Smite the Bay! (Worm X Smite Crossover Quest)

After finishing breakfast you decided you need to do some research. If you were going to be a cape, to be Mythos, you needed a better understanding on how the capes in your city and how to operate as an independent hero. So you set up in the living room with your laptop, Cerberus taking his spot near you, and you get to work. First you begin to look into some local capes by hopping onto Parahumans Online

Parahumans Research: 12

You look into the local Protectorate capes first as it seemed like a good place to start.

You naturally recognize the adult members well enough and their powers. The leader, Armsmaster, was a tinker with a miniaturization/efficiency specialization, Miss Militia could make any weapon appear in her hand, Assault is a Striker with a kinetic energy manipulation power, Battery has a Mover power that involves the ability to charge herself before releasing it and giving herself a boost in speed and strength, Dauntless could empower items by infusing them with energy a little bit everyday, and Velocity was a speedster. The only one you find yourself needing a proper refresher on was Challenger.

Challenger's power was officially listed as a combo of Brute, Mover, and Thinker ratings, with people online describing her power as essentially superpowered personal self-improvement: she gets better at something very quickly the more she does it, both mentally and physically. Though there aren't many examples of what her "self-improvement" can do, you did watch a video of her fighting Hookwolf while swinging around a massive battle axe one-handed while holding the biggest rifle you ever saw in the other. So that's pretty cool.

Also, apparently a restaurant in town called "Fugly Bob's" named a 2000 calorie meal after her. So good on her, you guess.

Then there were the Wards, most of whom you remember. Vista, Aegis, Clockblocker, and Gallant you don't need much of a refresher. Kid Win was a tinker though unlike Armsmaster his specialization wasn't really specified online. Triumph, the Wards leader, was a sound manipulator. Then there was Shadow Stalker…

According to PHO online before she joined the Wards she was running around as a no name vigilante, then for reasons unknown she joined the Wards. As for her power, she was some sort of Stranger/Breaker hybrid with the ability to enter some sort of "shadow state" that let her pass through walls and made her lightweight. Just looking at her picture and what was being said about her online, you got the impression she was deliberately trying to be edgy.

After the Protectorate and Ward capes you decided to move on. You opt to not look over New Wave as you doubted you'd learn anything you didn't already know. Instead you started looking into what you actually cared about: the villains.

Starting off you got Uber and Leet. A couple of local C-listers that like to perform crimes with a video game gimmick and, for some reason, live stream them. Uber was a Thinker who could become an expert in any skill he wanted, while Leet was a Tinker who could make literally anything he could think of… but only once. While you didn't think much of Leet, you feel Uber could see being quite the effective cape if not held back by his partner.

Moving on, you found yourself looking at the page of an independent villain named… Squealer? You had to furrow your brow at that name. Unfortunate names aside, looking at what was listed she was a Tinker (a lot of those in this city, apparently) with a vehicle specialization. She seemed partial to big, imposing death machines from what pictures you can see, but good lord she has some of the ugliest tinkertech you've seen so far. Clearly she was more concerned with function over form. At least you think they function. The damn junkers look like they could fall apart any second.

Next up was another independent villain named Stain. They were a small time crook from what you could tell, fond of breaking and entering and robbery. They were a Changer whose power turned them into some sort of blob monster made of ink. Or maybe oil? The people on PHO seemed divided on it. It seems in their blob form they are practically invulnerable to harm as any damage they take they are able to quickly reconstitute themselves back into shape. Add in the fact they are apparently able to shift and control the shape of their altered body with ease, to the point they can fit under a closed door, and you get a cape that is very hard to catch.

There were actually a few more independent villains in the Bay from what you could tell, but you already spent hours looking over forum posts on the Protectorate and a few small fries that you opted to move onto the bigger fish.

It's time for the gangs and their capes.

