Thomas finds some likely dealers, still in Southpoint, but far enough away from the Slashers that there won't be any competition. You net $3,400 in selling the few kilos that you've got.
Wolf - ok, I'm sure you can find a specialist when you need him, but any plans to make some money by then?
Alpha - are you looking to buy? No lines of credit for buyers in this world, sorry.
Jack - no problems with the van, it is now nondescript. Bars abound, make a Streetwise roll to find a black/grey market dealer.
No problem finding a lone Slasher one night. Make your attack and damage rolls at +4 for The Drop.
Jack - no problems with the van, it is now nondescript. Bars abound, make a Streetwise roll to find a black/grey market dealer.
No problem finding a lone Slasher one night. Make your attack and damage rolls at +4 for The Drop.
Walking down the narrow alley the punk doesn't notice the 'useless bum' squatting beside the dumpster. Mistake.
The kick takes his left knee out from under him a split second before the club behind the ear turns the lights out...
Jack will gladly spend any bennies required to put the Slasher down.
The bum rapidly frisks the body before vanishing into the night.
Since Nature sees everyone else unleashing chaos, she adds her own brand to the mix:
Nature will use her earthquake power to make it look like someone with superstrength attacked one of the main buildings of the Slasher's rival gang. A crudely made sketch in their blood of the symbol of the Slashers is found on the sidewalk outside. The police later confirmed that the symbol is made of the blood of several of their victims.
Next, Nature will find a technology company who exploits nature to get what they need: strip mining, blood diamonds, and so on. She will find one of their holding facilities, where she will make off with as much of their precious metals as she can carry, before an emp device destroyed a great deal of their electronic equipment. The precious metals will be supplied to the group for their use.
Finally, there will be a victim killed in a freak accident, a journalist by the name of Kathryn Holmes. This was the agreed payment for the device Nature had requested.
In his downtime, Wolf Spider will range about, looking at the state of the local districts and tracking down something simple along the lines of a jewelry shop robbery. Since Nature's quite capable of doing the big stuff, Wolf Just has his little small time games for fun, since there's nothing nearly as effective he could personally do. Still, he did have that neuroscience job he was contemplating before he got caught...
He will spend some of the time going over a floorplan he drew from memory onto the back of a poster he tore from a theater wall. It looks reasonably complex.
Attack details: two attacks, wild, with the drop.
Kick, MAP(-2), off 'hand'(-2), drop(+4), wild(+2); net +2.
1d8 ⇒ 81d6 ⇒ 5, ace: 1d8 ⇒ 3. Total (8+3+2)13
Damage Str, Drop(+4), Wild(+2). 1d10 ⇒ 5. Raise?: 1d6 ⇒ 1 Total (5+4+2)11 or 12
.
Club, MAP, Off, Drop, wild 1d8 ⇒ 31d6 ⇒ 3. Total (3+4+2) 9
Damage STR, club, drop(+4), wild(+2). 1d10 ⇒ 31d4 ⇒ 4, ace: 1d4 ⇒ 1.Raise?: 1d6 ⇒ 6,ace: 1d6 ⇒ 1 Total (3+4+1+4+2) 14 or 21 and a Vigor roll.
Funny you should try that, the question just came up on the Core Rules SW board as to whether The Drop includes two separate attacks. Short answer : the GM may rule the target is no longer "completely unaware of the danger" after the first attack. So I'm going to use your "club" attack, since that's with your primary hand.
Club : MAP(-2), Drop(+4), Wild(+2) +3(die) = 7 to hit. That gets past his Parry, but is not a Raise.
Damage : Drop(+4), Wild(+2) +8(die) = 14 damage. That Incapacitates him. Extras don't roll Vigor for Incapacitation, they're just down. Since you specified nonlethal damage, he'll be out for at least an hour.
Since your first attack downed him, your second attack is moot.
You find $45 and a vibro-blade on him.
