THE INFINITE BROOD (Starcraft/Supreme Commander Crossover Quest!)

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THE SWARM SHEET
  • Informational
    • The Brood of Blades
    ​
    Cerebrate Prime: Samantha Clarke
    LEVEL: 5
    XP: 205/210
    TRAITS
    Strategic Genius: Once per structured encounter, Sam can create a piece of the environment that is in her favor as a sticky spark. Roll a d3 for its value.
    Empathetic: upon meeting an NPC, learn their motivation!
    Legendary Commander: Gain 4 Command sparks at the beginning of each mission/combat. Command sparks may be spent to give NPCs orders, which they may either obey or refuse to obey (doing nothing instead.) Command sparks may not be regained via skills or powers.
    Hunted: Something wants her - but for what? +1 Danger to all scenes​
    SKILLS
    CLOSE COMBAT (2): Brawling, Edged Weapons
    PERSONAL (2): Awareness, Resilience
    SOCIAL (4): Charm, Empathy, Leadership, Taunt​
    MASTERY
    ACU Pilot (2): Nanofabrication [Mass], ObSat Operations [Range]
    The Hilt (4): Biomorphic Spawning (People), Regeneration (Durability), Physical Perfection (Speed), Telepathic Dominion (Range)​

    POWERS
    The Living Swarm
    Vent: 4-0
    Effect: Gain 1 Living Swarm spark, +1 per vent reduction.​
    The Living Swarm: While this swarm exists, move in three dimensions and through anything smaller than a keyhole, reforming at will. You may expend these sparks to cause 3 Hit Sparks in a Area 2 radius.​
    Area Upgrade: +1 to Area Characteristic​

    Biomorphic Reinforcement
    Vent: 4-0
    Effect: Create 1 Biomorphic Reinforcement spark, +1 per vent reduction, which can be given out to anyone within Range 2, or to yourself
    Biomorphic Reinforcement: +1 to Damage or Mass characteristic for the purpose of raw physical strength/feats.

    Back to Back
    Vent: 4-0
    Effect: Choose 1 ally (+1 per vent reduction), within Range 1. Each can take one action using one of your skills, any of them that you wish. Once they have done so, you may make a free attack with your melee weapon, getting +1 to your skill per ally that acted.​

    Adaptation
    Vent: 4-0
    Effect: Create a number of sparks equal to the enemy's difficulty, narratively based on turning their abilities against them. Works on enemies of Diff 2>, +2 per vent reduction.​

    Just as Planned…
    Vent: 6-0
    Effect: Vent 6 heat and create 1 Planning Spark for her or an ally, +1 Spark per vent reduction.​
    Planning: The person holding this Spark can expend this to get +1 to a skill check as a free action. Using this Stack counts as you are helping for the purpose of relationships.​

    GEAR
    Zeratul's Psi-Blades
    Adds: +0 (Edged Weapons) | Characteristics: Damage [Speed] (4)[1]​
    Shadowstep (3): Can expend as a free action to move without crossing intervening space.
    Guarded Space (3): Can expend to use Damage as a secondary characteristic for Durability, reducing incoming Damage characteristics.​

    GALACTIC WAR
    Victory Points: 5    ​
    RESOURCES​
    TERRAN DOMINION [Background] (1)​
    The men and material of the Dominion - limited, but they're mustering as we speak. ​
    ALLIANCE EXPEDITIONARY FORCES [Mastery] (1)​
    While you have access to several ACUs of every faction, they lack economic and technological support to be fully effective. ​
    ZERG HIVE [Mastery] (1)​
    The scant few Zerg you control that are free of Amon's influence. Mostly Zerglings. ​
    AEON FLEET [Background] (1)​
    While half a dozen CZARs seem impressive, they're not actually well made for ship to ship combat. ​
    ALLIED COHESION [Motivation] (1)​
    The alliance is fragile and weak.​

    FRONTS​
    Trade Sector-34-51 [Pirate Activity]
    Pirates Raiding 6 (Supply Lines in Disarray 1)
    COMMAND: Jim Raynor | ARMY: Raynor's Raiders
    RESULTS: Pending

