- Location
- Across the universe
The Tentacle Girl interview happened (largely offscreen) on Monday and was in Tuesday's paper. Ginger then disappeared Tuesday during lunch break.
The continued adventures of Extendy Enna, esq.
- Thread starter tomwritestuff
- Start date
- Original
More Midori teamup sounds great.
[X] You should try to get someone else to help find Ginger McFarlane. The police are already looking, but you should point someone else at the problem ...
-[X] ... Tentacle Girl.
[X] You should try to get someone else to help find Ginger McFarlane. The police are already looking, but you should point someone else at the problem ...
-[X] ... Tentacle Girl.
Vote closed
- Location
- Across the universe
24. Did Ginger Lose Her Marbles?
- Location
- Across the universe
24. Did Ginger Lose Her Marbles?
"So far, what we've been able to determine is that she was working on tracing a Dr. Ray Marble," Jake tells you. "The Seattle PD was asked to look into his disappearance a while back, went as far as checking his socials, and then shuffled the file off as a low-priority item. Ginger went out to his larger web presence. Apparently, he goes by Taken4Granite on a whole set of web forums, and he's still posting occasionally in a couple of the ones about crystal divination techniques. Not often, but he does. From there, she managed to get access to IP logs, which put most of his access points within the University District, just west of the University of Washington campus. She plotted them with pins on a map and started looking through housing in the area."
You nod along, trying to keep up. It sounds like a complicated process to follow down to its roots. "And you're saying that means..."
"That she found this Dr. Ray Marble. He's probably who she was trying to interview," Midori says. "We can probably figure out what happened to her if we start in the middle of all the pins."
"Wait. Why does that name sound familiar?" You rub your forehead. "That was my expert witness in the Silent Siren case."
Jake shrugs. "So?"
"Oh. It's not in the records, is it?" You hesitate. "She, uh, took a liking to him," you say. It's a more polite way of saying that Silent Siren made you go stand in a corner and wait while she engaged in an extended period of athletic sexual activity with him right in front of you. In spite of his up close and personal experience with her mind-control abilities for a period of close to an hour, Dr. Marble didn't believe that Silent Siren was a super at all.
You're inclined to rank Silent Siren as your worst client ever. Stealing your clothes, banging your expert witness right in front of you instead of cooperating with the interview, jumping bail, and somehow getting you further entangled with Prince Tenor's complicated attempts to find a female super worthy of being his bride. Apparently, he'd been interested in Silent Siren right up until Lady Light defeated her, and ... come to think of it, the self-dubbed King of Seattle really doesn't have much common sense when it comes to picking women, does he?
"She's missing, though, right? Nobody's seen her in a long while now," Jake says.
"Ray Marble went missing at the same time. She thought he was delicious." You frown. "I think Ginger McFarlane found Silent Siren."
Installments of Powerless featuring Ray Marble:
What do??
[] Give them advice on how to deal with Silent Siren.
-[] (but what advice???)
[] Accompany Jake and Tentacle Girl yourself. You think you know how to deal with Dr. Marble and your former client.
[] Call up the King of Seattle and ask for help. He's smart and wanted to get personal with her, he must have had some kind of plan for dealing with her.
[] Abort mission! Ginger will probably reappear eventually on her own, it's far too risky to deal with Silent Siren.
[] See if you can talk to Lady Light and see how she dealt with Silent Siren. That might be helpful. If she's cooperative.
[] Tell Jake and Midori that they've done great investigative work, but now it's time to hand things over to someone else.
-[] (but who???)
[] (write-in)
- Location
- St. Petersburg
Will we be required to pay him back somehow?
- Location
- Across the universe
You don't know. He has his own agendas, and he will choose to help you in a way that he thinks will advance at least one of his agendas. Expecting you'll reciprocate with a favor later might be part of his calculations.
[X] Accompany Jake and Tentacle Girl yourself. You think you know how to deal with Dr. Marble and your former client.
I want to see the Siren again. She was hilarious.
I can be persuaded to take another action.
I want to see the Siren again. She was hilarious.
I can be persuaded to take another action.
Solarstream
It's all in the cards
- Location
- Zombie World
- Pronouns
- He/Him
[X] Call up the King of Seattle and ask for help. He's smart and wanted to get personal with her, he must have had some kind of plan for dealing with her.
