THE INFINITE BROOD (Starcraft/Supreme Commander Crossover Quest!)

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THE SWARM SHEET
  • Informational
    • The Brood of Blades
    ​
    Cerebrate Prime: Samantha Clarke
    LEVEL: 5
    XP: 205/210
    TRAITS
    Strategic Genius: Once per structured encounter, Sam can create a piece of the environment that is in her favor as a sticky spark. Roll a d3 for its value.
    Empathetic: upon meeting an NPC, learn their motivation!
    Legendary Commander: Gain 4 Command sparks at the beginning of each mission/combat. Command sparks may be spent to give NPCs orders, which they may either obey or refuse to obey (doing nothing instead.) Command sparks may not be regained via skills or powers.
    Hunted: Something wants her - but for what? +1 Danger to all scenes​
    SKILLS
    CLOSE COMBAT (2): Brawling, Edged Weapons
    PERSONAL (2): Awareness, Resilience
    SOCIAL (4): Charm, Empathy, Leadership, Taunt​
    MASTERY
    ACU Pilot (2): Nanofabrication [Mass], ObSat Operations [Range]
    The Hilt (4): Biomorphic Spawning (People), Regeneration (Durability), Physical Perfection (Speed), Telepathic Dominion (Range)​

    POWERS
    The Living Swarm
    Vent: 4-0
    Effect: Gain 1 Living Swarm spark, +1 per vent reduction.​
    The Living Swarm: While this swarm exists, move in three dimensions and through anything smaller than a keyhole, reforming at will. You may expend these sparks to cause 3 Hit Sparks in a Area 2 radius.​
    Area Upgrade: +1 to Area Characteristic​

    Biomorphic Reinforcement
    Vent: 4-0
    Effect: Create 1 Biomorphic Reinforcement spark, +1 per vent reduction, which can be given out to anyone within Range 2, or to yourself
    Biomorphic Reinforcement: +1 to Damage or Mass characteristic for the purpose of raw physical strength/feats.

    Back to Back
    Vent: 4-0
    Effect: Choose 1 ally (+1 per vent reduction), within Range 1. Each can take one action using one of your skills, any of them that you wish. Once they have done so, you may make a free attack with your melee weapon, getting +1 to your skill per ally that acted.​

    Adaptation
    Vent: 4-0
    Effect: Create a number of sparks equal to the enemy's difficulty, narratively based on turning their abilities against them. Works on enemies of Diff 2>, +2 per vent reduction.​

    Just as Planned…
    Vent: 6-0
    Effect: Vent 6 heat and create 1 Planning Spark for her or an ally, +1 Spark per vent reduction.​
    Planning: The person holding this Spark can expend this to get +1 to a skill check as a free action. Using this Stack counts as you are helping for the purpose of relationships.​

    GEAR
    Zeratul's Psi-Blades
    Adds: +0 (Edged Weapons) | Characteristics: Damage [Speed] (4)[1]​
    Shadowstep (3): Can expend as a free action to move without crossing intervening space.
    Guarded Space (3): Can expend to use Damage as a secondary characteristic for Durability, reducing incoming Damage characteristics.​

    GALACTIC WAR
    Victory Points: 5    ​
    RESOURCES​
    TERRAN DOMINION [Background] (1)​
    The men and material of the Dominion - limited, but they're mustering as we speak. ​
    ALLIANCE EXPEDITIONARY FORCES [Mastery] (1)​
    While you have access to several ACUs of every faction, they lack economic and technological support to be fully effective. ​
    ZERG HIVE [Mastery] (1)​
    The scant few Zerg you control that are free of Amon's influence. Mostly Zerglings. ​
    AEON FLEET [Background] (1)​
    While half a dozen CZARs seem impressive, they're not actually well made for ship to ship combat. ​
    ALLIED COHESION [Motivation] (1)​
    The alliance is fragile and weak.​

