Nah, I'd guess at this point if Poptart's grinning it just means whatever's happening will be fun to write. So maybe good for us, maybe bad, but definitely a hell of a scene.
@PoptartProdigy
I see you there on that bottom bar. How goes the update?
Edit: For the benefit of our guest,once you get an account, you'll be able to see several facets of the site that used to be invisible. One of these is a handy little bar on the bottom of the page that tells you who is viewing the thread.
@PoptartProdigy
I see you there on that bottom bar. How goes the update?
Edit: For the benefit of our guest,once you get an account, you'll be able to see several facets of the site that used to be invisible. One of these is a handy little bar on the bottom of the page that tells you who is viewing the thread.
[X] Rebuttal Monologue
-[X] Calmly talk about the chains, bring up the concept they use, therefore making Yammar aware.
-[X] Be disappointed that you were unable to save Dandeer from herself, due to your anger at her.
-[X] Bring up the faked injuries and sorcerer massacre, make it seem like we've always known the second. Freak her out and make her doubt her magic, while making it seem that's why we weren't on her side.
-[X] Mention the traitors, terrorists and her plan, make her think the only reason she got this far is because we over-estimated her, while alerting Yammar that a SSJ needs to get out.
-[X] Point out the damage she did to Jaffur and Jaron, driving them to suicide.
-[X] Bring up how she's destroyed anything good in her life, and is doomed to go to hell rather then be with the rest of the ancestors in heaven. Mention actually meeting them, reveal that they're against her.
-[X] Make sure to Willpower Push.
-[X] Counter every argument she makes calmly and fully.
-[X] If we reach the end, and she's not turning, reveal how to break the bindings and implement Future Kakara's plan.
-[X] If Dandeer tries to shut us up, implement Future Kakara's plan.
On Her Own Terms
"Hello there, Kakara."
As your vision focuses, you get the distinct displeasure of Dandeer's being the face to which you awaken. You groan and close your eyes again for a moment. Then you again open them and take stock.
Yammar, in chains, to your right. The Senzus, unchained but effectively helpless, beyond him. Dazarel, perched on Dandeer's shoulder, gives you a sneer before lifting off and taking to the air, circling the Hall. Everybody else is arrayed behind or beyond Dandeer, blank-faced. Including Sensei Carrick.
You ignore the stab of pain at the confirmation that your teacher has been suborned, and glare up at Dandeer. "...hi." You crane your neck over to Yammar, where he sits with his eyes locked on Dandeer. "Feeling better now, old man?"
He grumbles by way of reply, but doesn't say anything, keeping his eyes on Dandeer.
"Glad to see you're awake!" chirps Dandeer, a malevolent gleam in her eyes.
"With the view, I think I'd rather be asleep," you reply, narrowing your eyes at her. "Nice chains. I can't move." You don't look at him, but keep your ki sense tuned on Yammar to see if he picked up on your hint. You don't get anything, and hope that it just means that he's keeping quiet about it. You return your focus to Dandeer. "Do you get a lot of practice with chains like this?"
Yammar barks out a laugh, and Dandeer flushes. "Why you little-" She slaps you. It doesn't even make you flinch.
You give her a smug grin. "Do you want to try again? I'm sure it'll go better the second time."
Working her fingers to dispel the sting in them, she scowls down at you. "Mouthy little brat. How about you take a moment to reconsider comments like that?" She turns around and steps away from you, Vegeta and Sensei Carrick following her.
As soon as her back is turned, you try to open a telepathic link with Yammar, but it doesn't go. Instead you cut your eyes across to him, shifting in a way that makes your chains clink. He blinks once, far more slowly than anybody that intent on an enemy ever would, and subtly flexes his arms against his bonds.
You relax fractionally -- and then feel somebody's eyes on you. You snap your gaze up, and lock eyes with Jaffur.
Your fellow Scion's expression is still as blank as ever, but his gaze is locked on you with an intensity you have never seen matched.
Well, no. That's not quite true. You've seen it before; when you've faced him as an enemy.
You shiver. Yammar took you down hard. You don't want to know how a fight with Jaffur would go. You don't have expendable allies to split his attention like Yammar did.
Then a commotion catches your eye, and you turn your head in time to see Dandeer sinking her fist into Sensei Carrick's gut. He grunts and falls to his knees, grimacing.