Nature - no problem, but one question : *how* does Nature make off with many many pounds of precious metals?
Angel paces anxiously around the warehouse. She would rather be out hunting V'Sori. but she understands that to draw attention to herself now would be akin to suicide and would endanger the others. So, she paces.
Digging through the trash, she locates an old mannequin. Setting it against a solid surface, she begins practicing her weapon katas.
Nature - ok, no problems with all your goals. But the rival "gang" of the Slashers is The Family, a highly organized crime gang that hates supers of any kind. Just FYI.
You bring back $46,900 in precious metals to the lair. How are you going to turn them into cash?
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"F@@@ you b%*#@!" is heard in the alleyway just before the unmistakable smack of flesh on flesh.
Thomas, always the curious little scamp, drifts his ephemeral form toward the sound.
A definitely female cry is heard as a meaty and ringed fist is driven into her toned and naked abdomen, above her cut-off jean-shorts and below a heavily strained white cotton halter top.
The woman cries pitifully, her tears streaking her cheap mascara. "I'm...I'm s-s-sorry!" she manages through the tears.
"Screw that!" the man says, punching her again and dropping her to her knees, her soft flesh tearing and bleeding as she hits the ground. "Don't NOBODY talk to Big Jack that way! Don't NOBODY tell Big Jack they ain't gonna do work! A guy tells you you turn around you TURN. THE F%~#. AROUND! You got me?"
"Ya! Ya Big Jack! I-I-I got you!" she says, grabbing at whatever he says, hating her life and the bad choices that got her in to this situation. "I just, can I just a little money? My kids are hungry and--"
"NO! You do WORK for Big Jack and you get PAID from Big Jack! What is so F+&!ING hard for you to understand?" he asks, planting his steel toed-boot into her stomach.
The woman could make no more noises other than crying in pain, so the leather-jacketed man stomped away.
Thomas wanted to say something, but thought it rude to interrupt, so he followed Big Jack. In time he went around the corner and up some stairs to one of the omnipresent seedy apartment buildings.
Big Jack's apartment, 7, that had 'luky numer' stenciled above it, opened into a pigsty of a place, with pornography and drug paraphernalia scattered about it almost at random.
Big Jack took a large wad of bills from his pocket and tossed it onto a table that had other large wads of rubber-banded bills on it, next to a respectable pile of conventional powdered drugs.
Big Jack grabbed a bottle of something from the fridge and plopped down in an easy chair that was falling apart, now more duct tape than cotton, and he turned on a show. The line "I'd buy that for a dollar!" echoed through the filthy apartment and Big Jack laughed at the obvious wit.
"You know, I've always found that compliments change behavior more than threats of violence," Thomas said as he floated invisibly through the door.
"What?" Big Jack shouted, standing up, grabbing a gun from his waistband, and looking around the room.
"Well, it works better than both threats of violence -and- actual violence, of course," Thomas stated calmly.
"F$#& you!" Big Jack shouted, flailing about in a circle, looking for the soon-to-be-dead jackass that would talk to him this way, in his OWN place!
"Well, that may come later. I merely wanted to state how I saw the world. And perhaps a demonstration is in order?" Tom asked polietly.
"Yeah! Yeah you come and try that, f&+@~*! You try and I'll shove this so far up your butt it'll hurt a lot!" Big Jack yelled, now starting to feel fear, but still anticipating hurting someone else.
"My. Metaphors really are not your strong suit, are they? Let's try something a little more substantial."
Thomas placed his index finger inside the man's chest right about where his heart was.
Thomas becomes solid, his finger merging with Big Jack's heart. Tom withdraws his bloody finger, leaving much of the flesh behind. The organ finds it impossible to pump with so many of it's cells meshed with a stranger's DNA, and Big Jack drops like a sack of potatoes.
Tom frowns at his finger, and passes his hand over it.
The flesh re-nits itself, good as new.
