Magical Girl Escalation Taylor (Worm/Nanoha)

Nice update! I liked seeing Cailleach and Taylor bond even though they have philosophical differences. I was a bit sad that there was no Kayleigh, but I figure we can do a Social with her another week as thanks for the party.

As for voting, I decided to go with Shipwright since Taylor can keep Samantha up to speed via telepathy. There was some great points made concerning Vista which made me change my mind to him. Regarding Socials, it's time to focus on the ones we've repeatedly neglected. There is nothing critical happening so we finally address Perfect Storm and see if it has recalled anything from it's memories. Also Cailleach made an excellent point about heroes spreading themselves too thin so it's time to try to secure the remnants of the Adepts on our side. We don't want another Privateers situation on our hands.

[X] Tickets to Gangland, Part 4 – The local villains arranging a discussion about what to do about the foreign interlopers? Somewhat expected. Inviting the heroes to participate? Less so. Go to the meeting and find out what's going on.
-[X] Shipwright
[X] Close Encounters of the Third Kind, Part 3 – Lanster wants to talk to you some more about parahumans and the Endbringers. Take her to the Protectorate Museum in New York and exchange information there.

[X] Social – Perfect Storm.
-[X] Talk about his memories: How was Galea? How a war started? What are the last things you remember?
-[X] Do you remember anything of the people the Templates were based on? How was the original Calamity Witch?
-[X] How is Perfect Storm dealing with the fate of Galea?

[X] Social – Gather the remnants of the Adepts + Standstill along with Tim. Talk about devices and where they'll go moving forward.
-[X] Find out more about Maclibuin's rituals. Does he really capable to boost parahuman powers?

[X] Tickets to Gangland, Part 4 – The local villains arranging a discussion about what to do about the foreign interlopers? Somewhat expected. Inviting the heroes to participate? Less so. Go to the meeting and find out what's going on.
-[X] Samantha
[X] Close Encounters of the Third Kind, Part 3 – Lanster wants to talk to you some more about parahumans and the Endbringers. Take her to the Protectorate Museum in New York and exchange information there.

[X] Social– Adepts
[X] Social– Lacey

On the topic of whether to bring Tim or Samantha (though probably a bit too late to actually affect the outcome), do we know Tim's feelings regarding being active on the cape scene? Tim seems like he could be the kind of person who would be perfectly content to take a supporting role and generally avoid the spotlight.

I still feel that doing the TSAB section first might open the option to ask an agent to be our plus one in the villain meet. They'd benefit too, get a ground-level perspective on the local Rare Skill users' culture. Teana would probably be best, since she's strong enough to be useful backup if things go tits up, and she has previous experience which might contribute usefully in analyzing the meeting.

[X] Tickets to Gangland, Part 4 – The local villains arranging a discussion about what to do about the foreign interlopers? Somewhat expected. Inviting the heroes to participate? Less so. Go to the meeting and find out what's going on.
-[X] Samantha
[X] Close Encounters of the Third Kind, Part 3 – Lanster wants to talk to you some more about parahumans and the Endbringers. Take her to the Protectorate Museum in New York and exchange information there.


[X] Social – Gather the remnants of the Adepts + Standstill along with Tim. Talk about devices and where they'll go moving forward.
-[X] Find out more about Maclibuin's rituals. Does he really capable to boost parahuman powers?
[X] Social – Lacey
-[X] Inquire if she is still willing to consider becoming a mage.

kokuenDG said:

Maybe you could actually leave the choice to Vista, for one? Or, I dunno, wait for another social event with her to actually talk to her about it??

Right now what you're trying to do is exactly what she hates; you are deciding what she should do and treating her like a child that needs to be saved for her own good.

How about you try to actually treat Vista with the respect you say she deserves and let her decide what she wants to do. She's very capable of doing so, just as much as she's capable of telling us to go fuck ourselves for putting her on the spot and forcing her to choose between the Protectorate and us.

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I think you might be confused how this quest works... If we vote to take her as our plus one, Taylor isnt going to kidnap her and tie her to the meeting chair. We are directing the story. Not just Taylor's actions. Alot of votes determine and/or have knock on effects for other characters, For example we voted on what kind of arm to give Vista... this was not taylor forcefully choosing a arm for her, this was the arm that Vista chose herself in-story. And it helped shape Vista's views on transhumanism.