First up was… Empire 88. You sigh wearily. It felt so sad that the biggest and probably most powerful gang in your city were white supremacists. Worse still, they have the most parahumans out of any of the gangs. It was almost embarrassing to even think about. Still, it was important to do your due diligence and research them as best as you could. From what you could dig up they mostly have territory in downtown, which was some of the nicer and financially stable areas of the city. Cynically you consider that the members of the Empire probably claim credit for why the downtown area was nicer in comparison to the rest of the city.

They were led by a cape named Kaiser, and he is a Shaker with the ability to create various metal objects from any surface. He seemed to favor blades from what you can tell, but he was by no means limited to that. From what information is publicly available, he could create beams, bludgeons, sheets, tubes, and more. He apparently had a large range on his power, so combine that with the fact he could make metal on any surface and you have a really damn powerful cape. It's no wonder the PRT hadn't been able to get rid of this guy yet. He sounds like a pain to deal with.

Next was some clown in an SS officer uniform and a gasmask called Krieg. He was apparently a kinetic manipulator, though unlike Assault his kinetic manipulation ability had a radius around him that gets stronger the closer he is. He can do a lot with it like slow down, disrupt, or deflect hostile forces. He can even make himself into essentially a Brute via his power.

Hookwolf needed no introduction. You were pretty aware of the homicidal Brute/Changer that could turn himself into a giant wolf made of chainsaws. According to PHO he is pretty much guaranteed to get shipped off to the Birdcage without trial if he is ever caught because of the several accounts of blatant murder he has committed. Of course, that's easier said than done as he is a powerful cape and there is a whole gang of capes there to back him up if things go wrong. There is also a note on his wiki page that more or less screams "RUN THE HELL AWAY IF YOU SEE HIM AND CALL THE PRT."

Purity is… an interesting case. She is a Blaster/Mover with the power to create kinetically charged flight that she can fire in blasts and can fly around. Basically flying artillery. But apparently despite being in the Empire for over 10 years, sometime in 2009 she just up and quit. Then she started going around claiming to be a hero. At first you thought that was some good news — a powerful cape on the good guys' side — but then you read deeper and found she almost exclusively targets ethnic minorities. Guess you couldn't be surprised. What was that old saying? "You can take the girl out of the country, but you can't take the country out of the girl"?

Interestingly, the people on PHO note that two other Empire capes named Night and Fog also left after Purity jumped ship. Coincidence or a sign of loyalty? You can't be sure. Either way, you don't have to worry about them.

Then there were Fenja and Menja, twins with the power to grow in size from what you could tell. They were Breakers who could grow in size and shrink incoming attacks in proportion to their size. Or something like that.

Alabaster was described as a regenerator and that seems like his only power.

Stormtiger was some kind of aerokinetic and he could create claws of air to attack up close or at range.

Crusader was a Master that could create ghostly duplicates of himself that could fly and phase through inorganic matter.

Cricket had some sort of sonar ability and had superhuman reflexes.

Victor was a Thinker in the same vein as Uber. He could have any skill he wants, but the difference was Victor could passively steal skills from people around him rather than pick and choose what skills he gets like Uber.

Othala was a Trump who could temporarily give powers to people. Of these powers, the ones PHO has confirmed for sure she can give are regeneration, flight, invincibility, super strength, super speed, and pyrokinesis. There were arguments on whether or not she can do more, but no clear consensus.

Rune had some kind of Striker power that granted her telekinesis over the things she touches.

After spending more time thinking about Nazis than you'd honestly like, you swiftly moved on to the next gang: the Azn Bad Boys.

The ABB were based out of the east end of the city, more specifically the docks, and are a pan-Asian ethnic gang whose crimes include theft, protection rackets, peddling contraband, prostitution and sexual slavery. Years ago Brockton Bay used to have several Asian gangs, all divided by ethnicity, until the ABB's leader, Lung, came along and conquered them.

Speaking of Lung it was time you looked into him. Lung was regarded as a B-list supervillain at most from what you can gather. According to PHO, gets stronger as he fights, which makes him harder to take down as a result. He also had some pyrokinetic abilities that get stronger as he fights too.

