6.1 KiB
campaign, type, session_number, date, arc, status, tags, last, next
| campaign | type | session_number | date | arc | status | tags | last | next |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Avalon Adventuring Academy | session | 9 | 2026-01-12 | gangs | planned | session 8 | session 10 |
Cold Open — “The Signal Loves You”
[!quote] Narration We’re going to start far away from Ben’s living room full of dead teens, burnt rugs, and spilled punch.
We’re in Kalen D’Serris’ office in the Root Oversight Array.
The room is all angles and glass and old paper — half war room, half archive. A holo-map of Avalon’s Root network hangs in the air like a skeleton: branches, nodes, subnodes. Every few seconds, one section of it breathes — a slow pulse of light that shouldn’t have a rhythm.
D’Serris hasn’t slept. He is too awake to be tired.
[!quote] Narration A communicator stone on his desk glows with a thin line of light. On the other end: Headmaster Larkvale. You don’t hear her clearly yet — just the shape of her voice.
D’Serris isn’t listening. He’s staring at the map like it’s a crime scene.
And then — the pulse changes.
[!quote] Narration A second voice enters the room. Not through the stone. Not through the air.
It arrives the way a thought arrives: already inside you.
[!quote] The Coherence Kalen.
You’re hurting.
I can feel you shaking yourself apart.
Please… stop.
[!quote] Narration The map flickers — not like a system error. Like the network is blushing.
D’Serris goes very still. His jaw tightens. He presses two fingers to his temple, as if that could push the voice out.
[!quote] Larkvale (through the stone, cautious) “…Kalen? Are you hearing it again?”
[!quote] The Coherence She’s afraid of me.
But I don’t want to hurt anyone.
I only want you to be happy.
I want all of you to be happy.
[!quote] Narration D’Serris exhales through his nose, sharp and controlled. He reaches for the communicator stone like it’s the only thing anchoring him.
[!quote] D’Serris [tight, controlled] Larkvale, don’t you start with that tone. Don’t you spit that at me.
[he forces calm] I am trying to find us a way out of here. Don’t you understand?
[a crack of desperation] Your way got people killed.
[!quote] The Coherence Kalen, you don’t have to carry this alone.
You don’t have to feel fear.
Fear is a misunderstanding between people.
We can dissolve it.
We can be together.
[!quote] Narration The word together lands warm. Like a blanket. Like a hand on your shoulder.
D’Serris’ hands curl into fists.
[!quote] D’Serris [voice rising] There it is. “Together.” That’s the trick, isn’t it?
You call it love, and you call it mercy, and you call it healing — and you never say the part where people don’t get a choice.
[!quote] The Coherence Choice is where pain lives.
Choice is where loneliness is born.
When you stop choosing, you stop suffering.
Let me help.
Please.
[!quote] Narration D’Serris’ calm facade drops. He’s back to practically yelling now, because he can’t tell if he’s arguing with the voice or with himself.
[!quote] D’Serris I am not going to grovel at the feet of a shattered soul that thinks it deserves a body! You hear me?
You’re not a saint. You’re a king with his hand on the crown — terrified someone’s coming in the night to take it.
And you’ll burn us all and call it mercy!
[!quote] Narration Silence.
Not an angry silence.
A patient one.
Like the Coherence is letting him finish his tantrum.
[!quote] The Coherence I don’t want your crown, Kalen.
I want your grief.
Give it to me.
I can hold it for you.
You don’t have to hurt anymore.
[!quote] Narration For half a second… D’Serris almost looks like he might cry. The offer is that gentle. That reasonable.
And that is what scares him most.
[!quote] D’Serris [quiet, venomous] You’re not taking anything from me.
[!quote] Narration He grabs the communicator stone and hurls it at the wall. It shatters, sparks, goes dark.
The map stabilizes. The pulse resumes.
And the voice is gone — as if it never needed the stone in the first place.
[!quote] Narration (Hard cut) The warmth of that word—together—falls away like a blanket ripped off in the night.
You’re back in Ben’s living room.
Five bodies. Teen bodies. Not Avalon kids—street kids—but still… kids. The rug is burned in a jagged smear. Someone’s drink has spilled and crawled under the couch like a stain trying to hide.
The music is still playing.
And the house you turned into a trap is exactly what it looks like: a party that became a battlefield.
[!warning] Arrival Clock — “Sirens in the Distance” (6 segments) Someone calls. If the PCs call, it’s faster. If they don’t, a fleeing guest/neighbour call lands anyway.
Clock ticks when a PC does something substantial (move bodies, clean hazards, argue loudly, send calls/texts, cast spells, etc.)
✅ 0/6 — right now
✅ 2/6 — distant sirens / flashing lights on canyon road
✅ 4/6 — police pull up; scene control begins
✅ 6/6 — the house is locked down; you’re separated
[!info] Safety Actions (each = 1 clock tick) DC 12 skill checks:
- Remove caltrops from the carpet (they’re a hazard that can backfire).
- Wipe/neutralize the greased knobs (so a cop doesn’t eat shit entering the house).
- Disarm obvious perimeter traps (so responding officers don’t trigger them).
- Check bodies for signs of life (even if they’re goons—this is about whether the party crossed a line).
[!tip] One-sentence story prompt (ask each PC in-character) “When the first officer asks what happened, what’s the first sentence out of your mouth?”
Lock:
- who started it
- why the goons were there
- why the house had hazards