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New Starfallen, once rescued by the automated systems set in place by the guilds, are safely placed on their feet somewhere on the streets below. As it happens, tonight is a bad night for it! Some new arrivals may be flown about for a few minutes before an open space can be found to sit them down, because tonight is New Year’s Eve and Central City is the place to be.

The streets here are absolutely packed with throngs of people, pushing and shoving in an effort to get from place to place, or find a better vantage point to watch the ball drop. In the central square of Central City, a massive stage has been set up for various bands to perform in the lead-up to the main event. Emceeing the event is the Alliance’s own Fantastic! Somehow, all of last year’s meta-related controversy has only launched this social media star to new heights! Some poor Alliance members may have been recruited to help with the special effects for his show, or work behind the scenes to keep Fantastic happy…good luck with that.

Unfortunately, the massive crowds and a Confluence are not the greatest combination. Some of the civilians on the scene have abruptly ceased to be civilians at all, sudden Confluence-generated powers manifesting amid the press and din of an often-intoxicated crowd. It’s something of a powderkeg. One man, upon being shoved one too many times, turns about and begins to shoot wild, uncontrolled flames from his hands. Another woman, desperate to see the shows, has begun to grow to a towering height. And there’s more people, partying hard or miserably stressed, manifesting various different kinds of powers in different ways across the city. These new metas are dangerous, but they are not malicious. What they really need is some help calming down, so that they can get their new abilities in check. Of course, those around them also need some protection from the random destruction being caused.

Then, of course, there’s those elements who are using the general activity of the city to cover up some shadier activities. Many of the fancier uptown parties being held at various rooftop lounges and hotel ballrooms will find themselves under attack by folks out to make a quick buck. Many of these high-profile robberies are being committed by metas, so anyone attempting to intervene will find themselves in for a good old-fashioned hero vs. villain smackdown...although, do you recognize these guys as Society members? Well, only one way to find out.

Whether you've survived the chaos, or arrived after the trouble's over, you're not going home anytime soon. Hopefully, the LUXURY HOTEL they've put you up in will ease that sting.

The DIADEM HOTEL is usually reserved for the obscenely wealthy. Its rooms are enormous, the beds quite literally enchanted to offer the perfect night's sleep, and the food would usually cost your life savings just to sample. But given the circumstances, the Guilds feel its the least they can do to aid your transition into this world. EVERYTHING is complimentary, and everyone gets an ALLIANCE CREDIT CARD to spend on entertainment, clothing, and whatever other necessities they might need. The cards have an obscenely high limit and there doesn't seem to be an expectation for you to pay it back... though if they catch you abusing it, their accountant will be coming for your head.

There's a shopping center immediately across the street. It has an impressive array of outlets that cater to your every need. Food, clothing... and swords? If you can think of it, it's for sale. Although anything clearly supernatural or metahuman seems to be at a minimum and offered under the table. You can grab clothing made to withstand any superpower and a surprisingly mediocre Taco Bell order while you're at it. There's a Super Cinema in the shopping complex across the street that's showing the 11th sequel of a popular action racing franchise, BLASTS FROM THE CURIOUS: LAST OF THE NEFARIOUS, in which Hubcaps Nefarious tries to undo the Carmageddon caused by evil tech entrepreneur Jebs Robs. He uses the Large Hadron Collider to launch a Bugati into the past to save the world and the most important thing of all: family.

CENTRAL CITY isn't exactly the nicest place in the world. Wander too far from the shopping district and you'll find yourselves thick into territory controlled by the local non-meta crime syndicate... but maybe that's where you want to be. Maybe you're here to see just what this world is dealing with. If you're going to be stuck here you might as well make yourself useful, right?

Or perhaps you're NOT the heroic type. Maybe this is simply scoping out the competition.

Regardless, it won't take long for TROUBLE to find you. Test out your new powers, do a little thieving, stop a few muggings - this is your time to use as you see fit.

