It was a long flight home across the vast night of the Atlantic Ocean.
For 17 hours, Vanguard slept, healed and weighed what had been gained and lost.
New York was still smoldering as the Manta Craft approached her airspace at dawn. There, the ape that had once been the Primate was taken into CHESS custody.
The global phenomenon was over. The Animal Revolution had stopped as suddenly as it began. Governments moved to regain control over their populations and rioting and looting ceased.
Then they looked to the dead and injured: there may have been a million lives lost worldwide.
Nathan Lamb was among them; the CHESS Knight died in action. Rook Jen Christensen’s two children were murdered by their family dog before her husband could kill it with a steak knife. Sgt. Stone, Detective Hank Archer and CHESS scientist Shelley Harper survived the event with injuries. The aged Doc Rocket had suffered a stroke that was only detected after the event. He was rushed to intensive care.
The networks were broadcasting again. Information about the CHESS Castle jailbreak had been leaked to the public by anonymous whistleblowers. When it was learned that an Extranormal was behind the global attack, a European criminal that escaped from a secret prison inside the US, the outrage was massive and unprecedented.
Everyone on Earth had been affected by the three day event. Everyone on Earth knew someone who had died. Everyone on Earth had been shown a glimpse of the end of the world.
If the S’Korian Invasion of Earth was this world’s USS Cole, then the Animal Revolution was its 9/11. (Neither event took place in this universe. Al Qaeda was destroyed by the Soviet Super Soldiers in Afghanistan in the 1980’s. And the Freedom Force stopped a Saudi hijacking attempt in 2001.)
In this analogy, extranormals were the terrorists.
The world demanded those responsible. They demanded the Primate. When it was revealed that he could not stand trial for his crimes against humanity, that he would never face justice, outrage exploded.
Over the coming weeks, it was clear that Earth had changed. With a unified cry of “never again,” every government on Earth was furiously preparing new legislation on extranormals. Congressmen were announcing a full investigation of CHESS and CHESS Castle. Rumors swirled that Director Grey will soon be forced to step down, and CHESS’s purpose re-examined.
Some elements within the press saw Extranormals as a threat that mankind cannot contain; the greatest threat known to Earth. Extranormal Control is the topic on every cable news network. “If their imprisonment cannot be guaranteed, there is only one solution left to ensure the survival of the human race!” opined more than one talking head.
In time, Jenn Christensen comes forward. Wracked with grief over the loss of her children, she tells the press everything she saw when she was with Vanguard, including the existence of a government employed Extranormal AniMan who was working with the Primate himself: Inhuman!
Maas Biolabs, the corporation that invented “Hotsleep,” goes bankrupt and its CEO is arrested to face criminal charges for the negligent homicide of one million people!
When it’s discovered that the CEO’s nephew is the Extranormal, Hip Hop, hysteria kicks into overdrive, triggering inquiries into members of Congress and the Administration who are, or have relatives who are, Extranormals.
Silas Caine (who himself had been attacked by warrantless government-backed Extranormals in his own offices!) becomes a powerful voice for the Extranormal Control movement.
“They said they would protect us. It’s now clear to all that Extranormals cannot or will not protect humanity from other Extranormals. Well I say, Earth is for the human race!”
His business interests were (oddly enough) perfectly poised to capitalize on the new demand for technologies to monitor, contain and neutralize Extranormal threats. (imagine this universe’s Halliburton)
His arrival to the limelight has many whispering that he should run for public office to help with the Extranormal Issue. He consistently refuses to speak about that and about CHESS’s stalled investigation into his activities. “I don’t know why they were persecuting me with unsubstantiated charges. But I think we’re beginning to see what CHESS is really about.
“Extranormals have long placed themselves above the law and above humanity. I for one will not stand for it. They are far too dangerous for the public’s good, as this tragedy has sadly revealed!”
CHESS attempts to control the PR battle are hamstrung by pre-existing divisions within the organization, mass defections and chronic leaks beyond Rook Christensen.
Voices in defense of Extranormals are few and far between. Those politicians who do speak up are soon marked as “soft on Extranormals.”
Within a month, Director Grey is forced to resign and CHESS is torn apart. Agent Sam Drake, Shelley Harper and many others resign in Grey’s wake. Shortly after that, Doc Rocket passed away in the hospital, the final casualty of the Animal Revolution.
Then Vanguard opened their eyes.
Most of Vanguard had felt this sensation once before.
Oracle. Once again, Oracle had shown them what the future held in store. It had all been too real.
Vanguard had not traveled in time; they had seen a vision of the future and experienced it as if it had been real. The vision had taken 10 seconds to show them weeks of the future.
They were still in the Manta Craft, moving fast. It was piloted by Larry Manetti, the CHESS Rook who had flown jets for the Freedom Force. ZVROOOOOOM!
Sam Drake was there. “Near as we can tell, something came out of orbit and struck the prison. Registered a 5 on the Richter scale. Generators could be out. After the initial mayday, we heard men screaming. Then we lost all contact.”
Unlike all of Vanguard, neither Manetti nor Drake was experiencing déjà vu.
Sentinel detected an extranormal within his range. Manetti’s radio crackled to life. “This is Oracle of AEGIS offering assistance.” The AEGIS Pegasus was off the Manta Craft’s starboard wing.
“Accepted with thanks, AEGIS,” said Sam Drake. Through the front windscreen, Vanguard saw a plume of black smoke rising in the distance. Stormclouds too.
Sam Drake continued. “There are just under 300 extranormals housed there. 50 prison personnel including four CHESS Knights… no contact from them either. We’ve called for backup. Jets are scrambling.”
Ajay patched in and transmitted prison schematics. Vanguard had seconds to scan them. Ajay said: “From the exterior, CHESS Castle looks like a normal prison to protect its location. Humans are kept in the buildings above ground. Extranormals in the maximum security facility underground.”
The Manta Craft was in the black smoke now. Rain came down hard. Wind. Lightning. Thunder.
“Where do you want me to put this thing?!” yelled Larry Manetti. Prison yard sirens were audible. Men shouting. A loud explosion boomed. The sound of buildings collapsing, or maybe walls?
For 17 hours, Vanguard slept, healed and weighed what had been gained and lost.
New York was still smoldering as the Manta Craft approached her airspace at dawn. There, the ape that had once been the Primate was taken into CHESS custody.
The global phenomenon was over. The Animal Revolution had stopped as suddenly as it began. Governments moved to regain control over their populations and rioting and looting ceased.
Then they looked to the dead and injured: there may have been a million lives lost worldwide.
Nathan Lamb was among them; the CHESS Knight died in action. Rook Jen Christensen’s two children were murdered by their family dog before her husband could kill it with a steak knife. Sgt. Stone, Detective Hank Archer and CHESS scientist Shelley Harper survived the event with injuries. The aged Doc Rocket had suffered a stroke that was only detected after the event. He was rushed to intensive care.
The networks were broadcasting again. Information about the CHESS Castle jailbreak had been leaked to the public by anonymous whistleblowers. When it was learned that an Extranormal was behind the global attack, a European criminal that escaped from a secret prison inside the US, the outrage was massive and unprecedented.
Everyone on Earth had been affected by the three day event. Everyone on Earth knew someone who had died. Everyone on Earth had been shown a glimpse of the end of the world.
If the S’Korian Invasion of Earth was this world’s USS Cole, then the Animal Revolution was its 9/11. (Neither event took place in this universe. Al Qaeda was destroyed by the Soviet Super Soldiers in Afghanistan in the 1980’s. And the Freedom Force stopped a Saudi hijacking attempt in 2001.)
In this analogy, extranormals were the terrorists.
The world demanded those responsible. They demanded the Primate. When it was revealed that he could not stand trial for his crimes against humanity, that he would never face justice, outrage exploded.
Over the coming weeks, it was clear that Earth had changed. With a unified cry of “never again,” every government on Earth was furiously preparing new legislation on extranormals. Congressmen were announcing a full investigation of CHESS and CHESS Castle. Rumors swirled that Director Grey will soon be forced to step down, and CHESS’s purpose re-examined.
Some elements within the press saw Extranormals as a threat that mankind cannot contain; the greatest threat known to Earth. Extranormal Control is the topic on every cable news network. “If their imprisonment cannot be guaranteed, there is only one solution left to ensure the survival of the human race!” opined more than one talking head.
In time, Jenn Christensen comes forward. Wracked with grief over the loss of her children, she tells the press everything she saw when she was with Vanguard, including the existence of a government employed Extranormal AniMan who was working with the Primate himself: Inhuman!
Maas Biolabs, the corporation that invented “Hotsleep,” goes bankrupt and its CEO is arrested to face criminal charges for the negligent homicide of one million people!
When it’s discovered that the CEO’s nephew is the Extranormal, Hip Hop, hysteria kicks into overdrive, triggering inquiries into members of Congress and the Administration who are, or have relatives who are, Extranormals.
Silas Caine (who himself had been attacked by warrantless government-backed Extranormals in his own offices!) becomes a powerful voice for the Extranormal Control movement.
“They said they would protect us. It’s now clear to all that Extranormals cannot or will not protect humanity from other Extranormals. Well I say, Earth is for the human race!”
His business interests were (oddly enough) perfectly poised to capitalize on the new demand for technologies to monitor, contain and neutralize Extranormal threats. (imagine this universe’s Halliburton)
His arrival to the limelight has many whispering that he should run for public office to help with the Extranormal Issue. He consistently refuses to speak about that and about CHESS’s stalled investigation into his activities. “I don’t know why they were persecuting me with unsubstantiated charges. But I think we’re beginning to see what CHESS is really about.
“Extranormals have long placed themselves above the law and above humanity. I for one will not stand for it. They are far too dangerous for the public’s good, as this tragedy has sadly revealed!”
CHESS attempts to control the PR battle are hamstrung by pre-existing divisions within the organization, mass defections and chronic leaks beyond Rook Christensen.
Voices in defense of Extranormals are few and far between. Those politicians who do speak up are soon marked as “soft on Extranormals.”
Within a month, Director Grey is forced to resign and CHESS is torn apart. Agent Sam Drake, Shelley Harper and many others resign in Grey’s wake. Shortly after that, Doc Rocket passed away in the hospital, the final casualty of the Animal Revolution.
Then Vanguard opened their eyes.
Most of Vanguard had felt this sensation once before.
