---
layout:          post
title:           "CHAP Masks 1 - Meet Our Heroes"
date:            2022-04-27 12:00:00 -0400
episode_type:      episode
tags:            []
voiced:          []
categories:			"cmv"
podcasts: ["cmv"]
title_prefix:	"CHAP"
prev_categories: ["cmv"]
prev_prefixes: ["CHAP"]
prev_episode:	['masks-000']
prev_episode_num:		['000']
prev_episode_title:		["Character Building"]
prev_cmv_campaign: 'Masks'
next_categories: ["cmv"]
next_prefixes: ["CHAP"]
next_episode:	['vampire-cowboys-001']
next_episode_num:		['001']
next_episode_title:		["A Hairy Problem"]
next_cmv_campaign: 'Vampire Cowboys'
episode_title:   'Meet Our Heroes'
episode_number:  '001'
cmv_campaign: 'Masks'
summary:         "Embark on a brand-new adventure with Ahmed Aljabry, Lowri Ann Davies, Lydia Nicholas, Pip Gladwin, and GM Maddy Searle, as they begin their campaign of Masks!<br/><br/>This week, Morgan speaks with her uncle, Joseph gets a new mission, Mini must deal with eccentric colleagues, and Adeeb hopes to help a friend."
content_flags:   ["Discussions of: physical violence, exercise", "Mentions of: food, anxiety", "SFX: frequent beeping & phone vibrations, jingling/rattling"]
acast_url:       https://play.acast.com/s/chapter-and-multiverse/chap-masks-1-meet-our-heroes
formats:
official:        true
---

##### [SHOW THEME - INTRO]

#### THE ETERNAL TAVERN KEEPER

Rusty Quill Presents: Chapter and Multiverse. 

##### [SFX: PUB AMBIENCE]

Well, hello there. I don't think I've seen you around here before. Delighted to make your acquaintance. I'm the proprietor of this little establishment, and while the drinks on offer are of the highest quality, my stories are the true reason for its success.

If you'd be willing to listen a while, I could tell you the tale of four young people I once encountered in the bustling metropolis of Chapter, the jewel of the United Territories. They were, in fact, superheroes, and their tale has many twists and turns that I'm sure you'll find quite entertaining. Shall I begin?

##### [SFX: SCI-FI WHOOSH]

#### MADDY

Hello and welcome to *Chapter and Multiverse,* the actual play podcast where we explore the same city across multiple parallel universes. I am your gamemaster Maddy Searle, pronouns she/her, and today we are playing the very first episode of our campaign of Masks: A New Generation, which is designed by Brendan Conway and allows players to take on the role of young superheroes.

But before we go any further, I must introduce our wonderful and talented players. Could you please let me know your name and pronouns and your character's name and pronouns, and I would like to start with Lowri. 

#### LOWRI

Hello. Yes, I am Lowri Ann Davies, she/her, and I am playing Blodeuwedd Morgan, known as Morgan, also she/her.

#### MADDY

Wonderful. And Pip? 

#### PIP

Hi, I am Pip Gladwin. I'll be playing Joseph Teller, aka Zenith, and we are both he/him. 

#### MADDY

Fabulous. And Ahmed. 

#### AHMED

Hi, I'm Ahmed Aljbray and I will be playing Adeeb, also known as the Turban, and his pronouns are he and him. 

#### MADDY

Fabulous, and Lyd. 

#### LYDIA

Hi. I am Lydia Nicholas. My pronouns are they or she, and I am playing Mini Smithson, who is a *totally* normal human, and -- totally, it's fine -- and her pronouns are she/her. She might occasionally get confused. It's not... it's not that she comes from a place that might have slightly different conceptions of gender and sometimes get mixed up. It's a totally human thing.

#### LOWRI

Totally.

#### MADDY

Yes. Absolutely. Okay. And to start off with I'm gonna roll a D4 to see who goes first.

#### LYDIA

Ooh.

#### LOWRI

Oh, nice. 

#### LYDIA

Oh, are we in combat? How does this work? Because I genuinely... most of my experience is D&D and Pathfinder and so like, ooh, we in rounds? Are we kicking off in a fight? _(laughing)_ Awesome!

#### MADDY

This is entirely just to see who's under fire first. 

#### LYDIA

Right, cool. Like it starts off in a bunker. Run away! No -- oh. 

#### MADDY

And I've come up with a 2 and Lowri is the second on my screen. So we're going to start off with Morgan.

#### LOWRI

Oh gosh. I was mid-yawn! _(laughing)_ I'm so ready. 

#### LYDIA

It's all pressure all the time here in Chap Central. 

#### PIP

You shouldn't have been working out till 3am, then. 

#### LOWRI

That's right. Nice, Pip, yes. 