The holiday season is coming to a close, and in a much more sedate fashion in Little Love than in the larger cities throughout the country. The damage from the blizzard a few months back is mostly repaired now; a blanket of lovely white snow still covers the town, but power has been restored and most townspeople are safe and warm at home.

Outside, however, strange things are happening. Odd shimmering rifts in space-time are opening up around the little town. Some of these seem to move, and engulf anything in their path, leaving them unharmed but changed - seemingly, into futuristic versions of whatever they used to be. Simple farmhouses are replaced suddenly by gleaming silver towers, or on occasion by the burnt-out husks of said towers that abruptly begin - or continue - their crumbling. Cows are being replaced by robot cows with lasers for eyes, out to zap anyone who trespasses on their fields. Hope you weren’t too attached to having birds around and not weird spy drones! And, of course, a lot of things have spontaneously become chrome. Wow!

Some people may even find themselves running afoul of these rifts, and getting unusual upgrades to their outfits and powers. Were you always wearing these cool space goggles? Has your magic been replaced with sci-fi alternatives? Hopefully you can figure out how to handle these! Because while most of the future-ified plants and animals aren’t actively aggressive as long as you stay away, some of the rifts are also spitting things out. Robot footsoldiers from some distant war are beginning to wander accidentally into Little Love, and being separated from their operations base has left them without any direction. They’re just sort of shooting lasers at anyone they see, on the assumption that they’re probably enemy combatants.

Fixing any changes can be as simple as locating another rift and diving through it. Doing so will reset any changes that have occurred - though if you get caught by a third one, you’ll find the same thing happening all over again. You can, of course, also just wait it out; these things have a habit of wearing off eventually. The robots will also eventually disappear when the rifts stop, though any damage they cause will remain.

Meanwhile in Excelsior, similar rifts are popping up throughout the city! However, the results are entirely different. Excelsior seems to be getting thrown back into the past, piece by piece.

Some buildings have vanished entirely, replaced by open swathes of grassy field. Stepping into these areas is like entering a different climate; it's oddly cold there. The air smells different. It's like another world. You may even find that prehistoric creatures are wandering out into the alien world of Excelsior. Anything from dinosaurs to Ice Age megafauna can be seen running around, chasing people and rampaging in fear and confusion.

Metas who respond to the upheaval may find themselves affected by these changes as well. Science-based powers are likely to break down, or be replaced wholesale by old-fashioned alternatives. Magic? Steampunk contraptions? Rough tools from the Stone Age? Anything could happen - the past is a big place, too!

People here will find that the rifts work just like those that are cropping up in Little Love: passing through them again is enough to revert changes, or return any stray beasts to their proper time. However, Excelsior is facing additional issues in the sudden breakdown of much of their infrastructure. Power lines are being replaced with flowering vines, and pieces of the road are shifting suddenly into rocky ground. There'll probably be a lot more repairs needed here.

Staticky octogon-shaped portals appear in the sky you just fell from. At that same moment, every screen in Central City flares to life. A PINK-SKINNED ALIEN with glittering, crystalline compound eyes stares calmly into the camera.

"My greetings to The Society of Samaritans. My dear old teammates. And their hero friends like Atom...? Atomight? Atomight. If they're even still alive... When you've lived as long as I have..."

He trails off, staring into the distance. It takes a moment for him to resume speaking. "I hope they don't still have you all convinced of the delusion of free will. What does free will matter in the face of immortality? Of freedom from strife? I would reshape you all into something so beautiful." He gives the camera a beatific smile. "I don't know why you would eschew that - so I'm just going to take the choice out of your hands. It's for your own good, really. The Forerunner is here to save you from yourselves."

At that, monsters start to pour through the portals. Instantly there's mass panic. Screams fill the streets.

The Forerunner is viewed as a "god" by the monsters coming through. ABOMINIDS twisted long-limbed biological monstrosities slavishly devoted to him, and his AUTOMATA, incredibly intricate machines lacking free will. Alliance members appear familiar with his tactics, and familiar with the foe. They can tell you that The Forerunner himself is unable to cross between dimensions due to the tragedy that made him. In an act of heroic self-sacrifice which warped his mind, he was trapped between dimensions and his body was warped beyond recognition. This isn't the first time he's attacked Earth with his monstrosities, hoping to weaken the planet's defenses.