    FRONTS​
    Trade Sector-34-51 [Pirate Activity]
    Pirates Raiding 6 (Supply Lines in Disarray 1)
    COMMAND: Jim Raynor | ARMY: Raynor's Raiders
    RESULTS: Pending

    Braxis [Zerg Invasion]
    Borealis Siege 6 (Zerg Rampage1)
    COMMAND: General Samantha Clarke | ARMY: Brood Clarke
    RESULTS: Pending

    Typhan II [Active Xel'Naga ACU]
    Typhan II Occupied 6 (Xel'Naga ACU Spotted 1)
    COMMAND: Lt. Colonel Mathew Horner | ARMY: UEF Armored Command Unit
    RESULTS: Pending

    Deep Space Sector 981 [Hive Fleet Identified]
    Zerg Hive Fleet Spotted 6 (Kerrigan? 1)
    COMMAND: Citizen-Commander Dostya | ARMY: CN Armored Command Unit
    RESULTS: Pending
    ​
    ENEMY ASSETS (Currently Known)
    ​
    THE GOLDEN ARMADA
    ACTIVITY: Unknown | Threat Level: 6​
     
    Last edited:
  • Informational
    • [X] Go after the disruptor (Stealth Diff 5)

    Duke is a pain in the ass but he always struck me as kind of amoral - not someone who's the prime target for revenge, just a useful tool for Mengsk. Also, taking down the disruptor is important and we're professionals who can keep it in our pants until the mission is over.

    (Of course, I'm open to abducting her as we make our escape. We're not heartless, we just have priorities.)
     
    [X] Go after the disruptor (Stealth Diff 5)

    Because you know what? He left Sarah to die, because she just wasn't important. Why should he now get to have his last moments be knowing that the Queen of Blades and her Hilt considered him important enough to personally go after and kill, even if it compromised their overall mission? He can die in battle against someone else -- random Zerg, Raynor's forces, whatever -- or run away again to save his own skin, again, but we have better things to do.

    [X] Plan Grand Theft Science: Go after the bridge, storm it and use it to contact Artanis, have him use an Arbiter to both cloak the approach of every Zerg flier we have access to and to Recall the entire science ship to steal it and all its contents (lesbians included), the Zerg forces can use the opportunity to try and drive straight for Duke's ship
    -[X] mechanically: Use Biomorphic Spawning to take and hold the bridge, then use a second Command Spark to get Artanis to deploy an Arbiter to cover the approach of our Zerg while retrieving ourselves and the Emitter

    But I'll vote for that too. :D
     
    Adhoc vote count started by DragonCobolt on Mar 28, 2024 at 11:09 AM, finished with 41 posts and 20 votes.
    • [X] Go after the disruptor (Stealth Diff 5)
      [X] Sneak aboard the Norad III (Stealth Diff 5)
      -[X] Use our second Command Spark to have Duke's replacement prioritise killing Daggoth and stopping a new Overmind above everything else
      [X] Plan Grand Theft Science: Go after the bridge, storm it and use it to contact Artanis, have him use an Arbiter to both cloak the approach of every Zerg flier we have access to and to Recall the entire science ship to steal it and all its contents (lesbians included), the Zerg forces can use the opportunity to try and drive straight for Duke's ship
      -[X] mechanically: Use Biomorphic Spawning to take and hold the bridge, then use a second Command Spark to get Artanis to deploy an Arbiter to cover the approach of our Zerg while retrieving ourselves and the Emitter
      [X] Grab that one tech and see about discreetly using her to mess with the disruptor, then sneak onto the Norad.
      -[X] If anyone's watching, try to make it look like a kiss.
      -[X] Temporary flavor parasite, for safety!
      [X] Grab that one tech and see about discreetly using her to mess with the disruptor, then sneak onto the Norad.
      -[X] If anyone's watching, try to make it look like a kiss.
      [X] Sneak aboard the Norad III (Stealth Diff 5)
      -[X] Use our second Command Spark to have Duke's replacement prioritise killing Daggoth and stopping a new Overmind above everything else. Their family was on Tarsonis or something.
    Click to expand...


