15751/Moonsugar Madness

Moonsugar Madness
Date of Scene:	30 August 2023
Location:	The Danger Room - Titan's Tower
Synopsis:	A band of adventurers finds a dragon and only one gets eaten!
Cast of Characters:	Kate Bishop, Jon Kent, Kyle Rayner, Mark Grayson, Kian, Jinx

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Kate Bishop has posed:
    Another Tuesday in the Tower.
    Honestly at this point her teammates may wonder if she does these Danger Room drills on Tuesday because Hawkeye has college courses on the other nights of the week and social commitments on the Weekend.  They would be right.  Still she won't admit that easily.  That would be admitting she is overextending or overbooking herself.
    Anyhow.  Kate sends a note to the new, recently returned, and still a bit green as far as the team goes.  Pick your own poison on that description, pun intended, or perhaps not.  Hawkeye is running a danger room sim, all takers come one come all.  The note does say, Khajit has Wares.
    Kate is sitting on the control console in the danger room waiting for arrivals, messing around on her phone as she does.  Her bow laid across her lap.  The bow itself is otherworldly, a mix of Amazonian, Kryptonian, and advanced earth sciences, which makes is why she calls it the Wonderbow.

Jon Kent has posed:
    Jon Kent doesn't consider himself green.  He's Superboy, after all, he was raised in this business.  Not in this particular timeline, mind you, but still, he's been fighting bad guys since he was in junior high.  Okay, he wasn't supposed to be fighting bad guys yet at that age, but Mom and Dad were really busy and didn't always keep great track of him.
    He tried not to think about them too much.  This dimension's versions were close and he immediately liked and cared about them.  But they also weren't the same.
    Best way to avoid homesickness?  Kick butt, especially kick butt alongside friends.  He's in his proper Superboy costume, cape and all, snugly fit on his muscular build and with the trademark emblem of the House of El on his chest.
    "I'm ready!  I'm ready!  I'm ready!  Uh, wait… do you guys have Spongebob in this dimension?"

Kyle Rayner has posed:
    Kyle is going to turn this down.  Last thing he wants is to get an arrow to the knee.  However, one line changes that opinion.  "Khajit has Wares."  He stares at the invite then snaps his finger.  "Son of a bitch, I'm in!" he modifies the line and says to no one in particular.
    Kyle will walk into the Danger Room.  "A peaceful greeting to you," he says in his best Khajiit voice, while completely in uniform.  To say he got the reference is an understatement.
    Then he looks at Jon and with a straight face, "You mean the antagonist in The Perils of Professor Plankton?  Yeah, we got that jerk sponge," and looks forward.
    He'll wait a few moments.  "Don't panic.  Spongebob should be the same in this dimension.  They've given him a few movies and at least two spin-offs.  This is a decent timeline, world, whatever you want to call it," Kyle will correct and try to assuage Jon's concerns.

Mark Grayson has posed:
    If there is a green here (NOT KYLE GREEN), it would be Mark.  He's only been in his powers for a short time and he's still figuring it out.  It especially doesn't help that his dad hasn't had his powers for over a decade now.  Now with him being in college, he's on his own and trying to figure out even more about the superheroing thing.
    Dressed in the iconic yellow 'i' costume of blue and black, there's a chuckle as he arrives at Jon's remark.  "There is!  Unfortunately, it's still on the air, nowhere near as good as it once was," he admits as he looks around and gives a wave towards Kate and the Wonderbow before offering his hand to Jon.  "I'm Invincible.  Not a suggestion," he quickly adds before noticing Kyle and giving him a wave as well.

Kian has posed:
    Wandering into the Da… PRACTICE Room, and clearly in his own little world, Kían is humming some strange semitone thing that's probably from his own world, intent on a complex 3D maze and—"Ai, qokh!"
    He never has provided a translation for that word.
    He glances around, trying to regain his bearings; he had kicked into the air, but dropped right back to the floor as soon as he noticed Things Were Happening.  "If I ask what's happening, will I regret it?"
    And then, remembering that he does have outstanding instructions from his viceroy, he kicks back into the air again… but doesn't quite enter the active zone.

