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Project Prometheus (Original Setting Superhero Quest)

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[X] You refuse. Time for the stick.

Powers has absolutely confirmed they're the ones behind the shit hitting the fan this hard, this fast, they want what amounts to being total surrender from us, because their limitation on offensive actions only extends to them.

All they have to do is inform a non-affilitated power of all of our weaknesses, all of our assets, and let things play out. You know, one of the non-affiliated powers like the Wonderland escapees that have also mysteriously gotten power buffs.

This is not an action against us, this is speaking with an uninvolved third party to the contract. Therefore, it's free game, because the contract only limits direct operations between each other.

But they overplayed their hand here, if Scarlet Maturity doesn't end up killing us all, and we manage to get the fuck out of here, we've just learned everything they're up to, and if Lady Leizi is anywhere remotely near the Espionage mastermind she is, she'll have evidence to nail Powers to the wall on this. Sure, hardly anyone who matters will care, but it'll still be a good tool to rope in neutrals.

All it requires us to do is... Survive contact against one of the most powerful metahumans alive, plus his buddies.
 
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[X] You refuse. Time for the stick.

Yeah, okay, this is a solid confirmation that Powers's experiments, which probably involve Goldnine if only by law of conservation of narrative detail, are broadening and expanding an existing metahuman's abilities, letting it be more versatile.

That still leaves Prince, but his power didn't inherently change or grow a new facet, it just got much faster.
 
Hmm...I'm pretty tempted to just refuse, honestly. Counting Hiver, our collective HIT is (5 + 9 + 3 + 7 + 7 =) 31, giving us a -4 penalty. I think we could handle that, with an advantage on rolls.

Plus, fuck everyone here except Hiver and our Justice Unlimited members.

[X] You refuse. Time for the stick.
 
Yeah, they overplayed their hand because they Think they've got us over a barrel. They revealed one of their hole cards to do it too, and then talked too much because they thought we were in checkmate.

We're not in a great position, but we're definitely not in checkmate.
 
[X] You refuse. Time for the stick.

Yeah they are undeniably the enemy. Heroes my ass. @Alectai is definitely right about the contract being a trap, of course, the whole point is that they can play with the clauses as they will, since they're forcing us into it.

Bravo on the update by the way @Bitterman! The absolute devastating banter delivered by our Lady was a delight to read.

Now, Hiver, meet your new colleagues.
 
Bitterman said:
To satisfy my employer,
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I wonder who that is? (Also, taking a bargain with someone literally named Faust is a Good Idea TM, so let's not)

[X] You refuse. Time for the stick.

Welp, time to roll Nat 1s and get wiped out :p
(But seriously, even if Literally Everyone here dies and we have to restart with Wolong, it's not worth taking the deal and plunging the setting further into darkness in the long term?)
 
Presumably, the fact that we passed that Rep check as hard as we did to force them to play their hand is important too, presumably, it means any dragnet they've set up isn't established yet, so presumably any hostile reinforcements'll be a while getting here.

Now, Scarlet Maturity is invincible and indestructable, but the rest of the group? Not nearly so much. And if Faust goes down, well, that's a major asset of Powers down the drain, especially if his contracts fade with his death.
 
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ScorpioSting said:
if only by law of conservation of narrative detail
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Pffft, how many apocalypses have I thrown at you guys?
Alectai said:
the fact that we passed that Rep check as hard as we did to force them to play their hand is important too, presumably, it means any dragnet they've set up isn't established yet, so presumably any hostile reinforcements'll be a while getting here.
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That's exactly right. Ete's meltdown gave LL an excuse to leave and forced Faust to hurry.
 
Since this has been brought up at least twice now... @Bitterman, exactly how addictive are Lethal Anodyne's concoctions? Like, we talking a major impairment to a person's abilities, or potentially straight up dying from withdrawal level of addiction here?
 
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Bitterman said:
Pffft, how many apocalypses have I thrown at you guys?

That's exactly right. Ete's meltdown gave LL and excuse to leave and force Faust to hurry.
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And it means Faust is exposed and doesn't have any bodyguards on hand.

And Lady Leizi is right fucking there.

They just exposed the fulcrum to the whole house of cards to a glass cannon and are hoping that she's too cowed by One Of The Strongest Metahumans Alive to realize that she's actually got more cards than you'd think.

Except that thanks to Hiver's play, Leizi's shoved a few hole cards up her nonexistent sleeves herself, and nobody knows about Handyman yet. Even if they're watching for Lady Leizi, they can't be aware that he's here.
 
Hiver's barriers control gravity. I did have a brief plan which was "trap SM inside one and float him just high enough into the air that he can't reach anything to throw".

