A World Beyond (IC)

[Terraspaz]

The mind of a child is filled with imagination, untapped potential... ...but best of all, it's naive... it's the perfect vessel and instrument. Fetch the heralds... we've not long.

"Good morning students. Today's date is Thursday, October 17th. Everyone please stand for the Pledge of Allegiance." The classroom stands at the command of the loudspeaker, and drudingly recites the verse that for five grades now has marked the beginning of another day of school. As usual, the voice of Frank "The Tank" Trenam stands out above all the others, with yet another unique series of words. "...and to the big ugly, who wears huge pants..." While Frank is my no means a stellar student, this being his second stint in the fifth grade, he has masterfully figured out which side Mrs. Warner's hearing aid is on, and what he can get away with. The morning announcements finish, and the class is seated.


"Good morning, class!" "Good mornin' Mrs. Warner..." the students drone. "We have a lot to cover today, so lets get right down to it. Don't forget, we have a math test tomorrow, so go ahead and pull out your workbooks to page 52..." Mrs. Warner has been foisting the importance of October's math test since September, and has been driving math problems in this class for what seems like forever. She cares about this test so much, that she has promised any student that scores an A free ice cream in the cafeteria next week! Her long black skirt, adorned with symbols of chalkboard writings sways left and right as she writes several problems up on the board. The morning drones on and on as you move from math, to english, to social studies, only to end with math. "Well, we've certainly made some progress today, class. Let's head out early for recess today. I think you've earned it." The students cheer, and head out towards the playground.

Arthur Hebberon
“Oh, Arthur, could you do me a favor?” She pulls you aside as the other students head out. “I have to clear up a matter at the District Office. Could you runoff 28 copies of this test for me? Just drop them in my mailbox on your way out to recess.” She hands you a packet of paper, and offers a smile. This is no surprise to you… every math test so far she’s asked you to make copies. You aren’t sure, but you have a suspicion that she doesn’t actually know how to use the new copier the school brought in this year. Nodding, she heads out the door, leaving you with the math test.

Larry Rosati
You step outside, eager to be free of that useless droning of Mrs. Warner. Your eyes immediately fix on the Big Kids’ slide, and scowl to yourself as you see Susie Summers and her floozies already in line. If there was one being to detest the most in this world, it was Susie. Always giggling, always waltzing about carefree, with her mindless drones behind her. She had a smile for everyone that passed her way… except for you. Instead, they jeered “Hairy Larry,” in awful, girly unison, laughing gaily at your hair. It wasn’t your fault you had to cut your own hair with a pocket knife, since your balding foster dad never bothered with barbers, and saw no need to take you. But every explanation you gave just ended in more laughter from Susie and the zombie horde. Whatever. Dejected, you turn off, and head towards the dumpster, to think about what you’ll say when you get home this afternoon.

Billy King
You head outside, and head towards the swingset, your old standby. As you head down the stairs, a firm hand grabs your forearm. “Hey, King.” You turn to the pimply, pig-like face of The Tank himself. “I need to talk to you.” He motions you over behind the dumpster, and your heart falls a couple inches. Only the most serious and secret conversations were conducted behind the dumpster. You don’t really want to turn away from having fun during your only solace of the school day, but to ignore a near-order from The Tank would be certain death. You quickly glance over your shoulder, and follow Frank to the shady privacy of the dumpster.

Rounding the corner, you see Larry sitting there, staring to the ground. “Awww crap. You’re here?” The Tank looks scornfully to Larry. "Well, I guess you’re in, too. Can’t have a snitch runnin’ off tellin’ the teacher ‘bout this. Now…" he looks to the two of you. “I’ve got a business proposition for the both of ya.” He grins, eyeing both of you carefully.

Billy Eckert
Racing towards the treeline, you and your friends scour the ground for your weapons from yesterday. After little searching, you find them all: Swords, lances, bows, arrows, clubs, and even magical staffs, all provided by the pine trees that separate the playground from the highway. You unsheathe your mighty blade, and roll out of the way as the evil knight charges down upon you. Retaliating, you chop down with The Sword of Light, cutting deep into your foe’s jet-black armor. “Hah, gotcha!” you claim. “Nyuh-uh… you just hit my T-shirt!” “Oh yeah, try this!” You re-engage your opponent, rejoicing in the clack clack of sticks hitting each other.