##### [SFX: COSY MANSION, CRACKLING FIREPLACE]

#### MADDY

Alright. So we begin our story at the Morgan residence. It is a sprawling mansion but inside it is a lot cosier than one might expect a mansion to be, with lots of tattered and well-loved furniture and mementos and ornaments, and has a cosy lived-in feel. And we can see that there are a couple of people having a cup of tea in the kitchen. There are big sideboards filled with mismatched plates and a hefty oak kitchen table and chairs.

#### LOWRI

There's a Welsh dresser. 

#### MADDY

A Welsh dresser. 

#### LOWRI

Leaning into that.

#### LYDIA

_(laughing)_ All the furniture is Welsh.

#### MADDY

There's even a Welsh oven. Didn't even know that was a thing. And so what does Morgan look like and how does Morgan take her tea, is something I wanna know.

##### [SFX: TEA POURING, ADDING SUGAR, STIRRING WITH TEASPOON]

#### LOWRI

Ooh, what a question. Morgan takes her tea black with two sugars. 

#### MADDY

Nice.

#### LOWRI

Morgan is dressed in... what kind of time of day is this? I've got 11 o'clock in my head. 11am --

#### MADDY

Yeah. I think that makes sense. Yeah, I think it's a Friday at 11, so it's kind of morning tea time. 

#### LOWRI

Yeah, so Morgan has probably only just got up because she's been up till 3am working out and doing various things. So she's a bit sleepy. She's got just baggy pyjama bottoms on and just a vest top. You can see her tattoos. She's very muscular, as I decided last time, and I'm gonna go for 5 foot 9. She's quite tall. She has just come out of her greenhouse. 

#### MADDY

Excellent.

#### LYDIA

I dunno why but that was not what I was expecting... "come out of her... shell?" _(laughing)_ "Pyjamas?" "Greenhouse." Cool. Outta left field. 

#### LOWRI

Yeah, she takes care of a lot of plants, an enormous greenhouse. Well, a conservatory, more. It's attached to the mansion, right, it's not in the garden. So it's big enough to have trees and almost a jungly vibe, and there're different sections. It's obviously a very, very well-loved, well-cared-for area of the house.

#### MADDY

Lovely. And sitting across from you at the table is your uncle, Owain Morgan. I apologise in advance for the Welsh accent I'm about to attempt. 

#### LOWRI

No, it'll be delightful. 

#### MADDY

And he's a very kind-looking middle-aged man with laughter lines and crow's feet, wearing a very sensible shirt-and-jumper combo with greying at the temples hair. And he looks over to you and is just --

#### OWAIN

Blodeuwedd, how are you feeling about your training? Is there anything that we can be working more on, or...?

#### MORGAN

Yeah, I think it's going pretty well. What do you think? I feel good. I feel strong. Like, the last experiment with the ferns went really well. They hardly withered at all.

#### OWAIN

Yeah, of course. I... and I see you've been working very hard at your combat training as well.

#### MORGAN

Yeah.

#### OWAIN

Yeah. Are you mainly still going for hand-to-hand stuff, or you're wanting to go more weapon-based?

#### MORGAN

Well, the hand-to-hand is working pretty well for me. I'm interested in the staff, that might be quite good to have a bit of range, I guess, though I am best up close.

#### OWAIN

That's alright. I'm sure we can... I'm sure I can source a staff for you and you can try it out some time. But yeah, I mainly wanted to check in like how you're feeling about Wilt, because there was a news report earlier today saying that she was seen out and out. She wasn't doing anything particularly villainous, but it's always a cause for concern when she's seen in her outfit, you know.

#### MORGAN

Look, Owain, I have been thinking -- do you think we're doing the right thing being so isolated? I mean, how can I get away from this? Maybe it's time that we got some help. I'm training all hours, I'm tending the plants, I'm working all the time to control and control and control but I haven't been tested against unknown things. I don't have anyone to help me. I mean, obviously you are helping me and I really appreciate everything you're doing and have done for me, but maybe it's time to get other people involved. 

#### OWAIN

I understand that impulse. I understand that. But you know that your power can...

#### MORGAN

Yeah, but I really think I've got a handle on it. As I said, that fern barely showed any signs of damage and look at it now. Look! It's completely back to full health and it was, what, eight hours ago that I did it. Like that's...

#### OWAIN

I know you've worked very hard on your abilities. Are you sure that you're ready to run the risk, though? 

#### MORGAN

I'm so much stronger now, Owain. I really don't think I'm going to hurt anyone. And I've been alone for so long. I think we need some help.

##### [MUSIC: CALM AMBIENCE]

#### MADDY

Yeah, so as Owain ponders Morgan's request for more help and more people involved in this training, we shall cut over to our next character. I'm gonna roll again and I've come up with a number 1, and Pip is the first on my screen. 

#### PIP

Good Lord!

#### MADDY

So it is time to meet Joseph Teller.

So we see a penthouse at the top of the tallest skyscraper in the city of Chapter, and this penthouse is known only to a select few as The Eerie. This is the skyscraper that contains the offices for Apex Incorporated, but the penthouse can only be accessed by a private elevator that is locked with a key that is impossible to pick. And in this penthouse there are giant windows, tinted so that you can see out but no one can see in, and the furniture is so minimalistic, it's almost even barely functional. The chairs look like it would hurt you to sit longer than five minutes on them, and there's a martial arts training space with mats and dummies and all kinds of weapons and equipment.

