Gally
Got the whole word talking King Kiba
It happens sometimes, experimental procedures and the like, but not really. A consistent, replicable method for inducing meta-abilities would cause the international community to shit bricks.
Welcome to the Family (Sidekick Quest)
- Thread starter Gally
- Start date
- Original
[X] Unleash Your Powers to chase Amy
Let's hope Dissent can take care of all those henchmen.
OTOH, we could use Amy as a hostage if we really have to...
Let's hope Dissent can take care of all those henchmen.
OTOH, we could use Amy as a hostage if we really have to...
- Pronouns
- Reader
Wouldn't be wise. If she is captured and they learn it someone there might decide to make sure she can't talk. I say trust that auger is prepared for things going this way and that Dissents meta power is up to snuff.
- Location
- USA
🎲
A Brief History of the World since 3/18/1949
Gally
Got the whole word talking King Kiba
All of this is subject to change if I get a better idea, but the broad strokes should remain the same.
1949
- [World] Day 0
- March 18, 1949. The world, still recovering from the end of World War II, is changed irrevocably when roughly 5% of the global population wakes up with superpowers. This is the emergence of meta-humanity.
- Massive worldwide upheaval occurs. Nearly all nations worldwide collapse, are overthrown, or are radically transformed in the chaos brought on by Day 0. The vast majority of the world devolves into tribal factions led by meta-human warlords.
- [The United States of America] The Tyrant 9
- While the rest of the world descended into chaos that saw cities flattened and infrastructure destroyed, the USA was fortunate enough to experience a relatively gentle apocalypse. Day 0 saw the birth of Tyrant, a super-villain once known as Lyndon Carlyle who became suddenly capable of controlling the minds of any who heard him speak. As Day 0 dawned, Carlyle strolled into the nearest news station and was broadcast all across the country. Within hours, he was declared President-for-Life.
- The next nine years saw America subject to a fascist regime with Tyrant at the head. An egotistical, hedonistic man, Carlyle left the majority of statecraft to his generals and ministers, who were only too happy to force meta-humans into military service. Any who resisted the new regime were executed, their wealth confiscated. As Tyrant's powers made open resistance next to impossible, what eventually arose to fight the regime was a guerrilla army resistance by meta-human vigilantes calling themselves "The Cavalry." Donning masks to protect themselves and their families, The Cavalry spearheaded a campaign that eventually unseated Tyrant and restored the pre-Day 0 American democracy.
- Though the Cavalry was a loose movement made up primarily of local and only semi-cooperative cells, a singular cell rose to prominence and established itself as the de facto leader of the movement as a whole – this cell was colloquially known as "the 5-stars" and consisted of Minuteman, Blackbird I, Olympia, and Professor Infinity I, amongst others.
- [The Soviet Union] The New Society
- When Day 0 hit, the USSR already had an extensive network of surveillance over its own citizens, allowing it to quickly respond to many of the most dangerous meta-human threats before the crises could escalate. In addition, a stroke of fate saw Joseph Stalin transformed into a true man of steel – the aging dictator was reborn with a body and mind which far exceeded human capability. Though the next several years were difficult, by 1953 the USSR had expanded into Asia and Eastern Europe, pacifying the splintered territories and absorbing them into the Warsaw Pact.
- [The United States of America] Redemocratization
- Fearing that America might collapse in the wake of Tyrant's regime, the supremely popular Cavalry stepped up to aid in the transition to a democratic government. The Tyrant 9 had been good to a great many powerful people, and when forced out of government they quickly reorganized into powerful crime families such as the Bloc or the Khao Manee Association.
- In the process of combating this new threat, the Cavalry slotted easily into the role of law enforcement, working with "civilian" police in order to tackle a growing number of meta-criminals. Over time, this developed into the modern form of the domestic Cavalry, a federal agency dedicated to training and directing meta-human crime fighters. Several 5-stars, alongside other prominent Cavalry members, were appointed to officially lead the Cavalry during this time.
- [The Soviet Union] Era of Consolidation
- The Soviet machine was efficient, but its expansion was not without problems. Though there was little organized power left to resist, the Soviets were slowed by grassroots guerrilla campaigns which harried the Warsaw Pact on every front. Anti-communist revolutionaries in China, combined with a resurgent Japanese Empire, stymied Warsaw Pact expansion in East Asia. Difficulties in controlling the Eastern European territories translated into several failed campaigns into Western Europe. And though the Soviets had easy access to Africa through occupied Italy, a bloody stalemate ensued when they ran into the Nilean Republic in what was once Egypt – the first true nation to emerge post-Day 0.