If we vote to bring her (and SW already gave their blessing on this option) then Taylor will invite Vista, and she will choose accept and be happy to be shown that level of faith (according to SW). The consequences of that choice are something well have to deal with, but if Missy didnt wanna go shed tell us so (and SW probably would have nixed the option). I am not forcing anything on her any more than we force anything on anyone with every vote, thats just stupid. We know shes unhappy where she is, so the choices are A) leave her there to be unhappy, B) offer her a way out. If we offer her a way out and she chooses it, thats not us 'forcing' her.

I mean, if thats your logic then you should never vote at all. After all your forcing taylor to go to the meeting, to take sam/tim with her, to talk to lacy, etc. Wouldn't want to force anyone to do anything right?

ChaoticSky said:

I think you might be confused how this quest works... If we vote to take her as our plus one, Taylor isnt going to kidnap her and tie her to the meeting chair. We are directing the story. Not just Taylor's actions. Alot of votes determine and/or have knock on effects for other characters, For example we voted on what kind of arm to give Vista... this was not taylor forcefully choosing a arm for her, this was the arm that Vista chose herself in-story. And it helped shape Vista's views on transhumanism.

If we vote to bring her (and SW already gave their blessing on this option) then Taylor will invite Vista, and she will choose accept and be happy to be shown that level of faith (according to SW). The consequences of that choice are something well have to deal with, but if Missy didnt wanna go shed tell us so (and SW probably would have nixed the option). I am not forcing anything on her any more than we force anything on anyone with every vote, thats just stupid. We know shes unhappy where she is, so the choices are A) leave her there to be unhappy, B) offer her a way out. If we offer her a way out and she chooses it, thats not us 'forcing' her.

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I'm not confused about anything. I'm just proving a point. And no, just because she was willing to upgrade her body doesn't mean that she'll happily choose to abandon or even side with us when it comes to the Protectorate.

The characters have some degree of autonomy, and they make their own decisions outside of this. Vista probably wouldn't deny the chance to sit at the meeting table, sure, but at the same time she might not realize what is being planned in the background with Taylor inviting her until they're confronted over it. And I don't think that the resulting argument will win her favors for any side.

Basically, again, you're trying to cause needless drama when we have more important shit to worry about. So I would appreciate if you would realize that there's a time and place for everything, and this meeting definitely isn't the place to try and steal a Ward from the Protectorate.

kokuenDG said:

I'm not confused about anything. I'm just proving a point. And no, just because she was willing to upgrade her body doesn't mean that she'll happily choose to abandon or even side with us when it comes to the Protectorate.

The characters have some degree of autonomy, and they make their own decisions outside of this. Vista probably wouldn't deny the chance to sit at the meeting table, sure, but at the same time she might not realize what is being planned in the background with Taylor inviting her until they're confronted over it. And I don't think that the resulting argument will win her favors for any side.

Basically, again, you're trying to cause needless drama when we have more important shit to worry about. So I would appreciate if you would realize that there's a time and place for everything, and this meeting definitely isn't the place to try and steal a Ward from the Protectorate.

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*wave* The arm was just a example of a vote that wasnt directing Taylor. We even made sure she wouldn't be reliant on us for maintenance.

And its worth noting that its something of a self fulfilling set of events. We invite Vista, it showed her that we respect her in a way the Protectorate doesnt. Then Protectorate starts bitching about it and Vista probably will take it as a insult against her merit. They punish us and Vista sees them hurting her friend, the person who respects her choices and treats her with the respect she wants, for doing so. This all serves to drive the wedge deeper. It doesnt in any way, shape or form make us look bad to Vista herself. Quite the opposite. Also I wouldnt be so fast to assume vista is a naive little girl if I was you... shes cunnin enough to know that sitting on our side of the table is more than a empty gesture on our part.

And again, when better? I explained this before. We can do it now when the PRT cant kick up too much of a fuss, and things will have cooled somewhat by the time they actually start deciding how to deal with us trying to poach Vista. Or we can do it later when things have settled down and the PRT has nothing better to do than think up ways, in the heat of the moment, to get back at us.

The latter really is not the better option.

ChaoticSky said:

This all serves to drive the wedge deeper.

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And exactly why do you want to drive the wedge deeper? The Protectorate have been rather courteous and helpful to us in story, so this desire of yours to spit in their eye makes no sense.

ChaoticSky said:

*wave* The arm was just a example of a vote that wasnt directing Taylor. We even made sure she wouldn't be reliant on us for maintenance.

