I'm thinking Call it In. We don't have our armor, and these guys probably have guns. If we go in there as is we could get killed pretty easily I imagine, also, Aphrodite might just go and offend whoever this guy is, making him hostile to us as well. Leave it to the Protectorate to make a counter offer for him.
I'm thinking Call it In. We don't have our armor, and these guys probably have guns. If we go in there as is we could get killed pretty easily I imagine, also, Aphrodite might just go and offend whoever this guy is, making him hostile to us as well. Leave it to the Protectorate to make a counter offer for him.
Why? By the time the PRT gets here this will have been long over one way or the other unless we stall it somehow. By the point we are at in this conversation, the only decision left to be made is whether the cape joins up, haggles for something, or flat out rejects them. In any of those cases, it will only take a minute or two to resolve, and the Cape/gang members will be long gone by the time the PRT musters a response force. Best case scenario is we have a Protectorate member they are willing to risk against two unknown capes with no backup, and we all know how likely that is.
Edit: It also reveals us as a thinker with some kind of remote viewing powers at the bare minimum. Which while that isn't nothing, it definitely is not going to endear us to that highly paranoid organization. It's giving up information about a meaningful amount of our abilities for no gain.
No, the only way that we can turn this into a positive interaction with the PRT is if we stick our noses in and manage to stop this recruitment. And if it is Trainwreck in that building then I'm not sure Aphrodite he has the horsepower to take him head on, not even including the fact that we are out with no costume, no armor, and basically no weapon.
[X][Merchants] Keep spying — You don't know how this will play out, you can have Aphrodite keep listening in and maybe afterwards you could shadow these guys to see if they lead you anywhere
[X][Merchants] Keep spying — You don't know how this will play out, you can have Aphrodite keep listening in and maybe afterwards you could shadow these guys to see if they lead you anywhere.
[X][Merchants] Keep spying — You don't know how this will play out, you can have Aphrodite keep listening in and maybe afterwards you could shadow these guys to see if they lead you anywhere.
Oh, I forgot to put this in the last update: but if anyone does plan to write a strategy, be sure to check the Met Gods doc on the character sheet. It will contain all the necessary information on what your gods can do.
[X][Merchants] Keep spying — You don't know how this will play out, you can have Aphrodite keep listening in and maybe afterwards you could shadow these guys to see if they lead you anywhere.
On one hand, I want to start throwing hands, on the other, we are still a relatively squishy human.
[X][Merchants] Keep spying — You don't know how this will play out, you can have Aphrodite keep listening in and maybe afterwards you could shadow these guys to see if they lead you anywhere.
[X][Merchants] Keep spying — You don't know how this will play out, you can have Aphrodite keep listening in and maybe afterwards you could shadow these guys to see if they lead you anywhere.
Adhoc vote count started by TheLordofAwesome on Jun 28, 2024 at 8:29 PM, finished with 14 posts and 7 votes.
[X][Merchants] Keep spying — You don't know how this will play out, you can have Aphrodite keep listening in and maybe afterwards you could shadow these guys to see if they lead you anywhere.
You considered the situation carefully. Right now a group of Merchant gangbangers were meeting with an as of yet unknown cape with the intention of trying to recruit him into the gang. You could call it into the PRT since they are law enforcement and this does involve parahuman activity… But by the time the PRT is able to send someone out, it could be too late and everyone has left. So in your mind it was a non-answer.
Alternatively, you could send Aphrodite in and fight the gang and the cape. You wouldn't be able to help her as you lack your weapons and armor, but it was a doable plan. On the other hand, you don't know the capabilities of the cape. If you were to send Aphrodite in to fight she might not be able to put out enough firepower to take down the gang members and the cape. Although you knew she wouldn't be gone permanently if she was killed, you still didn't like the thought of her getting hurt.
"Aww, Lizzie! I didn't know you cared so much~" She says playfully as she wraps an arm around you and pulls you into a side embrace. Flushing brightly, you tried to focus your thoughts back onto the situation and ignore Aphrodite's… distraction.
You will stick with listening in, and maybe follow the gangbangers after to see if they lead you anywhere.
"H-has anything changed?" You sputtered out, trying really hard to ignore the feeling of Aphrodite pressed against you.
"Hmm? Oh, it seems like the ugly cape is considering the deal." Aphrodite says, letting you go from the embrace unfortunately. "Says he wants to think about it."
You nod your head, keeping your gaze fixed to the abandoned storefront. That was… good, you think. It wasn't a definite yes, so you still can only expect the Merchants to have one cape. At least for the foreseeable future. He could say yes to the deal in the next few days, but if you are lucky you could prepare for that. Hell, you could even come back tomorrow and take him down before he even considers a yes. But those were thoughts for later.