But the most eye-catching thing is a state-of-the-art surveillance station covered in screens, banks of servers, computers with readouts of data.

##### [SFX: REPEATED COMPUTER BEEPS]

There is a woman sitting there who is in her mid-60s, with steel-coloured hair that was once blonde and piercing blue eyes.

And there is also a young man in this penthouse. What is Joseph currently doing? 

#### PIP

Joseph is, I'm gonna say given the time of day -- if it's earlier in the morning, Joseph is in the training room. He's just in standard workout clothes, like a black T-shirt and some jogging bottoms, and he is practising with his signature weapon, which is a kusarigama. Which is a small axe, almost a very small pick, so with one kind of curved, almost beak-shaped and with a short handle, and at the bottom of the handle is connected a very, very long chain and then at the other end of that chain is an iron ball, a weight on the other end of it. So it's a lot.

##### [SFX: WHOOSHING AND CHAIN RATTLING FROM THE KUSARIGAMA BEING SWUNG]

So you've got a little hook in one hand and then a chain in the other. So he's twirling that throughout the air, wrapping it around himself and then uncoiling it and striking targets with the actual extended weight on the end of the chain, bringing it back around, looping it around a foot and then kicking it out to another side of the room, bringing it back again. 

##### [SFX: IMPACTS AS JOSEPH PRACTICES HIS MOVES]

Just cycling through very, very practiced moves that he has been training at for a very long time. Kind of getting a morning workout in.

##### [SFX: CONTINUED PRACTICE -- WHOOSHING, CHAIN RATTLING, IMPACTS] 

#### MADDY

Fantastic. So at this point you get a notification on your phone --

##### [SFX: 'MESSAGE RECEIVED' TONE]

And as you know, Aquila, your mentor, will immediately get a similar notification on her screens because she monitors every single thing that you do.

And so as you pause from your training for a second and have a look at your phone, you can see that this is a message that's just appeared from nowhere, it doesn't seem to be connected to any app or mail client. It's just there. Just a textbox has appeared on your phone.

It is a message from TARGE, which is the Tactical Agency for Rescue and Guidance in Emergencies. It's the government agency which monitors, trains and employs superheroes and handles supervillain threats and similar disturbances of the peace. It informs you that you have been headhunted by TARGE to join their newest superhero team, and if you're interested, to reply as soon as possible and then attend your first briefing tomorrow at 11am. The rendezvous is Tip Top Coffee Shop on Victory Road, and your supervisor, Vera Constantine, will meet you and escort you to HQ.

And of course you've barely had enough time to read it, and you get a blip over your comms and Aquila says, "come here."

##### [SFX: COMMS CHIME] 

#### PIP

I drop everything and go into the surveillance room.

##### [SFX: KUSARIGAMA DROPPED WITH A RATTLE; DOOR SLIDES OPEN] 

#### MADDY

Yeah, and she doesn't even turn around. She's still looking at all these screens. One of them has the message on it from your phone and she says --

#### AQUILA

So I believe that it would be prudent for you to accept this invitation. Do you have anything to say about that?

#### JOSEPH

Erm, no. Guess I'm surprised.

#### AQUILA

Yes. I understand we have kept you rather away from the rest of society here in Chapter, but I have my suspicions about TARGE. 

#### JOSEPH

So it's a mission?

#### AQUILA

It's a mission, as is everything. I would like you to take these.

#### MADDY

And at this point she does turn around --

##### [SFX: CHAIR CREAK AS AQUILA SWIVELS]

And she's holding some very, very small electronic items in her hand that are barely visible, even --

#### AQUILA

And I would like you to place these at strategic places around headquarters, if you would be so kind.

#### PIP

Do I recognise these devices? 

#### MADDY

Yeah, you've absolutely used these before. They're just bugging devices. 

#### PIP

They're bugs, yeah. I figured. 

#### AQUILA

I have heard rumours of unethical practices that TARGE has been engaging in, mainly in the past, but when these things are part of an institution's history it's hard to believe that they aren't still going on somewhere. And of course, as a government organisation I find it hard to believe that its goal is to protect the public rather than protect the image of the government.

#### JOSEPH

Understood. And I go to this meeting as a civilian? I show them my face?

#### AQUILA

Yes. As long as you don't show any connection to me whatsoever, that is utterly fine. You are an independent individual who has some abilities with martial combat and you want to help your society by offering your services.

#### JOSEPH

Understood. Anything else?

#### AQUILA

It would be prudent of me to offer at least some of the resources at my disposal. You may, of course, use the base at Exoplanet Corp. You may use the elevator entrance, no one will disturb you there. And yes, I think you show yourself to be trustworthy enough to be allowed to use the stealth jet.