The only other ABB cape was Oni Lee, a teleporter that leaves behind a temporary clone in his last location. You frown at that. It sounds like he is going to be difficult to take down if you couldn't find a way to shut down his Mover capabilities.

Finally there are the Archer's Bridge Merchants…

When it came to every other supervillain or gang in Brockton Bay, people on PHO seemed to show some level of respect to have a level headed discussion on them. The same could not be said for the Merchants.

They were little more than a ragtag group of drug dealers that only care about selling and taking drugs, and have only carved out territory in quite literally the worst off sections of the city. Most discussions in regards to the Merchants is little more than ridiculing them and pointing out that the only reasons they are still around is because various groups — from the police, to the PRT, to New Wave, to the independent heroes, to literally the other gangs in the city — have a million better things to be doing than focus on them and their low effort operations. Hell, the users on PHO couldn't even agree if the Merchants have any capes at all because no one has bothered to really verify. Some are arguing that they have no capes, while others are arguing that they have at least one cape and he is the leader. And that leader's name is-

You furrow your brow. You read the name again. You read it twice, then thrice.

If these people online are to be believed, then the leader of the Merchants is called… Skidmark.

Skidmark.

Skid.

Mark.

Skidmark.

Flabbergasted, you decided to log off of PHO for the day.

Your Parahumans skill has improved.

After spending several hours of your day doing that research, you go make yourself some lunch before starting your next bit of research.

Legal Research: 9

Laws regarding independent heroes and vigilante capes were a lot more difficult to grasp than you first assumed. The gist of these laws were mostly in place so any criminals you turn into the police could actually be prosecuted, provided there was evidence, but there were some other details that they cover.

Independents and vigilantes are also legally entitled to a not too insignificant amount of money seized from criminals, but only if there is "sufficient cause" to believe the money was obtained or produced illegally. On that note, you could not under any circumstance take evidence, weapons, or tinkertech from criminal groups for yourself. Those actually needed to be processed by actual law enforcement.

Similarly there was actually quite a lot of leeway for what you could and could not do, so long as it could be "reasonably justified". For example, you could commit breaking and entering, but it is expected you have reason to believe a crime is taking place, has taken place, or will take place in the location you are breaking into. But like with taking evidence, there were limits to what you could actually do. You can't go committing assault and battery against people willy-nilly with only claims of "they are a criminal". You need actual proper justification for your actions.

Speaking of assaulting people, there was a general sentiment on "acceptable" force when engaging with criminals. If it can be helped, you cannot do permanent damage. Broken bones, cuts, bruises; those are relatively acceptable if you can justify them. Dismembering people or punching holes in them will draw the sort of attention from law enforcement that you don't want. Moderation is the name of the game when it comes to cape-on-criminal violence. In the case of accidentally injuring someone more than intended, there is some wiggle room. After all, accidents do happen, but if they happen too much then it stops looking like accidents to people and starts looking like a repeating pattern of behavior.

There was an important note on killing. Firstly, do not do it. As a general rule of thumb, it is HEAVY discouraged for a cape to kill. You could in some cases get away with killing, but ONLY if the killing is deemed justifiable in the case of self-defense or the defense of others. It is probably why kill orders are such a big deal. It is the government saying "this person is free to kill legally because they are too dangerous otherwise."

There were also no hard rules on what is considered allowed for weapons. Technically speaking, you could use a gun if you wanted. Of course, the impression you got was that it was a bit of a faux pas amongst most capes to use firearms unless less lethal ammo like rubber bullets are used. Though no law says so, it is generally encouraged that capes use things like sword, spears, bow & arrows, and other such archaic weapons to fight rather than use firearms. So you could bring a sword if you wanted, but don't expect to be lopping off limbs…

Your Legal skill has improved.