"So why didn't I hear about this until this morning?" snaps Dandeer, waving at you. "They've been planning this for years! And I swear to all the ancestors, if I hear, 'you didn't ask,' out of your mouth one more time-!"
"But you didn't," gasps Sensei.
She hisses, snatching him by the hair and dragging his gaze up to hers. "Answer me, completely and honestly," she growls, peering into his eyes. "Why did you not tell me before today? Yammar, I couldn't keep under the real version of my spell. He's a public figure. People would notice the change. But you? You're a hermit. Your own family isn't in your home often enough to pick up on all the little differences. You've been under for years. Tell me what I screwed up that let you keep this from me until now!"
At the direct order, Sensei's eyes glaze over completely, and his voice comes out in a monotone without inflection. "While you object to the phrase, 'you didn't ask,' you genuinely did not specify that you were to be informed of potential threats against your person.'"
"Potential?!" she shrieks. "They've been plotting this for years! They've had the date set for a month! How in Earth's name was this a potential threat?!"
"As you said, they have waited for years, and changed their schedule more than once," replies Sensei. "Given the facts, it would be unwise to assume that this time, they were really committed."
Dandeer looks to be on the verge of strangling him, but masters herself with what looks like immense difficulty. Taking a deep breath, she gives your Sensei an ugly smile. "Thank you for mentioning that, Carrick. I'll make sure to patch that hole when you get your refresher."
"As you wish, my Lady," he intones, staring into the middle distance.
You stare at your Sensei with a mixture of horror and revulsion. This is nothing like the man who's taught you. He's just...a puppet.
And even under all of that, he's still fighting.
You narrow your eyes on Dandeer. "You know what? I'm disappointed," you say.
Dandeer turns to face you, raising an eyebrow. "Oh really? Tell me just how I've let you down, Kakara dear."
You laugh. "Oh, I'm not disappointed in you! I didn't expect anything better."
The smirk drops off of her face. You take a second to check yourself. For this, you need to be calm. You need to be controlled. You need to keep your head about you.
Nothing about that says that you need to be kind. You lift your chin. "I'm disappointed in myself. All these years getting ready to fight you, when I could have been getting ready to save you instead."
At that, Dandeer lets out a scornful bark of laughter. "Save me? I think you might have the situation turned around in your head, Kakara."
You give her an annoyed look. "Not from me. Not from them." You nod at your co-conspirators, enspelled or otherwise, and then turn your gaze back to Dandeer. "I'm disappointed that I couldn't stop you from destroying yourself."
Dandeer stares at you for a moment before laughing again. "Oh, this is cute. You really think you're the hero here, don't you? That's adorable. Go on. Tell me how I've screwed up."
That said, you hear the hollowness in her tone, and see the tension behind the forced levity in her eyes. You square your shoulders. "No, Dandeer. I won't. Remember? This isn't about you. You aren't worth my regrets. This is about how I failed. I let myself get so angry at what you've done that I stopped trying to think about how to save everybody. When I saw you crippling yourself to frame Jaffur, I just stopped thinking."
Her eyes widen. "You what?!"
"But that's nothing compared to how much I hated you once I learned what you did to the Vegetan sorcerers," you hiss, leaning forward.
Her eyes widen...and then return to normal as her expression smooths out. "Of course." She looks over to the Senzus. "Thanks ever so much, Dandelor. That's going to make this harder."
Dandelor spits in her direction, stone-faced.
She sighs and turns back to you. "So my wayward apprentice-"
"I am NOT your apprentice-!"
"-told you some things he was able to scry," she says, looking bored. "I don't see why you're even bothering to mention this. You have to know that's a quick fix. Snip, snip." She makes a scissors motion with her fingers.
"And there it is," you hiss, narrowing your eyes. "I wasn't able to save you, so I wasn't able to stop you from messing up this bad."
She blinks. "I've won."
You laugh. "You've won? You call this winning? All you're going to do is throw magic at the problem, just like you do with everything else." You wipe the laughter off your face and get ready to bluff. You don't know -- you've never known -- but a part of you has always suspected, and with what you now know about Dandeer... "Want to get some prisoners of war murdered? Mind control some people into ruining their lives by turning into assassins!"