"Alright, I think that about clears up the lesson," Tom says to Jack's rapidly-cooling corpse. "And I certainly don't want to catch you being rude to young girls again, young man!"
Big Jack, lacking the ability to pump blood, or breath, has no response.
Thomas gather up the dirty drug money in one bag and the dirty drugs in another. He turns insubstantial once again and flies out.
Tom visits the beaten prostitute, who promises sexual favors in return for keeping Jack of her back. He leaves one stack of cash, has sex with her, and leaves, proud that he's down his good deed for the day.
Then he returns, guts Jack's corpse, and prepares the body for proper disposal. No sense in just leaving it around.
"Here, consider this a gift from Gaia. She wishes the foreign invaders to leave, as they are interfering with my work." says Nature as she makes multiple teleports into the lair, stockpiling a small stack of valuable materials like platinum wire.
Thomas brings back $8367 in cash to the lair.
Jack - ... Bars abound, make a Streetwise roll to find a black/grey market dealer.
Jack returns late to the Lair. He has a couple bottles of post-invasion gin and possibly a name.
Alpha keeps contacts for opportunities. If a job needs quick information or very special (not covered by the book) equipment that could be handy. Better to have a Hail Mary to fall back on than nothing at all.
With the others bringing in assets (though the liquidation process may be questionable) Alpha sets his attention to the surrounding area. He looks for the best places to set up security equipment, whether trackers or cameras. Anti robotics, anti-personnel, a bunker for air strikes, so many contingencies to plan for...
With a rough list of fallback plans, he tries to locate the necessary channels of scavengers and merchants who would supply him.
Armaxis Corporation had to go through a huge restructuring when the V'sori took over. Most of their Research and Development projects got canceled and any remaining prototypes were shelved permanently in order to prevent their new overlords from perceiving the company as a possible threat and eliminating them.
Having switched from being a well-funded scientific advancement company to one that manufactures and produces existing technological components, there wasn't much need for their Research and Development division anymore.
Back when Wolf Spider was known simply as Timothy, he had an internship at Armaxis. Which pretty much meant he had been the R&D's gopher. He never really learned much that the internship was meant to teach, but he learned 2 things. One, he got a good idea what projects they were working on at the time by overhearing conversations between scientists, and he had been all over the R&D division so many times that he had the layout almost perfectly memorized.
The skylight over the waiting room separating the male and female bathrooms popped open slowly. Over 50 feet in the air, the company had settled on a sturdy but otherwise simple lock. Crawling in along the ceiling, Wolf Spider looked around cautiously. From the ceiling, he could see the layer of dust lining the bench seats.
Prowling along the ceiling, he makes his way to the labs to find that the place was empty. Beginning to wonder if he waited too long, he was considering leaving when a door opened and a security guard began his patrol beneath him. The older man with a thick white beard and a balding head clicked his flashlight on as he walked past the labs, glancing through the windows as he wandered by.
Wolf Spider followed silently above, watching the man as he continued through the complex. While the man did his route, Wolf Spider watched him enter door codes and swipe his security card. As the man's circuit took them by a room that used to be for material storage, he noticed they had added a security panel and card swipe since he had last been there.
He guessed that was enough. He crawled down the wall and dropped down, landing behind the security guard. The guard started to turn, only to see stars as he gets chopped across the back of the neck.
Picking up the security card and yanking the battery from the man's walkie talkie, he punched in the security code he observed the man use on each room and swiped the security card.
Poking his head in, Wolf Spider whistles. The storage room had been converted to storing discarded prototypes and projects they could no longer work on. He peeled his mask up, wandering among the shelves with an appreciative whistle. Jackpot he thinks, reading the labels using a pen flashlight.
A quick search finds a cardboard box labeled Spinal Neuroscan. Pulling it out, he was surprised how heavy it was. Inside, he finds several dozen paper files, several dvd-rom disks, and a prototype: a shiny metal column of links that looked like an metallic spine with two columns of thin needles protruding from it. There was warning tape wrapped all around the spine, where 'caution' was displayed in bright letters.
