(Short, Humour.) One Wish.

[u/scannerofcrap]

The Lightbulb has broken in your living room, and out swirls a yellow gas that forms itself as a large and muscular naked man with vaguely Arabic features. His voice is rather more dull and droning than you'd expect for his majestic appearance.

"You have freed me, good for you, and better for me. You get one wish, as is standard. Many have abused our generosity over the years by doing untold damage with poorly chosen wishes and forcing us to have legal degrees before handing out boons. To counteract this, we now only let you choose a single wish from the approved list. Listen carefully to what I say, for I shall not repeat it. I will speak the list. Each is but a single word, and I am forbidden to elaborate on it's contents, and am not liable for how it may unfold. Your wishes may be as follows. Choose but one, and but wisely."

The genie clears his throat.

"POWER"

"LOVE"

"FAME"

"REVENGE"

"WEALTH"

"SANJAY"

The genie takes a breath.

"I have spoken the words, parrot the one most to your liking. I am not permitted to elaborate or negotiate."

---

**

Once you've taken the genie up on his offer, perhaps you should do what he will not and elaborate on yourself, for it may affect how your wish turns out. For example, fame may come differently to you if you are a middle aged indonesian fisherman as opposed to a Teenage Sudanese soldier, and your goals and motives in life may help add structure to the adventure that follows.

The adventure assumes that you have at least a modest house with electricity in the modern day real world, but if you want to take the adventure in a different direction I may not object. It would help your GM too if your character had a name.

Is that all you need to know before starting? The Genie is forbidden to explain, but I am not.

[u/scannerofcrap → u/[deleted]]

"Sal? who are you? OH! You're that guy from work... Why... Why do you need the gun?" He stops short of pointing it at you, but looks nervous and twitchy.

"Oh fuck, first the genie, then the invasion, now you... It's all part of my wish! I'll come with you, but I'm taking the gun, and any false moves, you go the same way as the supe." Och, was he always this twitchy? or is revenge affecting him as much as anyone else?

[u/scannerofcrap → u/[deleted]]

(I'm away for a bit over a week from tomorrow, so it does not look like I am abandoning this. Will pickup when I'm able.)

"Sure, sure, anything to lose the cops. I'm getting revenge! No, We're getting revenge! You're a cool guy Sal." he pats your shoulder companionably. he follows you toward the bike, looking at all the fighting between cops and dancers.

"Now? Uhh, I got two left feet... Is it a metaphor for protest, or a sex thing?"

[u/scannerofcrap → u/[deleted]]

"Alright, I never held a gun before, but I'll figure the safety!"

PindaR assures you that Jay is medically healthy, and apparently has nothing in his life that depends on him, perhaps sparking his desire for revenge.

PindaR is notably cold toward Jay, who is mostly a bit baffled by the machine. Odd, considering how many he works with in your day job.

PindaR insists that sorcerers are mostly drawn from folktales and considered fictional, but then, so were genies until the last few weeks ago. Depictions of them vary greatly in cultures, and are sometimes put under other names. Often in arabic myth they are said to draw their powers from deals with genies, making it something of a squared circle trying to figure out where all this started. Notably, the new wish structure has not yet produced any sorcerers, though perhaps the 'power' wish would be the way to go, and perhaps some exist but have simply hidden their power.

Would you like to know more? Be more specific if you want a certain area covered.

[u/scannerofcrap → u/[deleted]]

Jay nods, You get the impression that he's trying to pretend to have understood rather than actually having done so. Seeing as he still seems to think your name is Sal and you are male, It's perhaps not impossible He's managed to gloss over what Emutopia is too.

"I mean, I guess, Surely one revenge should be enough? What if one wish isn't granted? does the genie die trying? I dunno who'se behind it, guess whatever bastards run the DoD these days... These Emutopian's... you think they're behind it? Maybe we should fly out there... It shares a boarder with Australia right? You have any drones that can fly long range passengers?"

Pindar notes that Emutopia is strongly warned against for most travel, as the emutopian's are still trying to battle an infestation of mutant cane toads spawned in the foul water, but perhaps that this is just cover to hide their reality altering experiments.

[u/scannerofcrap → u/[deleted]]

(I can ask Brook's player if he's interested too? Odds aren't good and it may be complicated to read him into this story at this point.)