With your research more or less complete, you find that it has gotten late into the evening. Yawning, you step away from your laptop and make yourself dinner, chatting with Cerberus the whole while. After eating you eventually went to bed. Cerberus took a spot on the floor like he did last night, and you eventually fell asleep.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

January 2, 2011

Waking in the morning you find that Cerberus has disappeared. You were disappointed, but not surprised. Still, you started really growing fond of the pup.You tried reaching out for a Guardian again, maybe you'd even summon him again, but as you reached out you felt like something was blocking you. You frown. You guessed that meant you couldn't use the same class twice in a row.

You decided to reach out for another class, calling upon a Mage to appear.

Manifesting in front of you was a towering, muscular man with copper colored skin, a bald head, and thick red beard. He wore what looked like a blacksmith's apron and had a clearly mechanical left leg and right arm. Held in his gloved left was a massive hammer and strapped to his back was what looked like two metal barrels spewing fire.


"Hello, summoner," the god greeted, his voice deep and rumbling. "I am Vulcan, blacksmith to the Gods of Olympus. And these," he pointed to the things on his back. "Are my forge."

Vulcan was a name you were familiar with. It was the Roman name for the god Hephaestus, who was worshiped as the god of fire, volcanoes, metalworking, artisans, metallurgy, carpenters, forges, sculpting, and blacksmiths. When the Romans claimed the Greek gods for their own, the newly christened Vulcan's domains didn't change all that much. It seems even in a different culture the importance of blacksmithing couldn't be understated.

"Of course it couldn't!" Vulcan proclaimed. "Without blacksmiths civilization would crumble! Could you imagine an army without swords or spears? Us blacksmiths are the military might of nations!"

"Well… Guns did make those obsolete…" You say meekly.

Vulcan waved his hand dismissively. "Bah! Firearms are all well and good, but hardly heroic! They have their place, but I prefer weapons from more civilized times."

You look at him, studying him for a moment then say, "You know… When I picked the mage class I was expecting someone more… I don't know… wizardly?"

"What? And a literal god isn't magical enough for you?" He replies with a chuckle.

"No, no, no! It's not that!" You say quickly, eyes wide with panic.

"Relax, kid, I'm messing with you." He reassures you. "Still, don't put too much stock into that 'class' thing. If you ask me, it feels arbitrary. Fairly certain you are gonna summon more than a few gods that feel out of place for whatever one you pick."

You aren't sure how to interpret that. The class selection thing seemed like an essential part to your power if it required you to select one. But powers were weird, you supposed.

After a bit more talking with Vulcan, you start to get ready to head out. You had a plan to do some shopping and it was better to get on that sooner than later. Of course, Vulcan would stand out so you had to dismiss him. You hop into your car and start your drive to find your costume.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The Hillside Mall located downtown was one of the two major shopping centers in the city, with the other being the Weymouth Shopping center. Of the two, the Hillside Mall was certainly the nicer of the two. It had a wider range of options and a lot more high end stores. Of course, of the two it was the one you had frequented most often growing up. So it was almost instinctual that you'd come here looking for items to make a costume.

It wouldn't exactly be the most glamorous or high end superhero costume, but it would certainly be better than if you rummaged through your closet to create whatever haphazard cape attire you could think of. You could get a better costume later, for now you just need something you could go out in and not risk your identity being exposed.

You first hit up a shoe store, looking for a suitable pair of boots. It was a process that didn't take long as after a bit of looking you found a decent pair of black laced up combat boots.

Next you needed some clothes to complete the look. So you headed to a nearby appeal store. Gloves, a hoodie, and maybe some new pants to go with it.

The gloves turned out to be easy enough as it was still winter and there were plenty of gloves available. You suppose they worked well enough for your purposes. There were a variety of colored gloves, you ultimately settled on purple. Maybe it was because you had summoned a Roman deity today, but you recalled that purple was considered not just a color in the empire, but a symbol of power, nobility, and divine sanction.

Next you got yourself some a pair of gray, rather snug jeans, then started looking for a suitable hoodie. After some searching you couldn't find anything you were particularly happy with. Nothing seemed to fit with the image you wanted to display. Sure, it was just a temporary improvised costume, but you had to set standards!

