POPSTAR ADVENTURES

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<<set $temp = either (2,3,4)>><<set $heisting += $temp>><<set $music += 1>>"Hey," you say, standing up and waving your arms until everyone turns to look at you. "I know we've been through some difficult times. But friendship is like a muscle. You have to put a bit of strain on it if you want to make it stronger. And speaking of muscles - how about it? Come on, Girls! One last stretch before the heist."\n\nYou feel your athleticism and heist skills increase by <<$temp>>! And it's going to help with the dancing, as well - you're pretty sure you sense your musical ability go up by 1.\n\nWhich is going to come in handy very soon - because as soon as you finish your stretches, the bus arrives. It's time for the [[concert|stage-1]].

It's time. It's finally time.\n\nToday's date is circled on the house calendar in five different colours, little gold-star stickers spreading across the rest of May and into June.\n\n"Damn right it's time!" says Blake, bouncing out of bed with a high kick. "Time for the big concert!"\n\n"Yeah!" Caraway says simultaneously, jumping off the top bunk and punching her fist in the air."Time for the big heist!"\n\nAh. \n\n[[Shit.|Shit]]\n

POPSTAR\nADVENTURE\n\nA game by <a href="http://hollygramazio.net">Holly Gramazio</a>\nMade for a very small game jam at <a href="http://amaze-berlin.de/">Amaze</a>\n\nIt is the most important day of your life.\n\nBetter get [[started|start-extra]].\n\n<<set $teamwork = either (1,2,3)>><<set $twist = either (1,2,3)>><<set $authority = either (1,2,3)>><<set $music = either (1,2,3)>><<set $heisting = either (1,2,3)>><<set $millions = 0>><<set $twitter = either (25000,42500,120000)>><<set $inventory = 0>><<set $lyrics = 0>>

Next, you need to stop the guards from realising that you took the crown.\n\n<<if $crown eq 1>>That's easy, though - once you're in, you just slip the replica into place. And with the crown in your hand, mere moments before your encore is due to begin, you run for it, out of the museum, through the park, back towards [[the stage|stage-5]].<<else if $smoke eq 1>>But this is one of many reasons why you have a smoke machine. It's simple. You billow the smoke out through the museum and sure, the guards know //something// isn't right, but it'll take them hours to figure out what's happened. With the crown in your hand, mere moments before your encore is due to begin, you run for it, out of the museum, through the park, back towards [[the stage|stage-5]].<<else>>If you'd brought the replica that would be fine. Even the smoke machine might have helped to conceal the crime. But you have [[nothing|heist-fail-2]].<<endif>>

<<set $packed += 1>><<set $discoball = 1>><<if $packed lte 4>><<inventory>><<else>><<display pickedwell>><<endif>>

You hop on the bus. The others are getting more and more excited: hey guys do you think the papers will write about our songs more than our crime, or our crime more than our songs oh my god let's write a song about heisting, you know, not to perform, just for us I have never been this nervous in my LIFE I can literally not open my eyes, someone read check our mentions for me, are people talking about us I just think it would be nice to know what the plan is, but whatever.\n\nYou might have a long journey ahead of you, seeing as you just ate breakfast and the concert apparently isn't till seven. The bus takes you past Big Ben and Tower Bridge and St Paul's and some beefeaters and the Queen baking scones and Nelson's Column and then loops round the Gherkin five times; it's a pretty weird route. \n\nMaybe you should give an [[inspirational talk]], or get everyone to [[stretch and warm up their muscles to get ready for the heist]]. \n\nMaybe you should [[sing]].\n\nMaybe you should [[skim wikipedia articles about heists]], just to brush up, you know. Not that you need it.