- Determining that the primary issues plaguing the Warsaw Pact were internal, Stalin slowed the expansion and pivoted to establishing firmer control over the territories that had already been annexed. Dissent was crushed wherever it was found, but the sufficiently loyal population did see noticeable gains in life expectancy and standard of living as the Soviets rapidly modernized. When the Warsaw Pact began its expansion once again, they found plenty of people willing to trade personal freedom for the safety and opportunity of the communist regime.
- [The United States] The Honolulu Expansion Project
- By 1965, the Cavalry had established firm control of the country. Crime was down, wages were up, and the American people were experiencing a wave of patriotic fervor as it emerged from the wreckage of Day 0. The work wasn't done, but the Cavalry had enough resources to begin looking outwards – and what they saw was a Soviet machine looking increasingly likely to conquer the world.
- On July 4th, 1965, the then President spoke at length to the American people about the future. The 16 years since Day 0 had seen an increasing number of young teenagers exhibit meta-abilities. Scientists believed the trend was going to continue, with meta-humans spreading through the population at a nearly exponential rate. Since meta-humans were randomly distributed throughout the world, the United States government saw need to rapidly increase its population if it wanted to have a chance against the Soviets.
- Partly, this was accomplished by expansion into Canada and Mexico, with planned forays into South America. But the Cavalry had a bolder idea – to provide refuge for millions of people in East Asia, still struggling with warlords and the encroaching Soviets. To this end, the US began the Honolulu Expansion Project, designed to transform Honolulu into a new Ellis island, a state of the art metropolis that would house any willing and able to reach its shores. Practically overnight, the city grew to become the third largest in the nation, a beacon of American power post-Tyrant.
- [The United States] The Great Scramble
- The US began to act on its international ambitions in earnest with the 1969 expansion into Mexico. With heavy assistance from Cavalry meta-humans, the United States army swept through Mexico in less than three months in a massive humanitarian mission that stitched old Mexico back together from its patchwork remnants. The new Mexican government immediately signed a slew of mutual defense and free-trade treaties, marking the official birth of the Free World.
- The US saw similarly quick gains in Canada, but was stymied in its expansion through South America by guerrilla forces similar to those that had been holding the Soviets up for the past twenty years. Determined not to stall out, the US launched expeditions into western Europe, where it found success by allying with and restoring the remnants of the pre-Day 0 governments. The Free World continued to grow, setting its sights on Africa and the Middle East.
- [The Soviet Union] The Great Scramble
- For the first time since Day-0, Soviet hegemony across the old world was under serious threat. Since 1965 Stalin had adopted a slow but relentless expansionary policy, the speed at which the Free World was expanding demanded immediate counter-action. Soviet troops surged into China and Africa, trading rivers of blood for massive territory gains.
- In the new world, the Warsaw Pact established contact with fledgling communist governments in South America. With Soviet money, weapons, and meta-humans, South American communists were able to hold much of the southern end of the continent against an increasingly thin-stretched Cavalry.
- [World] The Treaty of Rio
- Throughout the Great Scramble, each the Free World and the Warsaw Pact largely avoided direct confrontation with the other. Both sides feared the devastation that would be wrought by world-scale meta-human combat, not to mention the potential involvement of nuclear arsenals.
- As more and more of the world was eventually swallowed, this reluctance to engage was sorely tested. Cavalry forces clashed with Soviet meta-soldiers all across the world, and tensions continued to rise. Finally, the leaders of the Warsaw Pact called the Free World to the table.
- The Treaty of Rio de Janeiro saw the official partition of the little remaining unclaimed territory, as well as established future rules of engagement between advanced meta-nations. It also officially recognized the validity of a variety of independent states, chief amongst them the Nilean Republic, the Empire of Japan, and New Jerusalem. The treaty marked the beginning of the cold war between the Free World and Warsaw Pact, which is still being waged today.
- [The Soviet Union] Cosmonaut
- [The United States] The Family Massacre
- [The United States] The Death of Power Boy and Olympia
- [World] The 32 Day Blitz
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- Pronouns
- Reader
Drat. Was distracted writing out a long reply on another quest and didn't check the notification.
Gally
Got the whole word talking King Kiba
Oh, awesome. I was hoping to introduce the "Team" Mechanic soon and since you're only one off this is the perfect chance for it.
2+4=6. Could someone tell me if this is good or bad?
Tyrant_Rayne
Probably Not Evil… Maybe
- Location
- Canada
Maybe bad. At least 7 is needed for it to be considered a success. At 6 or lower Gally has free reign to decide what will happen. It may not necessarily be bad but it probably won't be as good as if we had rolled high enough.