“Oh no! Look out! My magic wand has turned into a dragon! Everybody run!” Looking to the skies, you stuff your trusted stick through your left belt loop, and dash away in terror, laughing all the way. Your legs carry you behind the school, surely out of sight from the dragon. After waiting for the beast to leave, you slowly venture back to the field of battle…

[lostsole31]

[OOC: "I a-claim a-this color-a in the name-a new Italia!" ]

Larry, barely even interested in the droning moron, only half listens ... but he stays in his original position.

[UserClone]

Billy turns to his friend Eddie, as they return to the field of battle, saying, "Now where did that dragon go? Listen, O Black Knight, that dragon could slay either of us easily. Our only choice is to band together in truce, at least until we can defeat it." Billy spits into his palm and offers it for Eddie to shake.

"What say thee, sir knight?"

[Wiz]

Billy King

Billy gulps audibly at the bully's proposition, but doesn't dare refuse out of hand. "What did you want, Tank?"

[lostsole31]

"A lexicon," Larry mutters quietly to himself.

[Terraspaz]

Larry and Billy King

"Look Pit-Breath, I don't like you, and I could care less what you have to say. The only reason I'm wasting air on you is because you happened to be sitting in my office, and I can't risk you walking off causing a scene over here. We're stuck like this. Deal." Frank slides the right sleeve of his T-shirt up slightly, glaring at Larry. "Now, we don't have much time, so here's the skinny. Y'see that window? On the other side of that window is the teacher's workroom. In there, the super-nerd to end all super-nerds holds a copy of tomorrow's test. When he leaves that room, he'll give them to someone else, so we've got a tiny window to get in there." ...Speaking of windows..." Frank glances up towards the window, several feet off the ground. "That's where you two folks come in. I need you two to boost me through that window. Help me out, and you get a sneak peak at the big test. Even you, Pit-Breath."

He looks at the two of you expectantly.

Billy Eckert
Eddie spits into his hand, slapping it into yours. "You got it! The enemy of my enemy is still an enemy of mine... I think." You back towards the playground, in search of new foes and greater dangers. From the shadows of the dumpster, you notice three figures talking, one of whom you pick out as Frank The Tank. "Look out, Billy! Eddie cries. "There's a giant bird clawing at your head! He wants your brains!"

[drum-n-bass]

Arthur Hebberon
“Oh, Arthur, could you do me a favor?” She pulls you aside as the other students head out. “I have to clear up a matter at the District Office. Could you runoff 28 copies of this test for me? Just drop them in my mailbox on your way out to recess.” She hands you a packet of paper, and offers a smile. This is no surprise to you… every math test so far she’s asked you to make copies. You aren’t sure, but you have a suspicion that she doesn’t actually know how to use the new copier the school brought in this year. Nodding, she heads out the door, leaving you with the math test.

Grabbing the test he hops along the gray and gritty sidewalk doing multiples of 28 along the way. He quickly plops the correct sequence into the copier. Once done Arthur gets the 28 copies and slides them into the secretaries smooth hands. Then he hops back onto the sidewalk counting the decimals of pi before reentering the classroom to tinker with the broken printer.

[lostsole31]

"Sure, Tank, not a problem," says Larry, managing something like a smirk.

[Wiz]

Billy King

Billy frowns, "Look, Frank, I don't want to get involved in cheating... you thought that I would be enough alone... you can get Larry instead. I won't tell anyone what you told me."

[Terraspaz]

Arthur

You start poking around the innards of the printer. You first noticed a problem when, instead of spitting out a document into the tray, the printer spat out a giant cloud of smoke into the air. In your expert opinion, this is clearly a sign of a malfunction. You lift up the main cover, and immediately find the problem. One of the drive belts, worn from use, has lost tension and just spins wildly. A replacement belt would be ideal... but you realize you could fashion a supporting bracket to take up the slack out of rubber bands and paper clips, both in abundance in Mrs. Warner's Desk. It's certainly doable, but it will take some time.

Billy King and Larry
Frank furrows his eyebrows, in a brutish mix of anger and frustration. "Well, Lily-Billy... guess you aren't the protractive person I thought you were. You don't wanna help? Fine, Larry and I here will keep the answers, then. But you're going to stand exactly where you are right now, and if you even dream about snitching to Mrs. Warner, I'll knock you straight back to fourth grade!" He pauses, staring with a gaze that seems to penetrate your very soul, until after an eternity, he speaks to Larry, still focused on you. "Let's go. Farter Arthur has to be getting close to done by now." He moves beside the window, still keeping his gaze locked on Billy.

[lostsole31]

"Ummm, Frank? What's protractive mean?"