Oracle. Once again, Oracle had shown them what the future held in store. It had all been too real.
Vanguard had not traveled in time; they had seen a vision of the future and experienced it as if it had been real. The vision had taken 10 seconds to show them weeks of the future.
They were still in the Manta Craft, moving fast. It was piloted by Larry Manetti, the CHESS Rook who had flown jets for the Freedom Force. ZVROOOOOOM!
Sam Drake was there. “Near as we can tell, something came out of orbit and struck the prison. Registered a 5 on the Richter scale. Generators could be out. After the initial mayday, we heard men screaming. Then we lost all contact.”
Unlike all of Vanguard, neither Manetti nor Drake was experiencing déjà vu.
Sentinel detected an extranormal within his range. Manetti’s radio crackled to life. “This is Oracle of AEGIS offering assistance.” The AEGIS Pegasus was off the Manta Craft’s starboard wing.
“Accepted with thanks, AEGIS,” said Sam Drake. Through the front windscreen, Vanguard saw a plume of black smoke rising in the distance. Stormclouds too.
Sam Drake continued. “There are just under 300 extranormals housed there. 50 prison personnel including four CHESS Knights… no contact from them either. We’ve called for backup. Jets are scrambling.”
Ajay patched in and transmitted prison schematics. Vanguard had seconds to scan them. Ajay said: “From the exterior, CHESS Castle looks like a normal prison to protect its location. Humans are kept in the buildings above ground. Extranormals in the maximum security facility underground.”
The Manta Craft was in the black smoke now. Rain came down hard. Wind. Lightning. Thunder.
“Where do you want me to put this thing?!” yelled Larry Manetti. Prison yard sirens were audible. Men shouting. A loud explosion boomed. The sound of buildings collapsing, or maybe walls?
The ships broke from the smoke on a pass over and got a visual. It was bad. The building that gave access to the underground prison was broken open like a fatal head wound. Men bled out. Dozens were visible with more coming, all in orange jumpsuits. They raced across the yard. Some were flying. There were two CHESS Knights down.
The impact crater was on the generators! They were the burning smoke plume. The access building burned too. Through the Manta Craft’s cameras, from the CHESS Omni-Carrier, Ajay started identifying super-villains. Out of their costumes, he could only ID half:
“That fast one has got to be Accelerator. He can transfer velocity with a touch!
Elemento, that two time loser! He’s flying out! (OOC: An old Intercrime hack. Controls fire, ice and the elements!)
Jeez, Crab Man has mutated again! (OOC: From the Sinister Sea Squadron, former teammate of the Octopus)
There’s Jellyfish! (OOC: Also from the Sinister Sea Squadron; all taken down by the Freedom Force in the ‘80s)
The Hyena is loose dammit. (From Homicide for Hire)
Smog! (The anti-eco-terrorist whom Black Bat sided with before he was “destroyed.”)
That one is Mother Russia. (Imprisoned for 20 years after the Soviet Super Soldiers tried to kidnap Polar Bear!)
Dr. Chiropterus, Figment, Triceratops, I can’t keep up!!”
The fear of seeing so many powerful supervillains rampaging forth was barely quelled by Kairos’ powers.
Drake noted the tremor of fear that rippled through Vanguard. Or maybe it was something else?
“Pull yourselves together,” he said, checking his pistols. “You’re superheroes, remember?”
The jailbreak hadn’t occurred! Nor the Animal Revolution. The million dead were still alive. Babies had not been eaten alive in their cribs. Doc Rocket was not dead. …Yet.
Vanguard had seen everything that would soon transpire. They knew that Ratman and others would soon emerge from the broken building. And that in 30 seconds, the Pachyderm would leap up from the smoking crater with the Primate into the waiting saucer craft.
Vanguard knew everything. They also knew what crimes some in their number had committed. Crimes that could only now be punished by the heroes of Vanguard, if they were to be punished at all.
For they were now the only ones who knew. A dark secret at the center of their team. Would it bind Vanguard closer or tear them apart?
“What the hell are you waiting for?!” yelled Sam Drake over the rain and the wind and the thunder.
Drake noted the tremor of fear that rippled through Vanguard. Or maybe it was something else?
“Pull yourselves together,” he said, checking his pistols. “You’re superheroes, remember?”
The jailbreak hadn’t occurred! Nor the Animal Revolution. The million dead were still alive. Babies had not been eaten alive in their cribs. Doc Rocket was not dead. …Yet.
Vanguard had seen everything that would soon transpire. They knew that Ratman and others would soon emerge from the broken building. And that in 30 seconds, the Pachyderm would leap up from the smoking crater with the Primate into the waiting saucer craft.
Vanguard knew everything. They also knew what crimes some in their number had committed. Crimes that could only now be punished by the heroes of Vanguard, if they were to be punished at all.
For they were now the only ones who knew. A dark secret at the center of their team. Would it bind Vanguard closer or tear them apart?
“What the hell are you waiting for?!” yelled Sam Drake over the rain and the wind and the thunder.
OOC: Actions?Current condition: Everyone is in top condition, save the cost of having activated their defenses.
The cover of this issue reads: A hoax! A dream! An imaginary story! You still love me, right?
------------------------------------
Symbiote:
Jeff you magnificent bastard!!!
OK, some things I think we've learned from all this...
1) Upon completion of mission, we all insist Doc have a full cardiovascular checkup.
2) Helena Christiansen is to be trusted with nothing.
3) Priority one, above all else...STOP. PACHYDERM.
Ideas? Do we go down the hole or go after the saucer we know is coming? Ideas people, ideas!
Oh, also....what about leveling up?
------------------------------------
Kairos:
We need to forget about the scene below us and get to the saucer. We can't let Primate get away.Some options to consider:1. LS takes over the saucer's control circuits but remains undetected and then slams the saucer into the ground as soon as Primate is on board.2. We just destroy the saucer as it stands (does our craft have weaponry?) and fight Primate here.We need to get Primate and Pachyderm away from the prison, though, because we certainly don't want them to destroy Hotsleep modules out of spite or have them get damaged in a general combat.At this point, I guess it was Pachyderm that came out of the sky and not a meteor or anything else...?Hard-line heroics be damned on this one...we KNOW that lots of people will die if we don't take care of this here and now.Jeff: Does Kairos have any chance of flying the Manta craft if need be?
------------------------------------
Forester:
Forester's willpower defense protects him from telepathic communication. He's been meditating consistently. And he did not let Oracle intentionally into his mind (the way he once let Venus into his mind.)
If he cannot trust his own senses, and his own defenses, trying to outsmart the universe and "do over" the last set of events is a futile point.
Perhaps the team really is dead, and stuck in some type of perpetual purgatory. Like Sisyphus, they may be trapped to push the same metaphorical bolder up the same metaphorical hill. He's not going to play that game.
Forester takes a deep breath
He takes a normal arrow from his quiver, breaks in half and drops it on the ground.
He begins counting to four ... again and again ...
------------------------------------
Lightning Strike:
I am for not letting Primate get anywhere near the saucer ship so therefore Strike is planning on letting subtlety be damned. Assuming this is not some infinite loop that Vanguard is stuck in (as Forester seems to suggest).
Therefore Strike will tell Drake to aim the ships radar into the vicinity where we know the saucer craft will be and Strike will turn into electrical form and then use the radar array to beam to the ship. Once on the ship Strike will do the following actions:
Disable the ships navigational controls, preventing them from getting away.
Overload the engines or set the self destruct, whichever caused it to explode the last time.
Prevent the ships occupants from disabling the self destruct.
That's all for now. Subsequent posts based on everyone else's actions.
I am curious if this means we all don't advance levels as this all never actually happened. That means Sentinel never got to act like a weasely politician. Darn!!!
Take care,
Tony
------------------------------------
Slingshot:
Holy Crap! Time Control/Precognition is a nasty power in the hands of a GM. No wonder Primate went nuts. (Now I've got to say you've been playing this quite nicely).I agree.. Letting Primate out is not an option. There are two ways of doing this.1) Primate cannot leave the complex (we have 3 rounds to do so) and it means dealing with Pachyderm 2) We disable the saucer.I'm for option 1. The reason is that if we let Pachyderm out, even if we manage to take out the saucer, we will have to still deal with Pachyderm, else he'll just jump away. I'd say we just go in and pound the living daylights out of him. We might want to leave one or two outside to help with the escapees, but most of us should go down and deal with him there.Stephane
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Inhuman:
OOC: Everyone. I totally Disagree with: "Vanguard knew everything. They also knew what crimes some in their number had committed. Crimes that could only now be punished by the heroes of Vanguard," In essence we 'imagined' we would have committed 'crimes' if we had been put in certain situations. Until those events truly occur and we Choose the same events that lead to those 'crimes' then we are not guilty. If the events did not occur then there were no crimes. Sorry, Jeff, you can't have cake in a dream and eat it too. :)After seeing Oracles Powers in action, this explains two things 1. why Primate turned. This flipping stuff would piss off any animan. :)2. Since 20 XP laden issues did not occur then either AEGIS was the most powerful group on the planet... or they were the most frustrated group of players ever. Possibly Both. Nice reset BTW. ;)
------------------------------------
The cover of this issue reads: A hoax! A dream! An imaginary story! You still love me, right?
------------------------------------
Symbiote:
Jeff you magnificent bastard!!!
OK, some things I think we've learned from all this...
1) Upon completion of mission, we all insist Doc have a full cardiovascular checkup.
2) Helena Christiansen is to be trusted with nothing.
3) Priority one, above all else...STOP. PACHYDERM.
Ideas? Do we go down the hole or go after the saucer we know is coming? Ideas people, ideas!
Oh, also....what about leveling up?
------------------------------------
Kairos:
We need to forget about the scene below us and get to the saucer. We can't let Primate get away.Some options to consider:1. LS takes over the saucer's control circuits but remains undetected and then slams the saucer into the ground as soon as Primate is on board.2. We just destroy the saucer as it stands (does our craft have weaponry?) and fight Primate here.We need to get Primate and Pachyderm away from the prison, though, because we certainly don't want them to destroy Hotsleep modules out of spite or have them get damaged in a general combat.At this point, I guess it was Pachyderm that came out of the sky and not a meteor or anything else...?Hard-line heroics be damned on this one...we KNOW that lots of people will die if we don't take care of this here and now.Jeff: Does Kairos have any chance of flying the Manta craft if need be?
