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Get Jinxed: A Tale of Mental Instability and Poor Decisions (Arcane/League of Legends)

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    • Scheduled vote count started by Chengar Qordath on Apr 1, 2025 at 5:54 AM, finished with 45 posts and 23 votes.
    • [X] "If either of us had a little cough that came with a side of blood, what would you tell us? What would you try to do about it, given the chance?"
      [X] "If either of us had a little cough that came with a side of blood, what would you tell us? What would you try to do about it, given the chance?"
      [X] "We're all partners right? Us and Hextech against the world if need be? So, why not try and deal with this little cough together? If it's nothing, it'll be an easy win, and if it's more well, it won't stand a chance between the three of us. Please?
      [x] Ask Benzo for advice.
      [X] Cut the crap, Viktor. I know that isn't just a cold. How can I help?
      [X] Ask Her Parents for Advice (But Don't Mention Any Details)
      [X] "We're all partners right? Us and Hextech against the world if need be? So, why not try and deal with this little cough together? If it's nothing, it'll be an easy win, and if it's more well, it won't stand a chance between the three of us. Please?
      [X] Ask Her Parents for Advice (But Don't Mention Any Details)
      [X] "If either of us had a little cough that came with a side of blood, what would you tell us? What would you try to do about it, given the chance?"
      -[X] Ask Her Parents for Advice (But Don't Mention Any Details)
      [X] "We're all partners right? Us and Hextech against the world if need be? So, why not try and deal with this little cough together? If it's nothing, it'll be an easy win, and if it's more well, it won't stand a chance between the three of us. Please?
      -[X] Ask Her Parents for Advice (But Don't Mention Any Details)
      [X] Ask Her Parents for Advice (But Don't Mention Any Details)
      [X] "We're all partners right? Us and Hextech against the world if need be? So, why not try and deal with this little cough together? If it's nothing, it'll be an easy win, and if it's more well, it won't stand a chance between the three of us. Please?
      -[X] Ask Her Parents for Advice (But Don't Mention Any Details)
    Click to expand...
     
  • Voting
    • i like the winning vote,is very much a "i know something is wrong but i cant force you,i just hope you know when to ask help"
     
    Randino Treviani said:
    The vote was what we say or do in response to Viktor interaction at the end of last update. We voted to try and convince him. It doesn't make sense for Viktor but not Jinx to roll in this situation.
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    Yeah, it means Jinx convinced him to go to a doctor.

    Speaking of which, "I'm feeling kinda tired" has upgraded to "I'm running a fever", so updates might be a bit slow/inconsistent until that clears up. Great opportunity for some side content if anyone has fun ideas for that.
     
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    Would be amusing to see Seraphine interactions with Caitlyn or her awkward interactions with Cassandra over the years in the timeskip.
    I did wonder how Seraphine magic reveal goes as I doubt she would inform her music fans(wink-wink joke) and the public even if the reforms went through but I'm curious how Jayce and Viktor react or what they would suggest with hextech.
    Would be neat to see how Seraphine's song magic affect Viktor in a positive way.
     
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    • Happy Progress Day 3​
    [X] "If either of us had a little cough that came with a side of blood, what would you tell us? What would you try to do about it, given the chance?"
    Viktor Persuasion: 2d6: (3+5) = 8
    Success

    "You're fine? Seriously, Vik?!" I scoffed and crossed my arms over my chest, hitting him with my best disapproving glower. "If either of us had a little cough that came with a side of blood, what would you tell us? What would you try to do about it, given the chance? You damn sure wouldn't let us brush the whole thing off while insisting we're fine."

    Viktor let out a tired sigh, seeming to lean more heavily on his cane despite the fact that he was sitting down. "I suppose I can hardly disagree with you on that point. And even if I refused to give in to your arguments today, I doubt that you would let the matter rest."

    "I would annoy the hell out of you until you gave in," I confirmed with a relieved grin. "You have no idea how annoying I can be when I set my mind to it."

