BoyBandsEpisode4
Episode Four
The Airship of Love heads for Rathess. Mysterious Beautiful Glowy Boy Rescued From Pirates is still comatose. On the way, a mysterious guy in blue robes - the second seen so far in this series - shows up and fills the boys in on some recent events on the Blessed Isle: a Fair Folk band called WyldTune has gone marauding through one of the contest venues and decimated several of the competing boy bands. The judges have gone into a conference to decide what to do. Mysterious Boy In Blue tells the guys that they will meet his brother in the Imperial City.
The tour manager, Palest Moon (who the band still call "Mister Later" because he kept putting them off when they asked his name) gives more info on the fourth round engagement. He's been given very vague ideas of what to expect, and suggests that the boys come up with a song that can be sung at great length, as there is an endurance component to the challenge. He also mentions something about environmental challenges (!).
The Airship of Love arrives over the ruined city and moves into position over a pair of lesser pyramids, the Temple of the Moon. Below, the band sees three guys running for their lives from a pack of Stalkers, and they charitably throw down a rope. The guys turn out to be fellow Solars, and fellow musicians - a band called First Age. They babble about how terrible this part of the contest was and ask to be dropped off somewhere else. The boys freak. Smoldering Embers tries to contact Sol Invictus and after a moment gets an answer: "Hello...this is the Unconquered Sun. I can't talk right now, but your prayer is very important to me and will be answered in the order in which it was received..."
No time for more preparation, the challenge starts. The Indifferent Musicians set up the band's equipment and then skedaddle as Stalkers start to scurry around the base of the pyramids. On the other rooftop, a group of five Dragon Kings emerges and sets up as well (one from each Breed plus a new Earth-aspected Breed that I invented called the Brontok. I hate asymmetry!). They introduce themselves as the First and Most Glorious Songcircle of Young Males, and seem like pleasant fellows. The Stalkers begin to edge toward both bands.
F&MGSoYM begins to play ("Lionheart" by SMAP) and the players are momentarily dumbfounded by the idea that the Dragon Kings are crooning a smooth melodic ballad in five-part harmony. Heh. In response to the music, crystals built into the rooftop emit a force field that pushes the Stalkers back and away. WA HA HA wastes no time and starts their own song, erecting their own force field.
The Stalkers are hungry, and start slamming into the fields. The boys discover that this *hurts* and can make them mess up their song if they aren't careful. Lots of endurance and resistance checks here. Both bands play for hours but start to get tired. WA HA HA hits on the idea of singing in shifts to conserve energy, although it results in a smaller force field. F&MGSoYM begins to falter. It looks like the Dragon Kings are going to be Stalker chow.
One of the guys notices that every so often, both force fields seem to pulse and grow momentarily stronger. Some Awareness + Perception reveals that it's when the two bands' songs are in harmony. WA HA HA shifts its song and starts to jam with the other band, merging the two force fields into one huge powerful one and saving the DK's bacon. Their opponents acknowledge that they would have lost without help and concede, ducking into the pyramid while our heroes scramble to get back up to the Airship of Love.
Joshi realizes, much to his horror, that they left his precious whiskey on the top of the pyramid.
Mysterious Yadda Yadda Pirates has awakened from his coma. It turns out he saw the band perform at Gethamane and Exalted, and has been trying to catch up with them ever since. HE'S THEIR BIGGEST FAN!!!111! It turns out he has some musical abilities himself, and ends up joining the group after demonstrating his DJ booth Artifact (don't ask). Welcome, new player Dave!
The Airship heads immediately for the Imperial City, where the fifth and final qualifying event will be held. Apparently the Regent, the Mouth of Peace, and Lady Mnemon have all declared a total amnesty for the duration of the event, so there's no need to worry about the Wyld Hunt getting all uptight if there's a bit of a lightshow during the concert.
The *first* guy in blue robes - from way back in Episode 1 - makes a return appearance. Joshi and Asaimizu remember him from Gethamane. He's the brother of the other guy. Or something. Anyway, he takes the group to meet their opponents, of whom there are a LOT. Apparently the judges decided that the survivors of the three groups that were slaughtered by the Fair Folk could merge into one group, and also merge their total score. The newly formed group, TidingS (which has NINE members), now has four wins - the same as WA HA HA, and one below what they need to qualify for the tournament.
Guy In Blue declares that DESTINY is at hand. He proposes a wager: there will be a "best of three" battle, judged solely by the audience. The losers must vow to leave the contest and devote themselves to hunting down and destroying WyldTune, while the winners must forget about WyldTune and concentrate on the contest - said vow to be consecrated by Windsong's Eclispe anima ability. WA HA HA agrees, as does the Golden Yama, leader of TidingS - but one of the members of the latter finds the terms objectionable and quits, going off to hunt the Raksha by himself (this is an inside joke that NOBODY gets but me, *sigh*).
We end with the Golden Yama looking very smirky and WA HA HA wondering if maybe they didn't put their foot in it, since the audience will be determining the winner and these are local boys with a sympathy factor for the death of their friends.
Next time we play will be the big conclusion to the qualifiers. Will WA HA HA make it into the tournament? Will the Unconquered Sun ever answer that prayer? Will there be magma krakens? Plus a special guest appearance by some old rivals.
