Merx #3

"O-M-G! ❤️🐘 My friend Nana is MISSING! 🔍They use they/she pronouns. They look like a sweet old lady but looks can be deceiving. Could use all the help we can get! 👀 XOXO"

Merx #3: GR8FULLY YOUNG

GR8FULLY YOUNG

Episode 3

// Scene Setup

That was a bit of a ride. Let's up this Chaos to 5! I have two plotlines on my list right now:
- Find Nana
- Figure out what Roi Salvator wants

Expected scene is that Caduceus will—once again!—resume looking for Nana. Like... where the hell is she?

My chaos roll is... 4! Another interrupt! Am I not supposed to find her or what?

1, Action. 10—None.

2, Action. 88—Confrontation.

4, Action. 3—Conclusion.

3, Action. 1—Conclusion.

4, Action. 70—Double Down.

So... lotta Action, huh?

To flesh out the Confrontation point, I decided to use Adventure Crafter's character creator to get as sense of who the Confrontation was with.

56: Organization. 85: Gatherer. 37: Dirty. This... gives me Nana vibes, but not in a good way. And with the Double Down, this makes me think that it's not just a single person or a small team. No. They apparently had to get the full force of whatever organization on their side to handle this.

I think I have an idea of what's happening here...

We begin the scene with 4 momentum.

I don't care about many people in this city. I keep my circle small. I could count them all on one hand.

Makes it easier to watch the city burn.

But, in order for me to feel comfortable about the city burning, my crew needs to be safe.

Where the hell is Nana?

After Caduceus searched the vicinity for Nana, he made his way back to their apartment building. He hoped that the inspectors were gone by now and he could—

Damnit.

In front of the building were three dumpsters piled high with garbage—no, not garbage. Someone's things. Another two were actively being filled by a team of close to fifty people, all wearing city official sanitization uniforms. Mist hovered around the dumpsters like pests. The building was taped off and residents were watching in awe as more and more trash— belongings were brought outside from the seventh floor.

He was sure Nana had not given their approval to toss their stuff aside. They'd be devastated.

Nana...

// Mechanics

Alright. I want to try something. I'm going to use Mythic to help me dynamically create a Danger to deal with. This will be a social situation. I know I want this Danger to have a Hard Move that will give them a status like focused-on-work-1, which will negatively impact Caduceus's ability to get information out of them. I think when they get to about tier-3 on that spectrum, I'll start rolling using Mythic to see if the Danger goes away (Deny Them Something They Want). Any other spectrum I want to use that will defeat the Danger will also be based on Mythic.

Also, I'll have this Danger start out with focused-on-work-1.

"Excuse me," he said. Caduceus approached one of the workers near the barricade, a large, imposing woman who looked like she was in charge. In that moment, he decided to don the persona of a disgruntled resident, letting annoyance and anger color his words. "What the hell happened here?"

// Discover

a way with words - focused-on-work-1 = +0. Yikes.

3+1+0 = 4. A missssss.

Expected that result, so we're going to use that Hard Move I described to give itself another tier on that spectrum, raising it to preoccupied-with-work-2.

The woman looked to Caduceus, rolled her eyes, and returned to managing the crew around her. She hadn't given him a second thought.

Oh, is that how she wants to play?

Turn around and answer that poor boy's question.

// Conflict

Because this is a Danger, this'll take more than a mere Stunt to grant success. So, we're going to Conflict.

telepathy + put a thought in their head = +2. And... sure, why not. Let's invoke chaotic thoughts so we can get some more experience. We now have a total modifier of +1. Mark attention and up our momentum to 5!

6+3+1 = 10! Yes! Got lucky, lol.

With this Conflict, we had a power of 1. Using an upgrade, we'll knock this up to 2 boxes and give her a helpful-2 status. And since this is Conflict, we're going to pick the option of avoiding a counterattack.

Aaaand let's see if this status is good enough to overcome this danger. We're going to translate that status as a modifier for Mythic, so +2.

