Week 2: Edith and Son VERSUS Lyon and Scarlet

You are standing in front of the Building, 2m away and 2m to the right of the Left Door. Son is 3m to your right. The starting buzzer has just finished ringing.

You are standing in front of the Building, 2m away and 2m to the left of the Right Door. Edith is 3m to your left. The starting buzzer has just finished ringing.

You are standing on Floor 3, below the central room and 1m from the wall above you and to the right. You set up 2 Light Barriers in both the stairwells, blocking off the stairs going between levels 2 and 3, 3 and 4. You also made 3 Light Barriers blocking the Fire Escape windows on Floors 2, 3, and 4. Finally, you made a Light Barrier on the inside of the elevator door. You last saw Scarlet by the Emergency Stairs. The starting buzzer has just finished ringing.

You are standing on Floor 3, in front of the Emergency Stairs door, to the left. You last saw Lyon heading past the Elevator. The starting buzzer has just finished ringing.

Son will take their time to set up some preliminary visualizations. They Invigorate themselves, then Edith (maximum Focus becomes 5). They attempt to use Volume Control (maximum Focus becomes 4) and Augment Vision (maximum Focus becomes 3) in the area directly in front of them and Edith, so that anything on the first floor will be easier to sense.

Son Multi-Tasks, Talking to Edith in a near-whisper through their headset: "Make sure you stay close to me. I can't do shit for you if you're too far away. If you see anything, shout, but like, quietly. Once we get to the center of the first floor, we can REALLY get to work. Aw yeah. Hell yeah. This is gonna be great! Get hyyyype..."

They walk forward, or match Edith's pace if she's moving faster. Son is on high alert, arms raised in front of them, ready to visualize a Water Construct between them and the first unexpected thing they see. Once they're through the right door, they'll Search to make sure that they're not walking into an ambush.

Edith heads to the door on the left and opens it, looking around at a glance to see if Lyon and Scarlet were crazy and daring enough to leave the bomb on the first floor in plain sight. Afterwards, assuming they weren't insane, she'll start up a light jog towards the reception desk on the first floor.

According to their plan, she'll place the tree seed she's had in her mouth since before the training began down near the desk, and begin to grow the tree using her outdoor voice to have the pace start out reasonably enough. During this time using her voice, she'll alternate between observing the tree and Son. She hopes to see what Son is planning on doing, while also keeping tabs on how big the tree is getting. She'll also equip her vine whip during this time, in order to be prepared for a confrontation. When the tree begins to approach the ceiling, unless something else significant has happened during the wait, she'll recover her breath and then proceed to begin yelling in order for the tree to pick up the pace. She'll keep a somewhat reasonable distance from the tree, knowing that as it grows taller it will also grow wider. She'll keep up the pace, making sure to conserve her stamina by catching her breath every now and then.

In the fringe case that Scarlet and Lyon have the bomb in plain sight on the first floor, Edith will instead swallow the seed she's been nurturing, equip her vine whip, and get ready for a fight.

Lyon moves upward to be positioned between the stairs, waiting to see where the enemy comes from. He waits for further happenings.

Scarlet moves via the Fire Escape, headed downstairs stealthily, checking for signs of Son and Edith. She stops at Floor 2, checking the corner of the building, before going back inside to the stairs, and heading down to the first floor. If she doesn't see anything, she'll head back up to Floor 3.

You hear, and feel, a slight rumbling coming from the Center Room behind you. (( 9 minutes, 8 seconds remaining. ))

Lyon creeps around to the east facing door of the center room and nudges it open to peek inside

You see a tree growing through the lower middle part of the Central Room.

"Fucking hell.." Lyon whispers to himself. He is going too keep watching while staying hidden, waiting for movement from a person. he also checks behind and around him every few seconds, listening for activity elsewhere. Meanwhile, he sends Scarlet a message over the headset; "There's a tree growing right through the floor of the center room, whats your status?"

