Ascension, A D-List Supervillain Quest [CK2]

You simply can't wipe the grin from your face as you deftly slot the vial into the arm, even working through the thick work gloves you're forced to wear to interact with machinery. A fact that should be left in the past if this works.

You whistle a jaunty tune as you settle down into the chair, fitting a wooden spoon into your mouth, bitting off your tongue would be unfortunate after all this trouble.

The metallic 'click' that accompanies you locking your arm in place for the injection echoes throuhought the warehouse with a sense of finality. Here it was, the first step. With not a thought more you grasped the pole that could well liquify the organs of most.


There's a still moment, where there's little but a faint tingling in your hand. Your heart stops, is this still not enough raw mana? Is your Null that strong? The thought comes to a screeching halt as the light from the hole flares with a blinding green, you catch sight of mana surging up the pole at the sensing of a new conduit to flow through. This is the last thing you catch sight of as your vision cuts out.

You feel every muscle in your body sieze and slack a thousand times a second, your vision little but a swirling mass of green, and the stench of burning flesh beginning to creep into your awareness. But despite the overwhelming pain you grit your teeth and maintain your death grip on the pole.

You hardly notice the pinprick that signals the mana worked it's way through you to activate the arm, injecting you with the blood. But you definitely noticed the effects of this.

The burning begins small, a fist sized bundle of pain and twisting nerve endings it feels. But quickly the heat intensifies and begins to creep through your body. As if magma had been injected into your veins.

A minuet, you needed to hold this for a minuet to make sure the blood had enough time to take hold and mutate your blood just enough. You didn't have much room for rational thought between the pain, but somehow, somehow you keep enough of yourself together to keep this task at the front of your mind. Your grip on that pole wasn't loosening, you'd burn before you would allow this to fail.

The minuet passes excruciatingly slow. Every second feeling like an eternity. But, passes it does, and not a second longer do you let your grip on the pole loosen, letting your hand fall limply away. Your body twitches, the pain and burning already beginning to fade as soon as the constant flow of mana is severed. But you don't remain conscious long enough for your vision to recover.

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You're brought back by the vague sense of not being able to breathe.

Your eyes shoot open, any lingering pain forgotten as you roll over the side of the chair to violently cough and sputter. Attempting to expel the liquid that clogged both your mouth and nose. It's a solid few second before the stream ends and you're able to catch your breath. Your ragged breathing rings in your ears, the violent noise painful to them.

Then you finally realize what that liquid was, the iron taste clogging your throat and the pool of red that now decorates the side and floor enough proof. You were drowning in your own blood. A bolt of fear hits you, as you realize that it's not just the chair's arm and floor that's gotten a new coat of paint, your entire body and the chair below it are coated in your lifeblood.

And as terrifying a realization as this was, sending your mind into a tailspin of worry as you try to self-diagnose yourself for internal injuries, you have a bit of a realization. The Giga Eel blood didn't merely mutate your blood, it replicated more of itself and violently expelled anything that it couldn't convert.

You're honestly taken aback by this, you predicted that the natural regeneration a Great Beast holds would allow you to replace and change some of your blood...but for it to achieve this much in only a minuet's time, it's honestly astounding. Already the burnt flesh that coated your left hand has begun to flake away, revealing healthy skin beneath.

You bring yourself to your feet. Limbs shaky after the sheer punishment they went through and body sticky from your own blood.

You...really need a shower, you'd think about the ramifications of this experiment later.

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You stretch, letting several bones release a 'pop' noise. A solid ten minuets after loosing a significant amount of blood and you're still breathing, so you consider your theory proven for now.

You ease yourself into a non-bloodstained chair (you'd have to wash that later...), and consider your next move.

Your plan worked, you can tell that much from the faint trails of electricity that follows your hands, and the way certain veins on your body glow an electric blue.

But...

... You have no idea what to do now. Your grand scheme kinda stopped at "get Powers to tell the world 'fuck you'." beyond that you're at a loss.

Then, an idea coils itself around your mind. If your goal was to prove the world wrong, to show it that you'd take what it had refused you. Why stop there? The world placed you at the bottom of the bottom, not just with the Null, but you were born on the streets. Bellow even the peasantry huddled in their homes.

