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"Hi friends! Do you ever wonder what happens to you after you die? No, I don't mean your boring old soul. We all know about that. I mean your body! For most people it just lays in the ground pushing up the daises. Not very much fun I say. But what if it doesn't end there? What if your mortal coil could go on having EPIC adventures, while your soul basked in the eternal sunbathing of the afterlife? Well now it can! Just sign on the dotted line and if you should die with honor, I'll enlist your fallen remains in the continued battle for the greater good! I got the idea when my own dad, who lay old and feeble on his death bed, said his last words to me. He said 'Son! I was a great warrior in my youth, but now I am old and feeble. It is my dying wish that my remains do what I have not been able to do myself in decades. I want to wear my old armor and take up my sword again! Can ya do that for me, lad?' And so I did! Now he and my mom get to galivant along, having great adventures that their fragile meat bodies haven't been able to do in years! So when the little Moogle waddles up and asks you, just remember: Necromancy, it's the new Immortality!"
I think this whole necromancy thing could be a solid conversation starter. If there's a bar in the Celeste or people ever find themselves chilling around a campfite, drop that bomb on em and see where it takes everybody. You do make a fine point. Hey GM Dolly, the paper that everyone signs saying it's okay that if their original form fails them, it is okay for their body to continue to work toward for the safety and future of all good people of the world still alive, is this thing already signed or do I gotta work for it? For the NPC's that might be some diplomatic rolls and role-playing. For the PC's now.... =3
I finally got the backstory down. For as much as I might be a bit long, I needed to set a stage, and anything less would've been a disservice to the narrative. I have many itty bitty questions about things'n'stuff, but nothing that can't wait until Acceptance. I see the character as an out-of-combat face, and in combat as something that has a lot of options. With all the options, the Necro can either support, or just strike. Ummmm, I have often espoused various different opinions on the traditional view of alignment. This seems a good time to hash it out. Alignment!: Alignment for character: Neutral. Now, this isn't an "I don't care" neutrality, or an "There must be balance. Ommmmmmm." kinda thing. The character's heart is actually Good. Leaning Lawful, but certainly wedded to the Great Good aspect. It's just that he doesn't care as much how it gets done. "Society" says that raising the dead is super good, but animating it is super bad. He sees these two positions as contradictions. Animating might be less powerful, surely, and the ReBirthed needs help with direction, but isn't that better than decaying in the ground? He thinks that Necros have simply been the victim of bad press, bad reputations, a few really bad apples spoiling the keg, and a few misconceptions. "Oh, but don't Necromances do evil things???" And no person wielding a sword, or magic, ever has done bad? Even a White Mage can provide support for a bandit king. Is the tyrant that rides at the head of a marauding army any more kind because his army is blood-thirsty cutthroats rather than undead? So too, for some reason to animate the body is considered to interfere with the "natural order of nature". But to Raise the body is not? Does not Raising a fallen comrade also interfere with the natural order of death in just as gross a manner? "But you could use the skeletons for t3h evulZ!" The same could be said of a sword. Or fire. Even the usage of magic brought the world to a great ruin, yet never did we say that magic itself is a bad thing. "But they do not have free will! You could tell them to do bad things!" So no person, Hume or Moogle or any other, has ever had a heart turned because of someone's words? No man was convinced to hurt someone "just this once" and then found themselves on a path of evil? No woman was ever convinced to do something immoral "just to get by" only to find herself on a slippery slope? Hence, Thomas knows what society thinks. And they are wrong. He is out to prove the morality of Necromancy, but if he must needs tread some dark paths, if it all works out and they are able to re-establish the the tread of civilization upon the world? Will it not all have been worth it?
