I am about to commit Worm Fandom blasphemy...
*deep breath* I do not really care what happens to the Trio and I do not think Taylor should either. I mean of the three we have:
Emma who is a child in need of serious psychiatric help stemming from her traumatic experience with those ABB gang members
Sophia who was fucked in the head by her trigger same as every other natural trigger. She literally can't get better because the Space Whales say so
Madison, who did the least harm yes, but is also the most free of external influence, if that is you do not consider the other two
Does that mean none of them bear any responsibility for the systematic years long campaign of bullying? Of course not, in a just world they would answer for their actions and get help. But this is not a just world, this is Earth Bet and Taylor the, as far as I can tell, only Solar has better things to do than worry about them.
I am about to commit Worm Fandom blasphemy...
*deep breath* I do not really care what happens to the Trio and I do not think Taylor should either. I mean of the three we have:
It reminds me of one quest I read, in which Taylor saw Shadow Stalker during her second night patrol kill/shoot a normal gangster with a lethal bolt and almost ignore their victim, Armsmaster, who threw a book on her. Taylor then proceeded to not learn about Sophia=SS for three months.
[X][Protectorate Affiliate] Avoid the program (You will later have the option of obtaining the tertiary Resources merit from looting)
[X][Kid Win Patrol] "Sure," you say. "Just let me know when you're available." (You will do a patrol with Kid Win and another Ward in the coming days)
-[X] "I could use some more friends." (You're not interested in Kid Win)
I do have to mention this the Wards do not pay a living wage. They pay minimum wage and also have a college fund. If we want to do any major sorcery work or crafting of any kind we're going to need money and like actual money.
Also if join the wards is for friends we're literally an open cape and have Supernatural skill in talking to people we really don't need to join an organization that would literally attempt to bind us the second we made a slip up for that.
I do have to mention this the Wards do not pay a living wage. They pay minimum wage and also have a college fund. If we want to do any major sorcery work or crafting of any kind we're going to need money and like actual money.
Also if join the wards is for friends we're literally an open cape and have Supernatural skill in talking to people we really don't need to join an organization that would literally attempt to bind us the second we made a slip up for that.
We aren't joining Ward, thou?
That's what the vote is about. The vote is about affiliation. Basically, an agreement to behave, not cause excessive violence and collateral, not loot shit and not throw shit at PRT in exchange for information, the connection to despatches, direct line to PRT and other quality of cape life bonuses.
They aren't paying us, and we don't work for them; we work with them. And while getting money for major sorceries is an issue (or at least I think so), the tertiary Resources we gain from looting won't help with that. (also arguable it would be more likely for them to try find a way to put us under their thumb when we refuse to cooperate at all; breaking the affiliate contract is more likely to lose us the bonuses than it is a way to entrap us)
I would argue that working with PRT will get us more money in the long run with possibilities of merch (which they can distribute country-wide), maybe social media/streaming thing involving guests from Wards or even protectorate proper, and that isn't mentioning how we can make use of PRT possible neutrality (because otherwise I think that they could support old mayor given that one of their capes is his son) to outs mayor and get Danny officially in charge.
Having a slight backing of Protectorate gives us another two extra dices in so many possible situations that can get us more money.
We aren't joining Ward, thou?
That's what the vote is about. The vote is about affiliation. Basically, an agreement to behave, not cause excessive violence and collateral, not loot shit and not throw shit at PRT in exchange for information, the connection to despatches, direct line to PRT and other quality of cape life bonuses.
They aren't paying us, and we don't work for them; we work with them. And while getting money for major sorceries is an issue (or at least I think so), the tertiary Resources we gain from looting won't help with that. (also arguable it would be more likely for them to try find a way to put us under their thumb when we refuse to cooperate at all; breaking the affiliate contract is more likely to lose us the bonuses than it is a way to entrap us)
I would argue that working with PRT will get us more money in the long run with possibilities of merch (which they can distribute country-wide), maybe social media/streaming thing involving guests from Wards or even protectorate proper, and that isn't mentioning how we can make use of PRT possible neutrality (because otherwise I think that they could support old mayor given that one of their capes is his son) to outs mayor and get Danny officially in charge.