"All right. Jackpot." he mutters. Leaving the paper files behind, he swipes the disks and the metal spine, stowing it in his back case before putting the box back. Slipping out of the room, he clipped the guard's security card back on, dropped the walkie talkie, and took out his 'camouflage'.
When the security guard awoke, the room he was in and the halls were covered in explicit graffiti. The bathrooms had been flooded and doors forced open. Windows were smashed, and police were outside the complex. The storage room was untouched, as were the labs.
Alpha - the security equipment is covered under Defenses as part of the HQ outfitting. As for anti-robotics and anti-personnel weapons, and air bunkers...well, no, such equipment is outrageously expensive and well beyond the group's current means.
Someone (or everyone) with Streetwise please make a roll to turn the precious metals Nature brought back into cash.
So a couple of weeks go by while you get your HQ outfitted (including Dr. Tox's lab), and you have $53,187 left over (I'm going to treat it as a group fund unless someone else says different).
Then, one day, a message comes in over your earbuds (you *do* wear them all the time, right? :) - "This is Dr. Destruction. I need you to retrieve a super-villian called Monolith. Unfortunately he has taken a vow to never use his powers again, and has retired to a monastery in Kobe, Japan.
I will provide you with air transportation, and a collar designed to lower his power levels just enough to hopefully make him sane again. You must get that collar on him without killing him. Do not fail me."
He ends the transmission with a set of co-ordinates in Southpoint and a time to be there to be picked up by one of his Anti-grav personal carriers.
You have a couple of hours before the pick-up time, anything in particular you want to do beforehand?
Ok, enough people have scored Successes on Streetwise that no more need to roll. The metals get turned into cash.
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The morning before they get Dr. Desctruction's message, everyone wakes up to a secret base that smells AMAZING! They find the table in the common kitchen area is laid out in all manner of vittles an' fixins'. There's eggs and there's sausage. There's waffles and pancakes and 3 types of syrup. There's the feint aroma of coffee made with a skilled hand and love and care. There's ham cut thin and baklava cut thick.
There are even slices of cantaloupe with everyone's names carved in them. (Almost all of them are spelled wrong.)
"Hey guys!" Tom says, standing next to an elderly woman, "Hey, ah, I hope you guys don't mind, but my mom doesn't have anywhere else to stay. But she's a hellava cook and, apparently, a whiz with the food-making machine. I didn't even know it could -do- half this stuff!
And know we've got someone to watch the place if we ever have to go on an extended trip! should that ever happen..."
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"Oh now don't you worry about me, deary," the old woman says, "I'll be right as rain. Now you all sit down an' tuck in. I've also got whole cooked chicken an' Code Red Mountain Dew, if any of you like old fashioned food."
She actually pinches Jack's cheeks as she says these seemingly-cryptic words.
She's definitely an old woman, dressed as she is in a flowered home-crock and a white cooking apron. But her eyes are bright and fill of life, and every single one of her wrinkles seems to have been earned the hard way, over a life of making hard choices and hoping everything would somehow work out.
"I also have a brace of pies, blueberry an' apple, cooling on th' stove, if I haven't made enough to tuck all yer corners," she says, filling everyone's water glass.
Alpha isn't normally surprised. He has been trained to think quickly and respond to sudden changes in the environment with deadly accuracy. However, even he stops in surprise when he walks into the kitchen area to find an Elderly woman making herself comfortable as she busied herself around the stove.
"Thomas..." Alpha says slowly as he takes a seat. He picks at the food uncertainly as he continues. "Are you certain she's not compromised? That she isn't being controlled or monitored in any way? And when were you going to tell us about this arrangement?"
Angel regards the elderly woman quizzically. "A civilian will be a liability," she says, making no attempt to hide her disdain.
