So three potential enemies and we aren't even sure if they are actually villains from an I.C. standpoint.
Shooting and then asking seems to be a bad idea.
I wonder if we can use Lotophage to create an illusion for ourselves to see what they've seen just a moment prior to this.
[X] First of all remember to give a quick call to the appropriate authorities to report the situation if possible. Keep distracting the villains with your bugs such as making them crawl inside their clothes or on top of their skin, blocking their vision, giving a few insect bites as warnings, and etc. Try to have at least some insects on each villain and use them to increase your accuracy by mainly using range attacks to subdue or corral the villains. Don't let yourself or any of your drones to enter the area of darkness and keep distance while chipping away at them. Only use close combat when you don't have a choice or its necessary.
[X] First of all remember to give a quick call to the appropriate authorities to report the situation if possible. Keep distracting the villains with your bugs such as making them crawl inside their clothes or on top of their skin, blocking their vision, giving a few insect bites as warnings, and etc. Try to have at least some insects on each villain and use them to increase your accuracy by mainly using range attacks to subdue or corral the villains. Don't let yourself or any of your drones to enter the area of darkness and keep distance while chipping away at them. Only use close combat when you don't have a choice or its necessary.
I don't think she can call anyone, short of locating a pay phone. It explicitly says she left her phone at hom—
Wait.
They waited in the trees south of the casino, watching. Taylor wished she'd brought her phone—even after Weapon gutted it for the helmet, it still had some ebooks on it. Something to remember for next time.
At bare minimum, Danny is in a different headspace. More likely Annette died differently, assuming she's actually dead. (Taylor does make reference to hiding Tinker tool from her dad, not 'parents,' so she probably is.) And the Undersiders have three members this time around. One of them is clearly Grue, but the others... might be the same as canon, might not. We know the roster is different in one way already.
[X] Watch. See what they do. [Skein]
I think this makes sense from both an in character and meta perspective. In character, 'using a parahuman power' isn't actually a crime as far I'm aware. Yeah the Undersiders have a rap sheet, but Taylor doesn't know that. It'd be humiliating to turn someone in to the police on her first night out only to have them let go because they didn't actually do anything wrong.
Out of character, our meta-knowledge is unreliable and we need more information. Host!Taylor has a very versatile array of powers, but she's not a heavy hitter, at least not yet. For all we know the Undersiders consist of Grue, Spitfire, and Trainwreck this time around. Running in blind because we assume things will be the same could easily end with us a smear on the pavement.
Tl;dr: we can't count on things being the same as canon when there are obvious hints stuff is different. We need to treat this like we're engaging unknown parahumans.
And the winner is...the only option that got more than one vote! I probably don't need to make a whole post telling people to stop voting, that the result of this contested vote is settled, but...just in case? Or something?
Adhoc vote count started by GreatWyrmGold on Sep 23, 2021 at 1:33 PM, finished with 7 posts and 4 votes.
[X] First of all remember to give a quick call to the appropriate authorities to report the situation if possible. Keep distracting the villains with your bugs such as making them crawl inside their clothes or on top of their skin, blocking their vision, giving a few insect bites as warnings, and etc. Try to have at least some insects on each villain and use them to increase your accuracy by mainly using range attacks to subdue or corral the villains. Don't let yourself or any of your drones to enter the area of darkness and keep distance while chipping away at them. Only use close combat when you don't have a choice or its necessary.
Yeah. I didn't want to tell people to do that, but...it would be helpful for everyone, I think.
For instance, breaking up this turn's mob submission:
[X] First of all remember to give a quick call to the appropriate authorities to report the situation if possible.
-[X] Keep distracting the villains with your bugs such as making them crawl inside their clothes or on top of their skin, blocking their vision, giving a few insect bites as warnings, and etc. Try to have at least some insects on each villain and use them to increase your accuracy by mainly using range attacks to subdue or corral the villains.
-[X] Don't let yourself or any of your drones to enter the area of darkness and keep distance while chipping away at them. Only use close combat when you don't have a choice or its necessary.
Probably not the best way to format it, but it's the best I could manage without editing the actual text.
Three people, hiding and walking down the road. Obviously something shady going on. And now they know I'm here. What are they doing?