You here shocked gasps from the Senzus. Dandeer's head snaps over, seeing that Dandelor is surprised as well, and her eyes widen as she turns back to you. "How did you-?"
You continue, driving into the opening now that you know your intuition is right. "Want to sabotage our relationship with the humans? Make dozens of people destroy their own lives by trying to blow up their own city!" You scowl. "And then there's this; just mind control all of the nobles until there's nobody left to stop your plans. I always knew you could do this, Dandeer; I just didn't think you'd be so stupid."
Dandeer's nostrils flare. "Oh yeah? You think you're so smart, then you tell me how I'm supposed to be losing now!" She folds her arms. "I have you on your knees. I'm about to get everything I ever wanted, and it's because of my magic. I-"
"You haven't won anything!" you shout, leaning forward in your chains. You notice Jaffur tensing and settle back. "Every time you use your magic, you make things worse for yourself. Try to kill the scouts, and instead make them love me more than ever. Try to sabotage my meeting with the Congress of Nations, and you make me look like a superhero! Everything you've done has made things worse and worse for you, and you just keep on trying!"
Dandeer grabs at her hair in frustration. "Yes, yes, you're very smart, but you lost! I get it, you're lucky and you tend to be in the right place at the right time, but it didn't change anything! You still lost!"
"I wasn't finished," you say. "You're heading for a cliff, Dandeer, and you're starting to sprint. You keep falling, and you always tell yourself that it's somebody else's fault, so you don't need to change. Well, that's not the way the world works. It's not how the universe works. I have Seen it." You take hold of the edges of a vision fluttering in the space around you, just enough to let your eyes film over white. Dandeer flinches back at the sight, and you purposefully refrain from tracking her, instead staring blankly off into space. "I've seen Heaven, Dandeer. I've met our ancestors. None of them spoke for you. Gohan told me to take you down. When you meet Yemma, he's going to look at your life and send you down to Hell with the rest of our people's nightmares." You let go of the vision and refocus on her. "Because hey, forget what you did to all the people you've twisted trying to ruin my life. That's just what you've done that bounced off of me. I didn't just start being your enemy one day. It happened for a reason." You narrow your eyes. "You sealed your son, and I never forgave that. What should have been your biggest victory just wound up making your worst enemy. And that's not even the start of the chain!"
Dandeer draws back, rattled, and you laugh in her face. You subside, and tilt your head.
Calm. Not nice.
"You couldn't make your own husband love you, so you sealed him, too," you murmur. "And so your own son tried to kill you."
tsew
Dandeer's hand closes around your throat as she phases into your face, eyes wild. "...shut up."
You just stiffen your neck and let her bruise her fingers. "And so you sealed him, and earned me."
Her grip tightens, for what little that's worth. "Shut. Up."
You tilt your head back to look her square in the eye, not showing a single bit of strain. "And now you're going to seal me. What do you want to bet happens after you try that?"
"Nothing," she hisses. "Nothing happens, because everybody who could possibly stop me will be sealed or dead! Do you understand that, little girl?! Do you understand? You've lost! You can talk all you like, but you STILL! LOST!"
You give her a small, restrained smile. "Maybe. But that doesn't mean you've won."
Calm.
Not nice.
You take a breath and raise your voice. "Hey, Jaffur! How likely do you think it is that Jaron'll try to commit suicide to get away from your mom?" You watch Dandeer's face as she swells with outrage. She opens her mouth. She inhales. And then, you say, "Again."
Dandeer's retort sputters to a halt with a horrified croak. The blood drains from her face and hands, turning her skin sheet-white. Her grip on your throat slackens.
But before she can even begin to respond, Jaffur replies to you in a smooth and mechanical tone. "Almost zero, I would estimate," he says. "At this point, Jaron is far too intent on killing Mother to want to kill himself. At the moment, he is describing in considerable detail his intent to blow off parts of her body until she has nothing left but-"
"SHUT UP!" Dandeer screams, stumbling back from you with horrified eyes. "SHUT UP! SHUT UP, SHUT UP, SHUT! UP!" She reaches towards you with a desperate, insane shine in her eyes, her fingers twisted into claws. "Paparapapa! Paparapapa!"
You feel sorcery spiking into your mind and snarl, throwing up that barrier of lightning Dad taught you during the fight with Dazarel.