Having a slight backing of Protectorate gives us another two extra dices in so many possible situations that can get us more money.
Damn it complete brain fart. That is right this is not about the wards this is about affiliate status.
I don't think the PRT does affiliate merch or distribution even before we get into the fact that the PRT wants to completely press gang every possible parahuman into service.
The only Affiliated hero that has any level of penetration on a greater cultural scale that you're suggesting is mouse protector and that's after she was already one of the first generations of para-human children in the wards and went completely independent and started her own thing it doesn't seem to be a thing that they do.
There's also nothing stopping us from independently becoming friends with the wards and doing that thing that you said. Money is useful in raw form for a lot of different things but buying things is how sorcery kind of works kind of.
I would need to reread the rules on how sorcerer's workings work in essence but means are still a thing and those are usually exotic components that allow you to get extended rolls on sorcerous workings and you can buy them with money.
Things like heirloom silver or departed wedding rings, empty urns, Sunburst valley Marble. Things like that.
There's also the fact that the PRT as an organization are absolutely usable without needing to sign up in any way with them because they only use they actually really have is prison cells and prisoner transport you can call them and they will be forced come pick up or help with any para human threat even if you're not an affiliate. So there's literally no reason to bond with them in any real way.
The only Affiliated hero that has any level of penetration on a greater cultural scale that you're suggesting is mouse protector and that's after she was already one of the first generations of para-human children in the wards and went completely independent and started her own thing it doesn't seem to be a thing that they do.
To be fair, only affiliated heroes that I know other than Mouse Protector are members of New Wave, who had very "Protectorate is wrong" thing going on early on. But fair enough it may not be a case
There's also nothing stopping us from independently becoming friends with the wards and doing that thing that you said. Money is useful in raw form for a lot of different things but buying things is how sorcery kind of works kind of.
I think that the roles for their involvement will be harder without the affiliated status, given that they probably need to get the okay from the PR department to be part of any public or online event. Especially if those count toward the hours they are allowed to do by the Youth Guard.
I would need to reread the rules on how sorcerer's workings work in essence but means are still a thing and those are usually exotic components that allow you to get extended rolls on sorcerous workings and you can buy them with money.
Things like heirloom silver or departed wedding rings, empty urns, Sunburst valley Marble. Things like that.
There's also the fact that the PRT as an organization are absolutely usable without needing to sign up in any way with them because they only use they actually really have is prison cells and prisoner transport you can call them and they will be forced come pick up or help with any para human threat even if you're not an affiliate. So there's literally no reason to bond with them in any real way.
It is useable; it just that by mechanical virtue of things, their backing makes them more useful (2 extra dice in a lot of situations). I do not disagree with Taylor needing money, I am just saying that we have more ways to get tertiary(and up) Resources in medium term (so around the time were we start needing money for Sorcery) than for us to get both a backing of Federal organisation with good PR and a potential command of a squad of soldiers (which could be very useful if we can up the war).
I don't think the PRT actually have good PR they play a PR game but they're not actually particularly well liked in Brockton Bay. Taylor after being a warlord in the city for less than a month is capable of turning a not insignificant portion of the young populace against the PRT as a whole.
Nothing about any of the interludes seems to suggest they are particularly well liked and none of the interludes with the villains seem to suggest they're even considered a threat really.
Also getting the squad of soldiers requires getting them from Piggott which at least in my mind seems like a non-starter mostly because we never even see Miss Militia or Armsmaster with them. Hell even the wards in their first appearance they don't have them with them. So counting on dubious Soldier Support seems dubious.
Also on further thought what are they going to do the soldiers don't have the equipment necessary to take down the vast majority of villains in the city. The only ones a Detachment of them could actually handle is maybe the undersiders if the undersiders stand still.