------------------------------------
Forester:
Forester's willpower defense protects him from telepathic communication. He's been meditating consistently. And he did not let Oracle intentionally into his mind (the way he once let Venus into his mind.)
If he cannot trust his own senses, and his own defenses, trying to outsmart the universe and "do over" the last set of events is a futile point.
Perhaps the team really is dead, and stuck in some type of perpetual purgatory. Like Sisyphus, they may be trapped to push the same metaphorical bolder up the same metaphorical hill. He's not going to play that game.
Forester takes a deep breath
He takes a normal arrow from his quiver, breaks in half and drops it on the ground.
He begins counting to four ... again and again ...
------------------------------------
Lightning Strike:
I am for not letting Primate get anywhere near the saucer ship so therefore Strike is planning on letting subtlety be damned. Assuming this is not some infinite loop that Vanguard is stuck in (as Forester seems to suggest).
Therefore Strike will tell Drake to aim the ships radar into the vicinity where we know the saucer craft will be and Strike will turn into electrical form and then use the radar array to beam to the ship. Once on the ship Strike will do the following actions:
Disable the ships navigational controls, preventing them from getting away.
Overload the engines or set the self destruct, whichever caused it to explode the last time.
Prevent the ships occupants from disabling the self destruct.
That's all for now. Subsequent posts based on everyone else's actions.
I am curious if this means we all don't advance levels as this all never actually happened. That means Sentinel never got to act like a weasely politician. Darn!!!
Take care,
Tony
------------------------------------
Slingshot:
Holy Crap! Time Control/Precognition is a nasty power in the hands of a GM. No wonder Primate went nuts. (Now I've got to say you've been playing this quite nicely).I agree.. Letting Primate out is not an option. There are two ways of doing this.1) Primate cannot leave the complex (we have 3 rounds to do so) and it means dealing with Pachyderm 2) We disable the saucer.I'm for option 1. The reason is that if we let Pachyderm out, even if we manage to take out the saucer, we will have to still deal with Pachyderm, else he'll just jump away. I'd say we just go in and pound the living daylights out of him. We might want to leave one or two outside to help with the escapees, but most of us should go down and deal with him there.Stephane
------------------------------------
Inhuman:
OOC: Everyone. I totally Disagree with: "Vanguard knew everything. They also knew what crimes some in their number had committed. Crimes that could only now be punished by the heroes of Vanguard," In essence we 'imagined' we would have committed 'crimes' if we had been put in certain situations. Until those events truly occur and we Choose the same events that lead to those 'crimes' then we are not guilty. If the events did not occur then there were no crimes. Sorry, Jeff, you can't have cake in a dream and eat it too. :)After seeing Oracles Powers in action, this explains two things 1. why Primate turned. This flipping stuff would piss off any animan. :)2. Since 20 XP laden issues did not occur then either AEGIS was the most powerful group on the planet... or they were the most frustrated group of players ever. Possibly Both. Nice reset BTW. ;)
------------------------------------
GM Replies:
OOC: First of all, let me thank you all for your infinite patience! I sincerely apologize. Never thought the adventure would take this long.
Inhuman wrote: In essence we 'imagined' we would have committed 'crimes' if we had been put in certain situations.Until those events truly occur and we Choose the same events that lead to those 'crimes' then we are not guilty.
GM Reply: Surely it's one for the prophets. Or for Vanguard. I'll trust those great heroes to sort out these matters as they best see fit. :)
Symbiote wrote: What about levelling?
GM Reply: None of you have levelled yet.
Lightning Strike wrote: I am curious if this means we all don't advance levels as this all never actually happened.
GM Reply: There are limits even to my cruelty. :)
Kairos wrote: Does Kairos have any chance of flying the Manta craft if need be?
GM Reply: He has no pilot skills, but a Luck Point will help the Agent of Fate in this scenario. The Manta Craft has air to air missiles, but does not detect the "cloaked" saucer ship on radar. Of course you all know where it will soon be. Also, Elemento's storm made it rough for even Manetti to stay near the prison for long.
Forester wrote: Forester's willpower defense protects him from telepathic communication. He's been meditating consistently. And he did not let Oracle intentionally into his mind (the way he once let Venus into his mind.)
If he cannot trust his own senses, and his own defenses, trying to outsmart the universe and "do over" the last set of events is a futile point.
GM Reply: Ruleswise, no defense is perfect (If you have Adaptation and are attacked by Flame Powers by someone who has a +4 accuracy, and he rolls a 2, you are hit)
Furthermore, the power you've experienced from Oracle is a Mutant Power that is a suped up Psionic Illusion, tied to her temporal powers. To quote chapter and verse on a regular Psionic Illusion:"Telepathy, Cosmic Awareness, etc. will all fail to detect that the illusion is not real.Player characters dealing with illusions must find out for themselves that it's not real, based on the information supplied by the GM."
The biggest clue was the non-death of Vanguard at the AEGIS Spire. If that was possible, then how could you ever know what reality you were in? Character wise, I can certainly see how the Zen philosophical Forester could react this way to this reality bending, mind twisting horror. :)
Thanks again everyone.
Best,
Jeff
------------------------------------
Sentinel:
So I see "A New Dawn!" and think, that sounds so optimistic. How could this bad series of events turn around. And I read the issue and say, "so much for optimism", and then I read about Nathan Lamb and I was grieved (I needed to check, but I think Nathan was the Knight who went against protocol and trusted him at the end of the Swastika bomb threat) and then I read about Doc and I thought , "you bastard."Then it was Oracle and I thought about my +7 end and I thought "you bastard" We need to reread the issues so we don't miss anything important before we take action which I haven't done yet, but from memory here are my initial thoughts:(1) I agree that Primate must be contained and stopped here.
(2) The saucer must be dealt with now. Given the lack of firepower we have with our two crafts (Chess/Aegis), could we possibly take over the saucer and use its firepower to quell the prison break and against Primate rather than just destroy it or disable it? Does Inhuman know about its offensive capabilities?
(3) Kairos and I helped get the generators or some sort of power back on line. After the break we found out how much time before the Hot Sleep had thawed. We have to factor that into our plans - also Strike had powered up things using his power. We need to know our time frame on that stuff.
(4) Primate was tough to take down with all of us taking shots at him as gorillas, Pacyderm is impossible. We have his stats from when Symbiote copied him. We have to get Pacyderm away from the Hot Sleep area to that he doesn't accidentally release those prisoners, but there is no way we can contain him while being distracted by everything else by force.Given Pacyderm's weakness is his intelligence, can we figure a way to trick him or possibly turn him against Primate? Inhuman might know a little more about their relationship to help this. Does Oracle have any offensive capabilities regarding her powers? Can she put someone in a vision and 'take them out the fight?" If so, given Pacyderm's intelligence, perhaps that is how we neutralize him.
(5) Remember that Primate has a back-up plan involving the prison itself. Vanguard doesn't know that, but would be smart enough to assume it (Jeff mentioned it OOC after the break-out was played out the first time around).Seth
------------------------------------
Slingshot:
Re: Nathan Lamb: Yeah. He was the one that had backed off on attacking me during the bomb threat (I sought him out to thank him). My first thought was to go to his funeral and to pay my condolences.. I kept reading and got more and more depressed.
Symbiote! You can still lose that Charisma point! Quick! Copy Pachyderm's powers!
------------------------------------
Symbiote:
Yeah, thanks heaps.
Actually, Harold and I talked about it last night, it might be an option. Jeff, clarify for me....CHESS Castle is in the middle of nowhere, right? If Pachy gets out with Primate but we bring down the saucer (more on that in a moment) he'll presumably try to bound away, Hulk-style. At that point the best thing might be for me to go ahead and copy his powers after he gets clear of the prison and duke it out with him, if there's not much around to damage. Either I'll beat him and then revert back to normal after ten minutes or he'll beat me but I'll have whittled him down enough that the rest of you will have a chance of taking him out. I'd much prefer, however, that Sentinel do the airtight-bubble-around-his-head trick we discussed after the FIRST TIME I copied his powers.
I think Harold's idea of having Lightning Strike "broadcast" himself over to the saucer and crash landing it is an excellent one, BTW. I'll have more after I think it over a bit.
------------------------------------
Jeff
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Sentinel:
So I see "A New Dawn!" and think, that sounds so optimistic. How could this bad series of events turn around. And I read the issue and say, "so much for optimism", and then I read about Nathan Lamb and I was grieved (I needed to check, but I think Nathan was the Knight who went against protocol and trusted him at the end of the Swastika bomb threat) and then I read about Doc and I thought , "you bastard."Then it was Oracle and I thought about my +7 end and I thought "you bastard" We need to reread the issues so we don't miss anything important before we take action which I haven't done yet, but from memory here are my initial thoughts:(1) I agree that Primate must be contained and stopped here.
(2) The saucer must be dealt with now. Given the lack of firepower we have with our two crafts (Chess/Aegis), could we possibly take over the saucer and use its firepower to quell the prison break and against Primate rather than just destroy it or disable it? Does Inhuman know about its offensive capabilities?
(3) Kairos and I helped get the generators or some sort of power back on line. After the break we found out how much time before the Hot Sleep had thawed. We have to factor that into our plans - also Strike had powered up things using his power. We need to know our time frame on that stuff.
(4) Primate was tough to take down with all of us taking shots at him as gorillas, Pacyderm is impossible. We have his stats from when Symbiote copied him. We have to get Pacyderm away from the Hot Sleep area to that he doesn't accidentally release those prisoners, but there is no way we can contain him while being distracted by everything else by force.Given Pacyderm's weakness is his intelligence, can we figure a way to trick him or possibly turn him against Primate? Inhuman might know a little more about their relationship to help this. Does Oracle have any offensive capabilities regarding her powers? Can she put someone in a vision and 'take them out the fight?" If so, given Pacyderm's intelligence, perhaps that is how we neutralize him.
(5) Remember that Primate has a back-up plan involving the prison itself. Vanguard doesn't know that, but would be smart enough to assume it (Jeff mentioned it OOC after the break-out was played out the first time around).Seth
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Slingshot:
Re: Nathan Lamb: Yeah. He was the one that had backed off on attacking me during the bomb threat (I sought him out to thank him). My first thought was to go to his funeral and to pay my condolences.. I kept reading and got more and more depressed.