#### JOSEPH

Thank you. 

#### AQUILA

You're very welcome. Now I believe that you should possibly do some research into TARGE before tomorrow, so get right to it.

#### PIP

I'll head to the base now. Get things set up.

#### MADDY

Fantastic. 

##### [SFX: CHAIR CREAK AS AQUILA SWIVELS BACK AROUND]

#### PIP

And I think as she turns back in chair and carries on watching the surveillance I'm just gonna stand there awkwardly for only five seconds, but there's an element of, "cool, that interaction has finished, guess I'll leave." 

#### MADDY

Yep, she's very much like, "I'm done with you now."

##### [SFX: TYPING ON KEYBOARD]

She's completely now doing something else, barely acknowledging that you are there. So of course you may head over to the base at Exoplanet Corp.

##### [MUSIC: CALM AMBIENCE]

In the meantime, let's just roll one more time to see who is next -- and that is gonna be Lyd up next. Before we meet Lyd and Ahmed's characters for the first time, we're just going to take a brief break. We'll be right back. 

---

#### MADDY

Alright, and we are back. We are now in a very ordinary-looking suburban house with some slightly unusual individuals sitting at a dining room table.

##### [SFX: Electronic pop instrumental]

There is Benson McDichael, who is wearing entirely beige clothes which contrast massively with his iridescent green hair and eyes. There is Clio Schmerk, who has short iridescent hair and has a couple of wigs just draped over her arm preparing for the inevitable "going outside and being a human," and there is also...

#### LYDIA

What?! I mean, they're already a human. Like, why would they need to prepare to be a human?

#### MADDY

Yeah, you know. 

#### LYDIA

There's stuff around this flat that is unusual. Instead of a bench they've got a bed. It's comfortable -- why would you not use a single bed as a sofa? It just makes more sense. Dinner is microwaved ice cream.

##### [LAUGHTER]

#### LOWRI

Oh, it's so upsetting. 

#### MADDY

And also sitting at the table is Mini Smithson. So what do Benson and Clio see when they look at Mini? 

#### LYDIA

They see someone that is just doing a really bang-up job of being human, but they also see someone that hasn't hit deadlines recently and really needs to up their game, because our readers on Specmarkalon Five are not going to be satisfied with one or two articles a week about things humans do, this is not enough. Really, Mini, you need to up your game.

But yeah, it's just a little bit of tension in the air because if you're not hitting deadlines it reflects on the whole office, so... 

#### MADDY

Yeah, Benson is looking at you with a disapproving glare and with a vague attempt at a American accent that is very much like a British actor doing an American accent...

#### LYDIA

Yeah, weird, that. A strange coincidence. 

#### MADDY

Yeah, he's like --

#### BENSON

Now I see that you are behind on your latest article, and I would... 

#### MINI

Look. Look. It's just that you didn't like "12 Things That Middle-Aged Ladies Who Are Going to a Coffee Shop Might Say in Order to Try and Get a Discount." I can't really help that it didn't turn out that great and I'm... I'm working on it, okay. It's just... there's a lot.

And when -- apparently, there's a thing I found out, that if you sit in a coffee shop for too long and you look at people, there's a limit as to how long you can look at people before they will ask you why. And I could write an article about that -- amounts of time in different locations that you can watch people before they ask you what it is that you're doing and why you're looking at them.

#### BENSON

I mean, that is a very... a very interesting topic for an article, but our readers want something more digestible, something more basic, something more understandable. Like, "Seven Ways Humans Use Their Fridges That You Won't Believe," or "21 Human Beverages and the Strange Rituals That Accompany Them."

#### MINI

Yeah, I've actually worked out...

#### BENSON

That's kind of pro-level, you're going pro-level, and we want beginner-level because a lot of people -- they don't know as much about humans as we do, so we need to assume a basic level of ignorance.

#### MINI

There's so much to know. Right, okay. Tea rituals. I've got that down. Apparently there's a thing where people ask if you're doing okay and you want some tea, and it has been months that I've been working on that and there are so many levels to it. That's before you get what's actually in the tea. That's just how you ask someone if they want tea. It turns out you can't ask people on a train.

#### BENSON

Yeah, that's interesting because there are those trollies that they roll down the middle...

#### MINI

Right!

#### BENSON

...that have tea, so... 

#### MINI

You would think... 

#### BENSON

...surely they would...

#### MINI

You would *think* that humans would accept tea. If they'll accept tea at home they'll accept... and that's when they're sitting down on soft furniture, usually -- but yeah, you would think that they would accept tea on a train, but no. Unless you are pushing the tea trolley, but then the person whose tea trolley it is gets very unhappy with you.

#### BENSON

Sounds like you're speaking from experience.

#### MINI

Yeah, you know, I do my research.

#### BENSON

Yeah, that is true. There is a reason we hired you. And Clio, how have you been doing?

