Worm of Darkness(WoD/Worm) Snips

[VirtualFox]

My next brainstorms are trying to have harcroft interacting with local Hunters or showing how he works against 'bad' Others(as he lumps Supernaturals and Parahumans together broadly), but the current bad Other idea is more dumping on Sophia through legal means so soon after my Ghost Taylor and it feels more like a pile on even if they're separate ideas.

 

[VirtualFox]

Turns out I bounced from E88 vs Hunter to this....
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Kenta was both annoyed and intrigued to be in this particular park at this time of night. But he knew the powers of the old days, the old ways. Even before Levithan had hit Kyoshu, he had found out about the true rulers of the shadows. And now his soul. Oh how he longed to burn his masters in flame, but the bindings prevented it. Oh how they taunted him by showing how easily they could choose to change his heart on any matter, and then leave him to wonder how much of his mind is still his. The Shattered Soul Circle had guided his move to Brockton Bay and helped build his base of power. He was to be their mask, the face of power to the PRT and parahuman gangs; but the true shadow lords knew the truth.

But yet one of those 'true powers' had contacted him for a meet. Not to set one up with those above him. Himself, Lung. And he knew why, the soft hoodie he holds in his hands.

*Caw Caw Caw*

The sounds of Ravens slowly grow louder and echo through the clearing as a flock starts to gather in front of him. As the birds fly closer together speeding up, leaving no sight of inside their circle a low rumble echoes from that center dispersering them. Leaving a lone individual where the flock had been.

Stormspeaker. Lord of the local Fae. Rugged hunting leathers with a wolf's head over his left shoulder, slit eyes of brilliant green, his staff topped with a dreamcatcher decorated with raven's feathers.

"Thank you, Lord Lung for attending this meeting with the urgency it is due."

"You call me Lord Lung, yet you demand my presence. Curious for a fickle one." Kenta's muscles tighten slightly as scales slightly ripple across his form, fight, flight, or talk he needs to be ready."

"You are a Lord of your domain, even if you have fealty to one above you. And you know why I demand your presence."

"The girl."

"Correct. She had not even known what she was, when your men took her coat and made her swear to serve you in all things."

"She is of the shadows, like all of you. She was fair game, that she was recently brought into this world is irrelevant."

"And thus you work her body, and break her mind so that she dies. Even if she lives, she dies and her potential is wasted."

"And what does that mean for me, Speaker of Storms? That I've removed a piece from your board before you even have a chance to exploit her?"

"I brought you to this park to listen to and accept a one time offer to buy her freedom from her oath, oh chained dragon of the east. A carrot and a stick to choose from."

Lung's scaled brow scrunches as he keeps his transformation in check. "What is the carrot?"

"Two-hundred and fifty thousand dollars, which is how much you would make from ten girls like her in a six month period and my court will not intentionally target ABB holdings for six months. Individuals get caught up in my courts behavior it happens, but six months where we do not make you reach for booze because we went after you."

"And the stick?"

Stormspeaker slowly reaches into a pocket, his other hand palm up and facing the rage dragon. Pulling out a cell phone, he places it on the ground and paces back six long steps to let Lung approach it. "It's a burner, accesscode is 1234. Check the photos."

Lung's scaled hands are just human enough to punch in the code. The shock of the image causes him to drop the phone. as Stormspeaker next words resonate like thunder despite their softness. "A girl for a girl is a fair trade, don't you think?"

 

[VirtualFox]

And more Lung bullying, this time from one my favorite Mage built PC's that I've never gotten a chance to play and more light hearted after the implicattions of the last one
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Gallant knew he was in over his head. Didn't need powers to verify that when he and Aegis responded to a call of a fight breaking out on the edge of ABB's territory near the docks. Watching a random body fly past to sprawl into the street, he triggers his comms.

'Console this is Gallant. I think we have a Street Fighter incident occuring.'
'Gallant this is Console, can you confirm?'