The direct American conquest of Canada seems a bit strange. This couldn't be portrayed as some kind of humanitarian rescue mission or "Crusade to spread Democracy" as Canada has essentially always stood as an equal or superior to the United States in terms of quality of life and civil rights. I don't think that there was any point in time where an American conquest of Canada could have been justified by anything but the most crude realpolitik or wouldn't have been fiercely opposed by the Canadian people.
How would the United States justify spending the resources needed to defeat a wealthy nation with every reason to maintain a strong military, dealing with the inevitable resistance from the populace who has no reason to welcome an American conquest, and the massive PR blow that comes from an unwarranted attack on a fellow democracy and long-term ally. What made the American conquest such a simple affair when Canada would have had a strong military and its own loyal meta-humans fighting to defend their home. Did Canada suffer some kind of paradigm changing disaster as the United States did with the Tyrant that made an American conquest more plausible?
There is a similar argument for Mexico as it seems as if the time period in which they would have been conquered was something of a golden period referred to as the "Mexican Miracle". My understanding is that the earlier pattern of authoritarian leadership and the later challenges of rampant criminal organizations couldn't be used to justify an American conquest as they weren't particularly relevant when Mexico was conquered in this timeline.
I would recommend that you either provide some background information showing how Canada and Mexico suffered some meta-human related collapse or change it so that the two nations willingly entered into a close partnership with the United States out of fear of the Soviet Hegemony. This would make your timeline much more plausible as it currently seems as if you are inaccurately portraying the American conquest of its neighbors as an affair that would face minimal resistance and would be mutually beneficial to all involved. Canada and Mexico are both strong countries with a rich history of a loyal populace maintaining national unity while dealing with internal challenges and opposing foreign aggression. There is no real reason for why either of the two countries would just fall apart at the slightest aggression from the United States.
Depicting Cana and Mexico as non-entities that are only relevant in their ability to provide the United States with people and resources is a great oversimplification that makes your setting feel less realistic. It also prevents you from exploring some interesting worldbuilding related to how the United States develops in response to the absorption of Canada and Mexico. I would imagine that this would have some fascinating implications for the Civil Rights movement and the general history of American politics.
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Gally
Got the whole word talking King Kiba
Not my intention to downplay Mexico and Canada as distinct entities, I just didn't have the time to get into detail with every country and wanted to focus on the US and USSR.
Canada and Mexico weren't conquered - like other Free World nations they are nominally independent. They're not states, they're members of NATO and trade partners.
EDIT: I think I see the problem here - it's my use of the word "annexed" in relation to Mexico, which was something I meant to change and casts the expansion in a far more military light. It was, as you suggested, primarily humanitarian and economic. I have clarified.
As for paradigm changes that made Mexico/Canada more willing to accept US military presence - yes. Both nations were subject to radical destabilization immediately post day-0, and though they had recovered somewhat by the 60s when America started looking outwards, they no longer had the infrastructure to maintain national unity on their previous scale. They were more patchwork. Would they have recovered eventually without US intervention? Of course. But the US' circumstances meant that it had that key infrastructure and was able to recover far more quickly than it's neighbors. This is not a story of American exceptionalism - it's one of luck.
i don't mean to sideline any certain nations with my summary, which is only ~1500 words to describe 60 years of incredibly tumultuous world history. But Canada and Mexico are not the focus of the story at this point and so they get mentioned mostly for being the first ones to join the Free World.
hope that addresses some of your concerns.
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Gally
Got the whole word talking King Kiba
Going to add this to the mechanics post, but putting here to give context to Dissent's actions (and your result) in the next post.
Team
When you enter battle against a dangerous foe as a team, add two to the Team pool.
Anyone working with the team can spend Team one for one to help a teammate; give them +1 to their roll.
Team members can also spend Team to act selfishly. When you act selfishly, say how your actions ignore or insult your teammates, remove one Team from the pool, and shift one Label up and one Label down, your choice. You can use this option after rolling to alter the Label you're rolling with.
Team
When you enter battle against a dangerous foe as a team, add two to the Team pool.
- If the leader has Influence over every teammate, add another Team.
- If everyone has the same purpose in the fight, add another Team.
- If any team member mistrusts the leader or the team, remove a Team.
- If your team is ill-prepared or off balance, remove a Team.
Anyone working with the team can spend Team one for one to help a teammate; give them +1 to their roll.
