@ST I'm stumped. Your hints would probably be enough for a tabletop of gamers to dream up a cool way forward. But, I'm stumped and don't know which way to go. Sorry. Wish I wasn't.
Since we were able to teleport into the Nexus from the four color world, Gracie's idea is that we should be able to route things the other way. Could we manipulate pathways to and in and around the Nexus to trick Una into sending herself to her own 4 color dimension and trapping her there? Where she could act out her fantasies of global conquest forever?
If we can't get the other heroes out, that might be a problem, but eh, who needs em? ;)
I get that, Max. I think maybe you are looking for the right answer?
If so, don't worry about that. The only completely wrong answer at the moment is directly combatting the three-in-one entity. It is too powerful for you to affect directly with powers. Other than that you have plenty of resources, contacts, and options.
Here are some facts:
1. All of the heroes are gone. But not everyone is gone.
2. The Nexus is a crazy big complicated thing/place that probably could be useful in some way.
3. Una used the power of Malador's mask to give herself all of this power, but she probably didn't expect to also be fused with Malador's spirit/consciousness, and certainly Dracula was just there. She probably isn't entirely pleased with the result, and there are certainly signs that the threesome isn't entirely happy together.
4. There are other clues you guys haven't found yet. You have only been in the situation for a few minutes.
Let's get everyone's heads together and I'm sure some good ideas will happen.
Thanks. The scene is quite overwhelming.
Did Max get the amulet from Serena, or is she going to zap him good?
I've a biz trip from early Wednesday to late Friday. Posting will be difficult.
Max is out of hero points. Is there a way for him to help Serena use her own will to break free? Use his Nullify Magic? Or just Extra Effort somehow?
Thanks
Don't wanna suggest this IC yet since it's based on OOC knowledge that Max may or may not share, but could we potentially rig the Nexus to work in reverse and basically vacuum all the power out of Una?
And then Gylfir can siphon it into himself
Max is out of hero points. Is there a way for him to help Serena use her own will to break free? Use his Nullify Magic? Or just Extra Effort somehow?
Thanks
@ST. Did you miss these questions? Thanks
Something made me think those questions didn't matter anymore. Not sure what my brain did there.
For Hero Points, remember that you can invoke your own complications. Already using the Serena one, but I can see possibilities in some of the others. The enemy of my enemy and all of that.
The way this plays in my head is that Max is failing to remember a lesson that Adrian once taught him. Floating on a hunk of rock in some strange non-Euclidean cosmic wonderscape, Adrian is lecturing.
"Always remember Max, that the challenge of being a Magician is not blasting frost giants with fire or shielding innocents with force generative by your knowledge and will. Those things are all well and good, but we must be prepared to face foes who we cannot possibly defeat head on. Cunning, trickery, manipulation, and the proper application of foes and allies in the right places."
You could build a spell that would let her make a new will save, but she would fail it because the Titan is so strong.
What you have to do is look for ways around the Power Level X effects. Serena can't resist the power of the amulet dominating her because that is a direct action of the Titan. But, as you already figured out, you can get the amulet off of her because it is just an object. You can't Nullify the control, but you might Nullify her defensive magic. Gracie also has a Nullify that you could use to gang up on her. Or if you could Nullify some of her defenses and Eoten or Gylfir could grapple her. (Not sure what has happened to BD, but I can bot Eoten if necessary).
This is also a terrible place to be fighting her, so trying to get her somewhere other than the Netherworld that she is able to draw so much power from.
If you went so far as to abandon her for now, realizing the world is more important than your love, I'd give you a Hero Point for your Responsibility Complication.
Sorry ST - still here. Boards ate a bunch of my posts lately so games I thought were updated were not.
Will catch up and see what Eoten can add to the situation.
Work is heavy, may be slow for the next couple days.
Gracie is going to try to get to Max and explain her idea about seeing if we can use portaling in the Nexus against Una, perhaps to trap her in her own 4 color dimension she trapped the heroes in (if we can free the other heroes).
Slammed at work folks - will likely be well into the weekend before I'm afforded some free time.
Please bot Eoten as necessary.
Please remind me, who are the other two beings merged with Una?
I'm pretty sure they're some randos we never met? Like I'm sure they're very cool and tied into the lore of the setting this adventure path takes place in but I don't remember interacting with them.
Dracula and a big magical villain M something. The vampires had his mask or other device
Storm Dragon, wasn't Dracula Cesarina's nemesis?
Well, as Cesarina isn't here... GM ST, could I spend a hero point to summon Gwyn ap Nudd who has the spear that Dracula wanted? I mean, I'm sure he'd LOOOVE his nemesis begging him for help...
