After-Action Report for Arc 2: First Impact
You guys didn't do too badly this time around. You didn't finish all the quests, or even start all of them, but I intended for this to be a pick-and-choose arc where you couldn't go down all the possible rabbit trails in the time allotted.
Light in the Darkness
Big Game Hunting
- It took you until week 4 to start this quest, which did not give you the chance to do much. You did get to fight alongside Purity against Oni Lee, though, so that's something.
- Had you done Part 2, you would have dueled Purity to show her that you have just as a good a chance against Lung as she does (better, actually, since you have a fireproof Barrier Jacket). Once you defeated her, she would have told you the story about how she left the Empire, and you would have had the chance to let her continue on her own, arrest her and hand her over to the Protectorate if you were truly heartless, or recruit her into the Privateers.
- Part 3…. You don't need to know all the details about Part 3 yet.
For now, suffice it to say that New Wave would not have been happy to see a nominal heroine patrolling alongside an evil Nazi, particularly one with whom they bear a special grudge.
- There were two opportunities to gain new spells in this quest, with the first guaranteed to offer your Divine Buster–level bombardment spell as one of the choices. Aaaaand the subsequent discussion was about whether Ring Bind or Temporal Sludge was the better crowd control spell. *shakes head* Never change, guys. Never change.
Strange Bedfellows
- You changed your minds and chose to get a random GB as your first activity of this arc. All six classes are useful, but I do believe Sword is the best complement to the Calamity Witch skill set for next couple of arcs, and they fit well together, anyway. You then went and helped Vista and Kid Win take down Rune along with some Empire thugs who were collecting protection money.
- You also chose to register Samantha with the Protectorate, which wasn't actually essential since she was seen fighting alongside a registered hero. When asked if she was a Case 53, you gave a half-way answer that caused the local heroes to make some rather interesting assumptions.
- There was one opportunity to gain a new spell in this quest, and you chose Wide Area Search. And the less said about the debacle that followed that decision, the better.
Endangered Species
- You immediately followed up on Danny looking for heavy weaponry and, as a result, found out about Coil's interest in the Privateers at the outset. When Tattletale revealed what she discovered about his true intentions, you agreed to help in the most antagonistic way possible (though to be fair, she did kind of deserve it). Because of that, you lost the chance for the Undersiders to provide firing support during a fight with Coil, and Danny's opportunity to maybe recruit Grue onto the team was lost forever. And then you chose to monitor Coil rather than capture him, which basically wasted that activity.
- Had you chosen to ignore Tattletale's warning, you would have warned Danny that there were villains on your new ally's payroll and that at least one of them couldn't be trusted. That would have made its way back to Coil, and he would have asked you and the Privateers to capture them after they "went rogue". Anywhere from just one to all four Undersiders would have died as a result. It also would have created a new enemy, whom you should be extremely glad you don't have targeting you now.
- As I said after one of the votes, I kind of wish you had decided to stick with Coil over Tattletale just because it would be something different from most other Worm stories/quests.
- There was one opportunity to gain a new spell in this quest, but since you balked at the last minute, you lost that chance.
- Coil gave Danny a phone number with which to contact him all the way back in 2.3, as several people remembered. You knew already that Perfect Storm can hack computer systems, and I made clear in 2.7 that it could also get into the phone system. Tell Danny about Coil being a villain, and you could ask for the number and have your Device trace it.
- After the fight with Rune, you picked Wide Area Search as your spell. That makes things very easy. Go to the address PS said was where Coil's phone was located and use WAS in that area, which is… six block radius, A=pi*r^2… 113 square blocks? Yeah, you would find Coil's base. Of course, per canon Coil is only there in one of his timelines at night, so you have to attack during the day when he is guaranteed to be around.
- There are two Guardian Beast classes that come with teleportation. The Sword is one of them, and Samantha showed that skill off in 2.4. With WAS active, you have the coordinates of Coil's office with him inside it, so all Samantha has to do is teleport on top of him and apply roundhouse-kick-to-the-face until he stops moving. She teleports back to you with Coil over her shoulder.
- If you wanted to make a thorough job of it, have the Privateers and maybe some of the Protectorate heroes at the front door. They burst through with forewarning of the mercenaries, and Samantha teleports you to Coil's office so you can flank the mercenaries with homing Flare Shooters. Riskier for your allies, obviously, but it would have let you crush all of Coil's operations in one fell swoop. Even without this, though, you still would have cut off the head of the snake.
Eye of the Tiger
- You chose to ignore this quest. The first Calamity Witch would be so disappointed with you. (I'm kidding!)
- If you focused on the Merchants, you would have spent significantly more time with the Privateers, and since you provide direct combat support, they would have been more aggressive than the hit-and-run tactics they chose in your absence. By the end of the arc, you would have successfully eliminated one of the Brockton Bay gangs.
- This was the only quest that came with the chance of you dying, specifically if you chose to target the ABB all four weeks. This would have led to a fight with Lung, and… yeah, you're not ready for that yet.
- Working on the Empire would have been somewhere between the Merchants and the ABB. The Nazis don't have the ferocious rage dragon, but they have a lot more capes, and with just yourself and Samantha, you would have been outgunned fairly quickly.
- Thinking about it, you could have focused on Coil in this quest, too. If you didn't do Strange Bedfellows and so didn't know that the Privateers were working with him…. That could have been interesting. I'm almost glad you didn't choose this now, to be honest.
- Had you not chosen Strange Bedfellows by week 3 but fought the Merchants, you would have been surprised when one of the guys came in carrying a laser rifle.
- There were three opportunities to gain new spells in this quest, four if you chose to focus on the Merchants.
I don't know exactly when Arc 3 will start, but it will be as soon as I can find the time. Just have a little patience.
- This was a throwaway option for anyone who disliked the quests I had provided. You chose not to do this.
Having read this, I have so many regrets... If this is "not too badly", how bad could we have done?