Team members can also spend Team to act selfishly. When you act selfishly, say how your actions ignore or insult your teammates, remove one Team from the pool, and shift one Label up and one Label down, your choice. You can use this option after rolling to alter the Label you're rolling with.
Bird Out of Hell
Gally
Got the whole word talking King Kiba
[x] Unleash Your Powers to Chase Amy
{} The Team Pool is 2
You take a running leap and hurl yourself through the window, exploding out into the cool night air amidst a shower of broken glass. Two dozen KMA thugs, trained killers armed with steel and iron, await you on the rooftop. The only thing that separates you from becoming a bloody smear on the pavement is one thousand feet of empty space. Your body, still bruised and battered from being hit by an oncoming truck less than twenty-four hours ago, shrieks in protest. You feel -
Zen.
It's like weaving though traffic on your bike, only cranked up to eleven. Time slows, your senses heighten, your heart beats steady against your ribs despite the adrenaline surging through your veins like fire. Your mind is weightless, uninhibited by fear or doubt, your existence defined only by the transition from one instant to the next.
How do you do this, every night? They ask you. How do you not? You want to scream in return.
Amy continues her beeline for the edge of the room. She's fast – not meta-fast, but quicker than you'd expect. Calculations fly across your mind, weight and speed and distance judged by sheer instinct, and as your grapple line extends you realize with a start that you're not sure if you can catch her. If she's a flier -
Dissent dances across the rooftop. Her fighting style is graceful, if not particularly acrobatic, and she favors a brutal efficiency that leaves one thug after another writing at her feet. Her fist catches and throat, her foot a groin, and then she's pirouetting away from the combat-booted bachelorette. A man with a knife drives a shoulder into her back, but she manages to keep her feet and turns, stopping his sideways swipe with both arms and breaking his wrist with a savage twist of her body. The knife tumbles from nerveless fingers and she ducks low, plucking it out of the air – and in the same motion turns, hurling it sidearm towards the fleeing Amy.
Amy screams as the knife sinks deep into her shoulder, the shock causing her to lose her feet. She crashes to the ground, then pushes herself back to her feet, throwing a look over her shoulder to ensure that Dissent is being taken care of – the crowd of KMA agents attempting to dogpile your teammate seems to satisfy her.
She reaches the edge of the building and leaps out into empty space, her arms pinwheeling – but what she doesn't see is you, arcing towards her. Her head start undone by Dissent's knife, you are on her just instants after she starts falling, bone slamming against bone in ruthless impact.
Then the both of you are in freefall, the only noise the rush of wind and the continuous unspooling of your grappling line, which billows around you in long loops like a living thing. You recover first from the impact and slam your fist into her face – once, twice, three times – as the two of you tumble end over end through the air. You can feel the hits reverberate through your arm – you may not be meta, but with your training and the gauntlets, you can hit hard enough to crack stone with the right footing. If you can subdue her here, now, you can restrain her and make it back to Dissent within a few minutes. If she can just hold out -
But Amy seems unfazed by the blows – her skin not even bruised. She places a palm to your chest and a moment later you're thrown clear of her, pain exploding across every nerve in your body.
You feel like you just got hit by a truck again. Your thoughts are slow, sluggish – but then the wind whistles by you and you remember your situation. One Mississippi, two Mississippi. You can't be far from the ground now. What did you she hit you with?
You'll have time to wonder later. Your grapple line still swirls around you and you cut it rather than risk entanglement. The machinery in your gauntlet whirrs and clicks, attaching a new grapple head to your remaining line, but you don't fire it yet. Instead you ignore protesting muscles and twist your body back and forth, trying to find Amy.
People like Amy don't just throw themselves off buildings. She's clearly meta, and she has a plan. If you have any hope of keeping pace with her, you can't afford to waste time with a panicked grapple. Every maneuver will have to segue into the next.
There. You see her falling, below you now, curled up into herself like she's doing a cannonball off the high dive. She slams into the ground – and then rebounds off of it like a damn bouncy ball, springing across the street.
You fire a grapple in that direction, falling, falling. The ground races up to meet you, and for the briefest moment you can feel fear worming its way past your zen and into your brain, death close enough to reach out and touch. Then the line pulls taught, wrenching your shoulder half out of its socket as you begin your swing. You practically skim the ground as you move, toes just inches above asphalt, but in a rush of wind your across the street and climbing higher and higher into the sky.
Ahead of you, Amy hits the wall of a skyscraper and rebounds, launching herself down the street like she's been shot from a cannon. You retract your line and swing again, trying to follow her, but-
"It's no use." You can build up a good amount of speed while swinging, but you are ultimately bound to obey the laws of physics and Amy most certainly is not. You speak aloud, trusting that Augur is there to hear you. "She's too fast."