Symbiote! You can still lose that Charisma point! Quick! Copy Pachyderm's powers!
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Symbiote:
Yeah, thanks heaps.
Actually, Harold and I talked about it last night, it might be an option. Jeff, clarify for me....CHESS Castle is in the middle of nowhere, right? If Pachy gets out with Primate but we bring down the saucer (more on that in a moment) he'll presumably try to bound away, Hulk-style. At that point the best thing might be for me to go ahead and copy his powers after he gets clear of the prison and duke it out with him, if there's not much around to damage. Either I'll beat him and then revert back to normal after ten minutes or he'll beat me but I'll have whittled him down enough that the rest of you will have a chance of taking him out. I'd much prefer, however, that Sentinel do the airtight-bubble-around-his-head trick we discussed after the FIRST TIME I copied his powers.
I think Harold's idea of having Lightning Strike "broadcast" himself over to the saucer and crash landing it is an excellent one, BTW. I'll have more after I think it over a bit.
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GM Replies 2!
Sentinel wrote: Does Oracle have any offensive capabilities regarding her powers? Can she put someone in a vision and 'take them out the fight?"
GM Reply: I’ll assume this was an OOC question. You guys just saw weeks into the future in about 10 seconds. So used as a weapon, she would deeply distract and disorient a target for that long, but the target would then possess critical information about the future!(fyi, after she did this last time at AEGIS Spire, she seemed wiped out and detached.) I
nhuman wrote: In essence we 'imagined' we would have committed 'crimes' if we had been put in certain situations.
GM Reply: Actually the way the power works is that you are seeing the real future. It’s not an imagination of the future, it is the future. If everyone acted exactly as they did, it would roll out the same exact way. (!)
The benefit of this terrible power is of course, that you’ll use your knowledge of the future to alter it. There is no Time Loop paradox trap as no time travel has occurred. You’ve only SEEN the true future (which is why the poor players had to be kept in the dark so that they would behave normally. Apologies again.)
And Seth, Vanguard does remember the existence of a nuclear weapon failsafe that Lightning Strike discovers (discovered?) in the very near future. Sorry, things are getting very Dr. Manhattan right now.
Symbiote wrote: CHESS Castle is in the middle of nowhere, right?
GM Reply: Not quite. CHESS Castle is 30 miles north of New York City in a densely populated suburban county, hidden beneath Sing Sing Penitentiary in Ossining, New York. Secrecy of its location had been its best defense. The prisoners do not even know the prison’s location.But the prison walls are thick and high. The prison goes very deep. And there’s about a half mile of wooded, undeveloped land running east until you hit the town. To the west is the Hudson River, settled with homes on both banks.
Finally, James/Forester just let me know that he’s leaving the game again.
My latest dirty trick might have been the final straw.
I'm sorry guys. Didn’t want that to happen.
I’ll run Forester as an NPC until I can exit him properly.
Best,
Jeff
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Symbiote:
Just to clarify (and I'm not at a computer where I can check the Vanguard Vault, we can say Symbiote is asking this in-character to Inhuman): "In our...'other memories,' for lack of a better phrase.....you said Primate was in bad shape when Pachyderm pulled him out of that hotsleep bed, right? He was in a weakened state if not entirely comatose, correct?"
The answer will help us determine our next course. Things will go a little easier if we only have to fight Pachyderm.
Never thought I'd use the phrase "only have to fight Pachyderm" in a serious sentence, though.
Oh, regarding those "other memories." It'll be interesting if we one day discover all that actually happened on an alternate Earth. One where Vanguard turned evil, and we all grew goatees.
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Slingshot:
OOC:
Jeff, For what it's worth.. I don't consider this a "dirty trick". It was completely unexpected and surprising, but it has been an excellent story arc so far. And after this is dealt with, Slingshot will personally avoid Oracle like the plague.
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Symbiote:
Just to clarify (and I'm not at a computer where I can check the Vanguard Vault, we can say Symbiote is asking this in-character to Inhuman): "In our...'other memories,' for lack of a better phrase.....you said Primate was in bad shape when Pachyderm pulled him out of that hotsleep bed, right? He was in a weakened state if not entirely comatose, correct?"
The answer will help us determine our next course. Things will go a little easier if we only have to fight Pachyderm.
Never thought I'd use the phrase "only have to fight Pachyderm" in a serious sentence, though.
Oh, regarding those "other memories." It'll be interesting if we one day discover all that actually happened on an alternate Earth. One where Vanguard turned evil, and we all grew goatees.
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Slingshot:
OOC:
Jeff, For what it's worth.. I don't consider this a "dirty trick". It was completely unexpected and surprising, but it has been an excellent story arc so far. And after this is dealt with, Slingshot will personally avoid Oracle like the plague.
Stephane
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GM Replies:
OOC:
Stephane wrote: For what it's worth.. I don't consider this a "dirty trick". It was completely unexpected and surprising, but it has been an excellent story arc so far. And after this is dealt with, Slingshot will personally avoid Oracle like the plague.
GM: She gets a lot of that.
And thanks.
Greg, Sentinel felt lousy coming out of Hotsleep, for a short spell any way.
Mirror Mirror universe, eh? Hmmmmm.
Seriously, Oracle does fear that everytime she uses this power she is inadvertantly spinning off alternate realities. She also fears that the new timeline could ultimately be worse than the old one. So she only uses it in end-of-the-world situations.
She'd be interesting to write comics for. Similar to Doc Manhattan's POV, but the opposite personality: she will/can change the timeline, and then carry the weight of the consequences.
Best,
Jeff
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Sentinel:
OOC: Hi everyone.
I'm going in order after work, so I don't know if this has been replied to at this point.
Problem with this is I don't think that he can't do this trick ala the Invisible Girl; can I do an 'invisible creation' - Jeff, please advise. I thought this came up sometime previously but can't remember where. (If I can I should be using that trick more often).
If not and he sees it, even an invisible glow, given his power level he could easily smash it before he suffocates... and if it doesn't work the first time, well, the Hulk can hold his breath a long time so I don't think I'd get a second shot. Also, likely Kirk would need to put most or all of his creation points into it, which means he would be defenseless against attacks. He would evade, but if he gets tagged he can't take much damage. I know if he gets out of Kirk's range, the creation evaporates, so Kirk would have to be prepared to keep with him in case he leaps. I'm not sure how it works with Kirk's animate creations if he goes unconscious ... if the would fade away or keep the last form as long as they are within his range --- Jeff would have to remind me if we worked that out.
And I had thought about the possibility of Symbiote copying Pacyderm's powers again assuming we got him out of the Hotsleep area too; although I didn't know if you'd be interested.
Seth
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Slingshot:
Ok people. I see a lot of different points of view in what we want to do.Can we start getting a consensus? There are a lot of goals that can be accomplished. There are a lot of ways to stop this.1) I'm partial to stopping it as soon as possible and possibly even before Pachyderm gets to Primate. So Primate stays in Hotsleep. 2) We should also drop the saucer since we don't want to get again.3) We'll need to get Doc to work on his disruptor ASAP. I don't know if he can work on it from where he is, because we need Primate to stop broadcasting. That will be the only thing that will save the Earth if he wakes up, nothing else.What are your thoughts?
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Symbiote:
Here's what I'm suggesting so far:
1) We fly in and Lightning Strike "transmits" himself to the saucer and crashes it. If he can't completely crash it at least disable as much as he can, especially the tractor beam.
2) In the meantime I'll copy Lightning Strike's powers instead of Slingshot's this time and I'll enter the prison electrical system to effect repairs, just as last time. If they're not already going I'll also activate the sprinklers, making sure Inhuman has plenty of water to work with.
3) Everybody else: GET DOWN THAT CRATER AND LOOK FOR PACHY/PRIMATE. We're going to have to cut loose a lot more super villains this time (and with our luck they'll probably all have world-beating plans just as bad as Primate's, and that'll be the next storyline), but I think we agree preventing the animal apocalypse is the priority. Unless actively engaged just let 'em go. Once the saucer is down and the power to the prison is restored Lightning Strike and I zap in to help.
4) For Pachyderm, I still think Sentinel's skintight suffocation bubble around the head is the best bet. If you can't make it invisible do the next best thing--make it opaque and black him out completely. He's not the smartest guy in the world, hopefully he'll think the lights have just gone out or somebody used a darkness power or something else, not necessarily jump to the conclusion that somebody just put an airtight opaque energy hood over his head. When somebody instantly loses their sight or a room suddenly, unexpectedly goes dark what's the first instinct? To extend your hands out to your side, making sure you have your balance and trying to feel for your surroundings. Hopefully by the time Pachy realizes something is up he'll already be passing out, especially if Slingshot wraps himself around his arms and everybody else is hitting him with arrows, chakram, lightning bolts, etc, etc.
5) Or, an alternate plan--Inhuman creates a globe of water around his head. He can claw at that all he wants, it's not going to do him any good.
With both four and five remember, timing would be the key--get the energy hood or the water globe over his head after he roars and empties his lungs of air.
6) If none of that works...well, I'm less than sanguine about absorbing his powers with a residential area close by, a nuclear bomb and a lot of other dangerous supervillains in puny hotsleep beds in the building, but as a last resort it might be the way to go.
7) If none of that works but the saucer is incapacitated I imagine he'll make his way to the surface and start bounding away. Not much to do but follow, though we can also alert CHESS to scramble a team of knights and rooks to go after the island sanctuary in the Congo. I assume Pachy is taking direct orders from the Owl, if the Owl is dead or unconscious he may just start jumping in a random direction, at least until Primate wakes up.
Other suggestions and ideas? Let's have a solid plan before we do this.
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Inhuman:
OOC: *calmly tosses another series of plans out the window* I swear Jeff, you keep this up and this is going to be my intro line for every response. J
IC: Inhuman snapped to as if awakening from a dream and nearly fell out of his chair.
He shook his head while dealing with Jenn Christensen ‘becoming’ Drake.
“All right guys we have swum this race once before, let’s hope we learned our lesson.”
