File: 1348685673707.jpg-(1.46 MB, 1600x1162, Villain Quest Gang Map 2.jpg)

THIS QUEST IS NEWBIE FRIENDLY

The following plot summary will get you up to speed without having to read through the entire archive:

>http://ironmaster.wikia.com/wiki/Plot_Summary

Apologies for the late start, was trying to get as much stuff out of the way as possible since I'm running a quest and prepping a D&D game at the same time.

It is now the second week of February.

THE IRON MASTER
Health: 1 (3)
Power: 3 (9)
Resources: 17
XP: 0

Athletics: 1
Cunning: 3
Technology: 4
Insight: 2
Observation: 3
Nefariousness: 2
Stealth: 1

Powers: Meta Strength, AI, Terminators, SynthSkin, Model T, Mechs, Mobile Dolls, Ghost Whisperer

Action Points:

The Iron Master: 2/2
Julio Pedone: 3/3
Rica Rivera: 2/2

>Link to rules (including powers list): http://pastebin.com/utmjLqag

Have Julio continue to look for those remnants.
Rica should prepare for the co op attack were planning with the Ronin.
The Iron Master i don't really know maybe have him spend some time digging up info on Dr. Dandurand. Also look into other corporations that might have some tech we may want to 'acquire'.

General Plan:
1. Subvert the nightmare goblins
2. Buy Lazer guns for Platinum and Silver guards.
Save up cash.
3. Us and the Damio each target one of the two shielding sets
4. Replace sets.
5. Target shielded sets with remaining actions.
Also there was a suggestion of leaking the location of Chimera's logistics HQ, because that's probably the one place they'd stand and fight to defend. Keeps them too busy to deal with us during our expansion.

>>20879488
>read wiki
>Read Kestral article
>My quote at the top
Fuck yeah.

i would like us to use Team Blue to screw with Chimera so we can loot more of their tech. For now however lets just prepare for the team up with Ronin. During that time however have the Iron Master do some more digging on Dr. Dandurand. The fact he is evading us is infuriating considering we are supposedly a genius of super villain quality. Rica should beef up our offensive sets for the big push. Julio should do more digging on those remnants.

>>20879688
We need Rica to do the subverting so that we can rapidly replace the sets we wipe out. Otherwise, they get to replace those sets, and it will turn into a battle of attrition.

>>20879735
ah i see my bad then. Still though there is another Tech hero/villain not sure which that would be nice to dig up info on.

is there any other ideas or is it so somewhat settled for our course of actions?

Alright, Rica sinks a pair of actions into subverting the Nightmare Goblins, but she's struggling to make any progress. The Goblins have a pretty good thing going over on Westside and they're not eager to give it up, especially now that they've got an apparently terrifying mystery super backing them up.

Trying to dig up more on Dandurand is fruitless. The man just doesn't appear on any records anywhere since the day of his apparent death. If he is still alive, he hasn't so much as checked into a hotel anywhere that has even halfway decent records since leaving EdenTech.

Julio isn't able to make much progress on the remnants of the Colombo Outfit. He manages to track down a few here and there, however they're not willing to get back into the business. Most of them are badly wounded, in jail, or halfway insane with a desire for vengeance since the Goblins killed all their family. Julio says that those last ones could definitely be helpful for purposes of getting rid of the Goblins, but as longterm prospects they aren't looking so great. His investigation is slowed down a lot by the fact that the Family doesn't appreciate people poking around in their business, however.

So anyways. Third week of February, now. The Daimyo is all ready to roflstomp the Goblins after this.


Action Points:

The Iron Master: 2/2
Julio Pedone: 3/3
Rica Rivera: 2/2

>wat do?

Julio should keep digging if he still can't find anything after this were gonna have to find a new source to look into.
Rica should keep subverting.
Iron Master since we ran into a roadblock with Dr.Dandurand instead look into corporatons and companies that are developing tech that we maybe interested in.

After this week it will be showtime.

>>20880044
Can we invent a plasma katana? like a normal sword but cloaked in plasma?

It's been a while since I followed this quest, so I'm running on the summary and what >>20879565 said:

Have Julio work on the nightmare goblins while we gather info on where to acquire lazer guns.
Rica can take up her time taking care of out existing sets - administration, troubleshooting and generally making sure everything is going smoothly.

>>20880044
... how bad did we roll?
We are using the Infiltrator bot to give Rica A12 I5 right? (super senses + Super Strength)
Okay we need that Damn foothold.
Rica spends her two actions subverting them. Then Julio Moves in spends two actions subverting, then bribes them.

>>20880114

You already have laser guns, it happened just last thread (the details of which haven't been put in the plot summary yet, I just realized, my apologies).

Are you having Rica or Julio handle the subversion this time around?

>>20880114
We already have plasma guns, got them last thread. Must not be in the summery then. Rica is better at subversion then Julio, and we need the subversion to happen this turn. Next turn we have a nasty super fight to attend to.

>>20879875
>they've got an apparently terrifying mystery super backing them up
The Red Death, calling it now

>>20880141

Rica's got terrible luck lately. Plus, the TN on the Nightmare Goblins is pretty nasty. It's the Insight rolls that are tripping her up, mostly, the Athletics she actually can't fail on.

>>20880141
I'll support this option.

>>20880180
Rica first, then Julio. Last action is to bribe.

"This song and dance of yours is wearing thin, Mech," Jack, leader of the Nightmare Goblins, says from behind his black devil mask. Rica hasn't told him that she's a giant robot, yet. Probably never will.

"I'm not asking you to sell out," Rica says through her battle doll, "I'm asking you to let us run some business on a bit of your turf, maybe you can do some on ours. It's good business, Julio would say. What're you so scared of?"

"I know a bad deal when I see one, Mech," Jack says.

"You so scared of your new boss that you're afraid to make money without his permission?" Rica asks, "do you bring your girlfriends over to make sure he approves before you fuck them, too?"

"Go away, Rica," Jack says, turning around and punching a few buttons on the music player he'd turned off when she arrived, "I'm not interested." It's a good thing the mech doesn't come with facial expressions, so that no one can tell how shocked she is to hear it. Except, apparently, Jack. "Yeah, I can see a lot of things your new master would rather I couldn't," he says, and mask be damned you can hear the smile in his voice.

"I beat the shit out of you when I was fifteen and half-dead," Rica says, taking a step towards him, "what makes you think you're gonna win round two?"

"I've got power like you can't even dream of," Jack says. And a second later he's being launched through a wall and several tables in the bar outside.

"More fun than beatin' up fundies," Rica says.

>>20880549
GOD DAMN IT!
how bad did we roll this time?

Winning over the rest of the set takes Julio 7 resources, but you've got your beachhead. The Iron Master spends some time poking around for various corporations that might have interesting tech to steal. You can't find anything in LA, but you do find Doctor Garai Chalthoum. He's an Egyptian roboticist who's been developing powered armor before being kidnapped by Chimera and was forced to work for them for a time before he managed to escape during a raid by the South Yemen Movement. From there he made his way back to his home country. So that's interesting.

>>20880705
Okay, last action is to upgrade the our two elite sets (platinum guard and Silver guard) with the plasma guns. We need to trace-lessly leak the location of the Chimera Logistical HQ to the Cops to keep Chimera occupied.

>>20880644

I think you're underestimating how effective pulping an uncooperative negotiator can be when both sides of the table are gangsters.