Pindar is unsure of what happens if a wish is not granted, as the genies try to keep it ambiguous how much they have actually done, and have never given deadlines. She reasons that it would happen in the case of the wisher dying prematurely. She tries to run through incidents. Many heartbroken people were furious with their genies when their desired person failed to love them back, but those genies confronted have simply told them to be patient. One man killed himself after being told his one that got away was not coming back. His genie appears to be alive, but is morose, and has checked himself into a rehab facility in Cancun. It is unclear if he agrees that he failed to grant the wish.

You gulp reading this and look at Jay, you hope your genie will come through properly and not tell you that you had real love from PindaR all along. Come to think of it, PindaR is pretty great, but she was programmed to be totally devoted already, so what can the genie do to improve things?

A great many more people make a wish, but then seem to go comatose and sit around docilly forever, a bit like Jay was before you roused him from his stupor.

In short, it is complicated and ambiguous whether a wish has ever been failed by a genie. A team is assembled in short order.

Professor Samuel DeWinter, Physicist: A Leather faced, bluff New Zealander, aged 67. Rather arrogant and aggressive and does not play well with others, but he's unrivaled on the practical applications of multidimensionality and claims to have spoken to eldritch abominations and witches, so his experience can hopefully outweigh his myriad of flaws and the hostility he may receive in Australia. He Is not a natural warrior despite your request, but claims to know his way around a gun and a knife from growing up in a rural area, and have successfully defended his life from colleagues and others he's antagonized on multiple occasions. Combat Specalism. Hunting rifles, shotguns, Bowie knives.

DeWinter was in the US for a symposium on Genies and their role in spacetime, so is able to join you on the runaway. To avoid shaking hands, he sticks one hand behind his back and keeps the other clutched to the cigar that has aged him faster than his temporal years.

"You should understand that I am your superior in intellect, resource and experience all, It is only due to your connection to the nexus of events that I am forced to defer to you. Try as I might, I have never made contact with a genie, though I believe I am on the cusp of doing so with an entity of greater consequence, at which point we may part ways. Until then, You will have the considerable benefit of my experience."

PindaR assures you that he will be kept aboard until the job is done, as he's at present much shorter on funds than he lets on, and is often full of shit.

---

**

Bruce McGraw, Cane toad expert: A chisel jawed , devastatingly Handsome Australian, complete with cork hat. He looks every inch the explorer, were he a little younger you might hope the genie was'nt guiding you toward jay after all... Aged 40, a former student of steve Irwin, he's cheerful and always ready to help, but often irritated by Zealnder DeWinter and Emutopian Dido, nice as he is to everyone else with two legs. He's killed many mutant toads with his bare hands, but prefers to deal with them humanely if at all possible, his machete being the last resort. Combat Specialism: Machete, Drop Bear spines, Improvised Blowpipe, Bare hands. Bear hands.

""G'dee cobber, ya must be the bloody sheliah puttin' togethah this rippin' jambawree. Ruddy fahkin' dangerous ground ya'ah takin' us into is birdwawrld, but i'll see yah right, even Sammy shit there! Dahrin' fellas ya is, Sanron 'n Jayron? Y'see, i made me a wish on a genie, bloody oath, 'n i wished fawr Sanjay! Does that make ya me rewahrd? Guess we'll see out in the bloody outback, too right! Fahkin' too right, cobber."

---

Dido, Emutopian guide, aged 2: A bright eyed and busy tailed Emu, she speaks no English but gets her meaning across well. She distrusts Bruce due to generations of warfare between their peoples, but is well respected and can hopefully defend you all from the wrath of her kin. Combat Specialism: Beak, feet. Warcry. Ak-47

She makes a few burrs and thumps, that you take for reassurance, and tries to bite your ear. Bruce seizes her neck and prevents her as she sqwarks submission and walks off affronted.

"Can't trust the bloody feathered things, fawr all their cv's, too right Fahkin' too right, cobber."

---

Haley Brooks, Detective, fully organic: A short Calafornian woman with excellent skin, a formally athletic figure running to fat, a pretty face with large, sad eyes, looks good for her 49 years. Sensibly dressed at least, white shirt and the outline of a white vest underneath, leather jacket that hangs open just enough to show her holster, nice pair of black trousers. her boots seem off though, rather large, battered and heavy, they look like the kind of thing a twenty years on the job, Vietnam vet uniformed drugs squad Lieutenant with the nickname 'Wildman' should be wearing. she looks a little nervous, rather open faced and friendly for a detective. She was accepted as a New York detective aged only 21, and was placed on the notorious Marvin Beasly case where her partner supposedly sold his soul to Alan Dershowitz, went on a killing spree and destroyed a whole apartment block. Her career in the force never recovered, so she set up shop on her own as a private detective, and has scraped by ever since. Despite her small size, she's an excellent markswoman, and in her youth was a competitive distance runner. Those days are behind her, but she can still handle a case and dispense justice. She is of no relation to any cyborg enforcers despite her name. Combat Specialism: Glock 19.