Her response is instantaneous. "Tell me what you need."
"My bike." Amy rebounds again, gaining distance. "She's meta – some kind of force redirection. She's not bleeding momentum at all, the efficiency on it is insane. Ninety-five percent at least."
"Your bike is on the move," Augur says. "Where do you need it?"
You mark Amy's trajectory and run some quick calculations in your head, trusting your gut on the specifics. "Thirty-sixth and ninth. Can you have it there in fifteen seconds?"
Augur responds with a flurry of typing, violent enough that your worried her keyboard might crack beneath her fingers. Ahead you see traffic lights shifting, greens turning to reds with unnatural speed and uniformity, and through those intersections flies a bolt of red lightning.
"Give me manual on my mark!" You shout. You skim low across the street again, one eye on Amy, the other on your bike. "Three." The bike races ahead of you, slowing just enough for you to gain on it. "Two." You feel the tension in your arm as you begin reach the end of your downward swing and begin your ascent. "One."
You cut the line. For a moment you are flying again – and then you land hard in the seat, the bike kicking and skidding from the force of it. Your hands find the handlebars. "Mark!" You gun the throttle for all it's worth and the engine roars, kicking into gear, carrying you down the New York City streets like a bird out of hell. Amy is above and ahead of you, still pinballing off the sides of buildings, but something is off. "She's slowing," you murmur.
"How fast?"
"Fast enough." She turns a corner and you follow, throwing your weight to one side to keep your wheels under you. "Her initial fall gave her a lot to work with but she's going to stop soon. She needs transportation."
A moment of thought. Then you and Augur speak in perfect unison, "the Brooklyn Highline."
The highlines were an old project, a solution to the constant New York traffic before the subways were determined more efficient. Following bridges high above the city streets, at this point they're mostly a tourist attraction – but a few of them, like the line that connects Brooklyn to Manhattan, still sees regular use by locals.
"I can stop it," Augur says.
"Don't! Knowing where she's headed gives me the edge." You push your bike for more speed, keeping pace, and ready your grapple. "Take the bike on my mark. Three. Two. One. Mark!"
You leap from your seat just as you turn the corner, grapple attaching itself to the highline train as it speeds by. The strain on your gauntlet is matched only by that on your body itself, but you force everything out of your mind as you clamber up onto the roof.
Gun!
You throw yourself to the side as Amy opens fire from where she stands not twenty feet away. BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG, staccato thunderclaps in your ear, you roll and pop to your feet, ducking and weaving even as you close the distance.
Can't punch her. Have to hurt her somehow. Gas won't be effective on a fast moving train. Your taser gear is still being workshopped. But Dissent's knife is still sticking out of Amy's back shoulder, so the power isn't foolproof. Does she have to activate the ability? Could you catch her off guard?
Amy readies the gun again, trying to get a bead on you, but you whip your leg up and catch the barrel with a kick, knocking it from her hand and high into the air. For a moment you're both looking, and then she lunges – but you're quicker, and able to grab it out of the sky just before her finger close around it.
Amy rolls backwards, moving erratically. Strange. Not bulletproof then. What's the common denominator here? You pop the bullet from the chamber, the magazine from the handle, and toss the dissembled pieces in opposite directions. Amy turns, readying another leap – but your grapple hook catches her around her ankle before she can.
"It's the surface area," you say aloud. You're not sure if Augur is listening, but hearing it spoken helps you think. "Blades and bullets are too small." You reach into your belt and pull a short knife free – the Family frowns on bladed weaponry generally, but it's too useful a tool to never carry. "Going somewhere?" You ask, bringing your hands up and gliding forward.
Amy spits. "You're way out of your depth, Junior," she says, bringing her own fists up. She's trained. Boxing, at least enough of it to show in her stance. You toss your knife to the other hand and shift to southpaw. "Doesn't matter if you've got a knife or a gun or a goddamn missile, I'm the one with the power here."
--
Please group these votes as a plan, as results of the first decision will affect the second.
{} As an adult with Influence over you, Amy is telling you who you are. She is trying to shift your labels.
{} Team Pool is 1
[] Accept what she says
[] Directly engage a threat
{} The Team Pool is 2
You take a running leap and hurl yourself through the window, exploding out into the cool night air amidst a shower of broken glass. Two dozen KMA thugs, trained killers armed with steel and iron, await you on the rooftop. The only thing that separates you from becoming a bloody smear on the pavement is one thousand feet of empty space. Your body, still bruised and battered from being hit by an oncoming truck less than twenty-four hours ago, shrieks in protest. You feel -
Zen.
