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Rocket your D&D 5E and Level Up: Advanced 5E games into space! Alpha Star Magazine Is Launching... Right Now!

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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Golden Bee" data-source="post: 9801882" data-attributes="member: 7041055"><h3>Quiet on the Set-Up!</h3>A Kiss-Kiss Crisis. Hollywood! A cast of hundreds is on set for the pivotal slave revolt scene of Atlas’s newest picture, Wives of Rome. The bad news is that across town at 20th Century Fox, they’re filming Coyote Trails, and hired all the good stuntmen.Lala Santinella, stunt coordinator, has to make do with her current team: her vacationing coworkers, Calvin Davino, Clara Tate, Ivo Kochev, and Zelda Saeki, who brought her detective boyfriend Jake.Calvin and Clara are the only two who know how to fight. They, along with Lala, don a variety of costumes and battle while the extras lightly tussle in the background. With some clever camera angles and horse stunts, it’s enough to cover for the lack of pros.Calvin, for his part, tries to suck up to Director Massimo Ya(w)n, the deadly boring Italian who keeps hiring Lala. Massimo isn't particularly helpful in his advice.Miss Santaella, jealous that the movie stars her frenemy Elena Altieri, makes sure she's hit by a dramatic blood splatter.At lunch, Clara fills and overfills her tray. The group gets a strange visitor: the mayor’s butler! Mr. Kanetka wants their favor with a delicate matter.The group is suspicious because the last time they met the mayor, they ruined his reputation at the behest of William R. Hearst. The greedier members of the group pointed out that a job for the mayor would be profitable, and if the first step was sending the butler, the second might be sending the LAPD.It turns out Mayor Stoner had a painting stolen: a Christian Starker original. (Back in Gallery of Souls, Starker's paintings were revealed to have terrifying psychological powers. After being sent to a hell realm and causing a massive mansion fire, the group gave him a one-way ticket to Ruratonga.)They had their suspicions about the butler, but Zelda's investigation pointed towards the guestbook. Among the signees? Former Satanist film producer Hiram Silver, and criminal kingpin Mickey Cohen. After the adventure Hooray for Hellwood, and the collapse of his studio, Hiram was living in a motel near the LA river. He was happy to see his old star Lala, and if she had some money, he had an idea: a radio series on the lives of the apostles! Before Lala or her millionaire daughter could open their wallets, Clara dragged them away.Zelda’s dig on Mickey Cohen came up dirtless. The Combination made its money from drugs, gambling and graft. No need to add highbrow art smuggling.The group returned to the mayor’s residence, and after some cross-examination, found that their culprit had never signed the guestbook. In fact, it was one of the worst people that could imagine: Zelda's father, General Saeki!***Japan was in its rainy season. The group (minus Jake, who didn't want to add "the empire of Japan” to his enemies list) splurged on new, discreet rainwear. But that wasn't the main problem: it was that Zelda didn't want to confront her father.The group convinced her to investigate, and received some good news: her father wasn't at his new castle. It was simply serving as a military garrison!The group, except for Ivo, decided to request an invitation. They got past the guard post fine, but came out of the rain to another obstacle: Yoji Sanada! A master swordsman, general Saeki's right-hand man, and, perhaps most dangerously, Zelda’s forbidden love!***The Yugoslav smuggler had a decision to make. He could infiltrate the compound normally, but it was designed to be an impregnable fortress. He decided to take a risky route: using store-bought scuba gear, he used the flooded moat for infiltration!***Inside Kyuden Saeki, Zelda tried to keep their host busy giving a tour. Lala made some off-color comments, but Zelda smoothed the whole thing over. Meanwhile, Ivo got closer and closer to the painting…Sanada wasn't stupid. He knew that the ZSS wasn't the type to drop in for a visit on a different continent. Zelda allayed his fears on a balcony. She told him regardless of their reason for coming, she was there for his sake. They kissed. She told him that she had been dating an American she liked well enough, but it was nothing compared to her true passion. Yoji confessed that the last time he was in America, he stole a painting for her father. He suspected that they were there to steal it back.She kissed him again. He said he would keep a secret if she would answer one question for him, completely honestly:She said yes, as long as she could make a clean break with her previous paramour.***In the attic, Ivo came face-to-face with the painting, an angel writhing in hellish torment. He let out a chuckle, and began to delicately cut it from the corners of the frame … when a spirit overcame him.The spirit inverted his personality, replacing his greed with endless charity, and despite the brief appearance of the League of Nations Police officer Maja Malgorzo and her associate Drew Broom, he exfiltrated the compound.The group decided to create two forgeries, one for the general and one for the mayor. It seemed like a tidy end to the case… Until they noticed something strange about their colleague. At some point in the heist, Kochev had changed his personality drastically.Back in Los Angeles, the group searched for a cure. They got a psychological assessment from their friend, Hollywood Boulevard psychic Madame Valeria, and found an Eastern Orthodox priest who would meet with the smuggler. Calvin sat down with Ivo, mercenary to mercenary, priming his companion about all the benefits of greed. Clara repaired the church, and in a secret ceremony, they restored their friend’s personality.Afterward, Zelda had to call Chicago and let her ex down easy. He was miffed: his friends were right, she was going to leave him for some long hair samurai with a sword!The rest of the group was troubled. Although they had allowed him to make his own decisions, they had turned their smuggler friend back into an unsavory person.And wait a minute… was the only reason the mayor was nice to them the fact he was exposed to the painting?</blockquote>

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