Another body landing right on the first before they could get up.

'Just witnessed two consecutive throws on each other from around the corner, Console. It's got to be her.'
'Understood, Stay back and observe only. Protectorate en route. 5 minutes.'

"HOW DARE YOU!!!!" a loud rasping voice echoes down the street.

'Console, Lung is on site I repeat Lung is onsite.'

Gallant looks up to Aegis as he hovers near the edge of the building to see the site.
"How bad does it look?"

Aegis starts to speak, but dives below the corner as a fireball barely misses him. Recovering briefly before poking back up to look
"Well she just deflected that blast our way, but she's staring the rage dragon down. He's about 8 feet tall but not getting any bigger."

'Aegis this is Armsmaster, what is Street Fighter wearing?'
'She's wearing her usual faceless mask, blue leggings and gloves, and a sleeveless gi top.'
'That doesn't match any known Street Fighter character, we're expanding our search.'

"HOUSHOKEN!"
'Console she just called out an attack, energy blast as big as she is, managed to knock Lung down. And when he got up, she ran up his body and just hit him in his face with a smaller energy blast, sir.'

'Street Fighter is more expansive than we thought, she's modeling her fighting styles on many video games. She is currently imitating a woman named Yuri.'

'Sirs, she just grabbed him by his throat and slapped him more than a dozen times before he staggered.'

Gallant braves a chance to look around the corner as the girl glides across the ground one foot to grab Lung, and then the world went white.
As his vision clears he sees Street Fighter staring at him from over her shoulder, before turning and flashing him two victory signs and running off.

'Console Lung is down I repeat Lung is down.'

'Sigh, paramedics are enroute.'
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And yes I do have a fully stated out Akashic Adept with Legacy that uses fighting game symbolism as foci to pass off a lot of their shenanigans as coincidental.

 

[VirtualFox]

I now have access to VtM 5th so if I write a snip based on that I will label it based on that. Any snip that uses WoD 5 will have it marked in threadmarks because there are differences both mechanically and how the lore would develop up to the point of cannon Worm. And this thought came to me after reading some of the predator types and realizing the potential of Panacea beyond the healing of her biomanipulation.
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"Put her down Vicky!" Amy's voice reaches her sister as she holds the slowly pinkening teen girl off the floor. "Or at least let's do this in the shade." Amy's march into the shaded alley forces her sister to carry the girl in her arms into the shade, relief evident as the sun stops hitting her face.

Vicky's grip on the front of the thin girl's hoodie tightens, as she growls out. Only Amy's familiarity with what's happening causes her to flinch as the all familiar aura flares, "Why are you stalking my sister?"

The girl looks plaintively at Amy, "He told me to."

"Who's he?" Vicky's voice deepening with anger.

"Let her go, she's harmless." Amy's words cut through Vicky's focus.

"What! Ames, she said she was told to follow you! We should find out who he is so I can tell him to knock it off or have his head knocked off."

"Remember when Carol told me to cut back at the hospital?"

Vicky's head tilts at the non-sequitur. "Huh?"

"She's part of the why. Put her down." Looking at the girl as her sister puts her down.

"What's your name?"

"Taylor Herbert."

"You know I can't do anything about your condition right?"

"He didn't tell me to come to you for that! I promise! He just said, if I had the opportunity to get to know you I should!"

"And so 'stalking' me on the way to the hospital was your way of getting to know me?"

"No," Taylor shakes her head, "I have issues with people my age but you also helped me. Got all the poisons out of my system."

The words click for Amy to have gone through that, and then be turned. "The girl from Winslow brought in with major blood poisoning in January."

Taylor's rapid nod confirms, "Yeah, you kept my body going till they got me to the Institue, and another patient attacked me." Taylor's rub of her neck confirms Amy's suspicion.

Vicky's head goes back and forth between the two, "Okay, time out! So sis heals you," points at Taylor, "and someone both of you know encouraged you to thank Ames and befriend her." Taylor nods while Amy remains silent, "So why the cloak and dagger?"

