Sometimes, it’s good to have a fun, lighthearted adventure mixed in with big, pulpy stories about sentient robots and buildings that perambulate from their lower New London addresses to Hyde Park.
Last night, our Martians Are Coming game began, as it usually does, in Winfield’s bakery. A scandal sheet reporter named Puddy Tyson came by to chat with us and watch for “some news of the weird.” We are apparently now on his beat. Ah, well– we’re pretty calm about the whole experience of encountering the weird. Neither Winfield nor Abigail is particularly secretive yet about their doings.
As usual, weirdness comes for us– a French woman arrived, flirted with Winfield, and bought “one of everything” from the shop. Noticing that she seemed to be followed, Winfield tracked her until some of the street urchins known as the Irregulars (our main contact having disappeared a few days ago) interfered with him. Abigail, meanwhile, distracted Mr. Tyson with stories of how the science building could walk.
Static challenges: Stealth for Winfield, and Rapport for Abigail.
Eventually, Winfield discovered that the French woman had swapped his pastries for pies and delivered them to the local police station. Nothing seemed to be amiss with the constabulary, but it was indeed a bit of underhanded deception. Abigail and Winfield went in search of a pie maker, eventually finding a Frenchman named Limon (who had been following the French woman), and his assistant Pecan (the Frenchwoman).
In the course of Limon’s bragging, Abigail suggested a bake-off. The young Prince’s birthday was coming up– what better ocassion? Abigail found a way to insert herself into Prince William’s life and impress him with her connection to “that baker who made all those people turn colors!” The competition would be held as a birthday tea for the prince.
When Abigail suggested the bake-off, Winfield was compelled to agree, due to his High Concept, which is “Iron Baker.” This scene resulted in a 3-part challenge for Abigail: Drive, Physique (to get trampled without damage), then Rapport.
The day of the birthday tea arrived. The bakers, grudgingly sharing a kitchen, took their positions. After tossing a few insults at M. Limon, Abigail attempted to calm and entertain the other noble children, but rather failed to convince them that they would not be turned into purple blueberries. Instead, she used their terror to convince Mr. Tyson that there was an alien conspiracy worth writing about, and solicited the Irregulars to arrive in a timely manner, acting like alien-controlled zombies.
4-part contest for both Winfield and Abigail. First Winfield: Shooting (static) to determine if he can accomplish the trick shot. Then Abigail: First, a create advantage roll where she insulted M. Limon to undermine him and gave him the Flustered aspect that Winfield could tap later (Rapport– Abigail has a stunt called “Bless Your Heart” to use Rapport instead of Provoke). Burglary (static) with the children to do magic tricks (failed), then Rapport with the Irregulars to create an advantage with Mr. Tyson. Then Rapport with Mr. Tyson, because Tyson doesn’t need to believe it– he just needs a story.
Meanwhile, Winfield was baking up a storm of deliciousness, delivering his creations by spinning plates and using a trick shot to catapult the pastries from the service plates onto the Prince and judges’ plates! The prince was delighted! The other children were terrified. Their parents, probably mortified. It didn’t matter, though, because once they bit into the confections, even the French judge could not contain himself. Winfield was the clear winner!
Final roll in hte contest: Winfield’s Craft roll. The social conflict comes down to this moment, so Winfield pulls out all the stops. He’s pretty good with Craft anyway, plus he taps his High Concept: Iron Baker for a +2. And he taps M. Limon’s Flustered aspect (“Oh, Monsieur! I see you forgot the powdered sugar on your cakelets?”) for another +2. The result was a Succeed With Style, resulting in even the French judge being impressed by Winfield’s cake.