groovygamers.com

Sammy's Secret Lair is roomy enough for all the girls to sit and not be elbow to elbow.

Megan looks around the practice room and then over at Sammy with a smile.  “Nice little place to hide away Sammy.” 

She then gets a more serious look as she looks at all the girls.  “Well, what do we want to do about this little move against us?  I really would like to teach them a lesson, but kind of feel that just going out and beating a couple of them up is rather, well, thuggish, like being bullies.  Is there something else we could do to try and show them we won’t stand for something like this?”

"Mostly soundproof from the outside too, when the door is shut."  Sammy settles into a spot against a wall and briefly wonders if Elrod planned to visit again today, or if Dave warned him that something odd was going on.

"Isn't there some magic rule about what you do to others returning to you a couple times over?  If their blessing makes us unhappy, shouldn't it make them really unhappy then?  Or isn't that how things work?  I only know what I've read in fantasy novels."

Sarah opens up a sack of goodies both sweet and salty, chocolate and cheesy.  (Not all mixed together  :8 )  Just a collection for everyone.  She even scored a bag of soy chips if Sylvia felt like being healthy. 

"I'm cool with the thug idea but something a little classier would be nice," she says.

"I could call Mitzi if she'd not already on the phone with Donnie," Sylvia says.  She's not sure what her mother can do about this, but it's the most useful idea she can come up with.

Megan shrugged at Sammy’s comments about magic coming back on the person that abuses it a few times over.  “I really don’t know, magic is something I really know next to nothing about.”  She looks over at Sylvia as she mentioned one of her moms and nodded.  “Yeah, that might be good.  Do we know anyone else more experienced at magic?  Donnie seemed to do so awesome in dealing with them, they just seem to have found a way around his work.  Maybe he just needs a bit of help in getting it just right?”

When Sarah mentioned she was okay with the thug idea, Megan gives her a half grin.  “Well, maybe we can find a couple of them with some of the thug boys they seem to round up and we can beat down their thug boys in front of them as a little lesson of what can happen if they mess with us?  Slightly classier.”  She still was not all that keen on the idea of making this into some schoolyard brawl, but it seemed that might be the only thing these witches understood and feared.

Then, she suddenly remembered something and added, “oh yeah, kinda forgot this in the face of our current mini-crisis, and though it doesn’t really help us now, it might in some other time.  Last night, after running around a bit and doing a few good deeds, I told my dad about the stuff with Fern, but left any talk about the rest of you to ‘I worked on getting her with some people I know.’  He was understanding of you all likely wanting to be anonymous, but he said that if any of you ever need any help, you only need to ask and he will try to do as much as he can.”

Sylvia winces.  "No offense, Megan, but didn't you say something once about how he wanted all paranormals registered for something?"  She's not sure what she heard, but Megan's dad is definitely The Man.

Sammy contributes some granola bars, and takes a few pieces of chocolate.  "Thanks, Sarah."

While she listens to the other girls talk, she texts a message to Elrod.
Sorry about all the boys.  Trouble.  See Dave for details.

Megan shook her head at Sylvia’s question.  “No, he has never made any such statements.  The night I reveled I was Velocity to you all, after you and Donnie had left Sylvia, I mentioned that during a dinner I went to where my dad was the keynote speaker, some of the cocktail discussion afterward was about possibly bringing back a registration act.  But those comments were all made by other people and only in passing, they weren’t even talking to my dad about it.’

She thinks a moment and then adds, “but he and I did get into an argument about whether the school should be able to test athletes for paranormal powers or not, he did seem to feel that was legitimate for the schools to do, but again he never said paranormals should be registered.  But in any case, he seemed very sincere about offering help if it was needed.  He is the mayor after all, the senior member of the executive branch for Oak Park, which means the Police Chief and the DA report to him for the town.  But its no big deal, I just was saying the offer is out there, should anyone ever feel they might want to take it.  I won’t be offended if you don’t.”

Sylvia nods, thinking she won't be introducing herself to the mayor unless she's compelled to do so.  She has her own support network, and thinking that, she dials Mitzi and puts her on speakerphone.  "Mom?" she says when the phone picks up.  It might be the answering machine, and Mitzi might be screening for telemarketers.  "Are you there?  We need some help."

Megan was quite a moment while Sylvia called for Mitzi, thinking again about the “thug” idea of just attacking some of the witches to teach them a lesson.  As she did, she thought a bit about the activities of the witches and realized something that might help in figuring a way of dealing with them.  “Hey,” she asked, addressing Sammy and Sarah mainly as Sylvia was busy on the phone.  “While these girls are using magic, aren’t they something like a gang?  They seem to have gathered together to get something they weren’t individually, and tapped into magical power to help with that.  When they feel there is someone or some group that might be a threat, they fight back.  If they are something like a gang, perhaps they can be dealt with like a gang would be?  I think that often involves finding the leaders and somehow removing them and letting the rest of the gang just break apart without the central support.  I know someone that has some experience in busting up gangs, that might be something to think about.”

Sammy swallows her piece of chocolate.  "Didn't we just try to do that at the party?  I mean, wasn't that the point of taking down the one girl?  Didn't seem to slow them down much, just made them change their tactics."

“Well, we sort of tried it I would say.”  Megan replied.  “It was really all Donnie’s plan, but as I understood it, he felt their power was all tied through her, so by cutting her off, he could destroy the coven’s power.  That clearly hasn’t worked, or at least not as well as he expected.  But I am talking about more than just that, I am thinking that maybe with out her and a few other key people, the rest of the coven would have nothing to hold them together and fall apart or just become ineffective.  Though how we could really effectively remove them is the problem, particularly as, as far as we know, they have not committed any crimes we really can prove to get them arrested like we did Fern.”  She was quite for a moment and then added, “well, if nothing else, I’ll run what we know about the witches by…the person I know and see if there is anything about the way they operate that might suggest a way to divide them and break them up.”