And its worth noting that its something of a self fulfilling set of events. We invite Vista, it showed her that we respect her in a way the Protectorate doesnt. Then Protectorate starts bitching about it and Vista probably will take it as a insult against her merit. They punish us and Vista sees them hurting her friend, the person who respects her choices and treats her with the respect she wants, for doing so. This all serves to drive the wedge deeper. It doesnt in any way, shape or form make us look bad to Vista herself. Quite the opposite. Also I wouldnt be so fast to assume vista is a naive little girl if I was you... shes cunnin enough to know that sitting on our side of the table is more than a empty gesture on our part.

And again, when better? I explained this before. We can do it now when the PRT cant kick up too much of a fuss, and things will have cooled somewhat by the time they actually start deciding how to deal with us trying to poach Vista. Or we can do it later when things have settled down and the PRT has nothing better to do than think up ways, in the heat of the moment, to get back at us.

The latter really is not the better option.

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And yet you still haven't answered the question of, why? For all intents and purposes, we have a great relationship with the upper echelons of the PRT and Protectorate and can work with Vista anytime she's available. Why would you sacrifice that relationship for one girl who, while useful and a friend to Taylor, ultimately does not equal a whole organization of Parahumans?

It doesn't make sense IC, since Taylor actually likes the Protectorate as a whole and a good majority of those she considers close allies are in it. And OOC it's just stupid, because you're willingly cutting off an important asset that we'll need in case we need reinforcements to go after Coil and/or provide protection to Lacey if she doesn't have a Device by that time.

You can spout off all that stuff about how it 'isn't right' or how we aren't 'good friends' for not forcefully trying to take Vista away from the Protectorate, but at the end of the day all it is is you being selfish and shortsighted when we really can't afford to be. Taylor's shown actual growth over the course of the quest, so let's stick to that, yeah?

Shaseyu said:

I really don't understand why people are voting for bringing Dragon to villains discussion.
Dragon is international-level superhero with tonnes of responsibilities elsewhere, who right now need to adjust to her new body and share her deepest secrets with her friends and colleagues.
And you want for her to spend her time to sit on a meeting of some local-level villains?
Why?
Do you want to just brag? "Look at my new teammate, she's so freaking adorable"?
Are you hoping she'll give us some advice, which experienced capes who knows local scene the best like Chevalier and Jotunn will be unable to give?
Are you expecting her to provide some help, which Taylor, Perfect Storm and Tim will be unable to provide?
Are you expecting her to join the fight with newcoming villains?
It won't be a time well spent in my opinion.

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Because I want an excuse for the "everyone gets a Pet/Plan Pokemon" to be discussed. And yes, she'd be helpful in a way chevalier wouldn't be. The Local scene isn't what we're concerned about, it's the foreign migrants. Dragon being a global watchdog would be much more aware of who's mysteriously gone and maybe coming to philly and what their known abilities are. Plus, she'll need to recharge at some point, we don't know how long that is, and it's not unreasonable that she'll want to pair with one of our cast as mentioned by SW when we were making her a UD.

Solusandra said:

Because I want an excuse for the "everyone gets a Pet/Plan Pokemon" to be discussed. And yes, she'd be helpful in a way chevalier wouldn't be. The Local scene isn't what we're concerned about, it's the foreign migrants. Dragon being a global watchdog would be much more aware of who's mysteriously gone and maybe coming to philly and what their known abilities are. Plus, she'll need to recharge at some point, we don't know how long that is, and it's not unreasonable that she'll want to pair with one of our cast as mentioned by SW when we were making her a UD.

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You can discuss that plan with Dragon without inviting her to the meet, you know. One of the scenes, I haven't decided which, will feature Tim and Dragon where they collaborate on the teleportation pad.

I think you drastically overestimate how much Dragon knows about every city in North America. She is located in Vancouver and know about the villains there due to her friendship with the local PRT and her own activities there. She knows about A- and S-rank threats due to her work with the Guild. Beyond that? She has the same dossiers about villains in various cities as can be found in any PRT branch's database, but that's all she knows about them unless they start escalating to the point that they start approaching the level she and her team would be called in for.

As for recharging? No. Unison Devices have internal generators and eat human food to refuel them. That's canon as Rein and I believe Agito were both shown eating at a few points in StrikerS.

[X] Close Encounters of the Third Kind, Part 3 – Lanster wants to talk to you some more about parahumans and the Endbringers. Take her to the Protectorate Museum in New York and exchange information there.
[X] Long Live the King, Part 4 – Miss Militia warned you that the Privateers' attack on Fairyland would invite reprisals, and you can't get those words out of your head. Follow them the next time it sounds like they're going out to cause trouble.