It seems the meeting has wrapped up as you see the group of Merchant thugs exiting the building. You see Aphrodite's dove fly out after them, following them from above. You let them get a bit down the street before you go to follow them at a distance, Aphrodite returning to follow your path from the rooftops. Briefly you note how strange it was that you didn't feel those intense feelings when Aphrodite wasn't in your direct line of sight or right next to you, but you put those thoughts aside as you kept following the Merchants. Every now and then the Merchants broke your line of sight, but with Aphrodite's dove following them she could easily guide you back onto their trail.
You followed them for about a half an hour before they reached their next destination: An old, rundown looking warehouse close to the docks, two intimidating men standing by the entrance of the building. You kept yourself at a distance, far enough not to draw attention hopefully, as the group of Merchants you've been tailing approached the guards. They talked for a brief moment before the guards let them in. You didn't even need to say anything to Aphrodite as you saw the little dove fly its way into the building.
You hide away in an alleyway, making sure that you were alone before calling Aphrodite back to you.
"What do you see?" You ask, trying to keep your gaze from drifting over to the goddess.
"Looks like the men we've been following are meeting with some friends of theirs." Aphrodite replied.
"Uh, how many?"
She hums in thought. "Looks to be around ten or so. Looks like most of them are armed."
"Anything of note from what you can see?"
"The majority of them are milling about — talking, partaking in drugs and alcohol," Aphrodite explained, her beautiful face being one of focus. "Though a couple of them appear to be working on something."
That piqued your curiosity. "What are they doing?"
"Getting my dove in place," She said. After a beat she gave you a reply, "Hmm, looks like… this is a place for them to make drugs."
You want to say you are surprised, but there were only so many options for what this place was for the Merchants. They were a drug dealing gang, so naturally it was bound to be a drug lab. How major of a location it was to the Merchants was still unknown, but even one drug lab off the streets is bound to hurt them.
Nodding to yourself, you instructed Aphrodite to bring back her dove. You managed to accomplish your goals for the night. Though you wished you could have found more places to hit later, you were still overall successful in finding one drug lab as well as learning the gang's attempts at recruiting a parahuman. This will be information that will serve you well when you take to the streets in your cape persona.
With your mission complete, you begin your trek home.
It was close to midnight when you finally arrived back home, exhaustion seeping into every inch of your body. Shortly after coming home you opted to go to bed, hoping the sleep gets your energy back.
As you lay in bed you reflect on the information you've gathered today, as well as the events of the past week, until you slowly drift off to sleep.
Your first week is complete! Now you must plan for the coming days. As a reminder, on the 11th (Tuesday) Elizabeth's tutors will be coming back. From that point on most weekdays will be one action only, so plan accordingly. As another reminder, when assigning a deity class remember that since you summoned a Mage on Saturday you cannot summon one on Sunday.
Additional reminder that your deity classes are: Warrior, Guardian, Mage, Assassin, Hunter.
[ ][Week Pt. 1 Plan] Plane Name -[ ][Sunday Deity] Write-in Class --[ ][Sunday Action 1] Write-in --[ ][Sunday Action 2] Write-in -[ ][Monday Deity] Write-in Class --[ ][Monday Action 1] Write-in --[ ][Monday Action 2] Write-in
Go shopping. (Shopping (list items you want to buy)
Go on PHO. (What do you want to do there?)
Train a skill. (What skill and how do you go about it?)
Learn a new skill. (What skill and how do you go about trying to learn it?)
Ask your gods for boons and their quests. (What do you want?)
Attempt to complete a given quest. (Which quest? How do you go about it?)
Go patrol. (Where?)
Find a heroic base
Research online (What are you reaching?)
Go in for Power testing.
Scout/spy in a gang's territory (Where do you wanna look into?)
QM Notes:
Well here we are again with another update! This one took me a bit to complete due to some life stuff, but overall I'm pleased with it. I feel like certain aspect could have been written better, but I think it is ultimately serviceable. This is also the introduction of the new week planning system, which I hope will make it easier to come up with plans and keep you guys from feeling overwhelmed by having to come up with too many actions, as well as keep the issue of accidentally achieving your goals early like with Vulcan. I have some things planned for this next week so I'm excited to get to writing them.
Four Hour Moratorium is in place to allow discussion.
Alright I think we're still at the point we should be prepping personally so I'll advocate again for mages and seeing if they can leave enchanted stuff behind along with training with warriors and getting quests from both. It also might be an idea to look into getting materials to replace whatever Vulcan used and to get odds and ends to help them build more stuff. Doing some of the quests we have while there's 2 actions a day is also an option in particular Thor's tree planting and the token on the grave seem good. Another option would be to do something to set up for making the weapon to get the good amulet from Vulcan
So, Thor's tree planting is actually a LOT of work. As someone who has planted trees before, 20 in one day is doable if they are small saplings, but it's tough. We also don't have a location to do it.