The two gaps in his powerset that I've realized so far is that he doesn't seem to have any innate ranged attack capabilities, and that his regeneration defense doesn't account for attacks that are emotional or mental in nature. We can't take advantage of the latter, not until we recruit Shelly and give her emotion bomb capabilities, but if we float him in the air and keep him away from throwing anything, as well as the barrier's sides so he can't shatter them with a punch, we can buy time and take out their star player.

...this presumes he can't do the Hulk clap sonic wave thing.

Oh god he can can't he.
 
ScorpioSting said:
Hiver's barriers control gravity. I did have a brief plan which was "trap SM inside one and float him just high enough into the air that he can't reach anything to throw".

The two gaps in his powerset that I've realized so far is that he doesn't seem to have any innate ranged attack capabilities, and that his regeneration defense doesn't account for attacks that are emotional or mental in nature. We can't take advantage of the latter, not until we recruit Shelly and give her emotion bomb capabilities, but if we float him in the air and keep him away from throwing anything, as well as the barrier's sides so he can't shatter them with a punch, we can buy time and take out their star player.

...this presumes he can't do the Hulk clap sonic wave thing.

Oh god he can can't he.
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He's strong enough to shatter the earth's crust, he could probably trigger thermonuclear detonations by punching the air as hard as he can.

Unless there's some weirdness going on where he's not actually that fast despite his ridiculous strength, so that he can't punch fast enough to trigger fusion in the air molecules?

EDIT: The good news is, Faust is here, so he won't do that. Faust is presumably the entire reason he can get away with being such a shitter to everyone, because once he's got you by the throat, you can't get out. But presumably, he can do this.
 
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Bitterman said:
Do not misunderstand, Lady Leizi. We do not mean you lasting harm. I have several vials here of Lethal Anodyne's most potent healing solution. Unfortunately, with his trademark addictive nature. You will have to reach a further accord with him with regard to any future supply.
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So that means this 'safety' net implies if the rolls don't go our way we will have an ongoing drain of funds for the foreseeable future but not death (or we decide to change Main Characters, depending on how the game state advances next Turn)?
 
Alectai said:
And it means Faust is exposed and doesn't have any bodyguards on hand.

And Lady Leizi is right fucking there.

They just exposed the fulcrum to the whole house of cards to a glass cannon and are hoping that she's too cowed by One Of The Strongest Metahumans Alive to realize that she's actually got more cards than you'd think.

Except that thanks to Hiver's play, Leizi's shoved a few hole cards up her nonexistent sleeves herself, and nobody knows about Handyman yet. Even if they're watching for Lady Leizi, they can't be aware that he's here.
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Hey taking people hostage is espionage right?

So handyman pls be a dear and put a knife on a devils neck.
 
Potato12345 said:
So that means this 'safety' net implies if the rolls don't go our way we will have an ongoing drain of funds for the foreseeable future but not death (or we decide to change Main Characters, depending on how the game state advances next Turn)?
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Something like that. If you have a TPK. LL is reasonably certain they don't mean to kill her, at least.
 
Bitterman said:
Unfortunately that time has come when my updates will slow down. I'm still gonna aim for at least two a week, but I'm sorry I couldn't finish the issue first.

This update brought you you by best laid plans.
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No worries! Real life always comes first, and you've provided us with entertainment aplenty already!

[X] You refuse. Time for the stick.

Not gonna lie, I did not see that coming. I thought they'd have to drive here but hadn't considered the possibility of a teleporter. Thankfully, we got Lady Leizi a Shield Generator. Handyman's going to have a very bad time without one since we originally envisioned the opposition to be much lesser inside the restaurant itself, but he ought to be a secondary target since SM and the gang will primarily be gunning for Lady Leizi first.

Time to put our faith in Valiant Silver's Shield Generators, and that Hiver has some really neat tricks to help us out.

Our goal here isn't to win the fight, because we can't, but we have a shot at escaping with Black Swan and Menagerie Witch running interference for us. Black Swan will be key here, since she'll be the one we'll want taking most of the hits.

We really ought to make our next Meta as tank focused as possible.
 
Potato12345 said:
Wouldn't he be instantly teleported out - we'd need to commit immediately and not bother with threats here?
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While Shell Game's bullshit seems to have been boosted, there's probably still a limit to it, or the entire team would have been dropped in on us.

The fact that it was only Scarlet Maturity instead of "Literally all of their heavy hitters" suggests that there's probably a spin-up time on it, or possibly a cooldown.
 
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Bitterman said:
He approaches the table, taking a handkerchief out of his front pocket and wiping down the chair in front of him before sitting. As he does, you can make out a pin on his lapel in the shape of a crescent moon over a crown.
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Powers is responsible for Towarri and that military group that kidnapped her. Faust might even be the dad who had our remote viewer girl spy on Mona.
 
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