Episode 1: We Don't Fear the Boogieman

Mary studied the government website with surprise. "Oh ... allright, but that doesn't explain why you're shooting up my boy's bedroom!"

Wang felt a faint heat sliding along his leg. The Boogieman was in the shadow, watching, waiting.

--

The existence of SPERTS is a very sensitive national secret, but it does have a front title: The President's Scientific Excellence Directive, or PSED. PSED has a poorly-constructed .gov website showing men in suits watching little kids play soccer. The exact purpose of PSAD is very nebulous; something about advancing American ideals through the pursuit of excellence in the physical sciences.

Wang's very successful Computer Operation roll combined with his superhuman brain speed pulled the website up in just a few seconds, in spite of the fact that one of the RAM sticks had been shot during the fight and the system had crashed (-6 to skill).

Wang's success will give +2 skill to anyone's next attempt to explain the gunshots.

--

David, great job identifying possible skills and modifiers involved.

"We're terribly sorry about this mess," Amadea gave the same concerned face she had used to get Mary to talk earlier. "Once we get your little boy back, our organization will help pay to clean up this mess."

She waited for Mary to look to Xiaoming's website before telecommunicating a gentle thought. This technique has gotten her out of scrapes before, and she tele-sent the words: everything is fine. Where's my other child?

--
Concentrate to telesend. Also has the advantage of being pitiable, so words should be believable.

Mary visibly relaxed and glanced over at Amadea. "All right," she said, "I'm sure you'll take care of it ..." She looked confused; uncomfortable; like she suddenly wanted to leave the room. "Where ... is my other child?"

--

Amadea's Pitiable advantage gives her +3 here because Mary instinctively wants to believe her. Adding in the +2 from Wang gives her 17 IQ for her Telesend roll. The roll is 10, a nice success.

Mary is temporarily disoriented by being telesent to for the first time; she accepts Amadea's words but doesn't fully understand them.

The reactions to surprise telesending are unpredictable. Children in particular seem to accept it quickly.

Amadea watched Mary's figure leave the room. Hopefully they wouldn't have to come up with more cover-ups. She looked back at the figure lurking in the corner, and said to her teammates, "moment of consultation: should I ask you guys before trying to provoke menacing-shadow-guy? I still want to get him to tell us where he put the kids."

"What happened anyway? Did someone try to release a gene by shaking something?" Feeling warmth on his leg, Xiaoming cautiously checked his leg for any sign of injury, hoping that won't hurt. He can't stand pain. Making a bad joke seemed like a good way to brace himself to pain.

Wang saw no injury and felt no pain ... but the sensation that the Boogieman was watching from under the desk was unignorable.

"It would be helpful," Dane said to Amadea. He retrieved his rifle, changed the magazine, and began to attach the silencer to his weapon.

"You can't kill me," the Boogieman whispered. "Shoot bullets until you're empty, I'll still be here. And wherever you go, the shadows follow. Hours, days ... soon, you will sleep." A raspy laugh ... then a claw reached out from the desk and struck at Wang's leg as he was inspecting it. Wang barely managed to jerk his leg back in time.

--

Wang's pistols are not in his hands because he was working on the computer, so he can't parry. He CAN dodge, and he gets +2 because he was expecting an attack. That brings his total dodge to 11. Roll is 10; he successfully evades the attack.

It takes 3 turns to reload, 1 to ready the silencer, and another 2 to attach it. The silencer gives -5 to sense rolls to detect gunshots, but also gives -1 damage per die. Dane finished the reload and readied the silencer while the Boogieman was talking - but it's not attached yet.

"Apparently you can understand without the use of my telepathic power, so why waste it?" Amadea said coolly to the Boogieman. "You're messing with the wrong crowd. As it happens, the sleep threat doesn't work because I don't need sleep. So let's do this the easy way...where are the kids, and why did you take them?"

"Shadow dude, meet your counterpart, light." Xiaoming picked up the desk lamp and proceeded to bash the shadow with it

"Nnnnoooo!!" The Boogieman hissed. His voice shifted away, running along the line of Wang's shadow into the closet by the door. "Leave me alone! You can't get them back, they're trapped forever!"