“Sentinel, you want plans? I got plans.” Inhuman
“Larry, I need 300# of water, I’m picking it up ASAP it may change the Manta crafts responses, be ready. Hover closest to the crater during drop off, we need to stop the invasion of level 5.” “Sentinel, Kairos and I head down the rabbit hole. I will shield all of us. Our job is to keep Anything from escaping level 5 by darn well whatever means are necessary. Sentinel, hope is our most powerful weapon whether it is in our hands or in the hands of others. Kairos, if we run across guards, keep them fighting, you can use the square firepower rule the best with those guys. Try to stay close enough to provide support for each other, say within 50 feet (10”). Sentinel if I can I will shield you AND you constructions, the less often they get hit the longer they will last. Kairos I will shield you too. However my job will be far from easy, I have to nullify Pachyderm.” Inhuman looked over at Hal “ Hal, this may be a case where fighting fire with fire is not the best solution I’m going to try fighting that fire with water.”
“Someone, Give me two Booster shots! (OOC: I’m not injecting myself with them; I want them on hand though.)”
“Lightning Strike, keep us from getting nuked, burn out the wires if you have to.” “Everyone else? Yard containment. Symbiote? Get Crabmans powers and maybe Singularities if you can, if I understand how your plus Crabmans powers work see if you can’t keep him around and you can recharge your armor every time you play tag with him. In addition radio out what you know about the cure for the ‘ape cold’ and tell me what you can remember about the ‘Primate cure’ ” Inhuman snapped a look over at the last guy who had attacked him.
“Forester, take out Dr. Chiropterans’ again like you did the last time. As a last resort I’ll hitch a ride on the saucer again. This time, knowing what I know now? That sucker won’t leave the States if I can help it.”
Slingshot, you may be the guy to lead the round up, keep in mind where the mistakes were and check your target before you attack. .Whoever tries to deal with Elemento tell him that the giant saucer is a CHESS vehicle, if he attacks it they may either return fire or take damage from his attack, either way we win.
Inhuman’s attention snapped up a notch “You know what? Everything we change means we should expect different resistance from last time. How the hell did Pachyderm get Primate out without triggering anything or passing the guys who went down the hole?!? I guess The Owl is down here too.” Inhuman’s face looked grim as he realized he might have to fight someone who may have died protecting him!
“Agent Grey, I am asking you to activate the Emergency Broadcast System based upon Intel from Oracle, Primate may have powers to turn animals against man World Wide. We would be remiss if we did not alert the Military, the Government and the general populace to the dangers. Please broadcast the following message after you have altered it to fit other requirements we may have. “As of right now immediately lock yourselves and your family away any animals you may come in contact with as a precaution against a sudden attack by these creatures. Any animals wild or domesticated no matter how trusted or harmless appearing could be a source of danger in the immediate future until such time as this crisis passes.”
Inhuman paused “If you are reluctant to believe me then I ask you to contact Rook Jen Christensen and ask her if she is willing to bet her husband can kill their dog with a steak knife before it slays her two children, I will explain later. Contact the CDC & WHO and have them isolate their best anti-viral researchers just in case Primates ultimate plan doesn’t fall apart. If you have a satellite over the Congo have it zoom in on the following location (give Primates base location) we will be heading there next after we clean this up.”
“In addition I may be able to solicit help from some metahumans, if so, are you willing to pursue some reductions in sentencing for aiding in containment?”Inhuman pauses for scant moments (OOC: after Grey’s reply on Inhuman’s Intel) “Gentlemen, this is the times that try men’s souls, " Inhuman paused for a deep gulping breath "Ajay, Oracle, Drake, Larry I can’t tell anyone what to do. I will suggest however. Oracle, find and engage the saucer ship. If you were with us the whole way then you know their plans just became one very long list of things to go wrong. If you can take out the tractor beam when they open the iris on the bottom, or worst case block it before anyone gets too far up. Drake I guess you have your priorities, whoever you go with will try to cover you. Ajay, pull whatever you can get on The Owl, and send it directly to my communicator, if Oracle is right he and Simon Simian AKA the Primate are behind this. Larry, there might be a Saucer Ship approaching from above, work with Oracle to keep the prisoners off that ship! In addition announce over the loudspeakers that a Chess Emergency Saucer is coming to help quell the riots and will immediately begin sorting the prisoners for containment." Inhuman smiled a bleak smile “that may buy us some time. This may be your opportunity, Larry, to lie your heart out for the common good.”
“As A Final note: CHESS Agents? Vanguard thinks it knows what sort of crud is going to befall the planet unless we act upon information from Oracle. Try to trust us.”
“Vanguard, I don’t expect it to run exactly the same as last time but I will jump on it prepared for those eventualities” Inhuman paused his face contorting into a more gar like appearance “As weird as it sounds… try to keep close to the last set of actions . Unless there are other tactical suggestions, let’s get the heck over there and clean up this mess.”
OOC:
List of Movement:
#1 Looking for enough water through the sides of the ship to form several shields.
#2 Checking over Kairos and myself: does he still have the Silver sword and has my weight belt been switched?
#3 Leaving the Ship.
Action: Grabbing Water
If you want next round(s) generating shields
Moving to crater.
OOC/IC: Replies:
a. Jeff you magnificent bastard!!!
OK, some things I think we've learned from all this...
1) Upon completion of mission, we all insist Doc have a full cardiovascular checkup.
2) Helena Christiansen is to be trusted with nothing.
3) Priority one, above all else...STOP. PACHYDERM.
4) Ideas? Do we go down the hole or go after the saucer we know is coming? Ideas people, ideas!
-Greg Whitsell
a. I can guarantee I have the highest right to call Jeff a ‘bastard’. I can mathematically prove it. J I won’t but I will explain why later.
1. Agreed
2. see my plan for her
3. agreed
4. we don’t have the resources to all smack the ship and Pach and keep the prisoners in,
Contain the prisoners and stop Pach, we have a minute until the ship appears it is #3 on my list for a reason.
1. We need to forget about the scene below us and get to the saucer. We can't let Primate get away.2. LS takes over the saucer's control circuits but remains undetected and then slams the saucer into the ground as soon as Primate is on board.3. We just destroy the saucer as it stands (does our craft have weaponry?) and fight Primate here.4. We need to get Primate and Pachyderm away from the prison, though, because we certainly don't want them to destroy Hotsleep modules out of spite or have them get damaged in a general combat.5. At this point, I guess it was Pachyderm that came out of the sky and not a meteor or anything else...?6. Hard-line heroics be damned on this one...we KNOW that lots of people will die if we don't take care of this here and now.http://mail01.mail.com/scripts/mail/compose.mail?compose=1&.ob=25e3eadfbb8475cbc48335d787c2277e44733dc1&composeto=&composecc=&subject=&body=
1. we can’t. If we ignore the prison lots of good men and women will die, both inside and out. If the Nuke goes off everybody dies.
2. We need LS here to recharge the system until we can get it on line. Otherwise everybody dies.
3. I don’t think the Manta Craft can beat the saucer ship
4. I wish there was a way to guarantee this but I can’t. Good point. We also want them away from the nuke too.
5. Correct. But Pach did have to rest up afterwards, I don’t know why and I wasn’t able to follow up but I have a few ideas.
6. Agreed, but also why I started the EBS Now!
1) Primate cannot leave the complex (we have 3 rounds to do so) and it means dealing with Pachyderm 2) We disable the saucer.
-stephane.bonetti
1. I have a plan for Pach
2. See 2-3 below
1. Disable the ships navigational controls, preventing them from getting away.
2. Overload the engines or set the self destruct, whichever caused it to explode the last time.
3. Prevent the ships occupants from disabling the self destruct.
-Anthony R. Cramer
1. We need LS here to recharge the system until we can get it on line. Otherwise everybody dies. LS is the best choice for this.
2, 3. Actually, dump the coolant from both saucer systems &/or trigger attacks against some of the more powerful escapees.
A. I thought about my +7 end and I thought "you bastard" We need to reread the issues so we don't miss anything important before we take action which I haven't done yet, but from memory here are my initial thoughts:
(1) I agree that Primate must be contained and stopped here.
(2) The saucer must be dealt with now. Given the lack of firepower we have with our two crafts (Chess/Aegis), could we possibly take over the saucer and use its firepower to quell the prison break and against Primate rather than just destroy it or disable it? Does Inhuman know about its offensive capabilities?
(3) Kairos and I helped get the generators or some sort of power back on line. After the break we found out how much time before the Hot Sleep had thawed. We have to factor that into our plans - also Strike had powered up things using his power. We need to know our time frame on that stuff.
(4) Primate was tough to take down with all of us taking shots at him as gorillas, Pacyderm is impossible. We have his stats from when Symbiote copied him. We have to get Pacyderm away from the Hot Sleep area to that he doesn't accidentally release those prisoners, but there is no way we can contain him while being distracted by everything else by force.Given Pacyderm's weakness is his intelligence, can we figure a way to trick him or possibly turn him against Primate? Inhuman might know a little more about their relationship to help this. Does Oracle have any offensive capabilities regarding her powers? Can she put someone in a vision and 'take them out the fight?" If so, given Pacyderm's intelligence, perhaps that is how we neutralize him.
(5) Remember that Primate has a back-up plan involving the prison itself. Vanguard doesn't know that, but would be smart enough to assume it (Jeff mentioned it OOC after the break-out was played out the first time around).-Seth
A. see a. above J
1. Agreed
2. We have moments to spare and we may be able to trick others into doing our dirty work. It is Still #3 on the list.
3. not all that familiar with that, though Strike should have a booster shot with him to quickly recover from the incident. J
4. I won’t brutalize a slow child, but I have a plan.
5. I assume he will take whatever resources he has and build a decent plan from that. However as long as he believes that the Saucer is ok he will not fall back to that plan. Thus, the saucer should stay intact until the last possible moment.
Forester wrote: If that was possible, then how could you ever know what reality you were in?
It doesn’t matter what reality you are in, this or another. You should behave as you would, irregardless of truth or illusion for the only truth is found inside. We have been granted a real Gift by Oracles Powers.
Symbiote! You can still lose that Charisma point! Quick! Copy Pachyderm's powers!
stephane.bonetti
Nope, he’s away from Pach for the reasons outlined above.
Just to clarify (and I'm not at a computer where I can check the Vanguard Vault, we can say Symbiote is asking this in-character to Inhuman): "In our...'other memories,' for lack of a better phrase.....you said Primate was in bad shape when Pachyderm pulled him out of that hotsleep bed, right? He was in a weakened state if not entirely comatose, correct?"
The answer will help us determine our next course. Things will go a little easier if we only have to fight Pachyderm.
Never thought I'd use the phrase "only have to fight Pachyderm" in a serious sentence, though.