Sammy nods her assent.  "Sure.  I think we need all the help we can get.  We can't hide in this room forever."

She stretches her legs out in front of her.  "So, like, how'd you guys even figure out that anything weird was going on?  I mean, the way John was looking at you, Miss Megan, and Colin was looking at you, Miss Sarah, and Donnie was looking at Sylvia... it didn't seem all that different to me.   I just thought Elrod had made me popular by dating me until I talked to you all."

Megan shrugged.  “Well, I often get some attention, but today it was like ten, no, twenty or thirtyfold, both in quantity and intensity.  So, if Elrod has made you popular Sammy, it won’t be like this.”  She gave the other girl a smile of support.  “But yeah, John looked at me rather normal, but he said there was something different, after kissing me as I sat down, not his typical behavior.  He said Sylvia seemed differnet as well.  And Colin, well, Colin wasn’t just staring at Sarah I am afraid to say.   Maybe it affected him more than John or Donnie?”

"Maybe its because of the kind of powers he has," Sammy says noncommitally.  "He has super senses, so this might have done a real number on him if its sensory based.  I feel sorry for him.  It was very confusing and upsetting for me when I got love gooed.  Fortunately all he has to do is stay away until all this is straightened out."

Sarah blushes over Colin's behavior.  "Yeah.. he was a little.. handy at lunch.  That was a pretty good clue for me but honestly I was suspicious by second period.  Either it was love goo or I had a hundred dollar bill glued to my ass." 

She pauses to think for a minute.  "Ewww!!!  I got a smiley face on my math homework!  He never gives out smiley faces."

With a small shudder she sighs and leans against the wall.  She looks at the other super chicks in the room, a bit envious of them all.  Then again if we were all normal girls I'd probably be sitting around feeling jealous for some reason anyway. 
 

"Eeewwww!"  Sammy is appropriately skeeved out in Sarah's behalf.  "And here I've been all worried because El's a couple years older than me.  Your teacher is like, 30 or 40 at least.  Eeeewwww!

Megan makes a face as well at Sarah’s mention of one of her teachers apparently being influenced by the spell they were under.  “That is pretty creepy.  But is it really his fault if the spell has overly influenced him?”  She paused a moment, then quickly added, “but then, if it just amplified feelings that were already there, then that is really, really gross.  But all he did was put a smiley face on your homework, not ask you to stay after class and try to corner your or something.”

“But the sooner we can get this little charm off us the better I think.”  The blonde teen says, the word “charm” dripping with venom.  “Makes me wonder what the witches real goals were with putting it on us.  Just to annoy us, or to get us assaulted?”  The thought of the later particular had the speedster’s blood starting to boil as she adds, “possibly even by our own boyfriends or friends.  I am starting to feel a bit more comfortable with acting like a thug now I think.”

"Sylvia?, something wrong?"  Mitzi's voice comes from the phone.

"I think it's more of a harassment and possibly a distraction.  I mean, we aren't exactly keeping our fingers on the school's pulse while we're hiding in here are we?  If it's a sight based spell then we can use a disguise but if it's based on our pheromones or even our aura or something like that then there's no escaping it.  It would be a bit tricky if one of us were dressed up to party as someone else and all the guys still were sniffing around us.  Good way to slow down half the group," suggests Sarah.

"I hope Donnie comes up with a couple ideas soon.  If he can't remove the spell right away maybe there is a way to counter it, at least for a while?  Either that or I'll just have borrow that pallet from Lisa and let the boys escort me around school just so I keep getting stopped in the hall.  Plus the view would be pretty good."

Never a dull moment with you is there? :)

Megan listened to Sarah as the redhead made some good points.  “Yeah, it’s at the very least harassment, but I still think if one of us got near the wrong person, it could get a lot more serious.  But maybe they just didn’t think of that, still…”  She paused a moment, and then added, “I have a suspicion that a disguise wouldn’t work all that well for some reason, but maybe.  I say I could run home, put on my Velocity costume and come back and see what happens, but I get enough looks in that as it is, if we ‘look different’, as John, Colin, Dave and Greg all said, I would likely only get more.”

She chuckled at Sarah’s comment about riding around on a litter if Donnie was unable to remove the spell.  “Somehow I think the school would frown on that.”  She said with a big grin.

The practice room is warm and comfortable.  The hum of the lights and the smell of the carpet are reassuring in these strange hours when things seem out of your control.

OOC: Everyone make a Fort Save DC 16

OOC:
Fort Roll:  Failed spectacularly!
 1d20=5 (http://invisiblecastle.com/find.py?id=942144)

Think of it as material for one of your books.
Hope the price of the ticket is worth the ride.

OOC:

Fortitude save (1d20=13) (http://invisiblecastle.com/find.py?id=942193) +2 = 15

Failed by one.


IC:  the door was locked, to keep out uninvited guests.

"Mom," Sylvia says, "the witches put some kind of spell on us.  Donnie says it's like an attraction spell and that, by the book, they're not harming us.  How do we stop this?"


Fortitude Save (1d20=17) (http://invisiblecastle.com/find.py?id=942214)

All those vegetables and whole grains have done Sylvia a world of good.

"That's certainly a way to create a distraction."  Mitzi says, "Listen, it's pretty easy, you just have to wish it away.  Give me a minute to look up the right incantation.  I'll call you back."  The line clicks off and Sylvia feels assured that mom will have an answer soon.

(ooc http://invisiblecastle.com/find.py?id=942347

A 1! (well, 2 with the +1)  Ouch, not just ouch, super ouch.  I think I will spend my hero point and reroll.

Wow, one extreme to the other.

http://invisiblecastle.com/find.py?id=942355

21 for final roll.)

Megan and Sylvia realize they're dozing off, but not before they realilze that Sammy and Sarah are already asleep, soundly asleep.