[X][Protectorate Affiliate] Sign up with the program tomorrow (Once you sign up, you'll receive the tertiary Backing (Protectorate) merit, which can result in you being loaned a tertiary Command (PRT Troopers) merit in some situations. This is contingent on the PRT's approval of you and your actions)
[X][Kid Win Patrol] "Sure," you say. "Just let me know when you're available." (You will do a patrol with Kid Win and another Ward in the coming days)
-[X] "I could use some more friends." (You're not interested in Kid Win)
[X][Kid Win Patrol] "Sure," you say. "Just let me know when you're available." (You will do a patrol with Kid Win and another Ward in the coming days)
-[x] "I'd like to get to know you better." (You're interested in seeing where this whole 'crush' thing leads)
The first thing you do after waking up the next day is form Eurus again. The… power? Technique? Spell? Whatever you call it, it only lasts a day, so she'd dissipated into the wind in the early hours of the morning. You bring her back, and she greets you with a happy bark and a wagging tail. Then you head downstairs and join your dad for breakfast.
"Morning, Taylor," he says, a smile on his face, seated at the kitchen table with a plate of eggs and bacon already laid out for each of you. That smile grows faintly amused as he says "Morning, Eurus."
Eurus responds with a couple barks and an attempt to steal some of your unguarded bacon.
"What – no, Eurus, you don't even need to eat! You're made of wind! Bad girl!"
The hound shows no remorse as she swallows a bacon strip. The bits of bacon are visibly ground down to nothing inside her by the heavy winds that make up her form, and she plops herself down next to the table looking supremely satisfied. Her massive frame means she's as tall as the table is while lying down.
"There's plenty of bacon to go around, Taylor," says your dad with a chuckle. So, grumbling, you sit down and get to work on what remains of your bacon and eggs.
"So, any big plans for the day, Taylor?" asks your dad. "Any 'Zenith' plans?"
You nod, swallowing a mouthful of eggs. "I'm going to take a class that the PRT gives to independent heroes. I'll sign up as a Protectorate Affiliate while I'm there," you say.
"So you are signing up for that after all?" he asks.
"Yeah, I figure the backup sounds useful, and the restrictions aren't so bad."
"Good," says your dad. "I want you to be safe while you're out there saving the world, and having people at your back is part of that."
"I'll be as safe as I can be, dad," you assure him, privately wondering how safe that actually is given the opposition you'll eventually be facing.
"That's all I ask," he says.
You continue with small talk for a while until eventually your dad has to head out to work and you have to head out to the PRT HQ. You bid each other good bye, he squeezes Eurus into his car, and you head out to catch the bus in full costume.
You, thankfully, do not get much attention on your way to the PRT HQ despite being in your costume. You suppose it helps that your costume could pass for somewhat odd street clothes, lacking a mask as it does, and the fact that you're an entirely unknown cape also helps. In fact, you'd probably get more attention as Taylor Hebert than as Zenith; the former was all over the internet despite the PRT's attempts to suppress the story, the latter has yet to make her cape debut.
That'll change soon, you promise yourself. No, better than soon: tonight. Tonight, you'll take the fight to the Merchants.
***
The PRT HQ is a sleek, modern building, all glassy windows that reflect the Brockton Bay cityscape. A shield logo emblazoned with the initials 'P.R.T.' is the only thing that betrays its purpose from the outside. The inside, on the other hand, looks like a tourist trap. You look around at the posters of capes that adorn the walls: Aegis, Armsmaster, Assault, Battery, Challenger, Shadow Stalker, and more all stare down at in a variety of poses, some intimidating looking, others heroic, and others open and friendly. Off to your left is a gift shop where you can no doubt buy many of those posters.
You shake your head, somewhat mystified at the Protectorate's focus on merchandising, and walk up to the receptionist at the front desk.
"Hello, how can I help you?" says the woman.
"My name is Zenith," you say, "and I'm signed up for a class with the PRT."
