You're about to leave the school when all of a sudden you find yourself on the practice field, standing and facing the bleachers where a full crowd of people are cheering. A cool breeze hits your bare legs and you look down, noticing you're in a cheerleader's outfit and holding a pair of pom-poms.
"Come on! Go! Let's go!" you hear from either side of you, and you realize you're in a line of other cheerleaders, all doing free-form cheering.
The surge of school spirit hits you as well, and you feel excited to take part in the next cheer. You start going through a routine plucked from the minds of the girls next to you, doing it perfectly, feeling proud to be part of the shared collegiate experience--
--and you realize you're standing alone in front of a set of empty bleachers, going through the routine by yourself. Except, there's one person in the stands watching you with a disappointed glare.
Gothic.
"How does it feel? I thought about giving you double your own dose and blocking you from realizing it wasn't normal. But I didn't. I'm nice like that."
The mindscape shifts again, and this time you're standing inside a gymnasium with a spotlight shining down on you. You're still in a cheerleader's outfit. "Care to explain yourself?"
Gothic's mouth twists behind her black lipstick. Her eyes glance over the pages of her book at Psyche. There's a slight roll to them and they return to focusing on her book. ::They're not worried you'll do something to him, they're worried he'll do something to you::
She pauses in her reading and folds her arms, a thumb holding her place in her book as she taps it against her shoulder. She glares at Psyche for a couple heartbeats, then settles back in her seat and focuses again on her book.
Gothic is notoriously hard to read, and today she is no different. Her dark eyes glance briefly at Shin and there's the briefest shake of her head in answer to his question.
There hasn't been long enough of an interaction with Gothic to be able to make a Pierce the mask move.
Psyche
You can almost sense her eyes rolling. "No need. Heralds are on the scene. Rendezvous thinks she can outmatch Trapdoor. We just need someone on hand in case the new Dr. Dread still has the Praetorian powers, and its probably best if we don't have the young Taylor nearby in case Dread gets 'grabby'."
Gothic gives Horizon a dismissive glare. She is eerily quiet, her eye contact enough to clearly indicate that his apology was neither required nor desired.
Psyche's telepathic nudge is swallowed up in Gothic's psychic aura. The silent telepath was an enigma. The fact that she was able to utilize some of her powers in a bubble of reality where telepathy supposedly did not exist opened all sorts of questions. Where most telepaths were playing chess, Gothic was playing Grand Theft Auto.
She stands and allows herself to be escorted deeper into the Alliance HQ. She and Foray take a few steps, turn once, and are somehow as distant as if they'd been teleported somewhere else in the Refractalry.
Psyche feels a connection almost instantly. She gets a vision of a lab through a glass barrier, filled with various pieces of equipment, including the components that were stolen from the facilities the day before. She sees Chiros working on the equipment diligently.
A figure in a tailored suit approaches the glass, frowns, then shifts from the well-dressed man to a goth/emo youth all in black. "'Sup," he says in a slightly drugged-out voice. "Gothic, right? Sorry, but I got you in a reality where telepathy doesn't work. I'm not going to hurt you, but I need your genetic code for a little project I'm working on."
Riding Gothic's senses as you are, you're not sure how she pulls this off, since part of your own powers feel cut off.
The man shakes his head and looks hurt. "Don't look at me like that. This is for, like, a better world." He holds up his hand, with black nail polish and metal jewelry. "I'm not going to change you. Don't worry. But I do need you unconscious for this."
He goes to push a button, but he pauses, then starts punching in a code on a keypad next to the wall. That gets Chiros' attention. "Hey, she's not out yet! What are you doing?!?"
He makes a move but Gothic's vision focuses on him for a moment, and the half bat turns around and goes deeper into the lab. Then her focus returns to the goth at the window. He is looking confused, his hand wavering between the button and the keypad. He starts punching in numbers.
"Ah ah ah," comes another voice from out of frame. The source is a woman in a high-tech suit of armor with a full faceplate who steps into view. "You're cheating," she says, and hits the button.
A whitish gas fills the chamber Gothic is in, and the vision goes dark.
You mean "Uncontrolled"? Unreliable would mean it was on and off half the time, which would drive you crazy, I would think. Uncontrolled would mean it is always on but you can't focus it? So you only get useful stuff when people fail a save and I say so?
That would be perfect. I mean, what GM would turn that down.
Yes, I meant Uncontrolled -- somehow between tabbing back and forth I got my drawbacks confused.
But yes, I think that would be a good compromise -- though perhaps I'll need to get a "mental probe" power at some point (or just when I spend Hero Points) to dig deeper and pull out the information I may seek. Although, Gothic's not that sort of telepath who would enjoy such a thing.
But knowing that she's constantly picking up the surface thoughts of people even though its information-gathering abilities are limited, defaulting to letting you decide when I glean some vital bit of info to keep the story moving, I think that's a good way to handle this.