Sylvia draws a sharp breath and reaches over to shake Sammy and Sarah.

*Zzz*

Megan had felt herself starting to surrender to the warm comfort of the room, but somehow managed to pull herself back awake as she looked around to see Sylvia still awake, but Sammy and Sarah sound asleep.  This made her bolt upright and to her feet in a split second.

“Call John, and Donnie, and…everyone!”  She said to Sylvia.  “We have to get out of here.”  With that, she is at the door in a flash, hoping she might be able to see or hear if there is anyone out there.

Sammy and Sarah get another Fort Save DC 15

OOC: FORT roll #2 (1d20=6) (http://invisiblecastle.com/find.py?id=942412)


** zzzz... just a couple more minutes, Mom, please?... zzz" **

OOC:  let me know if she's talking in her sleep or having any particularly pleasant dreams.  Strictly for effect, of course.  Eet eez all about zee art.

OOC:
Fort Save #2 (1d20=11) (http://invisiblecastle.com/find.py?id=942437)

IC:
Sarah rolls over, curling up in a ball and continues sleeping soundly. 

Sylvia eyes the Rip Van Winkle slumber of Sammy and Sarah, and Colin's the first one she contacts.

need hlp band prctc rm.  sammysarah sleeping.  cant wake.

Colin reads the message and struggles to contain his anger.

He gets to the hall and calls John out loud, hoping his friend would hear him.

"John, the girls need help. See what you can do."

Blackbird! They're definitely going too far. Any suggestion?

Nothing you'd feel comfortable doing at this point in your life.

Megan opens the door to a pretty much empty hallway.  The only person is one of the band kids, a boy she's seen at the practices, trying to get his instrument case into a wall locker.  He glances over when the door opens and smiles, "Hi Megan."  he says, but the squeaky sound of the adolescent voice might have actually said something else, it was hard to tell.

Sylvia goes back to trying to wake Sammy and Sarah.

 Megan looked over at the boy, who's name she did not seem to remember, and let a faint smile form on her worried face.  This probably would not have been too hard to begin with, but with the spell affecting them all, it likely would be rather easy now.  "Hey!"  She said in an anxious and worried tone.  "Can you come and give us a hand?  Sammy and another friend of mine might have food poisoning or something!  They just suddenly passed out!"

"Ah.  sure."  he says.  He stops trying to put the instrument in the locker that was likely too full of other band gear anyway and comes over towards the room.

OOC: Megan make a Notice check DC 16

“Thanks.”  Megan says, her smile widening some as she let her semi-fake anxiety seem to dissipate some as she steps aside for the boy to go into the practice room. 

(nope, back to bad rolls a 3 http://invisiblecastle.com/find.py?id=942557.  I would say I should have stated Megan was taking 20 for a notice check!  But this I am sure is reactionary )

OOC: Right, this isn's to see something you're lookijg for so much as see something before it hits you kind of thing.

As the boy moves past you he swings back towards you with his instrument case, missing your head by a matter of inches.

OOC: Initiative please.  I will assume Megan goes first unless she bombs the initiative roll.

[Round 1]

[Initiative 30ish or so?]

Megan's turn.

(ooc You would have to curse me!  http://invisiblecastle.com/find.py?id=942585  a 17! Almost as low as I can go)

[Does Sylvia get an intitiative roll?  Does she hear something going on?]

OOC:

The room is small enough that you certainly saw him try to clock Megan with his instrument case.  you get to roll initiative as well.

At the end of this rounf both Sarah and Sammy get to roll Fort Saves again, DC 14 this time.

Colin needs to roll initiative as well.  If it's over 17 then you're in the hall (a single move) away from the room and can be at the room on your next initiative.  If it's under 17 then you wont get here until your initiative in round 2.  Clear?

OOC:  Fort: 3rd attempt (1d20=8) (http://invisiblecastle.com/find.py?id=942594)

IC:  Mmprf.  Sammy grunts in response to the noise threatening to disturb her slumber, and rolls over to her other side. 

Initiative (1d20+2=18) (http://invisiblecastle.com/find.py?id=942603)

Adrenaline makes Sylvia twitchy.

Ok.

[Round 1]

[Initiative 18]

Sylvia's turn then.

The young man has his back to you, is facing Megan and has just tried to brain her with an instrument case (saxaphone maybe).

OOC:  Fort Save:  Successful!  1d20=16 (http://invisiblecastle.com/find.py?id=942605)

IC:
Sarah mumbles still half asleep, "Get out of my room Mart or so help me..."

Something doesn't track right with that statement.  Wasn't she just talking with the girls in the sound room.  Why would she be at home in bed? 
"Whats going on?" she asks while rubbing at her eyes. 

Sylvia has been looking for an opportunity to demonstrate she's not such a wuss after all, and who better on which to demonstrate superiority than the band geek who dares challenge their might?  She gets to her feet and puts a little wind-up into the hammer punch she aims at the tender spot on the geek's girly-man shoulder.

Attack Roll (1d20=5) (http://invisiblecastle.com/find.py?id=942634)

The girly-man is harder to hit than she expected.

[Initiative 17]

Megan's turn.

Megan turns around, a bit surprised by the fact that the band boy had tried to hit her with whatever instrument he was carrying.  Not sure exactly what was going on, she decides that asking questions later is the best bet as she aims a superspeed punch at his jaw. 

(ooc hmm, not that good, hopefully his defense sucks, got a 10  http://invisiblecastle.com/find.py?id=942644)

Really? If they go after Sarah or my friends again, I could get comfortable with a lot of things!

He doesn't really mean it, but he sure is angry as he runs to the practice room.

OOC: Initiative Roll (1d20+1=4) (http://invisiblecastle.com/find.py?id=942654) :(

The boy recoils from the blow, it obviously hurt.

[Initiative 10]

Band Boy's turn.