You left that store in search of the hoodie you needed for your costume. It didn't take long as you came across a store named "URevolution", and curiously you looked inside. The store had an edgy teen mall vibe, with a lot of dark-to-purple colors and clothes that appealed to the Gothic subculture. You hesitated for a moment, then stepped in.

The shop clerk was some bored, goth teenager who watched you with what you can only assume was idle curiosity. You couldn't blame him, this wasn't the sort of place you shopped at and you do stick out like a sore thumb. You politely waved to him as you made your way over to the clothing racks, goth punk music blaring from the overhead speakers.

You dug through the clothing, passing through shirts with some edgy designs or shirts for bands you've never heard of, until you finally found something that catches your eye. It was a black hoodie with a white ankh on the chest. You smile to yourself. This was perfect for your cape personal.

You quickly snatch it up and pay for it, vacating the store as soon as possible without another word.

The last thing you needed to collect was a mask, which proved surprisingly easy. There was a little kiosk in the middle of the mall that sold Protectorate branded merch. T-shirts, action figures, etc. Naturally they had some generic domino masks for sale too. Now, normally these were sold as kids items, but you suspect they were also intended to be used by aspiring capes that had not yet joined the Protectorate and who wanted to maintain a secret identity. So you acquired the last of your outfit fairly easily.

But that wasn't the end of your shopping trip. No, real quick you stop by a phone store and grab yourself a burner phone. No way you were going to go out and use your actual cell phone to phone in the police.

You acquired Cape Costume (Quality: Improvised).
You acquired Burner Phone.

With your haul in hand you make your way to the mall food court. While you were eager to get home with your new costume, you built up quite the appetite.

Sitting down with your food, you find yourself looking around at your surroundings. All around you were groups of people talking amongst themselves. Families, groups of friends… And you are here alone. Always alone. Silently you ate your food, lost in your thoughts and stewing in feelings of bitterness over your own loneliness.

You don't even know when you finish your food, but once you do notice you quickly make your way out of the mall to go back home.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Returning home, you get your costume put away before summoning up Vulcan again. You talk for a bit, or more accurately he lectured you on the finery parts of smithing and carpentry. You honestly not too sure you comprehended it, but he seemed content to just talk to you about his interests. After a bit you asked if there was any sort of permanent magic he could leave behind, such as on the house.

Vulcan hummed in thought, stroking his beard. "Magic isn't my thing, really. But I could probably make something to protect the house if you wanted."

"Oh! Okay! Like what?" You ask.

"Well, I could maybe make a few automated turrets." He suggested. "Those should do well in keeping out any intruders. Or I make some automatons to act as sentries. Back in the day I made a few gold and silver lions and dogs to guard places of importance for the gods."

You blinked, unsure what to think of that.

"And… you can just make these and leave them behind?" You ask, raising an eyebrow.

"Well, I'll need materials to actually build them," He explained. His eyes scanned around the room. "I probably could scrounge up the materials from your house if need be."

Your eyes widen in alarm. "I-I'm not sure if that's a good idea."

He shrugged. "Suit yourself."

"What about my costume? Could you maybe put an effect on it?"

He smiles. "Naturally! Let me see your work and I can see if I could give it the ol' magic touch."

Nodding your head, you leave the room and go put on your costume. After a few minutes you return to Vulcan.

"Okay," you say, smiling. "What do you think?"

Vulcan stood there, looking at you. You could practically see the colors in his face drain as he looks at you with a mortified expression. You frown as you pick up on his mood, but before you could say anything he speaks first.

"Is this really what heroes in this day and age wear?" He says slowly as he buries his face in his mechanical hand.

You shuffle awkwardly and reply, "Well, I was kind of improvising. I don't exactly intend this to be my final outfit. Is… Is it that bad?"

"'Is it that bad?'" He repeated, incredulously. He gives you a look like you had just slapped him in the face; stunned and trying to hold back clear outrage. "First of all, you're not wearing any armor. You have no breastplate, no greaves, no shield, no weapon! I could go on forever... just all wrong!"