#### MADDY

And then Clio swishes her hair back and says --

#### CLIO

Well, I've written an extra article already before my deadline because I just found out the most fascinating things about human items of clothing, so it's not entirely about the part of the body, sometimes it covers more than one part of the body. So I just find that very interesting.

#### LYDIA

Mini narrows her eyes. 

#### MADDY

And at this point, Mini, you get a notification --

##### [SFX: 'MESSAGE RECEIVED' TONE]

-- on your phone, very similar to the one that Joseph got. It is a message from TARGE offering you a position among their superhero teams with a meeting tomorrow at 11am.

#### LYDIA

Mini, at the moment she is not going to share that with her boss because her boss already thinks that she's got a bit too much going on and needs to be writing more, but actually this sounds fascinating. 

#### MADDY

Nice.

#### LYDIA

Just gonna like... yeah. So if Clio looks suspiciously over and there's a suggestion of who was that from -- 

#### MINI

It's just my boss. Joe Dustice at Dustice Heels. My shoe shop job. Incredibly normal human job, which is giving so much material, so I'd better actually go out and answer this so I can find out more things about shoes. It's not about being a superhero at all, it's about being an ordinary human. I dunno why I even said that. I'm just... ah, yeah, sometimes humans do that. They say things that are irrelevant.

#### BENSON

Alright, sure. If it's to do with the article, for sure you've gotta do the human thing and go for it. 

#### MINI

Yeah, I've got one I'm actually interested in. "Seven Ways That Human Bosses Get Their Human Staff to Show Up to Work Using Emotional Blackmail, Including One You Wouldn't Believe."

#### BENSON

For sure, for sure. Alright, I'll see if there's room in the release schedule for that. Yeah, for sure.

#### MADDY

Alright, and so do you just pop outside to reply to the message? 

##### [SFX: DOOR OPENS AND CLOSES, GARDEN AMBIENCE, BIRDS SINGING AND CAWING]

#### LYDIA

Just pops out into the garden where, again, things are just a little bit off. There's dandelions really carefully tendered in pots, which is just something -- we really should appreciate the dandelion more, but it's lots of plants that are usually getting chopped down or pulled up are... there's daisies here and there's a rose bush, and all of the flowers have been cut off and the thorns are nicely presented. 

#### LOWRI

Maybe sandcastles of mud. 

#### LYDIA

Yeah, yeah. This is totally how humans decorate their gardens. 

#### PIP

Garden gnomes that have been stuck in the ground upside down. 

#### LYDIA

Yeah, you know, it's nice. Oh, the garden gnome is planted in the pot. It's like, they're not stupid, they just haven't quite got all the things right. It's... yeah, I really like it. 

#### PIP

With a garden gnome they've got that point on the top of their head, right, so naturally that would go in the ground!

#### LYDIA

They do have that point. That makes sense. Makes a lot of sense.

#### MADDY

Absolutely.

#### LYDIA

It would just be odd to go into an immaculate garden and then there's just daisies and dandelions in pots and just, why is this odd? I'm not sure, but it is odd.

But anyway, she pops out to the garden and -- can you text back to this message? You say it's outside of an app, is there a whole...

#### MADDY

There is a link. There is a hyperlink at the bottom where you can press and you can reply.

#### LYDIA

Cool. A hyperlink. It's not even a QR code, we're living way in the future here. Yeah, Mini replies, "Sure... what is TARGE?" 

#### MADDY

Are you asking this in the message? 

#### LYDIA

Yeah, messages "what's this?"

##### [SFX: 'MESSAGE SENT' TONE] 

##### [SFX: 'MESSAGE RECEIVED' TONE, VIBRATION]

#### MADDY

You get a response relatively quickly, saying, "I'm surprised you don't know this. It is the..."

#### PIP

"As a *human* I'm surprised you don't know..."

#### LYDIA

I know *all* the things that people know, what! 

#### MADDY

You get a message quite quickly back, saying, "I'm surprised you don't know this. It is the Tactical Agency for Rescue and Guidance in Emergencies. It is the government agency which handles superhuman affairs. We have received notification of your powerful abilities and would very much like to have you on our team."

#### LYDIA

Mini is so stressed about the fact that someone has somehow noticed that maybe she's not human or something that she accidentally makes her phone incredibly heavy and drops it on the floor, and it cracks the plant pot that she was next to.

#### MINI

Darn it!

##### [SFX: PLANT POT CRACKING] 

#### MADDY

Does Mini suspect any particular incident may have been responsible for this -- the reveal of her powers?

#### LYDIA

Look, so it looked like things were gonna get a bit dicey on the train, when she took the tea trolley and was just trying to work out what makes it appropriate for some people to offer tea and some people not to in certain circumstances, and it's a bit of research for the people back home because they think this kind of stuff is fascinating somehow. But I was beginning to write that up and it turns out that they have security guards on trains. Didn't even know that, that's something else that I could write up about. And they seemed to be coming towards them, and it was quite a crowded carriage and there was just a lot going on, so it seemed like the best thing to do was to just maybe not be there anymore, and so Mini just very slightly bent the rays of the sun around herself so that she would become invisible and slip between shadows and got away from the situation before it escalated at all.