He takes another wild swing at Megan's head, and misses badly, busting his instrument case open against the door frame.  A metal cylinder falls to the floor, clattering loudly when it hits.

[End of Round 1]

OOC: Sarah can make an initiative roll and act on her initiative this round.

The metal cannister was the only thing that rolled above a 5 on Band Boy's turn! (It made it's save not to bust when it hit the floor.)

OOC:  Well I wake up on the right side of the bed... Initiative (1d20+2=22) (http://invisiblecastle.com/find.py?id=942680)
Assuming Sarah can see the same thing, band geek furiously holding off two superhero chicks.

Sarah shakes the sleep off in a heartbeat when her head finally interprets the sounds outside as a fight.  She glances at sleeping Sammy, "Wakey, wakey Sammy!  It's waffles and mayhem for breakfast!"

She leaps out of the room and right at band boy.  Why are they fighting a band kid?  I thought they all were Sammy's friends?  Ah heck what would Kel do?

Sarah brings her staff into existence just as she reaches the boy and zaps him. 

Attacking Band Geek (1d20+4=17) (http://invisiblecastle.com/find.py?id=942700)

[I'd wear that tee-shirt, too.]

Sylvia's relieved to see Sarah get up and plant her staff on the brass-section assassin, but she gets the feeling that canister on the floor is bad news.  She picks it up and steps back to look it over.  Bombs have timers and wires, right?  She looks for timers and wires.

Sarah's staff makes a brief sound like a bug hitting a bug zapper and Band Geek drops like a bag of wet rice.

Sylvia examines the container.  It looks like a can of gas, like the oxygen bottles she's seen at the hospital or dentist.

Megan gives Sarah a grin as her old friend leaps into action as well.  “Good to see you up.”  She says as she looks over at Sylvia, who is examining the canister.  “What the hell is this all about?  Can you tell what that is?  Don’t tell me this guy is behind us all almost falling asleep!”

As she asks, the blonde teen walks over to Sammy and lifts the brunette girl up.  “Hey Sammy.”  She says, shaking her some.

"Sleeping gas?"  It's hard to tell if Sylvia's guessing or asking.  "Dammit, I am totally pissed off with these bitches.  Time to find them and square up their karmic accounts.  Megan, can you zip through the school and see if they're on premises?"

Megan looks over at Sylvia as she seems to possible confirm that the canister is sleeping gas and then asks if she could go look for the witches.  “I can, but I think I might want to wait for John to go with me after this.  Where is he?  You texted him right?”

Colin arrives running, then turns not to look at the girls.

"Is it all right? Are you well?" he says, panting.

"Not yet."  Sylvia starts thumbing in a message to John.

cm to bndrm plz.  meg nds hlp.

“Okay.”  The blonde teen replies to Sylvia as she starts to text John.  She then looks over at Colin as he arrives and is working to avert his eyes.  “We are okay, this band guy tried to put us all to sleep it seems.  And when he didn’t get me, he tried to hit me over the head with his instrument case with that canister near your feet in it.”  Megan replies.

“When John gets here, the two of us will go look for the witches, I don’t really want to be alone if they try something else.  Maybe we should try to contact Seth or Kel and make sure they are okay as well?”  She then looks at the band boy again and adds, “and what are we going to do with him?”

"I made a phone call. They're just about to call me back and tell me how to get out of this mess. Now, why don't you give me that canister a moment? I'm curious."

He turns around with his eyes closed, opening his hands so they could give it to him. What did he and the witches wanted to do? He hopes a vision could make things clearer.

Sylvia hands Colin the canister.

Sylvia's phone rings, it's Mitzi.  She explains the spell the girls need to chant to release the blessing, making sure that Sylvia pronounces the words right before she let's her go.  "That should do it honey.  You'll need to form a circle and hole hands, facing outward.  Then chant the incantation, all of you need to say it.  Chant it three times, and then turn to face each other, that should release the blessing."

And Sylvia turns around and explains, as best she can, to the other girls.

Sammy still does not want to wake up.

Colin takes the gas cannister from Sylvia and gets an impression from it.

OOC: Colin Make a Will Save DC 14.  Will PM impression.

“Geez, was she closest to the air vent or something?”  Megan asks as Sammy as still reluctant to wake up.  Laying her back down quickly, but gently, the blonde speedster is off in a flash to the nearest restroom.  In a moment, she is back with water cupped in her hands she which she splashes on Sammy’s face.  They needed Sammy up to get rid of this stupid “blessing”.

Now Sammy is wet and sleeping.

“Dang it!”  Megan mumbles, before she vanishes in a blur again, only to appear a second later next to Sammy with paper towels in hand.  She begins drying off the water, not knowing what they are going to do.  “Maybe Mr. Heep has something that could wake her?”  She says, waiting to hear what Colin learns from the canister.

"Colin, fix her!"  Have we mentioned how Sylvia bullies poor Colin?

OOC: Will Save (1d20+4=6) (http://invisiblecastle.com/find.py?id=942856)

Rerolling: Will Save (1d20.minroll(11)+4=21) (http://invisiblecastle.com/find.py?id=942866)

And on my scout's honor I swear I decided to reroll it *before* reading the PM.

OOC: I should SOOOOOO Veto that reroll :)

"She's pretty out of it so we're stuck for a little while.  Does anyone know where the rest of the boys are?  Let's text them and see what we can find out."  suggests Sarah.

OOC: Well you can. It's called GM fiat. It's your right to be a son of a female dog. ;D

Really. Your call. I went to roll and then I kept getting the annoying "there's another reply" message in red, and then my inbox flashed up. I nearly choked when I read it, and I thought I should point it out.

OOC: No, this reply was joy enough.  I'll get you another time.  :angel:

Colin lets the canister go and fall on his knees, as if unable to breathe, and before he realizes it, he's looking at Megan and she's so beautiful, so perfect, she makes his heart melt in his chest.