>>20880774

Alright. I just realized I didn't post your resources with the action points, so FYI this is bringing you down to 15 resources. You send the location of Chimera's Logistics Division to Kestrel, because it's not exactly weird that a super hero investigating Chimera almost exclusively would find a lead as to where Chimera is hiding out. Unfortunately, Rica's improvised entrance wasn't exactly subtle, and it's abandoned by the time Team Blue shows up.

If you'll give me a moment, I need to roll some dice for the Goblins and Ronin.

>>20880844
Wait, when did rica enter that building? She entered a warehouse. The location of the headquarters of the logistics division we learned from hacking:
"Yeah, the headquarters for the Logistics Division is where you're going to find the Photon and Aegis data, that's where they're building the stuff. It's guarded by the First Aggressor Division, though, who aren't going to be easy to sneak past.

It's harder to say about the stealth aircraft. It's not immediately obvious from the outside which building holds it, because all that's really needed is a warehouse big enough to house the thing, and that describes several Chimera hideouts. It's safe to say it'll be somewhere with the Logistics Division, though...Unless it's finished, in which case one of the two Aggressor Divisions will have it."

>>20880885

The location of the stealth aircraft was a "maybe." I decided to have Chimera shift it to their headquarters mostly because I was sick of making up new locations for them.

Although in retrospect, the cops already hit that thing, just not very hard, since they were there for the stealth craft, which took off immediately.

>>20880844
We know which sets the Ronan are attacking right? They know not to target the nightmares.

>>20880900
then could we have spent an action to find their new location and call down the cops with the location of projects Aegis and Photon?

>>20880966

Sure. You're not able to find the location specifically, but you are able to narrow things down a lot, which gives Kestrel and associates a pretty good headstart.

The Ronin Samurai attack the Goblin Gang Avengers, the replacement set for the now defunct Hobs, along with the help of two sets of Ashigaru. Though some significant damage is taken to the Ronin in the fierce fighting, the Avengers go under. The last attacking set, the Ashigaru Shin, attack the Goblin Maniacs and, with Okata leading the attack, the Maniacs are slaughtered altogether. Finally, the Shinobi move in on one of the exposed sets, the Trolls, and bring them down as well. Combined with the Nightmare Goblins successfully being bribed over to your side, this leaves the Goblin Gang in shambles, even if none of the territory can be immediately occupied. The Santos Espada take advantage of the Ronin's offensive to strike them from behind, sending both their Verdugos sets to attack the Ronin Heimin and Ashigaru Roku. The Heimin pull through, but the Roku, already weakened from their fights with the Goblins, collapse.

>>20881186
We still get full Turn's worth of AP before they Goblins get to react right?

While fighting in Maniac Territory in Bel Air, Okata stumbles across an abandoned mansion where many of them are retreating to. Inside, he finds himself accosted by a small horde of zombies, which he carves with only minor difficulty. They are led, however, by a trio of vampires. Cornered by three opponents, Okata is slowly running out of steam when a sudden charge of C4 blows the mansion open, exposing the vampires to the sunlight and quickly reducing them to ash.

A mysterious figure in a trenchcoat is seen nearby, but he vanishes before Okata can investigate. What's left of the Goblins retaliate, sending the Ogres to try and finish off the Ronin Samurai and successfully beating them back into Downtown. They struggle to rebuild, but what's really hurting them is not lack of worker sets but the fact that one of their specialty neighborhoods, Westchester, is now occupied by the Iron Guard. Bel Air and Palms are vacant, and the three remaining sets in the Goblins are the Ogre Goblins, the King Goblins, and the newly established Kobold Goblins.

>>20881186
If I recall correctly in the last thread the Cat asked for our help to take down Behemoth. I'm still against helping her openly. But what if we arrange for her to raid one of our warehouses, destroy some terminators and run off with some shiny new toys. Leaving the cops to find some broken bots and giving us deniability when she uses our stuff to take him down.

>>20881186
thank Daimo for the his assistance once we split the goblin territory offer some of our troops to assist them against the Espada, that is if his honor would allow it. Meanwhile move in acquire turf, fortify turf, advance, keep pushing. with the goblins in shambles we should take advantage of it but there is the mystery villain to watch out for.

>>20881276

Sort of. The Goblins don't know you and the Ronin are working together and are concentrating their forces on what they perceive to be the greater threat.

Anyways. New event:

Blood In The Water
Objective: Defeat the Goblin Gang and their mysterious leader
Reward: 4 XP

Also, I kind of lost track of the whole Cat/Behemoth plotline, oops.

>>20881317
.... I think there has been some miscommunication. I thought we had one more week then we apparently did.

>>20881377
yeah, when I said wait two weeks I meant that we would get the rest of that weeks actions and then two more weeks to prepare the groundwork. Oh well.

well shit Vampire villain huh. In that case only make attacks ONLY during the day with lots of explosives to blow up any cover they may get from the sun. At night have our troops hunker down with sunlight equivalent flood lights set up throughout the bases. Each light has their own personal generator. Give out sun equivalent flashlights to ALL our men. In the meantime arrange the acquisition of blessed silver bullets dunked in an actual garlic solution. Put out a hit for any captured vampires. Our scientists including the Iron Master would have a field day seeing what they can learn from them.

>>20881377

Partly this has to do with the fact that it's kind of unclear exactly how the abstract turn-based gang warfare maps to realworld dates. Things aren't exactly going poorly, however.

>>20881348
Don't start a fight with the Santos, We just need to Drag our coat really obviously along the Ronin Espada border and they should get the hint.

>>20881347

The Cat would be cool with this. Anyone here opposed to it? Also fourth week of November, AP full, 32 resources, wat do?

>>20881317
Okay target the two most powerful remaining Goblin sets with the Silver guard and Platinum Guard. Rica leads them.

>>20881483
I think this would be cool, so long as they get nothing linked to us.
Lets fill those open areas fast, and if the Ronin have a problem, give them half the territory.

>>20881516
>>20881530
combine these Rica leads the offensive while Julio takes over and fortifies the territory. Once the goblins our taken out we split the turf with Ronin.

Iron Master meanwhile keeps on looking into juicy tech.

>>20881483

Same guy as >>20881347

I figure some big-ass plasma gun or something. If we make it look like something we intended to mount on a mech it should improve our deniability somewhat. At the very least don't give her something that looks tailored for her.
Behemoth is the guy with insane durability right?

>>20881575
yup but its been shown in the last thread that plasma shot from an smg hurts him so a big plasma cannonish weapon would really put him in a world of pain.

Alright, that'll plunk in a new event, then:

Cat And Mouse
Objective: Defeat Behemoth
Reward: 3 XP and a favor from Cat

>>20881561
We're in the middle of a war with an enemy super. The Master holds his actions in reserve until the enemy shows himself. Then we and the damio wipe the enemy out

>>20881593
It's mostly for the deniability issue though. Also we could arrange for some bots to "try" to capture her and retrieve the weapon. She is a sneaky character so it would be believable for her to successfully escape from some of our mechs.

>>20881671
better option is to have her team up with an entirely "new" villian StrikeRica In Disguise.

>>20881718
It could backfire though, if Rica gets destroyed it would be pretty obvious that she was a mech which in turn would lead to us. Cat stealing from another super-villain to further her goal would fit better with her MO than suddenly teaming up with a new robot villain.
Cat usually works alone if I recall correctly.