Kate Bishop has posed:
    Kate just grins watching the interactions, shaking her head a bit as Kyle trolls poor Jon.  Still she doesn't have to come to Superboy's rescue since Kyle doesn't string him out on it too bad.  That was an excellent trolling though.
    "Ah yes, Blessings of the moons upon you, travellers."  A grin.  "Khajit does have wares today.  It looks like we have a Cyrodilic bird-person.  Three humans…."  She eyes everyone.  "A summoner, barbarian, and warrior."  She shifts her attention towards the door for a moment then hops down and gestures.  The door slides shut reacting to her gesture commands.
    "The roads have many dangers.  I will give you a moment to converse before you face them adventurers."  Yeah she is having much to much fun with this.  Likely because it will be a bit confusing to some.  Also she probably put a lot of work into this scenario.

Jon Kent has posed:
    Jon Kent makes a playful show of wiping his brow.  "Whew, that's a relief.  And hey, I'm sure the people who do it now are trying their best.  It can be hard to follow up a class act.  Nobody knows that better than me," he says.
    He listens to Kate's talk, though, and cocks his head.  "I don't see a… oh, oh, I get it, I get it.  Uh, I am happy to prove myself as a mighty uh… warrior.  I'm the warrior, right?"

Mark Grayson has posed:
    "I think she's saying I'm the barbarian because she's seen me fight… not exactly subtle," Mark admits.  More bull in a china shop.  Reaching up to run his hand against the back of his head, he mock glares at Kate, before turning his attention to the road ahead.  "Which makes our third the summoner, obviously."

Kyle Rayner has posed:
    Kyle focuses and green energy coalesces around him.  Before long it looks like various tabards are draped over his torso.  A visible touch of chainmail here and there across his arms and chest.  A helm covers his head entirely; it doesn't quite come up to a point, but it is a little cone shaped.  The metal like tip at the top spreads downward and sprawls outward at the forehead covering his face.  There's an intricate pattern that almost looks like a series of crosses.
    To anyone that has played Skyrim, or any recent Elder Scroll game, Kyle's dressed like a guard.  He looks to Jon.  "I used to be an adventurer like you, 'til I took an arrow to the knee."  He gestures to his knee and yes there's a construct arrow going through it for a brief second.
    "Honorable Khajiit.  Trader of Wares.  Keeper of Moon Sugar.  Perhaps we should initiate the un-initiated," Kyle nods to Jon, "When you are not giving us these current wares."  Which is nerd for, "Let's show Jon Skyrim sometime, yeah?"

Kian has posed:
    "I haven't got the faintest idea what you're talking about, Kate, and I am wearing one of the translators!" Kían says, more than a little dubiously.  "And am I to assume you want me to be a summoner, whatever that is?"
    Earth.
    Is.
    Weird.
    Filing this mentally under 'my viceroy told me I need to learn how to hit things', Kían flits out into the active area.  "All right.  But only because Ría q'San told me I need to do this."

Jinx has posed:
    Jinx casually strolls in to the room.  Not adventuring farther in to the fray she leans back against the wall.  An apple is taken from her pocket and she proceeds to polish before taking a bite.  "Fresh meat for the grinder…" she says ominously.
    Her finger dances from person to person.  Kian, Mark, Jon, then she stops on Kyle and raises an eyebrow.  "Who is supergreen?"  Her fingers then wiggle in Kyle's direction as a lazy sort of wave.  "Besides Kermit the Frog that is.  The dude's not French is he?"

Kate Bishop has posed:
    "Ah and we have a Magician as well it seems."  A nod to Jinx, another gesture to shut the doors to the chamber once more.  "We should absolutely introduce Jon later to the Elder Scrolls Kyle."  She grins and shrugs to Mark.  "Actually I was more curious which roles you would all take… and no Kian, you are the bird person.  Kyle here is the summoner of things."
    She gestures to Kyle.  "Kyle Raynor, aka Green Lantern.  Trust me I know how confusing it can be to have people copying your trademark."  Of course, she came second, but she is the better Hawkeye.
    "Anyhow, away we go."  She snaps her fingers and the whole room goes pitch black and then after a few moments, everything fades back into being as hard light constructs and a scenario springs into being.
    No everyone is not in a wagon being carted off as prisoners.
    Yes to the trained eye it looks like Skyrim, a forested and rocky countryside with everyone standing on a hillside.  Kate is… well she is Khajit holding a bow.  The room providing perfect illusions over her form.  "Adventurers should be wary.  Livestock has gone missing in these parts.  Rewards though to those who help the poor villagers."

