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​
     
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  • Informational
    • [X] Jump to the top of the Mesa and slip into the civilian section of town (Diff 1, Range 2 jump. Use your Physical Perfection as a secondary characteristic to reduce the Range to 0, 0 heat. Diff 2+1 to sneak in - 3 Heat.
     
    [X] Jump to the top of the Mesa and slip into the civilian section of town (Diff 1, Range 2 jump. Use your Physical Perfection as a secondary characteristic to reduce the Range to 0, 0 heat. Diff 2+1 to sneak in - 3 Heat.


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    [X] Jump to the top of the Mesa and slip into the civilian section of town (Diff 1, Range 2 jump. Use your Physical Perfection as a secondary characteristic to reduce the Range to 0, 0 heat. Diff 2+1 to sneak in - 3 Heat.)
    [X] ...reach out with your mind. Just...try it. (Diff 5 Telepathic check - 1 Heat)
     
    Adhoc vote count started by DragonCobolt on Jan 18, 2024 at 7:56 PM, finished with 21 posts and 14 votes.
    Click to expand...


    Sam, you've turned off your targeting computer!
     
    ACT TWO, MISSION THREE: The New Combine (0.4)
  • Threadmarks
    • You sighed. "Cr, I'm going to try something...really stupid. Don't laugh at me."

    Cr laid on his side, watching as you slowly settled down on your ass. You crossed your legs, placed your hands on your knees, then closed your eyes. You didn't see anything - well, that wasn't quite true. Visualization was a big part of your job. So, for a moment, you could see the graceful arcs of arrows, the timetables, the tracking tables...all of it. You pushed it away.

    "This is stupid," you whispered.

    You breathed in and out. Like...like a dumb movie. A holo or something. One of the historical fantasies, set in the 24th century. You couldn't remember the name of it now. Breathe in. Breathe out. Breathe in. Breath out. As you did so, you began to become aware of that song - that distant Zerg song. But it was farther away from you than it had ever been before...and the sound was deeper. More resonant. It was as if you had been hearing it from a cello stuffed with tissue paper, the noises muted and muffled. Now it rang in that distance, echoing again and again. You breathed in, then breathed out - and with this outwards exhalation, you could hear the closer, tinnier noise of a new song.

    It bounced and rattled, sounding as if it couldn't decide if it was going to be a drum set or an acapella choir. It was strange to hear something so disunited. And...yet...

    It was pretty.

    Then a single note among the rattling and the chiming.

    You focused on it. Drew closer.

    Then for a single flashing moment, you saw something - a shadow of a shadow, slipping through mines. The shadow didn't move with feet, it rippled between space-time like an eel, slithering across physical space in a between-world that you could almost see...a membrane of pure darkness stretched over an infinite glittering light. And every time they risked that step, the light focused, drew in, the sense of danger was overwhelming. The light, though. The light was amazing. You looked at the bottom of the membrane, like peering into the bottom of a ecotour boat.

    It was like looking into a cathedral made of mirrors - an infinite reflection of more and more brilliant light. It was beautiful. And...cold.

    And then something noticed you.

    Your eyes snapped open and you flung yourself backwards with a thrusting motion of your palm - flipping and landing a few meters away. You skidded to a stop as a crackling green blade of light sliced the night ahead of you. Something shadowed and tall hunched in the darkness - the blade burst from their side, and cast just enough illumination to show a gnarled, gray-blue arm, corded with muscle and covered in a thick crosshatching of scars. A fluttering cloak was draped around their shoulders, and a bandana wrapped around where the mouth would have been...had there been a mouth on a Protoss.

    You overstep your training, Kerrigan, the Protoss' voice reverberated with an old, exhausted reproach. Did not your twisted master tell you not to go where we tread?

    "...Zeratul, I presume," you said, your hand hovering near your pistol. "I'm not Kerrigan."

    His head cocked and the green blade buzzed. Crackled. Hissed. Popped.