    "I have some familiarity with the subject."

    With the way all his coughing had made his voice even softer and drier than usual, it took a second for me to spot the faint grin on his lips and fully process the meaning behind his words. "Hey!"

    Viktor let out a soft chuckle. "I presume you'll insist on accompanying me to the doctor?"

    "I don't want you getting lost or forgetting your appointment," I agreed. "I know all the ways you'd try to weasel out of going to the doc, so don't even try it." Granted, my experience was all from trying to get out of dealing with that kinda thing myself, but that still gave me an edge in recognizing lame excuses. If he was trying any moves I'd used in the past…

    Viktor seemed to have reached the same conclusion. "I suppose I would be an amateur attempting to outmaneuver a master."

    "Darn right you are." I grinned and crossed my arms over my chest. "Now let's move out, Vikky! If you're right and it's nothing, that'll be one less thing for both of us to worry about."

    And if I was right and there was something seriously wrong, he'd get it fixed. And if he couldn't—no, we were gonna get fixed. There was no way there could be anything wrong with him that the best docs in Piltover couldn't fix.

    Right?


    After checking in with the first doc, we went for a second opinion, just to make sure. Then a third one, and a fourth. Viktor didn't show up for his appointment with the doc who was gonna give him a fifth opinion.

    I found him at his lab at the Academy after he didn't turn up, bent over his workbench and poking away at a piece of Hextech as if everything was normal. I snarled and swept everything off his desk before spinning his chair around to face me, planting one of my feet on the edge to get right up into his face. "What the hell, Viktor? You were supposed to meet me at Doc Whitesong's office half an hour ago, and I come here and find you plugging away?"

    Viktor closed his eyes and took a deep breath. When he spoke, he just sounded tired. "And what would she tell me? The same as the last four doctors we went to: my condition is terminal. The fissure gases I spent so many years breathing in have done too much damage, and there's no realistic hope of recovery."

    "Some of her patients have lived a lot longer than any doctor expected them to," I pointed out. "That'd buy us time to look for a cure."

    Viktor sighed and shook his head, gently nudging my foot off his chair. Then he got to work putting everything I'd knocked off his desk back in place. "Whitesong specializes in palliative and end-of-life care. There's no recovery with her, I'd just spend half the day lying in bed, taking pills to stay happy, relaxed, and useless. I'd rather spend six months in the lab finishing my final projects than exist for a year in low-stress comfort." A bitter parody of a smile twisted his face. "I doubt her methods are that effective, in any case. How could I possibly relax and spend my final months free of stress when I know I'm inching closer to death with every single breath?"

    "You don't know that it'll be like that," I snapped. "A lot can happen in a year. Especially once we get Jayce and the Kirammans in on it."

    Viktor waved the impending argument off. "I will tell them in due time, but not yet. Jayce is as bad as you, the two of you would insist on bundling me out of my workshop and away from everything I love."

    "Not everything," I muttered under my breath before clearing my throat and speaking up. "Maybe there's a reason that all the people in your life would want you to go to a doctor. I was fine keeping things quiet when we were just going for a checkup, but now it's starting to feel like we need to tell them the whole story." I was almost tempted to break my no snitching rule and go to them myself, but Viktor deserved the chance to tell them himself.

    The problem was he didn't seem to be in any hurry to take care of that. I didn't wanna blab out Viktor's big personal secrets, but I also didn't wanna be stuck keeping secrets from Jayce. Eventually I was gonna have to lie to him to keep covering for Viktor, and that was a line I really didn't want to cross. It felt way too close to going from doing right by Viktor to doing wrong by Jayce.

    Viktor sighed and shook his head. "What would telling them accomplish? Jayce would just worry and fret over me and try to find a solution that doesn't exist. I think at this point we can safely say that conventional medicine won't save me."