Whew! Hello hello! Character avatar for character from Atlas2112! (It's really hard to find a Moogle pic, and I wanted to go for both "Charismatic Necro with a heart of gold" and "Moogle" but I can only get more the former than the latter and we're just gonna go with it.) Still have much numbers to crunch, but I've got a question that keeps flying around in my head and won't let go. DM, if I want to shoot one of my skellies with a Dark spell to heal them (Shadow damage, we've gone over this) do I need to a roll a really-for-real to-hit on it? It seems that, 1) since it's a friendly casting a spell on a friendly, that's one of the things that we could just let slide, and, 2) since I've got a mental link with them, I know where they're gonna be before they do, so I could know where and how to target the spell on a truly intimate level anyway. ^_^ I think I've seen other GM's that just allow it, but I wanted to run it past you to make sure we were on the same page. =)
Thomas knows that he can't do much to V'Sori in combat...no matter how much help he has. Also, he's very squishy. Like, totes squishy. Instead he tries something else. And there's no need to be sneaky about it. Chamealeoned as a V'Sori officer as he is, and floating in the air, he bets that no one has noticed him yet. Or, at least, isn't paying attention. So he tries digging around in the brain of the V'Sori fighting Kat.
Kat looks like someone who would dig around in someone's brain anyway, so he'll just blame her. Probably.
"Alright, Prof. It looks like you're doin' good here. There just don't seem to be anyone around that wants to question you too hard while you set them ON FIRE. But it seems like I gotta go save the bacon of the J-V squad, so halla' if ya needs anything." That done, Tom flies to where the battle is shaking up.
Thomas smiles, broad and involuntary. "The Ring of Obfuscation could cover me, and did I have your strength, possibly the Object. But alas, without the fortitude to claim it as my own, I can not command the Ring to embrace it. But our house guests seem occupied on several fronts. For the now I'd council to charge forth and make them stop you."
Tom's mind had been reeling about how to get so massive a thing just...loose...nevermind how to transport it. So when a shape-shifted answers comes knocking, he's a bit caught off guard. But he quickly regains his composure. At first he thought of the quickest way -he- would take. But of the kid's many talents, at least leaving this reality was not (yet) among them. "That way," he says instead, showing the way that has the fewest number of doors between them and the outside. "Quickly now!" he says, trying to gain an air of authority. He already had a number of verbal dodges all set, in case anyone tried to stop them. Not that it would come to that.
"Oh yes let's definitely split up in the middle of a heavily populated enemy base. How about I give you cover so you can concentrate on getting done, rather than us being picked apart alone. Besides...I tend to have a calming effect. But I suppose it helps if people can see me when I talk them out of their pants." Thomas becomes Visible, at least, and he lets his feet touch the floor, for now.
'What's he doing?' Tom wonders, floating as a wraith, all but divorced from this reality. 'Well...he's probably doing his own thing in some scheme to make himself some money. I of all people can't really argue with that.' "Dude, you should really hurry up with that," the invisible ghost says behind the Prof, a wink and a chuckle in his voice. 'Hmmm. Now he knows that I know that he knows that I know. I hope this doesn't develop into some wacky hijinks later.'
As much as Tom likes being on his own before the shooting starts, now that it's Playtime(tm), being on his own might not be the best thing. So he sticks with the Prof as his shadow...and by "shadow" we mean an Invisible, Intangible, Chamleoned Fin is floating behind the Prof, and manages to not yet pee himself.
Yeah, I think I gave this speech at the very -very- beginning beginning, and this might be a good time to reiterate. This isn't Mutants and Masterminds. It's Shadowrun. Our 'powers' are couched as having super-natural origins, but we're just-barely-above-human levels of powers. Kinda like Shadowrunners. But The Man is bigger and badder than us and we're just trying to pull of heists (or, 'runs') and keep our heads down (and in the 'shadows', as it were). Hence, part of this game is just managing expectations. Yeah, you can shoot to make superman, but you're still gonna run from a gunship. You can try to Wolverine, but you're still gonna count on your friends to pull your fat out of the fire. I don't know if this holds past Veteran or Legendary rank. Or if your name is Enkidu. =)
Thomas clicks his radio twice to check its transmission then leaves both Sight and Reality. Finding the laws of nature as repulsive as the laws of man, Thomas takes flight, first circling the guarded area at good distance, getting a rough count of visible guards and visible defenses. After the first circuit he radios back and tells what he has seen. That work done, he goes underground, flying through the concrete and soil as would a submarine through water. At times he pops up the top of his head to get a look for his bearings, before at last approaching the oh-so-important building in the center that seems to be the source of much to-do.