    You can always kiss the redhead in an omake!
     
    ACT TWO, MISSION SIX: To Open the Way (0.7)
  • Threadmarks
    • You glanced after the girl, then turned back to Sarah as the doors closed between you and the detection array. We hit the detector now. Duke...we leave him for later.

    Sarah grumbled mentally, but nodded. She saw the logic. You and her started to walk down the corridor. The elevator ride that you took next was, thankfully, alone - but it still felt awkward as you two stood side by side and you thought out the permutations of what was coming up. Sarah simply reached up and placed her hand on your shoulder, squeezing. You smiled under the mask, putting your hand on hers - squeezing back.

    Then, wryly, her voice echoed in your head. You know, it's perfectly natural to have kink related to truama.

    You slowly turned your head to look at her. Under goggles and mouth covering respirator, she had that impish smile you remembered falling for, back what felt like two lifetimes ago.

    She glanced at you, goggles glinting in the elevator's overhead lights. So don't beat yourself up for any fantasies you might have.

    Sarah...

    Just saying, it's perfectly normal to wonder what it'd be like to...kiss a wriggling larvae down a cute freckled-

    Sarah!

    She held up her hands, gloves creaking. Listen, I was trained in this kind of psychoanalysis.

    You were?     The elevator doors opened with a faint chime and you stepped through. There were a few passive security checkpoints here - you knew you didn't have much time to work, so you started to walk faster. Sarah kept pace, her voice still amused.

    Well, of course. Ghosts had to make some decisions in the field.

    You came to the last door before the psi disruptor. A pair of marines stood there, but both of them gave curt nods. "Tora. Crone. Head right in." The door opened with a hiss and a click and you stepped through before they could stop you. Sarah glanced back, but you and her had the same thought: Alarmingly good luck.

    The Psi Disruptor was a large, rectangular structure contained within one of the lower levels of the cargo hold, attached to massive power cables that were leading into the vastness of the Chesapeake's internal power systems. You didn't know how much of the ship's multiple reactors were all being put into feeding the thing, but it had to be an immense amount of power to threaten the Swarm from so far away. Standing near it, you heard/felt a low level whining hum in the back of your mind. It was like being too close to a power converted without enough shielding. Sarah and you looked around the room and saw that the place was actually mostly empty - there were no techs, no science boffins, nothing but the cables, the machine, and the surrounding cargo hold.

    You frowned. "All right, lets-"

    The door behind you opened.

    You and Sarah turned.

    You wished you could have been more shocked.

    Tora and Crone walked into the room.

    They were actually closer to you and Sarah than you'd have expected - Tora was easily as tall as you were, though her body was a lot skinnier, which made her seem to be more gangly and storklike. Crone was the same height as Sarah, but her figure was less slender and gymnastic and more...curvaceous, edged with muscles. She had the kind of body you only got from the genetics to gain weight and the determination to work out every day. And steroids. Probably.

    Tora stood across from Sarah and Crone stood across from you, and both of the pairs looked up and down at one another.

    "That explains a lot," Crone said, cocking her head.

    "Knew it," Tora said, chuckling. Her voice was surprisingly deep.

    A low level of quivering psychic energy was starting to build between the two of them. Sarah shifted her stance, while Crone cracked her knuckles. You could hear the grin. "You some Specters or did Nova really crack and give Raynor training protocols on Ghosts?"

    Sarah waggled her finger. "That would be telling."

    "Heh..." Tora rumbled. Her palm slapped the keypad by the door - but rather than an alert sounding, the door locked up tight. "We'll keep the poor marines out of this."

    "They might get hurt," Sarah crooned.

    "Quite," Crone said.

    Tora rolled her shoulders.

    "It's been a while since we've gotten to do this, Tora," Crone said.

    "Mmmmhmm." Tora bounced a bit on her feet.

    "Ghost fights are so rare," Sarah said, quietly. She sounded amused. Like a cat.

    Are they always so psychotic? You thought to Sarah.

