Schemes and Scoundrels (Inactive)

Game Master Idiot Cube

----FORMULATING EVIL PLANS----PLEASE STAND BY----

Leading the way for my thralls to follow (see them gather below)...

DOT

How disappointing that only the fantasist has so far appeared... Where are the immortal and the career criminals? I expected those acolytes of greed to have been here by now...

And of course, there is that other one...

Alright, someone say they needed a minion with balls?

Lazarus steps in wearing his immaculate business suit and says nothing like trying to make my second billion

Throws a magic 8 Ball at Minmillion, killing him. "It says 'Try again later'." :P

oh put your little hand in mine babe I've got you babe...hand slaps head...

-----------------------

Bankshot enters the new lair, whistling as an expression of being impressed. "Nice digs. We robbing the guy who owns that mansion upstairs? Or is that just me, later tonight?" He smirks.

no need to rob the guy upstairs when he is helping finance our adventures in order that he himself might become so wealthy that he cant keep track of the numbers Lazarus says with a winning smile

It's another beautiful day in New Jackstown, USA. Most people would spend a day like this outside, relaxing and enjoying the sunshine. You are not most people.

You have all agreed to meet at the estate of one Lazarus Minmillion, who seems surprisingly young for someone who has amassed this much wealth. One by one, you enter your new underground lair and marvel at its decadence.

Princess Carvalle is one of the last to arrive, because royalty does not have to be punctual for anyone. As she steps into the room, a bolt of electricity suddenly streaks toward her face!

Fort: 1d20 + 9 ⇒ (19) + 9 = 28

Her vision blurs for half a second, and she feels a slight twinge of pain. She gets the impression that this was meant to blind her, at least momentarily.

A tinny speaker above the doorway shouts "Ha ha, should have worn your goggles!" in an obnoxious clown voice.

It seems odd that a random power surge would happen at that moment to short out the speaker mid-sentence. So fortunate that the annoying sound stopped. She pulls out a lace kerchief and daintily dabs at the soot around her eyes as she steps through the room. Closed eyes do not seem to hamper her in the slightest, disproving any point that the annoying voice might have had.

As she pulls away the kerchief, a wave slides over the room, transforming it into a wonderful gilded sitting room that would make Louis XIV nauseous with envy. Soft chamber music plays in the background and the scent of jasmine permeates the air. "You have such a beautiful home, dear Lazarus." she coos with delight.

Will save DC 18 if you want to perceive the man-cave as a man-cave.

Māmōn takes in the opulent surroundings wearing a needle toothed grin.

As he speaks his soft, velvet voice seems at odds with the hellish form of its owner;

"Bravo Lazarus! Such a monument to wealth and avarice. Truly you are a man after mine own devilish heart..."

The huge demon's glowing eyes narrow and his smile widens;

... just as I covet your immortal soul...

thank you both, I appreciate the finer things. I look forward to appreciating it even more. Lazarus smiles back his thoughts his own.

"Jeez, looks like I walked into a Disney movie! Gotta Beauty, a Beast, a Castle, and some dude telling us to be his guest. Tell me I ain't the comic relief." he reaches up and feels all over his head "Oh, god. tell me I ain't been chipped."

"No, your head is whole, with no cracks." she says helpfully. Looking at his balls, she asks, "Do you juggle? I'll bet that you're very good at it."

The demon continues to grin like a Cheshire as he answers Bankshot;

"Juggling? Japes! Are you sure you are not Lazarus' jester-in-court?"

I don't think anyone does get a save against your illusion, since it doesn't seem like you added the "Resistible by Will" flaw. So it's more of a binary thing in this case. Anyone aware of your powers sees through the illusion, anyone unaware of your abilities does not (since in this case we saw the illusion being "cast"). I'm going to assume for right now nobody knows for sure (though Crackerjack at least suspects) since he would have had no reason to look too closely whenever we last worked together.

Crackerjack gives Caravelle an angry glare for daring to be unharmed.

"Would you STOP with that, the room was perfectly fine the way it was! I can't even find my papers!"

Actually, Crackerjack would know for sure, since he was in the room before Caravelle arrived. Same for Minmillion since, well, he lives here.

Everyone else gets a DC 18 Insight check to disbelieve if they interact with the illusion (i.e. study it carefully). I'd say that since the illusion doesn't affect touch, you automatically disbelieve if you try to touch something that's part of the illusion.

Also, if Crackerjack points out the illusion, everyone gets to make an Insight check with a +5 circumstance bonus.

come come now except for the stage there hasnt been a true jester in a hundred and fifty years or so give or take Lazarus scratches his chin thinking about it for a bit as if the thought truly mattered to him, getting somewhat lost in yhe thought.

"Oh, your parchments are there, silly man!" she says.

With the revised power, Will save DC 20 to ignore the illusions. Also if you fail a separate will save DC 20, then the parchments are your papers, simply written by hand in excellent penmanship. Otherwise they're gobbledygook that simply looks similar.

