video post

[ino]

[On the feed, you can see a pretty blonde girl staring at the screen. She's brushing her long hair with one hand, reaching to poke around on the screen with the other.

Finally, she lets out a little sigh, and mutters:]

Same shit, different day, I guess.

[She'll finally look directly into the camera, now, and put on a bit of a smile as she continues brushing her hair.]

So, it looks like I'm one of the few people whose age didn't get screwed around with. Anyone else out there?

Comments

[have_hat_will_travel]

A war plot is a kind do of adventure, though! Just with more NPCs than usual. Enough to require special mass battle rules.

[ino]

[she frowns. she doesn't get all of that, but ...]

It's not a game. This is a real thing.

[have_hat_will_travel]

Do you think I don't know that? A game wouldn't require learning bits and pieces from like a hundred sourcebooks!

Of course reality show more complex, even if things come down to a series of dice rolls that only occur in metaphor!

... Did I use the word metaphor correctly?

[ino]

[staring at the screen. GIRL, YOU MAKE NO SENSE]

I ... don't think so?

But never mind that. The point is, you should be careful.

[have_hat_will_travel]

Awww....

But it's kinda a problem. If all there is are strangers, who do I go to?

[ino]

[... right. the kid does have a point ...]

You haven't met anyone you trust?

[have_hat_will_travel]

Mommy always said, even if you like someone, don't trust them until you can be decently sure they haven't just cast Charm Person on you.

Or Charm Monster. Or Enthrall. Or... Uh, you get the idea I think.

... Then again, my teacher pointed out any of those spells would cause me to completely ignore that advice, so...

[ino]

... Yeah. [she sighs] There are a lot of people here who can't do magic, though, if that helps?

[have_hat_will_travel]

But how would I know they couldn't cast magic? Just asking wouldn't work, I'm too young to have Sense Motive ranks!

[ino]

You can't just tell?

[have_hat_will_travel]

Well of course not! Telling someone you don't know how to cast magic is perfectly reasonable if they don't have evidence you can! That'd give the liar a huge bonus to their Bluff check! And if they've already charmed me, then I'll automatically take anything they say in the best way possible, that's nearly insurmountable!

... Of course if it's anything really powerful, you're stuck anyways without a high enough Will save, and that's all class levels...

[ino]

...

[nope, she didn't get any of that]

Well, I guess your mom taught you well when it comes to strangers.

[have_hat_will_travel]

But it leaves me at a loss for what I do now. If you can't trust...

[ino]

Isn't there some sort of daycare ... ? Someone must have set something up by now.

[she'd offer, herself, but that would be kind of creepy]

[have_hat_will_travel]

I just said why that's a bad idea!... Isn't it?

[ino]

There aren't any demons around here. At least, not the sort that eat little kids.

[have_hat_will_travel]

... But what about other bad things? Drow slavers? Red Wizards?

There's so much, and I really don't know who's safe to trust yet...

[ino]

I have no idea what either of those are, but I'm pretty sure they don't have those here.

[have_hat_will_travel]

... Then what threats are there?

If you're summoning adventurers, there's gotta be some sorta threat...

[ino]

There's a threat, but it's not here. All of the people here are on the same side. Mostly.

[have_hat_will_travel]

... That only makes this scarier...

[ino]

How does that make it scarier? You're a part of this group, that means you're already under the protection of the Initiative.

[she's not really sure about that, but ... small child]

[have_hat_will_travel]

That name's creepy, though! The Initiative, I mean.

[ino]

[a bit of a flat look]

How is it creepy?

[have_hat_will_travel]

No God is mentioned in the name. No kingdom. Nothing to tie them to a cause or alignment.

Think about it. They could totally be some evil demon ninja wizard golem clan and you wouldn't even know!