Vote closed
- Location
- Across the universe
25. I Can See Right Through You
- Location
- Across the universe
25. I Can See Right Through You
You send a text to one of the numbers you've used to contact the King of Seattle. There's no direct response, but then, a few moments later, you receive a call from an unknown number in reply. After a lengthy exchange of pleasantries, inquiries about the developments in your social life, and a few pointed questions related to your semi-public debut as a super, you manage to direct the conversation towards your upcoming plans.
"Tentacle Girl and Jake just don't know how to deal with the Silent Siren's powers if they run into her," you say. "Ginger was looking for Dr. Marble when she disappeared, and I'm pretty sure that means she ran into Silent Siren."
"Hm. If she's managed to keep a low profile all this time living right under my nose, she's more clever than I had imagined," says the mellifluous voice of the first monarch to lay one of the numerous contending claims to Seattle. "Perhaps I dismissed her too hastily in my search for a suitable queen. She has truly exceptional power, but I questioned her temperament and intellect."
"Uh..." you hesitate for a moment, not quite sure what to say.
"Don't feel jealous, dear. You are in many ways more talented. Do you still have the ring I gave you?" The extremely sexy tenor voice lifts lightly.
"Yes," you say. Queen Victoria's engagement ring is, as far as you know, still safely hanging on a magnet on a non-Euclidean side of your office fridge.
"Good girl." His tone becomes warmer. "Now listen carefully. My agent will be able to identify you by that ring. Have it with you and go to a coffee shop, cafe, or bookstore, preferably one with an upper floor. You will receive a copy of Moby Dick in poor condition. Do not open it until you are back in a secure location. Now, what's this I hear about you having dinner at Giorgio's? What did you think of the ravioli?"
***
You sit upstairs in the bookstore-cafe, impatiently taking slow tiny sips from a triple-shot cinnamon butterscotch latte with extra foam, a certain ring burning a hole in your pocket in case you need to show it to someone. (After all the trouble you had getting it off, you're certainly not putting it back on.) A man in dark colored glasses taps his cane as he makes his way towards you, his scarred face familiar, hunched over the weight of a heavy backpack.
"Dave? Is that you?" You frown. You haven't seen your ex-boyfriend (aka Minion 1138) since he went to go post bail for the Silent Siren, posing as her long-lost brother.
"Huh. Ennie?" Dave's familiar voice confirms his identity. "I thought you were more padded. Less muscular. Didn't recognize you. Not that you were fat before, I mean, sorry, just ... yeah, never mind. I'm semi-retired now, but I get to do deliveries sometimes, and my injury pension comes with full medical and dental. I have three of them, but stay away from that woman, she's bad news." He gestures at his face. "Do I look ugly or distinguished?"
"Distinguished," you say, diplomatically. "She did that?"
"Not directly, but it was definitely her fault," Dave says. "Spare Change will be coming by your office later." He pulls a four-inch-thick hardcover the size of a small child out of his backpack, dropping it on the table with a thunk and then placing a business card on top. "Herman Melville is a terrible author," Dave says. "Call me sometime, we could do lunch or something."
***
Back at your office, you open the massive tome cautiously. It looks like someone tried to use it as a doorstop once upon a time – the binding is cracked and the pages are yellowed and dog-eared, with a faded black marker scrawled across several of them. You flip through the first chapter quickly before reaching a hollowed-out section of the book.
Inside, there are what looks like three pairs of solid black swimming goggles, with a small discreet button on the side, and a folded note. You read the note aloud for Midori's benefit.
"If you cannot see her, she cannot command you," you say. "Well, that's helpful. I hope these are more than just stylish blindfolds."
You slip on one pair of the goggles. Everything is completely black. You push the button, and the hair on the back of your neck raises as you hear - faintly - a high-pitched whine, a little like the wings of a mosquito, and a red display flicks on. You're looking at the room over your office, kind of. The couch is dark, and Midori is black; but the fridge is shiny, as is the tile floor of the kitchenette. You push the button again, and thin yellow wire-frames appear, mapping out the structure of objects in three dimensions. The wireframes over Midori keep flickering and curving, and after a few moments, they go away, replaced by a small blinking green line of text saying ANOMALOUS OBJECT.
You push the button a third time, and the high-pitched whine goes away. The underlying red layer grows muddier and darker, and the wireframes sparser as some of them flicker out.
"Here, you try," you say. As you speak, the red brightens everywhere, and the yellow wireframes shimmer and readjust.
