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Henchman for Hire [Custom Superhero world, you are a Mook]

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StubbornBastard said:
Mainly it's just for the fact unless we go hard into our skill grinding, we won't have the greatest of chances to provide a different way that doesn't involve someone's murder? At least, our top three skills are Persuasion, Melee Weapons, and Tactics, something that won't... Have the greatest bits to offer I suppose really? Given Greg has better Persuasion and Unarmed in comparison to us, heck even Intimidation. So... I think we're mainly gonna have to pass, given this isn't even Calculator's work given what's been said about not including one of Calculator's plans
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I don't believe that'll be the case if we can convince them to wait two weeks. With a successful check, we an devote more of our time to training. And besides, they're their to steal something, not to fight. They already have a solid plan (besides the fingerprint thing, but that will change, because even Vincent believes it's a bad idea, so Greg can be swayed) and all we have to do is be there as back up and help out. We've been training for this kind of stuff, and this'll be an incentive to double and triple up on actions that help us train! I implore you, give them a two-week moratorium.

The gains that we'll get from this operation are definitely proportional to the risks of it, and it will only serve to better solidify our standing in Calculator's mind. Remember what his description said?

"Flaws
Very strict, expect to be fired if you go outside their plan without success.
Heroes know who the Calculator is expect more experienced Heroes to show up if they figure out it is their crime."

If we go outside the plan without success, we can expect to be fired. But when we do get success, he'll see the initiative we've taken and chalk us up to be above the riff raff and rabble. If we play it safe only to his plans, we're no better than the rest of the goons, and believe me, we don't want to be just another expendable face. @Gatling45 If we were to succeed in the mission with V and G, would that help us stand out more?
 
You see, @StubbornBastard ? Completing this will put us a cut above the rest, because sure as heck Vincent'll be putting in a good word for us with our co-workers. We even have this weird luck thing where we roll really low for a bad outcome, then somehow roll super high to escape it, and even granting us better stuff! How else would we have gotten good loot from the hero? How else would we have gotten the information about our identity being public from the police? *points to the Natural 100* That's literally God saying we can do this, because this trait we got
Fighting Expert [Melee weapons], adds 1 damage dice when you land an attack, gain a +10 to hit with any melee weapon.
is quite literally a life saver.

Take my hand and trust me comrade, for progress cannot be stopped, the rise in ranks cannot be stopped, and the for the glory of the true heir of the Addams family, we shall not be stopped!
 
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I will say this regarding plans, you will want some form of defensive equipment, eventually, as Slasher was literally bottom of the barrel at least for now.

As if you run into another hero, they might be carrying something that can actually output like 300 damage if not more in a single attack. Which you lucked out on Slasher who actually could do this, and you lucked out heavily.

On a different note, working on a small Omake currently and let you all see the Calculator... sort of.
 
Gatling45 said:
I will say this regarding plans, you will want some form of defensive equipment, eventually, as Slasher was literally bottom of the barrel at least for now.
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Yeah looking at his health, although he had a good ability he obviously wasn't meant to take a hit. Or several, as he was subjected to.
But I hope he gets to improve. We need the underdog story of Slasher!

Gatling45 said:
As if you run into another hero, they might be carrying something that can actually output like 300 damage if not more in a single attack. Which you lucked out on Slasher who actually could do this, and you lucked out heavily.

On a different note, working on a small Omake currently and let you all see the Calculator... sort of.
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Hold on hold on, 300 damage, static? Half of our health gone in an instant. Slasher could have done so much better, but alas, our luck reversed in the nick of time, especially with Sparky landing that critical hit. Good thing we have time though, and it's not like some middle-tier hero is going to come out of nowhere as we're walking the streets, trying to fight us. That'll totally never happen at all, in any circumstance whatsoever. (Are you getting the hint I wanna be arrested?)

Anyway, I dutifully await the omake, as I'm interested in calculator, though he's not the boss I wanted.
 
[x] Plan Socialise and Adapt
- [x] [Greg & Vinny]
-- [x] Say you are interested but postpone it two weeks, you want to buy some things.
- [x] [Safehouse 27]
-- [x] Head to the gym, practice what? Unarmed +
-- [x] Interact with your fellow co-workers, wouldn't be bad to make friends. +
-- [x] Who the other villains in the city are, that could always be useful.
-- [x] Lookup information online? About what? See what there is online about magic practices +
-- [x] Work a bit on your awareness, maybe try some blindfolds and working on figuring out more with a sense handicapped?
-- [x] Go check out the Weapon supplier.
 
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A simple Calculation [Canon] by Gatling45
  • Sidestory


    • In a large upscale skyscraper, a hidden figure sits with twenty different monitors sat in front of them.

    "Operation A-112 was a success, distraction from the jewelry store distracted the cops long enough for Operation A-111 to succeed, the raid on a nearby warehouse that could not be done silently and retrieve three tons of depleted uranium for counters against Armor Master. Operation A-110 put into motion in a few weeks, must let the heat drop down."

    Their eyes gaze at the screen for a few moments before pulling up the report done by Commander Beckett.

    "Went smoothly, Hero codename Slasher appeared, and… dealt with?"

    Frowning at that, they tap on a holographic keyboard and pulls up some reports.

    "Broken jaw, bruised ribs, estimated recovery time a week, likely sooner based on the medical facilities the heroes have."

    Closing the file on Slasher, they pull up three files marked by an "HfH" logo in the upper corner.

    "Codename Monk, a local, no power, known to be quite fast and strong, good at fighting, and rapidly improving, no skill for leading, known to be a glutton."

    Frowning the figure interlocks their fingers for a few seconds staring at them.

    "No… not a fit for a leader, they seem more of a follower, has never taken initiative and lacks flexible thinking."

    Dismissing his report, the figure pulls up the next file.

    "Codename Sparky, from Vernom, basic electrokinesis power, similar to an electric eel, can fry electronics and apply it to metal weapons, a former kickboxer, kicked out as accused of taking drugs, false accusation."

    Scrolling through the report they soon dismiss it.

    "Not leader material, temper would make them easy to take out, doesn't deal well with surprises, and panics surprisingly easy."

    Pulling up the last report they begin reading.

    "Codename Goth, one of the few remaining in the deadly inheritance race, seems to want nothing to do with it, from the continent of Xenola, never unlocked their magic, was a part of the student council at their school, was the vice president and seemed to actually be more of a leader then the actual president, was trained to fight, is quite persuasive and is the one who distracted Slasher by immediately taking a hostage, a bluff? Or willing to do evil to complete the mission? Didn't do any meaningful damage to Slasher, but they joined not that long ago so to be expected, Slasher is a trained Hero as well."

    Frowning they unscrew a thermos and pour a brown liquid out of it and slowly sip on it and sigh.

    "Always nice to have a bit of hot chocolate… now where was I? Right."

    Looking back at Goth's profile, they read over the rest of the report, and compare it to the report from Commander.

    "While it was luck that they got the drop on Slasher, they reacted fast and turned the tables to buy their fellow henchmen time to react, could have potentially made Slasher surrender if Monk and Sparky didn't get the drop on him."

    Looking at the profile picture of Goth, instead of dismissing the file, they move it into one labeled "Potential Promotion".

    "Need more fieldwork, but has shown to be smart and a quick thinker, no powers but that doesn't mean much here, the only promising recruit this batch."

    Picking up a small rag they wipe the blood away from their eyes, as their bright eyes dim.

    "I pushed my ability too much today, at least I got a lot done."

    They turn themselves around grabbing their thermos and lid mid-spin as their chair automatically moves towards the large open window near the back.

    "I shall get my revenge, I will show them why you don't mess with the Calculator and make it a name that will forever go down in history."

    The sun starts to set off over the horizon as they gaze at the orange sky.

    "While I can't risk using Calculation any further today, I can still rely on my own brainpower… my company is doing well and no one suspects a thing, research into Armor Buster is proceeding as planned, henchman are of above-average quality lately, perhaps a small anonymous donation for Henchman For Hire?"

    Taking a small sip of their drink they let out a small hum of thought.

    "1.5 million should be small enough."

    A small hologram projects from a watch on their wrist as they easily transfer the money to one of HFH's legal fronts.

    They silently stare out the window as light vanishes and darkness overtakes the capital of Georoma.

    "One day, this continent will be in the palm of my hand one way or another, no matter how long it takes me to calculate the answer."
     
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  • Sidestory
    • I brainfarted while reading the omake and thought that Monk was Fred... Anyway, great omake, really liking this pragmatic man here.
     
    So. Tentatively, our boss' only damage is Revenge and Pride. Has been a great boss to henchman under so far, so we just need to keep delivering results.
     
    Well....that answered some questions.

    Apparently Calculator's ability takes a toll on him, and it seems to have something to do with his eyes since they were bleeding. I'm thinking that he must be literally seeing the calculations whenever he activates it, and it's so high-speed and processes through his brain so fast it puts physical stress on his vision and brain. There's a hard limit he has with calculations, and I don't think it's so much as he can't continue, but more as it wouldn't be safe to continue. Maybe he'll lose sight completely if he pushes himself too far.


    Oooh, and a vendetta. There's obviously something in his past that led him into a spiral of hate somehow, and he wants to have the continent in the palm of his hands. It suggests that he has some kind of greed, very possibly connected to his rage. I'm going to guess that he wasn't always a rich tycoon, and had probably grown up living a very tough life, impoverished and in poverty maybe.

    He's planning something, that's for sure, because the operations in the beginning were interconnected. Notice how he uses operation A112 to distract cops so A111 will succeed, and at the end where he mentions some sort of research project called 'Armor Buster'. It sounds like some sort of weapon, either something of mass destruction, or (something I feel is unlikely that I thought up) it's some sort of substance, perhaps to degrade the integrity and strength of something or someone.

    Anyway, @StubbornBastard See? He noted how we took initiative to hold up SLasher, and he put us down for potential candidates, since we showed leadership and ingenuity of sorts. We stand to gain alot from helping Vincent and Greg, even more so, now that we know Calculator has ways of watching Fred.

    (Edited: An enjoyable omake, that was. I applaud you, and I hope to see more in the future.)
     
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    Nigerian Duck said:
    judging by how he was running multiple operations at once and was able to critique the team in the bank using security cameras.
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    It was a jewelry store, and as you cut the power stopping all the footage from being recorded, they were going over Commander's report instead who got all of his information from word of mouth from you three.

    They were going over your personal files that Calculator has.
     
    Gatling45 said:
    It was a jewelry store, and as you cut the power stopping all the footage from being recorded, they were going over Commander's report instead who got all of his information from word of mouth from you three.

    They were going over your personal files that Calculator has.
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    Ahhh okay. I apologize for my oversights, and I'll correct them accordingly.
    But still, we stood out!
     
    Nigerian Duck said:
    You see, @StubbornBastard ? Completing this will put us a cut above the rest, because sure as heck Vincent'll be putting in a good word for us with our co-workers. We even have this weird luck thing where we roll really low for a bad outcome, then somehow roll super high to escape it, and even granting us better stuff! How else would we have gotten good loot from the hero? How else would we have gotten the information about our identity being public from the police? *points to the Natural 100* That's literally God saying we can do this, because this trait we got
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    Don't get too big of a head, the Dice Gods are always fickle. I don't quite get what we stand to get from from the extra job for an Acquaintances but a dead cop. This isn't for Calculator who may not like us making the police mad. we don't really have a full story and far off from making use of a wire tap on a police office. This just seems like a bad idea and makes us seem bloodthirsty.
     
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    As a reminder.

    Risk = Reward.

    But you also have to consider this, can you handle the risk to get the reward? Or will you bite off more than you can chew?
     
    To put it rather simply for why I'm not wanting to, for one I'm not wanting cop killer attached to us. For two, we're a melee build, that'd be attempting to go into a building with cops that have guns. I'm pretty set on not doing that much at least.

    RNG giving us a boon does not mean we're guaranteed to take on and complete this mission. Slasher was meant to beat the shit outta us. He simply got unlucky, and we thankfully were not one person facing him. I'm not wanting to find out how many cops get unlucky, only for the one lucky one to pop our head like a melon.
     
    Gatling45 said:
    As a reminder.

    Risk = Reward.

    But you also have to consider this, can you handle the risk to get the reward? Or will you bite off more than you can chew?
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    B!tch, risk is in my (blatantly imaginary) name. However, risk should only be taken when the reward, full on, matches or exceeds said risk. As for the police information espionage, yeah, risk matches reward.

    Let's not kill the police chief though, that would be dumb on our part.
     
    ABalloonyChaos said:
    Don't get too big of a head, the Dice Gods are always fickle. I don't quite get what we stand to get from from the extra job for an Acquaintances but a dead cop. This isn't for Calculator who may not like us making the police mad. we don't really have a full story and far off from making use of a wire tap on a police office. This just seems like a bad idea and makes us seem bloodthirsty.
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    No no no, we're not killing the cop. I said previously that even Vincent thought it was a bad idea, so we can both work to convince greg (because persuasion goes ham) about altering the plan.
    "Thinks that he can break into a police station and get away scot-free."

    "I have the layout, and you admitted my plan was solid."

    "That is before you said you would kill a cop! That would bring down a ton of heat Greg."

    "It is necessary to open the DNA lock on the chief's office to hook you directly into it."

    "There has to be another way!"

    "Oh there is, but you aren't exactly fit for fieldwork."
    It's plain to see that either way, that plan of killing wasn't going to fly. I don't even know why Greg wanted to kill them, when to get a fingerprint you can literally just take a piece of tape, stick it hard on someone's finger, then use it on the surface that requires a scanner. It works. The dice and chances are fickle, yes, but with training and preparation we can prepare ourselves for the worst if need be. The extra job gives us 1. More fame among our peers, 2. The information probably getting back to calculator, who we've confirmed, is a person who admires someone taking the initiative, and 3. Obviously more money/information from whatever they're getting there.

    StubbornBastard said:
    To put it rather simply for why I'm not wanting to, for one I'm not wanting cop killer attached to us. For two, we're a melee build, that'd be attempting to go into a building with cops that have guns. I'm pretty set on not doing that much at least.

    RNG giving us a boon does not mean we're guaranteed to take on and complete this mission. Slasher was meant to beat the shit outta us. He simply got unlucky, and we thankfully were not one person facing him. I'm not wanting to find out how many cops get unlucky, only for the one lucky one to pop our head like a melon.
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    Like I said, the cop killing is not necessary, there are alternative ways to do it, as Greg admitted to Vincent during their conversation (seemingly having something to do with technology). Pretty much everyone has guns, but that doesn't guarantee they'll be able to hti us. They're not even supposed to know we're here, because it's a stealth mission. We're supposed to get in and get out, no further things. Now of course, things can go haywire, nad yes, random number generators love suffering sometimes. But slasher was literaly a worst case scenario, literally. All we had to do was beat a DC of 30 for nobody to come, a lower DC for cops, and the lowest DC for a hero. We literally got one of the worst rolls possible, so there came slasher. We have one thing on our side that the cops don't: the element of surprise. THey won't have the building fortified to the brim because they're not expecting anyone to just break in.

    Gatling45 said:
    But you also have to consider this, can you handle the risk to get the reward? Or will you bite off more than you can chew?
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    As Gatling says, we have to make sure we can handle it, so the smart thing to do while preparing for it is working out skills catered to the mission, and getting proper supplies. Like, oh I don't know, Smoke Grenades? Pretty sure one of those'll solve a lot of problems for us, if Fred gets discovered.

    The risk equals the reward, so you can bet that upon completing this mission, we'll be rewarded. And telling them to wait two weeks is ample time for us to train and get the materials needed,

    GamingandReading said:
    B!tch, risk is in my (blatantly imaginary) name. However, risk should only be taken when the reward, full on, matches or exceeds said risk. As for the police information espionage, yeah, risk matches reward.