    I'm the most well adjusted Ghost I've ever met, Sarah said.

    You considered the orphan you'd rescued - the executions that you had seen. The righteousness on Prince Valarian's face as he gunned down the people responsible for making Ghosts. The minds you felt across from you, echoing from behind those helmets, were like glass daggers.

    "Ready?" Crone asked, casually.

    ---
    HEAT: 5/6

    [ ] Have Sarah jump Crone - while she's distracted, short out Tora's concious brain with a smash from your psionic powers.
    [ ] Distract them with a clever trick, then retreat behind cover and see what the Ghosts do.
    [ ] Try and talk them down. (This will get one on your side, but also will cause one wound effect.)
    [ ] Item Destroyed: During the fight while trying to talk her down, a Ghost smashes your psi-blade​
    [ ] Precarious: During the fight, you end up with the other Ghost's gun to your head.​
    [ ] Scarred: One of the Ghosts manages to wound you with something advanced enough even your biology has a hard time with it.​
    [ ] Real Bad News: You talk her around and then the GM adds 60 Danger to the scene. This does not increase the XP value​
    [ ] Write In

    Danger: 10
    XP Value: 15

    ENEMIES: Crone (Diff 10), Tora (Diff 10)

    Plan One: Vent 4 heat to use Back to Back and let Sarah attack Crone with your skill - it won't work since Diff 10 vs skill 2 or 4 is obviously a fail. BUt it still lets you get +1 to your telepathic domination, which lets you take down Tora with a mind jolt and 5 heat, putting you at 6 heat

    Plan Two: Vent 5 heat to get 2 just as planned, while using your 4 command sparks to slap two confused sparks onto the two Ghosts. Also, dive into nearby cover with your free movement

    Plan Three: Try and talk one of them down with Charm, taking 6 heat to do so and getting 5 overheat (wounding.)
     
  • Threadmarks
    • [x] Try and talk them down. (This will get one on your side, but also will cause one wound effect.)
    - [x] Precarious: During the fight, you end up with the other Ghost's gun to your head.


    I dunno, this option just speaks to me.
     
    @DragonCobolt, Can we use our Physical perfection + Zeratul psi dagger to launch an attack?

    I'm not sure how speed works but it should if I'm calculating right result in +6 Heat (10-4), that we can vent with just as planned, and some extra damage?
     
    Evillevi said:
    @DragonCobolt, Can we use our Physical perfection + Zeratul psi dagger to launch an attack?

    I'm not sure how speed works but it should if I'm calculating right result in +6 Heat (10-4), that we can vent with just as planned, and some extra damage?
    Click to expand...
    Click to shrink...

    So, characteristics create sparks, they don't modify skill values. Thus, Physical Perfection 4 versus Diff 10 is still gonna be 6 heat, it'll just also create four stacks of speed sparks.

    Those sparks can be anything narratively justified by your superhuman speed - so, it's a good way to, say, create a defensive effect while taking one person down! But it won't decrease the amount of HEAT you need to take to take down diff 10 people.
     
    DragonCobolt said:
    So, characteristics create sparks, they don't modify skill values. Thus, Physical Perfection 4 versus Diff 10 is still gonna be 6 heat, it'll just also create four stacks of speed sparks.

    Those sparks can be anything narratively justified by your superhuman speed - so, it's a good way to, say, create a defensive effect while taking one person down! But it won't decrease the amount of HEAT you need to take to take down diff 10 people.
    Click to expand...
    Click to shrink...
    In my brain my plan is to be the tank drawing aggro for Sarah to work a stronger attack that she normally can't while under pressure. I'm not sure if my mechanics is done correctly

    Plan Speedy, Swordy, Sam for distraction

    1) Use Physical Perfection with Psi Blade to Hurt our enemies (unknown damage since I don't know how gear works), generating 6 heat.
    2) Vent the 6 heat to with Just as planned Giving Sarah +6 to her own actions.
    3) Enemies get 1 extra attack as a cost of using our powers.
    4) Sarah now gets +6 to her own attack
    5) Enemies get their normal attack