Midori carefully dons a pair of goggles, looking around. "Hm. Yeah, it is kind of like having cloth tied over your eyes," she says, then walks over to the fridge, pulling out a soda. "I can see around them, they're really small in most dimensions. Mine aren't making the funny noise though."
"Try pushing the button," you say.
"Oh. They color everything red on the line of sight that goes through them in that one direction?" Midori asks as the high-pitched whine starts. "It's weird seeing things with a red overlay on top of them. Like, your face is red and beige at the same time instead of just beige."
Okay. That's a lot to take in. What did you tell the King about Jake?
[] He's wonderful and you're totally going to marry him.
[] He's your boyfriend and it's pretty serious.
[] He's your boyfriend but it's just a casual thing, you know?
[] Jake? What Jake?
[] (write-in)
What are you going to do about Dave? He's still kind of maybe holding a torch for you.
[] Nothing. Your life is complicated enough as it is.
[] Tell his boss that Dave needs to get over you and leave you alone.
[] Tell him that you have a boyfriend and that you're sorry.
[] Start texting back and forth with him, but don't make any plans to meet.
[] Schedule a lunch date.
[] (write-in)
Enough about your love life. What about Ginger and Silent Siren?
[] Pass the goggles on to Jake and Midori and let them have at it.
[] Change of plans. The team going in to investigate Dr. Marble's marked location is going to be ...
-[] (write-in team)
[] (write-in)
Last edited:
- Location
- St. Petersburg
[x] He's your boyfriend and it's pretty serious.
[x] Tell his boss that Dave needs to get over you and leave you alone.
Midori clearly isn't affected by goggles. I wonder if Siren's compulsion works on her? Can she bend light around herself in some non-Euclidean direction or something?
Otherwise we might want to give the goggles to Lewis and bring him in on it.
I don't know any other superheroes that we have on call.
[x] Tell his boss that Dave needs to get over you and leave you alone.
Midori clearly isn't affected by goggles. I wonder if Siren's compulsion works on her? Can she bend light around herself in some non-Euclidean direction or something?
Otherwise we might want to give the goggles to Lewis and bring him in on it.
I don't know any other superheroes that we have on call.
- Location
- Across the universe
Mars gets the tiebreak. Okay. So, now we find out whether or not Midori is resistant to the Silent Siren's mind control.
Silent Siren (Mind control attempt): (18+10) 28
Tentacle Girl (Willpower resistance): (6+8) 14
Jake (taser): CRITICAL HIT (27)
Silent Siren (Fortitude resistance): 16
Tentacle Girl (Yeet): 22
Jake (resistance roll): 20
Jake (taser): 14
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26. Boyfriend troubles
- Location
- Across the universe
26. Boyfriend troubles
There's a delicate tap at your door. You frown, glancing down at your phone. Still no text messages from Jake or Midori after Jake said they were going in. "Who's there?" you ask.
"Uh. It's me," Midori says. She opens the door cautiously. "I'm here."
"Why didn't you text?" you say. "I was getting really worried."
"Uh... I'm sorry," Midori says. "I didn't want to tell you by text, so I came home to tell you in person."
"Tell me ... what?" You lean forward. Now you're worried again.
"I kinda ... sorta ... " Her voice steadily declines in volume to an inaudible mumble as she stares at the floor. "But she made me do it. I'm sorry."
"Speak up, I couldn't make out what you said," you say, your internal worry dial getting cranked up to eleven.
"I kinda sorta threw Jake into the void between worlds," she says, shifting from foot to foot and staring down at the floor. "He zapped Silent Siren and she made me get rid of him. Then I ran away before she could make me do more things."
"Well, at least you didn't go on a mind-controlled crime spree," you mutter. "At least the goggles worked for Jake."
Midori shifts from foot to foot.
"Can you ... go get him back?" you ask.
"I tried, but he'd already drifted under the Starbucks and though the hole," she says.
"If he went through the hole, can't you?" you ask.
"Uh... not without breaking the concrete plug," she says. "It's kind of all mixed up with the spell circle from that one guy, with the loincloth, remember? Ferry or something? He wanted to seal me inside the hole, and now I'm sealed out of it."
"Pharaoh," you say. "Fuck," you add, as the situation sinks in. Hell's Belle said that the place on the other side of that portal was not a very nice place before she ran from the parking lot like a nuclear engineer who has just learned that the emergency core cooling system was shut off before the technicians started their now-failed experiment.