9+5+2 = 16! YUP! And chaos roll of... 1! Both are odd, so this is now an exceptional yes. Super, duper helpful. Awesome.

In hindsight, though, this should've been a swing spectrum (making the total Mythic modifier +0). But I didn't realize it until I was writing this up and it's way too late to change this. lol Also, it would've been 14 total, which is still the same result.

With her back turned, Caduceus heard the woman sigh heavily before turning around to face him. "I'm sorry. There's just been a lot going on. What were you asking me?"

Hoping to capitalize on her change of mood, Caduceus did the same, shifting his voice into a more apologetic tone. "This is my friend's place—these are their things. What happened here?"

// Discover

The situation changed, so I'm allowing this to be used again. And we're going to ignore both the helpful and hindering statuses.

a way with words = +1.

5+2+1 = 8. Weak hit, which is okay. I doubt she actually knows everything anyway.

"I can't say too much, sir, though Ms. Smith—"

"You can just call them Maria."

She cleared her throat. "Maria Smith was properly notified well in advance that they needed to clean their hoard or face eviction and the removal of their belongings." The woman looked apologetic—for more than one thing, he noticed—and nodded before returning to her duties.

Nana's hoard meant everything to them. All of them.

He needed to find Nana, ASAP.

// Scene Setup

That was mostly under control, to be honest, so we're dropping the Chaos to 4.

We were interrupted last time, so now he's going to resume looking for Nana throughout the city.

Chaos roll of... 5. As expected! Also, I updated my Themes because it was a liiiiiitle too heavy on the Action.

Not using them right now, but they are as follows: Tension (1-4), Action (5-7), Personal (8-9), Mystery and Social (10a and 10b).

He spent the better part of the day looking for any sign of his missing friend. Nana was a hard individual to keep track of. They had so many interests and it was almost impossible to assume what they would have done. For all he knew, they were sleeping on a park bench or getting their nails done.

// Discover

I chose to go with Discover because he's looking around, trying to pick up anything that could lead him to Nana. This could've been a Stunt, though. But that's not fun!

an eye for details = +1.

6+3+1 = 10. Wh00t! Only one Clue, though.

Mythic, is he able to find Nana? Likely, +2. 5+2+2 = 9, nope. With Chaos of 7.

Welp.

Guess he needs to call in some reinforcements.

All of his leads turned up fruitless, and as the sun began to set he knew he would need to call in reinforcements. Someone who could cover more ground in the haystack that was Acinvar.

"Ellie," he said when another acquaintance of his answered the phone. "Hey."

"Well, hello there, Tré." It was short for Trémes, his middle name. Again: no one used his real name. "How've you been?"

Ellie had helped Caduceus out on an assignment a while back in exchange for some of the profits. She was an amazing influencer—in more ways than one—and her skills had been invaluable. But, like Kane, she wasn't exactly a person who was doing illegal jobs for a living. Times had been hard and she needed the extra cash. "I'm good. Hey listen, I need your help."

"I told you before, I have a reputation to uphold. Now, I'm not opposed to something a little not-so-devious, but I need to keep my image clean. I can't lose any more sponsorships! Money is already tight and I—"

"No, no. Not that. Nana's missing."

"Nana?!" He could practically hear her raise her hand to stop him from saying anything else. "Say no more. Give me an hour." She hung up the phone and Caduceus felt a weight lift off of his shoulders. If anyone could find Nana, it was Ellie and the EllieFans.

A few minutes later, he got a notification on his phone: "Elizabeth Macks is live! 🎥 🚨🚨🚨EMERGENCY ELLIEFANS MEETING!🚨🚨🚨 Need your help to find a friend! ❤️🐘🔍👀 XOXO"

Caduceus smiled.

// Discover

Ellie is another Extra! As mentioned, she's a great influencer. So, for moments when you need to ask the entire city something, you turn to Ellie!

a million followers + influences others = +2.

2+6+2 = 10! Actually surprised this worked for some reason.

We get 2 Clues.

