Lex Sedet In Vertice: A Supervillain in the DCU CK2 quest

What sort of tone should I shoot for with this Quest?

  • Go as crack fueled as you can we want Ambush Bug, Snowflame and Duckseid

    Votes: 30 7.7%
  • Go for something silly but keep a little bit of reason

    Votes: 31 7.9%
  • Adam West Camp

    Votes: 27 6.9%
  • Balanced as all things should be

    Votes: 195 50.0%
  • Mostly serious but not self-involvedly so

    Votes: 73 18.7%
  • Dark and brooding but with light at the end of the tunnel

    Votes: 12 3.1%
  • We're evil and we don't want anyone to be happy

    Votes: 22 5.6%

  • Total voters
    390
  • Poll closed .
I think our goal is not making her enjoy the party but learn how to extract value from people...
You know, I don't mind Pamela going full "all men but Luthor are pigs"...

So... My question is. Who will annoy her the most? Who is most likely to treat her as a pretty face and nothing else?
I feel like a higher general stability=a higher cooperation score in general, including possibly with Lex.
 
I don't think its a good idea to dance with Pamela. It takes 2 actions, may give her the wrong idea (she is a woman recently and dreadfully wronged by a man she was in a dating relationship with and who had power over her both professionally and via chemicals), and (with the press around and gossip mongers) may put a target on her head for the next League of Shadows attempt. After all, if you can't get the man, go after his love interest. And, while she has armor, she has a low Martial.
I think we are past the point when Pamela will interpret this dance in this way. I can't guarantee that it won't backfire but I think it is unlikely. Having some fun together is a teambuilding experience.

Also, I will be surprised if the whole scene will be just "Lex and Pamela danced together. They (dis)liked doing it." It will include other people.

League of Shadows' interest is a valid concern that worries me somewhat. But with Pamela being a date (and she is, Lex arrived with her) is enough to cause this.


I feel like a higher general stability=a higher cooperation score in general, including possibly with Lex.
Yes. But slightly Posion-Ivish Pamela will be more ready to do morally questionable things.
 
Yes. But slightly Posion-Ivish Pamela will be more ready to do morally questionable things.
Or we can aim her in another direction--frame anything morally questionable we ask her to make in the context of using it to fight worse things, like the LEague of Shadows.

My point is that if we can find people who are sane, then convince them that our plans are fully reasonable courses of action, we're more likely to get satisfactory results. Unhinged people tend to ruin plans quite disastrously.
 
i wonder is Gotham of this quest cursed like it is some times in the comics that can be a backdoor to magic maybe?
 
My point is that if we can find people who are sane, then convince them that our plans are fully reasonable courses of action, we're more likely to get satisfactory results. Unhinged people tend to ruin plans quite disastrously.
There is a gradient between full Poison Ivy and, for example, finding it morally acceptable to use the pheromone on a man who "deserves it for being a pig".

Also, there is such thing as an interesting story. Of course, it is a matter of personal taste, but I'd love to see some parallels with canon Poison Ivy's character arc
 
There is a gradient between full Poison Ivy and, for example, finding it morally acceptable to use the pheromone on a man who "deserves it for being a pig".

Also, there is such thing as an interesting story. Of course, it is a matter of personal taste, but I'd love to see some parallels with canon Poison Ivy's character arc
We don't need Ivy to think that all men are horrible for her to think that most men are, or even just have a exaggerated distaste for the ones that are horrible.
 
Would it actually be possible to get a good poison ivy at this point with Pamela? I'm more saying this by actually getting her to Poison Ivy in the first place.
 
@Hadrian98

Your vote fell apart.
Adhoc vote count started by VoidZero on Aug 7, 2019 at 3:25 PM, finished with 50 posts and 19 votes.
 
Still opposed to deliberately selling superpowers, but having Meta-Human staff would be incredibly helpful. Plus, the Poison Ivy power-set means great synergy with Pamela's botany specialty- so greatly increased progress on everything plant-related.
 
[X] [Lex] Speak to Bruce Wayne
[X] [Pamela] Speak to Bruce Wayne
[X] [Lex] Dance with Pamela
[X] [Pamela] Dance with Lex
[X] [Lex] Speak to the woman with the pentacle dress and the woman with the bomber jacket
[X] [Lex] Speak with Lucius Fox
[X][Pamela]Speak with Vicki Vale
[X][Pamela]Speak with Katherine Kane

I'd sayPamela is a bit unsuited to try to mingle with Philip Kane. Vicki Vale would probably be a better choice and she could possibly drop enough hints for Vicki to start wondering why exactly Lois Lane seems so aggressive against Lex.
 