Jon Kent has posed:
    Jon had admittedly just expected some big holographic monsters or maybe some sort of simulacrum of a famous supervillain like Mongul or Terrax the Tamer or Ann Coulter.  Instead, he finds himself immersed suddenly in an RPG.  His clothes have shifted to something resembling a classic DnD warrior, complete with breeches and tunic, although it seems he favors hand-to-hand combat given that he doesn't seem to have a weapon.
    "Helping poor villagers sounds like a good idea," he says.  Jon wants to help people but he's a little violence averse, in some ways.  He just knows his own strength and his own strength is enough to turn your average person into gelatine.  He's reassured that anything they fight here is surely fictional and not an actual living thing.
    "Just a warning, my high fantasy experience doesn't go much farther than a few birthdays at Medieval Times…."

Kyle Rayner has posed:
    Kyle pauses at Jinx and then he hears the bit about Kermit.  There are many ways he can take this.  Constructs, voices, body flailing, song.  Then he decides on something.  "Du makkin du popcornee, we readie di sheetie n'stick it ind de microwauveve de Caitlininin.  N' prez uhl di buddons," he says in his best Swedish Chef voice, which isn't half bad.  Then he will turn ahead like nothing happened.  "I'm just a guard trying to find a Rainbow Connection and maybe a pig."  He will wave to Jinx though.
    Suddenly the world goes black,, which makes his energy stand out like a sore thumb.  Suddenly, there is a village before them.  "Jon.  Just think of it like this.  Everyone here is a Medieval Times Actor.  No one has technology above the pencil and we might be called witches or demons if we don't save them."  Kyle nods firmly.  "And just because the world around us is underpowered doesn't mean it's not dangerous.  Batman is scary for a reason, so don't look down at the enemies here."  He will omit anything about Ogres and Dragons for now.

Kian has posed:
    "Well, of course I'm the bird person, that's obvious!"  Needless to say, Skyrim is as alien to Kían as Earth was when he first arrived here three and a half years ago.
    At least this time he's not trying and failing to pull out of a power dive into a shallow bay.  Besides, Colette isn't here to pull him out of the water.
    Kían is at least glad he didn't bring his crossbow with him.
    What he is not glad about is what the Practice Room's holography system did to his outfit: sky blue breeches accented by a dagged cloth hanging almost to his ankles front and back, and a matching shirt with short sleeves stopping just shy of his biceps.  "WHAT the—!?  This is not birdman clothing!" he objects, most strenuously.

Jinx has posed:
    Jinx chuckles at Kyle's Swedish chef impression.  Then the scene sets and it's Skyrim-esque.  She huffs and sets the apple down on the console top and then patpats Kate on the head.  "Okay. You got me.  This is far too cool to stay out of."
    She climbs down the ladder and in to the dang… training pit.  The holographic clothes overlay and obscure her real clothing with a sorceress's black robes, and hiking boots of leather.  "Hey. I'm Jinx," she introduces herself to Kyle.  "Today I will be your less than helpful mage—because doing too much magic in here breaks stuff and I can't afford to piss off Wayne lawyers."
    A roll of her neck, a crack of some fingers.  She dances and shakes out her body a bit, then looks over to Jon.  "Oh good. You're finally awake."  She grins, a big fan of Skyrim.  "May be we can find some sweet cakes in the town."

Kate Bishop has posed:
    Khajit Kate's ears splay at the head pats.  "Khajit accepts head pets as is proper."  Staying with the bit, tail doing a slow lash behind her.  "I'm not entirely sure those lawyers are involved.  They do lawyer though," she notes amused next.
    She looks everyone over and nods.  "As I said adventurers, the village cattle are going missing, you should investigate and solve their woeful poor peasant problem.  That way they can earn coin to pay Khajit once more."
    Speak of the devils, though not literally one hopes, a group of villagers are approaching the odd adventure party.  One village lass shyly asks Jon, "Are you here to help us good sir?" eyes wide.
    Kate meanwhile asides to Kian, "It is in this scenario.  You are a mighty bird person and here with your fellows to save the village.  Don't fail or there may be demon cats."  Tailflick.