"PaparaAAAAAGH!" Dandeer stumbles back with an agonized shriek. Her fingers twitch and spasm, and she clutches at her hands. "What are you? What the fuck are you?!"
You growl at the fading headache from her intrusion, cursing yourself for pushing her too far. "What am I?" you ask, looking up to glare into her eyes. "Done talking."
You transform and burst to max power in an instant, and jerk your wrists apart. I can move.
snap
WHAM
Even as the shackles break, Jaffur slams into you in a flying tackle, bearing you back from his mother even as the aura from your transformation sends her tumbling back to the edges of the Hall. His focus on moving you leaves him open, and you snap your forehead into his nose, dazing him. Then you fire a blast into his midriff, casting him away from you.
The instant you get him away from you, Grandma charges into zero range, and you barely duck her first strike before knocking her back. The two recover and form up between you and Dandeer as Vegeta and Dad help Dandeer to her feet in the background.
Ordinarily, you'd be happy to keep the standoff going, and postpone the fight which you will inevitably lose. But today, you have a bigger objective than simply winning a fight.
You open telepathic links to the Senzus, and find that with the chains broken, you can now do so. 'Senzus, you need to get out of the Hall, now. Get back to Hall Senzu, and Dandelor, raise the wards! Dandeer's about to fire off a ritual she's spent decades building. You need to get home and make sure something is unaffected by it. I'll be sending other people your way; anybody who shows up at our usual spot, let them into the wards, saiyan or human. Somebody needs to keep fighting against Dandeer.'
'We understand, Scion, but how are we going to get out of here?' asks Raditz, glancing at the unengaged super saiyans checking Dandeer for injuries. 'We can't help in this battle.'
You take a deep breath. 'I'm going to cover you.'
You fire up your aura and charge Jaffur with a defiant cry.
Grandma immediately closes on your flank, and you release an area blast which she eats to her face. You hammer into Jaffur's guard, driving him back. Across the Hall, Dad and Vegeta leave off of Dandeer and begin heading your way, and that's when you feel Yammar's power level spike as he interdicts them. Impacts and explosions ring out across the Hall, Dazarel goes tumbling through the air above with an indignant screech, and the Senzus, after a stunned moment, start dashing for the exit.
After a stunned moment on the defensive at your sudden aggression, Jaffur counterattacks, ducking under a punch and kicking you all the way back into the wall. Winded, you barely roll to the side and kick away as Jaffur follows up by hammering into the wall. Stone shards fly everywhere, and you dart away. Instantly, Grandma intercepts you. You block a punch and roll away as Jaffur phases into place beside you. You barely avoid his swipe, and start flying backwards at maximum speed.
Across the Hall, you see Yammar kicking Vegeta away before turning to face Berra, but you don't have the time to take in any more before Jaffur overtakes you and punts you up into the air before you slam to a halt against the wards. This time, when he follows up, you don't manage to roll away in time, and he pins you against the invisible ceiling with a brutal elbow to the center of your chest. You gag as ribs creak, and he hurls you to the ground.
'Scion, status!' sends Yammar.
'Still moving,' you gasp, lurching up off the ground and setting your feet in just enough time to catch a punch from Jaffur and throw it off to the side. Grandma phases into visibility and kicks you to the side, and you hit the wall.
'Scion!'
You let out a whine of agony, sliding to the floor and rolling forward under another strike from Grandma. 'Still moving.' You see Yammar taking a kick from Vegeta full across the face, and the old man goes down. 'You?'
'This isn't working,' he grumbles, kipping back to his feet with the ease of long practice.
You take a single moment to check the Senzus' progress, and sure enough, they've barely made it halfway to the exit. 'We need to buy more time.'
You spin, sweeping Grandma's legs as she closes. You block a strike from Jaffur, and then catch Grandma in a wide-area blast that hurls her back. Then you turn, hurling a punch into Jaffur's guard full force. "Come on, Jaffur," you snarl as the two of you struggle with each other. "Fight this." You lash out with your other hand, and he catches that, too. The two of you clinch. He tries to throw a knee into your gut, and you block with your own.
"Mother's spell is seamless," he intones. "It is also powered by energy borrowed from the other Super Saiyans. It is impressive. I am not going to turn now."