Where is Nana? Mythic Descriptor, 44 18: Gladly Delicate. My first thought is an antique shop, which is just so cute. I bet you they've been thrifting this whole time.

And with our second clue... What are they lugging around with them? If they've been out thrifting, they had to have found something. Mythic Descriptor, 46 100: Gratefully Young.

I think I got what I need.

Caduceus took a seat on a park bench and took a moment to breathe. He was confident in Ellie's network, and one of her EllieFans would definitely be able to help.

As if on cue, Caduceus's phone buzzed with a text from Ellie. It contained a photo and a location. He sighed heavily at the realization that he should have known where Nana was.

They had been out thrifting.

Of course.

// Scene Setup

That was pretty tame, so lowering Chaos to 3.

Expected scene is that we finally go see Nana.

Chaos roll of 7. As expected!

When Caduceus finally laid eyes on Nana, they were smiling from ear to ear.

"Jordan!" Nana waved and hurried toward him. He had lied about his name when originally meeting them, using a moniker he derived from a combination of the nicknames for his first and middle name. Even after telling them his real name, Nana had latched onto Jordan. They, too, were accustomed to having multiple names.

They were wearing a short-sleeve tee shirt with graffiti markings and a too-hard-to-read typeface that read "GR8FULLY YOUNG." But, it was bright and colorful and he could see why Nana liked it. Nana was also carrying a machine that looked like it was used to make more shirts like the one they were wearing. It was massive and bulky and looked like it weighed over two hundred pounds. It almost dwarfed their four-foot-ten frame, but Caduceus knew Nana could handle that weight and more with ease.

Nana sat the machine down on the ground and gave Caduceus a big hug, then fished a button from their pants' pocket. They pinned it into his shirt and they clasped their hands together in glee. "Perfect." The button read, "he/him." Nana was sporting one as well; theirs read, "they/she."

"I've been looking everywhere for you, Nana." He contained his emotions as best he could. He would need to ease them in to this conversation.

"We decided to go shopping today and we found a bunch of cool things!" From the tone of their voice and the overall excitement, he knew exactly who he was speaking to.

"Skip," Caduceus began

"Yesssssssssssssss?" They cheesed like they were five, a child in bliss.

"Can I talk to Nana, please? This is important."

Nana-Skip pouted, the five-year-old mannerisms strong. "But why?"

"I need to talk to someone who will understand the gravity of exactly what I'm about to tell you all."

With a final pout, Nana-Skip huffed. "Fine." Their demeanor shifted. The pout straightened out and they uncrossed their arms. The smile lessened just a bit, though Caduceus could tell that Nana was just as excited to see him. "Ooh, Jordan! How wonderful to see you!" Their voice sounded older, like it finally matched the body. He could tell he was speaking to Nana.

Then, careful to not accidentally summon Snuffy or Sly, Caduceus explained everything that had happened with Nana's apartment.

And her hoard.

"Everything... is gone? All of our stuff?"

"There was an eviction notice on your door. Did someone come by and speak with you about that?"

"Well... Snuffy kicked the first two groups out. And then Skip just nodded and smiled at the third. I don't think we thought it was anything serious. It wasn't that much stuff. Besides, you can't just put people out on the street... right?"

Caduceus heard a sniffle, and Nana's demeanor began to shift. From the confident elder to a shy and timid child. This was not Skip, though. "Wh-where are we supposed to live?" Scaredy. Caduceus knew this persona all too well. "All of our stuff is gone! I told them we needed to do something about the people, but nooooooo!"

"Scaredy, breath. It's going to be okay."

"No, it's not!" Nana-Scaredy dropped the bag of buttons, tears flowing down their face. "We're homeless now! And we have nothing! No money, no home, no stuff! All of our things had a purpose! It was special! You can't just throw away someone else's things!"

He could house Nana, that wasn't an issue. They'd eat him out of house and home in a few days, but he'd deal. He'd need some money to help support them—

Ellie sounded like she needed cash, too. And Kane was planning to propose.

Caduceus felt for the business card in his pocket.

"You all can stay with me. I have an idea."