Oh, regarding those "other memories." It'll be interesting if we one day discover all that actually happened on an alternate Earth. One where Vanguard turned evil, and we all grew goatees.- Greg Whitsell
Inhuman doesn’t know the answer to this for certain. He suspects though that it is disorienting. Keep in mind though someone had to get Primate out without setting off alarms, I would be prepared for someone to accompany Pach, Perhaps the Owl?
Did I mention my wife makes me keep my Goatee?
For what it's worth.. I don't consider this a "dirty trick". It was completely unexpected and surprising, but it has been an excellent story arc so far. And after this is dealt with, Slingshot will personally avoid Oracle like the plague.-Stephane
Agreed. Inhuman sees many potential advantages, And Inhuman will offer Oracle friendship should she so desire. J
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Slingshot:
Skip, I prefer getting to Pachyderm before he gets to the hotsleep. We have one single round to do it. I have the movement powers and I can likely get to him before he gets there. He's already taken a massive amount of damage. He's not likely to stand as tall as he did last time. I can slingshot him, right and left until I get him out. I'll take a beating, but that's what I'm there for.We need to restore the power to the complex and especially to level 5. Personally, all the guys except for the level 5 guys are regular bad guys. We can try to get them later.The saucer is important, because they will be back to spring him out again.I agree with reverting the Primate to a Gorilla, after all this is done. Or possibly give him the choice of taking it and letting him to back to what he should have been.
A. see a. above J
1. Agreed
2. We have moments to spare and we may be able to trick others into doing our dirty work. It is Still #3 on the list.
3. not all that familiar with that, though Strike should have a booster shot with him to quickly recover from the incident. J
4. I won’t brutalize a slow child, but I have a plan.
5. I assume he will take whatever resources he has and build a decent plan from that. However as long as he believes that the Saucer is ok he will not fall back to that plan. Thus, the saucer should stay intact until the last possible moment.
Forester wrote: If that was possible, then how could you ever know what reality you were in?
It doesn’t matter what reality you are in, this or another. You should behave as you would, irregardless of truth or illusion for the only truth is found inside. We have been granted a real Gift by Oracles Powers.
Symbiote! You can still lose that Charisma point! Quick! Copy Pachyderm's powers!
stephane.bonetti
Nope, he’s away from Pach for the reasons outlined above.
Just to clarify (and I'm not at a computer where I can check the Vanguard Vault, we can say Symbiote is asking this in-character to Inhuman): "In our...'other memories,' for lack of a better phrase.....you said Primate was in bad shape when Pachyderm pulled him out of that hotsleep bed, right? He was in a weakened state if not entirely comatose, correct?"
The answer will help us determine our next course. Things will go a little easier if we only have to fight Pachyderm.
Never thought I'd use the phrase "only have to fight Pachyderm" in a serious sentence, though.
Oh, regarding those "other memories." It'll be interesting if we one day discover all that actually happened on an alternate Earth. One where Vanguard turned evil, and we all grew goatees.- Greg Whitsell
Inhuman doesn’t know the answer to this for certain. He suspects though that it is disorienting. Keep in mind though someone had to get Primate out without setting off alarms, I would be prepared for someone to accompany Pach, Perhaps the Owl?
Did I mention my wife makes me keep my Goatee?
For what it's worth.. I don't consider this a "dirty trick". It was completely unexpected and surprising, but it has been an excellent story arc so far. And after this is dealt with, Slingshot will personally avoid Oracle like the plague.-Stephane
Agreed. Inhuman sees many potential advantages, And Inhuman will offer Oracle friendship should she so desire. J
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Slingshot:
Skip, I prefer getting to Pachyderm before he gets to the hotsleep. We have one single round to do it. I have the movement powers and I can likely get to him before he gets there. He's already taken a massive amount of damage. He's not likely to stand as tall as he did last time. I can slingshot him, right and left until I get him out. I'll take a beating, but that's what I'm there for.We need to restore the power to the complex and especially to level 5. Personally, all the guys except for the level 5 guys are regular bad guys. We can try to get them later.The saucer is important, because they will be back to spring him out again.I agree with reverting the Primate to a Gorilla, after all this is done. Or possibly give him the choice of taking it and letting him to back to what he should have been.
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Symbiote:
This is exactly where I thought of going. We give him a choice. He can live in simplicity and peace somewhere like this...
http://www.psyeta.org/hia/vol8/kranz.html
Or he can go back to either hotsleep or coldsleep.
In the words of noted 20th century political leader Khan Noonian Singh, "better to rule in hell than to serve in heaven."
Some old english poet might have said it too, but he probably wasn't very important.
Start thinking it over for if/when we capture him, guys, because this time I definitely want everybody's buy-in.
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Inhuman:
On Pach: #1. Get me to him, Maybe I can stop him without hurting him. I may have multible ways to affect him, and even if I have to hurt him (ie by flooding his lungs with water) I can monitor his vitals and keep him from accidentally dying (i hope!).#2. if you HAVE to bounce him out I can watershield you and thus likely reduce the damage you take. On Primate:#1. He and the animaliculum create a gorilla city in the wildlife reserve becoming noble park rangers guarding it from all sorts of intrusions.... And any poachers that show up *poof* they are an ape. #2. Since we can't hold him we convince the World Goverment that this change is another option. Less than murder, better at confinement, harsher true but for an escaped convict with powers that work in even the greatest of confinement attempts...
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Sentinel:
My apologies, I thought the initial round of emails was OOC and just the players comparing notes and ideas because they weren’t really with dialogue. That was how I meant my initial email. I will try to do better to note the OOC even if there is no dialogue by Kirk and no actions noted about him.
As a note, Kirk’s telepathy confession, now has never occurred and only Vanguard remembers it (and actually my concern in previous issues about Inhuman revealing this power to Primate was unfounded since a review of the time frame shows even in that sequence of events he was not present and unaware of it – and at this time would still likely be unaware of it since he never lived that event.)
This is Kirk’s initi al reaction and his first IC.
Kirk had been quiet weighing the circumstances and trying to recall the pertinent intel they knew.
Kirk came out of thought as Inhuman made his startling statements and he spoke to Drake and Manetti so they would understand and not think them insane. He spoke calmly and informatively imitating Drake’s cool approach at the original debriefing after the prison break.
“Oracle’s power is to broadcast the future into one’s mind. She used this power on Vanguard just now for the last few seconds and we have already experienced this prison break and the days that followed. Our team is responding to what we learned from that experience. Inhuman’s suggestions are as a result of that, although it would be premature to put the world on alert unless Primate escapes. We will not allow that to happen! In about a minute a saucer ship will appear to rescue him and to take along all extranormals with animal based powers.”
He continued, “We know all about Level 5. We know all about the Hotsleep. A being known as Pachyderm was used as a missile to enter Chess Castle and rescue Primate; he is the target here.”
“Here are the pertinent facts about the break as I remember them.
When we land we will lose communication due to a localized static field; it was later revealed that this was generated by a prisoner named Static; we will not be able to coordinate our efforts if we separate.
The impact crater created by Pachyderm is our best means of entry. The back-up generators are off-line and cannot be restored because a cable as thick as a man is tall came undone from the quake tremors. Drake, Kairos, myself, and some maintenance workers moved it together and thus the generator got back online. During that time we heard pounding which eventually faded. This was undoubtedly when Pachyderm made his escape with Primate without our notice. It took Pachyderm five minutes from impact to extract Primate.
He looked at Inhuman. In the original debriefing Chess was surprised that someone with Pachyderm’s intelligence could coordinate the escape once he entered. With our hindsight, I would say it’s likely the Owl controlled him. What do you think Inhuman? That’s seems the reasonable explanation to me. Any idea how he could have done it or how we can disrupt that control?
Getting the backup generators online allowed the rally which quelled the prison break and is still a priority. In fact, since Strike isn’t going in to use his power to bring Level 5 back online with his personal energy, its imperative we get the backup generator working to prevent reawakening of other prisoners.
And he looked at Drake, and said with a slight tone of disgust in his voice at the lack of concern for the citizens of New York, if a second prisoner should awaken the failsafe nuclear weapon would be activated… although we don’t know how the loss of power figures into that. Drake, ‘with the power out does the nuke still go off if a second prisoner awakens? Anything else we need to know here?’ And we do need to consider use of the nuke as a backup strategy by Primate if we prevent his escape.
Although I think trying to take control of the saucer for our use is an option, it would appear on reviewing the facts that making the way to that backup generator cable and getting it plugged back in has to be a priority so that we aren’t dealing with other Level 5 escapees and a scenario worse than what we just lived, if that’s even possible… or the nuke going off, and so that the prison break can be stopped.
OOC Jeff: In the original adventure it took six of us to get the cable plugged in, but I did wonder at that time given Kirk’s creations if it would have been possible for him to handle it with his creation. Does Kirk think he could have done it on his own?
Seth
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GM Replies:
OOC for now. IC Replies later.
Sentinel can’t make invisible constructs.
Fyi, targetting an opponent’s head (or lungs) is a “special attack,” requiring two successful “to hit” rolls, or else the entire action fails.
In Issue 61 we see that Lightning Strike could power the backup generators himself (at great cost).
This immediately powered Level 5 Hotsleep, but the detached man-sized cable prevented power from getting to levels 1-4. Once that was reattached, the entire prison was powered. Before it was reattached, only level 5 was powered. Hotsleep had been unpowered for minutes and the self powered nuclear failsafe did not activate.
It took four humans, Kairos and a fully powered Sentinel’s constructs to manipulate the massive cable into place. Sentinel could just barely handle the massive weight, but it still needs fine manipulation and positioning, hook up and some technical skills.
Sentinel wrote: I'm not sure how it works with Kirk's animate creations if he goes unconscious ... if the would fade away or keep the last form as long as they are within his range --- Jeff would have to remind me if we worked that out.
GM: I don’t think Sentinel had ever been beaten into unconsciousness, but there’s a first time for everything. J
Inhuman wrote: Keep in mind though someone had to get Primate out without setting off alarms,
GM Reply: fyi, every alarm in the prison is currently going off.
Inhuman wrote: And any poachers that show up *poof* they are an ape.
GM Reply: fyi, This is supposition on Inhuman’s part. Primate and the Ani-Men never said that, just to be clear.