>>20881768

StrikeRica is I'm pretty sure referring to a plan involving using Strike's reformed but vegetative body as a biological vessel for Rica. It was also mentioned you'd have Dr. Rud adjust it so that it would look more like Rica and less like Strike.

>>20881768
I believe that Anon means StrikeRica being Strike's corpse we've held onto and gave a cosmetic workaround.
The body still has its slightly metahuman abilities. Some black and grey spandex and a good helmet thrown in for good measure and we're golden.

>>20881788
Yep. Ask Rica if she wants any customizations while we're at it.

... i feel so creepy right now.

>>20881788
Oh, sorry.
I got the impression that we should try to disguise one of Rica's dolls to look like a new villain, which I would argue is a terrible idea.

So, do we want to have a sitdown with The Family to make them stay where they are after we smash and capture whats left of the Goblins?

Wait.
Behemoth. Think we can lead him back toward the Santos? If we can get him smashing up them Cat can move about more freely.

>>20881876
Good idea.

Is our expanded territory secure or do we need to raise a set or two?

Also, is our ability to corrupt the authorities limitted to the precincts in our territory, or can we start putting DAs (and other city wide officials) in our pocket?

>>20881800
Still need something to hurt the bastard though.
Maybe give them some replicas of the chimera plasma smg's now that we have the tech.
Could spin this as chimera backing the Cat though StrikeRica in order to take revenge for the aircraft incident.

Guys, FOCUS. We have a war to fight. And 4 delicious XP to acquire. Finish off the Goblins, then deal with Behemoth

>>20882003
Yes, I say we burn 'em out! Send those rotters back to the grave! Pip pip cheerio I say my old bean!

>>20881818

Yeah, we'll just gloss over that conversation. Even Rica's a little weirded out by that, though not so much as to pass up the opportunity to build herself a perfect body. I'll let you guys figure out what Rica's idea of a perfect body is.

Anyways, Rica sticks with her battle doll to hammer the Ogres and Goblin Kings, the only sets left that pose much of a threat to anyone. Stapling Rica to a Warfare 5 set is pretty thorough overkill, and the Ogres and Kings fall to pieces early on. They have a habit of pulling back and waiting for nightfall when Rica calls off her attacks. After three days of this, Rica's aggressive trait says "fuck this shit" and keeps fighting past sunset. The Ogres and Kings fall apart completely, but during the battle, your latest enemy finally reveals himself.

The vampire leaps off of a nearby building in an attempt to ambush Rica, but she dodges out of the way and blasts him with her plasma gun square in the chest...You might have hoped for more damage from such a solid blow, however. He howls in fury and attacks her, the claws at the ends of his hands coupled with his enormous strength ripping through her armor. The vampire is about as fast as Rica and far stronger, but slightly less skilled, resulting in an evenly matched super brawl. An early pair of boxcars from Rica puts the vampire at a disadvantage, however. Despite the beating she's taking, Rica is slowly winning out over her enemy, who turns to flee...At which point Rica rolls boxcars AGAIN, vaporizing the vampire on the spot. I guess after the encounter with Swordsman she's decided to save all her luck for super brawls.

>>20882003
We have to remember we're dealing with Vampires here.

Vampires we can use to make thralls for us and then lock away. Thralls have a strong affection to the master vampires, but cant if they cant see them right? Boom. Vampire thrall minions that arnt even ours.

>>20882047
Im so proud of her.

File: 1348700859237.jpg-(59 KB, 292x294, 1324838625551.jpg)

>>20882047
And now he's maybe just plain Dead.

Do we want to get JJ in on this?
NIGHTLY NEWSCAST BULLITIN
You know what bumps in the night? Not Vampires anymore, that's for sure! As The Iron Master's latest bout of community service, he marched an army of robots into Goblin gang territory, and, fighting day and night crushed the crazed drug addicts beneath steel feet. Throw a vampire in the mix, who battled with big I M's mechs before being vaporized, proving that even in Darkness, light shines.

We've asked other so called 'super heroes' how they feel about this latest turn of events.

"Mr. Behemoth, Mr. Behemoth! How do you feel about the Goblin's latest setbacks?" "Well I-" "Knowing full well that nothing had been done against them amidst terrorist attack that've killed hundreds and injured thousands until the Iron Master stepped in and cleans house?"
"This interview is over."

>>20882131
Have what's her face from mass effect be the head interviewer. "I've had enough of your disingenuous assertions"

Alright, so this is what Santa Monica looks like right now:

(Bel Air, Santa Monica - Robbery)

(Culver City, Santa Monica - Hookers)

Goblin Gang Kobolds (Marina del Ray, Santa Monica - Drugs)
-STATS REDACTED-

(Century City, Santa Monica - Extortion)

(Palms, Santa Monica - Extortion)

You can start up three sets with Julio's actions and you've got 32 resources to make 'em with.

Meanwhile, Whisper informs you that you have a call from someone named Daniel Harker. Previously not known to anyone in the city as Team Red or Blue (or as anything else, for that matter), and Whisper isn't even sure how Harker got his number.

>>20882253
Pick up the phone through a synthskinned bot and 7 proxies.
"Good evening mr. Harker, how may I help you?"

>>20882253
Interesting.

"Hello Mr. Harker, This is, THE IRON MASTER"
Then hit that button on your sound board that makes a thunder clap
"How can i help you? Not killing you? Saving you? Hiring you? Finishing off Scientology once and for all?"

>>20882253
Have us and the Damio take out the Kolbolds.

>>20882253
Well let's hack the DMV while we do a combo of >>20882357 and >>20882377 and see if the idiot gave his real name.

I think we should take a couple sets, maybe establish some legit businesses on them while we are at it.

>>20882434
finish off the enemy first then take Culever and Marina del Rey.

>>20882377

"I suppose I should start by thanking you," a raspy voice says, "you've done half my job for me tonight."

"Half?" you ask.

"There's another vampire in your city, and she won't be pleased that you've killed her boytoy," Harker says.

"I see," you say.

"The good news is that Joseph was the heavy-hitter, but Carmille is the necromancer. Longterm, she's the real threat," Harker says, "the less time we give her to build her cults and armies, the better. And it would go faster if we worked together."

>>20882491
Sounds good to me

>>20882491
"What're you some sort of Vampire Hunter? Because there're superheros you could've talked to already, though in this case, im inclined to think you're more of a 'grey' fellow

Her cults arnd armies of of little threat to me, rotten flesh and brittle bone are nothing verses sturdy iron and burning plasma. Let's skip the bullshit where you try to lead me around, and tell me where Carmille is so i can level her hideout."

>>20882491
What can you tell me about her abilities? The more I know, the more I can tweak my mechs abilities to make them more effective. If you don't have a target, I would recommend taking down the goblins last set. She'll have to fight, or see her powerbase destroyed entirely.

>>20882549

>"What're you some sort of Vampire Hunter?

"You figure that out all by yourself?"

>Because there're superheros you could've talked to already,

"They tend to be less keen on the vaporization angle."

>>20882603

"She's only a bit weaker and slower than Joseph, and she is a master necromancer, capable of speaking with and summoning just about any sort of undead, corporeal or not, that you can imagine," Harker says.

"Does she know how to make people Deathless?" you ask.