I didn't realize Dracula was one of the three, I thought it was some random necromancer?
Sorry for the slow response.
The Threefold Titan is composed of Una, Dracula, and an ancient Atlantean sorcerer who was a frequent enemy of Adrian Eldrich. He is some sort of undead creature, most like a lich, I suppose. He hasn't been around for years, since before Una killed Adrian.
The vampires that you fought under the castle had Malador's mask, the power of which they were using to try to revive Dracula, whose ashes they had managed to extract from the Vatican vaults through unknown means.
Gracie broke the mask, there was a flash of light, and the next thing you remember is waking up fighting a version of Sandstone in the bank.
Storm Dragon, wasn't Dracula Cesarina's nemesis?
Well, as Cesarina isn't here... GM ST, could I spend a hero point to summon Gwyn ap Nudd who has the spear that Dracula wanted? I mean, I'm sure he'd LOOOVE his nemesis begging him for help...
You don't have to spend a hero point for that. Gwyn is a complication for you, having him show up would actually give you a Hero Point.
Another thing that is true that you probably don't remember because it was so long ago. Typically, you can contact former Master Mages as sort of force ghosts, but not since Adrian Eldrich was killed. The magical fabric of this dimension has changed since the breaking of Malador's Mask, so that might not be true anymore. And you have among the group links to at least a few Master Mages.
I'll be offline starting tomorrow and for most of the weekend until Monday. Please bot me as needed.
If her plan to get Gwyn close enough to the Titan to attract Dracula doesn't work (which mind, if Gwyn wasn't trying to make stupid bargains she wouldn't have resorted to), she will abandon her plan to deal with Dracula for the moment and instead try to distract Malador by reminding him she's the one who destroyed his Mask, so he should want vengeance.
If that isn't an option she will spend as many hero points and extra effort (noting she can use two uses of extra effort per round) to Disarm Gwyn of Slake.
She is not taking the horn under any circumstances. I don't like having my character manipulated into being out of character and neither does Grace. Were it not the end of the world giving her slightly higher priorities, she would attempt to sunder the horn.
This is the first time I've been able to access the site since my last post, I keep getting 504 errors. I'll try to catch up when I can.
As we head into the Endgame for this campaign, if there is anything you want, let me know. I have some big ideas, and hopefully they won't be disappointing to you. I'm going to do my best to make them offers and not mess with your agency as you control your characters.
This is just to say expect some power ups coming in. And if there is anything you need to feel complete, let me know here or in Private Messages.
You're doing great!
thanks
I have received some bad news and need some time off. I know we're moving toward the endgame but I'm not in a good state of mind right now. Please bot me as needed.
Hope all is ok DQ. From my side I've not much to input on Eoten... truth be told I've found it difficult to see the wood for the trees with the character (who on paper should be one of my ideal PC concepts) and don't think I ever really caught up after my extended sojourn.
Happy to see the endgame play out as befits those who've pushed the story on far more than I.
I am going away for a couple days. I will post after that. Please continue to converse and plan without me, Grace at this point just needs to be told what to do and she'll do it.
I'm going to try to summarize the pieces that you have:
1. Calesvol can cut through just about anything, including cutting 3 souls apart.
2. Eoten can access an even bigger even scarier version of himself via the Devourer.
3. Gylfir can work with the three big souls in the Titan or with smaller souls it has absorbed.
4. The Nexus can access many dimensions. You can probably do some voodoo with that to Una's portals that are drawing energy from her Netherworlds here. Also could use it to move her to the hero's fantasy dimension.
5. You've got some other characters who can act as distractions.
How do you want to put those pieces together?
@ST. Max’s last post is the plan. There is a question to Viviane about imprisoning Una in that post. And an offer for suggestions from NPCs.
If Max can get some other replies, we can be off to the races.
Cheers
Why is Vivian not at Shambala? Max brought her from the Netherworld and would have opened the portal from Shambala to bring her first?
thanks
Are the souls absorbed directly into the Titan? I thought they were keeping them trapped on other planes in these "Soul Furnaces" and just getting the power flooded to them. I had thought it might be interesting to go smash the Soul Furnaces but I'm not sure if that's a supplement to our current plan or a deviation from it.
There is no one named Vivian in these past several scenes, Max. Do you mean Serena?
Vivien is the Lady in the Lake and saved Grace in her origin story. She has never appeared in the events of the game.
Not quite ready to post in game but am back from my trip and will as soon as I can.
Yes of course: Serena Vervain - Completely in love with Serena Vervain, Lady Seven
Are the souls absorbed directly into the Titan? I thought they were keeping them trapped on other planes in these "Soul Furnaces" and just getting the power flooded to them. I had thought it might be interesting to go smash the Soul Furnaces but I'm not sure if that's a supplement to our current plan or a deviation from it.