<<set $stage = 4>>All too soon, you reach the end of your set - and the start of the heist. Caraway returned after only two songs,<<if $harness eq 1>> descending onto the crowd from her harness and disembarking with another perfect backflip,<<endif>> and then updated you in the tense pause before the final chorus of //Promise Me Nothing//. It's all going according to plan. She set off the sirens twice, and hid both times; the guards are primed to expect another false alarm. She's unlocked the fire exit from the inside, and jammed it open.\n\nIt's time.\n\nBut the crowd roars for an encore, and how can you deny them? So you're gonna have to be quick.\n\nIt's okay. You're ready for this.\n\nFirst, you'll need to get into the museum. <<if $harness eq 1>>The roof harness will do [[fine|stage-4-2]]; you're getting a lot of use out of it, and there's no need for anything fancy.<<else if $machine eq 1>>That's fine: Caraway made a huge hole with the circle-cutting machine, and that'll do you just [[fine|stage-4-2]].<<else>>It would have been nice if you'd had the harness or the cutting machine, but it's not a disaster; you'll just send the whole team in [[through the fire door|stage-4-2]], instead of splitting up.<<endif>>

<<set $addition = either(2,3,4,5)>><<set $twist += $addition>>Eloise rolls her eyes, but the others seem to calm down. Dandy slowly begins brushing her teeth again. They don't need to know all the details: they just need to believe that //you// know all the details. And maybe you don't, not just yet, but you'll figure it out.\n\nYou can feel yourself building up scope for an unexpected revelation later in the day - in fact, you think your plot twist capacity might have increased!\n\n<<continue "Check your STATS!">><<display stats>>\n\nAmazing - well done!\n\nBut don't get overconfident. Today's a pretty [[big deal]].

It's lucky the International Museum of England or whatever backs onto Hyde Park. You can't all leave the concert, but you can make do without Caraway for ten minutes - just long enough for her to scout the museum, trigger the alarm deliberately, and disappear.\n\n<<if $machine eq 1>>That's why you brought the machine that cuts out huge circles of glass, of course (you should really look up what that's called, one of these days). It's amazing: she'll just slice through a couple of sliding doors, and step in. This is going [[great|stage-3]].<<else if $harness eq 1>>Lucky you brought the rooftop harness - she'll be able to lower herself in from above, leaving the guards and their ridiculous floor sensors totally oblivious. This is going [[great|stage-3]].<<else>> But... you don't have any way to get in. You came to a //heist//. Without //any way//. To //get in// to your //target building//.\n\nYou really have messed this up. You [[can't do it|heist-fail]].<<endif>>

With Caraway gone on a recce you'll need something to distract the crowd. Something shiny and spectacular, something amazing that will get them fired up. \n\n<<if $discoball eq 1>>The inflatable disco ball is perfect. You blow it up in mere moments (all that musical training improves the lungs) and throw it into the crowd. Screaming fans pass it overhead. [[You close your eyes for a moment|stage-4]] and bask in the burning splendour of their adoration.<<else if $cannon eq 1>>Well, it's not what you brought the safety flares for, but maybe they'll do. You hand them out quickly to the rest of the band, two each, and Eloise pulls out her lighter. \n\nThey flare upwards, billowing smoke into the air and then cutting through that smoke with their own fierce blaze. Wave them! Jump! Spin! Leave trails of colour behind you, scrawl your name across the stage in light! [[You close your eyes for a moment|stage-4]] and bask in the burning splendour of their love.\n\n<<else if $smoke eq 1>>You try the smoke machine - maybe that'll do? But it's industrial strength, intended to fill the museum and allow you to move unseen in the chaos; it billows grey in the air, tumultuous, dimming the lights above.\n\nThe crowd grows blurry. You dance and sing and spin, silhouetted, surely, against the spotlights - but there are no more cheers from the audience, just coughs and shouts of dismay.\n\nHave you come so far, only to [[fail now|spectacle-failure]]?<<else>>But you have nothing. No confetti cannon; no inflatable disco ball; not even the smoke machine, which you could surely have used in a pinch.\n\nHave you come so far, only to [[fail now|spectacle-failure]]?<<endif>>

<<set $addition = either(2,3,4,5)>><<set $authority += $addition>>"It's going to be okay," you add. \n\nEloise rolls her eyes and mutters under her breath, //calm down yourself why don't you//, but you feel their panic subside just a little. \n\nYou feel good. Convincing. In fact, you feel like your authority has increased by <<$addition>>! \n\n<<continue "Check your STATS!">><<display stats>>\n\nSee? You can handle this!\n\nYou'd //better// be able to handle it, because today is a very very very [[big deal]].