Jon Kent has posed:
    Jon Kent perks up at that.  "I do like sweet cakes," he says.  "My grandma makes some incredible cakes and pies.  And cookies.  Everything really."
    Seems like he's perfect for the kind of warrior who grew up a farmboy and went out into the world looking for adventure.  Even if Jon technically grew up mostly in Metropolis and not Smallville.  Those Kent genes somehow run strong in him, which is weird given that they're not actually related.
    "So, are we supposed to use our powers or is it like an escape room and we're supposed to just, like, be regular people and investigate?  Cause I could probably fly up and spot anything around with X-ray vision pretty easy, but I don't want to break the mood and ruin anything.  Which I'm probably already doing right now by talking like this, huh?"
    "Uh, um, lead on, fair feline.  We adventurers are at your service?"

Kyle Rayner has posed:
    Kyle's outfit changes to a Black Mage's robes with hints of Green Lantern green as accents.  A face mask does cover the face despite having a hood.  It's a merger between what the world gave him, and his role, much like it had for Khajiitlyn Bishop.  Kyle is about to ask who should be the face of the group, because every group of adventurers has a de facto speaker.  Someone that is good for the public front of the group.  However, the fates seem to have chosen Jon for this role.  A villager approaches him.
    Jinx brings up talk of Sweet Cakes, which did make him smile at the time.  However, Kyle will speak to the villager, "Our group will see to it that your cattle is safe.  We will ask for one thing amongst any reward you may give us.  Sweet Cakes," he will sweeten the deal on that one, literally and figuratively.  "Worry not," he says trying to be helpful.
    "Jon should move ahead.  Try not to make noise, but you're the quickest.  Stay in the trees, see if you spot anything.  Those with magical flight spells that are not the warrior, see what a bird's eye view can do.  Don't stay up too long, or go too high, for Dragons may roam the land."  Kyle believes the Dragon will act as a kind of safeguard against "Cheating."
    "Ground gang.  Move forward.  Let Jon scout ahead and see his findings.  Honorable Archer, if you have the means to track, keep your eyes peeled," he says just trying to gain some order.

Kian has posed:
    "Cats aren't demons!" Kían protests.  "I know, I'm promised to one!"  This is followed by, "This is my sister's job, she reads escapist books, I like histories of science and things like that…."
    Sigh.
    Oh well.  'Eyes in the sky' is at least a role he's familiar with, and Kían flits even higher to try to get some semblance of an idea of where they are and what they're doing.

Jinx has posed:
    Jinx clucks her tongue.  "Payment in sweet cakes.  That's thinking."  She folds her arms and shrugs her shoulders.  Trudging past the villagers and the team toward the cow paddock.  "If we're going to find the cows we'll probably have to track a trail.  Looking from the air won't help much since the room is only so big—you won't be able to actually see things that aren't rendered in…."

Kate Bishop has posed:
    To Jon: "You must bring cookies by sometime then yes Warrior."  And well Khajit Kate doesn't seem to mind Kyle the Summoner taking on a bit of a lead role since he knows the setting.  She slinks up near Jinx and asides murmuring, "I'll make sure yours is dusted with Moon Sugar oh magician."  Elbow nudge.
    And yet, once Kian goes up, the light constructs shift to give him the illusion of looking further and down.  It is only so big, but it is very good at playing with light and angles.  Clever design all done.  There is a pasture over yonder, which to be fair the villagers have gestured everyone towards.
    "Of course.  Rewards and Sweetcakes.  Also ale for the adventurers when they save our village the sweet village lass says."
    The paddock, well it is empty.  There are large divots in the grass though.  Rows of them spread across the otherwise pristine (well if you ignore piles of manure) pasture.

Jon Kent has posed:
    Jon Kent is pretty good at following plans, at least.  "I'll see what I can find," he says.
    He is quick, quicker than the human eye can see if he chooses to be, but he keeps it at least subsonic, darting around and looking for any evidence of bovine secrets around the area.  He's not sure exactly how his X-ray vision will work with the solid light constructs around here, so he mostly just sticks to conventional searching.
    "I hope the cookies are real, at least," he mutters to himself.