That also freed up some points, so I'm taking a figment/illusion power to let her manipulate people by making them see what she wants them to. So here's what I got:
Powers:
Telepathy 8
Adds: Communication 8, Mind Reading 8; Linked; Permanent; Subtle 2 (unnoticeable) Full Power (Extended/Perception, 2000 miles), Permanent (lasting)
Communication 8 Sense Type: Mental (Free - Extended, 2000 miles - Sustained)
Mind Reading DC 8 (DC 18) Permanent, Range (ranged), Uncontrolled (Ranged 80 ft - Permanent (Lasting))
Mental Blast 8
DC 23; Split Attack (2 targets) Linked (Telepathy), (standard - Ranged 80 ft. - Instant)
Mind Shield 8
Impervious +8 to Will Saves vs. Mental effects; Linked (Telepathy); Action (reaction)(Reaction - Personal - continuous)
Illusion 8
Affects: All sense Types, DC 18; Linked (Telepathy); Distracting, Phantasms, Range (ranged) (Standard - Ranged, 80 ft - Concentration)
Equipment: cell phone, leather jacket, heavy makeup
Stalwart, would you be willing to tone down the mind reading a little on Gothic? I like the concept of the character, but in a campaign like this, where mysteries and secrets are important, I can see it being a problem for her to have perception distance mind reading of everyone. Maybe dial the mind reading down to touch, and have the always on sense just be empathy? That could maybe still get to the disgust with people.
Hmm. I'm not crazy about that. I've had Gothic for a long time, and that's always been one of her signature powers -- the ability to hear the surface thoughts of everyone around her. Now, there's some inherent drawbacks to it as I see it. The more people around her, the more everything becomes a confusing susurrus of stray thoughts. Further, it's not like she always is hearing something useful. Most of the time it's just random stream-of-consciousness stuff that has no bearing on anything.
So I'm totally willing to scale it back to either a lower DC or include some other inherent drawback. Actually, I wouldn't mind having a few other mental powers to add to her suite, so if there's some way to free up some points by limiting her mind reading while keeping the basic power intact, I'd be all for it.
One of the most extreme solutions would be to make it Unreliable -- which I would assume in this context would be that I gather useful information only when you the GM decide I do. Going this route, I can presume I'm always picking up the ambient thoughts of those around me, but never really gathering useful information unless you tell me someone's actively thinking of something that's useful/plot-related. And while I'll be aware of the other players' posted inner-monologues, Gothic's own self-imposed restrictions on using/sharing that sort of information should keep all that from getting out of hand.
She's a pure telepath. She won't speak out loud, and constantly picks up the surface thoughts of everyone around her. It's made her withdrawn and sullen -- a pure emo goth type. Even though she can use her telepathy to communicate, she rarely does so.
She's as much of a mental powerhouse as I could make her at this level. I like the thought that she's way more powerful than anyone would guess, but she's always very restrained. Complications would include a very strong personal code against divulging information that she picks up from people's stray thoughts. Although she generally feels that people suck, she doesn't share their ugly thoughts with others. However, people with fairly altruistic thoughts fascinate her, since they're so rare.
Gothic:
Gothic
Power Level: 8; Power Points Spent: 120/120
Gothic spends the next two weeks returning to her usual routine. She resumes her shifts at the Covenant and glowers at the customers as normal.
She goes along with her roommates when they meet their dealer to start the process of working their way up. She texts Katie, Levi and Trevor the location of the dealers, but doesn't come along. Katie's promised methods of shaking them down for information doesn't interest Gothic in the slightest.
Idly, she peruses the webpages of big corporate law firms looking for a picture of Enzo's lawyer. Similarly, she goes through the Chicago Bar Association's social media, looking for him within pictures of the various charity galas and events that the profession loves to throw.
Gothic won't do anythng as obvious as busting heads or shaking anyone down. She'll go along with one or more of her roommates when they go to score more heaven, and she'll try to pick some information from the dealer's mind.
The lawyer might be found through some searches of the state or county bar directories, if anyone has some access to facial recognition software.
No, Gothic's not much of a sharer. But I remember Katie asked her to get some pictures, so we can hand wave her asking and Gothic showing everyone the video.
I'm not sure either. Maybe a montage of everyone busting some dealers to gather more information?
I think hitting the streets to find out who is peddling this stuff was the basic plan. Of course, I didn't hear Enzo's offer, so I don't know if there's more clues there.
Or maybe there are clues in the video I took -- we could investigate that lawyer.
Sure, if you can figure out which cops are dirty and which ones aren't, and keep the non-dirty ones from saying anything to the moles in the department.
Gothic folds her arms in front of her as she eyes each of them. The corners of her mouth turn down in thought. The she abruptly sits up, the legs of her chair returning to the floor with a thud. She pulls out her phone and starts checking status updates on her roommates' home pages.
She glowers, shaking her head. ::It'll suck with everyone zoning out going ::OH MY GOD! OH MY GOD! OH MY GOD! OH MY GOD! OH MY GOD! OH MY GOD! OH MY GOD!::
She sends her impression of someone in euphoric bliss and mind stuck on an endless loop.