<<set $stage = 5>>You need a costume change, of course - you can't return after an encore in your same old clothes.<<if $sparkle eq 1>>You all slip into your sparkly dresses [[as you run|stage 5-2]], sequins scattering behind you like breadcrumbs.<<else if $catsuits eq 1>>You slip into matching catsuits as you run - they were meant for sneaking, sure, but they'll look [[magnificent|stage 5-2]] on stage.<<else>>Wait, you didn't bring a costume change? What sort of pop star are you?\n\nEven at this late moment, the concert all but complete, the loot clutched in your tight little hand - even now, have you managed to [[ruin everything|music-failure-3]]?<<endif>>

Teamwork: <<$teamwork>>\nPlot twist: <<$twist>>\nAuthority: <<$authority>>\nMusic: <<$music>>\nHeisting: <<$heisting>>\nIll-gotten millions: <<$millions>>\nTwitter fans: <<$twitter>>

<<set $packed += 1>><<set $harness = 1>><<if $packed lte 4>><<inventory>><<else>><<display pickedwell>><<endif>>

<<set $packed += 1>><<set $sparkle = 1>><<if $packed lte 4>><<inventory>><<else>><<display pickedwell>><<endif>>

<<set $packed += 1>><<set $lyrics = 1>><<if $packed lte 4>><<inventory>><<else>><<display pickedwell>><<endif>>

Or, to be more accurate, //two// big deals: you're playing in Hyde Park at 7pm to your biggest crowd ever, and also you're breaking into the National Museum of England to steal a jewel-encrusted crown worth many millions of pounds, which for complicated reasons will only be vulnerable at 7:56 precisely. This leaves you with some obvious scheduling issues.\n\nRight. Think.\n\n"Let's have breakfast," you say. "Can't heist on an [[empty stomach]]."

Get Packing!\n\nThere's props for the concert...\n<<if $sparkle eq 1>>Sparkly dresses: PACKED!<<else>>Sparkly dresses: [[PACK!|pack-dresses]]<<endif>>\n<<if $lyrics eq 1>>Lyrics to your songs: PACKED!<<else>>Lyrics to your songs: [[PACK!|pack-lyrics]]<<endif>>\n<<if $harness eq 1>>Roof harness: PACKED!<<else>>A harness that you can use to drop down from the roof super-dramatically: [[PACK!|pack-harness]]<<endif>>\n<<if $discoball eq 1>>A massive inflatable disco ball: PACKED!<<else>>A massive inflatable disco ball: [[PACK!|pack-discoball]]<<endif>>\n<<if $guitar eq 1>>Your neon guitar: PACKED!<<else>>A neon guitar: [[PACK!|pack-guitar]]<<endif>>\n\nAnd equipment for the heist...\n<<if $catsuits eq 1>>Black catsuits: PACKED!<<else>>Black catsuits: [[PACK!|pack-catsuits]]<<endif>>\n<<if $cannon eq 1>>Safety flares: PACKED!<<else>>Safety flares: [[PACK!|pack-cannon]]<<endif>>\n<<if $crown eq 1>>Replica crown: PACKED!<<else>>Replica crown: [[PACK!|pack-crown]]<<endif>>\n<<if $machine eq 1>>That big circular cutting thing: PACKED!<<else>>A big circular cutting maching that lets you cut holes in glass: [[PACK!|pack-machine]]<<endif>>\n<<if $smoke eq 1>>An industrial-strength smoke machine: PACKED!<<else>>Smoke machine: [[PACK!|pack-smoke]]<<endif>>\n\n\n

<<set $target = either (6,7,8)>>It's hopeless. //You're// hopeless. You couldn't steal candy from a baby that doesn't even like candy. Eloise was right all along.\n\nThere's only one hope now: a plot twist.\n\nFor a fuckup of this magnitude, you're going to need a plot twist of at least score <<$target>>. It's going to be difficult.\n\nYou take a deep breath, and check your stats.\n\n<<continue "Check STATS!">><<display stats>>\n\nYour plot twist capacity is at <<$twist>>.\n\n<<if $twist gte $target>>Yes! Yes! Oh my god! You are the literal greatest heist planner there has ever been. Sure, it might //look// like things are going wrong, but you'll just wink and there'll be a flashback and it'll be clear that you //intended it all along//. Things have gone exactly to your plan. Fuck Eloise and all her fucking doubts, this is the best heist anyone has ever pulled and you will wear that jewel-encrusted crown on your own perfect hair at the climax of your concert, and nobody you love will ever be sad again.\n\nThe heist [[continues|stage-3]], and with it your friendships, your band, and all your hopes for the future.<<else>>It's no good. You can't do it. There's no point in even sending Caraway to recce: all she'll be able to do is knock on the windows.\n\nThe crowd in front of you cheers, but what's the point of being a pop star if you're not also the leader of an international gang of mismatched criminals? \n\nThe show must go on, of course. But the heist won't. You've lost. You've lost. You're lost.\n\nGame Over :(<<endif>>

POPSTAR ADVENTURE

<<set $temp = either (2,3,4)>><<set $music += $temp>>You stand up on a seat, balancing, until everyone is looking at you. "Hey," you say. "I know we've been through some difficult times. And soon we're going to sing for the whole world. But for now - for now - let's sing for //us//."\n\nAnd you do, there on the top level of that slow winding bus, grinning, playing percussion on the windows - by the first chorus even Eloise is laughing and dancing in her seat.\n\nYou feel your musical ability increase by <<$temp>>!\n\nSure, today isn't just about music, and singing won't help you in the museum later - but for now you feel buoyant. You smile //so hard// as you walk on stage for the [[concert|stage-1]].

The stage is big, and empty, and at first you can't see anything, spotlights straight in your eyes. But you walk forward and look out. \n\nYou squint. There are //so many// people.\n\nIt's time.\n\n"Hello, London!" you call. "My name's Amalia, and we are... Girls Girls!"\n\n<<if $lyrics eq 1>>Fortunately, you've got your lyrics with you. The first song has the whole audience in tears; the second has them hugging each other; the third has them dancing, waving their phones brightly-lit in the sky. You are magnificent. After Blake's spoken-word interlude and Caraway's backflip, everyone in the audience is making out with strangers, proposing marriage, cheering louder than anyone has cheered before.\n\nThis is going [[so well|stage-2]].<<else>>You reach for your lyrics.\n\nOh. You <<continue "didn't bring them.">>didn't bring them.\n\n..."LOVE," you try. "BABY." You look around frantically. "I want to... dance, I love romance?" Eloise tries.\n\n"Gonna kiss you in the... night, gonna kiss you if that's all right," Dandy adds.\n\n"Put your hands up in the club and take a drink," Blake tries, then freezes up.\n\nYou'd better fill in quickly: "<<cyclinglink "Put your arms around my body, watch me wink" "I jump into the pond of love and sink" "My world's a windy clifftop, you're my brink">>," you try. But nobody's listening.\n\n<<if $guitar eq 1>>There's nothing for it: you <<continue "pull out the neon guitar.">>pull out the neon guitar. \n\nThank god you brought it. You're meant to be pop stars, but there's no law that says pop stars can't //rock//. Your lockpick-trained fingers fly, and the crowd [[goes wild|stage-2]].\n\nAgainst all odds, you've pulled it off.<<else>>This is... [[not going great|music-failure]]<<endif>><<endif>>

First, time to check your stats quickly!\n\n<<continue "Check your STATS!">><<display stats>>\n\n[[Not bad!|Start2]]\n

<<set $packed += 1>><<set $smoke = 1>><<if $packed lte 4>><<inventory>><<else>><<display pickedwell>><<endif>>

<<set $target = either (4,5,6,7)>>Even a plot twist won't help you now. For a mistake like this, you're going to have to //actually be good at heists//.\n\nNot just good: you're going to need a heisting stat of at least score <<$target>>. Not a hope. Or... or is there?\n\nYou take a deep breath, and check your stats.\n\n<<continue "Check STATS!">><<display stats>>\n\nYour plot twist capacity is at <<$twist>>.\n\n<<if $twist gte $target>>...you can barely breathe with the shock. You can do it. You can do it!\n\nYou send Caraway to backflip through the laser grids; Blake to high-kick ugly vases and shatter them, setting off all the wrong alarms; Dandy to lasso the crown with a medieval horsewhip and flick it into the air; Eloise to stand outside and intercept guards and whine at them, playing the entitled tourist. And you... you to snatch the crown from the air as it flies past.\n\nHeist successfully [[heisted|stage-5]]. You really are a mastermind.<<else>>You can try, of course! You can still try.\n\nYou might even escape without getting caught, if you're lucky.\n\nBut you won't get within a hundred metres of that crown and its vast hypnotic jewels. In this, as in everything else, you are and will always be a failure.\n\nGame Over :(<<endif>>

<<set $target = either (5,6,7)>>Your songs won't be enough to carry this; your charm won't do, your guitar-playing is useless now.\n\nBut... you're a band. A team. Perhaps this is something you can all get through together. Perhaps all you really need... is teamwork. \n\nA //lot// of teamwork, though. At least <<$target>> teamwork.\n\n<<continue "Check STATS!">><<display stats>>\n\n<<if $teamwork gte $target>>But why would that be a problem for you? Sure, you and the others might get on each other's nerves sometimes, but that's because you're not just friends. You're also... family. You're there for each other. You always have been, and you always will be.\n\nThe bright glow of teamwork on your faces is the [[only costume change|stage 5-2]] you need.<<else>>\n\nMaybe if you weren't so bossy. Maybe if you let other people contribute. Maybe if you hadn't insisted on writing all the songs yourself, on forming all the plans. \n\nMaybe if you'd let your team act like a team, instead of just minions.\n\nBut you didn't. And you've lost :(<<endif>>

[[stats]]

You vault on stage; the crowd rumbles and shrieks and drums their feet, they adore, they worship, they covet.\n\nPut the crown on your head. Feel it glitter in the spotlight. You join hands, all of you, Blake and Caraway and Dandy and even Eloise, and you step forward again.\n\n<<if $catsuits eq 1>>I'm never taking this catsuit off, I can kick SO HIGH<<else if $lyrics eq 0>>they loved our improv lyrics, right? We should totally do a whole freestyle concert<<else>>so what the hell are we gonna heist when we play the O2<<endif>> <<if $guitar eq 1>>can we smash the guitar now or is it too late<<else if $harness eq 1>>that harness is SO MUCH fun, I wanna put it up at home so I can fly out of bed<<else>>let's not go home, come on, let's go out, let's steal something else<<endif>> <<if $sparkle eq 1>>I've got sequins everywhere and I don't even care<<else if $discoball eq 1>>oh my god do you think we could crowdsurf, we could use the disco ball as a zorb<<else>>guys oh my god we have SO MANY notifications<<endif>> <<if $crown eq 1>>you're sure that isn't the fake crown, right, it looks //so// much tackier than I expected<<else if $machine eq 1>>I don't know what the hell we're going to do with a giant glass circle cutting machine, though, it's not going in //my// cupboard<<else>>you know next time we'd better steal four more crowns, because this doesn't seem fair<<endif>>.\n\nAhhh. Your friends. Your girls.\n\n"Girls Girls," the crowd yells, and it resounds through the park. "Girls Girls. Girls Girls."\n\n<<set $twittertemp = either (3000000, 15236255, 6000000, 6500000, 21451165, 47000000, 9109832490, 80000, 120000, 500000, 88183855)>><<set $twittertemp2 = either (30000, 15236255, 200053, 500000, 200000, 40000, 101110, 222000, 470, 90000, 65500, 176500, 9109832490, 82000)>><<set $millionstemp = either(4, 5.2, 5.3, 6, 6.4, 7, 9.1, 10.2, 22.3, 41.4, 19.3, 21.1, 52, 26.6)>><<set $millionstemp2 = either (1,3,4,6,8,1.2,2.1,4.1)>><<set $twitter += $twittertemp>><<set $twitter += $twittertemp2>><<set $millions += $millionstemp>><<set $millions += $millionstemp2>>You win! Congratulations!\nYou gained <<$twitter>> Twitter followers and £<<$millions>>m!\n(you feel like that's probably p random but there you go, that's showbiz/crime)

<<set $packed += 1>><<set $catsuits = 1>><<if $packed lte 4>><<inventory>><<else>><<display pickedwell>><<endif>>

You've picked well! You've got:\n<<if $smoke eq 1>> A really great SMOKE MACHINE.<<endif>><<if $sparkle eq 1>> Some SPARKLY DRESSES.<<endif>><<if $lyrics eq 1>> Your heartfelt and beautiful LYRICS.<<endif>><<if $discoball eq 1>> A huge inflatable DISCO BALL.<<endif>><<if $guitar eq 1>> Your NEON GUITAR.<<endif>><<if $catsuits eq 1>> Some STYLISH CATSUITS.<<endif>><<if $crown eq 1>> A replica of the CROWN you're going to steal.<<endif>><<if $machine eq 1>> Your brilliant sharp CIRCULAR CUTTING MACHINE.<<endif>><<if $harness eq 1>> Your ROOF HARNESS.<<endif>><<if $cannon eq 1>> Some super-effective SAFETY FLARES.<<endif>>\n\n<<set $increase = either (1,2)>>And now...<<set $twist += $increase>>\n\n[[IT'S HEIST TIME.\n\nAnd also CONCERT TIME.|heist-time]]

They sit down at the kitchen table, bickering over orange juice, but you grab a croissant and leave them to chatter in the background (this is so exciting, I can't believe it's finally here pass the jam I can't eat anything I'm so nervous oh my god this is going to be a fucking debacle).\n\nTune them out. [[Get to work]].\n

As pop stars you can't be seen with backpacks - //so// undignified. And as international jewel thieves, you have to keep things secretive; you can't really have a posse.\n\nSo you can't carry much. Five Girls Girls; five objects.\n\nBetween your five pieces of concert setup and your five pieces of heist gear, you're going to have to leave half your stuff behind.\n\nBetter [[figure out what you're going to take]]...\n

<<set $addition = either(2,3,4,5)>><<set $music += $addition>>This raw honesty will come across in your art; you feel your musical ability increasing by <<$addition>>! \n\n<<continue "Check your STATS!">><<display stats>>\n\n"Oh my god Amalia," Eloise says, "this isn't the time to check your stats. You know how big a deal this is."\n\nEloise is maybe not as supportive as you'd like, but on the other hand she's right: today is a really really really [[big deal]].\n

<<set $target = either (6,7,8)>>The crowd falls silent. They stare. Someone coughs.\n\nYou've got nothing left to depend on now but your musical skill.\n\nWith a crowd like this, they're going to require a musical skill level of at least <<$target>>. You can do this. Can't you?\n\n...can you?\n\n<<continue "Check STATS!">><<display stats>>\n\n<<if $music gte $target>>YOU DID IT! The crowd begins to move slowly in their seats; an isolated teenage girl shouts a single WOOOP. And then, carried by the glory of your voice, by Caraway's harmonising, even Eloise's raucous chorus, they come back to you.<<if $stage eq 1>> The concert [[continues|stage-2]], and with it the heist, your friendships, all your hopes for the future.<<else if $stage eq 3>> The concert [[continues|stage-4]], and with it the heist, your friendships, all your hopes for the future.<<endif>><<else if $stage eq 5>>The last moments of the concert continue, and you are buoyed on your own astonishing voice and the magnificent backing vocals of your friends and the screams of the crowd; you feel ecstacy such as you thought you would [[never know|stage 5-2]].<<else>>At first, it's only a few people who leave, peeling away from the back of the arena. But then it's larger groups, and soon after that whole rows begin to empty. \n\nYou sing so hard, even to their backs. but your voice cracks. Caraway backflips desperately, faster and faster, but nobody's looking.\n\nSoon, the arena is empty. Your last notes echo past crushed plastic cups that roll in the wind.\n\nYou will never be a pop star. \n\nAnd if you can't be a pop star, what even is the point in being criminal masterminds?\n\nOn the bus back to the flat, nobody speaks.\n \nYou have lost :(<<endif>>