"If she does, it's a very recent trick she's learned," Harker says, "I've never known her to use it before, and I've been tracking her clan for close to a decade."

"Where can I find her?" you ask.

"Most likely in the abandoned subway tunnels. She habitually lives underground, most vampires do. It's dark 24/7. If not there, she'll have a large house or tower to work out of," Harker says.

>>20882716
"Down there again? This'll be the third time i've battled down there. What're the best ways to combat her? Ultra violet lights work? And what makes her so bad? Sure she and her late-boy toy fell in with the goblins it seems, but that was just a means to an end wasnt it?

If yuou're intent on my assistance, You'll need to supply me with magical charms, wards, and defenses. If you've hunted her im sure you have a supply."

Sending Rica in this case though might be dangerous. Its one thing with explosives and laser beams, but necromantic energy bolts will do more harm than good.

Terminator squads with plasma should eat through zombies before they can even close, mounted up with UV spotlight backpacks as we can torch Vampire Thralls she has
I'm tempted to recruit her for ourselves.

Afterall, We need more Immortals for the League of Immortals.

>>20882800
>>20882716
She's weaker than ONE of our bots. This time we are sending 4. Plus hunter and Damio. Send down 2 command mechs plus 1 guard and a battle doll.

>>20882716
Could we make a swarm of synthskinned ratbots with nightvision optics to scout out the subway/sewers/other underground tunnels starting with goblin territory and expanding outwards.

Even if we don't find her lair having properly mapped out the underground should be beneficial when we want to move our troops around the city.

>>20882800
No. Bad anon. Vampires are a scourge, we don't need them.

>>20882835
only a bit weaker and slower and we got lucky with Rica. However, bots supported with overarcing lines of fire...

Release the... Damn im trying to think of a cool name for rat bots.

>>20882800

"I can't offer anything in industrial numbers, but I can show you how to draw a ward against all kinds of creatures of the night," Harker says. "UV rays are no good, though. Only the light of the sun itself. Don't ask me why. I'm not a scientist, I just kill the things."

>>20882845

Sure. They'd basically just be pigeons but without wings.

>>20882957
heck I always assumed our pidgins were just any random bird after the Eden Tech mission gave them notoriety.

>>20882957
"Then what Does kill them.

>>20883021
Plasma weaponry apparently.

>>20882957
"Let me call the Damio, he will likely want to finish off the enemy personally. Don't worry about the zombies, I'm pretty sure that they lose to terminators with plasma rifles"

>>20883021

"Anything that destroys the heart, the brain, or severs the connection between them. Stake through the heart and decapitation are traditional, fire works well. They're remarkably resistant to just about all metals including lead, but apparently not lasers."

>>20883223
"Nice to know, want a lazer gun?"

>>20883259

"I never say no to new weapons."

Are we going with the rat swarm scouting approach, then?

>>20883223
"And why do you need Me if you're the hunter?"

I really want to just recruit this vampire, her clan has been around a while, and well its her own fault. being mysterious and sneaky doesnt help you much when everyone on Team Red agrees to eachothers mutual hate. Bring her into the fold, and it shouldnt be hard to double cross this David fellow, and we've got another cushy seat filled at the Immortal's poker night.

Better Red then Dead

>>20883339
NOPE
>>20883338
Sure use say ten rats for scouting. Rest are murderbots with plasma. Our bots, Damio and the hunter go down into the sewer. No vamps come out.

Suddenly, an old crotchedy naked man comes out from behind the corner. He sticks his thumb up your asshole, and whispers in your ear "OP should've used a tripcode."

>>20883338
Rat Swarm.

Each carries a small amount of explosives to equal a hand grenade (even if it doesnt kill a vampire, it'll sure as hell deafen them for being in an inclosed space), a small message from the Iron Master which in shorthand means You will reveal yourself, and come to a meeting of Team Red. This is our city and we wont have cults running rampant. Contact Whisper for a peace conference and you may yet continue your unlife. Add condolences for slaying Joseph as we didnt know their relationship. As well as each rat has a tiny music box.

>>20883339
Except in this case, it would likely be a bad idea. Vampires tend to be old and rather crafty. Chances are the moment we add her to the 'fold', she will simply try to find ways to circumvent our will and betray us. If not that, she'd try to enslave us.

Plus, she's a necromancer. Longer she lives, the longer she can figure out how to control the people we made deathless. A bad idea over all.

So yeah, get the rats ready. Maybe a few mechs with lasers to act as clean up in case the rats fail. Can never be too safe.

>>20883339

"This one's particularly slippery, and I don't intend to let her get away again."

>>20883444
NOPE
>>20883446
Rats are for scouting. No way they will kill a super.

>>20883446
We've gone on about ending death, and this undead living that they've taken up is similar to our interests.
Just outright killing her because she's Here is not, the angle we've been playing at. Negotiation and mediation first, Then crushing force if nessessary. We has shown our forces can take her zombies and vampires by the truckload, as well as the goblins they've been commanding.

>>20883502
NO!
For a bunch of reasons, Incluiding the fact that she is a dead end parasitic evolution. A failed, and flawed path to immortality, far inferior to our Asgard rip off.

Looks like we've got one for either way, so let's go with the usual tie-breaker: Roll a d20 and we go with the highest roll.

>>20883532
Also do we really want someone who could potentially subvert our own necrotech around?
Even if she were not an enemy the nature of her power alone makes her a liability.

Rolled 20

>>20883661
Except we're all over the other Dr. we've been trying to find when we build superior robots then us.

Diplomacy first, not saying we need to wear a silk glove here.

>>20883591
Actually two people for killing the witch. Me, and one Anon

Rolled 15

>>20883591
Rolling for extermination.

>>20883699
When he built.
I really need to double check this stuff.

>>20883591
Yeah, I actually wanted her dead as well so it would be 2 vs 1.

>>20883701

Two actually.
This is me:
>>20883661
>>20883710
This is not:
>>20883532

>>20883701

'Kay, guess I'll take your word for it.

Your rats swarm through the abandoned subway tunnels. Different ones this time, though, because the old ones were under Palos Verdes. The old Cancer nest isn't too far from this area, though, and your bots moved through the fringe of the area they're moving through now back when you were closing the noose around her.

Now, however, your rats spread out and are eventually able to find signs of habitation. The beginnings of an underground manor, in fact. There are lots of zombies shambling around, and you can see a book floating in mid-air high up in the middle of a makeshift library, the pages turning occasionally. There is no sign of any vampires, however.

In another location, your rats stumble across a patrol of iRobots, like the one from the parking garage that attacked Swordsman. These are much better put together, however. They lack the Apple polish, and are more practical creations of stainless steel, but the important parts of the design are basically identical to the EdenTech guards.

>>20883770
Well...

That's disturbing.

>>20883770
looks like were gonna have to turn sewers inside out at this rate. what fun.

>>20883770
Oh. We may have found where the Doctor disappeared to. Either of there, Or Both.
It makes sense.

Wait, doesnt that mean she tried to help against Swordsman, or just the doctor? Get Kestral on the line, we 'may' have a lead on her father, but it is too dangerous and sensitive right now to go into it with her, just know that we're trying.

>>20883770
Yeah, I'm usually anonymous in this thread nowadays. I had way to much influence over our build. Literally every decision for like 6 threads was made or suggested by me, and that's just not how quests are supposed to work.