Her eyes widen slightly at the realization that you're a cape, but she stays professional. "Give me just one moment to confirm that," she says, typing something into her computer. Then she smiles, looking a touch relieved to your eyes. "Yes, I see it here. I've notified them that you've arrived, someone should be down shortly to take you to the class. Would you like to sign up as a Protectorate Affiliate while you're here?"
"I would, actually," you agree.
"Great! Please fill out this form," she says, handing you a clipboard with some paperwork on it.
You fill it out while you wait, noting with amusement that the form takes great pains to never ask for anything that could be traced to your nonexistent secret identity. When the form is filled out, you return it to the receptionist, who smiles and hands you a sleek looking phone.
"That phone is connected to all our communication channels," she says. "It's recommended you use that for hero work rather than whatever phone you currently have. Welcome to the Affiliate program, Zenith."
Now you feel a bit silly for picking up your own phone. You suppose you could still use it as a personal phone, but you don't really have anyone you'd want to contact in a personal capacity. Maybe that will change as you get to know the Wards? You do have that patrol with Kid Win that'll be happening sometime soon.
Eventually your musings are interrupted as a PRT trooper emerges from the elevator at the end of the lobby. She's still clad in her chain-mail uniform, but she's carrying her helmet underneath one arm, revealing dark skin and hard looking eyes.
Rolling Force + Integrity + 2 stunt dice at difficulty 5 for mystery reasons.
Only 2 successes, you fail.
The woman approaches you and extends a hand in greeting. "I'm Captain Kayla Johnson, I'll be teaching you what you need to know if you're gonna hit the streets."
You shake her hand. "Zenith. I'm eager to learn."
She grunts. "We'll see about that. Follow me." She turns and leads you into the elevator at the end of the lobby and, after a quick retinal scan, takes the elevator up to the second floor, wherein you find a conference room with a whiteboard. On the whiteboard is written a number of words: Mover, Shaker, Brute, Breaker, Master, Tinker, Blaster, Thinker, Striker, Changer, Trump, and Stranger. The trooper gestures for you to take a seat at the conference table, and you do so without a word.
"Know what these are, rookie?" asks the trooper as she points to the whiteboard.
"Power classifications," you answer, having run into them during your research into the city's capes.
"Good, you've done some research." she says. "With this system, we can easily know the appropriate countermeasures for any given cape based on the ratings they've been assigned. You're going to learn this system if you want to know how to deal with enemy capes. Understood?"
"Yes ma'am," you reply.
She smiles, the expression looking a bit grim on her face. "Respectful, I like that. Now, we're going to go through things in order, starting with Mover here. A Mover is a cape with increased mobility…"
***
You spend most of the morning going over power classifications and countermeasures, paying special attention to the Shaker, Tinker, Mover, and Changer categories. Those are, after all, the categories the Merchants fall into: Skidmark is a Shaker, Squealer is a Tinker/Mover, and Mush is a Changer.
You eventually ask Captain Johnson what her recommendation would be for your targets.
"That's tricky," she says. "Skidmark is a Shaker, so you want to change the location of the fight as often as possible to deny him area control. But Squealer is a Mover/Tinker, which usually means locking her down and keeping the fight contained to an enclosed area. My advice would be to focus down one or the other if you can, then implement the counter measures for whoever you didn't deal with once you've got one threat handled. For Mush, treat him as armed and dangerous, try and maintain distance and restrict his movements, and you should be fine."
After the power classifications are burned into your brain, you move on to legal matters, mostly focused on when and how you're legally allowed to use your powers against civilians. Thankfully, you have pretty broad leeway where super-villains are involved, as well as with suspected member of parahuman gangs like the Merchants. You also have freedom to act in defense of others, such as when you witness a crime in progress. Really, you have a surprising amount of latitude to act in general.
After the legal class you break for lunch, returning to a quick first aid course. It feels easy, comfortable, almost familiar, and you're disappointed when it ends. At the very least you know how to patch up people's wounds now.
Finally, you move on to the most exciting portion of the class.
"Follow me down to the gym," says Johnson. "We're going to be doing some combat instruction."
You eagerly follow the woman back into the elevator, which takes you to a basement level where the gym is located. She leads you over to some mats.