    Braxis [Zerg Invasion]
    Borealis Siege 6 (Zerg Rampage1)
    COMMAND: General Samantha Clarke | ARMY: Brood Clarke
    RESULTS: Pending

    Typhan II [Active Xel'Naga ACU]
    Typhan II Occupied 6 (Xel'Naga ACU Spotted 1)
    COMMAND: Lt. Colonel Mathew Horner | ARMY: UEF Armored Command Unit
    RESULTS: Pending

    Deep Space Sector 981 [Hive Fleet Identified]
    Zerg Hive Fleet Spotted 6 (Kerrigan? 1)
    COMMAND: Citizen-Commander Dostya | ARMY: CN Armored Command Unit
    RESULTS: Pending
    ​
    ENEMY ASSETS (Currently Known)
    ​
    THE GOLDEN ARMADA
    ACTIVITY: Unknown | Threat Level: 6​
     
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  • Informational
    • Adhoc vote count started by DragonCobolt on Jan 13, 2024 at 12:24 PM, finished with 36 posts and 24 votes.
    Click to expand...


    Time for the "Hey guys, Zuko here" moment!
     
    [X] Try and talk her into being more open. You can be diplomatic as fuck if you need to be. (Diff 5 Charm check, 1 heat)

    [X] Write In: Ask about what exactly is going on with Duran... and how much we can actually trust him.
     
    ACT TWO, MISSION THREE: The New Combine (0.2)
  • Threadmarks
    • You emerged from the shadows as Duran slipped away. Cr padded after you and you let your hand slip down, caressing along his snout as he chirruped happily, his back arms drawn in close and eager. Sarah smirked slightly, seeing you petting your head. "Feeling any...better?" she asked, casually, turning and leaning with her hands against the bone-like railing that surrounded the crystal used to project incoming messages and maps. Her eyes met yours and you saw actual concern in them. You smirked slightly, walking towards her, cocking your head...

    The urge to kill her was...

    Gone.

    It was a strangely comforting feeling. You had found a new equilibrium, and settling into it was like strapping into an ACU. You knew the future was hard, scary and going to be full of difficult challenges. Just like any combat drop. But maybe this time, you were actually going to do it for the right reasons. And...well, you didn't know, exactly what your and Sarah's relationship was going to be in the future. But if the Swarm needed freeing, then she'd only have two places to take: Being a part of that, or being against it.

    Did she actually want to be here?

    The image of carrying her away from everything was...

    Appealing.

    You kept all this behind a mask of General Samantha Clarke, lifting your chin slightly. "Yeah," you said.

    Sarah nodded. She opened her mouth - and you swore you saw the words 'i'm sorry' on those beautiful lips. Instead, she closed them and simply said: "Good." She turned back, then gestured to the crystal. It shimmered, glowed and projected a map of a world, gleaming bright with small dots of green light and throbbing, underground blue lights. She slid her fingers along the world, leaving faint ripples in the projection. "This world is Moria...home of the Ke-Morian Combine, one of the most resource rich worlds in the former Confederacy. Now? It's a semi-independent protectorate of the Dominion, and where most of their resourcing for starship and armor construction is done." She licked her lips. "Which is why we've heard rumors that Raynor's Raiders are here. And I can sense the Protoss. The Nerzaim. The Dark Templar, specifically."

    You nodded.

    "I want you to take a human form and return to them," she said. "I've been thinking of a convincing-"

    "No," you said.

    Sarah's hand clenched. The whole planetary image rippled, fuzzed, and nearly winked out. She turned her gaze on you, flashing with anger. "What?" she asked.

    "I said no," you said, crossing your arms over your chest. "Your plan might work if your goal is to just screw some people over in the short term - sure. We can lie, cheat, steal, murder. But if you want to make actual, lasting alliances, you need to start off honestly." You smirked slightly at her. "You might have...noticed how difficult it was to bring me around on this whole Zerg thing because you, oh right, kidnapped me, stabbed me in the back..." You reached out, caressing her cheek in mocking-real tenderness. "The hormones and sex are amazing, Sarah, but they're not that amazing." She leaned into your touch, then slapped your wrist away, glowering.

    "I didn't...the hydralisk shooting you in the back was a mistake," she whispered.

    "Can I talk to that hydralisk at some point?" you asked. "I'd like an apology."

    She blinked, then snorted. "She might be open to it. But...hydralisks are notoriously..."

    "Unfriendly?" you asked.

    Sarah smirked. "Raging assholes."

    You nodded. "Riiight. So." You walked past her, brushing hip to hip, to peer down at the Morian combine. "I'll go down in human form so that the assholes don't immediately shoot me. But I want to tell them the truth."

    "And what is the truth?"

    "That you're in a bad situation, reaching desperately for any possible escape - that Daggoth is rebuilding the Overmind, that you need a general, that you knew the UEF were evil as shit and...couldn't approach us openly. Even if you fucking should have." You glowered at her.

    "Would you have believed me?" Sarah asked.

    You opened your mouth. Closed it.

    "...I don't know," you whispered.

    Sarah crossed her arms over her chest. "And then when they learn you're Zerg?"

    "Well, then I use my peerless charms to convince them that I'm not controlled by the Overmind," you said. "Have you talked to anyone since he died? Have you told them that you're free?"

    "Raszagal knows...no one else, though," Sarah said.

    "How did you end up meeting her?" you asked, curiously.

    "She came to Char, right after the death of the Overmind. She came to my Swarm. It was larger. More powerful then. That was before the Psi Disruptor was turned on." She pursed her lips slightly. "I captured her and she and I had a long conversation about the Nerazim, their goals, her goals, my goals..." You saw her looking thoughtful. "I was still...I was still..." She paused. "Angry."

    You regarded her. "How angry are we talking about here?"

    Sarah sighed, slowly. Her head spines contracted. "When the Overmind was there...I knew what my place was. When I was shown what i was, when I knew I was a monster, it was so easy to be a monster." She tightened her grip against herself. "I was his Queen of Blades, and so...I do what blades did. I cut. And it felt...good." She bit her lip. "When he went out, the light went out. Everything that was clear became shadowed. But...the anger was still there."

    You were silent for a long moment, your hands tightening on the bony railing around the crystal. "Sarah, did you...hurt the Protoss?"

    She was quiet, her head looking aside. "She said, when she escaped, that she was interested in talking again."

    You nodded slowly. "So, we better hope she hasn't mentioned you to her friends."

    "The Nerazim are the Protoss that rejected their hive mind, the Khala," Sarah said. "They fled their world and created their own haven, their own culture, which embraced the darkness. Which embraces...secrecy." She frowned slightly, her head spines twitching slightly. "I don't really understand it. But they have a mastery over the energies that we Zerg use."

    "Downspin quantum states," you said.

    "Yeah, sure," she said, shrugging.

    You rubbed your hand slowly along your head, brushing your own spines back and then letting them settle into their relaxed position. "So, in short, you want me to go down, find Raynor's Raiders - who are allies with the Protoss, and make contact with them. Oh, but also, you maybe caught and tortured their queen. But you don't know if she's mentioned this to anyone else because they're basically just the Aeon Illuminate?" You frowned. "You don't ask for easy shit, Sarah."

    Sarah looked chagrined. "I did ask for the best."

    You nodded. "...also, considering the UEF's propaganda hit campaign on the Cybrans, for all I know the Aeon Illuminate hugs puppies and gives candy to orphans..." you grumbled. "Okay. I think honesty's the best choice here. We focus on Daggoth, the new Overmind. We focus on Mengsk. We...we focus on the UEF." You glanced at her. "Even if we kick everyone's butt here, the Koprulu Sector isn't alone anymore. The UEF knows you're here. And this place? It's not like other places. Most planetary systems here have a habitable planet. In the galaxy?" You gestured outwards. "You can go thousands on thousands of light years and find nothing but rocks."

    Sarah frowned.

    "That means that the UEF will never stop trying to take this place," you said, softly.

    Sarah nodded, slowly. "We'll handle them."

    "Yeah," you said, your stomach tightening. Even if you knew the Cybran's weren't all lying now, the idea of bringing war to the people you had protected made you feel sick. Maybe...maybe there was a neater, easier solution. You shook your head a bit. "But that's for later. For now? Drop me down there."

    Sarah nodded, slowly. "Duran is making a stealth pod for you."

    Your head spines drew in. "I don't like him," you said, quietly.

    "Noted," she said.

    "And I don't trust him," you added, quietly.

    She was silent for a bit longer. "Me neither. But he's useful. He knows things. He can do things. And...well...I have a control node put into him."

    You frowned at her.

    "Abathur assures me it's quite effective," Sarah said.

    "Right," you said, then stepped away. Sarah didn't look at you. Was that shame in her face as she watched Moria spin in hologram before her. You walked to the door, then paused as the sphincter slowly creaked open. Your hands pressed to either side of the membrane. You lifted your chin. "Sarah, I want you to drop me..."


    ---
    HEAT: 1/6

    Choose One
    [ ] "Near one of the biggest cities."
    [ ] "In the hitnerlands. That's probably where they're hiding."
    [ ] Write In

    Choose one
    [ ] "With Zagara." Smirk at her. "The Queens have scout parasites, and she needs a chance to prove herself, no?"
    [ ] Go down alone.
    [ ] Write In
     
  • Threadmarks
    • All these bitches need hugs.

    Also good job Sam??? girlboss???

    Also also i dont have an opinion on the drop point yet but i was going to say Zagara comes with to expand the polycule but that seems potentially counterproductive to diplomacy, buuuut the system being what it is, that feels like more a question of having combat issues vs diplomacy issues
     
    [] The Mines : Raynor's Raiders style themselves as liberators and where else can you find people more in need of liberation than those who tear rocks from the earth by hand, a kind of primitive deprivation you can barely imagine.
    [] With Zagara, and a handfull of larvae. It'll be cramped, but the flexibility gained by being able to morph a handful of structures without ACU support will be worth it.
    [] With Cr, but you'll ask Abathur to dress them up for the part. Surely inconspicious and unthreathening is within his capabilities.
     
    I'm not sure a diplomatic mission is the best time to give the captured zerg queen a chance to prove herself...
     
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    [X] The Mines : Raynor's Raiders style themselves as liberators and where else can you find people more in need of liberation than those who tear rocks from the earth by hand, a kind of primitive deprivation you can barely imagine.
    [X] With Cr, but you'll ask Abathur to dress them up for the part. Surely inconspicious and unthreathening is within his capabilities.

    You know what? I'm sold on the write-ins. Sam should totally have her plucky totally not a zergling dog companion, and the mines option gives a nice bit of flavor. Helping Raynor help miners (or running into him helping miners, or running into him while helping miners, I believe in your creativity, Dragon) would be a fun little prelude to complicated diplomatic stuff.

    I, uh, also am not entirely sure if we have a go from Sarah to tell Raynor she's free (but still sorta-kinda evil), I'd like to see how you interpret whatever it is between them in your canon (I only played SC2's terran and zerg campaigns, so I sadly don't know that much about how they were in SC1). And resolving that angle is something we have to do before the ultimate diplo challenge of talking to the Protoss.
     
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    [X] The Mines : Raynor's Raiders style themselves as liberators and where else can you find people more in need of liberation than those who tear rocks from the earth by hand, a kind of primitive deprivation you can barely imagine.
    [X] With Zagara, and a handfull of larvae. It'll be cramped, but the flexibility gained by being able to morph a handful of structures without ACU support will be worth it.
     
    [X] The Mines : Raynor's Raiders style themselves as liberators and where else can you find people more in need of liberation than those who tear rocks from the earth by hand, a kind of primitive deprivation you can barely imagine.
    [X] With Cr, but you'll ask Abathur to dress them up for the part. Surely inconspicious and unthreathening is within his capabilities.
    [X] Go down alone.