The monsters are not the only threat. The Forerunner has developed the ability to hack free will. Automata and Abominids are putting mind control helmets on unpowered citizens en masse, the projected stream of sound they provide capable of binding the victims to his will.

Swarms of converted non-meta civilians are quickly captured and converted. These people are not themselves, but they must be fought, freed, or avoided. You, heroes and villains, are the only force that can avert disaster. The mind-controlled civillians are targeting infrastructure like power transformers and fire departments.

Even more worrying, the Converts are swarming the local hospitals, raiding metahuman wards to take control of metas too sick and weak to fight back. These metas are the intended building blocks for the invasion force, who will be mind controlled and forced to fight despite illness or injuries. At ground zero for the earliest attacks, medical staff need help transporting sick patients and newborn babies to hospital wings that can be more effectively barricaded. Some will wind up trapped, stuck holding doors shut together while fists pound outside.

Whether heroes or villains, those unfortunate enough to be captured will find themselves given a modified mind control device at the base of the neck. If you are so unlucky, you will act completely normal at first to put the people around you off guard. And when the opportunity arises, you will try to convert others by implanting those same devices. The constant stream of mental hacking will leave your personality mostly intact, save for the devotion to the Forerunner.

"Surrender and sublimate. Flesh into flesh. All are one in the Forerunner." They chant in the streets.

Removing the devices instantly liberates the captive. However, there are so many of them. It's up to the Starfallen to hold the line, and stop others from being taken.

Whether you've survived the chaos, or arrived after the trouble's over, you're not going home anytime soon. Hopefully, the LUXURY HOTEL they've put you up in will ease that sting.

The DIADEM HOTEL is usually reserved for the obscenely wealthy. Its rooms are enormous, the beds quite literally enchanted to offer the perfect night's sleep, and the food would usually cost your life savings just to sample. But given the circumstances, the Guilds feel its the least they can do to aid your transition into this world. EVERYTHING is complimentary, and everyone gets an ALLIANCE CREDIT CARD to spend on entertainment, clothing, and whatever other necessities they might need. The cards have an obscenely high limit and there doesn't seem to be an expectation for you to pay it back... though if they catch you abusing it, their accountant will be coming for your head.

There's a shopping center immediately across the street. It has an impressive array of outlets that cater to your every need. Food, clothing... and swords? If you can think of it, it's for sale. Although anything clearly supernatural or metahuman seems to be at a minimum and offered under the table. You can grab clothing made to withstand any superpower and a surprisingly mediocre Taco Bell order while you're at it. There's a Super Cinema in the shopping complex across the street that's showing the 11th sequel of a popular action racing franchise, BLASTS FROM THE CURIOUS: LAST OF THE NEFARIOUS, in which Hubcaps Nefarious tries to undo the Carmageddon caused by evil tech entrepreneur Jebs Robs. He uses the Large Hadron Collider to launch a Bugati into the past to save the world and the most important thing of all: family.

CENTRAL CITY isn't exactly the nicest place in the world, even after the clean up from the Forerunners's attack. Wander too far from the shopping district and you'll find yourselves thick into territory controlled by the local non-meta crime syndicate... but maybe that's where you want to be. Maybe you're here to see just what this world is dealing with. If you're going to be stuck here you might as well make yourself useful, right?

Or perhaps you're NOT the heroic type. Maybe this is simply scoping out the competition.

Regardless, it won't take long for TROUBLE to find you. Test out your new powers, do a little thieving, stop a few muggings - this is your time to use as you see fit.

The recently open door to the underworld is now closed but that doesn't mean Sunset Falls is free from supernatural events. That said, what's currently happening is at least a normal kind of abnormal, a well-established, necessary yearly ritual.

