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Sunday, July 3, 2011

Intervention - Session 13

Gloria desperately wants to get on the next plane, but the airplane fleet of her chosen airline is grounded. She will need to get a refund and find another airline.
[This scene will be from Gloria's POV (randomly determined).
Chaos factor is 4.

Through various Mythic rolls, I've determined that:
  • A day or so after finding out where Joy is, and buying a ticket, Gloria has not yet made it to Uganda. Due to mechanical issues in a couple of planes, the whole fleet belonging to the airline has been temporarily grounded as a precaution. 
Scene Setup: Gloria is too desperate to wait, so she needs to convince the ticket agent to refund her money. Then she can try to find a flight through another airline.

A roll of 7 against Chaos Factor of 4 means the scene is unaltered.

Note: This situation is so boring that the only way it's worth playing through is if I use it as comic relief-- which is what Gloria's last scene sort of was, so there's a precedent. This means that I'll choose the odds of fate questions in ways that lead to a comic result, or that I'll frame the questions in that direction. ]

[Turn 61: BIC: "Authority". A stern looking man in a business suit, with a rule in his hand. There are cogs and gears on the floor. Mythic indicates this is related to the ticket agent, and it's Gloria's turn. UNE's rules say that I can pick a demeanor for an NPC, but I'm not sure what fits best so I roll and get "prejudiced", with a bearing of "dislike". I'm not going to roll on a "focus" because the conversation will focus on Gloria's request.

Gloria is going to deal with a woman [Mythic] on a power trip that hates customers. Great!]

"Next...", says the ticket agent in a tone that suggests this woman is used to making life difficult for customers, and loves it [Mythic says "joyfully natural"].

Gloria pretends not to hear, hoping that perhaps a few extra seconds will free up a different agent, but it fails miserably [Mythic], instead annoying the ticket agent.

"NEXT!" The agent insists in a noticeably peeved tone.

Gloria asks the customer directly behind her to go ahead of her, pretending that she can't find her ID. [Does that ruse work? Nobody would fall for that, so Odds Unlikely: 21, No (Barely)]

The woman behind her glares at her [UNE demeanor "hostile"] and says "I'm not an idiot."
  [Does Gloria get lucky and a different ticket agent open up? Odds Unlikely: 81, No]

Finally, the agent yells: "LADY, YOU ARE HOLDING UP THE LINE." [Does she say something incredibly rude? Odds Unlikely: 14, Yes.] "EITHER S%#T OR GET OFF THE POT."

Gloria tries to put as dignified a front as possible as she marches down to the counter-- time seems to crawl by and Gloria can hear throats clearing and a few chuckles [Mythic]. .

Turn 62 [BIC: "Action". A man running or jogging. Theme is to work to get your wishes. The agent is now determined to make Gloria work extra hard for that refund! (Mythic)]

"How may I help you, ma'm." The agent spits with extreme attitude.

"Hello," says Gloria, and begins by explaining her urgent need to make it to Kampala as soon as possible.

The ticket agent with the bad attitude cuts her off before she can finish [Mythic], "Ma'm, we are very sorry for the delays, but safety is our number one priority. We are doing all we can to solve the problem and we appreciate your patience."

Gloria: "I understand that, but I can't afford to wait. I would like a refund."

The ticket agent, whose nametag says "Amanda", taps a few keys on her computer. Gloria's ticket is non-refundable [Mythic].

[Does Amanda The Ticket Agent adopt a condescending tone? Odds Somewhat Likely: 12, Yes]

Amanda The Ticket Agent: "M'am, you bought a non-refundable ticket." She says it as if addressing a not very bright person.

Gloria asks if there's really nothing she can do, as her situation is urgent. [Does she give Gloria a break? Odds Very Unlikely: 02, Exceptional Yes. Why? "work hard, status quo" (Mythic).]

Amanda's boss was standing behind her, unoticed by either woman [Mythic]. He elbows the agent and clears his throat-- a subtle message telling Amanda to stop being a jerk. Amanda, in turn, wants to keep her job ("status quo"), so her demeanor makes a sudden change to extremely friendly and helpful.

"Ma'am I'll be glad to work something out," she says with forced enthusiasm and a fake smile. "We'll get you your refund right now." She taps loudly as if taking it out on her keyboard, and credits Gloria's account. After handing Gloria the receipt, she asks "Anything else I can do to help you today?"

"No, I believe that is all." Gloria gloats. "Thank you very much, Amanda."

"You are very welcome, m'am," Amanda says shooting daggers out of her eyes even as she smiles sweetly.

[Mythic. I also got a random event in this roll. Event Focus: Remote Event. Event Meaning: Carelessness, Illusions] Somewhere in the crowd, a travelling magician has spilled all his gear after dropping his travel suitcase. Gloria thinks she recognizes him from VH1's "The Pickup Artist", but she's not sure [Mythic].

Not having time to be distracted, she immediately looks for a different airline where she can buy a new ticket to Kampala.

[Turn 63: BIC: "Nurturing". UNE rules say I can pick demeanor, so the other airline's ticket agent has a "friendly" demeanor, due to the BIC. UNE: friendly/happiness. The NPC this time is very happy and polite person. Does Gloria get a ticket on the next available plane with no hassle? Since they're so friendly, Odds Near Sure Thing: 81, No]

This time she gets a really friendly ticket agent. However, the only space available is on Business Class....next to a very large person [Mythic]. Having no real choice,  Gloria resigns herself to being squeezed against her seat the whole flight.

[Does the previous airline's fleet remain grounded while Gloria waits for her next flight on the new airline? Odds Near Sure thing: 36, Yes. OK, no Murphy's Law. Gloria made the right decision.]

When Gloria boards the flight the next morning [Mythic], she is satisfied at having made the right decision. She has no more time to waste!

[Oy, this was a boring scene setup, and the humor perhaps wasn't that funny-- not sure that it worked out at all. I just hate throwing out Mythic/BIC/whatever results, and this is what they handed me as material.

Mythic has a rule to deal with "In Between Stories", which help you resolve stuff that happens off scene in between campaigns with a single Fate Chart roll. Next time I end up with a boring scene setup because of random results, I think I'll use this rule to resolve it off screen (i.e. ", Gloria deals with a rude ticket agent. Yaddi-yaddi-yadda, she gets a refund and buys a ticket with a different airline, but gets stuck with a very large fellow passenger.").

Luckily, things should get interesting again in Session 14, which is where the relevant action is.

Scene upkeep:

Updated thread list:

Nothing has changed significantly in this scene.

Chaos factor goes up to 5, since Gloria was not in control.]


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