You wince, finding yourself shrinking into yourself a little as he rants. It reminded you of when your father would scold you…

He frowns, shaking his head. "Look, I can fix this. I can maybe make you some armor, perhaps a weapon or a shield, but you need to let me get the materials. What do you say, kid?"

Allow Vulcan to gather materials from your house?
[ ][Material Gathering] No — It's not worth the risk of the potential of your identity being exposed if someone were to notice items missing from your house. (All items will be added as quest rewards)

[ ][Material Gathering] Yes — Damn the risks, you could get something that could actually help you as a cape!
Select as many as you want! Top three most voted will win. Any not selected will be added as quest rewards:
-[ ][Vulcan Tech] Inferno Cannon — An automated turret that shoots fireballs. (Material Cost Noticeability: Medium)
–[ ] x2 (Material Cost Noticeability: High)
–[ ] x3 (Material Cost Noticeability: Very High)
-[ ][Vulcan Tech] Bolt Turret — An automated turret that shoots crossbow bolts. (Material Cost Noticeability: Medium)
–[ ] x2 (Material Cost Noticeability: High)
–[ ] x3 (Material Cost Noticeability: Very High)
-[ ][Vulcan Tech] Combat Automaton — A clockwork automaton built for combat. (Material Cost Noticeability: Medium)
–[ ] x2 (Material Cost Noticeability: High)
–[ ] x3 (Material Cost Noticeability: Very High)
-[ ][Vulcan Tech] Guard Dog Automaton — A clockwork automaton made in the image of a dog. (Material Cost Noticeability: Medium)
–[ ] x2 (Material Cost Noticeability: High)
–[ ] x3 (Material Cost Noticeability: Very High)
-[ ][Vulcan Tech] Blade of Mythos — A gladius that never dulls or breaks. It is attuned to you and you can recall it back to your hand if it ever removed from your grasp. (Material Cost Noticeability: Low)
-[ ][Vulcan Tech] Kinetic Aegis — A scutum that is enchanted to be able to absorb and reflect kinetic energy, enabling it to withstand impacts that would break any normal shield. (Material Cost Noticeability: Low)
-[ ][Vulcan Tech] Armor of the Warrior — Modeled after the armor of the legendary Amazons, this armor has complete resistance to bladed weapons and small arms fire. It is also enchanted to grant the wearer a Mover ability to allow superior reflexes and a minor Thinker ability to have superior reaction times to work in tandem with the reflexes. (Material Cost Noticeability: Medium)
-[ ][Vulcan Tech] Armor of the Soldier — Modeled after the armor of Roman legionnaires, this armor is completely bulletproof and has some resistance towards tinkertech laser weapons. It is also enchanted to grant the wearer a Thinker ability that allows them to perceive and exploit weaknesses and vulnerabilities in physical objects and living beings. (Material Cost Noticeability: High)
-[ ][Vulcan Tech] Armor of the Conqueror — A set of clockwork and steampowered power armor, this armor is resistant to nearly all forms of damage barring the most powerful of blows or high yield explosives. It grants the wearer Brute-like strength when worn and it is enchanted to self-repair, it also has a Blaster ability to fire superheated steam out of the wrists as a mid-ranged weapon. (Material Cost Noticeability: Very High)

---

QM Notes:
After the fiasco of how I handle the votes, I finally managed to do a proper update to this quest! Vulcan was honestly a fun surprise when I rolled him for this day, especially since you guys voted on asking the Mage deity to give you guys something. And what do ya know? He is basically offering you free tinker tech. The consequences of taking up the offer are another matter. I'm not to happy on certain segments of this post, like the mall bit. Since you guys went out to get what you need I rolled to see if an event would happen and... yeah, that came up with an uneventful time out. So I had to write a shopping trip and boy was I unsure what to do. Still, I hope you guys are happy with the results! After this vote I'll continue on with the week.