No! That's not me!

How could he ever think of settling for another girl?

THAT'S NOT ME!!!

Suddenly he frowns and falls down coughing.

"Oh, God and Great Spirit, *cough* that was a little too strong. He... " his voice trails off, as he looks at the unconscious boy, with fear and compassion at the same time, shaking his head.
"This wasn't supposed to happen. Not this way."

The sound the canister hitting the floor had Megan look up from the sleeping Sammy to see Colin on his knees and staring at her.  At first she thinks it is just the effect of the charm spell, but then he frowns and falls down coughing.  Megan starts forward slightly, about to be over by Colin in a flash but holds back, letting Sarah be the one to be the first by her boyfriends side.

Still holding one of Sammy’s hands, Megan looked over at Colin with a worried look.  “Colin are you alright?”  She asks, wanting to ask what he meant by it “wasn’t supposed to happen.  Not this way.” But waiting to ask that until they were sure he was alright.

Sarah steps over to Colin, "Are you okay Colin?  What happened?"    She is reluctant to touch him with the spell still in full effect. 

"No, I am not alright."

He stands up and faces away from them again.

"Those stupid little petty bitches! Didn't they think it would mess up with someone else too, someone that got nothing to do with us? Don't they ever get tired of ruining people's lives?"

He punches the wall on the other side of the door.

"That boy... is the one who sent you the rose, Meg. Today he saw you... and the spell drove him crazy. Hell, it nearly drove *me* crazy through him. It is much stronger if you're feeling something real for someone under it. He didn't want to hurt you, he just wanted to be alone with you for a moment, and the spell took this desire of his and made it huge and all-consuming. He did nothing to deserve this. He did nothing to them. And now he'll have to live with assaulting the girl he loves. I wish there was a way to make him forget it."

OOC: Everyone make a Notice check DC 16.  Megan can't take 20 on this one.

(ooc decent roll, but not decent enough :)  http://invisiblecastle.com/find.py?id=942946  SO, if you are asking us to make a roll, I pretty much assume it is reactionary.  Probably better if you tell me when she could for one you ask for, as that will likely be the more infrequent occurance :))

OOC: Notice Check (1d20+9=12) (http://invisiblecastle.com/find.py?id=942947)
It makes sense, since I'm facing the wall, but I'd rather stop rolling so low. :)

notice (1d20=3) (http://invisiblecastle.com/find.py?id=943008)

Makes perfect sense since I'm in sleepy-bye land!

Megan looked down at the unconscious boy, the anger she had been feeling from the attack lessening some because of what Colin said about how the spell affected him.  She really did not know what to say for a moment as her mind raced at full, superspeed.

It’s stronger the more you feel something real for the one under the spell?  Does that mean there is not much there with John?  Or does he just have a stronger will?  Does that matter?  Stop it!  It has not even a full two weeks since we met!  Things have been building, there was always something there, but it just doesn’t spring up super intense instantly.  He did ask me to coffee the moment he met me, and went so far to tell me about his powers the very next day.  And things have just been building since then.  We kiss, enjoy time together, and have made out several times.  And he did kiss me when I sat down, and not just on the cheek like yesterday.  I am not going to let this stupid spell and how it does or does not affect anyone confuse things!

All that flashed through her mind in fractions of a second before she finally said in a low voice.  “Yeah, I am really stating to feel more like being a thug now.”  She looked up from the unconscious boy, still not at all sure what to do about him, and wishing there was someway to wipe this from his mind.  Speaking again, this time in a louder and more stern voice, “we should try to find the others, but get Sammy up first so we can get this stupid spell off us and then we can really decided about teaching these witches not to mess with us!”

Notice (1d20=8) (http://invisiblecastle.com/find.py?id=943080)

Sylvia is too busy trying to revive Sammy to notice anything.  She's worried about pulse and breathing, and she's watching for cyanosis--all because of watching too much House with Carolyn.  Any minute now she expects to have to perform a lumbar puncture.

"Bring her out. If she inhaled too much of this gas, maybe fresh air will do her good. I'd help you, but I'd better not. If Mitzi's spell doesn't work, the PCD's magician should call me back in a minute or two."

OOC:  Notice Roll (1d20+8=17) (http://invisiblecastle.com/find.py?id=943416)

IC: 
Sarah looks down at the poor kid.  "This happened because of a crush?  That's awful."

I can fix this.  Not right now.. but I will.

"Do you know his name Colin?" she asks.

Sarah hears the faint sound of a car alarm.  Then she realizes, it's more than one.

OOC: Colin doesn't know his name, but it's a safe bet that Sammy does.

“Can you help me with her Sylvia?”  Megan asks as she starts to lift Sammy up to take her out of the room as Colin suggested.  But even as she did, the blonde teen was wondering where John was, feeling both that she could use a bit of comforting right now after the incident with the band boy, but also somewhat worried that he wasn’t there yet, hoping he was not in some kind of trouble.

"Nope. Probably Sammy does, she knows everyone in the band. Uhmm, I hoped John would be here by now, I called him out in the hall. He usually hears those kind of things, doesn't he?"

“Usually.”  Megan replies, really starting to worry some now.  “Sylvia just sent him a message as well.  Right?”  She looked at Sylvia for confirmation, though she was sure she already knew the answer.

Sarah says, "Maybe John's got something else going on.  Call Seth or Kel and tell them to check out the parking lot.  Car alarms lots... anyone else hear all of them?  We have to get Sammy awake."

She looks around at her friends a little hopelessly.  "What's going on?  Are they trying to spread us thin?  Divide and conquering right back at us?"

Now that Sarah has mentioned it, anyone that gives a listen for a moment will hear car alarms, several.  It sounds like it's the back parking lot.