[X] [Lex] Speak to Bruce Wayne
[X] [Pamela] Speak to Bruce Wayne
[X] [Lex] Speak with Harvey Dent
[X] [Pamela] Speak with Lucius Fox
[X] [Lex] Speak to the woman with the pentacle dress and the woman with the bomber jacket
[X] [Lex] Speak with Lucius Fox
[X][Pamela]Speak with Vicki Vale
[X][Pamela]Speak with Katherine Kane

I'm fine and all with shipping Lex & Pamela, but dancing literally doesn't get us anything here besides saucy rumors about "The future Mrs. Luthor!?"
 
[X] [Lex] Speak to Bruce Wayne
[X] [Pamela] Speak to Bruce Wayne
[X] [Lex] Dance with Pamela
[X] [Pamela] Dance with Lex
[X] [Lex] Speak to the woman with the pentacle dress and the woman with the bomber jacket
[X] [Lex] Speak with Lucius Fox
[X][Pamela]Speak with Vicki Vale
[X][Pamela]Speak with Katherine Kane
 
I'm fine and all with shipping Lex & Pamela, but dancing literally doesn't get us anything here besides saucy rumors about "The future Mrs. Luthor!?"

It raises our profile and steals attention off of Wayne to put it where it rightfully belongs, on us.

[X] [Pamela] Speak to the woman with the pentacle dress and the woman with the bomber jacket

Have her get in with the other ladies, one of whom could be our in to magic and the other of whom could fit in with our new acquisition

[X] [Lex] Speak to the Dagget, Boyle and the unknown businesswoman

Crooked industrial businessmen are Lex's type of people. Could get info on potential rivals or future acquisitions, could get inroads towards recruiting Dr. Freeze or Clayface

[X] [Lex] Speak to Bruce Wayne
[X] [Pamela] Speak to Bruce Wayne

Double team the man of the hour

[X] [Pamela] Speak with Vicki Vale

Diplomance a reporter to counteract the negative press from Lois Lane

[X] [Lex] Dance
[X] [Pamela] Dance

Puts us center stage where we belong and is simply the done thing to do when you bring a date to society function

[X] [Lex] Scope out the entrances and exits

Mercy isn't here to watch our back so we should be aware of these things just in case shit pops off
 
[X] [Lex] Speak to Bruce Wayne
[X] [Pamela] Speak to Bruce Wayne
[X] [Lex] Dance with Pamela
[X] [Pamela] Dance with Lex
[X] [Lex] Speak to the woman with the pentacle dress and the woman with the bomber jacket
[X] [Lex] Speak with Lucius Fox
[X][Pamela]Speak with Vicki Vale
[X][Pamela]Speak with Katherine Kane
 
Welcome Home Wayne Part 2
So the vote has come to a close. The winning options are as follows
[ ] speak with Bruce Wayne (Lex and Pamela)
[ ] dance (Lex and Pamela)
[ ] speak to the woman in the pentacle dress and the woman in the bomber jacket (Lex)
[ ] speak to Lucius Fox (Lex)
[ ] speak to Philip Kane (Pamela)
[ ] speak to Katherine Kane (Pamela)

Without further ado here is the next part of the party.

Welcome Home Wayne Part 2

You decided to take the most direct route forward. This whole party was thrown in Wayne's honor so you might as well see what he had to offer. You along with Pamela strode throughout the room and decided to talk directly to Bruce Wayne. The man of the hour sat in a private little nook. As he saw you approaching he waved off Vicki Vale and made some room for you and your date (Pamela) to come and sit down. You decided to speak to the man but it quickly became clear that he was a rather vapid individual. He mentioned that he would be interested in possibly working alongside you but he gave no real indication of what he wanted to do with the business. Evidently Bruce Wayne wanted to leave all the business to his uncle while simply enjoying the benefits of being rich. You couldn't stand parasites like that. While you had gotten a possible cooperative deal with Wayne Enterprises later on down the line, Wayne's need to dig into personal matters annoyed you and several of his comments rankled Pamela the wrong way. Pamela at the very least got along decently with Mr. Wayne's date, a Ms. Paige Monroe. When Wayne stuck his foot in his mouth and directly asked Pamela if she was so eager to get back into a relationship with a superior especially since she was known to have been exploited by Woodrue (although not to what extent) Pamela blew up at him and you had to leave. Over all Wayne had been amenable to an agreement but his disposition rubbed both you and Pamela the wrong way. Hopefully you didn't have to deal with the man in person much more.