A mad grin crosses your face. What better revenge against that than to rise above everything else, than to stand atop all even the God-Kings, and crush whoever tried to put you back down.

Of course, there'd be plent of foes to crush. Heroes, Adventurers, your fellow "villains", even the God-Kings themselves would against you.

But as you look across the humble warehouse, you can't help but feel your heart start to burn again. You'd succeed, of this you were sure. Now it was merely a matter of getting started.

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Pick two in each category


Diplomacy;
[] Speak with Dr. Cilvan
-A charitable man who's given you odd jobs on occasion. And after some time, trust building, and the devoloping of your skills as a paper pusher, he allowed you to work some paperwork. A position that allowed you to "lose" the shipment containing the blood now in you. A disappearance he surely noted. Maybe you can smooth things over?
(65% Chance, on Success: +40 Opinion from Dr. Cilvan)

[] Announce yourself to the public
-A bit hasty? Maybe. But you're excited and want to get out ahead of the curb, PR makes the world go around, right?
(20% Chance, on Success: +50 Public Opinion(Neutral))

[] Practice your speechcraft
-You enough of a woman to admit when you lack somewhere, and your speechcraft is certainly lacking. And accourding to the bits you've seen on storefront televisions over the years a proper conquer should be quite adept in making speeches.
(70% Chance, on Success: +1 Diplomacy)

[] Fill out an application for the Fallen
-As much as you detest the idea, both on principle and at the insinuation you need help, joining an organization would help you greatly if you could take over the existing infrastructure. The best way to do such being to work your way up from the inside. And, glorified terrorists or not, the Fallen are the most capable at their craft.
(10% Chance, on Success: entry to the Fallen)

[] Make friends
-The thought of allies on equal footing with yourself stirs a bad feeling in your blood. But, what's necessary is what's necessary. Taking over the world is simply not a one-woman-show, and you'd like a few assets who's loyalty ran deeper than your pockets. This is simply the most straightforward way of gaining them.
(50% Chance, on Success: +One Ally)



Martial;
[] Sharpen your strategic mind
-Today you're a lone operation, but baring you getting on the level of the God Kings you're likely going to need to move armies across the board. So best to sharpen yourself now...with a board game. You really wish you had a better method of working out strategies.
(60% Chance, on Success: +1 Martial)

[] Train your body
-Despite a few scrapes, and tussles her and there born of your...energetic tendencies. You're definitely more the intellectual sort. As such you're pretty out of shape, lacking much in physical endurance. Thankfully you have a sandbag and a meathook for just such an occasion.
(50% Chance, on Success: +1 Personal Combat)

[] Stoop low
-You're a thief, you'll happily admit that to anyone not in a position to arrest you. But the most violent crime you were ever invoked with was when someone tripped after you lifted their wallet. Much more felt...bellow you. But these are different times, and you need money to fuel your enterprises. So you could go out and find loners and drunks to mug. If you're desperate.
(40% Chance, on Success: +Funds, +1 Personal Combat)

[] Magic and Melee
-You've barely test your powers, and lack proper control. Perhaps with a bit of experimentation you can incorporate it into your fighting.
(75% Chance, on Success: +???)



Stewardship;
[] Clean, Salvage, Sell
-Your Warehouse is hardly befitting your ascension. Clean out the junk, salvage what parts you can, and pawn off whatever you don't need.
(80% Chance, on Success; +Your Warehouse is clean, +Income)

[] Look for hire-ons
-There's plenty of people down on their luck, or street rats like you looking for a solid meal. Not exactly skilled workers, but if you need extra hands they'd be a cheap method.
(60% Chance, on Success: +4 Minions, -20$ Per Turn)

[] Actually work
-Finding people willing to hire on a Null is rather difficult. Though now you shouldn't have as much trouble now that you've...theoretically mitigated the more destructive aspects of being Null. Maybe you can get a proper income of sorts.
(45% Chance, on Success; +Per-Turn Income, -Must spend either a Stewardship or Personal action to maintain said job)

[] Self-Help Study
-Pull out those legitimately acquired self-help books and put your nose to the grindstone. If you're to achieve what you wish, you need to brush up on the Buissnessman's Grimoire.
(60% Chance, on Success: +1 Stewardship)