Yeah, maybe someone saw that. Maybe. 

#### MADDY

Yeah, maybe. And there is a mention in a message that appears just a few seconds later.

##### [SFX: 'MESSAGE RECEIVED' TONE, VIBRATION]

"Your ability to control light and become invisible would be extremely useful in our reconnaissance missions."

#### MINI

_(to herself)_ Right, sure, okay. Yep. Cool. I can totally justify this on top of my two jobs. That's what human 20-somethings do, right. Multiple jobs...

#### LOWRI

That is what humans do.

#### MINI

Yeah, I can do this. It's more research. I don't need to tell Benson. And I definitely don't need to tell Clio.

#### MADDY

You can hear -- there's an open window and you can hear Clio on a Zoom call, but this is of course, as we have established previously in our conversations, that it's no human Zoom, it's Specion Zoom -- that is, a hole in time and space through which Specions communicate. 

#### LYDIA

Yeah, but what else would you call a tiny hole in space and time that moves faster than light. That's Zoom, right. You can't use that name for just a normal video call. That would be ridiculous. 

#### MADDY

No, of course not. And she is making kind of lovey-dovey noises at her partner back on Specmarkalon Five and is going, "I miss you so much, darling, and I just wish you could be right here with me." And yeah, it's nauseating. 

##### [MUSIC: CALM AMBIENCE]

#### LYDIA

Just... if I wasn't over here, *pfft,* just get me over her, but does she have to rub it in...

#### MADDY

Alright, so do you reply and accept the invitation?

#### LYDIA

Sure, yeah. Gotta have something that Clio doesn't know about.

##### [SFX: TEXTING, 'MESSAGE SENT' TONE] 

#### MADDY

Excellent. So I think now at this point we are gonna shift focus over to Ahmed's character. So we are at a family home in a suburban area of the city, a quiet neighbourhood near the good schools, and Adeeb is just hanging out in his room. And I would like to ask, what is he doing? 

#### AHMED

It's a weekday or a weekend? 

#### MADDY

It is a weekday. It is morning on a Friday. 

##### [SFX: SUBURBAN NEIGHBOURHOOD, DOG BARKING]

#### AHMED

Alright. He is probably either working on something for school, just finishing some homework because he is planning to go out tonight so he needs to make sure nothing is going to be piling on by the end of the week, so he's going to try and finish as much work and homework and assignments he can muster.

##### [SFX: PAGES TURNING, WRITING]

#### MADDY

Alright, nice. And what does Adeeb's room look like? 

#### AHMED

His room: there is a desk beneath a bed, and there are posters of various videogame characters and a couple of superheroes, but mostly video games and anime characters and various designs. And there is a large wardrobe filled -- so much that he cannot close the doors -- with various things, and there are lot of fabrics just thrown around on the ground and there is an unfinished cosplay project hanging in the corner that he plans to go back to eventually to get it done but he hasn't worked on it... He's been busy this week with school stuff. 

#### MADDY

Yeah, entirely fair. And it's at this point that you get a call from Linh Phan, who is a member of the cosplay club that you're a part of. Do you pick up?

##### [SFX: PHONE RINGING, VIBRATION, CALL PICK-UP TONE] 

#### AHMED

Oh, absolutely.

#### ADEEB

Hey Linh!

#### LINH

_(over phone)_ Hey, how are you doing? Is everything okay?

#### ADEEB

Oh yeah, it's fine, I'm trying to get this assignment finished. They just remember to give us everything before the weekend.

#### LINH

Yeah, they really don't care about us having a social life, but I guess that's their prerogative. Listen, I'm calling because Poltergeist has come up on the news again.

#### ADEEB

Oh. Yeah, yeah, I saw this. Was it -- last night, right? 

#### LINH

Yeah, last night. I think it was a jewellery store robbery or something. I just wanted to make sure you're okay and... you know.

#### ADEEB

Of course I'm okay. Why wouldn't I be okay? I'm just here working on the cosplay. Yeah. The cosplay.

#### LINH

Alright. I thought you said you were working on schoolwork?

#### ADEEB

Oh. Yes, I was working on the cosplay yesterday, and right now I'm working on my homework.

#### LINH

Okay, okay.

#### ADEEB

So I wasn't anywhere near Poltergeist last night.

#### LINH

Mmm. The fact that you say that causes me to think that you might've been. 

#### ADEEB

Why would I be anywhere there. What did you say, like, the jewelleries or something? Or just gold? Why would I be anywhere near these things.

#### LINH

Okay. Yeah, I understand that you're trying to minimise it and make it less of a big deal, but he was our friend and...

#### ADEEB

It's not like I'm tracking him and figuring out where he's gonna hit next. How would I have even known that he's gonna to be planning to hit a place like that? It's not like I'm keeping an eye on him and the people he hangs out with or anything. That would be crazy, if I just happened to be there. I care about him, of course, but I'm not gonna be waiting for him to strike something or another or something... You know, this assignment is really -- it's very tough, so how about I call you back in 20 minutes when I get this done and we can just chat it out.