Every year, a being known as Magna Cucurbita, also called the Pumpkin King or Old Man Autumn, must be appeased so that Autumn in the northern hemisphere can start progressing to Winter and the other seasons. In the past, this entailed flattering him with various depictions in TV specials and movies, but with some of these beloved holiday specials and movies moving to streaming services and being viewed by less people - and increasing Christmas creep - this seasonal elemental has taken affront at the lack of attention at the end of the harvest season.

Fortunately, the magical community in Sunset Falls knows how he can still be appeased. Every year they perform a ritual in some pumpkin fields, corn fields, and orchards just outside Sunset Falls. While the ritual is led by the Alliance's Silent Mystic, the magical community sees it as something that transcends the loyalties of the guilds and all are welcome to help out, regardless of affiliation. It takes a large number of people performing it to make it work, enough that those that might be hesitant will practically be begged because of the importance of making sure Autumn doesn't last all year long.

After being teleported in by the mages, the ritual is a mostly harmless one. Much like the recent masquerade ball, all participants must pick out a harvest mask but instead of magically hiding their identity the mask does the opposite: it enhances it, transforming and taking the form of something deeply personal or that best represents the individual. Sometimes the carvings and paint can show more than one thing, causing a wearer to have an entire collage of personal symbols, objects, characters, or even whole scenes depicted on the mask.

Two participants, often chosen at random, then have their hands bound together with twine woven from straw. They have to walk through the pumpkin patch and both eat an apple from the orchard, then walk into the cornfields. Once all the sound gives way to the white noise of rustling corn stalks, they have to kneel and tell each other their greatest desire. This can be any number of things, both possible and impossible, like the recovery of something long-lost (or gone forever), a short-term goal they're desperate to accomplish, or a lifelong dream they keep aspiring towards.

This admission must be the truth or at least close to the spirit of it, and the stronger the desire, the sooner the ritual will be finished. This is a harvest of emotion that appeases the spirit.

Until both have said their truth, Magna Cucurbita can be seen in glimpses, circling in the corn around them, wearing his grand suit embroidered with pumpkins, accompanied by two skeletal Halloween spirits. When he is finally appeased the spirit gracefully departs, leaving behind the scent of pumpkins, bonfires, and ripe apples. Participants can then return to the others.

When enough participants have appeased the Pumpkin King, a very light first snow will fall, heralding Winter, and the ritual will be declared over. The new season is always welcomed in with the mages treating everyone to magically delicious hot cocoa and hot cider, various apple treats (baked, candied, and caramel), and various pumpkin based foods like pie and pumpkin spice bread.

Provided they don't indulge in a snowball fight first, everyone is then taken home.

A scientist in Excelsior has come forward, claiming that he can solve the current metahuman crisis with science. Robots, he says, without intelligence. One that is programmed to follow human law by the letter. They do not need metahuman intervention. Their problems are caused by scientific minds, and so the solution must come from them.

The robots in question are mass-producted from cheap material. Their programming is… slapdash, at best. And there is no government sign-off on these robots, the eager scientist simply flings open the door to his lab and unleashes them upon the city. 

Rejoice, he cries, I, Sprocket Biggs have saved this city!

He has not.

The robots are doing what they are instructed to. They are intervening when they catch sight of someone endangering others, or breaking the law. Unfortunately Sprocket did not think to check what laws they were upholding, nor did he think to prune the more ridiculous ones that have entered legislation over the centuries. And so these poor, ridiculous creatures descend upon the unsuspecting populace with only their binary understanding of what is and isn’t a law.



These misshapen, malfunctioning hunks of metal are not much of a threat to any metahuman. They’ll sound their klaxons and chase you with grabbing hands, intent on hefting you above their heads and taking you directly to the nearest authority. This could be a police offer, but it’s much more likely to anyone with authority nearby. Don’t be surprised if your captor rockets through the windows of a board meeting, dropping you in front of the CEO expectantly. 
They’re surprisingly durable, at least physically. It’s probably possible to overload them mentally without much effort, a simple logic puzzle or two might do. Or just bring up a few conflicting laws! Maybe even break as many as possible. Best to team up and grab a buddy so they don’t know who to chase.