"You managed to send me energy through the Seal!" you snarl. "You've managed to do more with less than any other person I know! You can survive the Seal for six years; you can do this!"
He looks at you with a gaze devoid of any emotion or expression. "Perhaps another day."
WHAM
Grandma kicks you in the side, and Jaffur takes advantage, kneeing you in the same spot before flipping you over his shoulder and slamming you into the floor to the sound of shattering stone.
You cough in the dust, and use ki to hurl yourself back and out of reach. 'Still...moving.'
'We can't do this four on two,' replies Yammar. 'We're going down too quickly.'
You haul yourself to your feet. '...you know, you're right.' You straighten and stare at Grandma and Jaffur, back cracking. 'But how about four on one?'
'...magnificent.'
You kick backwards and pour ki through your feet, rocketing away from your opponents as you raise your hands over your head. 'Send me your energy!'
You don't have long, before Jaffur catches you up. Just a second. Nowhere near enough to gather the energy of the entire planet.
But Yammar, he knew that this was coming. A second is more than long enough for him to kick back from Dad and raise his arms. A blue sphere the size of a moon swells into being over your head as you immediately draw it down, down-
In the fraction of a centimeter before Jaffur's fist makes contact with your face, a golden glow pours outwards from your body. He goes hurtling back, stone shatters, and the world glows with the light of a star. Then it clears, and you hang there, transformed and shining.
Yammar collapses, a welt raising on the side of his head. The four other nobles all turn to you, wary. On the other side of the Hall, a door slams shut as Dandeer flees into the warren of warded tunnels lining the walls.
You turn to Jaffur, calm in the storm. "I guess you were right," you say, lifting into the air. "Another day." Your hands flash into place, framing him. "KIKOHO!"
BANG
The column of light swallows Jaffur whole, pounding him down into the floor. You turn to Grandma. "KIKOHO!"
BANG
vip
Dad emerges from his transmission mid-kick and you catch it, hurling him away. That said, he recovers-
vip
-like he's been training all his life for just this fight, getting back into your face immediately. He goes on the attack, actually driving you back for a moment. That moment allows Vegeta to close, and the two begin weaving their movements together to keep you busy. It's not enough -- the power gap is now wide enough that you can still beat them, even with this.
But it's enough that below, you hear little crunches, and the sound of chewing. A moment later, Grandma's power level returns to full, and she joins your attackers.
You give ground, trying to keep them all to one side of you. You're not going to win -- you didn't expect to win, even without assuming that they'd use Senzus -- but you need to buy time-
crunch
tsew
You swing out your arm and blast away your opponents with a wide-angled blast before whirling and catching Jaffur's first strike. You kick him back and throw your elbow out behind you, shattering Vegeta's nose as the Lord recovers and charges you. Jaffur gets back in your face and you kick him back before spinning and grabbing Grandma by the wrist as she tries to punch you. You turn and hurl her into Jaffur as he tries to close with you again, and then turn and lever your entire body's weight through your arm, straight into Dad's gut. He flies back so fast he phases, shattering the opposite wall.
You turn, and see Jaffur floating there, already recovered again. He wipes away a trickle of blood from a split lip and spits off to the side.
"You fight better when you're not distracted," you say.
"So do you," he replies.
Then, you hear the grinding of stone on stone, as the Senzus reach the first gate and begin opening it.
Jaffur's eyes slide past you, and he stares at the retreating House for a moment before returning his gaze to you. "They are not the objective," he says, loud and clear. The other nobles drift up to the two of you. "We are to protect Mother."
"They will try to become a threat," says Vegeta.
"You're welcome to leave her to Kakara, if you prefer," says Jaffur.
Vegeta grunts, but subsides.
Jaffur looks at you. "We will fight you," he says.
You stare at him, in simple awe at how much effort it must have taken for him to make that decision. You give him a warm smile. "Perhaps another day." Then you clench your fists and scream, unleashing your aura and blasting them all back. Of all of them, Jaffur is the only one to maintain some control, struggling against the pressure as he meets your eyes. Your voice thrums with power as you say, "This is not the end."
"You can't win," he says, forcing himself a foot closer to you.
"No, I can't," you say, smiling. "Maybe if you weren't here."
Jaffur falters for a moment, slipping backwards.