Taylor points at her bright pink slowly darkening to red face from when Vicky had torn her hoodie off her head in the sunlight, "Since the toxins and attack, I am very light averse and people averse. So yes I'm dressing very suspicious, because I don't like the light or people!"

"Why not just approach at," Vicky pauses, "oh wait you go to Winslow. Never mind that."

"Used to go. Homeschooled now."

Amy nods "Considering what I found in you when they brought me in, I can understand that. If it was intentional..."

"It was definately intentional." Taylors words come out with a low growl, Amy noticing her canines lengthening.

"Breathe Taylor, breathe." Vicky cuts in and eyes narrow at Taylor's fangs. "You triggered at the Institute, didn't you?"

"She didn't trigger," Amy cuts across Vicky's curiosity, "you've already met someone like her. You dusted them two weeks ago."

"But, but she's standing here in the middle of the day!"

"The Boss, says it didn't quite take with me."

"In two weeks I've met two vampires and you say I still can't tell anyone?" Vicky's voice, "They're everywhere!"

Amy's voice could freeze water as she hits her sister's indignation head on, "And there are enough of them out there that it will basically be mutual annihilation if too much attention is brought on them, and they're right."

"And why do you know so much Ames?"

"Because a group of them is keeping others from trying to kidnap me or exploit me."

"Why would a bloodsucker..."Vicky trails off as the penny drops. "Oh."

Taylor fills in the blanks, "She can convert any biological material into human blood, do you know how powerful that is? How much of a game changer that could be. Boss has only started teaching me about the night side of things and if any group really found ways exploit that part of her ablities..."

"That's why you're not staying late at the hospitals anymore, less chance they can grab you those night you spent there! Wait we gotta tell."

"Tell who Vicky, I'm already a target from the Fallen, the CUI, and who knows how many other parahuman threats! The moment you bring the vampires more publicly into this, we're all dead!"

"Can you actually trust this, Boss character?"

"Yes, I can. He's kept his word, and helped me avoid four intentional attempts at being Mastered,' glancing at her sister, "and one unintentional."

"How?!?!"

"He used some of his gifts to show many how different attempts to control me were ongoing, and offered an option that while controversial has worked so far. I've drank his blood."

 

[VirtualFox]

Got the Werewolf 5th edition yesterday, and I can see both sides of the not liking it and the interesting reimagining's in it. But it has also inspired me to flesh out the WoD5/Worm Brockton Bay some more.
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Danny was tired. Ever since his daughter was attacked in her own school, the malaise that had lingered with the death of his wife had lifted to be replaced with a fury his wife would have been proud of. Then she had been attacked again and died. Oh, she still walked around the house, but even the faintest of light of the sun would see her wrap her hoodie tighter around her shift as subtly as she could out of its rays.

But between his job and his wife, Annette 'Walks-the-Line' of the Garou, he knew something of those that stalked the shadows. Annette had both hoped and feared in equal measure that Taylor would change like she did, but now that life was denied her. With possibly an even greater cost. Every group played by the same rule of 'humans must not know,' so he plays up his ignorance. No matter how much he wants to reach out, he doesn't. Too many players on all sides might get uppity.

But trying to reach out to his daughter, unfortunately had to take a backseat to the contract in front of him. Fortress Construction wanted to hire thirty experienced dockworkers with welding and heavy machinery certifications, he normally would have jumped at the chance to get that many of his guys work, but Fortress was a subsidiary of Pentex. Annette had warned him about them, showed him data from several sources. He sends those thirty to them the Union would lose half of them in 5 years to prison or addiction, another five to ten would probably develop more aggressive personality tendencies, the rest would most likely be fine after the experience. His people need to work to live, they'll starve, be forced out of their homes, or join one of the gangs if he doesn't get them this work. It doesn't make it any easier, but their immediate needs come first. He has call to make.