    This is not the time to bring an untested Zagara in, if we fuck up right now we're fucked. Cr, meanwhile, is totally based and adds a level of humanity to her, just a girl and her little bro, surely.
     
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    [X] The Mines : Raynor's Raiders style themselves as liberators and where else can you find people more in need of liberation than those who tear rocks from the earth by hand, a kind of primitive deprivation you can barely imagine.
    [X] With Cr, but you'll ask Abathur to dress them up for the part. Surely inconspicious and unthreathening is within his capabilities.
     
    [X] The Mines : Raynor's Raiders style themselves as liberators and where else can you find people more in need of liberation than those who tear rocks from the earth by hand, a kind of primitive deprivation you can barely imagine.
    [X] With Zagara, and a handfull of larvae. It'll be cramped, but the flexibility gained by being able to morph a handful of structures without ACU support will be worth it.

    I really want to vote for more possible Zagara interactions, but people are right that it is unneeded risk and these negotiations are too important to afford it.

    Edit: I decided to go with my heart after all.
     
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    [X] The Mines : Raynor's Raiders style themselves as liberators and where else can you find people more in need of liberation than those who tear rocks from the earth by hand, a kind of primitive deprivation you can barely imagine.
    [X] With Cr, but you'll ask Abathur to dress them up for the part. Surely inconspicious and unthreathening is within his capabilities.
     
    DragonCobolt said:
    Chance to finally BLEEP the hell out of her hot bug ass? DEFINITELY
    Click to expand...
    Click to shrink...
    I feel like you're unfairly weighting one of the options here! :mad:
    :V
    [X] The Mines : Raynor's Raiders style themselves as liberators and where else can you find people more in need of liberation than those who tear rocks from the earth by hand, a kind of primitive deprivation you can barely imagine.
    [X] With Cr, but you'll ask Abathur to dress them up for the part. Surely inconspicious and unthreathening is within his capabilities.
     
    [X] The Mines : Raynor's Raiders style themselves as liberators and where else can you find people more in need of liberation than those who tear rocks from the earth by hand, a kind of primitive deprivation you can barely imagine.
    [X] With Cr, but you'll ask Abathur to dress them up for the part. Surely inconspicious and unthreathening is within his capabilities.

    A psychic dog might even be more helpful than harmful! That's not why I'm voting for it tho :D
     
    [X] The Mines : Raynor's Raiders style themselves as liberators and where else can you find people more in need of liberation than those who tear rocks from the earth by hand, a kind of primitive deprivation you can barely imagine.
    [X] With Cr, but you'll ask Abathur to dress them up for the part. Surely inconspicious and unthreathening is within his capabilities.
     
    [X] The Mines : Raynor's Raiders style themselves as liberators and where else can you find people more in need of liberation than those who tear rocks from the earth by hand, a kind of primitive deprivation you can barely imagine.
    [X] With Zagara, and a handfull of larvae. It'll be cramped, but the flexibility gained by being able to morph a handful of structures without ACU support will be worth it.
     
    [X] The Mines : Raynor's Raiders style themselves as liberators and where else can you find people more in need of liberation than those who tear rocks from the earth by hand, a kind of primitive deprivation you can barely imagine.
    [X] With Cr, but you'll ask Abathur to dress them up for the part. Surely inconspicious and unthreathening is within his capabilities.
     
    [X] The Mines : Raynor's Raiders style themselves as liberators and where else can you find people more in need of liberation than those who tear rocks from the earth by hand, a kind of primitive deprivation you can barely imagine.
    [X] With Cr, but you'll ask Abathur to dress them up for the part. Surely inconspicious and unthreathening is within his capabilities.

    I want to see the unintended mascot get a make over.

    Half hoping that Abathur comes up with Carbot zerglings.





    Image by Ashidaru on Deviantart
     
    [X] The Mines : Raynor's Raiders style themselves as liberators and where else can you find people more in need of liberation than those who tear rocks from the earth by hand, a kind of primitive deprivation you can barely imagine.
    [X] With Zagara, and a handfull of larvae. It'll be cramped, but the flexibility gained by being able to morph a handful of structures without ACU support will be worth it.
     
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