@ChaoticSky
Say that we do poach Vista from the Protectorate. What then?
Currently she lives with her parental guardian Miss Militia, how do you intend we get custody of her? Can we even get custody? Taylor is a highschooler with no job, so no money to provide for Missy. Live with Lacey? Lacey who is probably gonna have to look into a lawyer and file for a divorce and we expect her to be responsible of two teenagers, one of whom she isn't even obligated to take care of?
As 'nice' as it sounds to just steal a Ward from the Protectorate for our own Team, Missy is still a minor in the eyes of the law. And I'm not talking about Vista the Hero who is enlisted in the Protectorate. I'm talking about Missy Biron who, as far as child services is concerned, is still an underage orphan.

landcollector said:

And exactly why do you want to drive the wedge deeper? The Protectorate have been rather courteous and helpful to us in story, so this desire of yours to spit in their eye makes no sense.

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kokuenDG said:

And yet you still haven't answered the question of, why? For all intents and purposes, we have a great relationship with the upper echelons of the PRT and Protectorate and can work with Vista anytime she's available. Why would you sacrifice that relationship for one girl who, while useful and a friend to Taylor, ultimately does not equal a whole organization of Parahumans?

It doesn't make sense IC, since Taylor actually likes the Protectorate as a whole and a good majority of those she considers close allies are in it. And OOC it's just stupid, because you're willingly cutting off an important asset that we'll need in case we need reinforcements to go after Coil and/or provide protection to Lacey if she doesn't have a Device by that time.

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Oh, well... i thought that was a obvious. Sorry. In the longest term... I want to rule the world (cue maniacal laughter). Bet cant join the TSAB untill we have a unified government and some stability. So thats a goal we should work towards, and it might as well be us. The Taylor Hebert Magocrasy will save Bet! There will be cake. Its gonna be great.

I mean, its a quest... you might as well shoot for the sky. Being meta-humble isnt going to get us anywhere.

That said, we cant just go conquering because we are inclined towards positive morals. So the best way is to create a team of parahumans and mages, a big one, suborn and replace the PRT with something thats not shit, expand into other countries. Nuzzle up to the UN and provide stability. Get the whole world back on track. By that point, we may not be the Queen of Earth, but no is going to be willing or able to go against us. Not that we need direct rule either... countries can keep doing things the way they want, democracies abound... we just stand above them all with 'dont make me come over there' policy. We help build friendships and alliances between nations, interfere only to solve problems that are beyond any one country and prevent atrocities... and when the TSAB is brought up, we will of course be the ones to speak on behalf of the whole planet. Earth becomes a de-facto empire whos provinces have extreme degrees of autonomy but still answer to our central authority. And the benefits of joining the TSAB will make the lives of everyone better inarguably better.

Or you know, thats my dream. Circumstances and specifics will play out as they play out. But i think its important to have a long term goal in mind. Sure some people just vote for whatever sounds good this week and theres nothing wrong with that, but having a goal helps consistency across chapters and the story as a whole.

But this is the ideal i vote towards. I want Vista because its beneficial for her, makes our team bigger and makes the PRT's incompetence more obvious, its a perfect vote trifecta. Its also why ive never considered pissing them off to be a bad thing in and of its self... because its gonna happen, alot, its just a question of how or when and choosing the best times to do so. I push for this now because its a opportunity to to do so while they have bigger problems and need unity to address those. So its a bit of a investment, well take some flack and reap the benefits in turn, but it serves the endgame.

I mean, dont you want to rule the world?

That said, Thats all just me. Plenty of people probably have different goals and/or ideas how to get there. I'm just trying to argue my case here.

You can spout off all that stuff about how it 'isn't right' or how we aren't 'good friends' for not forcefully trying to take Vista away from the Protectorate, but at the end of the day all it is is you being selfish and shortsighted when we really can't afford to be. Taylor's shown actual growth over the course of the quest, so let's stick to that, yeah?

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Again, there is nothing forced about it. Its a vote, thats how votes work.

Also you might want to take a break and calm down some. You seem to be getting pretty worked up here. Please think up some new points and not just keep repeating the same ones i already addressed.

ChaoticSky said:

I mean, dont you want to rule the world?

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No. This is not a CK style quest, and hopefully it never will be.

ChaoticSky said:

I mean, dont you want to rule the world?

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No, because that's stupid and a good way to get us killed. And even if I wanted to, the way you want to do things is also stupid and a really good way to get the TSAB to go after us.