Inhuman wrote: How the hell did Pachyderm get Primate out without triggering anything or passing the guys who went down the hole?!?
GM Reply: The nuclear failsafe activates when TWO Hotsleeped prisoners are simultaneously awoken.
See Sentinel’s reply and the Vanguard Vault for how Pachyderm passed by the heroes.
Skip, when sheilding other players with water walls, how will you permit the heroes to attack through the walls?
Finally, Kairos does NOT have a silver sword, nor Inhuman his new belt. You have not traveled in time. You have only seen and experienced it as if it had been real
(Kairos gets his Luck Point back and can trade it in for that sword if he wishes, in the future.)
Sorry if I missed anything.
Best,
Jeff
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Sentinel:
Are you saying that without Strike having repowered level 5, that reconnecting the cable would not have reactivated the power? If so, I didn't realize that and that means we still need to power it up. With his powering up level 5 you said it would last forty minutes. It doesn't seem that he could have powered level 5 plus 1-4 long enough to have allowed the riot to be quashed before power would go down again. What happened?
As much as we have to prevent Primate from escaping, we can't stop him and have all of the rest of level 5 wake up.
Some other thoughts from Kirk's posting: (You can say this is IC even though not wording as such)
If it was the Owl that directed Pachyderm then it would likely be by a device that we could disrupt or destroy and we have a good chance that Pachy wouldn't complete his mission. If that is not correct and it is Primate directing him even at this time then that option is off the table, but wouldn't we still be better off directing the attack at Primate and just trying to stay out of Pachyderm's way? If we neutralize the intelligence behind Pachyderm's actions, we neutralize his effectiveness in Primate's escape. Granted, he could still cause lots of damage, but so can all the other felons. We know his weakness (ie limited intelligence, low self-control), shouldn't we exploit it if we can?
”GM: I don’t think Sentinel had ever been beaten into unconsciousness, but there’s a first time for everything.”
There may have been other circumstances that still don't allow this question to be answered, but in the battle against Morgue I believe Kirk went down (although I think it was his death touch and it half worked).In the battle before Vanguard was captured on the giant Starfish Kirk was knocked out by the Ice Maiden or whatever her name was... again I don't know if the same circumstance applies here or if anyone would have noticed what happened to Kirk's constructs (since he was unconscious and wouldn't know).
Seth
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GM Corrections:
OOC:
Two No Prizes are winging their way to Seth. Thanks, Seth!
1) I got the order of events right about the backup generator, but nothing else.
Strike powered hotsleep sector because the power cable was unattached.
Therefore, if the cable is connected, you don't need to use Electrical powers to power any part of the prison.
2) When Sentinel falls unconscious, his constructs evaporate.
I need more caffiene.
-Ye Embarrassed, Exhausted Ed!
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Sentinel:
Since we have about a zillion emails and I read them some time ago I apologize if I'm repeating suggestions we forgot or if it seems like I'm taking a credit for someone else's idea. But here is a summary of what Kirk will suggest and what I think people said they wanted to do.Please note that I'm trying to summarize what we have so far (which I know one or two people have done prior to the additional postings) and some of this incorporates recent suggestions by Kirk which others may not want to follow, so certainly this is subject to change from the players choices. I'm just trying to assist so we have our strategy together moving into final posting time Tuesday.
Certainly if I missed anything someone wants included they can put it back in and players can comment, etc.Strike is going to tackle the saucer. He seemed to want to destroy it. I still suggest he try to take control of it and use its systems to work against the prisoners trying to escape. This could be coordinated with the announcement by Drake as Inhuman suggested to make the prisoners think the saucer is against them. Kirk would remind strike that if he needs to take out the craft and can't do it through the electrical systems for some reason (although I wouldn't see why that wouldn't work), if he blows out the coolant system that should do a good job since Kirk accidentally destroyed the craft that way in the last battle (yes, no one blamed Kirk, but i t was his using the coolant as a weapon against Viper that took the craft down from the engines overheating). Also, the storm would get much worse than last time since no one is taking out Elemento this time around (although that could work against the fleeing felons too).
The rest of us head with Drake into the Castle together. We would have two teams with two goals. Kirk and Kairos with Drake would hopefully repeat their repair of the power cable. Hopefully we can find the same techs where we found them previously (we should). Once that is done Drake can rally the guards and we can return to the the rest of the team to stop Pachyderm/Primate. If Kairos doesn't want to do this, then perhaps someone else would volunteer who has at least an equivalent strength (stronger would be even better in case we can't find the techs).Slingshot wants to stop Pachyderm before he reaches Primate. If we can do that, all the better. If Kirk encounters him prior to branching off for the energy cable he would scan him for any devices that might be enabling control or communication, if Symbiote encounters him and still chooses Strike's powers, he can do the same. If Pachyderm is being controlled we destroy the device.
If we encounter Pachyderm after he has sprung Primate and there are no devices that suggest he is being controlled by the Owl and it is the Primate guiding him, I suggest focusing on Primate and taking him down, that20is what Kirk will do if he is present; although certainly that would be up to each hero to decide if they feel attaching Pachyderm or Primate at that point is the best course. And of course, additional factors or events may weigh in to change things.Again, my apologies if I left out anything that someone wanted to do here and by all means make your choices known.
Oh, and I would add, let's ask Oracle if she has any suggestions for this situation or how she feels she can best help.We do have her and the Aegis craft as assets this time around, so perhaps we can work that to our advantage somehow.
Enjoy the weekend.
Seth
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Inhuman:
Can Slingy/LS pull off the technical Skills to reconnect the cable? In which case LS+Slingshot+Sentinel+ Me could get everything reattached?
Inhuman can Probably find any devices on/in Pach as well.
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Lightning Strike:
Perhaps, and this is a big perhaps, it may be possible for either LS to arc over the broken cable thus acting as a conduit for the electricity so that power can flow to the upper levels. Of course LS can't be in two places at once so Symbiote would need to copy his powers and either head to the saucer ship and disable it or act as the conduit. Since the conduit requires a much more refined use of the electrical power, I would think LS would be more suited for it but then again, I am not sure, since the ability to go wirelessly was not an original power but a skill. I am not sure it can be copied so Symbiote may not be able to get to the saucer ship.
I leave these questions to our faithful GM to figure out.
Tony
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Sentinel:
Tony, I would think this solid thinking as a temporary backup, but that would essentially still take that hero out of action until the broken cable is repaired. That wouldn't be fun for either player to play (ie I remain as a conduit this round. again. end of posting) and also it would mean we lose that hero's help in the battle. If the few of us reconnect the cable, hopefully that can be accomplished quickly (in a round or so) since we've done it before and then we can all reenter the battle.
“INhuman can Probably find any devices on/in Pach as well.”
Sorry to leave you out of the mix. If you can get a read on something like that, great. I thought your detection was water related stuff and thus figured 'organic' and didn't know that you got a read on non-organic electrical/mechanical type stuff. And naturally it was my assumption that if such a device existed it would be along the lines of a non-organic electrical/mechanical nature.
Seth
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Slingshot:
“#2. if you HAVE to bounce him out I can watershield you and thus likely reduce the damage you take.”
Bouncing isn't likely going to cause as much damage as a straight hit. The goal is to keep him away from Primate. My intention isn't to hurt him, but I'm not against pounding him into the ground if that's what's going to keep Primate under lock and key.
“On Primate:#1. He and the animaliculum create a gorilla city in the wildlife reserve becoming noble park rangers guarding it from all sorts of intrusions.... And any poachers that show up *poof* they are an ape. #2. Since we can't hold him we convince the World Goverment that this change is another option. Less than murder, better at confinement, harsher true but for an escaped convict with powers that work in even the greatest of confinement attempts...”
#1 The gorilla city option isn't something that I would like to see. It's just something that's entirely too convienient for a GM to keep around (did I say that?) #2 Sure. I would prefer reverting him back on his own volition.
Re: Power cable: When did I completely miss that?! I mean I usually have a good memory. I completely missed that.Knowing that, am I strong enough to put the plug in myself? Stephane
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Sentinel:
It was back in Issue #61. You were topside in the midst of battle (taking out Black Ice at that very moment) and Kirk had followed Kairos and Drake downside through the crater. It was only one paragraph of events. It was only in hindsight, when I reread the issue that I realized the pounding Jeff mentioned was Pachyderm making his escape with Primate.Seth
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GM Replies:
OOC:
Inhuman wrote: Can Slingy/LS pull off the technical Skills to reconnect the cable?
GM Reply: Most likely.
Strike wrote: it may be possible for either LS to arc over the broken cable thus acting as a conduit for the electricity so that power can flow to the upper levels. Of course LS can't be in two places at once so Symbiote would need to copy his powers and either head to the saucer ship and disable it or act as the conduit. Since the conduit requires a much more refined use of the electrical power, I would think LS would be more suited for it but then again, I am not sure, since the ability to go wirelessly was not an original power but a skill. I am not sure it can be copied so Symbiote may not be able to get to the saucer ship. I leave these questions to our faithful GM to figure out.
GM: This is accurate. Arcing over broken cable might require Intelligence saving throw, Luck point, or both.
Slingshot wrote: The gorilla city option isn't something that I would like to see. It's just something that's entirely too convienient for a GM to keep around (did I say that?)
GM Reply: But I would only use the Gorilla City for good. Really. Slingshot wrote: When did I completely miss that?! I mean I usually have a good memory. I completely missed that.Knowing that, am I strong enough to put the plug in myself?
GM Reply: Probably. The malleable man of might can lift more than the beacon of liberty’s constructs. If the prison workers are there, they can assist.
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Inhuman:
OOC: Nobody really understands me :) (and no problemo, I'm probably crazy) In the early to late 60's (issue wise) I discovered that I could identify Cybernetics & other non-organic materials on a person by observing the Owl. To give him proper credit Kairos theorised this was possible in the late 50's. IIRC this is due to how my hydrosense is limited (Range= I x lvl -SR of any intervening objects). On the Water defense at this moment i guess i would have to spend movement every round to observe what the defended person is doing. Assuming we all survive this, we can work out a complex series of non-verbal signals that would communicate the combatants intentions to me so that I could adjust the fields anticpatorily. I would suggest 2 taps of the foot for attack 3 taps for evade etc... I also presume that by working with the Vangorillas vs. primate problem and the kids down at the local swimming pool (more like an inner city swimming pool than a beach somewhere, just as an fyi. #1 probably Closer to CHESS HQ most likely and #2 people who don't have a lot of choices, though being September in NYC... probably an an indoor YMCA sort of thing) I would have some idea of how to keep my fields somewhat resistant to attacks from one direction and flexible enough for combat solutions to be applied. On the gorilla City: yeah suuure oh mighty Gm, you Would NEVER abuse somthing like that. It's pretty much a huge pipe dream . Pretty, but in the end too fragile and untrustworthy excepting a helm of alignment change idea.
