"Necessary Evil" - supervillains save the world!

Game Master ZenFox42

Fortune ignores the people scavenging the weapons and waits for the next overconfident bravo to step up. "Some big guy gave me this ta give ta yer boss," Fortune says, holding up a bag with the disabled V'Sori pistol and the note about the place to meet to get the weapons.

"I tried ta give it to this jerk, but he was more interested in glad-handing me than being a good boy and delivering the message. So I punched him. Guess he's got a glass jaw. I took a look at the note and I think your boss will thank you for deliverin' it."

She doesn't wait around for an answer but turns and walks away.

Let me know if she needs to roll anything.

The goon is so impressed by you saying that you took the other guy down with a punch that he doesn't say anything, or try to stop you from leaving.

Just to confirm (I checked past posts want want to be sure) : the note says that your group is claiming credit for intercepting the shipment and wants to set up a swap, maybe exchanging the weapons for drugs.

How did you all say they should contact you to respond? Did you give them a cell phone number, a drop point, or what? I'm assuming you didn't give them your address... ;)

Meet up point(Not our base) was what I thought we'd gone with?

Fortune returns to the base, taking care that no one can follow her by ducking into a vacant building, casting invisibility and fly, and then flying back to the base, although she'll still weave around in case someone has the ability to see invisible. Once the duration of the spells expires, she'll finish the journey on her skateboard.

Fortune rolls into the base, gives everyone a thumbs up, and says, "Message delivered. I even got to clean the clock of one of 'em who tried to get fresh."

I'm assuming we know of an abandoned warehouse or other building with some open space for the meeting location, so no bystanders or property damage to worry about. I'd say we should offer them the weapons for either a hefty amount of cash or equivalent in drugs, to make them think we're another gang. Assuming the bring the payment and we defeat them, this will deplete their resources and further hinder their ability to regroup.

”Then you faired very well.”, Six says as Fortune comes in. ”The area you were in must not have been too heavily guarded and that means the gang feels untouchable. Now we have their attention. Let’s get ready for that meet up. We might want to vet the area first and make sure we won’t be rudely interrupted.”

We'll ret-con that a suitable abandoned building in a mostly-empty neighborhood was found before the meet.

Let's say you asked to meet in a few hours?

Anyone want to do anything in particular before the meet?

"Perhaps we should look over the meeting scene beforehand to familiarize ourselves with the terrain?"

"Sure thing Angel." Hellion mobes over to show her the address. "It's an old spot we used to use. Didn't want a dock spot cause they'd be able to call the rest of their buddies pretty easy, plus that's their current turf."

The location pin looks to be a multistoried parking garage behind an old Starmart that was abandoned long before the V'sori came by even. It's got a few exits so that people could scramble if things went horribly south with the feds, but was cloistered off from the skyscrapers and apartments that it'd be difficult to spy anything happening.

"We should head over sooner rather than later."

She looks at the wares, "Now it'd be bad business to have all the goods in one spot incase they make to cross us. So we'll store the bulk of em on p4 with one of us watching over.." She catches herself slipping into old ways.

"Scratch that no need to hide the goods we're gonna be fighting em nomatter what, Six you and Fortune should stay low in the back of the van and be ready to come out swinging. Rashomon, Angel, and I can do the 'negotiating'. But we shouldn't show our muscle too early."

"Sound good?"

"If they think we've got the weapons, they may be reluctant to come to fight rather than negotiate. That should work in our favor. I'll stay back and see what spells I can cast to help as things develop."

"Yes, best not to have the goods with us at all. We might as well send them on to Meros as ordered. We can keep the crates, and fill them with scrap iron or what have you. There is no point is risking them falling back into the gang's hands if they manage to outmaneuver us or just get lucky."

"Before the meeting, we should arrange some time to gauge our relative shooting ability. We've been granted the use of one machine-gun, and it would probably make sense tactically to know our various capabilities at various ranges."

I can see from stats that Angel is probably a better shot than Rashomon, but he doesn't know that. Fortune is no slouch either at a d10.

Actually, the way probability works with exploding dice, I'm not even sure I do know that. d12+2 and d8+4 both average to 8.5, but d8+4 will Ace more often (12.5% of the time vs. 8.6%), but won't give as much of a bonus as when a d12 Aces. The math is a bit beyond me.

Found a Cool Website that allows you to enter all sorts of variations.

According to that website, Angel will average out to 9.27, Rashomon to 9.7, and Fortune to 6.11. From those stats, I'd say Angel and Rashomon will be in the same ballpark in practice.