"Hey! Waffles!" Wolf Spider exclaims, dropping onto a seat from the ceiling of their hideout. He scoops a stack of six waffles and slathers on the butter and syrup. "Gotta carbo-load. My metabolism can never get enough!" He says with some humor in his voice. He peels his mask up over his nose and starts munching away. He will also tuck away 5 sausages, 3 cans of Code Red, and he will then sit back and belch loudly before deciding that he wants a slice of blueberry pie.
While he waits for the pie to be ready, he pulls a metal spine-looking thing out of his pack, produces a pair of fine tools, and tinkers with it. "So, anyone got any idea how we're going to actually convince Monolith to go with us?"
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Tom puts his hand over his chest, as if mortally wounded. "Alpha! I'm hurt. And shocked. And shocked and hurt and shocked. That you would think my own dear mother could possibly turn....
Ah, no. I can personally vouch that she is, quite good, at keeping secrets.
And I'm telling you now, over breakfast. Isn't that the best way to break news?"
Red comes along and drops a buttered muffin in front of Dark Angel. "There! Is your life not already made more positive? That is the opposite of a liability. And she'll not be coming on combat missions with us, she'll just stay here and, you know, look after the place."
"I don't know enough about the guy to guess what he'd go for." he burbles. "Was he the guy who carved hieroglyphs at all of his crime scenes?"
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"Here you are, dearie," Red says as she deposits a plate full of...salt?...in front of Doctor Toxic.
If he eats them, he finds them to taste Amazing! Normally mere food can't handle his acidity, but the salt just dissolves into his essence, infusing his whole body with hints of bacon and cinnamon and...a little bit of rum?
"Its not a question is your mum will turn on you. I'm asking that she isn't some kind of alien plant or mind controlled or something. We're not going to get a second chance at this Thom, and I don't like taking chances."
Alpha takes a bite of sausage, the sweet juice of cooked beer sausage running over his tongue.
" No 'atter how tashty." he finishes as before swallowing.
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This gets Tom's attention.
"You. Want to talk. To me. About secret mind stuff?"
Tom loses focus as he stares at Alpha.
After a moment he comes out of the trace. "I can guarantee that she's no more mind controlled than you are.
Or do you want me to prove my aptitude and start talking about...midget porn? Seriously Alpha?" he chuckles.
Then, one day, a message comes in over your earbuds (you *do* wear them all the time, right? :)
Nope. In fact I do not even own a set. Secure communications is still on the things we need list. Along with several shotguns and a BIG box of hero stopper shells.
So I am ignoring the message I never received
"Morning Red! Good to see you again. We..Oh? Is that your pie?"
Much eating ensues.
"So, anyone got any idea how we're going to actually convince Monolith to go with us?"
.
"Monolith? Why are you digging up that old fossil? Last I heard he found religion and flue to Japan. I've no idea if he is even still alive."
Angel considers the muffin placed before her. With some trepidation, she takes a small bite. "The texture and flavor are pleasing," she says flatly. Turning to Jack, she continues, "Yes, his last known whereabouts were in Japan. If he is alive, our benefactor has requested that we locate him and place a collar on him, bringing him with us. Apparently, Monolith has taken a vow to never use his meta-abilities again. I suspect that this mission will not be so simple as the good Doctor makes it appear."
Alpha matches Thomas's stare, though he is glad that the morning wouldn't have to result in violence.
"It's been a while Thomas, and I can't have you going sloppy on me." letting the mind reading joke pass. He'd claim anything to try and embarrass the merc. "Remember what happened Museum Job in Paris? How you dropped all your fancy rings into the collection? I swear if you couldn't talk that curator into a private viewing, that job would have gone south right quick."
Alpha looks up to Red.
"This is lovely m'am, thank you for the meal."
But turning to the main discussion.
"Are overly convincing friend here" Alpha gestures at Thomas, "Will most likely have to convince him past his oath. Either that, or we'll have to appeal to his strength of character."
"Oh did Destruction call? I really should rig a way to catch messages on these blasted earbuds."
