A Splinter in Your Mind - Matrix Quest

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◉ CODA ◉​

Alice Lovelace
​
Resolve
3/3​
Detachment
2​
Skill
6​
Gear
6/10​

Paths​
Path of Resistance
Level 1
When you Fight.exe.
When you gratuitously blow something up as an act of resistance.
The first time in a session you tell an authority to go fuck itself.
XP: ◉◉◉◉◎
You may spend Resistance XP to add or subtract Harm you give or take, 1-1.​
Path of Truth
Level 1
When you Prompt.exe.
When you follow your curiosity in a way that doesn't advance the mission.
The first time in a session you discover something new about the Matrix.
XP: ◉◉◉◎◎
You may spend Truth XP to reroll dice when you Charge or Refresh, 1-1d6.​
Path of Enlightenment
Level 1
When you Disconnect.exe.
When you refuse to back down or run away from impossible odds.
The first time you run out of Resolve in a session.
XP: ◉◉◎◎◎
You may spend Enlightenment XP as if they were Detachment, 1-1.​
Moves
Beginning to Believe: You gain +1 Detachment the first time you Charge.
Stop Trying to Hit Me: You take -1 Harm when on the Defensive in Fights.
Mine Now: Spend a Full Hit in Fight to disarm an enemy of their weapon. If you then shoot them with it, take +1.
Try Again: When you attempt a Disconnect you failed before and have not yet succeeded at, you may input one 6 as a True Hit.
Bit of Help: When you spend Detachment on any move other than Disconnect, you get two +1s. They can be applied to the same die or different ones.

Stunts
Jump Impossible Distances Lvl 2*
Hit with Implausible Force Lvl 1
Dodge Implausible Ways Lvl 1
Act with Implausible Slight of Hand Lvl 1

​


CW: Very 90s.

Also, this is going to be a seriously fucked up quest. I'm going to be doing my damndest to channel an appropriately edgy, teen-rage vibe. Expect violence, drugs, sex, etc.

There's also going to be some Pretty Uncomfortable Dysphoria-ing, trans readers be warned.​
 
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Take a minigun, flavour it as an antique Gatling gun purely to style on/make fun of Cache and his car which is admittedly exactly the kind of thing I'd drive in the Matrix.

Well, maybe I'd go more 'ominous black Bentley with tinted windows' but it's still in the same ballpark.
 
Mr BreaksIt said:
Take a minigun, flavour it as an antique Gatling gun purely to style on/make fun of Cache and his car which is admittedly exactly the kind of thing I'd drive in the Matrix.

Well, maybe I'd go more 'ominous black Bentley with tinted windows' but it's still in the same ballpark.
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I know myself well enough to admit I'd absolutely be driving around something ostentatiously over-the-top like a Panther DeVille, dressed like I was trying to outrun/outgun Eliot Ness.
 
3.1 - Choosing Sides
  • Threadmarks
    • "I think you should drive," you said,

    "Good answer," he grinned, jumping over the side of the car. "You got enough firepower there, Coda?"

    "We'll see," you replied, popping open the door opposite. He just laughed, plucking his sunglasses from the dashboard and pushing them on.

    "Three, two, one-"

    ---

    You hit the ground rolling, tearing out of an old parking garage in a sort of bizarre convoy and splitting up at the next intersection. It was dark, the city rolling by one sickly yellow streetlight at a time as you blazed down the road.

    The plan was dead simple: you and Engima were on crowd control, slowing down the convoy and taking out the escorts. Frag would then get Page/Thrash to the back of the truck, get the doors open, and snatch the package.

    Cache indicated for you to hold the wheel a moment, then pulled from his jacket the pearl-handled pistol he favoured.

    "These bots or real people?" you asked, and Cache shrugged, racking the slide.

    "Does it matter?" he asked, stowing the pistol on the dash and taking the wheel back. "If they're real, they chose their side."

    "They don't know they're working for the Machine," you pointed out, and he shook his head sadly. The car came to a halt at a red and he pounded the wheel in frustration at having to stop.

    "Sure they do," he said, jerking a thumb toward a homeless man at the corner. "They know they're working for a machine, and they know what it does to people. As I said, they chose their side."

    You nodded. Right. He was right.