It's like weaving though traffic on your bike, only cranked up to eleven. Time slows, your senses heighten, your heart beats steady against your ribs despite the adrenaline surging through your veins like fire. Your mind is weightless, uninhibited by fear or doubt, your existence defined only by the transition from one instant to the next.
How do you do this, every night? They ask you. How do you not? You want to scream in return.
Amy continues her beeline for the edge of the room. She's fast – not meta-fast, but quicker than you'd expect. Calculations fly across your mind, weight and speed and distance judged by sheer instinct, and as your grapple line extends you realize with a start that you're not sure if you can catch her. If she's a flier -
Dissent dances across the rooftop. Her fighting style is graceful, if not particularly acrobatic, and she favors a brutal efficiency that leaves one thug after another writing at her feet. Her fist catches and throat, her foot a groin, and then she's pirouetting away from the combat-booted bachelorette. A man with a knife drives a shoulder into her back, but she manages to keep her feet and turns, stopping his sideways swipe with both arms and breaking his wrist with a savage twist of her body. The knife tumbles from nerveless fingers and she ducks low, plucking it out of the air – and in the same motion turns, hurling it sidearm towards the fleeing Amy.
Amy screams as the knife sinks deep into her shoulder, the shock causing her to lose her feet. She crashes to the ground, then pushes herself back to her feet, throwing a look over her shoulder to ensure that Dissent is being taken care of – the crowd of KMA agents attempting to dogpile your teammate seems to satisfy her.
She reaches the edge of the building and leaps out into empty space, her arms pinwheeling – but what she doesn't see is you, arcing towards her. Her head start undone by Dissent's knife, you are on her just instants after she starts falling, bone slamming against bone in ruthless impact.
Then the both of you are in freefall, the only noise the rush of wind and the continuous unspooling of your grappling line, which billows around you in long loops like a living thing. You recover first from the impact and slam your fist into her face – once, twice, three times – as the two of you tumble end over end through the air. You can feel the hits reverberate through your arm – you may not be meta, but with your training and the gauntlets, you can hit hard enough to crack stone with the right footing. If you can subdue her here, now, you can restrain her and make it back to Dissent within a few minutes. If she can just hold out -
But Amy seems unfazed by the blows – her skin not even bruised. She places a palm to your chest and a moment later you're thrown clear of her, pain exploding across every nerve in your body.
You feel like you just got hit by a truck again. Your thoughts are slow, sluggish – but then the wind whistles by you and you remember your situation. One Mississippi, two Mississippi. You can't be far from the ground now. What did you she hit you with?
You'll have time to wonder later. Your grapple line still swirls around you and you cut it rather than risk entanglement. The machinery in your gauntlet whirrs and clicks, attaching a new grapple head to your remaining line, but you don't fire it yet. Instead you ignore protesting muscles and twist your body back and forth, trying to find Amy.
People like Amy don't just throw themselves off buildings. She's clearly meta, and she has a plan. If you have any hope of keeping pace with her, you can't afford to waste time with a panicked grapple. Every maneuver will have to segue into the next.
There. You see her falling, below you now, curled up into herself like she's doing a cannonball off the high dive. She slams into the ground – and then rebounds off of it like a damn bouncy ball, springing across the street.
You fire a grapple in that direction, falling, falling. The ground races up to meet you, and for the briefest moment you can feel fear worming its way past your zen and into your brain, death close enough to reach out and touch. Then the line pulls taught, wrenching your shoulder half out of its socket as you begin your swing. You practically skim the ground as you move, toes just inches above asphalt, but in a rush of wind your across the street and climbing higher and higher into the sky.
Ahead of you, Amy hits the wall of a skyscraper and rebounds, launching herself down the street like she's been shot from a cannon. You retract your line and swing again, trying to follow her, but-
"It's no use." You can build up a good amount of speed while swinging, but you are ultimately bound to obey the laws of physics and Amy most certainly is not. You speak aloud, trusting that Augur is there to hear you. "She's too fast."
Her response is instantaneous. "Tell me what you need."
"My bike." Amy rebounds again, gaining distance. "She's meta – some kind of force redirection. She's not bleeding momentum at all, the efficiency on it is insane. Ninety-five percent at least."
"Your bike is on the move," Augur says. "Where do you need it?"