Rashomon completes fabricating a tripod mount for the machine gun, and makes sure it is secured into the van. He makes sure it has a quick detach ability, in case someone strong enough to do so needs to pull it off and use it in the handheld configuration.

Repair: 1d6 ⇒ 41d6 ⇒ 5
Genius free reroll on INT skills: 1d6 + 1d6 ⇒ (6) + (3) = 91d6 + 1d6 ⇒ (6) + (2) = 8

Six nods at Hellion. ”Just say the word and we’ll be on them.” He pats his armor and weapons. He then looks at Rashomon. ”We may have to bring at least one weapon to show we have the merchandise. They will want to see the stuff before even bothering to talk. If we got nothing, I don’t think they will hesitate to gun us down for simply moving in on their turf.”

"Valid point. We could let them see the machine gun mounted in the van? Its source should be obvious, as well as providing a degree of discouragement as far as an ambush is concerned. But, it would expose the position to a hard-target attack. I have no idea if they have access to rocket launchers, but if they have body armour and machine guns, I wouldn't want to rule it out. To bad we don't have access to a force field user, or an illusionist. I mean, I could probably rig up something that could do that, and Fortune might have a card for that, but neither option seems to last all that long. A force field generator would probably only give us 30 seconds or so of protection, and we'd have no reliable way of knowing when the attack was coming."

For a TN of 4, ANGEL would get a Success 33% of the time, and one or more Raises 59% of the time. Rashomon (I'm assuming you're the d8+4, didn't look to see where the +4 is coming from) would get a Success 37% of the time, and one or more Raises 63% of the time, so about even.

The mount is put into the van, with the machine gun on it to begin with.

The crates are filled with scrap iron.

There were a *lot* of crates, more than can fit into the van. How do you get them to the meet site?

"I don't imagine we'd need all the crates. A few to show we have the goods should do."

How is the machinegun mounted? At this point, I'm pretty much just picturing a tripod in the back; open the back doors and rock and roll. Eventually, I'll like to rig it up to fold under the roof for concealment, but be able to raise it into position to fire from the partial cover of a turret/sun roof. I suppose Rashomon probably has all the skills he'd need to rig it up to fire by remote from inside the van for that matter, but he'd probably need time, parts and money to make that happen.

Yes, Rashomon is the d8+4. The +4 is from the Skill Bonus power. Not sure about your math. A d8+4 has a minimum roll of 5, so I think the only time he would miss a TN 4 would be on a critical failure. A 1 on both his d8 and d6 only happens 1/48 rolls., or around 2% of the time. Angel with a +2 would also only fail on a snake eyes, which would be even less likely for her at 1/72, or 1.3% of the time. Basically, in range, non-moving target without cover, missing is going to be very unusual for either of us.

First off, in my simulation I forgot to include the Wild die. And by limiting my search for "Success only" (4-7), the result was very small because of the +4. But with the Wild die and checking for "Success or better", it's 100% for you with an 81% chance of a Raise and 98.6% for Angel, with a 65% chance of a Raise.

So a crate or two is loaded into the van, and you head off to the meet point.

Arriving there, you see that the gang is already there. There's one guy who's obviously in charge, and 3 other members. They're all armored, and holding various weapons, but they're pointed downwards (for the moment). They're standing in front of a van whose back doors are closed.

Hellion recognizes the man in charge of the group, he was a low-level lieutenant when she was in the gang. He goes by "Hercules".

How do you approach and make contact?

On the trip over, Fortune looks through her Tarot deck and suggests things she could do with her spells to see what kind of tactic others would support.

She could cast a spell that could blind everyone in an area LBT. This would only be temporary and some might resist, but it would give a -2 to -4 penalty for those who do not save for at least a turn or two.

She could also cast a spell that would bind those in an area making it hard for them to move about. Opposed by athletics checks.

She could use a spell to instill fear in them. Spirit rolls to resist. Interesting possibilities if successful.

Illusions offer interesting possibilities. It could create a distraction or she could hide in the van and cast illusion on the contents of the crates to make them look like weapons.

She could cast a spell to make them all potentially contract a disease, which could handicap them in various ways. Infection power: Resisted by vigor, If the GM rules that the infection is real then the effects can last up to 24 hours, with debilitating possibilities such as a major hindrance. At a minimum it can cause one or more levels of fatigue. Similar effects can be achieved using the Poison power.

Fortune could go invisible for a few turns and get behind them and cause problems.

She could do an area effect that could cause devices in the area to malfunction. That could mess up their weapons and communication devices, depending on how the GM decides what in the area is affected.

She could try to mind control the leader and have him order his gang to lay down their weapons.