“Aw man.”  Megan says as she hears the sound of the car alarms as Sarah mentions it.  Shifting Sammy’s weight to Sylvia, she says.  “I’ll go see what’s going on and come right back!”  With that she was gone, running out to go check on the back parking lot.

"I'll go take a look too, I'm useless here. I'll also check on the others, you take care of Sammy."

He goes to the nearest fire exit, while messaging John, Seth, Kel and Donnie.

Trouble at the back parking lot?

Sarah pulls out the imaginary clipboard again and makes a check mark.  "Divide.  Check."  She sighs.  "Well, maybe she will be right back.  I mean for her, snooping around should take like thirty seconds right?  Unless she bumps into John.  Then again they're both superfast...  Uh, nevermind.  Let's see if we can get Sammy awake in the meantime."

Megan opens one of the doors that faces the back parking lot and sees a series of blurs moving in the distance.  Several cars have serious damage to them, like something heavy was dropped on them or hit them from the side.  There seem to be a couple of trenches dug in the pavement in spots, and in a few of them are unconscious boys.

Suddenly it becomes obvious one of the blurs is John, and he's fighting with some other boys that seem very fast and strong.  That's when Megan sees one of the boys fly up in the air from a punch to the jaw, and the shockwave shatter a few car windows nearby.  The boy arcs up and over some cars, then crashes down on the hood of one, unconscious.

Megan takes in the scene before her in a mater of seconds, her promise to return right away slipping from her mind as she sees John in the middle of the fight with the apparently Superman enhanced boys.  The anger at the witches that had been building all through lunch suddenly reaches a peak, as the blonde teen feels a surge as she starts forward, moving faster than she ever has before to help her boyfriend.

She streaks towards one of the three boys still standing that are swarming him, her arm cocked back to slam into the back of his head when she gets there, she tries to push forward faster, and as she draws near, suddenly, for a millisecond, surges forward at incredible speed as she feels something completely unexpected.  She feels like she hits a wall, knocking the wind out of her as there is a loud crack, followed by a BOOM and an accompying shockwave that rolls out from her in all directions.  However Megan is barely aware of that, as she is brought to a sudden stop and falls to the ground, stars before her eyes as she barely remains conscious. 


(OOC well, between almost being drugged to sleep and smacking into the sound barrier for the first time, Megan is still sluggish with her initiative rolls.  A 4, for a final of 24  ;D http://invisiblecastle.com/find.py?id=944220)

The shockwave blows out more windows, and sends the three thugs flying away from the epicenter.  John grabs the front of a car and braces himself.

One of the boys is thrown several yards and crashes to the ground unconscious.  The other two look dazed, one barely able to stand.

Megan is collapsing to the ground, and suddenly John is there holding her up.  A second later she's cradled in his arms and they're on the roof in a single bound.  The ringing in Megan's ears turns sour a moment later, and is replaced by the sounds of sirens. 

"The police will take care of them.  Thanks for the rescue."  he says with a smile.  "I didn't realize you could do that."

Colin opens the door and gets deafened by the boom. Then he arrives to the scene to see some unconscious boys on the ground, and Megan collapse and get rescued by John.

Cool!

He takes out his phone again.

Never mind. he sends to Seth, Kel and...

Donnie! If those are thugs that attacked John... Blackbird, where is Donnie now?

He is where he was expected to be.

Colin is just about to curse at his spiritual guide, but then his memory kicks in and he remembers Donnie said he was going to make some research, so he probably went at the library. Surely it won't hurt to check.

He runs back into the school, worried for his friend. They already tried to kill him once, and Sammy's out of it to save him this time. He prays it's not too late.

Megan was aware enough to know John was the one holding her up as she fell to the ground and then suddenly had her up in his arms as he leapt into the air.  As the ringing in her ears began to subside and she could hear the sirens, she looked over at John as he smiled, the stars pretty much gone now as she smiled back.  “Your welcome, though you look like you had things pretty well in hand.  And I didn’t realize I could do that either, and nearly took myself out doing it.”

With all the craziness that was going on today, the spell, the incident in the music room, the fight in the parking lot and now being here held by him, Megan cannot help but lean in and kiss him deeply.  The moment is brief in real time, but for Megan, it seems to last so much longer, longer than normal in fact, but her mind also is racing far faster as well as she pulls back after a few seconds, her face very worried.

“We need to try to find the others.  Donnie, Seth, and Kel.  These witches are really going at us now.  We also know how to break the spell, but need Sammy awake to do so.”  She stops a split second, realizes John has no idea what she is talking about and quickly adds, “while we were hiding out in the music room, this boy tried to gas us all to sleep.”  She is talking really fast now, not wanting to waste possibly precious time and hoping he can keep up.  “It was the boy that left me that note in my locker that Colin checked for me.  Colin was able to learn that he saw me today and this stupid spell drove him crazy with desire and so he wanted to try to get a moment alone with me or something.  Luckily Sylvia and I managed to not fall asleep and Sarah woke up when we started fighting with him to put him down.  Once we get this spell removed, we all should probably regroup and figure out what we will do next.”

Sarah beeps Sammy on the nose.  "Nothing."  She looks to Sylvia, "I hate not knowing what's going on!" 

She kneels over band geek and checks him for a wallet or ID or something useful.  "Might as well try and find something out until Sammy wakes up."

Seth hits the back parking lot in a sort of trotting run...

Seeing the chaos before him he comes to a stop a few feet away.

"What the hell did i miss?"

"You look for the others, I'll go see if I can help Sammy."  John says, glancing over the edge of the roof at the police and destruction below.  "My dad is not going to be happy about this."

With a whoosh of retreating air John is on his way to the practice room.

“Wait!”  Megan called out, and then was following after John.  “I should be there if we can get her up.  For once she is, we can break this spell!”  She says as she matches John’s strides with relative ease, then pulls ahead with equal ease.