    "Then we'll try unconventional medicine," I shot back. "Remember all that analysis I did on Shimmer? Sure, it's mostly just used as a drug and a combat stimulant," I grimaced and fought down the memories of Vander's death, "but there are some potential medical applications."

    Viktor turned to me with a skeptical frown. "I'm aware of the potential, but I don't think you'll find a doctor in Piltover willing to incorporate a street drug into my treatment plan."

    At first I thought he was brushing me off, but a second later I realized exactly what he'd said. "No, definitely not one in Piltover. But if we went looking in Zaun…" I leaned against the wall, trying to rack my brains for good underground docs. I couldn't think of anyone off the top of my head, the street docs the Firelights counted on to patch them up after fights wouldn't be what he needed. The really good docs would all be trained and working in Piltover, unless there was some reason they couldn't. A really bad reason. "Do you have someone in mind?"

    "A… possibility," Viktor admitted. "A man I met many years ago, and one I would have preferred to never meet again. But then, a dying man has new incentives for a certain degree of moral flexibility."

    I grimaced as he confirmed what I'd been worried about. "Are we talking about someone who lost their license after they screwed up, or something a lot worse than that?" There'd been rumors about some psycho doing all kinds of messed-up experiments in Zaun, it was the kind of place where you'd never be short of desperate people to serve as test subjects.

    "Worse," Viktor confirmed. "How much worse is hard to say, but I have suspicions. I was something of an unofficial apprentice to him as a child, and one of his experiments…" he paused and shivered, taking a moment to gather himself before he continued. "Suffice to say that if you're determined to investigate Shimmer as a potential cure, I suspect he would be able to tell you more than anyone else."

    I let out a low whistle. "Damn, Viktor. You've known who came up with Shimmer all this time, and you've just been sitting on that?"

    He shrugged. "I know I've lived in Piltover for even longer than you, but I'm still enough of a Zaunite to not go out of my way to volunteer information to the Enforcers. And in any case, by the time I knew enough about Shimmer to make the connection it was quite clear the man was connected. It might not even be the same man, just someone carrying on his work."

    "Either way, that means he works for Silco." I scowled and started pacing around the room. "Things with Silco are… well he's not happy we stopped him from controlling Zaun's food supply, but outside of a few little skirmishes they've been under control." The Firelights had still been going after his goons, but that was something the Kirammans hadn't gotten mixed up in. I could theoretically walk into The Last Drop, sit down across from Silco, and ask to see his Shimmer guy. He might even go along with it, he was the kind of snake who'd know I'd never come to him for help unless I was truly desperate.

    I scowled and shook my head. "There's gotta be another way. What about those stories of someone coming through Zaun and curing a bunch of people who were suffering from The Grey?"

    "Stories that have been circulating around since before I was born," Viktor pointed out. "Stories like that always exist to prey upon the desperate, willing to part with everything they own for even the slimmest margin of hope." He sighed and shook his head, a resigned smile tugging at his lips. "A sentiment I can at least understand much better now than I did in the past. But no, I will not waste my time chasing after rumors of miracle healers or mages from distant lands who might be able to cure my condition."

    "Then what are you gonna do?" I demanded. "I can't see you running around Zaun trying to track the inventor or Shimmer down when you're in such bad shape."

    "As I said, I intend to focus on my work." He waved at his workbench.

    I frowned as I recognized one of the objects on his workbench. "You broke out the Hexcore again? I thought you said that thing was a dead end?"

    "I said I was unable to make further progress with it," Viktor answered. "Now I find myself inspired, or perhaps just keenly aware of the fact that if I don't finish it now I never will. I know that the Hexcore is something you and Jayce never truly believed in as a project. You've always preferred to focus on more immediate practical problems, and Jayce was busy with the Hexgates building Hextech into a true pillar of Piltover. You've both made your grand marks upon our cities, and the Hexcore was going to be my legacy. I would lay the foundation for the next step forward in the evolution of Hextech while you and Jayce achieved everything we could within our current capabilities. I don't have much time left to finish it."