    Let's not kill the police chief though, that would be dumb on our part.
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    Yeah, Gatling45 says the rusk matches the reward, and information is always welcome.
    I don't approve of killing the chief, and Vincent agrees with us on that account.
     
    [X] Plan let's go shopping!
    -[X][Greg & Vinny].
    -[X] None of your business, if Greg gets caught that is his own fault.
    --[X] Up to put in input, like there probably better ways to get DNA. How does the door lock know what DNA are cops?
    -[X][Safehouse 27]
    --[X] Interact with your fellow co-workers, wouldn't be bad to make friends. +
    --[X] Go check out the Weapon supplier.
    --[X] Head out onto the city and explore. +
    --[X] Head out into the city, buy something, what? No guarantee you will find it.
    ---[X] More clothes. Our plain shirt and jeans can't last forever. Sunglasses too until heat is forgotten.
    --[X] Head out into the city, buy something, what? No guarantee you will find it.
    ---[X] Hand held / personal electronics.
    --[X] Hang out with Gwen?
    ---[X] Any good local places to eat?( if we can ask them. Seems natural?) Try not to be as awkward and blurt out traits, skills, or we have 8 in Charisma.
     
    [X] Plan Socialise and Adapt

    I wish the plan had 2 melee combat actions, but I'm willing to sacrifice that since it gives Vincent and Greg a 2-week moratorium.
     
    @StubbornBastard Stubborn, I beesech you bro, vote for Socialie and adapt. It's literally your plan, except it gives Vincent and Greg 2 weeks to initiate the plan. Do you have any qualms with it?
    1. The risk is worth the reward, Gatling has said as such.
    2. Nobody's going to kill the police chief, because the chief wasn't even mentioned, just 'an officer'. And Greg can be easily persuaded to get the DNA a smarter way, because there's literally dozens of ways.
    3. It'll 100% put us in higher standing above the rest of the croos and cronies, because what Calculator (the boss) looks for is leadership, ingenuity, and as I always say, someone to take the initiative. Success on this really helps out our reptation, and not jsut to Calculator. Gatling said that Vincent would definitely spread the word about us to other henchman upon succedding.
    4. Two weeks for training filled fun and buying supplies. Literally, we can prepare ourselves beyond belief. We even have a person who sells us smoke grenades, the perfect distraction! (Well I mean, the perfect distraction besides commiting another crime elsewhere to distract police. Like what the boss did.)

    @CompleteSeaOfLaw And maybe you'd consider it as well? You're the only peron voting for 'Upgrades People, Upgrades!', which I'm pretty sure was Stubborn's old plan.
     
    Nigerian Duck said:
    I'd like to know your reason for choosing [] Plan let's go shopping! , if you don't mind me asking?
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    Well, I can explain the reasons I came up "let's go shopping!" In the first place If you are interested in this.
    1. Fred has 10,410$ from the boss that pays very, very well, and we have not spent a cent of it on our selves. We only have one set of clothes and empty 5 accessory slots not being used. I would rather not leave all shopping for the last turn as we still have expensive Armor to look up even with this plan.
    2. This is the time invest in our selves and make fiends and connections. We don't really have any pressure to take dangerous risk. Our short term deadline is the next mandatory crime, and long term worry is inheritance battle royal on another continent that maybe a year or two away if we keep profile low.
    3. Some low stress actions as I don't think with story pacing wise, the charisma and intelligence build Fred should be constantly in hideout and life focused only for the next job.
    4. No need to get overly ambitious. It has repeatedly stated for the quest we are not expected to get the chance to get supper powers or become Batman human level. So why not take care of mundane things like having more than a plain set of clothes. Even just some normal sunglasses can be practical for avoiding police identification.
     
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    Nigerian Duck said:
    1. The risk is worth the reward, Gatling has said as such.
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    What I was trying to imply here, is that the Risk is usually going to equal the Reward gotten, but not always.

    Like you aren't going to off a Detective unless they are starting to dig into you or something.

    This is not 100% of the time.

    So still have to weigh if the job is worth the risk.
     
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