Will: 1d20 + 15 ⇒ (2) + 15 = 17

"What? They are?" Crackerjack asks, then looks on the table. He seems momentarily pleased on seeing the papers, then picks them up and his face turns to a scowl.

"What is this!?! I can't read this SCRAWL!"

And no, he's not talking about the papers being gobbledygook.

Will DC18: 1d20 + 10 ⇒ (18) + 10 = 28

Māmōn's baleful gaze see's through any veil of illusion, and he casts a jaundiced eye toward the ranting Crackerjack;

Now we have a raving lunatic to add to the delusional faerle princess, a comedic criminal and the narcissistic immortal. Quite the collection of discrepants! What price for them all I wonder...

The towering demon flexes his clawed hands, addresses their host in his soft, beguiling voice;

"Lazarus. You bade us all journey here. A man of your aeonian vision clearly has motives... Please share..."

I am glad you ask oh "fire and brimstone." I wish to rob the Jackstown diamond show that is upcoming early this next month. The private security and personal firearms will be high, but not the same as the federal reserve and the best part is that the stones are untracable once they are removed from their original packages. Its being held at the Marriot Hotel downtown in their state of the art conference rooms which are protected by an excellent camera system held in a state of the art control center. Lazarus uses his long experience in leadership bring the natural pause after the statement looking at the assembled team.

She was going to go find a tutor for the poor illiterate gentleman, when a word reached into her consciousness. "Oooh, Diamonds!" she squeals in excitement, clapping her hands. "Yes please!"

"Diamonds, eh? And a big enough haul for a decent cut for each of us? How many guards? Do you know where the control room is?" Bankshot seems very interested almost immediately.

Will 1d20 + 10 ⇒ (19) + 10 = 29 Bankshot would rather be looking at the Princess than whatever fantasies she floats anyway, at least until he is distracted by the opportunity for another kind of score.

the control center, hotel security, and personal security are unknown to me as of yet, however, my plan revolves around first stealing a bunch of low grade diamonds from a edge of town jewelry store aand then obtain a city liscense to sell and make our way into the establishment using disguise and guile, rob them blind, and then use a service exit with a different disguise and out we go.

The demon smiles as the others commit with relish;

Crumbs on the water catch the greedy fish.

"While I commend your scale of avarice Lazarus, I too would pose some questions... though perhaps less focussed on the job than our juggler here..."

Māmōn nonchalantly stalks past each of the group, then eyes their immortal host;

"Our assembled might seems a tad loaded for a stealthy bank job. I have seen Ocean's Eleven... there was no 8ft Demon Prince in it dear boy... So I wonder if there is more to this puzzle than you are revealing?"

"I see, I see, and you have of course drafted my BRILLIANT INTELLECT to create a far better plan?"

"Disguise? So it's like when I sneak out of the castle to see how the peasant folk live!" she says excitedly. "Oh, I want to pretend to be one of these peasant diamond sellers! I'll have to come up with a song and dance that we can do in order to fit in better. The kind of musical number that real diamond sellers do."

Nevi, who was totally here the whole time and probably just cloaked, finally speaks up as she drops her invisibility.

"No dancing." After a moment of thinking, she adds, "Please."

Smiles like a cat and says I told you I do not know the personal body guards and one of those diamond sellers I hear has a penchant for high priced thugs so you are here to handle the rif raf and physical issues. In addition, while my plan may lack genius it is a plan. Of course I will hear all ideas and research will be needed to successfully complete this robbery

"If we make too much noise, we'll probably attract the type of attention none of us wants. So I think you might better have the genius look into planning this. We got muscle, we got stealth, and we got..." he looks at the Princess "...distraction."

Māmōn scowls at the immortal, eyes flaring a fiery red;

"So Lazarus... You enlist a Prince of Hell into your endeavour to "handle the riff-raff"..?!"

The towering demon flexes its claws as it mulls the scenario;

"As our friend here just alluded to - we have all the pieces of the puzzle. Our Princess can indeed distract, while I have a perchance for convincing folk of the correct path to follow... be that persuasion be gentle... or not."

He smiles again, noting the appearance of Nevidomyy.

"Perhaps we should make some introductions since we are to embark on a joint venture. I'm somewhat old fashioned and like to know who I'm breaking bread, and legs with..."

The demon bows his horned head slightly, then in his beguiling voice introduces himself formally;

"I am Māmōn. Fallen from Heaven. A Demon Prince of Greed. My infernal form is both powerful and persuasive. I value both the subtle threat and the violent action, and excel at either... For I am Māmōn."

Nevi clasps her hand over a patch on her jacket in a form of salute.

"Nevidomyy. You can call me Nevi. 'Смерть всім, хто стоїть на перешкоді здобуття вільності трудовому люду.' Let me take part in cutting the rulers down."