>>20883897
Why fault yourself for good ideas?
Im the guy that does all the JJJ news stuff, and that evolved into canon.
Quests are where a player can have a real impact, each player is important.

>>20883897

That was probably for the best. Enough of the arguments against diplomacy started with NOPE or something very similar that made me think it was probably the same person, but apparently not.

Anyways, your rats are unable to find anything other than the one manor.

>>20883929
Oh, nowadays I just make my suggestions as an anon. And you guys still follow them. I just didn't want to make it seem like a have control over the process.

>>20883939
Continue to search them, and, if we're crazy enough, We could hack one of the patrol bots.
The rats have the Tech for it, just enough to either disable it (and cart it off via rat swarm) or trace the control signal location so we can plan a raid and take out their most dangerous forces.

>>20883974
I make my own suggestions.
Half the time they dont succeed or are shot down. I dont always check my writing, sometimes it comes out wrongly worded.
I wanted to save Strike, and I wanted to try to contact Camile, but you all want to kill her because she 'might' be able to control deathless. We cant even do that, sure we've got a soul in a box, but the only thing that keeps Rica working for us is because its what she wants. Kestral and Rica are demiliches, how can you control them with necromancy when they're already as powerful as you or more?

>>20883983

So are we go or no go on hacking the patrol bots?

>>20883983
Yay for SCIENCE!

>>20884030
I was referring to the Iron Masters abilities only. And I want to kill Camile because we killed her boyfriend, so she probably wants to kill us.
Anyway, sure try hacking one of the bots

>>20884036
Just to confirm, the Ibot clones are at the same place as the zombies?
But get the mechs, the Damio and the Hunter into position if this fails.

>>20884089
We didnt know?
A vampire can likely let a lost love go being the immortal beings they are, especially when we're putting her in a more desperate situation.
Its a perfectly logical outcome. We attacked the goblins, he attacked, and got outmatched. It's unfortunate that we stole away a woman's love, but a battle is a battle.

>>20884089
agreed if we hadnt killed her bf then we pay have wanted to try and recruit.

>>20884115

No, they're a patrol in the same general area but not actually inside the underground manor.

You're successfully able to bring one of the bots under your sway. The other two briefly investigate after it goes dead, but then return to their patrol. You aren't able to crack the other two, at least not without leaving your own networks vulnerable. There's a real person (or AI or whatever) on the other side and they're pretty good at what they do. Maybe even second best in the city. Still, no sense in taking chances.

>>20884149
Oh. And im still not saying we Dont Kill Her.
Why do people seem to get this idea?

I'm saying TRY diplomacy first, we didnt know what we were getting into there. If she refuses, then she's dead, if not, Then Whisper has another asset to work with, she gets dragged out into the open so all the other villains know she's there so she cant try anything as easy if she escapes, and we have a potencial ally. Or a foe down the line, at least we know what to look for from her. If she gets to the table, we can grill her more easily about the Doctors too.

>>20884205
Good, get the bot to a secure location, preferably somewhere that'd cancel a signal or tracer, and break it down. We can dig through patrol logs, orders, ect, and try and found out where it was made, and Who made it. All depends whats storied in its little memory box.

>>20884209
Exactly, let's try diplomacy, then kill her. Because you just know she isn't going to go for it.

>>20884209
Pros
-We dont have to kill her
-We could get more info on the doctors without violence
-she may be more amicable to working with us after greaving (or the guy was just a boytoy and she's over it. Remember, he said Boy Toy, not boyfriend. we dont know the level of emotional attachment yet)
-We get more on an in on magic
-If we can get her talking for a few hours at least, whats the risk?

>>20884263
Now you're getting it.

I'm just covering my bases. She refuses and gets caught up in a war she isnt ready for, or accepts and we can get one or both doctors back.

>>20884299
I just got here actually, fucking Nathaniel Bacon...

>>20884209
I understand. I just expect her to either immediately fly into a rage, costing us the element of surprise, or to agree with us just long enough to get into knife rang. We would never be able to trust her.

I should probably point out that you haven't actually found her, just a lair with a bunch of her zombies standing around it and creepy supernatural stuff going on. You'll be able to get the patrol bot home easily, but is there anything else you want to do underground tonight?

>>20884336
Except it's not just Us involved.
I'm not saying the Iron Master himself is going to be the master negotiatior here, though he'll play his part. Contact Whisper about her, since she's been working in Our city for an unknown amount of time. This isnt done, either be in the loop in Team Red, or take the Black.

>>20884354
Leave a few rats behind as spies, make sure they are hidden. I want eyes on that mansions.

>>20884372
Retrieve the bot, plan the assault with us and the Damio and the vampire hunter. You know that the Damio's would not take our idea of negotiating with the vampire very well.

Alright, then, that still leaves Julio with three actions to spend. The plan was to have him build up some sets on your new turf. What sorts, in which neighborhoods, and what'll they be called? Remember that he can only make 1 set per action and that the Goblins still have one set lying around.

>>20884418
We dont know that either.
He might be ok with bringing her to the table what with wanting to get his Japanese On Her and everything. I joke.

>>20884430
Wait, did we burn both of our actions as the Iron master? How?

>>20884430
What ever sort the goblins had on the turf before I guess.

>>20884430
Good guard and worker sets, with command or guard mech support. since the goblins might bring supernatural assistance to bear. Drugs seems to make the money there from raves, although thats likely where the vampires are hanging out too.

>>20884439
We recruited all of our current henchmen by saving their lives. You suggest too recruit the next one from someone we:
1. Openly destroyed their gang and powerbase
2. Killed all of her minions
3. Killed her boyfriend.
4. has a powerful vampire hunter with an unknown organization behind him after her life.

>>20884430
take out the last set first. Shouldn't be hard. Use the Tugsteen guard.

>>20884448

Oh, no. You spent one scouring the sewers but then you also have one of those left. Forgot to mention that, my apologies.

I'm glad I made the rules public, I seem to be slipping up on them a lot this past week or so...

>>20884543
Then call up the damio and vampire hunter. Lets kill the vampire already. If only to stop the continuous whining.

>>20884456

You don't know exactly what that sort were.

>>20884492

By guard set you mean...Footmen? Bruisers? What?

>>20884585

There isn't a "kill the vampire" button you can just press. What is your plan? You don't even know where she is.

>>20884585
And a fine go to hell to you too then.
We need to get more info on her before we make a hard push, We can tell she has to have one or both of the doctors, moving in to crush everything puts them as risk, especially since the vampire hunter will kill every vamp he sees, and i've no impression as to why she wouldnt thrall the two of them to make them more enamored with her.

>>20884599
We have 32 resources, so grab an elite sheilding set, and a worker set. put them on the hookers and robbery to maximize profits. But first, kill the damn vampire.

Hookup flame throwers to the mechs, and search for "towers" with a direct connection to the sewer system. Possibly near the manor.

>>20884612
raid the mansion in strenght. The command bots and terminators form a cordon, Damio, hunter and the other two mechs wreck stuff. Fortunately, the doctor seems to be in a different facility, so we shouldn't have to worry about running into them.

>>20884683
No, let's not do that,

We have the captured bot.
Let's crack it's memory and suck out the delicious information. We can potentially find the manufacturing area, as well as other locations shes made this bot guard.

>>20884724
Okay, suck info out first, but I want to deal with the witch this week, don't give her time to get away.