In order to help Pamela calm down as well as organize your next move you decided to take her to dance. The music was tasteful and elegant and as you waltzed with your date you calmed her down, reassured her of her place in the LexCorp family and reminded her that this night was for her to practice dealing with imbeciles who knew nothing about her or her worth. You let Pamela know that you still had faith in her abilities as she had succeeded very well in turning Paige Monroe into someone who would want to work with you and would pressure Bruce into complying with your requests. You decided to let her work the second most important people at the party, the Kanes, while you would speak with some interesting party guests. Eager to prove your faith in her as well placed Pamela set off to make an alliance with the Kanes.

You meandered off to speak with Lucius Fox. The old man was busy talking to some butler but you managed to enter the conversation rather smoothly and while Lucius Fox was tight lipped he did let some things slip through that could prove quite useful. Evidently Wayne enterprises had decided to enter the smartphone market and felt they would be able to compete despite their crushing failure when you revealed the Lex-Phone. Evidently Lucius also didn't trust Philip Kane and hoped that Bruce would take the reigns of the company. This piqued your interest since it meant that there clearly was some tension hidden between various factions at Wayne Enterprises and if your rival had issues you could exploit them. Unfortunately Lucius eventually noticed that you were prying a lot of information out of him and promptly clammed up. The man was clearly intelligent and if he became dissatisfied with his current job you are sure you could recruit him to LexCorp. There was no reason to push further and gain the mans dislike since you already had the information you wanted and the man appeared to respect you if not necessarily like you.

As you ambled through the guests you saw how Pamela was doing with her assignments. Philip Kane was an open book. The man was rather lecherous and a beautiful woman like Pamela doing her best to get him to talk was making him rather glib. He constantly bragged to her about his success and how it was a shame she was working for LexCorp when Wayne Enterprises was going to revolutionize the world and wouldn't squander her talents. She then pointedly asked Kane how he planned on making his company go green since that was her area of interest and the man simply gave her empty platitudes. Needless to say Pamela was not impressed but she hid it well (if you didn't know her as well as you did you might not have caught how much more plastic Pamela's demeanor got around Philip Kane after having her goals not taken seriously at all). Pamela continued to dig further into Kane's business but the man grew remarkable evasive when talking about his own wealth while being more than happy to spill lots of company secrets. Pamela left the man as soon as he proved that he would no longer be useful. Still Pamela had gained more than enough intel on Wayne Enterprises business plans.

She then switched over to talking to Katherine Kane. Katherine was arguably just as heavily influenced by Pamela's charm as Philip was but Pamela didn't appear to notice it as much and it didn't sour her opinion of Katherine. Pamela learned from Katherine that Katherine was currently in the military but was struggling to find a reason to stay on active duty. She had grown concerned about her uncle as well as he was meeting with suspicious people. Pamela floated an idea to Katherine Kane on behalf of LexCorp which Katherine eagerly accepted. All in all the night proved to be a successful test run for Pamela's capabilities at navigating the world of intrigue and business.

Content in your underlings success you went over to talk to the woman with the pentacle dress and the woman in the bomber jacket. You learned that the woman in the pentacle dress was named Rebecca Carstairs and she was an actress, singer, model and self-proclaimed occultist. The woman in the bomber jacket was named Roxanne Sutton and was a stunt woman who was doubling as Rebecca in her newest movie. Roxanne was remarkably eager to get involved in your war with the league and said if you ever needed someone to help pull off a million in one odds jobs that she was your gal. Rebecca merely remarked that the terrorist attacks were a tragedy but that she was glad no one had gotten hurt yet. You allowed yourself to relax a bit. All in all this night was going well.

Of course relaxing proved to be a mistake. A nondescript man in a suit suddenly pulled out a pistol and shot you from close range. Your hidden armor protected you from the shot being fatal but it still hurt. Pamela pulled out a hidden pistol but she wouldn't get there in time. The would be assassin reloaded his pistol before suddenly he was immolated by Rebecca. While you had to contend with an attempt on your life you couldn't help but think that what you had discovered at this party would be the beginning of a major paradigm shift. You lay there grinning as several ninjas burst into the ballroom. The future was looking brighter than ever.


