Expected scene: David finally gets to meet Chad and interview him. Rolled 9 when testing the scene, so it progressed as expected.
David and Marie enter the house and Eric offers them something to drink. David asks if he can video record the interview with Chad, to which Eric agrees. David and Marie start setting up the tripod and recorder while Eric goes to Chad's room to bring him into the kitchen.
When Chad sees David, the two of them stare at each other for a few seconds. David decides to not speak telepathically with Chad. Chad looks apprehensive. David begins to introduce Marie to Chad, and then offers an immediate apology to Chad. He tells him that he didn't mean to frighten him, that he only wanted him to know that he is not alone with his power, and that he could trust that David truly empathizes with his gift.
Roll David's Diplomacy skill 12 as Influence roll vs Chad's Will of 9 when seeing how Chad reacts to David's attempted apology. 13 vs 9, David's roll fails while Chad's succeeds. When using Diplomacy, the GM also makes a regular reaction roll and uses the best roll of the two. Rolled a 13 on General Reaction roll, which is Good.
Chad is receptive to David's apology and realizes David did not intend to frighten him.
Eric glances at David.
This is the first Eric has heard that David spoke telepathically to Chad, that this is why Chad vomited. Is he upset with David? Since earlier in the adventure I rolled Beautiful / Adventurous on a character description table for Eric, and I interpreted that is being open and willing to allow David to help the family, I assigned the odds of Unlikely that Eric would be upset at David for trying his power on his son. Rolled a 35 against CF 4 Unlikely 25, so No - Eric is not upset at David.
Eric is not upset with David, but he begins to question his claim of having psychic power.
Eric is not affected by Chad's attempts at psychic power, he is an anti-psi - like Marie - so he doesn't believe that Chad is able to do these things, but wants to be supportive of Catherine and get to the bottom of what is happening.
David affirms that he does indeed have psychic abilities, albeit unpredictable in his ability to use them. Eric asks David to try to use them on him.
David attempts to speak to Eric telepathically. He is at full FP 10 so he has 7 tries (need to stop when total FP is at 3, as per rules of Unreliable limitation on his power). It takes David 5 tries, so 5 seconds go by with David looking at Eric, trying to communicate, and FP is now at FP 5. An additional second is required and an IQ roll to actually use his power now. Rolled 8, success but his message doesn't come across, since Eric is an anti-psi. Why did I even bother to roll then? Because David doesn't know this information, and it impacts his ability now to possibly speak with Chad telepathically.
David tries to concentrate and speak to Eric but does not succeed. A few seconds go by and Chad speaks to David with a clear internal voice - he says that his voice doesn't work on his dad, only his mom. David looks at Chad and nods his head. Eric asks what he is nodding about, and David tells him that he tried to speak to him, but it won't work, and that Chad just told him telepathically that his powers don't work on him, only his mother.
Astonished, Eric says that there's got to be a way to prove that David and Chad can communicate telepathically. David has an idea. Chad actually seems to have better control over his ability than David, so he suggests that Chad gets a book, turns his back towards David, and reads a passage telepathically to David, which David will then repeat out loud.
Chad goes to his room briefly and returns with a comic book. David tells him to follow his reading with his finger, so Eric can see exactly what is being read while David recites it out loud. Chad sits with his back towards David, opens the book, and starts to read a passage - just a few sentences. David - in real-time - recites the passage as Chad telepathically speaks to him.
Roll Fright Checks for Eric and Marie. Will roll of 15 against 10 for Eric (failure of a margin of 5), Marie resists Fear with a success of 5 against her Will 12. Eric's result after rolling on the Fright Check table is mental stun, which means he simply needs to roll against IQ to "snap out of it." Only 1 second goes by and he makes his IQ roll.
Surprisingly, Eric only briefly seems mentally stunned. Marie takes it in and silently ponders what she just witnessed. A few seconds pass where nobody speaks. Eric finally breaks the silence and says that he needs to process what he just witnessed. David takes this opportunity to talk to Chad about using his ability with responsibility. He tells Chad that he should not speak to his mother telepathically since it causes her too much stress, that she can't handle it and that he could actually be hurting her mental health. Chad agrees and David realizes that he was doing it out of frustration. Now that Chad has an advocate in David, David feels that Chad will no longer harm his mother - he never did it maliciously.
For the rest of the interview, David asks Chad questions about his ability, when he first realized he had it, and who all he has tried to use it with. It's starting to get late, and it's a school night, so David tells Eric and Chat that they should be going, but he'd like to meet with Catherine again and speak to her about the interview. Eric says he'll relay the message, and that they'd be in touch. David leaves his number again, and he and Marie make the trip home.
Chaos Factor down to 3. Lists updated
Threads List
1. Investigate Psi reports
2. Speak with Catherine
3. Contact Jesse
4. Follow up with Hughes family
Characters List
1. Weirdness Magnet
2. Marie
3. Jesse
4. Dean Pritchert
5. NICPP
6. classroom / students
7. Manny Britero
8. Duncan Britero
9. Catherine
10. Chad
11. Eric
12. military vet
13. Jesse
14. Manny Britero and church members
15. Depression
16. Catherine
17. Marie
18. Eric
19. Chad
20. Eric
21. Marie
22. Weirdness Magnet