"It would actually be easier on me if you weren't.  I'm having trouble focusing when you're around, and that kiss didn't help matters."

A second later they're at the practice room.  John kneels down next to Sammy, "Sarah, you three need to look for Donnie and the others.  I'll find you if I can get Sammy to wake up."

OOC: Anything useful in bandgeeks pockets oh mighty GM? 

Sarah nods to John.  "Find him as fast as I can.  So you know, like a hundred times slower than you.  Man I wish I could teleport.  That would be sweet.  I could sleep in until five minutes before school and .. oh right emergency."

Sarah takes off out the door with Sylvia and probably for a half a second, Megan.  "Let's check the library.  Donnie's always there.  If he's not there where should we look?  A lab?"

[Sylvia may have made her Fort Save against sleep, but her player didn't.]

Sylvia, who must have muttered something appropriate to any queries Megan and Sarah made, tells Sarah, "Lead on.  I'm not real comfortable wandering around by myself today."

Megan had started to pull ahead, but stayed with John when he mentioned the problems her presence was causing him, feeling a bit stupid for having kissed him like she had.  "You won't have trouble around any of the others?"  She asked before they reached the pratice room.

"You and me both," replies Sarah. 

As they arrive at the practice room, Megan moves over behind John to sit down as she says to Sarah and Sylvia,  “I’ll catch up in a minute.  I’m a bit woozy still from…well, hitting the sound barrier I think out in the parking lot.” 

To John she adds, “if I’m out of your line of sight it should be okay.  Colin seemed to be fine when he wasn’t looking at us before.”  She did still feel like her head was spinning as she tried to rest some. Today was really turning out to be a crazy day, and with the police arriving, they needed to figure out a way to get clear soon, not to mention get this spell off of themselves.

"Not nearly as much trouble.  Maybe it's how I feel about you already, but it's hard not to look at you if you're nearby.


"Be careful.  I'm gonna see if some air helps Sammy."  with that John picks up the sleeping beauty and bolts to the roof.

Megan sighed, normally she would not worry at all about leaving Sammy with John, but given the mess this spell had been causing so far, she knew it could possibly be trouble.  She followed after, but stopped at the door to the rooftop, trying her best to keep out of John's way.

Outside on the roof John checks her vitals and lilstens to her breathing.  Something doesn't seem right to him, it shows in the look on his face. 

He exhales deeply, then again, then kisses her, clamping her nose closed.  He sucks in air from her lungs for a few seconds, then breaks the connection letting her go back to natural breathing.

OOC: Sammy needs to make a Fort Save DC 8

OOC:  Its touch and go.

FORT save vs. Superboy's kiss -- I mean, sleeping gas. (1d20=6) (http://invisiblecastle.com/find.py?id=944405)

Maybe he should try tossing her off the roof.

She caoughs weakly, but doesn't wake up.  John clamps her nose and puts his mouth over hers again, drawing in more of the tainted air in her lungs.

OOC: New save, DC 6

*wheeze*
OOC:  FORT roll vs. potential roof tossing (1d20=12) (http://invisiblecastle.com/find.py?id=944409)

"That's it."  John says, coughing slightly, "Slow steady breaths.  Man you can hold your breath a long time.  Must be that band training."  John says sitting down.  "I think I'm gonna rest a minute.  I'm really sleepy."

Sammy wakes up to find herself on the roof of the school, with John leaning over her, telling her to breathe.  She has no idea what happened or how she got there, but she had been having the most marvelous dream where... oh my.  Oh my, oh my, oh my.  Without moving, she scans her body.  All of her clothing seems intact.  All righty then.

*Koff* What happened? *Koff, koff*

John waves a hand towards Megan.  "She was there."  he says, his voice trailing off a little as he leans back and closes his eyes, ,exhaling deeply a few times and inhaling very tiny breaths.

Sammy's eyes glance in the direction he's pointing, but don't see anybody.  Maybe its just a bad angle.  "Who was there, John?"

Megan had watched as John sucked the air out of Sammy, pushing down any worry about it as it was apparently necessary to help the deeply sleeping girl.  She breathed a sigh of relief when Sammy started coughing and asked what had happened and John set back,  As Sammy asked what happened, the blonde teen came over to Sammy and said, “wow Sammy, you had us worried there.  You were really out, remember the guy that sent met the letter and rose, he gassed us because seeing me under the spell made him crazy with desire or something.  There is a lot to tell, but we know how to break the spell, but need all four of us together to recite the ritual to cancel it.”  She looked over at John and then saw him with a far away look.  “John, are you okay?”

John's eyes are closed, and he's trying to regulate his breathing.  He nods.  "I'll be good.  I'm just gonna grab some air for a minute."

Megan looks slightly concerned, but then focus back on Sammy for a moment as she goes over in a bit more detail about how the band boy tried to gas them and then attack them.  Then about John’s fight with the apparently Superman enhanced boys (she checks real quick to see the police still cleaning all that up) and then goes over how they are to break the spell.  As she talks, she glances at John ever once and awhile.

John seems to recover after a few seconds, finally taking a few deep breaths and getting up.  He looks at the girls for a second, then goes over to the edge of the roof to watch the police finish cleaning up the boys in the parking lot.  "Colin's right, it's not so bad if I'm not looking at you guys.  Sammy, if you're not feeling better in an hour or so you should probably see a doctor, maybe spend some time on oxygen."

Sammy speaks to John's back.  "You're *koff* kidding, right?  Oxygen? *koff* I'll be fine.  We should *koff, koff* go find the others.  They might be in trouble. *koff*"  She rolls over and sits up.  "That's twice now you've saved me, John.  *koff* Thank you.  I'm sorry that they did this to us, to you...  it was wrong."

She finds her way to her feet.  A whirlwind begins to form around her, picking up debris from the roof.  A terrible expression fills her face.

