses to hide rather than approach openly.
3.2 Joe’s Threat Read → Trap Prep
- Joe passes an Insight check recognizing danger centered around a car (people waiting / ambush feel).
- Joe then makes:
- Sleight of Hand check (silent placement)
- Tools check (trap rigging)
- Joe rigs a trap near the passenger-side door of the car and places a puddle of oil/accelerant beneath/near it.
3.3 “Intentions?” → “Cooking Them Out”
- You ask Joe: “What are your intentions?”
- Joe clarifies: “I’m cooking these fuckers out.”
- Joe fails an Intelligence/Wisdom-style “sanity of plan” check (rolled 5) and narratively locks in that Joe thinks it’s one of his best ideas all year.
3.4 The Signal → The Fire Goes Up
- Ben accepts a “deal” / engages socially while Joe waits for a trigger moment.
- Joe asks if “that’s the signal.”
- Joe hits exactly the DC; you let interpretation be up to him.
- Joe ignites the accelerant.
3.5 Escape Window
- You tell them they have 2 turns to get 120 ft away (dash/dash).
- Both PCs escape.
3.6 Casualty Reveal
- Ben sends raven familiar to recon.
- The familiar finds:
- Charred teen remains — leg stuck in Joe’s trap.
- Two unrelated civilians inside the gas station who got liquified in the explosion.
3.7 Immediate Threat
- Ben receives a message from Pip: “you’re fucking dead.”
- Ben and Joe contact Soren for help.
- Soren arrives at Ben’s house (this becomes the party’s staging location).
Resulting status after this pivot:
- Pip is injured but alive.
- Pip knows Ben is connected to the explosion (even if no one else can prove it).
- Ben’s house is now in the crosshairs.
4) Fallout Begins — The World Reacts (Without Derailing the Campaign)
4.1 Planned Cold Open Idea (News Segment)
- You considered a TV news cold open:
- explosion at The Circle
- 3 dead (1 teen + 2 adults) and 1 injured (Pip)
- magical arson suspects: trap + accelerant found at origin.
- You also wanted Pip to say something coded in the interview that Ben/Joe would understand (not “W block” explicitly).
(You revised location naming to match Avalon setting — not real-world Sahuarita/Green Valley.)
4.2 Retaliation Stakes
- You set the intended next-stage conflict:
- Ben’s goal: get parents out / keep house safe
- Pip’s goal: burn the fucker down with them in it (mirroring Joe’s tactic).
- You debated how Ben learns “when” the attack is coming; you leaned toward Pip being out of commission, threats being vague, and Ben needing to prep without perfect timing.
5) Ben’s Counterplay — “Throw a Party” Trap Plan
Player-driven escalation: Ben decides to use social chaos as a shield and recruit NPCs as “extra bodies.”
5.1 Ben’s Plan
- Ben proposes throwing a party at his house to:
- lure retaliation into a controlled environment
- get as many NPCs as possible on his side
- create plausible deniability via crowd/chaos.
5.2 Prep Mechanics You Ran
You introduced a simple “prep action” structure for the PCs before the fight.
Soren’s prep actions:
- Success: greased all the doorknobs (environmental hazard / comedy)
- Failure: caltrops all over the carpet (hazard that backfires / messy house)
Ben’s prep actions:
- 1 for 1: secured drinks
- Other result: worst playlist ever (tone + distraction / comic utility)
Joe’s prep actions:
- Passed both: trapped the perimeter (defensive advantage / early warning)
5.3 Notable Guests Present
- Bobby Poets (formerly “Bobby Rapist,” had an in-game redemption / reframing last session)
- Chaz Ironwick
- Fouadriel Al-Mir
- Seb Castillo
- Jax Hollow
- Sumri Tord (Other guests may have been invited earlier but these are the ones confirmed “notable” in the party scene.)
6) The Party Fight — End-of-Last-Session Combat
6.1 Fight Trigger (Your current direction)
- You planned that Pip himself might not show, but his goons would.
- Reasonable enemy objectives you floated:
- kidnap Ben (cleanest “we win without burning the house down”)
- torch the place (parallel to Circle)
- (You rejected “ash tag / long-term marking” as too slow.)
6.2 Combat Outcome (What is now true)
- The fight breaks out at Ben’s party.
- Most guests flee mid-chaos or immediately after.
- 5 teenage bodies are left in Ben’s living room by the end of the session.
(You didn’t specify exact identities of the dead teens in chat; log this once you decide: goons vs guests vs mixed.)
6.3 Present End State
- The PCs are still in Ben’s house.
- Living room is a crime scene:
- bodies
- party wreckage
- evidence of defensive traps/hazards
- The guests who fled now become:
- rumor vectors
- future witnesses
- potential leverage for Oversight / admin / Pip survivors.
7) Open Threads / Immediate Next Beats
7.1 “Heat” Consequences (without derailing)
This sidequest is now too loud to ignore forever, but you want a middle ground:
- Not “constant police scrutiny every session”
- Not “no evidence survived” Suggested framing:
- short-term shock + rumor wave
- selective attention (one lead detective / one Oversight agent tracking patterns)
- the school wants it quiet; oversight wants it contained; parents want answers.
7.2 Pip’s Status (unknowns to lock)
Decide and record:
- Is Pip still hospitalized, or mobile now?
- Did Pip’s goons act under orders or freelance revenge?
- Does Pip know the party fight happened / how soon?
7.3 Ben’s Parents (current status)
- They exist as stakes but are not confirmed present during party fight.
- Decide:
- were they away?
- asleep in bunker?
- evacuated? This affects the next session’s emotional fallout.
7.4 Evidence & Witness List
- Who fled that can talk?
- Bobby, Chaz, Seb, Jax, Sumri, Fouad (and any minor extras)
- What did they see?
- fire, spells, bodies, traps, “who looked guilty,” etc.
8) Summary (One Sentence)
Ben’s fake-block weed hustle got him marked by Pip at The Circle; Joe escalated the feud into a gas-station bombing with civilian casualties; Pip threatened Ben’s home; Ben responded by turning his mansion into a trap-party — and now there are five dead teenagers in his living room and the campaign has a volatile “heat” meter that can collide with the leyline arc at any time.