--

Amadea is using the Intimidation skill, which defaults to Will-5, or 7. She gains +2 for her scary self-assessment, and an additional +2 from Wang hitting him with the desk light, for a total of 11. Roll is 8, a success.

Dane's sound suppressor is now attached and he's ready to do some more damage.

"See, not so hard. We will judge whether it's impossible. Now where are the kids?"

To emphasize Wang's point, Dane aimed his rifle at the shadow.

"They're ... in the hourglass ... break it and they'll come out," the Boogieman hissed. "Now I've given you what you came for! Leave me alone!"

Wang listened carefully to his voice and felt inclined to believe that he was telling the truth.

--

Wang's Intimidation defaults to Will-5, or 11. Dane's pointed rifle gives him +2. Roll is 9, a success.
Wang has Detect Lies 14, roll is 8. Unless the Boogieman's margin of success for his IQ check was higher than 6, Wang can tell whether or not he's lying.

Casually, Dane pointed his rifle at the hourglass and discharged a single round.

--

Rifle skill is 16, roll is 15.

"One more thing," Amadea said, "while we've still got you...will the kids be safe, or have you done something to them?"

"The boy had me trap people he didn't like ... and eventually I trapped him too."

Dane's bullet zipped through the sound suppressor and shattered the glass. A faint hissing sound filled the room, getting louder and louder. 3 children rose from the shadows and faded into view. Two boys and a girl. Confused. Blinking even in the dim light of the desk lamps.

"There ..." the Boogieman hissed. "Now ... leave me."

The blond boy in the front turned to face the closet. "It's him," he said fearfully. "He's still here. Please, you have to stop him."

"Don't listen to him," the Boogieman snarled. "I cooperated with you!"

"Unfortunately for you," Amadea folded her arms and stood between the children and the monster. "You attacked us and threatened us and now you're trying to compete with a group of cute little kids for sympathy. Did you want to add anything to that speech of yours? We could make you beg."

"We will keep our end of the bargain," Dane interrupted, preparing to leave.

"We didn't bargain anything," Amadea argued, and looked at Xiaoming to make sure he wouldn't take the light off the monster. She dropped to one knee to look at each of the children's faces. "What happened? Are you alright?"

"I will not tarnish my honor with a base betrayal," replied the Dragonborn, his tone beginning to rise.

"Calm down and think back," Amadea said to Dane, turning her attention away from the children, "he only asked for release, but we didn't agree to it. We aren't being deceptive in the slightest to him, as no agreement has been made." she spoke slowly to control her frustration with him, but returned his gaze to see if he calmed down before she looked back at the kids in front of her.

"Please, mister," said Michael, the blond kid. "He'll kill me if you let him."

"Lies!" The Boogieman hissed.

--

Reminder: Your primary objective is to destroy the boogieman was extreme prejudice. Your secondary objective is to save the kids. If you fail to complete your primary objective, it's not the end of the world - but you'll have to answer to the brass. Griswold will not be pleased.

Detaching the lampshade and hung it above the blond kid, making the shadow more intense at the same time, Xiaoming turned to the kids and asked:"Why would you say so? And also, please don't make it difficult by trying to lie, I'm pretty sure you understand that there are people you should never lie to, like they're living lie detectors, I'd like to think myself as one of them." Then he regarded his blood brother,"We will release him, this is just not the best time, we really need more information. We are here to investigate, and we are advised to use any means necessary." Finally he turned to the boogieman,"Sorry, we are here on a mission, really can't leave anything hanging, except that", he pointed at the lampshade,"hope you understand."

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Based on what he has seen, Xiaoming has his own theory of what happened, and does not trust Michael.

GM:

Spoiler:

Michael looked petrified. "I'm sorry," he said. "They were mean to me, and I had the hourglass ... so I told the boogieman to hurt them." Michael's voice quivered with fear. "I didn't know it would be this bad."

"You're a jerk, Michael!" Ashley said. "I'm never talking to you again!"

--

Wang's Detect Lies is 14; roll is 9. Michael appears to be telling the truth.

Wang:

Spoiler: