Brawl at the Mall - Investigations
The session starts on the morning after Seaworld, the party camped in with Ray to make sure everything's okay between him and his family. Ray returns the bobber to Kate, and after some farewells, Moki, Kate, Hitomi, and Bami head back towards the mall.
On the way back, the group chats a little about Moki's nature. Bami especially takes note of her as a part of her seems to resonate with him. He tells Moki that he is a yokai.
The party stops at the Buc-ee's and get something to eat. As they eat, Bami approaches Moki and examines her. He seems to see both Mokis overlapping at once.
Bami tells Moki that she has been touched by Hannya, an Oni. A female Oni.
Once the group has satisfied their hunger, Kate and Moki trade the wheel and continue driving back home.
Back at the Mall
Once the group makes it back to the mall, Bami and Hitomi take their leave, giving Katrina's delivery to Kate and Moki. As the two approach the Toys 'R' Us, they see it has a SOLD sign out front.
The pair make their way into the break room, concerned and wondering what happened, only to find Skab and Katrina passed out on the floor with Mario Kart on the TV.
After waking them, Katrina tells the two that she bought the Toys 'R' Us from the ghostly Gnome and that she has the first target.
Brawl at the Mall
The first target is the leonin we fought before at the brawl at the mall and the party currently has 3 days to investigate the area and gather intel
Wednesday (Day 1)
Kate finds someone who wants to be found. A familiar manager of the Hot Topic. Kate calls her by her first name. She wants to set up a meeting with Moki. Kate agrees.
Moki does a stakeout of the gym. Tate arrives early in the morning, he checks in at 6:00 AM. An unknown woman yells expletives at the gym at 4:00 AM. He meets with the Leonen for training between 12:00 and 2:00 PM. In the evening at 8:00 - 10:00 PM, he meets with an unknown Loxodon.
Moki hears what the woman is shouting, it's completely unintelligible. It's so incomprehensible, I take 2 psychic damage
Moki does make out her yelling threats to the air, while waving a battleaxe in the air. Something about the past catching up to them.
Moki yells back asking what they did to her.
She learned they stole Dwarves steel from her clan, her dad is sick, and she needs it back. Kimmie is her name. One of the dwarves of the Colorado rockies
She's a human woman that believes she's a dwarf. Her belief is so strong that her enchanted axe that _only_ works for dwarves works for her.
Moki has recruited her!
Thursday (Day 2)
Kate visits the GameStop, meets someone she recognizes from Barnes and Noble. He is looking at mecha anime games. Kate recommends a copy of a game.
He loves he recommendation and the two get along. His name is Ken. The pair chat about vibes the mall conveys since the change.
Kate expresses concern with how he's doing and the two exchange numbers. Ken is fighting too. He tells Kate he has something he wants to show off during the fight.
Ken shows her an overcomplicated belt buckle, but refuses to elaborate, he wants to save that for the ring.
Ken remembers a sword guy, his tongue slips. Kate slips him knowledge that he remembers the anomaly. He sweats a little, and instantly tries to shift the conversation to lunch.
He in fact remembers The Opulent One. He's been pressured to join the Gym. Kate is going to answer his questions In response, he shows Kate his belt buckle, which is a combination of multiple technologies in one.
Kate gives him the rundown on the situation up to now. He asks if we want his help. Kate does say yes. He looks at Kate in sincerity as she offers him some confidence, and he agrees to help. He then gives Kate his full name, 'Ken Henshin'.
Kate takes him back to the Toys 'R Us to introduce him to the rest of us.
Moki takes the opportunity to walk in and get some intel from within the gym. Moki meets someone from the front desk and asks for a tour. The Leonin tours her around. So far it seems like a normal gym. Gymbros exist and are disruptive as usual.
The Leonin isn't aware of Katrina's past. We also are not aware of her reasoning for what she did. We know about why Kate could pull the sword, we knew she and the grand knight had a duel. The Grand Knight was a soldier of the last major war, one who helped seal away the new monarchy. We do not know why she picked her fight. The Leonen doesn't tell us why he's so upset with Katrina. Simply stating he would have done things differently.
Once we return to base, we see everyone together, and the Hot Topic lady is there. The lady is a 'broker' of sorts. Hot Topics network and trade information on bards. Rumor notes Moki returned from the Route.
Moki is considered a *Hot Topic*, as it's extremely rare_ for bards to return.
If we bring back artifacts of the bards (bardic weapons, lost band paraphernalia, she'll give us 'things that are much more valuable'.
Bards have a sort of magnetism to these items
Friday (Day 3)
Kate checks in on the group. She also opts to plan drills with Sebasios. During this, Ken approaches Kate and Sebasios to test out some gear. Kate warns Ken about Seb's poison sting, to which he responds he's got a surprise of her own.
The two spar, the rest of the crew places bets on who wins. Katrina puts 2 fruit rollups on for Kate, Seb puts a bag of Doritos for her, Moki places 20$ CAD for Kate Skab puts another 20 for Ken, Kimmie also bets on Ken
His belt is being worn over his shirt. His belt turns on and he pressed some buttons. He is a bladesinger. He pulls out a shortsword and flute.
Using the flute, he summons his iron defender, an iron velociraptor. He is also an artificer. Kate loses the fight
Moki sits to observe this fight and check in on everyone at the base
Kate's phone rings. She's being called for contract re-negotiation.