You mark Amy's trajectory and run some quick calculations in your head, trusting your gut on the specifics. "Thirty-sixth and ninth. Can you have it there in fifteen seconds?"
Augur responds with a flurry of typing, violent enough that your worried her keyboard might crack beneath her fingers. Ahead you see traffic lights shifting, greens turning to reds with unnatural speed and uniformity, and through those intersections flies a bolt of red lightning.
"Give me manual on my mark!" You shout. You skim low across the street again, one eye on Amy, the other on your bike. "Three." The bike races ahead of you, slowing just enough for you to gain on it. "Two." You feel the tension in your arm as you begin reach the end of your downward swing and begin your ascent. "One."
You cut the line. For a moment you are flying again – and then you land hard in the seat, the bike kicking and skidding from the force of it. Your hands find the handlebars. "Mark!" You gun the throttle for all it's worth and the engine roars, kicking into gear, carrying you down the New York City streets like a bird out of hell. Amy is above and ahead of you, still pinballing off the sides of buildings, but something is off. "She's slowing," you murmur.
"How fast?"
"Fast enough." She turns a corner and you follow, throwing your weight to one side to keep your wheels under you. "Her initial fall gave her a lot to work with but she's going to stop soon. She needs transportation."
A moment of thought. Then you and Augur speak in perfect unison, "the Brooklyn Highline."
The highlines were an old project, a solution to the constant New York traffic before the subways were determined more efficient. Following bridges high above the city streets, at this point they're mostly a tourist attraction – but a few of them, like the line that connects Brooklyn to Manhattan, still sees regular use by locals.
"I can stop it," Augur says.
"Don't! Knowing where she's headed gives me the edge." You push your bike for more speed, keeping pace, and ready your grapple. "Take the bike on my mark. Three. Two. One. Mark!"
You leap from your seat just as you turn the corner, grapple attaching itself to the highline train as it speeds by. The strain on your gauntlet is matched only by that on your body itself, but you force everything out of your mind as you clamber up onto the roof.
Gun!
You throw yourself to the side as Amy opens fire from where she stands not twenty feet away. BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG, staccato thunderclaps in your ear, you roll and pop to your feet, ducking and weaving even as you close the distance.
Can't punch her. Have to hurt her somehow. Gas won't be effective on a fast moving train. Your taser gear is still being workshopped. But Dissent's knife is still sticking out of Amy's back shoulder, so the power isn't foolproof. Does she have to activate the ability? Could you catch her off guard?
Amy readies the gun again, trying to get a bead on you, but you whip your leg up and catch the barrel with a kick, knocking it from her hand and high into the air. For a moment you're both looking, and then she lunges – but you're quicker, and able to grab it out of the sky just before her finger close around it.
Amy rolls backwards, moving erratically. Strange. Not bulletproof then. What's the common denominator here? You pop the bullet from the chamber, the magazine from the handle, and toss the dissembled pieces in opposite directions. Amy turns, readying another leap – but your grapple hook catches her around her ankle before she can.
"It's the surface area," you say aloud. You're not sure if Augur is listening, but hearing it spoken helps you think. "Blades and bullets are too small." You reach into your belt and pull a short knife free – the Family frowns on bladed weaponry generally, but it's too useful a tool to never carry. "Going somewhere?" You ask, bringing your hands up and gliding forward.
Amy spits. "You're way out of your depth, Junior," she says, bringing her own fists up. She's trained. Boxing, at least enough of it to show in her stance. You toss your knife to the other hand and shift to southpaw. "Doesn't matter if you've got a knife or a gun or a goddamn missile, I'm the one with the power here."
--
Please group these votes as a plan, as results of the first decision will affect the second.
{} As an adult with Influence over you, Amy is telling you who you are. She is trying to shift your labels.
{} Team Pool is 1
[] Accept what she says
- Lose 1 Danger, gain 1 Mundane
- Roll 2d6-2
- Vote for two options in order of preference.
- On a 7-9, choose one. On a 10+, choose two.
- Clear [Insecure] by immediately acting to prove them wrong
- Shift one Label up and one Label down, your choice.
- Cancel their influence and take +1 ongoing against them, your choice
- "+1 ongoing" means you take +1 to all rolls applying to them going forward
[] Directly engage a threat
- Roll 2d6+Danger
- Vote for two options in order of preference.
- On a hit, trade blows. On a 7-9, choose one. On a 10+, choose two.
- Resist or avoid their blows (avoid return damage)
- Take something from them (can be abstract, i.e. footing)
- Impress, surprise, or frighten the opposition
- Roll 2d6+Mundane
- Vote for three options in order of preference.