#### LINH

Sure, okay. No worries. Yeah. Yeah, call me back when you're ready.

#### ADEEB

Absolutely. 

#### LINH

Alright. Speak soon.

#### ADEEB

Bye.

##### [SFX: CALL HANG-UP TONE]

#### AHMED

So the moment I hang up and just like -- 

#### ADEEB

_(sighs)_ I need to be more careful.

##### [LAUGHTER]

#### MADDY

So what exactly did happen the other night? 

#### AHMED

I would normally... the chance I try to probe areas that he usually go to, and I have seen him go with a group of people to the jewellery and gold district and once I saw them going in trying to hit the stores, I got involved.

#### MADDY

And do you think that there were any photographs or news footage of you engaging with... 

#### AHMED

Oh, absolutely. I am careless about these things. There are cameras everywhere. People are going to be seeing me sending claws and just swinging between labs and just trying to avoid whatever things that they are hitting me with and with absolutely... well, depends on the listener. To me I find it very funny, my banter, my jokes.

#### MADDY

Incredible. Alright. So yeah, so at this point you hear a knock at your bedroom door --

##### [SFX: KNOCKING]

And you hear your sister, Amal, outside going --

#### AMAL

_(muffled by door)_ Can I come in?

##### [SFX: DOOR OPENS] 

#### ADEEB

Oh yeah, yeah, yeah. Come on in.

#### AHMED

I spin around my chair just to face her. 

##### [SFX: CHAIR SWIVEL]

#### MADDY

She says --

#### AMAL

Right, it's getting harder and harder to keep our parents from watching the news when you're on it, so...

#### ADEEB

I've been very careful.

#### AMAL

Yeah. Mmm.

#### AHMED

(Lying.)

##### [LAUGHTER]

#### AMAL

They got a really good shot of most of your face.

#### AHMED

I pull up this small mask, the ones that Robin wears.

##### [SFX: PULLING OUT MASK] 

#### LOWRI

The domino mask.

#### ADEEB

Yeah. I'm wearing this. I'm sure nobody would know it's me.

#### AMAL

I'm not so sure but I appreciate your optimism.

#### PIP

Ah, the domino mask. The mask that covers literally everything except for all of your identifiable features.

##### [LAUGHTER]

#### ADEEB

Okay, so maybe I can just wrap the turban around my face, or something like that.

#### AMAL

I think that would be a good idea, I think having more face covering would be helpful. I...

#### ADEEB

I can do that. Yeah, I can absolutely do that. It's not like I'm going to be doing this forever. I mean, Poltergeist and the guys ran away this time, but maybe next time I'll be able to do something and hopefully stop them and that's it. I don't need to do this anymore.

#### AMAL

Okay. Just be careful, alright? Because you know big sister's gotta look out for you. 

#### ADEEB

I know. I'm really grateful for covering up for me last night.

#### AMAL

That's alright. And thanks for covering for me when I had that gig. Mum and Dad don't understand rock at all.

#### ADEEB

Don't worry about it -- but you still haven't sent me the recordings, though. That's what you need to do.

#### AMAL

Okay, okay, sure. I think Mum's doing something in the kitchen, I should probably go help out. On Fridays I don't have any classes and she insists that I'm just around the house even though there's nothing I can do to help and she does everything, and I do not understand why this works.

#### ADEEB

Just make sure not to remind her that I'm upstairs so she doesn't call me. I have a tonne of homework and I have so much to do, and, you know...

#### AMAL

Very fair. Alright, cool. See you later.

#### ADEEB

Alright. Bye. 

##### [SFX: DOOR CLOSES]

#### MADDY

And she heads out and down to the kitchen to help out with your mum. And you also get the mysterious message on your phone from TARGE offering you a position on a superhero team.

##### [SFX: 'MESSAGE RECEIVED' TONE]

Seemingly perhaps you aren't going to be stopping with Poltergeist after all if you take up this offer. What's Adeeb feeling about this? 

#### AHMED

My reaction is at first is when I see it, I click on it and I see this window which is... this is not any of my apps. This is not any of my mail services. Definitely not a BingBong. So went to the door, locked the door, go to the window, make sure -- just look around if there's anybody looking at me, and just close the window slowly and just sit there staring at it.

##### [SFX: LOCKING DOOR AND CLOSING WINDOW, CREAK OF CHAIR]

#### ADEEB

Oh crap. Somebody already knows.

#### AHMED

And it takes me a few minutes just to go from panic and just to calm down and just start thinking about it. You know what? I can't do this alone. I keep trying and he has other people with him, so if I can join in and join this TARGE, maybe I have a better chance of helping him stop whatever it is he's doing.

So I click and reply and say, just write, "I'm in."