She could cause the area where the gang is standing to be covered with sensory deprivation, making them blind and deaf in the area. This has the advantage of the enemy not getting any saving rolls.

She could also cast a spell that would have a chance of stunning everyone in an area effect. And we recently discussed how effective that can be.

Let me know if any of these sound like useful initial actions to put them at a disadvantage. If no one makes a suggestion, I'll decide and attempt one of these on the opening round or after any parlay has been accomplished. I'll likely use Stun or Sensory Deprivation first.

Leering out the window as they pull up, Hellion looks to the others after they park a decent distance away. "Great Herc.. well let's hope things don't go too sideways. Kind of sucks we're just supposed to incapacitate nowdays." She grabs a pack of smokes from the center console and stuffs em into her jacket. "Keep your eyes sharp, You'll know when to act, get em nice and close."

With that she kills the engine and opens the door, stepping out and eyeing Herc. "Well, gentlemen. A fine evening to meet with you. Hear one of yours got a little handsy with my informant. But I'm willing to let bygones be bygones, and since your here I suspect you're still open to proposals?"

She watches the reactions of those present only taking about half the distance between them up, they'd know some of her powers, but she couldn't deny that it'd be likely that like her, they may have changed since she was in the gang last. If they seem amicable to continuing the deal, she will slowly reach into her coat and pull out the pack of smokes, fetching one out.

"Still like the lights Herc?"

ngl the idea of giving one or a few of them a minor plague mid deal sounds kind of great, but also I think that'd be a warcrime? Does Fortune need Line of Sight to do the debilitating stuff?

Neither the Infection nor the Poison power is deadly unless the lethal or deadly modification is added. Both can lead to incapacitation if enough vigor rolls are failed, although that would take a few rounds, depending on whether the gangers are extras or wild cards.

Just a reminder, Meros said "But I will not tolerate any wanton (deliberate, unprovoked, and without just cause) killing, try to take as many gang members alive so they can be handled by the police. Of course, if they refuse to surrender to the last man..."
So I would say : don't attack first, if they attack demand that they surrender, and if they don't...

Hercules says "Nah, I gave 'em up - bad for my health" with a leering grin. "I have a proposal - you give us what belongs to us, and we let you live. We've upgraded a lot since you left us, Hellion". The others raise their guns in your direction menacingly, but don't appear to be about to shoot. Yet.

Fortune peers at the gang from her hiding place in the vehicle.

How are the gang members arranged with respect to the leader? In other words, what size blast template would be needed to get them all?

During the drive over, Six listens to all that Fortune tells them with a piqued interest. This teenage girl could alter reality in ways he never thought possible and all by looking at a peculiar deck of cards. When she finished, he says, ”I think something enough to stun or even prevent most of the thugs from attacking so we can focus on their leader would be nice. He will have the most information, so we should nab him first.”

When they arrive, Six readies himself to leap out of the van if necessary, watching Hellion talk to the leader. As he does so, he sizes him up, seeing what kind of threat he might be.

Notice: 1d8 ⇒ 51d6 ⇒ 4
5

Fortune - it would take a MBT to get them all, and that would probably include the leader as well.

VeeSix - the leader has pretty heavy armor, a pistol in his right hand, and another in a hoslter on his left side. You can't tell whether they're bullets or blasters.

Hellion shrugs "Suit yourself." Removing a smoke and lighting one for herself to take a drag while Hercules has his moment of power and offers his proposal.

She offers a smile, "Good to see you managed to find your cajones while I was off getting capped by the Vee's." Pointing vaguely at the group with two fingers she adds, "You ever tell the gang that it was your bungling that caused that to happen? Talk about failing upwards since you got promoted. You plan on letting these fine gentlemen down the same way you let me down there Herc?"

Taking another long drag to let that sink in she flicked the ashes from the end of the cig. "The way I see it, I came here to offer you a deal, some of your goods for some of my goods. Cause last I checked, my goods ain't got your names on em and you know how the old saying goes, 'Finders keepers.'"

Persuasion: 1d4 ⇒ 3
Wild: 1d6 ⇒ 5

"So what do you say Herc, we got ourselves something we wanna talk about or are you all just gonna keep waving your fancy flashlights at me? Till I get upset and have to shove em where the lights never been?"

Yeah I didn't figure they'd be deadly, but biological stuff could still be well ya know. Personally gonna try to incap these goons myself or that was always the plan at least.

Ignoring Hellion's taunts, Herc says "What 'goods' exactly would those be we got you think belong to you? 'Cause I *know* that what you got belong to me!"

Holding off on the Persuasion roll...