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Kairos:
“GM Reply: But I would only use the Gorilla City for good. Really.”
Gotta love that line.
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Sentinel:
The line works even better if you know the facial expression and tone Jeff would be using as he 'said' it.Seth
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GM:
OOC:
Hi,If you guys are done, I can lock down this issue early.If not, you have plenty of time left.It's up to you. But it sounds like you have a mostly-formed plan.
If you do want to wrap up early, please just confirm that your orders are final.
Every player has final control over their own character(For example, if I read ten proposals from other players about what Kairos should do, I will only enact what Kairos has actually written he will do). Let me know. Thanks.
Best,
Jeff
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Symbiote:
Hmm...truth be told I kinda lost track of it all. The more I think about it, the more I believe Grey is right...we need a leader.
But OK, I will say these things for certain...
1) Jeff said back in Greece that I can't "broadcast" myself like Lightning Strike, so if anybody is going after the saucer it'll have to be him. I'll essentially replicate his actions from the last time we were here and work restore power.
2) I STRONGLY recommend that we ignore all criminals except Pachy and Primate. I will attack none of them unless attacked first until those two are subdued.
3) I really think we should try the suffocate-Pachy-into-unconsciousness gambit, be it with Inhuman's water or Sentinel's energy.
4) Once the Power's back on I will go after Pachyderm, my only objective being to keep him from escaping with Primate. Copying his powers will be very the last resort, and I definitely won't do it near the nuclear reactor or any hotsleep beds.
Viva Vanguard,
Greg
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Slingshot:
I'm inline with Greg.1) Take care of Pachy/Primate (My second objective).2) Return the power ASAP to the place, plug that man-sized power main. (My primary objective. I'm volunteering for that one, I have great mobility and strenght.. unless someone has something better for me to do)3) Take down the saucer.The idea is that if we return the power to the complex sooner, we will have less escapees. Thus not dealing with the few that do escape, will be less in the long run. We didn't manage to stop enough escapees the first time around. It's better to stop them at the source right away.Secondly, we need to stop Primate from leaving. That is done in two ways: Stop Pachyderm from leaving the complex and disabling the saucer (escape vehicle).This is how I would see it.
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Kairos:
I'm going for the crater, evading any attacks as I go. Unless someone tackles me or something, I'm ignoring them and going on.
Kairos will go for finding techs and putting power back online as well as keeping an eye out for Pachyderm.
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Slingshot:
Then assume that Slingshot will be carrying Kairos with him to get to the location that much faster.
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Sentinel:
Jeff:For Greg, he may have missed the email whereby we determined that using Strike's power to fire up level 5 would be unnecessary if the generator is reconnected. Unless I misunderstood it and we still need to do both. I just don't want him wasting his action because he missed something in the email bombardment that is pertinent, so let him know about that for sure.
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Symbiote:
Hmm...truth be told I kinda lost track of it all. The more I think about it, the more I believe Grey is right...we need a leader.
But OK, I will say these things for certain...
1) Jeff said back in Greece that I can't "broadcast" myself like Lightning Strike, so if anybody is going after the saucer it'll have to be him. I'll essentially replicate his actions from the last time we were here and work restore power.
2) I STRONGLY recommend that we ignore all criminals except Pachy and Primate. I will attack none of them unless attacked first until those two are subdued.
3) I really think we should try the suffocate-Pachy-into-unconsciousness gambit, be it with Inhuman's water or Sentinel's energy.
4) Once the Power's back on I will go after Pachyderm, my only objective being to keep him from escaping with Primate. Copying his powers will be very the last resort, and I definitely won't do it near the nuclear reactor or any hotsleep beds.
Viva Vanguard,
Greg
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Slingshot:
I'm inline with Greg.1) Take care of Pachy/Primate (My second objective).2) Return the power ASAP to the place, plug that man-sized power main. (My primary objective. I'm volunteering for that one, I have great mobility and strenght.. unless someone has something better for me to do)3) Take down the saucer.The idea is that if we return the power to the complex sooner, we will have less escapees. Thus not dealing with the few that do escape, will be less in the long run. We didn't manage to stop enough escapees the first time around. It's better to stop them at the source right away.Secondly, we need to stop Primate from leaving. That is done in two ways: Stop Pachyderm from leaving the complex and disabling the saucer (escape vehicle).This is how I would see it.
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Kairos:
I'm going for the crater, evading any attacks as I go. Unless someone tackles me or something, I'm ignoring them and going on.
Kairos will go for finding techs and putting power back online as well as keeping an eye out for Pachyderm.
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Slingshot:
Then assume that Slingshot will be carrying Kairos with him to get to the location that much faster.
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Sentinel:
Jeff:For Greg, he may have missed the email whereby we determined that using Strike's power to fire up level 5 would be unnecessary if the generator is reconnected. Unless I misunderstood it and we still need to do both. I just don't want him wasting his action because he missed something in the email bombardment that is pertinent, so let him know about that for sure.
Kirk is going below immediately and will assist any of the team there if needed. He is not wasting any time with the low-level felons.For me, priority one is reconnecting the power. Kirk was involved before which should make it go quicker and easier. It appears this is also priority one for Slingshot. He doesn't know the area or the mechanism, but is an engineer. If my presence is totally superfluous with him there, I'd skip it, but my first preference would be to be there to assist and make sure nothing goes wrong (at this point we should be getting there a few moments earlier than last time and there is the chance that someone not present last time will be present this time). However, I wouldn't want to waste Kirk's action just being a cheerleader.
If we can somehow work in an 'evasion' prior to tackling Pachderm I'm all for it, but wouldn't sacrifice a good opportunity to stop him to have it.If they encounter Pachyderm prior to his freeing Primate checking for outside control and if finding a source and destroying it would be the preferable action. If there is no device and we need to go with Greg's/Skip's plan of trying to suffocate Pachyderm into submission then Kirk suggests Inhuman take the actual attack on Primate since he seemed pretty confident about it and it was their idea ...And adds this:That plan also needs Pachy to exhale. Kirk will send an tether ahead of Pachyderm in the distance and form an image of Primate on a hotsleep table in front of Pachyderm. He will do his best to approximate the size, color, texture, etc. Hopefully with the lighting bad and with Pachyderm's limited intelligence, perhaps Pachy will 'buy it' and rescue the 'image' of Primate. If at any point Pachy isn't 'buying it', he has the image of Primate power punch Pachyderm in the chest. Hopefully this might at least surprise Primate and get him to exhale giving Inhuman the chance to do his attack while he has no breath; also I'm hoping that at the very least, his being hit by the image of Primate might give him reason to not trust the real Primate (its a long shot, but he has no intelligence, so I'll grasp at any straws available here for our advantage). If anyone has a problem with this, then let me know and perhaps I'll adjust.If Kirk encounters Pachyderm with Primate and there is no device controlling him and apparently Primate is the source of his direction, Kirk attacks Primate.Let me know if anything is unclear or you want further options from me under the circumstances.Thanks.SethPS Hey, I forgot to mention about the 'early shipping date' of the last issue, how'd you convince the printer's to schedule the precedent setting Thursday release??? The fans might get spoiled!
PSS: With Slingshot and Kairos volunteering for the 'power up', just a quick reminder note that I've no problem going with either team once below at this point; wherever Kirk thinks he can do the most good. Perhaps with Kirk's flight if they don't encounter Pachy before splitting into teams he might have enough movement to go with the 'power up' team to confirm no surprises in their efforts and then double-back to the Pachy team. I'll leave it up to you and the circumstances encountered once below.All the while keeping his energy senses up to pick up sneak attacks, etc that they might have missed the first time around.
PSS: With Slingshot and Kairos volunteering for the 'power up', just a quick reminder note that I've no problem going with either team once below at this point; wherever Kirk thinks he can do the most good. Perhaps with Kirk's flight if they don't encounter Pachy before splitting into teams he might have enough movement to go with the 'power up' team to confirm no surprises in their efforts and then double-back to the Pachy team. I'll leave it up to you and the circumstances encountered once below.All the while keeping his energy senses up to pick up sneak attacks, etc that they might have missed the first time around.
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Symbiote:
Yep, I missed that entirely. If it's unnecessary for me to power up anything, my priority, again, is stopping Primate, ignoring any villains who don't directly attack me, my teammates or prison staff.
(affects high school quarterback husky voice) LET'S GO!
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Lightning Strike:
OK, since I am the only one who can get to the saucer quickly and relatively undetected, I will head that way, disable the ship and attempt to crash it into Primate or Pachyderm if they head up to the ship. If I don't see them, once the ship is disabled I will wirelessly head down to level 5 or wherever Primate is.
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Inhuman:
Speeches as is
Action: Grabbing Water At least 300# (and I'll do it at any second after I warn Manetti)
List of Movement:
#1 Looking for enough water through the sides of the ship to form several shields.
#2 Leaving the Ship either by Letting Slingshot Get me to Pach or under own power if need be.
If you want next round(s) generating shields
Moving to/in crater.
------------------------------------ GM:Thanks everyone! I'm good to go.Next issue ships this Friday. Symbiote, Strike's ability to travel wirelessly was a learned skill (from a Level Advancement), so you cannot do that when copying Strike's powers.Are you still duplicating Strike's powers for the assault on CHESS Castle? Best,Jeff
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Symbiote:
Since we've determined they won't be needed to power up the prison, I guess not. I'll go with Slingy's. My objectives remain the same: get to Pachyderm, hopefully distract/restrain him while either Sentinel or Inhuman suffocate him into unconsciousness. As outlined before copying his powers and mixing it up with him is the very last resort.
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Slingshot:
Greg,Correction: We do need to power up the prison, just not through LS's powers, we can do it the old fashion way - plugging it into the wall socket. ;)
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Inhuman:
So... with two Slingshots and Inhuman are we the Flex Team?
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Slingshot:We sure can PUMP YOU UP.