"The first thing you're gonna learn is how to take a fall."
You frown, a bit annoyed at the basic level of instruction, but you do as she asks and learn how to fall. Again, it feels simple, almost like you're remembering how to do this rather than learning it for the first time. The trooper frowns as well, but leads you through a couple more exercises: she shows you how to throw a punch, how to block one, and it's as she's leading you through a grappling exercise that she finally spits out what's on her mind.
"Rookie, have you had combat instruction before?" she asks.
You shake your head. "No ma'am, everything just feels… easy."
Her frown deepens. "Fucking Thinkers," she swears. "Right, in that case, we're going to move on to a full contact spar. Let me grab us a ref," she says, then heads over to where a man is lifting weights. There's a brief exchange of words, then the two return to your mat.
"Right then, Jim here has agreed to be our ref," she says, gesturing at the man. 'Jim' gives you a wave. "Spar ends if either of us call uncle, tap the mat, or Jim over there calls the match," says Johnson. "You ready, Zenith?"
You relax into a comfortable boxer's stance and nod. "Ready."
"Good," she says. She settles into a stance of his own, and Jim calls "Begin!"
You eye each other warily for a while from across the mat. Captain Johnson seems unwilling to make the first move, too wary of your powers, and you're unwilling to approach her, as inexperienced (if apparently very talented) as you are.
Finally, to break the stalemate, you turn to your ref.
"Say, Jim, I didn't know Captain Johnson was too chicken to fight a teenage girl." Jim chuckles. Johnson grits her teeth at the taunt and charges.
She launches a flurry of blows at you to no effect: you block, parry, or dodge each one. You marvel at the speed of your own movements, the grace of your body as you expertly turn aside a blow intended for your face, guiding it just past your head with the back of your forearm.
An opposed Awareness roll: you roll Force + Awareness + 2 stunt dice against the opponent's 8 dice. You obtain 3 successes, they obtain 1 success.
You notice that Johnson is very deliberately, and very sneakily, holding back against you.
After a few more failed hits from Johnson, you notice something: she hasn't broken a sweat. That's odd given how hard she's been going after you. You parry another blow, guiding it past your head again, and it's the 'again' that does it for you: she's made that exact same attempt before. She's repeating moves she knows you can handle.
Has… has she been holding back on you? Why?
Regardless, you spot an opening: she over commits on a kidney shot you dance away from, a shot you saw coming a mile away because she's done it before. You respond with a brutal haymaker, putting the full force of your body behind the punch. You connect with her jaw and watch as she staggers from the blow, taking several lurching steps backwards and blinking the stars out of her eyes.
"Hold!" calls the referee. "You okay, Kayla? That was a pretty nasty hit."
She blinks a few more times, then shakes her head. "Christ, rookie, you hit like a truck. I might be concussed here, better head to medical and get checked out. Jim, why don't you show Zenith the door. We're done for the day anyway."
Combat in Exalted Essence is an exercise in raising your Power (either through withering attacks or Build Power actions) so that you can spend power to make a decisive attack, hopefully dealing damage.
Normally, you would gain 1 mote per turn in combat from the Breath of War. As this is a friendly spar, that rule does not apply. Additionally, as this is a friendly spar, you'll only be going to first blood.
We start with a Join Battle roll to see who goes first. As a minor house rule, this will also count as a Build Power roll against difficulty 3. You roll Force + Close Combat + 2 stunt dice for 8 dice, Johnson rolls 6 dice since she's holding back.
You roll 4 success, gaining 2 power. Johnson rolls 2 successes, gaining no power. You go first.
Johnson's hardness is 3, so you can't make a decisive attack yet. Instead, you Build Power by insulting her, rolling Force + Presence + Presence Excellency + 2 stunt dice for 16 dice against difficulty 3. You roll 7 successes, gaining 5 power. Your power is now 7.
Johnson makes a withering attack, rolling 6 dice plus 2 successes from the accuracy of her "weapon" (she's unarmed) against your defense of 3. She rolls no successes, generating only 1 power from her overwhelming value.