"So where does that leave us?" you ask.
"In a bit of trouble," Midori admits.
"What do we need to do to fix it?" you ask.
"Find someone who knows how to fix the spell?" Midori says. "I mean, I could probably break the plug open, but then there's a big open hole in the middle of the parking lot, and things on the other side wanted to get through."
"Do you think Jake is still alive?" Your heart skips a beat.
Midori bursts out crying. "I hope so," she sobs. "I really feel bad now."
This is a bit of a pickle. What to do now?
[] Tell Midori to break open the concrete plug and get Jake.
[] Have Midori throw someone or something else through to help Jake get out.
-[] You with a rope tied around your waist. That should work, right?
-[] The Gray Knight with a thousand meters of cable on a winch. That should work, right?
-[] (write-in)
[] Time to track down Hell's Belle and twist her arm until she helps you.
[] Go to the King and demand a refund on his non-functioning goggles.
[] You have a better idea.
-[] (write in better idea)
[] Pity about Jake, but you're not risking opening a portal to some unspeakable hell dimension to get him back.
-[] Let's get to Silent Siren with goggles on.
--[] (write in team)
-[] Let's get back to work on trashing the Lady Light in the press.
-[] Let's ... (write in details)
Solarstream
It's all in the cards
- Location
- Zombie World
- Pronouns
- He/Him
since it's serious, perhaps we should go grab him
[X] Have Midori throw someone or something else through to help Jake get out.
-[X] You with a rope tied around your waist. That should work, right?
[X] Have Midori throw someone or something else through to help Jake get out.
-[X] You with a rope tied around your waist. That should work, right?
- Location
- St. Petersburg
Yes, yes it does.
Well, I say Jake is Lewis' bud too, so we should team up and mount a rescue operation.
[x] Have Midori throw someone or something else through to help Jake get out.
-[x] You and Lewis. You'll figure out something once you're in.
He has the means, we have the brains.
The brains that came up with giving goggles to Midori.
Okay, we have the looks. PR is important, right?
Is there a point in tracking Hell's Belle to find out what we can expect on the other side?
- Location
- Across the universe
She seems to know something about what's on the other side as well as something about opening and closing portals. She's widely claimed the ability to open portals to hell. So far, you've only met two wizards, including her and Pharaoh.
The drawbacks of involving her basically all come down to the fact that she's a supervillain. She has a criminal record, she and the Gray Knight have had at least one serious dust-up that you know of, and she's probably not doing you a favor out of a sense of generosity. (You may, in fact, have to either pay her or intimidate her into helping.)
Real name: Unknown
Known powers: Claims to have the ability to open portals to hell. Known to produce fireballs.
Power Level: Est. 8+
Attributes:
Power Level: Est. 8+
Attributes:
- Strength 5+
- Agility 4+
- Fighting 5+
- Awareness 4+
- Stamina 4+
- Dexterity 4+
- Intellect ?
- Presence 4+
- Dodge 7+
- Parry 7+
- Fortitude 6+
- Toughness 6+
- Will 6+
- Claims to be able to open portals to hell.
- Can throw fireballs.
- Has enhanced durability or defenses.
We don't know much about Hell's Belle, aka Hellbitch, other than the fact that she had an Inconclusive smash-up with Armored Suit Sidekick, aka the Gray Knight, and therefore likely similar in overall power. Notable acts of villainy include a botch bank vault heist that ended up with the cash going up in smoke (literally). Has recently purchased a candy apple red iPhone.
- Location
- St. Petersburg
Sure.
Hit her for info first. Then go in with Midori and Lewis.
[x] Time to track down Hell's Belle and twist her arm until she helps you.
I assume this has to resolve before we choose to do anything else. But only if it doesn't take more than a day. If it's more than that, I'll just grab whomever we can get our hands on, and go.
Hit her for info first. Then go in with Midori and Lewis.
[x] Time to track down Hell's Belle and twist her arm until she helps you.
I assume this has to resolve before we choose to do anything else. But only if it doesn't take more than a day. If it's more than that, I'll just grab whomever we can get our hands on, and go.
[x] Time to track down Hell's Belle and twist her arm until she helps you.
Solarstream
It's all in the cards
- Location
- Zombie World
- Pronouns
- He/Him
sounds fine to me
[X] Time to track down Hell's Belle and twist her arm until she helps you.
[X] Time to track down Hell's Belle and twist her arm until she helps you.