What should I do?
Taylor thought about the stuff Wonder Weapon built into her helmet. She could call the police, tell them...what? That there were three people out by the casino, and one was using a power? Or maybe she could sneak closer, under one of Lotophage's illusions? No, that wouldn't work. There were too many people around, they were too alert.
She didn't know enough. The other Taylors didn't know any more. Even Weaver was confused.
I think we should wait, Taylor thought. Just...sit tight, see what they do.
The three probable villains lingered, swatting bugs. After a minute, Taylor realized that the tall guy was crushing some bugs on the other two, but they only dealt with bugs on themselves.
After a couple of minutes of bug-hunting, all the flies on the three villains were dead. Taylor could only track them by the cloud of sightless bugs and a few mites or something Weaver stuck on their shoes at some point.
They're definitely moving towards the casino, Cirrus noted.
The trio moved past the treeline and stopped again. Minutes passed. Taylor couldn't guess what they were doing, aside from shuffling their feet.
Can these drones get a visual on them?
I'd be surprised.
One of them—Taylor thought it was one of the shorter villains, but she'd lost track of which feet were which—started pacing.
What are they doing?
One is pacing back and forth, one is keeping watch, the third is shifting his weight from foot to foot.
You can tell all that just from the mites?
Well, also the cont—
I don't think she just meant right this minute. She's probably trying to figure out why they're here, specifically. Right, Skein?
Yeah.
Ah. Weaver paused. I'm not sure. I assumed they were here to rob the casino, but...
Maybe they were going to rob it, but they're having second thoughts now that they know another parahuman's here?
Ah. She sounded relieved (or her thoughts felt relieved, or something like that). Yeah, that makes sense.
[Wits, Hard—Fail!]
So what? What do we do now?
Depends on what the villains do. And who they are.
Weaver, imagine I was looking directly at you for that last part.
...The Undersiders. A minor supervillain team I ran into early in my superhero career. Their leader, Grue, could produce darkness that obscures radiation, sound, and some Breaker powers.
What powers?
I'll explain later.
It had a couple of other effects, but the important thing is that it'll block most ordinary senses and might interfere with our powers.
Two of the feet—not the pacing feet—started moving towards the edge of the darkness.
And the other two?
The Undersiders had four members before—before I met them. I thought all of them were on the team before the Ruby Dreams heist, but I wasn't an active hero then.
"Before I met them." Had Weaver killed one of the Undersiders or something? Is that what she was hiding? Was she trying to make up for that mistake, somehow?
The other non-pacing feet followed.
I don't sense any dogs around, so...I'd guess those are Regent and Tattletale. Regent controls your muscles, Tattletale has enhanced intuition.
"Controls your muscles"?
He makes people trip or drop things. Stuff like that. If one of them is Regent, of course.
Who else could they be? You said the Undersiders robbed the casino, and these villains are lead by the Undersiders' leader, so—
Yeah. Yeah. Okay.
The not-pacing feet stopped, a bit from the edge of Grue's darkness. Maybe three feet, maybe seven—Taylor was still getting used to Weaver's power.
So. Lotophage paused. We've got the darkness guy, their leader. We've got someone who can throw off our movements. We've got a Thinker.
Yeah.
Seems like Weaver's bugs are a pretty direct counter to the darkness. We stick a couple bugs on the Undersiders—
—and they immediately squish them, because they know someone's been putting bugs on them. Skein sighed.
...Theoretically, Weaver's a direct counter to the darkness, and Cirrus partially counters Regence. He can mess with our hand-to-hand combat, but if he tries to trip us Cirrus can just poof us up. Right?
Yeah.
Cirrus spoke up. Weaver? You doing alright?
Depends on if I've been a total dumbass or not.
Huh?
Just—focus on the fight.
It's not really a fight. We're just four capes, standing around.
Then focus on the capes standing around.
The Undersiders were in a circle, over by the edge of the darkness. The pacer had stopped pacing, and was just tapping their foot. They were moving their feet, restlessly.
Yup. Still standing around... Well, someone's got to make the first move, Cirrus said. They don't know where we are, but we know where they are, so we've got the advantage either way, right?