Your turn again. You have enough power to make a decisive attack, so you do so, wagering all 7 power. You roll 8 dice (Force + Close Combat + 2 stunt dice) with 2 bonus successes for accuracy against a defense of 3. You get 2 successes, with your bonus successes that's 1 extra success. You roll 8 dice for damage (7 power + 1 from successes on the attack roll). You roll 3 successes on those 8 dice, losing 2 successes to her 2 soak and dealing 1 level of damage.
Combat ends here, as you have scored first blood in the spar.
You blink, somewhat bemused at just how easy that was. The fight had barely started, it felt like, and now it was over? Was it because she was holding back, or are you actually that good?
You follow Jim in a bit of a daze as he leads you back up the elevator and into the lobby. You just concussed a trained PRT trooper in your very first fight. Now if only you could figure out why she let it happen.
***
Dad and Eurus are once again waiting for you when you get home, though they're in the living room this time rather than greeting you on the porch. After a hug from your dad and a very enthusiastic licking by Eurus, your dad asks you about your day.
"I concussed a PRT trooper," you blurt out. "I didn't mean to. I mean, we were fighting, so I did mean to, but she was going easy on me so maybe I shouldn't have-"
Your dad holds up a hand and says "Whoa, slow down, Taylor." You freeze, embarrassed at the rambling. "Why don't you start from the top?" he suggests.
So you do, taking him through your whole day. You skim over the details of what you learned in the lessons themselves: it took a whole day for you to learn, after all, and you're pretty sure you learn things faster than you should. Instead, you focus on the feeling of learning, of soaking it all up like a sponge, of how the first aid course felt more like jogging your memory than learning new things.
"And then we got to the combat lessons and it felt the same way, maybe even more so. Captain Johnson noticed, so she decided we should spar, and, well…"
"That's when you concussed her."
"It was only one punch!" you whine. "She should have been able to take that, easy. I bet she would have dodged it if she hadn't been holding back."
"She was holding back?" asks your dad.
You nod. "Pretty sure. She kept repeating moves she'd done before, and she never broke a sweat. I'm pretty sure she could have gone harder if she'd wanted to."
Your dad frowns. "Maybe she was worried you wouldn't get anything out of it if she went all out," your dad suggests.
"Maybe," you say, not fully committing to the idea.
"Well, whatever the case, it does make me feel better knowing that you can take out a grown woman with one punch. It makes the idea of you going after super-villains someday feel a little less crazy."
Well, that's as good an opening as any.
"Dad, it's not 'someday.' I'm planning to target the Merchants tonight."
He looks faintly baffled as he meets your eyes. "What?"
"I need to start helping this city," you tell him.
"Taylor, I – no, no, I said I would support you in this, so that's exactly what I'll do," he says, as much to remind himself as anything. "Just please tell me you have a plan?"
You nod. "I have a plan," you assure him.
What exactly is that plan?
[ ] Guns Blazing - Storm Squealer's workshop with Eurus and the PRT at your back, fighting and subduing whoever is present.
[ ] Overwhelming Presence - Show up at Squealer's workshop alone, relying on your social skills to talk down the Merchants and convince as many as possible to turn themselves in.
[ ] Divided They Fall - Avoid Squealer's workshop, try and use Eurus' tracking skills to find an isolated cape in Merchant territory and talk them over to your side.
[ ] Write In
Some reminders: you know where the Merchants are based, you know that their main headquarters is Squealer's workshop, and you know roughly the powers and cape membership of the Merchants. You may bring Eurus for assistance, and can bring a squad of PRT Troopers if you coordinate with the PRT.
[X] Divided They Fall - Avoid Squealer's workshop, try and use Eurus' tracking skills to find an isolated cape in Merchant territory and talk them over to your side.
This is what we got her for and more to the point we are not yet so powerful to take on a whole gang on our lonesome, at least not easily.