    "Oh." Suddenly, his obsession with that dead-end project he'd been stuck on for so long made a bit more sense. I'd always felt like the Hexcore was a bit too out there as an idea, especially when there were so many more immediate goals to go after. Though if he wanted a legacy… "There's also the air purifier project. I know we poked at it a little before other stuff came up." I'd always like the idea of giving the Kiramman ventilation system a Hextech upgrade, but there'd never been enough time to make it happen.

    "A noble idea," Viktor agreed. "But as we've always said when the subject came up, there aren't enough hours in the day. If it's a matter of what I leave behind, I would prefer the Hexcore over an air purifier the Kirammans will name after me." He paused for a moment. "Of course, if the two of us were working together we could probably find the time to finish both projects before—"

    "Before we find a cure," I cut him off. "Maybe we could even come up with something using Hextech. If it can scrub pollution out of the air, maybe it could get that crap out of your lungs."

    "I suspect the pollutants have already done their damage," Viktor murmured, "but Hextech has allowed us to do many things that once seemed impossible. And all things considered, I much prefer pursuing Hextech to having you running around in Zaun trying to track down a mad scientist working for a drug lord. It would be almost nostalgic for us to be back in the lab together, applying ourselves to a project without any other cares in the world. Maybe we could even convince Jayce to join us, and it could really be like the old days. I think I would like that."

    I knew what he actually meant, but couldn't quite bring himself to say. That he wanted us to give up on trying to save him and just focus on spending the time he had left doing what he loved. Make his last months happy or whatever. It was a fine idea in principle, but there was no way in hell I was gonna just lie back and accept that he was dead and there was nothing I could do to save him. Not after everyone else I'd lost.

    Still, maybe if it was what he really wanted, I should try? Or was I just fooling myself, thinking I could shut down and ignore the fact he was dying?


    Current Stability: -1
    Willpower: 2

    What Does Jinx Do About Viktor's Illness

    [ ][Viktor] Respect Viktor's Wishes, Help Him Work
    Issues: Trauma, Abandonment, Powder
    Failure Consequences: Jinx is overwhelmed by stress and struggles to cope.

    [ ][Viktor] Approach Silco about Meeting with Shimmer's Creator
    Issues: Trauma, Abandonment, Silco, Powder
    Failure Consequences: Jinx says to hell with diplomacy and goes in guns blazing

    [ ][Viktor] Work With The Firelights to Find Shimmer's Creator
    No Roll Needed, but working with one of Silco's rivals to go after his Shimmer pipeline is sure to be a huge escalation in hostilities.

    Willpower

    [ ][Willpower] Spend Zero
    [ ][Willpower] Spend One for +3 to Rolls
    [ ][Willpower] Spend Two for +6 to Rolls

    Still not 100%, so apologies if this update has any rough spots or errors I missed.
     
  • Threadmarks
    • Chengar Qordath said:
    [ ][Viktor] Respect Viktor's Wishes, Help Him Work
    Issues: Trauma, Abandonment, Powder
    Failure Consequences: Jinx is overwhelmed by stress and struggles to cope.

    [ ][Viktor] Approach Silco about Meeting with Shimmer's Creator
    Issues: Trauma, Abandonment, Silco, Powder
    Failure Consequences: Jinx says to hell with diplomacy and goes in guns blazing
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    So -10 and -11 respectively

    No matter what we pick, we need to spend 2 of our willpower to have a chance of pulling any of these out...
     
    I'd say we go with the first and try for some Hextech cybernetics to replace/reinforce his failing organs to at minimum buy time for more Shimmer research. Better to risk it with something that we have three trusted experts in then leave it in the hands of a very dubious person that might add some unwanted extras to the procedure in their scientific pursuit without morals.
     