    My hope is that between our psi blades and sarah's own attack we can ened before turn our enemies get their normal turn
     
    Last edited:
    Evillevi said:
    1) Use Physical Perfection with Psi Blade to Hurt our enemies (unknown damage since I don't know how gear works), generating 6 heat.
    2) Vent the 6 heat to with Just as planned Giving Sarah +6 to her own actions.
    3) Enemies get 1 extra attack as a cost of using our powers.
    4) Sarah now gets +6 to her own attack
    5) Enemies get their normal attack
    Click to expand...
    Click to shrink...

    Only problem with this plan is that you currently have 5 heat - so, if you get 6 heat, you'll hit 11 heat (which produces a wounding attack.) That stops your turn, sorry.

    But it is a decent plan for after you zero out again with the "Get to cover" plan!
     
    [x] Try and talk them down. (This will get one on your side, but also will cause one wound effect.)
    - [x] Precarious: During the fight, you end up with the other Ghost's gun to your head.

    Meh. Our head can grow back.
     
    [x] Have Sarah jump Crone - while she's distracted, short out Tora's concious brain with a smash from your psionic powers.

    Focus one down and then get Crone next with a 2v1 for a defeat in detail. Worthy of a Commander.
     
    [x] Try and talk them down. (This will get one on your side, but also will cause one wound effect.)
    - [x] Precarious: During the fight, you end up with the other Ghost's gun to your head.
     
    DragonCobolt said:
    "That explains a lot," Crone said, cocking her head.

    "Knew it," Tora said, chuckling. Her voice was surprisingly deep.
    Click to expand...
    Click to shrink...
    Multiple choice, how did they figure it out
    1) A confused officer congratulated Tora on losing weight. A lot of it, in like, half an hour.
    2) Some enterprising engineer slid into Tora's DMs
    3) Someone actually double checked the orders to shut down the detector node.
     
    DragonCobolt said:
    I'm the most well adjusted Ghost I've ever met, Sarah said.
    Click to expand...
    Click to shrink...
    The sad thing is, I believe her. Well... Nova is debatably well adjusted. In that she's one of the few if possibly only Ghost that actually wanted the full mindwipe parts of training. Which says a lot about how not adjusted she was before the Ghost Academy. Not that I know if Dragon is actually using her backstory from her novel.

    I still want to use our Strategic Genius trait to get us 1d3 sparks of useful environmental effects, be that cover, or suddenly like a water pipe bursting to ruin their footing or something. But Sam is so hard into social stats right now, the charm them over feels more fitting.

    And yeah suddenly Sam has a gun to her head does seem like a fun scene.

    [X] Try and talk them down. (This will get one on your side, but also will cause one wound effect.)
    - [X] Precarious: During the fight, you end up with the other Ghost's gun to your head.
     
    [X] Try and talk them down. (This will get one on your side, but also will cause one wound effect.)
    - [X] Real Bad News: You talk her around and then the GM adds 60 Danger to the scene. This does not increase the XP value
     
    [x] Try and talk them down. (This will get one on your side, but also will cause one wound effect.)
    - [x] Precarious: During the fight, you end up with the other Ghost's gun to your head.
     
    [x] Try and talk them down. (This will get one on your side, but also will cause one wound effect.)
    - [x] Precarious: During the fight, you end up with the other Ghost's gun to your head.
     
    [x] Try and talk them down. (This will get one on your side, but also will cause one wound effect.)
    - [x] Precarious: During the fight, you end up with the other Ghost's gun to your head.
     
    [x] Try and talk them down. (This will get one on your side, but also will cause one wound effect.)
    - [x] Precarious: During the fight, you end up with the other Ghost's gun to your head.
     
    [x] Try and talk them down. (This will get one on your side, but also will cause one wound effect.)
    - [x] Precarious: During the fight, you end up with the other Ghost's gun to your head.

    I want to see where this goes.
     
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