[x] Overwhelming Presence - Show up at Squealer's workshop alone, relying on your social skills to talk down the Merchants and convince as many as possible to turn themselves in.
-[x] Try to talk to some merchants on the way to get the best possible idea of the cape's personalities before we get there
-[x] Save a pair of stunt dice and use instant training to buy Listener-Swaying Argument if necessary.
[x] Divided They Fall - Avoid Squealer's workshop, try and use Eurus' tracking skills to find an isolated cape in Merchant territory and talk them over to your side.
-[x] If Eurus' is having trouble finding a cape try talking to any merchants out and about to point us in the right direction
-[x] Specifically convince them to turn themselves in, and to help us convince the others to turn themselves in too.
-[x] Save a pair of stunt dice and use instant training to buy Listener-Swaying Argument if necessary.
Best to play to our strengths Taylor is a ridiculously good diplomancer, so better to take a diplomatic approach, especially since with Bet's leaky jails it is much better to convince a villain to willingly turn a new leaf than sending them off to a jail they'll just get broken out of.
[X] Divided They Fall - Avoid Squealer's workshop, try and use Eurus' tracking skills to find an isolated cape in Merchant territory and talk them over to your side.
Oh, come on, we had 10 dice and only 2 success... I hope that wasn't anything too important given the lessons we were doing.
As for the spar, I am surprised that they got a normal trooper against the brute; I would guess they would put Aegis (I think), who can regenerate.
Divided They Fall - Avoid Squealer's workshop, try and use Eurus' tracking skills to find an isolated cape in Merchant territory and talk them over to your side.
Also, question what to "your side" means here, as in help fight against the other merchants or just info and them turning themselves in?
[X] Write In: Capture by a thousand words - Aim at merchants' minions to convince them to turn themselves in and give you more information about Merchant capes and plans; it will help police and PRT with containment of all their illicit goods; aim to get Squealer first if you can.
My reasoning for it is that we can't forget that merchants, including capes, are drugies and hitting their supply will probably help, also getting rid of minions who can hold a lot of guns will help Taylor get used to her power and in theory she will refine her arguments against merchants, not to mention hope leaderless merchants could jump ship to other gangs (or at least sell locations of the safehouse) or have messy "civil war" which in world where trauma=power could respawn merchants, or just start smaller gangs. I am not saying that if we can, we shouldn't get their capes out of the picture, but focusing on capes, at least to me, is a mistake (other than tinker); also, building up a reputation before confronting capes could help.
I'd intended that to be fighting against the other Merchants. "Turn yourself in" and "turn on your friends" are equally difficult persuasion rolls, since both would require three purchases of Persuade (you are asking them to give up their current livelihood either way).
@Amazing Abzan
Would the following be a valid write in to add to the two social options:
-[] Save a pair of stunt dice and use instant training to buy Listener-Swaying Argument if necessary.
For anyone without the source book Listener-Swaying Argument lets you reduce the cost of purchasing additional persuade/disuades by 1 success and gives an extra success if they had any intimacies or virtues making the roll harder for you. As a Solar it also gives us double successes on 9's if we're arguing for our principles. Given we're trying to convince them to take a life changing course of action we'll need to succeed on a persuade then buy it two more times so that's at least a three dice swing. Almost certainly more than the stunt dice would give us themselves
@Amazing Abzan
Would the following be a valid write in to add to the two social options:
-[x] Save a pair of stunt dice and use instant training to buy Listener-Swaying Argument if necessary.
For anyone without the source book Listener-Swaying Argument lets you reduce the cost of purchasing additional persuade/disuades be 2 successes and gives an extra success if they had any intimacies or virtues making the roll harder for you. As a Solar it also gives us double successes on 9's if we're arguing for our principles. Given we're trying to convince them to take a life changing course of action we'll need to succeed on a persuade then buy it two more times so that's at least a three dice swing almost certainly more than the stunt dice would give us themselves
I'd intended that to be fighting against the other Merchants. "Turn yourself in" and "turn on your friends" are equally difficult persuasion rolls, since both would require three purchases of Persuade (you are asking them to give up their current livelihood either way).