[ ][Week Pt. 1 Plan] Two Birds with One Graveyard! -[ ][Sunday Deity] Hunter --[ ][Sunday Action 1] Use the internet to find all the graveyards in and around the city. Find one that has minimal security (read reviews?) and head out to place the Statuette on a grave. Graveyards are publicly accessible, so this should be easy. The only reason for the security check is to make sure we aren't recorded just in case someone can out us. Wear our hoodie as part of this trip to help preserve our identity. Make sure to face the Statuette towards the West. --[ ][Sunday Action 2] Train Stealth and Parkour with our Hunter Summon. Surely a Hunter has experience going unseen? Also ask them about Boons. -[ ][Monday Deity] Guardian --[ ][Monday Action 1] File a police report about the stuff Vulcan used to make our armor, shield and sword. Tell the police that we went out on Sunday for errands, the house was empty at the time, and we came back to discover a ton of stuff was missing. Match the times to when we left for the graveyard and when we returned to make the lie consistent and build a list of what was used before calling. This way, when our parents/tutors inevitably ask what happened to the house when they get home on Tuesday we can point them to the police report. No signs of forced entry but we can't be certain there wasn't a door or window unlocked. Also talk to our summon about Boons after this is complete. --[ ][Monday Action 2] Suit up and hit that Drug Manufacturing Warehouse we found with Aphrodite. Have our summon go in through the front door loudly while we work our way around the back quietly to ambush anyone that flees. Focus on recovering intelligence that can lead us to more Merchant locations (paper notes, texts that have orders, possibly interrogate one of the captured goons if our summon is any good at that kind of thing?) and also recovering any cash that is on the scene. We want the cash to hire day laborers and buy trees to help with the tree planting task later this week.
So that's my tentative plan. Gets us a useful magical gizmo the next time Anubis comes up, more training, some action, and covers our ass about the missing stuff to hopefully make that not as bad.
The only thing I am unsure about is hitting the Merchant place this soon into our career. That is at least ten and probably more armed goons, and it only takes one of them catching us unawares for it to go badly. I'm confident we can take any individual one of them 1v1, and maybe 2v1, but this is still a lot to be out numbered while still taking them all down non-lethally. If someone has an idea to both get cash for the Trees and/or achieve another one of our objectives without this I'm happy to change this last action.
Thinking we should summon a assassin or a hunter personally, maybe a mage as well. But honestly I think some more practical training would be good, just some more and I think we would be able to go on more hand on patrol.
[X][Week Pt. 1 Plan] Two Birds with One -[X][Sunday Deity] Hunter --[X][Sunday Action 1] Use the internet to find all the graveyards in and around the city. Find one that has minimal security (read reviews?) and head out to place the Statuette on a grave. Graveyards are publicly accessible, so this should be easy. The only reason for the security check is to make sure we aren't recorded just in case someone can out us. Wear our hoodie as part of this trip to help preserve our identity. Make sure to face the Statuette towards the West. --[X][Sunday Action 2] Train Stealth and Parkour with our Hunter Summon. Surely a Hunter has experience going unseen? Also ask them about Boons. -[X][Monday Deity] Guardian --[X][Monday Action 1] File a police report about the stuff Vulcan used to make our armor, shield and sword. Tell the police that we went out on Sunday for errands, the house was empty at the time, and we came back to discover a ton of stuff was missing. Match the times to when we left for the graveyard and when we returned to make the lie consistent and build a list of what was used before calling. This way, when our parents/tutors inevitably ask what happened to the house when they get home on Tuesday we can point them to the police report. No signs of forced entry but we can't be certain there wasn't a door or window unlocked. Also talk to our summon about Boons after this is complete. --[X][Monday Action 2] Suit up and hit that Drug Manufacturing Warehouse we found with Aphrodite. Have our summon go in through the front door loudly while we work our way around the back quietly to ambush anyone that flees. Focus on recovering intelligence that can lead us to more Merchant locations (paper notes, texts that have orders, possibly interrogate one of the captured goons if our summon is any good at that kind of thing?) and also recovering any cash that is on the scene. We want the cash to hire day laborers and buy trees to help with the tree planting task later this week.
Here, I'll actually vote for the plan so it shows up in the Tally, with the name changed so it matches the other votes.
That said, it seems good to me.
There is still time to vote for what you guys wanna do for the next few days! I will close the vote in a couple days, so get your votes in while you can! Come up with plans! Discuss!