You have a couple of hours before the pick-up time, anything in particular you want to do beforehand?
Pack, see what I can find out about the current situation in Japan . total 7, any love?
Nature watches the rest of the group eat, before spinning on her heels without comment and exiting the room.
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So, Japan, huh?" Tom says as everyone is finishing their coffee. "And all we've gotta do is get a collar around a guy who has vowed to never use his powers...and is therefore a...a, whatdaytacall them? A guy with no magic? A mulligan? A muffin? A mootinaner?
Anyway, so a norm. All of use just to hog-tie a single norm?
Money in the bank. When do we leave?"
Jack - you've heard that the overall situation in Japan is about the same as here, with the V'sori having taken over the government, hunting supers, etc.
So you all finish your meal, head out to the pick-up point, where an Anti-grav personal carrier floats to the ground, and the rear ramp door opens. A voice comes from a speaker within, saying merely "Get in." You all enter, and settle down for a few hours' flight to Japan.
Eventually, you hear a change in the pitch of the engines, and soon after a light bump as you touch the ground. The voice from the speaker says "The monastery's at the top of the mountain. I'll wait here for you."
As you exit the vehicle, it's cool, clear, and just pre-dawn.
What do you do?
Wolf Spider looks up the mountain and shrugs. "Those of us who are hoofing it, better get started." he says, starting up the mountain, using trails if it's easier, climbing up sheer cliff faces if they're present.
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Thomas brings along several arcane and strange games to play on the long, long trip, including such oddities as RuneBound, Conquest of Nerath, and Nexus Ops. Everyone who plays has more fun than they've ever had on a plane. Also some booze. He brought some booze along too. But mostly he's thank ful for getting on an airplane without cargo fees or getting his junk groped. (Well, that can be a feature, depending on what mood he's in.)
Tom looks up, and up, and up. "Yup. If I were a monk, looking to be closer to heaven, on top of a mountain, this is -so- the one I'd choose. Alright, Imma take the easier way. See ya later, looooseeeeers."
Tom turns invisible and flies up, but not ahead, just keeping above the group, and he'll report what he sees so they have something to occupy their minds while they hoof it up.
Angel stretches and extends her wings to their full span. It feels good after having been crammed into the shuttle. She relishes the cool air upon her face and takes flight, testing the winds.
Toxic simply splorches his way up the mountain. He does try not to scorch the greenery as he goes up.
Before they take off, Alpha Beta, and Gamma place a hand on Dark Angel.
"You were cheating." Alpha accuses Thomas as he takes off.
"I just don't know how..." Beta adds, releasing his own wings to take flight.
"We're playing on the way back." Gamma demands before joining his brothers.
It was three versus one, The Prime brothers versus Thomas and they had still lost. They were convinced something was up.
Nature began teleporting up the hill, keeping pace with the group by waiting for them to catch up.
There is a path starting at the landing point, which winds its way up the mountain. For those of you walking, it takes about 15 minutes.
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A voice from the wind sighs and says, "I -told- you guys that the game goes to 12 victory points! It's not my fault that I had two secret missions that involved plasma dragons and none of you ever made a serious attempt at the monolith. Okay, maybe I could've actually read that part of the rules to you, but now you know!
And knowing is half the battle G I JOE!"
He snickers as he keeps flying.
Watching the others head blithely up the mountain Jack thinks to himself...
"We just got our freedom and now they seem happy to take Monolith's away. Oh well Supervillainy is not conducive to self-reflection."
Jack hooks Destruction's power-dampening collar onto his pack and starts to walk towards the mountain.
"The monks will have a way to get food and lumber up there. I'll just need to find it." He whispers to himself.
"What's our strategy once we've reached the destination?" Alpha asks, Beta and Gamma spread out to check angles and possible ambushes.
"If this guy is an asset worth a mission, and for a team our size, the alien a+~#@%%s might have hit the place already."