[drum-n-bass]

Walking over to her desk, he rummages in some cabinets until he finds enough paper clips and rubber bands. He then fashions a belt to hold until a replacement belt it bought.

[Terraspaz]

"Y'know, like, 'thinking ahead,' 'n' stuff. Hurry up, c'mon!"

[UserClone]

((OoC: 'm switchin' teh green, yar! It seems to contrast better with all those blue variations))"GAAAAHHH! MYY BRAAAAAIIINS!" screams Billy, running haphazardly, his trail taking him a bit closer to the dumpster, as he tries to listen in on Frank the Tank's private conversation.

Spoiler

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[roll=Notice]1d20+13[roll] (plus any additional penalties for running around; he stops screaming once he gets closer, just running around and waving his arms.)((Darn, forgot the slash))

[Wiz]

Billy King

Billy just nods and stands there. Right... like thinking ahead enough to study for the test maybe?

[lostsole31]

"Y'know, like, 'thinking ahead,' 'n' stuff. Hurry up, c'mon!"

"Hm, pro-tract-ive. I get it! It's like seein' all the angles!"

[Terraspaz]

Billy Eckert
"Yeah, yeah. You comin' or not." Frank's attempts to keep it to a whisper begin to falter, as his face reddens with frustration. You can easily hear him on the other side of the dumpster.

[UserClone]

Billy Eckert

Giving Eddie the signal to stop (holding up his fist, the back of his hand facing Eddie, who is still behind him), Billy initiates their "Black Ops" game. Billy raises two fingers in a "scout's honor fashion" and wiggles the fingers right twice, then creeps toward the dumpster Sneak - (1d20+3)[14], crawling on his belly. The enemy could spot him at any time, but his mission was clear: get the information, and get it back to the President. It had been made clear that if he were caught, all knowledge of his activities would be disavowed and he would be interrogated and put to death.

He knew what he had to do.

It was all up to agents B and E now.

[lostsole31]

"No, I just wanted to see if you knew there was no word like protractive when you meant proactive, Frank with Stank. Stick with what you know, and you'll look less like a ...

"You know what? You just keep usin' them big-crap words, it really doesn't matter, you still look like an idiot no matter what you say."

"You want answers to the test? Go get 'em. I don't even care enough about math to cheat. If I'm gonna' cheat at something, I want it to be for somethin' that's worth it!"

[Terraspaz]

Billy King, Larry
Anger flashing through his eyes, Frank races towards you, lunging at you with a fist. Recognizing the similar motions of a blow coming toward your face, you duck out of the way, as a resounding thud emanates from the dumpster where Frank's fist smashes against the metal.

Spoiler

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Misses with a 13

"Augh, dammit! Maybe your folks would teach you respect, if they weren't drunk all the time!" Frank sneers, as he readies to lunge at you again.

Billy Eckert
Putting your ear to the side of the dumpster, you hear what sounds like Larry nearly shouting at Frank. You start to doubt your own ears, as to cross The Tank was like asking for a brick to the face. Suddenly, as if in confirmation, you hear a loud thud against the far side of the dumpster, and hear Frank spouting off retorts. You share a quick glance with Eddie, stricken with a mix of alertness, curiosity, and fear.

Initiative

Spoiler

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Frank
Larry <---------- You're up!
Billy King
Billy Eckert
Eddie

Map

Spoiler

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[lostsole31]

What am I doing? Am I crazy? I never thought I would actually ask to get beaten, but if coming home bloody is the only way I can shift focus ... just so I can eat lunch. Besides, I'll remember Frank's face for a looong time after I've healed. Yeah, it's worth it.

Larry knew that the only way for this to really work out right is if he gets Frank really mad ... and since Frank is pretty much as easy to manipulate this way as a GI Joe's arms and legs. Larry still doesn't want to make it easy on Frank ... cause it's still gonna hurt, and focuses on him (who else), but really goes all out on defense as well.

Spoiler

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Frank is my "dodge-buddy", i.e., the one against whom my Dodge feat [+1 dodge AC] is applied this round AND I am using a standard action to evoke total defense [another +4 dodge AC] for a total +5 Dodge bonus to my AC, for AC 20 total.

"Hey Frank, you're so slow ... Yeah, that's it, that's all. Physically AND mentally! HA-ha-ha!" Larry taunts Frank the Tank as he tries to duck past him into more open ground, but fully knowing his time will come when the schoolkids zoom around them both - closing off escape - when the inevitable "Fight!" chant begins.