It seems like it was rehearsed.

"I am Crackerjack! The world's foremost expert in criminal science!"

"As you are clearly an amateur, Lazarus, let me explain something important: The key in any heist is STYLE. You don't want to just swoop in and take what you want, you want everyone to know YOU did it! Theft is about the challenge, the glory, not the money! If we cared about that we could make a killing on Wall Street, but I don't think any of us are quite willing to sell our souls down that far, are we?"

He taps his chin for a second.

"Except maybe you, Mamon."

"No, I need to concoct a plan that will have us descending on the jewelers with pomp and circumstance, and leave the authorities cofounded by our escape! We need to time things perfectly. We can't be too quick, or the police and 'heroes' won't have time to arrive on the scene but if we're too slow, and they'll catch us. It's the trickiest part of any grand plan."

Nevi looks around with concern. "Is being seen that important? I liked the other plan more."

The princess, who didn't seem surprised when Nevi appeared, "Oh, with you sitting there all C flat in the corner, I thought you were a servant." She shrugs, "Funny, it just seems to be stage fright. Don't worry, I can teach you a few steps."

"Well, I need no introduction. I am Princess Caravalle, beloved heir to the throne of Illyria, Cousin of the East and West Winds, Lady of the Honeysuckle, Duchess of Euphrania, and Miss Enchanted Wood 2016."

Lazarus bows and says with a hand upon his heart attend to me oh muse to who first struck cord and viewed ancient stars which charted path for Odysseus Lord of tactics, it is I Laridies and then he stands hand out pointing up palm out extended looking off as if listening for the chorus to speak with him "it is he Laridies."

Those of you who keep up with superhero-related news recall an interesting rumor floating around the web: A popular heroine named Gemstar is said to be arriving in Jackstown to attend the diamond show. Gemstar's obsession with priceless jewelry is common knowledge, as she claims that rare gemstones are the source of her power.

Of course, this rumor originated on a site which publishes articles such as "Was Abraham Lincoln a Metahuman? The Answer May Surprise You!" and "Top 10 Tips for Dating a Superhero", so perhaps it should be taken with a grain of salt.

"Then again..." Crackerjack says as he has a flash of even more brilliant insight than usual.

"New plan! We don't take credit for this one. We learn all we can about Gemstar and make it look like SHE committed the heist! We can even plant a diamond on her if she's actually there."

"We can't pass up the opportunity to ruin the life of a so-called heroine, not when she's dumb enough to get herself put in the paper!"

"Yes, I can see it now. Caravelle poses as Gemstar while we perform our own (far superior) version of Ocean's Six."

"I can probably manufacture a perfect copy of the diamond once I get my hands on it." his eyes light up and he trails off on a completely separate idea again.

"Wait! If we play this right we could even think bigger! What if we destroyed the entire diamond market with flawless replicas of priceless gems? We'd be legends!"

Bankshot begins examining Crackerjack closely, paying particular attention to his neck. He mumbles "Huh, I thought for sure that'd be where the loose screw was going to be." He clears his throat "If we did that last one, the whole thing would be a waste of time; how 'bout we go back to actually doing the heist and maybe putting the blame on this Gemstar? That seems to me the best idea. Hell, it'd be even better if Mamon could get her to actually go bad after we frame her. We could get her to do some crime in order to afford our diamonds."

Nevi smiles. "I can get behind this idea."

Bankshot, I like this idea much if we can add it to our plan, even better.

Māmōn slows his stalking, nodding at the value in the group's fledging planning;

"Apt words Gentlemen. Hellishly better if we can subvert this Gemstar... For to corrupt that which is pure and ruin its luster is a priceless action indeed."

The demon mulls the group's next steps;

"Gaining knowledge of the locations and their mundane defense should be simple enough. Greed opens doors quicker than any key. Buy the information from those weak mortals tasked with is custody... Our heroine of the piece however, is a different matter... What do we know of her?"

"Can you use the Tubes of You to watch her?" she says. "I need to know what she's like so I can make her adoring fans think that I'm her." There's a little sigh at the thought of adoring fans.

Most superheroes avoid the use of social media, for obvious reasons. But there are some who are too vain to ignore the constant praise of their online fans. Gemstar is one of them.

She goes by @Gem_★ on Swatter, where she makes several "sweets" per day, much to the delight of her 2000-some followers. Using that, a certain super-scientist could probably dig up more personal information.

*cough*

Nevi, although seeming at home in the silence, eventually speaks up.

"There's a computer in this house, right?"

"Who can tell, with this asinine illusory overlay over everything? But I do have my phone, of course."

His fingers blaze over the keyboard at a clip barely visible to those without superhuman speed.

Technology or Investigation: 1d20 + 20 ⇒ (12) + 20 = 32

"I modified it to keep up with me, you know. I can do the same for you if any of you aren't as slow as you look."

He still seems somewhat bitter over your lack of ambition.