>>20884753
She's already moved from this apparent Manor, or is trac-

Fuck.
Build a Guard Mech for here, NOW. She might be coming 'right' for us already, could she has found our own ectoplasmic signature because of our machine?

>>20884830
we have defenses. Plus we're on a island, I'm not even sure she can get over here.

You put down an elite set in Bel Air and then a worker set in Culver City. You'll need names for these two. Then Julio heads to a Kobold hideout, fires off a few bolts of plasma more or less at random straight through the wall, and walks off without even bothering to check the aftermath. The Kobolds, already a jury-rigged set employed to patch up holes in a sinking ship that is now totally defunct except for them, soon scatter, leaving Marina del Ray vacant and officially putting an end to the Goblin Gang (though not to Carmille Lestrade, who is also part of the objective for Blood In The Water).

The Iron Master has one action left and those shiny new sets need names. Now what?

Also, I have a D&D game I need to GM in an hour, so I'll have to end the quest for today then.

crack open the captured bot. COMPLETELY map out the underground so we can use it to quickly and stealthily transport troops.

>>20884992
Can we hack whatever is in the bot without taking an action? If so, do that. Then have us, the Damio and the hunter raid the mansion

>>20885064
we need to deal with the vampire now, we can map the underground next week, and we will never know the difference.

>>20884992
Hmm
Silver Guard?
Carbon Sheild?
Bronze Blades?

>>20884992
Notify Mesmer, Cat, Kestral, Daimyo, Deadeye, and Bouncer.
Useful villains we'd worked with and Kestral.
We're dealing with a magic using vampire seductress who can raise an army of the dead, dont want them getting caught unawares. (Mesmer also gives us an edge in the bargaining table, or interrogation table.)

Kestral learns that this vampire might have her father or his colleague. We're working on narrowing down her location, and we'll go about this carefully.

JJ gets to know the Goblins have completely broken down thanks to The Iron Master.

And shit, check the Nightmare Goblins for vampires! They work for us now eitherway, so even not vamp ones might know something that'll help.

>>20885116
I think our naming scheme is that the powerful set get name Something Guard, while the weak set get named Something Legion. Helps keep things strait.

>>20885097
>>20885076
Guys, seriously, We Dont Know Where She Is. When we searched the place with rats we found not-AW FUCK. Can Vampires even be recorded? Are these the ones that dont show on mirrors? I mean, the floating book?

>>20885135
Bouncer is in jail. Mesmer's powers won't work on undead. We don't have the money to hire deadeye. We certainly don't want villains to see us work with kestral.

>>20885165
right, but there is a mansion, with undead in it that we didn't go inside. Where do you think we should look? Cause I've got a good idea of where to start.

>>20885171
Didnt we break him out when Chimera saved mesmer okata and julio?

And it's more to notify them about zombies and vampires running about so they dont get caught unawares. they dont get to be in a conference call with kestral.

>>20885242

No, you did not. Bouncer is still in the Towers.

The bot doesn't have a whole lot of information on where it was built or anything, but it does have patrol routes and such, as well as about an hour's worth of patrol footage. It left an underground lab beneath Downtown referred to in its databanks as Omnus Base and took a patrol that comes near the lair, but it is explicitly programmed to avoid getting too close. Then you shut it down.

>>20885267
Hmmm.
Idea then, shortly after we deal with her, Project Zomboid mechs can control the remaining zeds and send them to attack the Towers and try and break out Bouncer
"Oh, she saved you? Didnt know that yet, we kind destroyed her."
And Master gets more of the people's cred

25 minutes 'till my D&D game is on, so thread is archived here:

>http://suptg.thisisnotatrueending.com/archive/20879444/

Vote Super Villain Quest this November.

This isn't really a good time to start a major confrontation, so let's roll a d20 for storming the manor or not, and if we do storm it we'll save that for tomorrow. Also, still no solid names. How's Carbon Guard and Carbon Legion sound? Someone mentioned Carbon stuff, and it fits the naming scheme.

Well, my audience has evaporated in a hurry and my D&D game is on pretty much now, so let's pick this up tomorrow.

quick question, what kind of benefit would we get if we raided the vampires library?

>>20888362
We'd get Heresy. Heresy everywhere.
I could see us finding a few cool spellbooks or something. Maybe some really old designs or something.

>>20892370
We would also kill the mean vampire lady who doesn't like us very much. And get 4XP. And we might be able to recruit this vampire hunter, he seems grey enough to work for us.

>>20892950
Spellbooks? 4XP? A new ally with cool new magic toys? I like this.

Meh, I'm starting to get into the habit of starting this thing an hour late. Anyways, since old thread is still around, let's run this from here. One action left. Let's go.

>>20888362

No way to know for sure until you get in there.

>>20892370

This is a pretty reasonable guess, though.

>>20892950

Worth noting that all you have to do is "defeat" Carmille, an intentionally vaguely defined term to allow multiple approaches to the events. Obviously, though, killing her would accomplish this.

This thread can't be autosaging already. Is today a bad day for this?

Yeah, guess I'll try this again later.

>>20893696
Fuck and I just got my modem working again. Ah well.

>>20893696
>>20893292
So, later as in a few hours from now, or tomorrow?

>>20894231

Later as in now. Figured my audience might just be distracted with a more interesting thread or something and might turn up later. Front page seemed pretty normal to me, but maybe my taste is just weird.

Anyway, if people want to play, I'll give it another shot now.

>>20894408
I had somewhere I had to be between 2:40-4 east
coast coast time, So I missed the start of the thread.
Anyway, yeah raid the mansion. use this general plan: >>20884683

>>20894467
If we clear the dead things out, can we setup an outpost there? Mostly so these... things... stop moving in?

>>20894820
I suppose, but we have to clear them out first.

>>20894467

Sorry, moderately distracted by something. Back now.

You've gathered Harker and Okata into an office above a bar that the Nightmare Goblins use as a hideout to plan your assault on the underground manor. "So," Okata says, "you are the one who stole from me the glory of victory against those vampires."

"You're welcome," Harker responds.

"I did not need your help. Everything was under control," Okata says.

"I don't like taking chances," Harker says.

"Gentlemen, please," your robotic decoy says, "we need to focus on the battles ahead of us, not the ones in the past." Okata still looks irate, but turns towards you, waiting. You turn on a television which pulls up a grainy feed from the rats in the manor. In a few days you'll have better video equipment installed in all these hideouts, but for now this will have to do. "We've found a lot of zombies and signs of habitation down here, but there's no sign of Carmille," you say, "we're going to storm the place looking for clues."

"This is a camera feed, right?" Harker asks. You nod. "Vampires won't show up on camera, no reflection."

"I thought that might be the case," you say, flipping to the rat in the library, the book still floating some fifteen feet off the ground. "If this one can fly, she might be here."

"She can, but she likes to leave ghosts around doing things like this, to act as decoys," Harker says.

"I haven't found anything else unusual. We'll assume that she's in the library for now, but be prepared for an ambush," you say. "Daimyo, we'll need you leading the attack, of course. I'd prefer you work with my mechs as backup and let them handle most of the zombie horde, however," you continue, "to my understanding this Carmille is a formidable opponent, but she's no Swordsman. You should have no difficulty defeating her, but only if you arrive fresh for the fight. If you spend yourself on her hordes while she's reading bodice rippers, she may be able to get the upper hand on you."