ChaoticSky said:

Oh, well... i thought that was a obvious. Sorry. In the longest term... I want to rule the world (cue maniacal laughter). Bet cant join the TSAB untill we have a unified government and some stability. So thats a goal we should work towards, and it might as well be us. The Taylor Hebert Magocrasy will save Bet! There will be cake. Its gonna be great.

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I approve your goal, but disagree with methods.
The PRT/the Protectorate are not our enemies or obstacles, they're the most useful tool in our quest for dominance. They already have numbers, prestige and legitimacy we need, we just need to reform (subvert) them, so they serve our goals. And guess what? Their leaders are already inclined to work with us!
That's what I want to do, to strengthen the PRT/the Protectorate with magic, so they from failing stopgap measure become actually effective law-enforcement agency.

Silently Watches said:

You can discuss that plan with Dragon without inviting her to the meet, you know. One of the scenes, I haven't decided which, will feature Tim and Dragon where they collaborate on the teleportation pad.

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I know, but all excuses give another chance to get the vote done

Silently Watches said:

I think you drastically overestimate how much Dragon knows about every city in North America. She is located in Vancouver and know about the villains there due to her friendship with the local PRT and her own activities there. She knows about A- and S-rank threats due to her work with the Guild. Beyond that? She has the same dossiers about villains in various cities as can be found in any PRT branch's database, but that's all she knows about them unless they start escalating to the point that they start approaching the level she and her team would be called in for.

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Hmm... Oh well. Withdrawn then.

[X] Tickets to Gangland, Part 4 – The local villains arranging a discussion about what to do about the foreign interlopers? Somewhat expected. Inviting the heroes to participate? Less so. Go to the meeting and find out what's going on.
-[X] Epoch
[X] Close Encounters of the Third Kind, Part 3 – Lanster wants to talk to you some more about parahumans and the Endbringers. Take her to the Protectorate Museum in New York and exchange information there.

[X] Social– Adepts
[X] Social– Lacey

[X] Tickets to Gangland, Part 4 – The local villains arranging a discussion about what to do about the foreign interlopers? Somewhat expected. Inviting the heroes to participate? Less so. Go to the meeting and find out what's going on.
-[X] Samantha

[X] Close Encounters of the Third Kind, Part 3 – Lanster wants to talk to you some more about parahumans and the Endbringers. Take her to the Protectorate Museum in New York and exchange information there.

[X] Social – Gather the remnants of the Adepts + Standstill along with Tim. Talk about devices and where they'll go moving forward.
-[X] Find out more about Maclibuin's rituals. Does he really capable to boost parahuman powers?

[X] Social – Lacey
-[X] Inquire if she is still willing to consider becoming a mage.

Just so I know ahead of time, I assume if the Lacey social vote wins you want Taylor to go into IAE for the three days it takes to make Lacey a template-bearing Device immediately afterwards? Whether you want to go then or wait would determine the order of the other activities.

Did we seriously forgot to make an alternative power source for the IAE?

Silently Watches said:

Just so I know ahead of time, I assume if the Lacey social vote wins you want Taylor to go into IAE for the three days it takes to make Lacey a template-bearing Device immediately afterwards? Whether you want to go then or wait would determine the order of the other activities.

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Probably, yeah.

tygerbright said:

Did we seriously forgot to make an alternative power source for the IAE?

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I think we got distracted by Dragon stuff and then Vista stuff.

Silently Watches said:

Just so I know ahead of time, I assume if the Lacey social vote wins you want Taylor to go into IAE for the three days it takes to make Lacey a template-bearing Device immediately afterwards? Whether you want to go then or wait would determine the order of the other activities.

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this is something of an interesting question. Why does it take perfect storm 3 days to create a device when the IAE is famed for rapidly mass converting mages in bulk? Is it the part where were not rewriting the person involved? Or does it normally take PS/IAE 3 days and it's just not noticed for months at a time?

Regardless, for timing,..
Close encounters first because it shouldn't take more than a day to talk about. Social with the collected adepts next, since it seems to be the winning social if you ignore the variety of subvotes, and leave them with a Pet and talking with Tim about details for their device (or book) moving forward. This will leave us open to have tickets to gangland trigger at any time without interfering with too much. Lacy's social last after the rest of the weeks activities are done so we have the time without the likelyhood of missing things.
Alternately, we reverse the socials and have Lacy's social be getting a pet, probably that healing book you mentioned earlier, and then going out of service for three days at the end of the week after meeting with the adepts and Tim.