Just as you reach the Floor 1 stairs door, Lyon comes in over the Headset; "There's a tree growing right through the floor of the center room, whats your status?" As this message finishes coming in, you see Edith and Son in front of the Desk with a large tree growing. They seem to notice you as well. (( 8 minutes, 51 seconds remaining. ))

You catch your breath as the Tree seems to have broken through the Roof by now. At the same time, you notice the Emergency Stairs door open, and you see Scarlet. They seem to have noticed you as well. Son is currently right next to you. (( 8 minutes, 51 seconds remaining. ))

Edith's Tree seems to have burst through the Roof by now-- meanwhile, you notice the Emergency Stairs open, and you see Scarlet. They've noticed you as well, and seem to be listening to their headset. Edith is currently right next to you. (( 8 minutes, 51 seconds remaining. ))

Edith looks over at Scarlet as she sticks one end of her vine whip into her mouth. What is she doing? Edith will be ready to take cover behind her tree if Scarlet tries to attack at range. Can she attack at range? Who knows, but it doesn't hurt to be careful. She glances at Son. Hopefully he's going to take the lead on this one.

Son starts. "Oh, fuck! Scarlet spotted! Move out!" They immediately stop maintaining Volume Control and Augment Vision (maximum Focus becomes 5), conjuring two Bubbles (Hydration becomes 5, maximum Focus becomes 1), one around them and one around Edith. They keep an ear out for anything she says, ready to dismiss her Bubble if she needs assistance, or if she spots anything interesting at any time. After that, they position a Water Construct between their team and Scarlet (Hydration becomes 4). They move upwards in a spiral around the bark of the tree at 4.5m/s, passing through the thin gap between the branches and the broken floor of the ceiling (gaining +1 Hydration for each round  as moisture is drained from branches & bark).

As soon as they pass the first floor's ceiling or Hydration hits 9, Son creates a second Water Construct (-1 Hydration per round, cancelling out the gain from Bubble), using it to defend against any incoming attacks if any come near, and using it to push open doors and windows within 30ft if not, making sure to circle the two Constructs around them and Edith so that their vision isn't impeded as they rise. Once the second Construct is in place, they slow down the rate of ascent, Searching the floors for signs of fortifications, quirk use, or the bomb itself.

"I just ran into them-- they're growing a tree through the building, is that even allowed??" Scarlet closes the door, headed up to the second floor and out to the middle of the room, still messaging Lyon. "Maybe they're going to climb it? There's only one so I don't think they're gonna hit the bomb or anything-- I'm gonna stop it at the second floor, see if you can attack from the top!" If she gets there before Son / Edith, she'll start to seal the hole with her fire.

Son takes the lead; a shell of water surrounds you and begins lifting you up into the air as you watch Scarlet close the door. You notice Son is close behind as you both make it up to the second Floor. You stop to look around, but before you can finish, Scarlet barges through the Security Check door, maybe 10 meters from the trunk of the tree.  
(( If you would like to engage in Active Combat, you can respond with "Fight" or something creatively equivalent, If you'd rather try avoiding conflict, you can write another passive combat round. ))  8 minutes, 32 seconds remaining.

Almost as soon as you surround yourself and Edith in water, Scarlet closes the door. You make your way up the tree, barely able to stabilize your hydration before making another construct to guard you. You stop to check out the Second Floor, but before you can finish looking around, Scarlet is back; this time opening the Security Check door, maybe 10m from the tree's trunk.
( Hydration 5 )
(( If you would like to engage in Active Combat, you can respond with "Fight" or something creatively equivalent, If you'd rather try avoiding conflict, you can write another passive combat round. )) 8 minutes, 32 seconds remaining.

You hear Scarlet come over the headset-- "I just ran into them-- they're growing a tree through the building, is that even allowed?? I'll try to stop them at the second floor!" 8 minutes, 32 seconds remaining.

Analysis Note:

You watch Son and Edith begin to twirl around the tree in shells of water as you turn to run back upstairs. You manage to convey some of the situation to Lyon; "I just ran into them-- they're growing a tree through the building, is that even allowed?? I'll try to stop them at the second floor!" before you open the Security Check Door and see Son and Edith by the tree, in the middle of the Cubicles.
(( If you would like to engage in Active Combat, you can respond with "Fight" or something creatively equivalent, If you'd rather try avoiding conflict, you can write another passive combat round. )) 8 minutes, 32 seconds remaining.