    Indeed. You are new, he said. I would not think that Kerrigan would do unto another as was done to her. Or were you also taken by the Overmind?

    "My name is Samantha Clarke-"

    Zeratul's head jerked upward, his glowing eyes blazing with intense, furious focus. The Savior of Aiur? I... He paused. I am grieved to see that this crime has been done to you - that the cycles of suffering has not taught her pity. He sounded genuinely regretful - his mental voice echoing inside of your mind.

    "Well-"

    And then he tried to kill you.

    ---
    HEAT: 1/6

    [ ] Fail to talk him down and fight back (non-lethally, of course!) - starts a 10 XP combat at 0 heat
    [ ] Try and talk him down - a Diff 10 charm check, with a -2 enviromental penalty. This heavily overheats, so...
    [ ] ...he believes you, but Raynor doesn't.​
    [ ] ...he believes you, but Fenix doesn't.​
    [ ] ...he believes you, but the Dominion shows up.​
    [ ] ...he believes you, but the Kel-Morian Combine shows up.​
    [ ] Write In
     
  • Threadmarks
    • okay I entirely spaced out and forgot to vote last time but I think this is what I'd wanna have done anyways mzncx
    Also Hi Zeratul lmao

    [X] Try and talk him down - a Diff 10 charm check, with a -2 enviromental penalty. This heavily overheats, so...
    [X] ...he believes you, but the Dominion shows up.
    [X] ...he believes you, but the Kel-Morian Combine shows up.

    Iunno how to format this mznxc
    but I'm good with either here? Iunno, someone gimme some other logic to work with zmxnc

    EDIT:
    ice_moon_dreams said:
    I mean if the Zerglings enjoy it is there really a cost to the 'Throw Zerglings, more Zerglings and even more Zerglings at the problem' Strategy?
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    Beyond adorable, them li'l critters XD
     
    [X] Fail to talk him down and fight back (non-lethally, of course!) - starts a 10 XP combat at 0 heat

    I'm very willing to be talked out of this but a non-lethal fight followed by actually talking sounds like it will go better long term then any of the other diplo maluses and 10 XP doesn't sound too scary. I am however actually scared of Zeratul in close combat so this is very tentative.
     
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    [X] Fail to talk him down and fight back (non-lethally, of course!) - starts a 10 XP combat at 0 heat
    Let's wrassle a dark templar.
     
    [X] Try and talk him down - a Diff 10 charm check, with a -2 enviromental penalty. This heavily overheats, so...
    -[X] ...he believes you, but the Dominion shows up.

    [X] Fail to talk him down and fight back (non-lethally, of course!) - starts a 10 XP combat at 0 heat

    I'm always down to fight Mengsk and his goons. Also, always down for a fight in general. So, perfectly happy for either of these.
     
    [X] Fail to talk him down and fight back (non-lethally, of course!) - starts a 10 XP combat at 0 heat

    I hear that if we get to 1000 XP we get a hat.
     
    [X] Try and talk him down - a Diff 10 charm check, with a -2 enviromental penalty. This heavily overheats, so...
    -[X] ...he believes you, but the Dominion shows up.
     
    [X] Fail to talk him down and fight back (non-lethally, of course!) - starts a 10 XP combat at 0 heat

    [X] Try and talk him down - a Diff 10 charm check, with a -2 enviromental penalty. This heavily overheats, so... -[X] ...he believes you, but the Dominion shows up.
     
    [X] Try and talk him down - a Diff 10 charm check, with a -2 enviromental penalty. This heavily overheats, so...
    [X] ...he believes you, but the Dominion shows up.
    [X] ...he believes you, but the Kel-Morian Combine shows up.
     