Let's sneak over to them through the trees, Lotophage suggested. Float above the ground so we don't break any twigs, we'll be basically undetectable. Weaver, can you stick more bugs on the Undersiders that they won't notice?
Yeah. Probably.
Are you sure we should run and pick a fight with them?
Never said we should. Not necessarily. But if we're nearby, we can immediately exploit any opening we detect.
I say we sneak over to them and attack. The longer they stand around, planning, the better plan they're going to have.
What kind of plan can they make? Skein asked. They should only know about Weaver's power, right? Have Weaver try bugging them, but stay away and wait for them to do something.
Wouldn't making a plan of our own be better than having to react to their plan?
What do you think, Weaver?
I'm not sure.
Encouraging.
-[X] Have Weaver stick some subtle bugs on the Undersiders [All]
(Can be added to any other option)
[X] Stay where you are, wait for the Undersiders to make a move. [Skein]]
[X] Sneak through the trees; wait for an opening before attacking. [Lotophage]
[X] Sneak through the trees; attack without waiting for an opening. [Cirrus]
[X] Write-in [MOB]
Not flying the drone through the parking lot lights: Wits, Average
(1,8): 2—Fail!
Realizing ???: Wits, Hard
(1,8): 1—Fail!
A good omen, isn't it?
It would seem cooler heads have prevailed in Taylor's head. It's probably for the best, even if this is much less dramatic.
If something about this situation seems off...without getting into too much detail, there's something I assumed, which went into how I constructed this scene (which I was plotting almost since I first imagined this quest), which I didn't reconsider after realizing my assumption was wrong. What you see here is me trying to find a plausible enough reason for these characters to be here without changing who they are or contradicting anything I've already told you.
No idea if that came through in the update.
I had other writer's issues, like the bit where I had to throw out a couple hundred words because I realized that they were going directly against the spirit of what the players had voted for.
Can these drones get a visual on them?
I'd be surprised.
I guess it's worth a shot. Hold on…
Wonder Weapon had explained how her helmet worked, but most of the explanation flew over her head. All she knew is that it read her brainwaves and sent signals to things. There were some commands Wonder Weapon could input that Taylor didn't know how to, but just flying the drone over to take a look was well within her power.
The drone—a lumpy cylinder several inches across—took to the air, probably using the same antigravity tech in the jetpack Wonder Weapon had in her own world. Another mental command had it send camera data to a window in Taylor's display, and a third had it speeding off towards the villains.
It was dark out—even without a sight-obscuring power, it wasn't hard to stay out of sight, especially for something small like the drone. Once Taylor figured out how to send the drone she was controlling towards the bugs sensing weird things, it was just a straightforward, uneventful flight across the casino parking lot.
[Wits, Average—Fail!]
The well-lit parking lot.
Oh. Shit.
It's fine, maybe they didn't see it.
One of the villains—Taylor had lost track of which was which—twisted his feet. Probably trying to get a better look at the drone.
Of course, of course.
The three villains started to move their feet in what was probably an agitated manner.
(...and this is where I realized this was violating the spirit of the choice)
The worst part is, after that I wrote sentences or entire paragraphs on the assumption that the drone had been sent over before realizing that no, I took that part out. And since I was trying to follow the spirit of "Just watch," I had to figure out how to wring some tension out of "a bunch of confused parahumans not really looking for a cape-fight stand around" and stretch that to a decent update length. If it wasn't for the overly-wordy author's note, this would be the shortest update so far, even with the padding.
Hopefully it's not as excruciating to read as it was to write, ha ha.
[X] Stay where you are, wait for the Undersiders to make a move.
[X] Have Weaver stick some subtle bugs on the Undersiders
At this point in time, Lisa's got no reason to go gently on Taylor. Having her rip Taylor apart mentally is kinda super no bueno. Especially if she somehow figures out the other Taylors in her head (Butcher much?)
So, wait around and see what they do. Lisa can't work with an enemy she's got no idea about except that they (presumably) control bugs.
I'm inclined to trust Weaver on this, and not just for the reasons she gives her head-mates. She's spent enough time around the Undersiders that I think she'd notice if someone was in the wrong costume or had the wrong body type, even through her bugs.