##### [SFX: TEXTING, 'MESSAGE SENT' TONE] 

##### [MUSIC: CALM AMBIENCE]

##### [SFX: COSY MANSION, FIREPLACE CRACKLING]

#### MADDY

Perfect. Alright. And now we're gonna go back to Morgan sitting across the kitchen table from Owain, and Owain is pondering the option of asking for more help and he turns to look at you and says --

#### OWAIN

You do know the vision I had, the prophecy I had about you.

#### MORGAN

Yes, of course I do.

#### OWAIN

That you'd follow in your parents' footsteps...

#### MORGAN

Look, I... right now what I'm concerned about is that Wilt is showing up more, okay. And I don't think I can take her alone.

#### MADDY

And at this point you get the notification.

##### [SFX: 'MESSAGE RECEIVED' TONE, VIBRATION]

The same that everyone else has got from TARGE offering you a place on the superhero team. Seemingly answering your prayers. 

#### LOWRI

I look at Owain and say --

#### MORGAN

Did you have a vision about this? 

#### OWAIN

No. This is... wow. This is incredible! I mean, I was worried about you joining up with other people and putting them in danger, but if they have the resources of TARGE, if they're a government organisation that is designed to do this, then this might be your best chance. 

#### MORGAN

This is a really big decision to make immediately. 

#### OWAIN

I mean, do they give a deadline before you can make your decision?

#### MORGAN

Well, it says here -- 11 o'clock tomorrow morning I have to turn up. 

#### OWAIN

Oh, right. Goodness. I feel like... yeah, you probably should make a decision as soon you can. I don't wanna put pressure on you, I don't want you to do anything you don't want, but from my perspective if you're looking for help this might be the best option.

#### MORGAN

How do they know about me?

#### OWAIN

Well, they have so many superpowered individuals on their roster. They might have precognitive people like me. They might just have mundane surveillance equipment. There's a number of ways they could've found out. 

#### MORGAN

Right then, absolutely, yeah. Okay. I need to do this, because if they can find me, Wilt can -- and I just feel like at the moment we're just sitting and waiting, right. We're not doing anything. I mean, obviously I'm training, but I guess their resources are going to be... obviously their library won't be as good as yours, but... 

#### OWAIN

Well, you know how to flatter your uncle, you do. 

#### MORGAN

Yeah, this feels right. 

#### OWAIN

Alright. Go on, reply then. 

#### LOWRI

Morgan will reply -- "Thank you. See you there."

##### [SFX: TEXTING, 'MESSAGE SENT' TONE] 

#### LYDIA

Dun, dun, dun! 

#### MADDY

And that brings us to the end of our first ever episode of Masks for Chapter and Multiverse. Thank you so much for listening.

#### LYDIA

You folks with your spooky stuff and me with my microwaved ice cream. _(laughing)_ It's all cool. 

#### MADDY

I love the range of tones that we've got. 

#### LOWRI

Yes.

#### MADDY

Alright, so before we finish up, I would just like to ask where we can find you on the internet in case our lovely listeners want to find out more about what you do. Let's start with Ahmed. 

#### AHMED

Hi, I'm Ahmed Aljabry and you can find me everywhere @mr_aljabry. I am a culture consultant and I write adventures and content for D&D.

#### MADDY

Wonderful. And Lyd? 

#### LYDIA

Me, I am Lydia Nicholas. You can find me on Twitter @LydNicholas and you can watch my chickens be livestreamed on @urbanchooks at Twitch, and you can hear me ramble in other Rusty Quill podcasts like most folks here. So much podcasting. 

#### MADDY

So much podcast. Alright, and Pip? 

#### PIP

Hello. Hello? Goodbye? I don't know. I'm Pip Gladwin and you can find me @Pip_Gladwin. I can be heard in a variety of podcasts that have already made, *Wooden Overcoats* and all kinds of other ones. I'm not gonna list any of them because, again, I don't know when this is going out and there are things that I've recorded and they haven't been announced yet, so that's a whole thing. But. Yes. I'm gonna stop talking. 

#### MADDY

And Lowri? 

#### LOWRI

You can find me mostly on @LowriTweets, where I am liking and re-tweeting tweets from my friends and not creating original content at all on that platform. 

#### MADDY

You can find me on Twitter @maddy_abstract where there are links to all the various things that I do. And we hope to see you next time on Chapter and Multiverse, but until then, from all of us here in the space between worlds, goodbye. 

#### EVERYONE

Bye! 

##### [SHOW THEME - OUTRO]

#### THE ETERNAL TAVERN KEEPER

Chapter and Multiverse is a podcast distributed by Rusty Quill and licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial ShareAlike 4.0 International License. It is directed by Maddy Searle and produced by Natasha Johnston with Executive Producers Alexander J Newall and April Sumner. The Eternal Tavern Keeper was played by Karim Kronfli. This episode was edited by Lowri Ann Davies, Tessa Vroom, and Maddy Searle with music by Nico Vettese. Thank you for listening.