Wayne Talk subvote
Bruce Wayne tentatively agreed to collaborate with LexCorp on a project. Please select one of the following options and to attempt a collaberative work with Wayne Enterprises.
[ ] [Collab] Work together on cell phones
[ ] [Collab] Work together on disease detection technology
[ ] [Collab] Work together on prosthetics
[ ] [Collab] Work together on vehicle design
[ ] [Collab] Meet with Wayne at a later date to discuss the collaboration in more depth
[ ] [Collab] Do nothing with Wayne

Fox Talk subvote
While Lucius Fox has remained somewhat tight lipped around you and is wary of you (as he very well should be) it is evident that he still respects you. Perhaps a little influence might more firmly cement him in your camp. Please select one option
[ ] [Fox] Attempt to recruit Lucius
[ ] [Fox] Offer Lucius' son a scholarship
[ ] [Fox] Offer Lucius' son an internship at LexCorp
[ ] [Fox] Have a meeting between scientists of Wayne Enterprises and LexCorp to exchange ideas
[ ] [Fox] Back off on poaching Lucius for now

Kate Kane subvote
Kate Kane was an open book to Pamela and she eagerly seemed to accept a deal that Pamela made with her. Another well trained underling in your debt is always useful. Select one option to extend to Katherine Kane as an offer.
[ ] [Kane] Offer Katherine Kane a job in security at LexCorp
[ ] [Kane] Offer to sponsor Katherine Kane's military career
[ ] [Kane] Offer a referral to Katherine Kane when seeking alternative employment
[ ] [Kane] Offer to let Katherine Kane have access to cutting edge LexCorp weapons and armor

Reaction to the assassin subvote
An assassin tried to kill you. He failed obviously but the assault is not yet over. The woman in the pentacle dress, Rebecca Carstairs seemed to demonstrate a supernatural power of some kind when she immolated the assassin. How you respond to the attack could very well influence how you are perceived and allow you to make more persuasive pitches to the individuals you have interacted with at this party. Please select up to three options from the list of actions to take during the League of Shadows attack.
[ ] Play Dead
[ ] Hunt down assassins
[ ] Keep track of Bruce Wayne
[ ] Regroup with Pamela
[ ] Stay close to Rebecca Carstairs
[ ] Stay close to Roxanne Sutton
[ ] Protect Alberto Falcone
[ ] Protect Philip Kane
[ ] Rally the people
[ ] Organize and lead the active combatants
[ ] Call the authorities
[ ] Lead others to escape the ballroom
[ ] Escape in the chaos
[ ] Call out the League of Shadows as a bunch of incompetents who cannot properly kill you


Sorry this came out so late (lot of stuff and I'm experimenting with how to do these mini arcs). There will be chances to possibly recruit Carstairs, Sutton and Philip Kane later. Let me know if this format for the mini-arc is good so far. The next update will be an interlude from Pamela's perspective of the events of the evening (and as such will go into more detail). Please remember that there is a 1 hour moratorium on voting and enjoy your options. I look forward to seeing how you react to having powers start to come out into the open.

If you want to try and earn exp you can draw fanart of Lex and Pamela's party outfit and if it is good enough to get canonized you will earn 500 exp.
 
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Okay, so hiring Katherine Kane is a must for me, but the others I'm not so sure what would Lex Luthor do. We have a 1 hour momentarium guys, so what the fuck do we do? Any ideas?
 
[] [Collab] Work together on prosthetics
[] [Fox] Offer Lucius' son an internship at LexCorp
[] [Kane] Offer Katherine Kane a job in security at LexCorp
[] Keep track of Bruce Wayne
these are what I'm thinking
 
[ ] [Collab] Work together on prosthetics
Waynes Enterprises are a medical company so this just makes sense

[ ] [Fox] Offer Lucius' son a scholarship
as I recall Lucius family is the only people that he have his loyalty besides batman

[ ] [Kane] Offer Katherine Kane a job in security at LexCorp
Mercys great but we need more hero's who can fight

[ ] Keep track of Bruce Wayne
more of an OOC choice but I want to ensure that bruce can't jumpstart his career as batman by stopping our assassination

[ ] Regroup with Pamela
it could hurt our Cooperation with her if she feels that we abandoned her

[ ] Rally the people
we lack the skills to fight assassins but we are rather charming, not only that but a scared mob is just as dangerous as a hitman we should calm everyone so people won't we trampled

Thoughts?
 
Was Wayne Enterprises the Pharmaceuticals company or the Medical tech company?

Edit: Batman'd apparently. Or maybe League'd
 
[ ] [Collab] Work together on vehicle design
[ ] [Fox] Have a meeting between scientists of Wayne Enterprises and LexCorp to exchange ideas
[ ] [Kane] Offer Katherine Kane a job in security at LexCorp
[ ] Keep track of Bruce Wayne
[ ] Regroup with Pamela
[ ] Rally the people

Isn't Lucius really good with vehicles?
 
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