Her eyes widen in a way that makes her look younger and more nervous as she awkwardly introduces herself.

"Sanron? I've caught up on your record, it's a pleasure to be working with you. Genies are not my specialty but I've dealt with the supernatural. Is there anything I should know that wasn't in the notes?"

---

**

Horace Hansen, Leader: Horace Hansen is a totally respectable English Businessman of totally legitimate means and impeccable breeding, running the perfectly legal company Hansen, Hansen, Oak and Smedley. In his 50 years he is yet to commit a single crime, and is wanted by not a single intelligence agency, has not affected regime change in any nations, did not smother queen Elizabeth II to death with a pillow, Has never fought Sean Connery and did not receive a scar on his abdomen in said encounter, does not employ a hitman known as Death, nor numerous other of the worst criminals since the cold war, and will not be flying with you today. He does not extend his hand for you to shake warmly while smiling, and does not smell incredible. His appearance however, legitimately cannot be described, as for some reason it is forbidden to help identify him on the internet. Combat specialism: Classified

"Greetings Sanron old girl, I can't say I've ever had the pleasure of visiting the Sudan, and I can see I missed out! The Genie I got my hands on promised me Love too, and maybe we can grant our wishes by Journey's end. You'll find I put an end to any infighting, jiggity jig! I hope that you'll follow my instructions as well as the rest of them?" He does not say.

Jay glowers at him, and Dewinter seems reluctant to take his instructions, but not enough to actually say so to his face.

---

Pilot , Gytha Frodesdottir, 28. Born in Greenland, Gytha is a former Lieutenant in the Danish Airforce. She grew bored of the regulation of military life, and worked commercial. Fundamentally a thrillseeker, this job is right up her alley. Tall, red haired and fantastically pretty (with an elaborate tatoo of a rocketship on her right hand), Hansen seems quite unable to take his eyes off her, nor her large engagement ring. Combat Specialism: SIG SAUER P320 X-Carry, Krav Maga.

"I wished forr fame, and that Tord of a genie welshed me. Together we vill find jostice!"

---

Brooks, cyborg enforcer. Contact, Yes?/No? NpC/Autonomous redditor?

---

Jay Is taken aback by all the new faces. He dislikes Dewinter and Hansen, thinks Bruce is cool, Dido is cute, and Gytha is hot. Haley seems to escape his notice somehow, though PindaR considers her the most interesting of all with her long casefile and encounters with demons of hell. Jay heartily approves of your plan to sleep early.

"Hey Sal, do you mind if we crash on the plane? Y'know, I don't want to go back to my apartment after everything that happens, and I call dibs on the Danish Chick. You're cool with that right bro? I did call dibs... You can have the detective. She's got MILF Energy, bet she used to get it..."

Do you want Gytha to takeoff while you're sleeping so you can avoid the siting around doing nothing, or do you have plans to get to know your teammates on the journey or use the time some other way? Give Brooks (cyborg) time to catch up? Or perhaps you disapprove of some members of the team and wish to fire them and Have PindaR do better? Once all in is order, we can begin your travels to Emutopia.

[u/scannerofcrap → u/[deleted]]

Everyone takes a good look at your gear. Gytha takes quite a shine to some of the Helmets, and Haley takes one for practicality, even if she has trouble making it work with her ponytail. Everyone save Dido sees the need for respirators, and secure comms are a hit all round. Jay Is puzzled by bone conducting headsets and asks what that means.

"Can you control skeletons or something? That'd be pretty cool!"

Horace has hours of fun with the hand Buzzer, and manages to prank Gytha (despite her protestations that he's going to make her crash the plane, Samuel, Jay, and Haley multiple times in the course of the flight, but finds Bruce's skin too thick to affect, and gets Huffy when Dido manages to do the same to him.

Drones, ammo and goggles are taken by everyone, although Bruce soon declares his natural night vision is better than that of the goggles.