"Key Kat, makes sure to call Dudeman and tell him it's go time, okay?" Thomas quips, ensuring that they're Inside Man will get his call. As Paradig'em works his mojo, Tom shrugs and fades from both sight and reality. **Okay, everyone stay frosty. Prof? I'll follow your lead,***" he sub-vocalizes on their internal comms.
Thomas laughs. "HA! The Marker! Oh one does love the classics! HAHAHA! Oh course, my lord, all shall be as you say. I will state the only caveat is that is must be a thing that -can- be done. If you ask us to rid the planet of all V'Sori, say, well that is a thing that I myself would wish could be done, but, alas, one may as well wish for the moon and the stars for all the good it would do you." He taps his chin in ulfish thought. "Also, I won't do anything against my mom. Oh, she might do things for you...and to you...without needing much encouragement, but I think in all the world that's that one person I just couldn't lift a hand against." He gives Kat a playful wink. "Not that you would ask for such a thing, but I wanted to be up front. Well then, now that we're BFFs, is there a time that works best for you?" He holds out his hands for the pendant.
"You." Thomas says before grinning and laughing. "Haha! You are what we want. Your expertise, your ingenuity, your...hate. Quite simply, we have our eyes set on an old acquaintance of yours, Hydra, the Mutant Mastermind. We want to make his things, our things, and then blow the base up, so all your buddies from not-Earth don't know what kind of pies we've got our thumbs in to. Alas! We are good, but are we that good? From the -wonderful- ambiance you've created here, I'm not sure we are. But with you along? To coin a phrase my friend Tony is found of, 'badda-bing-badda-boom-fuggeitaboutit'. So, it's a win-win we want. By helping us you'll be stinking your finger in them what hath wronged you, and in doing so you'll earn our eternal gratitude. Which...is probably a bit more gratitude than you currently have now, so everyone can use friends, kapish?"
Thomas chuckles. "My friend can be a bit over-zealous, but she's not wrong. If we wanted to be something other than friends...well, I prefer the subtle way." Still smiling, Tom sticks his hand through the wall to make his point. "Please, now that we're all friends, you can take it as a given that we have a mutually-beneficial offer to discuss. Might we talk about inside? Where it's not embarrassingly easy to overhear?"
His communications bunker is located on the top floor of an old tenement in Southpoint (GPS coordinates provided). "Ooof. Looks like we've got a little bit of a climb up 17 more floors. Well, you do. I'm just going to gently fly up through them as I watch you climb up 17 floors. Which will be funny. To me." He gives Kat a playful wink and a smile.
"Meh. Let's just talk to the guy. We got a hot lead from The Man himself, so this isn't like we're trying to crack an unknown. Don't forget that we're doing this guy a favor, taking down thems that wronged him. Enemy of my enemy and what not. He's gonna be as anxious to help us as we are to...let him. So I think we can just walk right in."
"Oh no, I'm quite sure that he'll be willing to help us. They're not robots and they don't have a hive-mind, so you'll always have outliers that are sick of the system because they got screwed out of something, or want something they can't or don't have, or just had other things in their life go astray and want to get some kind of feelings of importance some other way. The V'Sori have more power than us, but that doesn't mean they're omnipotent."
Thomas makes a calming motion at Kat. "Let's not wind ourselves in knots before we've even seen the place. Now that I had a moment to think on it, I find myself trusting more to Bio-guy's ability to destroy things than to conventional explosives--or, at least, the minor kind we could whistle up in any kind of soon-ish time. Let's at least hit this guy up and see what he has to say. Who knows? Maybe he has a tactical nuke in his pocket. Or he'll just be happy to see us. Either way win-win!" Thomas turns and checks his commlink for the details aforementioned.
"Can you tell us HOW he might aid us?" Thomas calls up to the air.
Giving up on getting any more from their enigmatic leader, he posits, "Anyone have a 20 on a buggy battlelord that really really wants to help us soft, squishy humans? Also, good attitude, Bio-guy. But are you able to destroy an entire lab?
Just in case."
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