Ah, in that case, that's not something I think is a good idea; human master allegations and also potential backstabbing if their "friends" win the counter persuasion roll
@Amazing Abzan
Would the following be a valid write in to add to the two social options:
-[x] Save a pair of stunt dice and use instant training to buy Listener-Swaying Argument if necessary.
For anyone without the source book Listener-Swaying Argument lets you reduce the cost of purchasing additional persuade/disuades by 1 success and gives an extra success if they had any intimacies or virtues making the roll harder for you. As a Solar it also gives us double successes on 9's if we're arguing for our principles. Given we're trying to convince them to take a life changing course of action we'll need to succeed on a persuade then buy it two more times so that's at least a three dice swing almost certainly more than the stunt dice would give us themselves
Good thought @Jreengus, added in. We are going to want that social charm next turn anyway.
[X] Divided They Fall - Avoid Squealer's workshop, try and use Eurus' tracking skills to find an isolated cape in Merchant territory and talk them over to your side.
-[x] Save a pair of stunt dice and use instant training to buy Listener-Swaying Argument if necessary.
[X] Divided They Fall - Avoid Squealer's workshop, try and use Eurus' tracking skills to find an isolated cape in Merchant territory and talk them over to your side.
-[x] Save a pair of stunt dice and use instant training to buy Listener-Swaying Argument if necessary.
Ah, in that case, that's not something I think is a good idea; human master allegations and also potential backstabbing if their "friends" win the counter persuasion roll
The thing is it should be possible to prove to prove taylor isn't a master since the influence system explicitly isn't mind control, if you feel it is too out of charcater you can just refuse to accept the outcome at the cost of giving the other side a boost.
I was kinda shocked at how good it is, especially in this situation. The fact that you use it in stage 4 after the dice have already rolled so you can know for a fact if you need it or not is just 🤌
The thing is it should be possible to prove to prove taylor isn't a master since the influence system explicitly isn't mind control, if you feel it is too out of charcater you can just refuse to accept the outcome at the cost of giving the other side a boost.
I mean, if it is Squeler maybe she was kidnaped and drugged to join merchants, so convincing her that Protectorate could let her join under probation and maybe panacea could help with addiction. But for other capes, I think that it is unlikely to work they more or less started the gang and were in power benefiting from their little drug empire.
I think that aiming lower at least at the start, getting rid of some safehouses and unpowered folks, would help Taylor build credibility to then take merchants a cape or a whole. Not to mention, leaving Danny alone without a doggo could be dangerous.
You might have noticed that the vote timer is slightly longer than I've been setting it to before. I want you guys to have more time to consider votes and discuss things, because I really have not been leaving much time for that (I'm always too eager to write the next update lol). Votes will now last at least 48 hours, likely more.
To give myself something to write while votes are coming in, I'm considering starting up a second quest. I would alternate writing between the two, updating one while the other is waiting on votes. This second quest would also use the Exalted Essence system, but it would follow an Abyssal Exalt in the World of Darkness who thinks she's a (very unusual) vampire. Is that something people would be interested in reading/participating in?
I want you guys to have more time to consider votes and discuss things, because I really have not been leaving much time for that (I'm always too eager to write the next update lol).
While good idea, you should have probably put momeratorium instead, the discussions happen before voting is possible, not if there is long voting timer. (For many people it is a case of vote and forget, not vote at the last moment after discussion).
Given current small number of quester I would recommend in the future putting a 10-12h momeratorium at most and just finishing the vote after another 12 hours.
[x] Divided They Fall - Avoid Squealer's workshop, try and use Eurus' tracking skills to find an isolated cape in Merchant territory and talk them over to your side.
-[x] If Eurus' is having trouble finding a cape try talking to any merchants out and about to point us in the right direction
-[x] Specifically convince them to turn themselves in, and to help us convinces the others to turn themselves in too.
-[x] Save a pair of stunt dice and use instant training to buy Listener-Swaying Argument if necessary.