They are drawing power from the other dimensions, but also from this one. I figured some of those souls would be your followers, so you could talk to them or go in there and get them or something.
There is no one named Vivian in these past several scenes, Max. Do you mean Serena?
Vivien is the Lady in the Lake and saved Grace in her origin story. She has never appeared in the events of the game.
Not quite ready to post in game but am back from my trip and will as soon as I can.
Take your time.
Let me know if I need to roll anything; it seems like we're pretty deep into "justify it in the narrative and we'll hash out the mechanics as need be" territory, which I'm not used to from M&M. =)
I've played everything by the rules so far, though not everyone is aware of which rules everyone else is using.
There doesn't seem to be a way to actually create other dimensions, only to travel to them and interact with them. So I'll have to do some fudging and cludging.
To be clear, Gracie's response is yes, but I'm just clarifying both headcanon and adding a bit of drama.
I will say for Gracie's benefit, Gylfir does actually have another, conflicting Complication that can be leveraged by anyone willing to twist the knife. He's being awfully hypocritical here given the terrible things he also has done.
"Guilty Conscience: Deadman is filled with regret over the actions of his previous life and following undead existence, and is easily shamed by them."
PM sent to GM to check if an action I'd like to take will work.
Go ahead Gracie. That would happen. Then Una and Malador (Dracula still paste).
Sorry am slammed at work again - feel free to bot Eoten as necessary.
Max watches Gracie follow Una into Gylfir's prison. Unbelievable. That was the plan that she agreed. Her moral compass is so weird.
Just for the record, Gracie agreed to using her blade to sever the three, and then expressed clear intent to convince Una to leave of her own accord. She knew it was unlikely and the jailing would be necessary, but she wanted to try convincing her. I've no issue with Max disliking what she did, but he shouldn't be shocked Grace did exactly what she said she'd do.
Since the GM kept pressing how tormented Una felt, I figured he was dropping a strong hint this was a key to victory, and I was following that thread.
She was hoping you'd let her try convincing Una first before trying to jail her, leaving that as a final resort--we moved unusually quickly into the final battle so I didn't take the time to say that better. She wasn't trying to get in the way of the plan and I'm sorry if it looks like that--I admit I was having trouble following the flow of events and disrupted them more than I first realized. I am sorry about that.
I will happily take a back seat until the story is finished.
Gracie. Don't misunderstand the player. I'm happy for you to play Gracie however you want. It's amazing drama! And a great finale!
However, Max is perplexed. The goal was for Una to get in the jail whether Gracie talked her into retirement or Gylfir pushed her in. So, he has no idea why Gracie would jump into the prison with them.
We settled on prison for life, because death doesn't stop magic villains. Case in point, both Dracula and Malador were both already dead.
cheers
I will happily take a back seat until the story is finished.
I'd prefer not; I was really looking forward to some grand heroic speeches and moral knife-twisting. One of the best parts of playing the a%@~%@# party member is when you get your comeuppance.
Gracie. Don't misunderstand the player. I'm happy for you to play Gracie however you want.
Just wanted to be sure you had not missed a post I had made.
Carrying on.
Honestly, unsure how to handle the ascension, it depends on whether this is actually the end or not. I almost like the idea that this is the last anyone ever sees of Gylfir in the flesh, and it's left kind of a mystery? Just disappears in a flash of light and he's gone.
But I'll mull it over.
We are pretty much at the end. People can write wrap up posts if they like. I have an epilogue or two to roll out.
Could be that you want to let Gylfir disappear and write something from a follower's perspective, something like that.
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First post in Gameplay was May 18, 2020. So we have made it through 3 years together. Thanks for sharing the ride.
Mutants and Masterminds is one of my top three favorite games, and I never get to play it with an in person group. I've had a blast with this campaign. Thank you for sticking with it and with me.
It's a really interesting system, and I'm glad we finally got to finish an adventure in it together. Funnily enough I think all but one game of M&M I've ever played has been with you, but it took me a long time to start to grok character creation enough to get characters I enjoy, as late as a good chunk of the way through THIS game to be honest.
I really liked Justice League generations but had a lot of trouble figuring out a character that didn't feel completely superfluous in that party lol...I think this game really benefited from not having a speedster in terms of inter-party balance.
Look for the "Sisters of Avalon" miniseries coming out in summer 2024! ;)
Thanks Tumbler for a great game and doing the high impossible: A PvP that completes the story (this is the second game of yours I've been in that managed this!!)
Thanks all for the play time and rp opportunities and look forwsrd to seeing you around the boards.