"I'm *koff* tired of hiding.  I'm starting outside and working my way in.  If I see any of those witches, they'll be sorry they messed with us."

She soars up, then goes down to the parking lot, looking for trouble.  She'll go around the building, then go in through the front doors.

After Sammy's powers are active for a few moments her coughing subsides and she feels immensly better.

"Better go see if you can find Syl and Sarah."  John says, "With those car alarms going off I can't hear what's going on in the building too well."

Megan was relived when John seemed recovered and moved over towards the side of the building, stating it was easier to not look at her or Sammy.  She is then surprised as Sammy takes to the air, talking about getting the witches.  “Wait Sammy, we should get rid of the spell first!”  She tied to call out, but the other girl was already gone, wanting some payback with the witches.

Megan could not bother her, she had felt the same way several times in the last half hour or so, particularly when she found John in the fight in the parking lot.  She was about to ask if John could find the others when he told her to go find Sylvia and Sarah.  “Okay, will you be up here?”  Once she got his answer, she was off in a flash, heading towards the library at top speed.

"Yeah, yell if you need me." he says before she's gone.

Sammy is angry.  She is angry at whoever it was who put love goo in the water that Elrod drank, contaminating her.  She is angry at the witches for attacking Colin and Donnie and others, for putting the spell on herself and the other girls, for making people feel things to make them behave in ways they wouldn't normally behave.  The wrongness of it... she is very angry.

She does a sweep around the outside of the school, looking for... she doesn't know exactly what she's looking for, but she'll know it when she finds it.  *koff*

When Sammy comes around the building she sees the police securing the boys and the damage from the fight in the back parking lot.  As she gets around to the front of the building she sees John standing in front off the doors, blocking the way.

"You need to stop.  This can't be done like this, not here.  Too many innocent bystanders."

Sammy is dangerously close to tears, the wrong kind of tears that come with anger and only make the anger worse.  That, and she feels like crap, but she can ignore the lingering cough and the gooey feeling in her chest.  "Get out of my way, John.  They need to be stopped, and now's as good a time as any.  What they did... what they've done... what they've made other people -- what they've made YOU do -- it's not fair.  Its wrong.  Its like that love goo.  It makes a great big fat lie out of anything you say or do, because you're being influenced by something and you don't know what's real and what's imposed and... I'm stopping it.  I want to stop them now, John.  So move, please.  I don't want to hurt you."  A big fat tear slides down one cheek.  *koff*

"I know.  They need to be stopped, but not in your current frame of mind, for all the reasons you just said.  It's old and cliche, but you have to be better than them, it's the hardest part about having these powers.  We have a responsibility to ourselves to be better than the people we fight.  Even if it means loosing sometimes."

The whirlwind intensifies in strength and speed, picking up dust and dead leaves and bits of litter.  "I could make you move," she glowers.  "I could pick you up and throw you across the parking lot, and it might not hurt you, and you might come right back, but you'd be out of my way for a second or two.  I don't want to hurt you, but I do want to hurt them.  I want to hurt them bad." She's wracked by a fit of coughing.  "Dammit!"  The tears flow for real, and she coughs some more.  Her shoulders slump.  In a small voice she says, "It's not fair."  She moves away from the doors, then heads back up to the roof, going up more slowly than she came down.

John jumps to the roof once Sammy gets there.  He waits a moment for the winds to slow a little and goes over to her, arms open.  If she doesn't stop him he hugs her.  "It's never fair.  The more power you have the more responsible you have to be with it's use.  I know I'm not Elrod, but you looked like someone that could use a hug from someone that cares about you."

There is a WOOSH of air as Megan arrives back on the roof.  She stops and looks at the scene a moment, but it is only the briefest of moments as she focus back on business.  “They are all okay, but there were thugs sent after Donnie.  I told Syl to get herself and Sarah up here so we can break this damn spell.  Maybe you should go down and help with getting them all out of the library John?  The thugs attacked the librarian as well.”

John tilts his head.  "Fire alarm."  He moves his hands to Sammy's shoulders, and holds her so he can look into her eyes.  "Time to do what heroes do."  He turns to look at Megan, "Get every outside door open as fast as you can, start on the back side, I'll get the front doors."  He steps back from Sammy, "Make sure no one is left inside."  he says to Sammy, "Start at the top and work your way down.  Stay calm, and other people will too.  If either of you run into trouble, yell for me."  he glances back and forth between them for a second and smiles, "This is why we have powers too."  He turns and steps off the roof.

Megan groans as the fire alarm goes off, their problems were coming in droves.  She looks over at Sammy as John departs and quickly adds.  “Once we have the place cleared, we should meet over near the practice field with Syl and Sarah to break the spell.  But right now, it might help you with getting the guys to listen to you in evacuating.  Be safe Sammy.”

And then Megan is gone in a blur of motion.  Running across the roof towards the back of the building, she is down the wall and starts making her way around the building to open doors.  As she goes, she sends Sarah and Sylvia a text message telling them of the change in plans for where to meet to break the spell.

She lets him hug her.


As soon as Sammy can, she ducks into a girl's bathroom and soaks her hoodie with water.  She's had enough breathing problems; she doesn't need more.

As Sammy is leaving the bathroom she hears a familiar voice call her name.  Elrod pushes past a few people making their way out and smiles, "Here."  He says, taking off his jacket and handing her his sunglasses.  "I don't have my helmet today."

*Koff*  "What the hell are you still doing in here, looking for me instead of getting out?  It's bad, El.  Get out so I don't have to worry about you too."*Koff Koff*  She gives him a strong, fierce hug.  "Move.  I'm going to need somebody to catch me when I finally stumble out the door, and you can't do that if you're still inside, so go.   *Koff* Please?"

"I'm gone then.  don't stand me up."  he says, leaning in to give her a quick kiss before departing with the masses.

[Move to 32-10 after Sammy's last comment, if any]