"With all of them, I can't beat you, even like this," you say as he resumes his forward progress. "All I can do is draw out the clock. So I'm not going to try. One last push, and we're done. I know you'll win if I just fight you."
Jaffur fires up his aura and refines it, beginning a smooth, if slow, advance towards you.
"But I will win," you say. "I will be back, and I'll be stronger. I'll free you all, and you and I will have our chance to fix our world. Our people. It'll be our turn."
"We'll be done watching them fail," whispers Jaffur, sliding closer. "It'll be our time to fix things."
You smile. "Yes. And on that day, there will be nobody who can stand in our way. I will come back, Jaffur. I'll be better than anything our people have ever seen."
For the first time, his dull expression cracks into a look of longing. "Gods, I can't wait to see it."
You blush at his tone. "...yeah, I felt that in Synchronicity. I don't have any answers for you, Jaffur. Not for what that is, and not for what I think about it. But I know one thing: I want to see what you'll do, too."
His breath catches and his eyes widen, even as he pushes forward farther still.
"You are the Scion, the Prince Vegeta," you say. "We're supposed to test each other. And you're my friend. I want to see you succeed. We will succeed. I just need to pound it into your skull, first." You smirk at him.
He draws to a halt in front of you, within arm's reach. You can feel your well of ki beginning to run dry from the expense of maintaining the pressure. Jaffur stares at you with a hungry look. "I'll make you work for that," he promises, fingers clenching.
You laugh, tilting your head back and peering at him. "Test me, Scion," you tease, spreading your arms.
He nods, slowly drawing back his arm. "Stop me, Scion."
You close your eyes and open telepathic links. To Fenn, to Tabe, to Dillon, to Mom, to Mato, to Endivan, to Fasha, to Miss Fren, to every saiyan you know and care for. One-way links only; this is the Hall. You'll just have to hope that they listen. 'This is...'
Your eyes open, and you stare into the air for a moment in debate. Then you sigh, and close them again.
'This is Princess Kakara Goku. There is about to be a planetary-scale magical disaster. By my authority, I am issuing a full pardon to all members of House Senzu. You all are ordered to evacuate to their Hall and hunker down under their wards.' You send an image of your rendezvous spot. 'Head Raditz is in command for the duration of the crisis. Go, now. This is an order.'
With regret that you can't give them a real goodbye, you cut the links, and open new ones to the Misfits, save Maya. 'It's Karen. There are a lot of answers I owe you all, but I'm sorry; I can't. What you need to do, right now, is go here.' You send the location. 'I need you to go there right now. Please, don't stop for anything. There's not enough time. I promise, I'll see you when I can. Listen to the man called Raditz; he can be trusted. He'll explain everything."
You cut the links, and you open one last one, to Maya. 'Maya, it's me. I can't hear you right now, so please don't answer back. I need you to go back to those mountains where you learned the truth about me. Find the tallest mountain. One of my people will be there; his name is Raditz. Listen to what he tells you, and do what he says. I'll see you again, I promise, but you need to go now. There's no time for anything else.'
Then you cut the link, and open your eyes.
Jaffur is struggling against your aura. He keeps lunging forward, only to be buffeted back.
You open one final link. 'Raditz, Yammar is down and I'm about to follow. The next time you see me, I'll be sealed. I have a plan, and I'll be back, but I don't know how long it'll be. Until then, keep fighting. Make sure Dandeer doesn't just own the planet.' You feel your power running down to its last dregs. The light flickers. You lower your arms and sigh. '...when I come back, I'll fight for you, no matter who's against me. So...do whatever you need to.'
The last of your ki blasts out through your pores, and the well flickers dry. Jaffur blurs.
* * *
"...arapapa!"
You blink, the world fuzzy and distorted. You have a headache.
"Paparapapa!"
That voice doesn't help.
You open your eyes fully, and dimly focus on Dandeer as she twists her fingers as though they're holding puppet strings. "Paparapapa!"
You feel her sorcery encroaching on your mind, and you give her a dim smile. Behind her you see Jaffur, again blank-faced. Dazarel rests on her shoulder, looking at you with a face that oozes unholy satisfaction.
Dandeer twists her fingers again. "Paparapapa!"
You let out a sigh of pain. You feel people holding your arms, and you have nothing left in your reserves. You close your eyes and look down. "I guess that's it," you whisper. "You beat me."