Kyle Rayner has posed:
    "I was thinking the sky eyes could see a group of people.  If this is simple bandits, to take a cow requires numbers.  Same with other things and a cow.  Less numbers if the things taken it are bigger, again eyes needed.  It's less about the cow and more about what is hunting them," Kyle says as he is walking down the road.  A small "chnk" noise follows him as his staff hits the ground.  It's completely unnecessary, just looks cool.  Much like him, it's black but it holds a green gem near the top, that's cradled into the staff.  It's a mixture of the system and a construct.  Kyle figured the holographic locals would take kinder to energy leaving a staff than a ring.
    "I hope the Sweet Cakes are real, Jinx Mage," Kyle utters a similar sentiment to Jon, even if the lantern is nowhere near the Kryptonina.  Food is a weird line in these simulations.

Jinx has posed:
    Jinx smirks a little.  "Oh they're real… they're very real."  She leans over and whispers back to Kate, "Here we sprinkle skooma on them."  She enters the paddock and starts to notice the large divots.  Hopping along between them she ponders the nature of their pattern.
    "Hm," she says and then looks up in to the sky, shielding her eyes.  "I'm betting a dragon took the cows for noms.  Everyone likes noms after all and a dragons' gotta eats."

Kian has posed:
    "As long as it doesn't want to eat me," Kían says, trying to make sense of what he's seeing.
    "There seems to be a lot of concern about over there," he adds, pointing in the direction of the pasture the villagers are gesturing towards.  "Let me reconnoiter and see what we might be dealing with…"
    And with that, he angles his wings slightly and dives towards the indicated pasture.

Kate Bishop has posed:
    Speaking of foreshadowing.
    There is a very large shadow that casts a lot of shade over the paddock.  Kian up in the air.  The adventurers below.  Well maybe they look like cows.
    Does that make Kian a winged cow?  Very hard to say.  What is easy to say is there is a ferocious SNAP of gigantic jaws and Kian is gone.
    Just like that.  The last of the Bird People.  Alas.  Not even a feather drifts done.  No sign of him left.
    The dragon flaps its wings kicking up a huge dust storm as it examines the rest of you.
    "Looks like you are right Magician… guess it wasn't a devil cat either that got the last of the bird persons…."  Kate's tail still lashes bemused, though she has nocked an arrow.

Jon Kent has posed:
    Jon Kent is having fun playing along, of course, but then there's a dragon overhead and his gaze whips up towards it.  He flexes his hands and soon rises up into the air in flight.  "This particular warrior just drank a, uh, flying potion that will let him fight the dragon in close combat.  Yeah!"
    He flies up though and puts himself in front of the thing.  Warrior or not, Jon Kent doesn't choose violence as a first option.  "Hey there, uh, Sir Dragon!  I get that you're hungry, but maybe we can find you something non-domesticated to eat.  Do you like fish?  I bet there's a lake here with some big juicy, uh, catfish!"

Kyle Rayner has posed:
    "They're real!?" Kyle says sounding a little too excited about that.  His gaze focuses forward.  She brings up the fact that Dragon's need noms, too.  Well, no one knows how right she is until a few moments later. 
    Kyle sees the shadow, but before he can react "snap!" Kian's gone.  Kyle focuses his staff and a hand goes flying out as he tries to grab at the Dragon's tail.  "Nuuhh.  Uuuhh," he says firmly as he tries to bring the dragon in close.  Or at the very least go for a ride himself.  His focus just trying to do whatever he can at this point.  He's focusing.
    "Jon.  These dragons are more people go good with Ketchup, kind!" he says firmly to the warrior, just so he knows that his intentions are good.  They're impressive, even.  Most don't treat dragons with intelligence.  Most are, but they're still very bestial.  If someone wants to argue this then they can talk to Kian about it.

Jinx has posed:
    "Hey… uh… Superboy, right?  I'd be careful if I were you.  Dragons are magical."  Jinx glances at Kate wondering how the system is meant to simulate all this stuff.  Then her gaze goes back to the dragon that's eyeing them.  "Also different kinds of dragons do different kinds of attack…."
    Then again, the last time she was in the Danger Room she couldn't do magic at all.  No footses on solid earthses.  Now she has a good solid charge in her system—and telekinesis just happens to be one of those things she knows the system responds to.
    "Dragons are easier to punch when they can't dodge you… just sayin' I'm sure at least two of you want to punch a dragon."  Pink energy whips up around her hands and she draws it through the air before, thrust her hands up in to the sky, trying to grab hold of the dragon and drag(on) it down to the ground.
    "Did anyone see where Kian went?  Did the dragon just have some raw chicken?"