    VillaininGlasses said:
    [X] Fail to talk him down and fight back (non-lethally, of course!) - starts a 10 XP combat at 0 heat

    I'm very willing to be talked out of this but a non-lethal fight followed by actually talking sounds like it will go better long term then any of the other diplo maluses and 10 XP doesn't sound too scary. I am however actually scared of Zeratul in close combat so this is very tentative.
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    [X] Fail to talk him down and fight back (non-lethally, of course!) - starts a 10 XP combat at 0 heat

    I agree. XP is always good, and heavily overheating at the beginning of our mission isn't a great plan.
     
    [X] Fail to talk him down and fight back (non-lethally, of course!) - starts a 10 XP combat at 0 heat
     
    Interesting; he was in the tunnels, and then he was here. I wonder if there was some short range teleportation involved, or if we lost track of time, or... something.

    In any case, though, hm.
    Hmm.
    [X] Try and talk him down - a Diff 10 charm check, with a -2 enviromental penalty. This heavily overheats, so...
    [X] ...he believes you, but Raynor doesn't.

    We can probably convince Zeratul and Fenix both with the right diplomacy, given our history with the Khalai and the way we're very much not acting like we want to devour them for their biomass. And I'm not sure why the Dominion or the Kel-Morian Combine would be showing up right now beyond just bad(?) luck on our part -- and while that could happen, it seems like it might cut out some of the interesting diplomacy.

    But Raynor? We've never met him. We've helped some of his people out, sure, but when it also benefitted us. And we came here as the sword of the distant UEF, here to liberate the sector (and a charismatic military leader saying they want to liberate the sector while actually having an ulterior motive is something Raynor has close and unpleasant personal experience with) -- and now we're claiming to be working with his Evil ex-girlfriend, who's also our ex-girlfriend but to a lesser degree, but not Evil ourself, oh and also turns out the UEF was bad and out to conquer the sector actually but now we're working with some different revolutionaries who want to liberate the place, except not exactly because we haven't opened contact with them yet due to this all maybe actually being a ruse and us actually wanting to eat everyone for biomass.

    Quite plausible Raynor doesn't trust us, I think, for a variety of reasons. Also, then we're in the awkward-but-interesting position of Zeratul and Fenix, who are Raynor's allies, trusting us, while Raynor thinks we're probably actually trying to crown either Kerrigan or ourself Queen Bitch of the Universe, while all three groups are operating in secret here with some shared goals.
     
    VillaininGlasses said:
    Honestly my main point there is that 10 XP doesn't sound like it will be as difficult of a fight as I'm worried about.
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    10 XP means you're facing down a 20 Danger encounter - but since you're only fighting one guy, that 20 Danger will be spent to represent his entire battlefield endurance. Now, the reason why it's 10 XP is cause you're just trying to fight him until he realizes you're not trying to kill him. If you were trying to kill him, it'd probably be 30 XP.
     
    DragonCobolt said:
    10 XP means you're facing down a 20 Danger encounter - but since you're only fighting one guy, that 20 Danger will be spent to represent his entire battlefield endurance. Now, the reason why it's 10 XP is cause you're just trying to fight him until he realizes you're not trying to kill him. If you were trying to kill him, it'd probably be 30 XP.
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    Eep! ...Yeah that's Zeratul. Well I feel committed and it would be the most narratively interesting to me.

    Edit: Actually yeah Raynor being distrustful would be cool too.
    [X] Fail to talk him down and fight back (non-lethally, of course!) - starts a 10 XP combat at 0 heat
    [X] Try and talk him down - a Diff 10 charm check, with a -2 enviromental penalty. This heavily overheats, so...
    [X] ...he believes you, but Raynor doesn't.
     
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    Reese said:
    and now we're claiming to be working with his Evil ex-girlfriend, who's also our ex-girlfriend but to a lesser degree
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    While I don't plan to change my vote, this did make me realize something very funny, which is that Clarke DOESN'T KNOW ABOUT THIS. Sarah has seemingly forgotten to tell Sam that Jim was the ex she mentioned prior to the betrayal, meaning that the first she's going hear about it is when he starts acting weird whenever Kerrigan's name gets dropped during negotiations.
     
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