Dandeer pauses. "That's right," she hisses, fury and hatred in her voice. "I beat you. You think you can take my family away from me? You think that you can steal my son? It's over!"
You look up at her and open your eyes, filmed over white in a sightless glare. You bare your teeth. "You lose."
* * *
Gone.
* * *
Your shade springs out of your body, and you feel refreshed. Your power level, neutered as it is in this form, is miles above the depleted dregs in your physical body. You sigh.
Dandeer's head jerks up in shock, meeting your gaze. She's not the only one.
A pulse of fury bolts through you, and you point at Dazarel. "YOU! What did you have to do with this?!"
He licks a claw, unconcerned. "Spied on you. What are you going to do about it?" He flashes teeth at you. "Disappointed that I found a greater patron?"
Your fury boils over, and you swipe at him. To your shock, you feel resistance, and you wind your fingers around his neck. You yank, and yelp in surprise as a ghostly version of him peels away from his body, which slumps off of Dandeer's shoulder. The three of you glance between each other and the little body for a moment.
Then your eyes harden, and you lift the miniature dragon up to eye level. "You're coming with me."
Dandeer's head snaps up. "Wait, no! No, you can't escape! You're not supposed to-!"
Take me away.
You rocket up into the sky, Dazarel in tow. He lets out a little dopplering shriek of indignation.
"No!" screams Dandeer. "You can't get away now! No! No!"
"Oh, don't worry!" you reply, nearing the wards. "I'll be back."
"NO-!"
Then you pass through the wards as though they were butter and accelerate away, up into the sky, past the atmosphere, and into the stars.
To whom do you reach? And remember:
There are no wrong choices.
[ ] Old friends.
[ ] New friends.
[ ] Old family.
[ ] New family.
[ ] Old enemies.
[ ] New enemies.
[ ] Those above.
[ ] Those below.
MANUAL MORATORIUM. NO WRITE-INS.
The winning plan, as I described in my unlock post, used this as an opportunity to destabilize and demoralize Dandeer, with a secondary focus on information sharing.
It succeeded. Unfortunately, it did not succeed in its other aim, that being of convincing Dandeer to stand down. Nor did it get out Yammar. I'm sorry, but the modifiers were too nuts. Thus, as instructed, we proceeded to the plan, and Kakara executed it magnificently. You even got off a couple of free shots at Dandeer and Dazarel on your way out.
I want to emphasize: this was a great plan, and it has earned you a lot. You got out evacuate orders to a huge number of people, many of whom will likely go on to have an immense impact on the impending struggle, and ensured that the Senzus escaped, thus not rendering the whole affair moot. Furthermore, Dandeer is about as off her game as she is ever going to get. You have given the incipient resistance the best shot you can, and you've escaped with a potent potential asset.
Now it's time to make good on this opportunity.
I hope that you all have enjoyed the update. Now, here are the rolls.
Targeting arguments [Willpower, DC 87]: 68, failure
Recover! [WP, DC 50]: 99, success, no penalty
Opening exchange of words [Communication, Kakara vs. Dandeer]: 142 vs. 145, failure.
I know what you did [communication, K v. D]: 162 vs. 138, success
You've destroyed all you ever loved and are going to literal actual hell [comm, K v. D]: 215 v. 172, success
Jaron tried to kill himself [comm, K v. D]: 279 vs 124, massive success
Semi-bullshit [deceit, K v. D]: 74 v. 22, success
Does she back down? [comm, K v. D]: 162 vs. 189, failure
Passive messages [deceit, K v. D]: 98 v. 56, success
Get room to fight [crowd fighting v. team fighting, Kakara vs. Jaffur and Apra]: 104 vs. 99 and 80, success
Delay 1 [cf v. tf, K v. J&A]: 92 v. 123 and 105, failure
Delay 2 [same]: 54 v. 98 and 114, failure
Keep going 1 [Willpower, DC 80]: 119, success
Keep going 2 [WP, DC 100]: 153, massive success, have a free recovery option
Kakara goes Spirit Saiyan: Why yes, yes she does
Kakara uses alpha strike [Kikoho v. flight, Kakara v. Jaffur]: 145 v. 32, massive success
It's super effective! [Kikoho v. flight, Kakara vs. Apra]: 92 v. 43, success
*teleports behind you* [IT v. Dueling, Berra v. Kakara]: 98 v. 134, success
ow [team fighting v crowd fighting, Berra and Vegeta v Kakara]: 142 and 123 v 122, mild failure, Apra and Jaffur recover
4 v. 1 [team fighting v crowd fighting, Jaffur Apra Vegeta and Berra v Kakara]: 152, 72, 45, 12 v 168, success
Jaffur fudges his IFF [Willpower, DC 100]: 132, success
Jaffur convinces the mind-controlled drones to focus on the obvious threat: trivial, auto-pass
Last stand [Ki projection v flight, Kakara v J A V & B]: 143 v 134, 62, 89, and 56, success, senzus escape and you have time for another round of comm in addition to a full round of evacuation orders
Motivation [comm, Kakara v Jaffur]: 189 v 12. Yeah.