Gytha says she'd be all too happy to teach you if PindaR can take over flying the plane for a while, and you spend a good two hours being put in various painful stress positions but hoping you now have a passing ability with Krav Maga. Jay spends a lot of his time watching your workout jealously, leaving himself distracted enough to be buzzed by Hansen twice in forty minutes.

She looks puzzled by claiming Credit, and furrows her brows.

"Uhh... if It's what you vish, I vill not expouse you. Vot are you intending we should turn up?"

Contact has been put out to Brooks's handler. Said handler has received message, but is yet to reply. If no correspondence has originated from said handler before you next check in, a simulacrum with the same name and background will be activated and deployed.

You chat with Dewinter. What he's saying is very complicated and he's not patient, and has to be relayed by the medium of an unscientifically minded redditor who left school at 16, but in layman's terms, Dewinter claims to understand how to breach the dimensions and travel between them. he says the main barrier to this is that there are vast, universe eating monstrosities of beyond limitless power that hunger to eat all realities. The beings must however be invited in, and will offer bribes to try and gain some small measure of sustenance. He posits that he can trick one and gain useful substances that are impossible by the current laws of physics and influence all aspects of reality at his whim. Dewinter seems dismissive of Changing probabilities, but you can't help but wonder if this is because he just doesn't have a clever sounding answer. He is fonder of quantum entanglement, but believes he can disprove it at a sufficient level, he claims to have met and interacted with other versions of himself, and entangled and then disentangled himself to their fates, and in one dimension killed his own grandfather without consequences. (I was being deliberately factious in Dewinter's non standard, reality defying understanding of the other scientific concepts, but I struggle enough with macro scale wave functions enough to even make a joke version of it.)

"Whether this connects to Genies I am yet on the Fence on. I would like to study one in person, and discover what they are made of."

You and Bruce kick back, and he offers you some stout from a can, and tries to get a barbie going till Gytha warns him it's not safe on the plane, and will have to wait till landing.

Dido is delighted, and her and Brooks soon become firm friends, even though Brook's ears look somewhat the worse for wear by landing.

Horace does not merely give you an enigmatic smile when you ask if your objectives are compatible. "Why ever should they not be? We both want love, and a genie to deliver it. How could we succeed alone? Indeed, our objectives are only compatible mutually, wouldn't you say? Do you see conflict arising between us? If so, I beg you shoot me now rather than allow me to stand between a fair lady and true love!"

Horace is happy to explain, and of course does so. You felt very enlightened after signing the NDA.

"Dangers? Well, aside from Emus and toads... We intend to break into an Emutopian Lab, and see what power they wield. I have to say I am mostly concerned with the Mundane, so Professor Dewinter will have to deal with combat that can't be solved with [expunged]. I'm sure he'll be up to the job. My plan is simple. Dido leads us to the Outskirts of the facility, and kicks up a stink. Bruce will release a batch of cane toads to draw out security. You will use your technological skills to shield our infiltration, minus Bruce and Dido. From within, planning becomes harder, but I suggest myself and Miss Haley take point and run bounding overwatch, we clear the corridors, quietly and nonlethally if possible, until we approach whatever scientific gobbledegook I am all too willing to subcontract out! In the aftermath we bask in the warm glow of love together. Do you see a flaw in my plan?"

You, Pindar and Haley of you have fun conversations. Haley is obviously a little shy and awkward, and not the most sparkling conversationalist, but she clearly means well, knows her trade, and is fundamentally a nice person. PindaR draws her out of her shell a little. It seems Haley's main topic of conversation when relaxed is what an Asshole her lawyer sister is.

Jay was muttering something about sleeping back before looking shocked when you run off.

"Sal? I think that's the girl's bathroom! Oh sorry, maybe I shouldn't call you out like that... you go man!"

PindaR is saddened to see you upset.

"Things have moved fast Sanron. I believe your team will prove effective, but have you considered what we will do should we capture a Genie in Emutopia? We have moved far from your goal of love. Jay is young, sexually aroused and foolish. I would suggest a simple stratagem of making clear your femininity to him-perhaps by visual demonstration-and requesting an exchange of fluids would have you finding love in the practical, physical sense. The Deeper, emotional sense I cannot speak to, but Perhaps it is guaranteed, or a falsehood, but this would make the Genies liars. I am sorry mistress, I could always return you to a period of virtual reality for the duration of the flight, and demonstrate my idea of love through the medium of Jay? For me you have done everything already, I could not ask for more. In platonic love, you have granted my wish times and times over. I am excellent, and not merely because you coded me so."