Spoiler

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Using a move action and Nimbleness for avoidance to go half-movement total by moving as follows: G8 (threatened, 2 sq.)-to-G9 (threatened, 2 sq.)-G10-F11.
1/2 Move is only through threatened squares, which is why they are listed as '2 squares' movement vice 1.
Grimm only requires I roll a single DC 15 Nimbleness check for all squares in question, not just each separately: Nimbleness (avoidance) = (1d20+8)[24]

[Wiz]

Billy King

Billy watches the bully launch into furious overdrive, "Frank... you're gonna draw a teacher over here if you start a fight. Your plan will be ruined, won't it?" He prepares to run in case the bully's attention switches to him in a violent response.

[Terraspaz]

Billy Eckert
"C'mon, Eddie, we've got to warn President Warner!" shouts Billy, darting towards the school entrance to tattle on Frank, with Eddie in hot pursuit. As you dart inside the school, you see Larry tumbling away from the dumpster.

Billy King
Ka-WHAAM! You see a flash of red as Frank clobbers his fist into your face., slamming the back of your head into the dumpster. "Got all the answers, don't ya, Lily?!" Frank plants his feet directly in front of you, clenching his fists

Spoiler

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You take three subdual damage

Larry
You hear Billy cry out in pain, and see a flock of kids racing towards you from
the playground. You see the playground monitor at the other end of the field, following the children, but it will take her some time to reach the dumpster.

Initiative

Spoiler

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Frank
Larry <---------- You're up!
Billy King
Billy Eckert
Eddie

Map

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[lostsole31]

"Hey, Frank! I got a welfare check with your mom's name on it. Oh, wait a minute, that's not welfare ... it's one of her night clients!!!" Larry yells to get Frank over towards him and away from Billy.

[Wiz]

Billy King

Billy shakes his head to clear it and looks to see Frank the Tank winding up for another blow. He stops waiting and starts running, knowing that the bully weighs at least twice what he does.

[UserClone]

Billy continues running with Eddie into the building, shouting, "Mrs. Warner, Mrs. Warner!!"

[Terraspaz]

Billy Eckert
Dashing into the school, you sprint back to Mrs. Warner's classroom, dodging past a very confused Mrs. Lowe, kindergarten teacher. While her duty compels her to stop you, her weight is not so conducive. You weave by her, rounding the corner to your classroom.

Arthur Hebberon
Mrs. Warner walks in through the door, tilting a head towards your meddling with the printer. "Arthur... what exactly are you doing? Ideas and terms race through your head to help describe the intricate work you've been laying out inside the printer, but as you determine the best way to explain the complexities of your mechanism, the door flies open, with Billy Eckert panting in the doorframe.

Larry Rosati
From the other side of the dumpster, you watch as Billy tears away from the dumpster, towards the playground watcher, and crowd of cheering children. You hear a crashing and smashing of leaves and twigs, and turn behind you to see The Tank charging at full force. He dives at you, wrapping his thick arms around your thin, frail figure. "That's right Pits! Keep crackin' on my momma! Awful shame you don't have one!"

Spoiler

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Touch attack - 22
Frank's Grapple - 8
Larry's Grapple - 5
You are grappled

[drum-n-bass]

Quickly readjusting his navy blue with pink polka dot tie, Arthur replies It would take me awhile to actually explain what I was doing, but I will explain it none the less. The printer has been shooting out clouds of smoke instead of paper for some time now. But with my free recess period, I have "fixed" the broken belt in your printer, so you have no need to worry about getting your clothes dirty.

[UserClone]

Between deep, wheezing breaths, Billy namages to choke out, "Preside-...um,...Mrs.... Warner! Ma'am,...Frank the...Tank is...pummelin' somebody out by....the dumpster! I think it's that...what was...his name? You know,...the one with...the mouth? LARRY, that's it. Hurry!"
Poor Billy then collapses to the floor, chest heaving, his face brightening as he desperately attempts to get enough oxygen. Finally, after a tense moment, it's clear that he'll be okay, and he continues to wheeze and breathe, but slightly less heavily.

"PLEASE GO!"

[Wiz]

Billy King

Billy glances behind him to see Frank grappling with Larry. A deep anger at how the bully uses his strength to beat up on others rises in him, and he abruptly turns, charging toward the two. When he gets close enough he tries jumping on Frank's back, grappling him in turn.

Flanking Touch Attack: (1d20)[16]

Grapple Check: (1d20)[8]