- On a 7-9, choose one. On a 10+, choose three.
- What are you really planning?
- What do you want me to do?
- What do you intend to do?
- How could I get you to ______?
- How could I gain influence over you?
- Location
- St. Petersburg
They must be very impressionable thugs.
"writhing"
"a"
"you're"
"fingers", probably
"disassembled"?
[x] Reject her influence
[x] Directly engage a threat
...when do we get to roll? Before or after the vote passes?
Rolling before risks people not voting for the option that rolls poorly, but if we vote after we don't know how many suboptions to vote for.
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Gally
Got the whole word talking King Kiba
Roll after, vote for the maximum possible number of options in order of preference. On a 10+ you get them all, on a 7-9 I take your top vote only.
- Location
- St. Petersburg
There was only one vote with suboptions, and the roll was inside the update.
The tally won't pick up the choices from an unordered list. We may need some kind of system in place that is recognized by the software. Task votes?
[x] Plan: Ignore The Banter
-[x] Reject her influence
-[x] Directly engage a threat
I suppose they can go inside the plans, but then even changing the order of the options would require a new plan. It'd be better if people agreed on a broader course of action, and picked the benefits separately by majority.
[x] [Reject] Clear [Insecure] by immediately acting to prove them wrong
[x] [Reject] Shift Danger +1, Freak -1
[x] [Engage] Resist or avoid their blows (avoid return damage)
[x] [Engage]Impress, surprise, or frighten the opposition
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- Location
- USA
- Pronouns
- Reader
[X] Plan Accumulative Damage
-[x] Reject her influence
--[X]Cancel their influence and take +1 ongoing against them, your choice
--[X]Clear [Insecure] by immediately acting to prove them wrong
-[x] Directly engage a threat
--[X]Take something from them (can be abstract, i.e. footing) (Sight)
--[X]Surprise the opposition
-[x] Reject her influence
--[X]Cancel their influence and take +1 ongoing against them, your choice
--[X]Clear [Insecure] by immediately acting to prove them wrong
-[x] Directly engage a threat
--[X]Take something from them (can be abstract, i.e. footing) (Sight)
--[X]Surprise the opposition
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Gally
Got the whole word talking King Kiba
Busy right now (football is on) but I am very open to discussing the best way to do this with y'all. I will be sure to give a 24 hour warning before this vote ends.
Gally
Got the whole word talking King Kiba
Okay so as for vote structure here - I have absolutely no problem with counting votes by hand, especially since the quest isn't exactly swarming with votes at the moment. My only concern is making this as smooth and enjoyable an experience for y'all as possible.
I want this quest to offer some tactical options to you guys, since I think Masks really shines when you are able to utilize the label shifting mechanic to the fullest, but it seems that maybe asking for two successive moves simultaneously might be pushing it. Would it be easier to break these votes out? It would slow the update schedule as I'd have to give sufficient time for vote and and then more time for vote B, but it would also allow voters to make informed decisions without predicting what the outcome of the first half of the vote would be.
If we're not breaking the votes up, then I think we either go with: (i) a plan voting system; or (ii) a straight tally for the major actions and then a ranked choice system for the sub tallies to determine exactly what the most popular course of action is.
Please tell me if I'm making no sense, and as always thanks for participating!
I want this quest to offer some tactical options to you guys, since I think Masks really shines when you are able to utilize the label shifting mechanic to the fullest, but it seems that maybe asking for two successive moves simultaneously might be pushing it. Would it be easier to break these votes out? It would slow the update schedule as I'd have to give sufficient time for vote and and then more time for vote B, but it would also allow voters to make informed decisions without predicting what the outcome of the first half of the vote would be.
If we're not breaking the votes up, then I think we either go with: (i) a plan voting system; or (ii) a straight tally for the major actions and then a ranked choice system for the sub tallies to determine exactly what the most popular course of action is.
Please tell me if I'm making no sense, and as always thanks for participating!
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Birthday
Have a Happy One!
- Location
- Somewhere
Well, I'm not sure about future instances, but it seems to me like the Reject/Accept Amy's influence move could have been handled by you directly. I don't think it's very likely that Wyatt or the players would want to accept Amy's influence over them, especially when the scene in question is action focused, not dialogue focused. Plus, failing the Reject move would result in a label shift regardless.
Masks is a more narrative system anyway, so I think any tactical decisions we make would be better served by framing them in the context of the narrative instead of the context of the mechanics.
[X] Plan Accumulative Damage
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- Pronouns
- Reader
Thanks for your support! Need to edit away the M.