Kate Bishop has posed:
    Kate blinks… Khajit Kate blinks as Jon as he flies up to parley with the dragon.  "Huh."  She wasn't expecting that.  Then again Jon has no idea about the setting or how dragons behave.  Though well Kyle is doing his best to educate quickly.
    She murmurs to Jinx, "Well, not here, but you are right elsewhere for sure.  Good solid warning."  She nods at the two restraining 'spell' and spell that the casters of the group fire off to pin the dragon in place.
    Which is genuinely what saves Jon from being snapped up like Kian.  The dragon struggles against the restraints as it starts to get dragged down towards the ground thrashing.
    Khajit fires an arrow, striking the beast in the front right knee.  For effect.
    The great beast's head twists around and a stream of fire lashes up and out to try to engulf Jon.

Jon Kent has posed:
    Jon Kent turns his head.  "I mean, yeah, but you have to try, even if they seem bloodthirsty and bad.  I mean, they're animals, right, they can't help, like, wanting to eat, but maybe we can get them on a less homicidal diet.  And I'll be careful, don't worry if he attacks.  I'm faster than him," he says.
    Of course, then the dragon gets an arrow in the knee and tries to burn him and he puts that to the test, jetting in flight and trying to swing himself around behind it to grab it by the tail.  "Well now it's mad!" he calls out as he'll attempt to swing it around.

Kyle Rayner has posed:
    Kyle focuses and just starts to shoot energy blasts toward the dragon.  "At least it's not Volkihar," he says while doing focus fire near Kaitlyn's arrow.  He's trying to open the wound more.  It's something for them to focus on, a chink in the armor.  And that's he hopes happen.  If it does nothing then he'll try to aim at a wing.
    The staff causes green light to awash those on the ground that are near him.  He keeps lobbing shots.  They lance outward just focused on the winged creature.  If he can't really focus his arm then he'l go for a wing.

Kate Bishop has posed:
    "Good show adventurers… you can't bargain with a giant ferocious beast Jon sorry!"  She fires another arrow, sticking it right where Kyle is concentrating where she got the first arrow in as well.
    "Put it down quickly, we have a village to save, so be big heroes… also sweet cakes!"
    Three or four more arrows volley into it now, a couple bouncing off, but one sinking into the wing joint.
    "We can do it!" the cat encourages.

Jon Kent has posed:
    Jon Kent will basically be attempting to do a big cartoon swing around in mid-air and try to fling it very, very far away, far beyond the confines of the atmosphere of this not-actually-real universe.
    "This is what you get for being a jerk, dragon guy!  I don't wanna see you around this village anymore!"
    He'll release and hopefully send the thing flying off after everybody else gets their licks in.
    "Now.  About those cakes."

Kyle Rayner has posed:
    Kyle focuses with the staff, "Bunch of big damn heroes!"  The energy lashes out and hooks into the opening.  Then tries to hitch the energy into the ground.  When Jon swings some angles cause more damage to the leg and to ground the dragon.  He wants to bring it down to let everyone get a shot in.
    If it comes down with a thunderous "THUD!" Kyle will go with layer upon layer of energy chains to restrain the dragon.  "NEED A DRAGON BORN TO GET SOME ENERGY!" he yells out letting the others to swarm the dragon.  Basically taking the dragon down via a 1,000 cuts since he wants to the dragon prone.

Kate Bishop has posed:
    Kate actually winces as the program which was built for killing dragons and all within the paremeters deals with the force pulling it and throwing it.  Honestly though Jon throws the limb he has a hold of far away.  Hopefully it doesn't give the farmboy nightmares.
    She shakes her head as the casters ground a slightly less bulky dragon and shoots an arrow in an eye.
    In no time, the dragon is down down.
    Alas no dragonborn.
    "Well… done adventurers… Khajit certainly doesn't have to work on this program and hopefully not be sued by videogame company…."  She snaps her fingers and the whole scene fades to Danger Room neutral.  Kian up in the observation area.