*BLACKSMITH* Walking in to the red brick building with the HAMMER mark on the window, you are immediately greeted by the metallic THUD... THUD... THUD... of hammers on hot steel, and you are visually greeted by a single blacksmith, a middle aged jackal with a heavy apron and a hammer at one of the six anvils. The left wall is full of metal hammers and camps, and the right side is full of smelting furnaces. A simple smithing office, but it definitely does the job. After a moment, he puts down his most recent finished product and asks you in a gruff tone, "How can I help ya'll?" *Asking about making weapons,* He smiles and points to the anvils. "I can definitely make weapons for ya, but I stick mostly to simple stuff nowadays. Knives, hammers, swords, the basics. *ASKING ABOUT IMPROVING WEAPONS* "I might be able to improve the ones you have, depends on what you're working with. Let me have a look?" Any weapon he is handed, he will survey top to bottom like it is made of fine glass. *IF SIMPLE WEAPONS AT 3DMG OR LESS* "Oh yeah, I can do that for you, and it shouldn't take too long either." He will heat your weapon, add special metal along its edges, and smith it over the span of an hour. "And here you go. Now let's talk price." *IF THEY ASK ABOUT SPECIAL DESIGNED WEAPONS* *OR IF THEY ASK ABOUT 4/5 DMG WEAPONS* He shakes his head and crosses his arms. "Afraid that's outside my skillset nowadays. You wanna do any of that, you'd wanna talk to my teacher or maybe a disciple of his. He's likely still in THERE." He points to a glowing RED circle of energy against the rock wall in the distance. -----=====-----=====----- *BOOKSTORE* The bookstore is a bit old style, tan bricks with a glass storefront design that currently has a metal pipe sticking out of a large gaping hole. Several people are in the process of cleaning the damage right around the time you show up, and the door still seems to be in working order. Inside it is pretty minimal as a whole. Novels, encyclopedias, fiction and nonfiction, the standard stuff you'd see in here. (INVESTIGATE ROLL) Alot of these titles are actually relatively new, none of them seeming more than a year old. "Hello younguns, can I help ya find anything??" The voice comes from an older bulldog gentleman with inch thick glasses, a simple wooden cane, and a blue apron, smiling as wide as you would imagine. His gold nametag reads WARTON. ASK ABOUT THE HOSTORY BOOK He will laugh a bit and reply "Oh, the OLD history book? Hm.. the schools usually get to those first, but I think we have one or two copies left. Planning to use it for a school assignment I assume??" He chatters with you as you walk down the aisle. ----- *IF THEY MENTION FREEING THE PEOPLE He will pause and start swinging his cane around. "YOU HEATHENS ARE WITH THOSE AWFUL MARAUDERS AIN'T YOU?! HAVEN'T YOU DONE ENOUGH DAMAGE TODAY?!" He starts violently bopping you with the cane to try and scare you away. . (CONTACTS OR EMPATHY ROLL) He suddenly stops, and calms down near immediately. "Oh.. oh you're being serious? My apologies, I'm just fed up with people whiming and groaning about being stuck here, that's all they ever do is complain." ----- He reaches the shelf where the book SHOULD be, but sees the book and several others on the shelf have been burned to ash. "Oh dear, those were my last copies, and my next shipment isn't for another week..." He sighs a bit, but perks up suddenly, turning to your group excitedly. "But I can do you one better! There's a special place not too far from here with information about everything in Diadem, The Grand Library!" He laughs heartily as he reminisces, walking back to the front of the store and expecting you all to follow. "It's a magical place I went to when I was a kid, an amazing library of infinite knowledge and wisdom! The librarian there was so nice too, he inspired me to open my bookstore. All you have to do is go... There!" He will point to a spot against the rock wall in the distance beyond the Business district's border. Wherever he is pointing, it's definitely walkable, but too far to see what exactly it is. "I'm a bit too old to go myself, these old joints ain't what they used to be.. but if you go that way, could you do an old man a small favor and return this book for me? I don't need it anymore, heh." He hands you a children's book, *The Boy, The Mole, The Fox, And The Horse.* He waves you off as you leave his store, the damage all cleaned up upon your exit. -----=====-----=====----- THUNDER FORCE HQ Walking up to the police office looking building, you are greeted by several DOZEN silver-clad officers with clipboards in hand, each one walking around and scribbling information down. It doesn't look like tryouts officially started yet, but everyone is doing warm-ups and getting ticks in advance. A group of three high rank looking individuals spot your group, one of which approaches you with a judgmental glance. A Panther man with a rounded scar under his eye approaches, eyeing you all up. "Let me guess. You here to try out, just like them?" He points out the eighteen other men and women all in mixed physical shape lumbering and stretching around in front of them. The Panther continues, "well everyone has a shot. I'm third commander Harken, and these are my associates, second officer Valeos and first officer Jensen." He pauses so Valeos the Gila monster and Jensen the Human can shake your hands. "You will be numbers 19, 20, and 21 respectively. When your number is called, just step out here and we will get started." *IF THEY ASK ABOUT PAPERWORK,* "OH, no no no, that is reserved for those whom at least make it past first cut." The tryouts begin, and half of the participants are less than impressive. They mostly fumble with their guns full of blanks, fizzle out on their electric speed demonstrations, and jumble their words on the quick Q&A segments. It becomes so disappointing that all three Commanders step away, leaving the testing to the other