Evacuation order [comm, Kakara v so many people]: 82 v ??? (situational modifiers applied to recipient rolls, given nature of check)
Get over here! [sight??? v psi, Kakara v Dazarel]: 54 v [PSI DISABLED], auto-success
I'll see you all around the thread. Have fun, everybody!
If anyone could un-Seal him and recruit him as an ally, it'd be Dandeer. Also, he may know things we don't want Dandeer to learn. Also also, Dandeer juuust might betray and murder him.
In general I'm pretty satisfy with the update especially with the good rolls.
If we win this one, and as long as they don't blow up the spaceship, we can go on spaceship rides with Maya ANY TIME WE WANT. The people who own the spaceship owe us their lives and freedom.
Hm. This actually raises an interesting point: at what point should the players' insights become Kakara's insights? For that matter, given how the players came by this information, does this count as their insight at all?
I know several people speculated that Dandeer was responsible for the incidents, but nobody ever seemed sure, and it never got confirmed. That said, Kakara is very smart, she now has more information about Dandeer and her methods than ever before, and again, multiple people suspected based on information Kakara possesses.
...I admit, I'm tempted to let Kakara figure it out, at least as a shot in the dark.
Hm. You have Deceit; is there a separate Intrigue skill? You could have characters roll Intrigue against a flat DC to see if they figure such things out. Or some other appropriate 'sleuthing' skill.
Hm. You have Deceit; is there a separate Intrigue skill? You could have characters roll Intrigue against a flat DC to see if they figure such things out. Or some other appropriate 'sleuthing' skill.
"That's bullshit! She was sealed! You changed the rules secretly and cheated to let her get away! You took our ability to instantly kill Kakara away from us with a pointless cutscene that we didn't get to vote on! I demand a retcon or I quit!"
Luls aside, really liked this update. My enthusiam for the quest has been refreshed, and I'm excited to see new bits of worldbuilding. Y'know what they say: "travel to new places, meet exotic and interesting people, and kill them!"
....Well, that happened. I'd give ye a reaction, but I'm en route to Dublin for an eyeball checkup. Short version; F*** You, Yammar is cool, Senzus are awesome,Spirit Saiyan ensues, Jaffur best Vegeta, Jaffur STILL best Vegeta, and extra F*** You.
"That's bullshit! She was sealed! You changed the rules secretly and cheated to let her get away! You took our ability to instantly kill Kakara away from us with a pointless cutscene that we didn't get to vote on! I demand a retcon or I quit!"
To be fair, Nega-Dandeer Quest KNEW she was a Seer, and apparently understands mind projection, so it's her/our own damn fault for not warding Dandeer against mind projection.
Luls aside, really liked this update. My enthusiam for the quest has been refreshed, and I'm excited to see new bits of worldbuilding. Y'know what they say: "travel to new places, meet exotic and interesting people, and kill them!"
You know, generally when a QM explicitly includes no write-ins and a bunch of cryptic options, it's probably safe to assume that which, if any, of the votes does X thing you want is on you to figure out.
We've actually gone to Otherworld before. We don't know if being a Shade changes things, but we're supposedly able to go pretty much anywhere, even if we couldn't physically reach that place. Otherworld (and, therefore, the afterlife of the Dragon Ball verse) is a location that physically exists, so we should be able to at least temporarily visit and see what the Kais and other deities have to say.