    I'm kinda curious if it wouldn't be possible to create some sort of hex-tech replacement for Victor's lungs. There's that one Councillor who looks like a robot or full-body cyborg or the like, and plenty of other characters seen in the show have artificial body parts. Granted, replacing an arm with a mechanical substitute is signficiantly easier than a lung, but their experience with the Water Filtration plant might help with that, essentially creating a system that filters CO2 out of Victor's bloodstream, and adds O2 to it.
     
    [ ][Viktor] Respect Viktor's Wishes, Help Him Work

    I'm partial to this, Viktors legacy means everything to him and he hated that Jayce brought him back. Even if we got Singe the cost might not be worth it and the hexcore infused with Shimmer causes problems if pure Shimmer doesn't help.

    Edit: Can't force help on people, sometimes respect the person's wishes is best.

    Torgamous said:
    Remember that failing a roll doesn't mean failing the action.
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    Ya but it makes Jinx's issues worse and this ome I can see it closely relating to her Jinx issue of failure. If we succeed it'll hopefully help her positive hero trait.
     
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    So the first option can succeed it's roll naturally on box cars, though presumably we'll want to spend willpower on it to make it more reasonable odds anyway. (12+, 9+, 6+ for 0,1,2 spent)

    the second option cannot succeed it's roll without spending willpower.(N/A, 10+, 7+ for 0, 1, 2 spent)

    and of course the third option succeeds at it's *roll* by simply not having one.

    I'm leaning towards first option and some amount of willpower spending myself.
     
    [ ][Viktor] Approach Silco about Meeting with Shimmer's Creator
    Issues: Trauma, Abandonment, Silco, Powder
    Failure Consequences: Jinx says to hell with diplomacy and goes in guns blazing

    We can bring Seraphine and Caitlyn, it'll be just like old times!

    Honestly though, with her being a PI and everything I wonder if Caitlyn actually would be useful with the Firelights choice. It seems like the most farfetched considering how slippery Silco and Singed can be, but maybe Caitlyn can bumble her way through with the power of being a useless lesbian protagonist.

    Also maybe Viktor shouldn't knock some miracle magician out of hand. Mage Reform hasn't really done much narratively so far, but there's gotta be some people registering and picking up Jinx's regulators. Maybe one of them can heal. Idk how much of a game mechanic it is, but apparently even Seraphine can heal in LoL.
     
    I'm leaning towards the first option as well. Whether we spend willpower or not I don't know, but it's the third update of the ark ready. Spending some would be good and we have only 3 or 4 updates left. Handling this without going to pieces is probably wise.
     
    I wonder what an uncorrected Hexcore can do and will it be as destructive as the shimmer core?

    Edit: The third option is likely to lead to a couple of rolls that will deplete the willpower pool anyway.

    The shimmer option is a gamble. Both from working with Silco which I imagine will also have options that need will and Dealing with someone immoral like Singe.

    Wonder if ome of the options can lead to uncovering what happened to VI IC and what the effects of that would be.
     
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    Respecting his wishes is the way to go, I believe. And maybe we could come up with some hextech that could help him. At least we could make his last months happy, doing what he wants.
     
    [X][Viktor] Respect Viktor's Wishes, Help Him Work
    [X][Willpower] Spend Two for +6 to Rolls

    Let's do it, who knows maybe we might at the very least delay his illness
     
    [X][Willpower] Spend Zero
    [X][Viktor] Respect Viktor's Wishes, Help Him Work
    While this isn't a good situation by any stretch of the imagination I think Jinx can handle it. Well not on her own, but she has new family and friends to help her deal with the emotions. We might temporarily increase some of the issues, but I think helping Viktor leave on his own terms will help Jinx's abandonment issues. I think the time spent working together will allow her a get closer that she didn't get with her previous losses.
     
    [X][Viktor] Respect Viktor's Wishes, Help Him Work
    [X][Willpower] Spend Two for +6 to Rolls
     
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