So... no Bitch. That means one of three things:
Rachel is waiting somewhere else, ready to sweep in as reinforcements. Maybe causing a distraction elsewhere. Unlikely, but a possibility we should keep in mind.
Rachel isn't part of the team. Either she was never recruited, she left, or she died. I'd probably peg this as the most likely.
Rachel is part of the team but currently indisposed, either sick, injured, or captured. Unlikely but possible. This would imply that the Undersiders have a strong incentive to do this job and do it now with their heavy hitter benched.
Without Bitch, the Undersiders have no directly offensive powers and no special mobility options, sharply limiting what they do compared to canon. They also have good odds to recruit Spitfire later, if that hasn't happened yet. (I'm a little fuzzy on the timeline, honestly.
[X] Sneak through the trees; wait for an opening before attacking. [Lotophage]
-[X] Have Weaver stick some subtle bugs on the Undersiders [All]
The Undersiders have no Mover options, and Taylor can fly. She should to be able to disengage and escape easily if she needs to, so I'm comfortable taking this risk. They also don't have Bitch or Skitter to hurt her, so they're not great for combat right now. If Cirrus's power does what we suspect it does, Taylor is probably the most directly dangerous cape here.
At this point in time, Lisa's got no reason to go gently on Taylor. Having her rip Taylor apart mentally is kinda super no bueno. Especially if she somehow figures out the other Taylors in her head (Butcher much?)
I agree that Lisa is likely to pick up on the multiple-head-voices thing due to delays while they talk, but I'm not convinced that's actually problem? This isn't New Boss, and Case 70s are a thing. It's not a secret we desperately need to keep.
If anything, I'd think Host!Taylor would be more resistant to those lines off attack, because Tattletale can mostly likely only get a read on one of the Taylors at a time, and the others can switch in if Host gets too distressed.
I actually really liked this update. Weaver keeping her past a secret from the others is our first big taste of character drama, and it's actually a lot easier to get invested in than just 'stop the Undersiders because villains.' It's a good first step in making the voices into characters we care about, especially since Host herself explicitly has very little agency.
[X] Send a swarm of flying bugs in front of the casino in order to alert the people inside, and to make it clear towards the Undersiders that they should desist in their actions.
-[X] At the same time, if possible, have Weaver stick some subtle bugs on the Undersiders.
-[X] If the Undersiders flee you should follow them and keep distance. The insects on them should be all you need in order to reliably track them.
-[X] Remember to pay attention to your surroundings and be on the lookout for dogs as it may indicate that the last member is near. Basically be wary of traps when chasing the Undersiders.
-[X] If a fight somehow breaks out don't let yourself or your drones enter the area of darkness and use range attacks to deal with them by using the insects on them to increase accuracy.
I feel like an obvious logical leap is missing here.
No Rachel, but the getaway was managed by Rachel. You can't steal things without a getaway plan, therefore Rachel must be part of the plan. If they're literally standing around waiting, what are the odds they're standing around waiting for Rachel?
Why are we trying to pick a fight when Rachel is, at minimum, on the way right now, or, at worst, is literally waiting for their signal to roll in?
[X] Sneak through the trees; wait for an opening before attacking. [Lotophage]
-[X] Have Weaver stick some subtle bugs on the Undersiders [All]
We are a Hero, Host!Taylor doesn't know these people, and they are oviously using Parahuman powers in public. Not a lot of reason to do that unless they are Villians about to rob the Casino.
I feel like an obvious logical leap is missing here.
No Rachel, but the getaway was managed by Rachel. You can't steal things without a getaway plan, therefore Rachel must be part of the plan. If they're literally standing around waiting, what are the odds they're standing around waiting for Rachel?
Why are we trying to pick a fight when Rachel is, at minimum, on the way right now, or, at worst, is literally waiting for their signal to roll in?
I mean, if they never had Rachel on the team, presumably they would have found some alternate method. Like, say, a getaway car.
That said, it's an open question whether a Rachel-less team would have even accepted this job in the first place. Them being here could be taken as evidence that they have the same capabilities they did in canon.
I agree that Lisa is likely to pick up on the multiple-head-voices thing due to delays while they talk, but I'm not convinced that's actually problem? This isn't New Boss, and Case 70s are a thing. It's not a secret we desperately need to keep.