Gothic raises a quizzical eyebrow when Trevor starts talking about drugs. Her other eyebrow joins its twin in raised surprise when he mentions "heaven." Then she looks irritated when he talks about busting heads.
Her expression goes flat when Katie fills in some blanks.
After a moment where she punctuates the silence with her gum popping, everyone hears, ::I've seen its effects. It's way more powerful than X. And I know where to get some::
Gothic takes one of the chairs and drags it away from the table near one of the room's walls. She sits and leans back on the rear two legs until the chair's back bangs against the wall. She fishes into her jacket pocket and pulls out a stick of gum. With a few chews, she starts noisily popping the gum.
::I couldn't hear inside Enzo's office. Did you find out anything about Ciandra?::
So, where would you want to say our next scene will take place? If left up to Gothic, she wouldn't suggest any place that she usually frequents, although Chicago has some nice cemeteries. Maybe Rosehill or Graceland.
@Gothic I would like to create an environment for these characters to develop relationships. How would you like to play that out?
Well, for starters, I think sharing what we know would be best in character rather than having everyone go back and read a bunch of spoiler posts. That's a great way for building our characters' voices, as well as letting each learn about our respective abilities -- and let us reveal what we want everyone else to know.
The other thing that would be best developed in-character is deciding where do we go from here.
I look forward to seeing how our characters interact when there's a little more trust that's been developed.
Well, my point still stands; I think that's the more fun stuff -- especially since we've just worked together and it might be time to share what we've learned. I'm not crazy about just saying we're a team now and everything's cool.
Edit: Maybe if Jubal's eager to move the story along, we can continue our conversations in spoilers.
I thought we were just going to fast forward to our meetup (since we've split up). You just text Gothic where to go next and we gather to share info, get to know each other, etc.
I think that's skipping the good stuff. We've already got some personalities that clash a bit.
Gothic doesn't bother watching how the cops react to the confusion she created. Instead, as she moves on down the street, she stays hyper-aware for any minds that may be suspicious of her or following her.
Unless she's picked up a tail, I'm ready to move on to the next scene.
::I'm outside. I've slowed them down, so get clear. And quit shouting; I can hear you just fine::
If they're not in range:
No response
GM:
Gothic remains part of the crowd, and lets others push in front of her as the spectacle grows. Eventually, she falls back far enough that she stops recording on her phone, shoves it into her pocket, then meanders away.
I think the fundamental problem is that there's a struggle between making the phasing consistent and explainable, and in creating game balance.
I think you need to sacrifice consistency in this case, to preserve game balance.
Look at the invisibility spell on Pathfinder, for example. An attack cancels it, but other actions won't. How does the spell know this? Casting cure light wounds on a living person doesn't cancel the invis, but on an undead does. What if you accidentally cast it on a dhampir ally by mistake? Etc., etc.
See what I mean? We barely think about how inconsistent, because magic, and game balance.
So just pick what you want to let the phasing do, and not do, and don't worry so much about the in-universe whys and reasons. They'll either be ignored, or some strange rationalization can be cooked up.
Sorry for sticking my nose in this, and it might be that I'm missing the real point of all this discussion. But I'm trying to help. Be kind. :)
Gothic targets the cop giving orders, pushing into his mind to throw his perception off. When she's done, he should be convinced that the Matador is two blocks futher down the street and the one in front of him is the wrong bar.
Gothic tries to punch a message through to the group. ::This isn't some routine patrol. They're bringing mental picture of shotguns and black SUV Forget this and get out::
Telepathy:2d6 ⇒ (4, 2) = 6x4=24
She makes sure her camera on her phone is running as she allows herself to be ushered to the other side of the street. To try to buy the team more time, she tries to daze the lawyer guy. Stun:2d6 ⇒ (5, 2) = 7x4=28
I'm hoping that the stun doesn't automatically single me out somehow. I'd like to keep my anonymity as long as possible.
::Enzo's still in his office. Cops on their way. Levi, they want to meet you at his office. Good luck::
Gothic pulls out her phone and holds it up to face the street in the direction of the cruiser. She begins recording, hiding in plain sight, while she tries to pick out Enzo's thoughts.
Gothic mentally throws up a little in her mouth. She steps out into the street and watches for the police vehicles approaching. She leans upon a parked car and folds her arms.
Gothic's eyebrow twitches at how fast the crazy one dealt with the phone. She decides to hold off on doing anything at the moment; cell phones were different than land lines so there might not be any response from the bartender's call. She blows out a puff of air that mists into a cloud in front of her as she waits, shivering.
Gothic continues walking past the group and the front of the bar, not registering them at all. She comes to a stop at the street corner that is rapidly becoming her usual hangout spot.
Without looking in their direction, the trio hears in their heads, ::Five inside. Barkeeper, two people being stupid, two in the back playing video games, and Enzo in his office::