[] Equipment
-Most of the nonsense cluttering up your lab is junk you stuck together with your loose knowledge of the bush-art of Science, your Null didn't really leave you with many options after all. But now maybe you could at least handle the sturdier type of equipment?
(70% Chance, on Success; +New toy's to make other toys, -1,000$)



Intrigue;
[] Watch the upper crust
-You've had 'ins' with certain groups for a while now, obviously just rich Magus and Nobel families seeing you as the perfect publicity stunt, so you never gave them the time of day. But now that you're ready to begin making plays and aren't as worried about them sending some muscle to gank you, maybe you can gain something from them.
(40% Chance, on Success; +Blackmail, +10,000$ Per-Turn, +???)

[] String of Burgularies
-Something more up your ally. Scope out some small buissnesses and low-end housing to rob. Hopefully you can pull it off silently and without anyone but your wallet the wiser.
(65% Chance, on Success: +Income)

[] Check in on the competition
-Ultimately you're going to be working against everyone, so there's no room for honor amongst thieves. So while you're still an unknown factor it might be prudent to scope out your fellow "villains". Hopefully they don't in turn catch wind of you.
(50% Chance, on Success: Information about this city's villains)

[] Look into the local Do-Gooders
-You're going to clash sooner or later, perhaps you can take up a table at the local Guild to listen in.
(50% Chance, on Success: Information about the city's villains and current Quests)

[] Contact your old connections
-Like any street rat, you had need of money, and moreso than most your little self wanted a place to be. And naturally there were those who saw profit to be made. So you could put aside your desire to simply kill him and try to use him as a conduit to the more...organized side of the city's crime.
(70% Chance, on Success: +Inroads to local orginized crime)



Learning;
[] Learn delicate Enchantments
-Or at least try to, you haven't quite tested if you can even preform magic, and with said magic theoretically being Wild Magic you're not sure it's even possible to preform intricate Enchantments, especially with your Null. But at this point you'd give next to anything to not be restricted by Science.
(50% Chance, on Success; +Basic knowledge of "Delicate" Enchantments)

[] Science anyway
-Unfortunately, reality is that even if you can overcome the hurdles set before you, that your Null will still prove too much for a Delicate Enchantment without some form of protection. So maybe it'd be best to stick with what you know, and try to refine the processes of Science? Through trial and error of course.
-[]Write-In Invention
(80% Chance, on Success: +1 Learning, +Refine your understanding of the Sciences, +Invention)

[] Weaponry!
-You'll need to use something better than a knife, and something more reliable for you than a gun if you want to get anywhere. And with a body seemingly capable of producing electricity, you bet you can make something...interesting.
(60% Chance, on Success: +???)

[] Learn Crude Enchantments
-If plying Wild Magic to Delicate Enchantments proves too difficult, perhaps Crude Enchantments would work better? Usually they're just making conduits for mana in specific patterns and forcing a ton of Mana through, so it can't be that difficult.
(60% Chance, on Success: +Basic knowledge of "Crude" Enchantments)

[] Hit the books
-More legitimately acquired books, this time in the more school-tastic variety. These should help, and provide a fun little read.
...It's beginning to occur to you that you may qualify as a "Nerd."
(80% Chance, on Success; +1 Learning)


Personal
[] Pay Edi a visit
-The daughter of a Magus family, and a Null like you. You have some time, so why not go rub your victory in her face?
(50% Chance, on Success: +???)

[] Experiment with your newfound powers
-You have time to kill, spending it exploring the depths of what you may be able to do sounds like a great use of it.
(70% Chance, on Success: +Greater understanding of powers and Wild Magic)

[] Spruce up the Warehouse
-This place is really just an out of the way hole to experiment on things where prying eyes are few and far between. But if you're to stay here for extended periods, perhaps you could afford to illegally acquire some niceties.
(60% Chance, on Success: +Your Warehouse is a bit more homey.)



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AN: Full discloser, Science! roll was to determine how long you'd maintain the Wounded Trait after the experiment and had little to do with actually succeeding/failing. But you rolled well enough that you actually didn't gain it, so congratulations!

Character Sheet will be updated shortly

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