Remember that this is Brockton Bay, hometown of the Butcher. A cape that goes around hearing various voices in their head (and each giving different powers) is going to trigger some PTSD and nervousness even if the method is completely different.
Better to keep it a secret. And Lisa learning it would absolutely share it around if she feels spiteful enough.
I mean, if they never had Rachel on the team, presumably they would have found some alternate method. Like, say, a getaway car.
That said, it's an open question whether a Rachel-less team would have even accepted this job in the first place. Them being here could be taken as evidence that they have the same capabilities they did in canon.
Regardless of Rachel being there or not, a getaway component is required, and isn't clearly visible, which means there are clearly more bodies we'd have to contend with close enough to appear inside of a minute, which makes an outright attack immensely risky.
I'm inclined to trust Weaver on this, and not just for the reasons she gives her head-mates. She's spent enough time around the Undersiders that I think she'd notice if someone was in the wrong costume or had the wrong body type, even through her bugs.
Worth pointing out that host!Taylor was basically just smacking bugs into the trio. You can safely assume they aren't, like, three big guys, but that doesn't seem like conditions Weaver could use to get a meaningful look at any of them. The rest of your argument is decent, but assuming gathered by host!Taylor borrowing Weaver's power (but obviously not her experience controlling it) is as good as data Weaver herself could gather is...well, it's not an assumption the QM is making.
I liked the call the authorities idea from the last update after I took the time to read the plan.
It would be safest for us to look as if we are part of a team. With a Tinker, a Bug master and a Precog who like to remain behind the scenes for safety and one public cape, maybe Cirrus because we could get away using a secondary power to flying.
[X] Stay where you are, wait for the Undersiders to make a move. [Skein]]
-[X] Call the PRT to say to report that you've spotted Grue and two other probable Parahumans acting suspicious near the Casino. And that you scouting out the area because a Thinker team mate, who would like to remain anonymous, said that there was something going to happen here. They seem nervous a simple patrol could very well have them run with their tail between their legs before anything will happen.
-[X] Have Weaver stick some subtle bugs on the Undersiders [All]
You are a superhero in full superhero garb, they are on the edge looking for parahumans, and you're gonna pretend to just be a random fangirl. Who tracked them down, well outside of town, in the middle of the night.
As hilarious as that could be if you passed that Bluff check, I don't think any Taylor has the Charisma for it.
I'm not surprised this didn't change, but I wanted to wait the full 24-hours-and-change just in case. Especially since one or two votes absolutely could have changed the outcome.
Adhoc vote count started by Silent59 on Sep 24, 2021 at 4:36 AM, finished with 12 posts and 6 votes.
[X] Sneak through the trees; wait for an opening before attacking. [Lotophage]
-[X] Have Weaver stick some subtle bugs on the Undersiders [All]
[X] Send a swarm of flying bugs in front of the casino in order to alert the people inside, and to make it clear towards the Undersiders that they should desist in their actions.
-[X] At the same time, if possible, have Weaver stick some subtle bugs on the Undersiders.
-[X] If the Undersiders flee you should follow them and keep distance. The insects on them should be all you need in order to reliably track them.
-[X] Remember to pay attention to your surroundings and be on the lookout for dogs as it may indicate that the last member is near. Basically be wary of traps when chasing the Undersiders.
-[X] If a fight somehow breaks out don't let yourself or your drones enter the area of darkness and use range attacks to deal with them by using the insects on them to increase accuracy.
[X] Stay where you are, wait for the Undersiders to make a move. [Skein]]
-[X] Call the PRT to say to report that you've spotted Grue and two other probable Parahumans acting suspicious near the Casino. And that you scouting out the area because a Thinker team mate, who would like to remain anonymous, said that there was something going to happen here. They seem nervous a simple patrol could very well have them run with their tail between their legs before anything will happen.
-[X] Have Weaver stick some subtle bugs on the Undersiders [All]
A quick note: If you have multiple parts to your suggestion, you need to use the dash-boxes. Otherwise the system thinks you're voting for two separate options and not a single two-part option. Doesn't really matter for today, but it could in the future.