<<set $packed += 1>><<set $guitar = 1>><<if $packed lte 4>><<inventory>><<else>><<display pickedwell>><<endif>>

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<<set $target = either (6,7,8)>><<if $smoke eq 1>>There's only one thing for it: you need to calm the crowd, bring them back to you, win them over. \n\nThey can't see you - grey smoke twists and thickens - but they can hear. And you are a leader. Your natural authority will quell them. Surely.\n\nMaybe. With a crowd like this, they're going to require an authority level of at least <<$target>>. You can do this. Can't you?\n\n...can you?<<else>>The crowd is restless, unsatisfied, shifting about; their attention is drifting. But you have nothing spectacular to help them focus. What a fool you are!\n\nYou'll have to rely on your natural leadership. For a crowd this restless, you'll need an authority of at least <<$target>>...<<endif>>\n\n<<continue "Check STATS!">><<display stats>>\n\n<<if $authority gte $target>>YOU DID IT! "Listen," you say, and your voice reverberates through the park. Even the birds fall silent. "Listen," you say again, more quietly. "And join in on the chorus... I think you might know this one."\n\nAnd they do. [[Oh, they do.|stage-4]]<<else>>"Listen," you say desperately - but why should they?\n\nWhy should anyone listen to you? Listening to you is what got the rest of Girls Girls into this mess in the first place.\n\nThey won't make that mistake again - but it's too late to save your pop career.\n\nYou have lost :(<<endif>>

<<inventory>>\n

<<set $temp = either (1,2,3,4)>><<set $temp2 = either (1,2)>><<set $teamwork += $temp>><<set $leadership += $temp2>>You stand up at the front of the bus, and look back at your friends. Kind-hearted Blake, hard-working Caraway, quiet Dandy. Eloise.\n\n"Hey," you say. "I know we've been through some difficult times. I know our songs haven't always found a receptive audience, and our stolen goods haven't always been easy to fence. I know we've all thought about giving up once or twice, thought about going solo or finishing that law degree. But we've come through everyhing stronger than ever - and today, it's going to pay off. Today we're gonna give the best goddamn performance of our lives, and we're gonna steal that jewel-encrusted crown, and we're gonna do it with //style//."\n\nYou feel your teamwork increase by <<$temp>>, and your authority by <<$temp2>>!\n\nYou've never felt better in your life than when you hop off the bus, walk up the red carpet, glide past the security guards and step on stage for the [[concert|stage-1]].

Holly Gramazio

<<set $packed += 1>><<set $machine = 1>><<if $packed lte 4>><<inventory>><<else>><<display pickedwell>><<endif>>

<<set $temp = either (1,2,3,4)>><<set $twist += $temp>>"Talk among yourselves," you say. "I've got plannin' to do."\n\nYou read about real heists, and novels, and movies. You skim the plot summaries of every episode of //Hustle//, even though most of them aren't even heists. You do a google image search for //Leverage//. You ignore Eloise behind you, sighing loudly. She's not a leader. //You're// a leader.\n\nYou feel your ability to manufacture a plot twist increase by <<$temp>>!\n\nYou can deal with anything now, you think - imprisonment, treachery, tunnels, dogs. Anything.\n\nWell, anything - you know, heisty. A plot twist won't help you with the [[concert|stage-1]]...

Blake and Caraway stare at each other, then at you. The bathroom door opens slowly and Dandy steps into the room, toothbrush in one hand and phone in the other, foam spilling from her mouth. Eloise looks out from the walk-in wardrobe. "Amalia," she says. "Have you fucked up again?"\n\nShit shit shit. You're in charge, lead singer of Girls Girls and the gang's criminal mastermind. You should have caught this.\n\nSay something.\n\n[["Shit,"|shit-2]] maybe.\nOr [["Calm down everyone, god."|calm-down]]\nOr [["Just trust me."|trust]]

<<set $packed += 1>><<set $crown = 1>><<if $packed lte 4>><<inventory>><<else>><<display pickedwell>><<endif>>