"Oh you know, arms from our recently evicted 'guests'. You wanna see you better tell your boys and girls to put their toys back down though."

She tuts and takes another drag. "I expected even the gang to remain civil with these kinds of deals."

Ok, I'm confused. When you said "some of your goods for some of my goods", I thought "your goods" were the weapons you had stolen, and that "my goods" implied that the gang had something of yours. Just what are you asking of them in exchange for the weapons you stole?

Ok, I'm confused. When you said "some of your goods for some of my goods", I thought "your goods" were the weapons you had stolen, and that "my goods" implied that the gang had something of yours. Just what are you asking of them in exchange for the weapons you stole?

Some of 'your goods' Money or drugs, in exchange for 'my goods' the weapons. Since they aren't currently in their possession they aren't their goods by her reckoning.

Fortune draws the eight of swords from her Tarot deck and holds it ready to use. She uses this card to cast a spell to stun enemies.

The SPC3 rules on Stun have two modifications that mention expanding the effect to all in a blast template.

AREA EFFECT (+2/+4): For +2 points, the power may affect an area the size of a Medium Blast Template. For +4 points the hero may use either a Cone, Medium, or a Large Blast Template. Targets in the blast area resist individually.

Medium blast template appears to be in both the +2 and +4 modification costs. I would presume the +4 just allows cone or LBT, since the +2 already gives the MBT.

Hellion - ok, thanks for the clarification.

Fortune - yeah, the MBT for +4 SPP makes no sense at all, probably a typo.

"So, just out of curiosity, how much do you think our stuff is worth? Not that I'm going to pay it..."

Hellion - ok, thanks for the clarification.

Fortune - yeah, the MBT for +4 SPP makes no sense at all, probably a typo.

"So, just out of curiosity, how much do you think our stuff is worth? Not that I'm going to pay it..."

no problem, I can understand the confusion especially over pbp.

"Well lets see." She points with her smoke. "You thought it was worth bringing four kitted out men including yourself that is. So that tells me it's worth twenty-grand at the very least. So cut me thirty. Then I give you the goods. I pack up shop, get off this gods forsaken island for good, and we never have to speak again."

Hellion narrows her eyes, "Or, we settle this like they did before the Fish cracked down. Seems I remember a lot of blood and wasted potential back then though, and alot more on my blade than your hands too."

Punctuating the end of the offer with one last exaggerated drag she finishes off walking offshoot of her own van. "Choice is yours Hercules. Deal in money or deal in blood?"

Out of the 5 PC's, anyone who's in a position to be looking at the bad guys (probably not whoever's driving; like VeeSix and Fortune in the back of the van, looking out; did Hellion just turn her back on the guys (what does "walking offshoot" mean)?, etc. make a Notice-4 roll please...

Six could sense there was trouble brewing, but so far, there was more posturing than anything. He was tired of it, though, and wanted to end this charade once and for all. He then realized he hadn’t been watching the area, like he was supposed to, especially with Fortune deep in her cards. He glanced around quickly, but he was sure he already missed something.

Notice, GM Penalty: 1d8 - 4 ⇒ (1) - 4 = -31d6 - 4 ⇒ (3) - 4 = -1

Notice: 1d4 - 4 ⇒ (2) - 4 = -21d6 - 4 ⇒ (2) - 4 = -2
Genius reroll: 1d4 - 4 + 1d4 ⇒ (4) - 4 + (3) = 31d6 - 4 ⇒ (1) - 4 = -3

Fortune is definitely watching so she can cast a spell if the situation calls for it. She'll be peering around a seat headrest, but watching.

Notice: 1d4 ⇒ 4
Wild: 1d6 ⇒ 3
Modifier: -2
Result = 4 - 2 = 2
No exploding d6s this time.

Out of the 5 PC's, anyone who's in a position to be looking at the bad guys (probably not whoever's driving; like VeeSix and Fortune in the back of the van, looking out; did Hellion just turn her back on the guys (what does "walking offshoot" mean)?, etc. make a Notice-4 roll please...

Offshoot, means too the side, she's walking so that their guns aren't pointed directly at the van but keeping them in her line of sight. tbf I meant offside, but my phone got ahold of the word I guess XD

I guess that Angel is driving, so no check for her.

I should probably make the roll to huh, should I have the -4 or is that only for folks who don't have a good view?
Notice: 1d6 - 4 ⇒ (3) - 4 = -1
Wild: 2d6 - 4 ⇒ (6, 3) - 4 = 5

Doesn't matter, with the Ace...

Initiative
Hellion : AC
Gang : 6C

You can act before they all do.