"Your plan is a good one," Okata says, "the time has come to finally crush these Goblins."

You nod at Okata, and then turn to Harker. "You'll be coming in as backup from the other side," you say, "if Carmille has some ploy up her sleeve, you can even the odds."

With a smirk, Harker responds "got it, I'll be there."

>>20894974
Unrelated to this post, but just letting you know that you appear to be in autosage, boss.
Been looking at the catalog and you haven't bumped from what I can see.

Also, >>20885165 called it. Go anon.

>>20895004

It's still frontpaging for me.

>>20895004
Whoops!
Catalog lists the threads by creation date, not what order they are actually in.
Sorry for the mixup!

>>20894974
commence the storming

>>20894995
Could you please post the list of the available 'bots and mechs?
If we can swing it, we should send in a Command Node mech with a full compliment of Termies to mop up the zombies and focus our attentions on any mechs we have available to send in. Preferably something fast.

Though for this outing, Rica can absolutely NOT go if this chick is as good with necromancy as she's reported to be. God knows she'll have some way to ensnare wandering undead.

>>20895153
I think after we beat up swordsman we got into the habit of custom tailoring our Mech selection for each mission. For this mission I would suggest:
2 Command
With 33 Warrior bots and 3 rats each
2 Blitz

>>20895062

Storming commenced.

Your bots file into the underground, a pair of command mechs staying behind the lines while directing about half a hundred terminators down below, while you send battle mechs in along with Okata through the main entrance. Upon their arrival, the zombies turn their heads and sprint towards the bots, but are blown away by a hail of assault rifle fire (and the mechs' plasma rifles) before they can do any significant damage to anything, particularly since their bare hands, zombie strength or not, aren't doing much against your bots' body armor. It would appear that you are dealing with modern zmobies and not the shambling type, though. That might've made things tricky if you weren't coming in very large numbers.

Harker has a much smaller bot escort, just four combat terminators sneaking in through the back door. It's not long before a pair of vampire thralls arrives in front of the door to the main hall. "Mister Harker," one says, "how nice of you to join us. Miss Lestrade is waiting for you inside. She won't be seeing your friends, however. She is not fond of mechanical guests."

"So what you're saying is I can either fight you two and Carmille alone and at the same time, or I can do it with these four bots and in two separate fights?" Harker asks. The vampires glance at one another, and then Harker opens fire.

>>20895280
Ah, the benefits of overwhelming strength

It doesn't take long for Harker's plasma rifle to tear through the vampire thralls, and the battle at the entrance is still raging when he arrives in the library, the sounds of gunfire and splattered zombies distant. The book is closed now as it floats about, slides itself into a shelf, and another one is pulled out, but presumably this is Carmille, as she begins speaking to Harker from a few stacks over. "Your friends always make such a mess," she says, "do you know how hard it is replace the things in my manor? Some of them are priceless artifacts."

"Can we skip to the part where I set you on fire?" Harker asks, while sending a request to a command mech to give him her location on the ratcam you've left in the library. She slides the new book back into its place on the shelf, however, leaving your cameras with nothing to look for.

"You're never any fun," Carmille says, her voice floating about the library while Harker scans the stacks for her, the bots close behind. "Whatever happened to your crossbow, anyway? That was a weapon with some class."

"I prefer the weapon that gets the job done," Harker says.

"I think you just like fire," Carmille says, "like how you burned down Michael's house in the Amazon. That thing was huge, it must have taken you weeks to burn up every room."

"Like I was gonna hunt through a hundred thousand square feet of treehouse labyrinth for some leech," Harker says, "I just dropped three tons of napalm on him." And then, out of the corner of his eye, Carmille attacks. He spins around and fires off a burst of plasma at her, but she dives out of the way. The bots open fire in the same general direction, but they're blind. Landing on one, Carmille drags it with her into the air, ripping and tearing away at it. Once its destroyed, the library falls silent again. Irritated, Harker begins firing bolts of plasma into the stacks. "Can't hide once everything's on fire, Carmille," he shouts, firing more blasts, "why don't you save us both some time and just come fight me now?"

>>20895757
move the bots to the entrances to block them physically . She doesn't get out. Furthermore, have the main force push harder.

The entrance hall is also on fire, meanwhile, thanks to all the flamethrowers you stuck on your blitz mechs coming in. The Daimyo occasionally fights a straggling, half-burned zombie, but is mostly saving his strength for the confrontation in the library. Now he makes a break through the last few zombies, clustered around the door, slashing through them and kicking the door to the library down, only to find that it's been pre-ignited for his convenience.

"I thought you were supposed to be providing backup?" Okata says, glowering.

"Change in plans," Harker says, "turns out Carmille hasn't really figured out how plasma guns work yet." He fires a few more bolts into the stacks, lighting some more books on fire. "I'm starting to get the hang of it, though."

"Stop ruining all the books," Okata says, "those could be valuable."

"Most of 'em aren't magic," Harker says.

"Have you been avoiding the magic ones, then?" Okata asks.

"I dunno, where does necromancy fit into the Dewey Decimal system?" Harker asks, firing another bolt out.

>>20896083
"It apears that plasma guns will revolutionize the industry. Oh, and please stop burning the books."

Carmille comes tearing out of the burning stacks, lifting Harker off his feet and tossing him into the blaze. He rolls out, patting down his trenchcoat while Carmille turns on him, dodging around his plasma bolts in the air. She flies towards him, her beautiful visage replaced with one of horrifying monstrosity as her claws rips through him, sending him staggering away while trying to line up a shot. Okata rushes to engage her, but she flies away before he can, leaving him with nothing to do but scowl.

Carmille rips the rifle out of Harker's hands and then flies back up into the air, casually tearing the weapon in half. "No more toys, boys!" she says, "what now?"

Okata runs up the side of a burning stack and then leaps off, colliding with Carmille and driving his durant katana through her chest, which pins her to the ground when he hits the floor. "Now you stay down, witch!" Okata says.

Carmille kicks him off of herself, launching him into the air, and then pulls the blade out of her chest, advancing on Okata with it while Harker rips out a stake from the burning wood all around, and your mechs burst through the door. Normally they'd be blind to Carmille, but it's pretty easy to determine her approximate location from the position Okata's sword is floating in.

>Did we ever decide for or against a diplomatic approach? I forget, but I'm pretty sure we decided to just torch her.

>>20896203
Yes just torch her

>>20896203
Make all our bots start playing fire water burn in unison.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6xJW7foStBY

"We don't need no water let the motherfucker burn, burn motherfucker!"

Okata ducks and dodges around Carmille's blows until he finally catches the sword in one gauntlented hand. "Give me that back," he says, tugging on the sword. Your mechs open fire on her, plasma bolts screaming to bathe the entire area, stopping just a foot or so short of Okata, and she lets go to avoid them, caught in the shoulder by a stray bolt anyway. She howls as her elegant black and red dress lights up, her hair burning away and her skin blackening. And then she begins growing, her bones cracking and rearranging themselves as she transforms into a massive bat monster, bellowing with rage.