officers for the moment. Your turn comes up, and you step in front of the audience and are expected to demonstrate what you can do. They want to see your gun play, your weapon finesse, your electric magic, and your response to common situations. (Shoot, Fight, Academics, Empathy rolls) Right at the end of your demonstration but before your result, an explosion goes off outside the building, close enough to hear but not to feel. An officer runs in and declares it an emergency in the residential district this time, and third commander Harken is in pursuit. (the enemy is the same LV2 villain with a bunch of new LV1s) AFTER THE FIGHT All three Commanders personally shake your hands and thank you for your work in that fight, and you are all offered entry level positions on the Thunder Force if you so desire. It will provide uniforms, income, and status represented by a publicly wearable trainee badge until your training is complete. Harken then points out that guy was one he just caught last week, and wonders how & why he got out. *If you made any indication of recognizing him,* He will think for a moment and point out he will have an expedited trial for being a repeat offender, and offers to let you sit in on it as an evidence witness. He then points out the trial will take place THERE, and point out the silver gate. -------------------------- ------------------------- The morning starts like normal at first, until you hear a massive rumbling explosion coming from the center of town. As you look out the window, you see a plume of smoke and a massive fireball erupting from (at your best guess) the Town Hall. At the Town Hall building, everything is broken and in flames. Papers are wafting into the air with ashes pouring off of them, and the only thing left standing is the front doors with a small piece of paper pinned to them under a gold dagger. (INVESTIGATE ROLL) The paper simply says "GATED COMMUNITY, ONE HOUR" in handwriting you are not familiar with. And it is written on King Akarui's personal stationary. *AT THE GATED COMMUNITY* You see both guard shacks are completely engulfed in flames and the dogs are nowhere to be seen. But just beyond that point is Ace, arms crossed and staring at the gate patiently, assisted by three higher rank men. Once you approach, he unfurls his arms. "I admire your punctuality, Kings of Kings. Means I dont have to go hunting you down." *IF ASKED WHY HE IS DOING THIS* "Heh.. maybe I dont like the way King Akarui is running the show. Does it really matter anymore? Right here, right now, all that matters is you... and I." The three men with him all step out and prepare to jump in but he raises an arm. "No... this one is mine. You go to Jack, Queen, and King. Let them know they have three more guests." The three men go running off, as Ace charges electricity in his hands. "(One player's name), I'M CHALLENGING YOU TO A ONE ON ONE FIGHT. ONE THUNDER FORCE TO ANOTHER. LAST ONE STANDING MOVES FORWARD FROM HERE." *IF THEY SAY HE IS NOT THUNDER FORCE* *OR HE IS A DISGRACE TO THUNDER FORCE* He will laugh a little under his helmet. "I'm more Thunder Force than you will ever realize." If accepted, the challenge will be an exchange of FIGHT, SHOOT, and ACADEMICS rolls, each one doing DMG based on which one rolls higher. Athletics will not be necessary in this exchange. ----- AFTER THE FIGHT Harken will fall to his knees, groaning in pain. "Urgh... Damn it..." IF THEY ASK WHY "I already told you... everything I did was for the sake of the people." "Let me ask you something... every time you saw the Marauders, did they ever actively attack the people in front of you? Or was it mostly property damage?" "And every time you fought the Marauders in the middle of Diadem, were we not always there to clean up the mess and minimize casualties by hauling bodies away?" "And why is it the only time you ever saw an escapee, it was always the same one VERY lucky man who conveniently always got out?" *IF THEY SAY DOUBLE AGENT* "Something to that effect... I'm an Immigrant just like you, on my 25th year here. But when I saw the people here, I immediately drafted myself into the Thunder Force. When all this Marauder nonsense started two years ago, we did all we could to minimize the damage from the outside, but couldn't fix the casualties they were causing." He turns his head toward the inner part of the Gated community. "I came up with a plan, something to slowly mitigate the Marauders to property damage. I would enlist as a man whom was simply 'sick of how Diadem was functioning and wanted to leave,' offered myself as a mole, and was promoted through the ranks to an identical level. Top secret mission, only one other person truly knew." *KING AKARUI* "That's why he was willing to let ME assign you to that guard job. I arranged it with the Crooked King so I would be there aiding in the supply pickup, and made sure to give you every reason in the book to come after me. You would discover my identity, you would realize how deep this went, and you would come after us when you KNEW you were ready. King Akarui and I set it up to all fall down." *IF THEY DONT BELIEVE HIM* "It doesn't matter anymore.. The Crooked King did something I didn't expect that jeopardized the final objective. He had Jack and Queen take hostages." "I saw Jack hauling a fox man... Nash I believe was his name, tied up, gagged, and blindfolded. I saw Queen carrying a bag over her shoulder, quite a bit smaller. I assume it to be King Akarui inside. I cannot guarantee my abilities if it means the King and his aide may be at risk. But you have all twelve Regalia in hand... you can do things I cannot." "I don't care if you trust me or not, but you can trust this. The hostage situation is real. And they are commandeering one of the houses as a new base until their prep work is done. Jack and Queen are waiting to keep you from King until... whatever his objective is done. I know it involves leaving, but I dont know anything more."