    "Look, we're here to free people, but the thing you gotta understand is that people have got to choose freedom. People like them, sure, maybe we could get through to them. May we could explain. But in the time it takes for us to do that, they'll kill us, and a dozen others besides. We can't try to save the people who don't want saving, at the expense of the people who need it."

    "Yeah. I get it," you agreed.

    "Besides, they have their own definition of freedom, and they enact it whenever they put on those fucking uniforms," he said. "The freedom to hurt whoever they want. That's why they let the Agents in. It's what assholes like that always wanted, after all."

    "They don't want out of the prison, they just want to be guards?" you asked, as the light turned and the car took the corner. Down the road you could see the lights of the police convoy approaching.

    "You're catching on." He lifted a phone to his ear, nodded, then slammed it shut and threw it into the footwell. "Here we go. Enigma's taking out the guy at the back, then we're stopping the convoy."

    "How's he doing that?" you asked, just in time to see the enormous grey sedan plow out from an alley at full speed and smash into the rear police car, the two vehicles continuing into the alley beyond in an enormous fireball. "Fuck!"

    You barely had time to process it as Cache threw the car out in front of the convoy, barely avoiding oncoming traffic in the wide turn as he swung out in front. You climbed up over your seat and looked back to see two police cars in front of the armoured van. Behind it all, just barely visible, was the SUV carrying Frag and Page/Thrash.

    "You're up, Coda!" Cache called, clearly having the time of his life.

    ---

    What do you do?​
    ​
    You can ask Cache to drive however you want. While you're in the car, you have the car's dice pool, which can be spent in place of your own and take consequences for you. When the car takes Harm, it loses dice. When its out of dice, the car's finished. Cars don't refresh or recharge.​
    ​
    Your charge:​
    ⚄⚂⚂⚁⚁​
    ​
    The car's Charge:​
    ⚅⚄⚃⚁⚀​
    ​
    Gear: 10​
     
  • Threadmarks
    • nah this is the matrix- what we need is to be duel wielding two funky machine pistols or like micro-uzis
     
    I think the question we should be asking ourselves here is: would a rocket launcher damage the armored car too much for us to get the stuff inside it?
     
    I don't have any clever ideas for a vote plan (certainly nothing clever-er than @Lollerisms plan) but
    open_sketch said:
    "Look, we're here to free people, but the thing you gotta understand is that people have got to choose freedom. People like them, sure, maybe we could get through to them. Maybe we could explain. But in the time it takes for us to do that, they'll kill us, and a dozen others besides. We can't try to save the people who don't want saving, at the expense of the people who need it."
    Click to expand...
    Click to shrink...
    can I borrow this for signature material, sketch?
     
    [X] Plan: Ablative Cartana
    -[X] 1 from the car as the try and smash us off the road as we drive up close, which eats up the 2 as the car spins in a circle. Then we lean out and use the 6 from the car and the 5 from our pool to deal harm with our FUCKIN' KATANA WHICH WE JUST PULLED OUT! We slash one tire of the first car, and it FLIPS and smashes the OTHER cop car as Cache gets the car under control and gives Coda a little nod, like, "Good job." Then we spend the other 5 on the car to attack the armored car by Cache driving up to the side of the armored car and we jump onto it and impale the engine.
     
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    [X] Plan: Spray n' Pray
    -[X] Whip out a pair of pistols, firing one at each cop car. Aiming for the cops but ultimately just grazing the vehicles (both 2s, both 3s from our pool). Hopefully it keeps their attention on us for the moment, at least

    Not sure why we'd start off by taking a hit when we have the drop on them, and our dice are hot garbage I'd like to toss
    Also, rules question: do other people's cars have as much durability as ours do? That's why I would assume it'd make the most sense to aim for the bluepills, but I want to be sure for when we're actually hitting things
     
    [X] Plan: Start with a Bang
    -[X] Tell Cache to hold steady and give you a clean shot
    -[X] Spend the car's 6 and 8 Gear to whip out a rocket launcher and annihilate the lead cop car, blocking the convoy's path with flaming wreckage.

    We can only do full damage with a gun once, which means that sadly the minigun would be a waste of ammo. But the rocket launcher sounds almost as much fun.
     
    [X] Plan: Where did we fit that?
    - [X] Tell Cache to hold steady
    - [X] Use gear to produce antique gatling gun from nowhere, spend 5 to fire on leading cop car.
     
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