She charges the mechs, dodging plasma bolts fired blind and bats one of the two aside, sending it crashing into the wall, then begins tearing the electronic guts out of the other. Both mechs turn their plasma guns on her approximate location, and she howls with fury again as the bolts sear at her skin, tearing the head off of one mech and tossing it into the other. The headless mech is destroyed, but the other gets back to its feet and opens fire again, hitting the monster square in the chest, but the burns heal at a prodigious rate. Okata and Harker leap back into the fray, Okata ducking under her now-massive claws and slashing her throat. Blood spills out, but she is barely even slowed as she barrels towards him, knocking him off his feet with a bone-crunching blow. Carmille turns back to the mech, which fires, relying on luck more than anything else to hit her. She batters the mech relentlessly, her regeneration far outpacing its ability to hit her, and then finally pins it down, slowly smashing the delicate circuitry in its chest to pieces straight through its thick outer shell. And then Okata leaps onto her back, shoving a spare piece of wood into where he guesses her heart would be. His guess is correct, and with a desperate scream, she is reduced to ash.

Breathing heavily, Okata begins limping towards the exit, his shattered right arm dripping blood on the ground while the fire rages around him. Staggering away from the wreckage, Harker put an arm around his shoulder and begins helping him to hobble away.

You have completed Blood in the Water and received 4 XP.

>>20896585
Will the Damio heal up normally, or do we need to give him cancer? Either way, have the bots salvage what can be salvaged.

>>20896635

His left (non-dominant) arm is probably permanently mangled, though everything else will heal up normally. Not much has made it out of the fire, but you do retrieve some books dealing with various methods of zombification which will allow you to buy the Reanimate Zombie power at half the normal cost, as well as some general books on necromancy...Which are old news, because you already have the necromancy set unlocked. So instead you just get an extra 2 XP from that, as it's always nice to learn of some different ways to approach things even if there's not an immediately noticeable boost in your power. Sort of like how the end result of a "hello world" program is identical whether it's C++ or Python, but the second one is so much easier and more satisfying.

>>20896794
And I presume a single does of cancer will have him back in tip top shape? Tell him it's a much reduced version of the cancer serum. That trick Kestral pulled gave us the idea.
And 6 XP, yummy. Anyone have any good ideas how to spend it?
I'm thinking either bumping our power score up to 4 for more bots, or buying super strength. Either way we can put the remaining 2xp into Athletics to make us slightly less pathetic in combat.

>>20896794
In that case let him know that we have done some research into tissue regeneration and could probably help him fix his arm, given that he trusts us enough to poke him with needles.

>like how the end result of a "hello world" program is identical whether it's C++ or Python
Though personally we have always been a LISP kind of guy.

>>20896867
First we need to talk to the Damio to split the take from the goblins.

>>20896909
Yeah, I change my vote to not telling him where we got it.

>>20896867

I think you're the only one here. The XP cost for increasing ACTIONS was cut in half, though. It hasn't been added into the rules yet because I prefer to wait until the revisions build up a little and deliver them all at once (v.0.5 is probably going to come with updated Nature Powers, Earth Powers, XP cost edits, some new combat maneuvers, and the rules for starting up legit businesses to fund your criminal activities, Lex Luthor style).

>>20896867
>>20896917

Oh, maybe I do have more than one person around today. That's cool.

>>20896794
Ok, now next squad is to move fast on anything soldi about the Robot guards. They didnt make an appearance for us this time, search the entire manor for technology, notes, logs, ect before it burns down with mechs and rats.

Crunch time people!

>>20897024

Fortunately, only about half the manor is burning down, which gives you enough time to make a fairly thorough search. You find plenty of priceless artifacts which you snag for a total of ten resources, but there's no sign of any technology or any more of the iRobots (this version has dropped the Apple aesthetic but whatever).

>>20897024
The mechs are in another castle I think. On that note, place a call to Kestral.

>>20897116

About her father and/or his old colleague possibly being alive and hiding in the tunnels?

>>20897233
Also 'maybe' a vampire.

We killed the master vampire though, so he-

Hey Van Hellsing, whats up with vampires after their sire is killed? "My names not" Important right now.

>>20897233
yup. Suggest that she investigate it, because frankly us trying to figure out what is going on would probably end in a firefight. We will be linked in ofc.

Offer the vampire hunter the chance to purchase plasma weaponry from us. Considering how effective it was i am sure whatever organization he is part of will be willing to pay for some shipments.

i recommend purchasing the Shinigami power. Just in case we have to deal with another Super killer or a particular troublesome human. Basically a security measure and safety protocol.

>>20897329
TRhose two groups seem to have no connection, just mention that it's near where we wiped out that vampire coven.

>>20897373
I'll admit, I hate autodeath powers. Also, we don't have the XP.

>>20897384
Seem to, just covering our bases.

>>20897416
Also, any power that lets us kill the president, VP, the entire cabinet, both houses of congress and the Supreme Court from the safety of our lair is kinda silly.

>>20897329

Harker can tell you that vampires without a sire retain a powerful affection for their dead sire and may fly into a rage if their memory is insulted somehow, and will often pursue their sire's old schemes for a while following their death. Eventually, however, the affection fades, at which point they are basically unthralled vampires.

>>20897416

Shinigami is super-expensive for a reason, plus you need someone's name and face for it to work. That's just ripped from Death Note, of course, but those two facts are conveniently things which supers of all sort are already in the habit of keeping secret, which was handy for balance purposes.

Regardless, you go ahead and make the call to Kestrel, and she promises to investigate along the patrol route you pulled out of the captured iRobot.

With that, you're out of actions, so one moment while I get ready for the first week of March. The weather would be changing except that the weather never changes in Los Angeles.

Oh, my, I was just about done but I really have to turn around and leave this very instant. So I guess we'll get to March later tonight. I'll be gone for two or three hours but I can get this next event rolling before tomorrow.

>>20897791
So, it wasn't Chimera Murdering us, but plot happening?

>>20897853
The Iron Master is really an armchair general anyway.

Maybe we should rig up island wide surveillance and a tapping network for all traffic coming to and from catalina island. Boost our own security and we know who is coming to the tower.

>>20897893
I more meant slaughtering our unshielded sets, but that too.

Rolled 95

>>20897534
I see super strength but no super intelligence powers why is that?

>>20897952
1. Intelligence isn't a stat.
2. Super intelligence is represented by having a tech background and then making superpowers with SCIENCE!

>>20897952
maybe he didnt make any because he hadnt thought of it to start and then, with Smith Sterling, we're the peak of human intelligence already

Rolled 91

>>20897988
ok then i vote we spend xp and Resources:to up our tech skill

>>20898041
Except that we can make mechs that are better hackers than we currently are, and we are the best in the city right now. It's athletics, power and health (particularly athletics) that are in a near constant arms race in this game.

>>20898140
They use our own finely crafted algorithms and hacking scrips amplified by our own fine touch.

Who was the Artificer really? A technomage, or a mundane but supremely intelligent fellow like us?

Rolled 97

>>20898222
why haven't we freed him yet or at least set up a way to talk with him?

>>20898641
People dont want to free him as he might hack our own bots to rebuild his robot army.

>>20898641
Also, we have no idea what he would do in general. But we do not that releasing him would bring some heavy hitters to our city.

>>20897952

There are super intelligence powers. It's called the Machines set.

>>20898222

As far as anyone knows, just a ridiculously smart roboticist, just like the Iron Master.

>>20898764

He killed the world's most beloved super hero, which makes him borderline Team Black, not in the "both Teams hate him" way that Swordsman was, but in the "Team Blue hates him so much that nearly everyone on Team Red won't risk associating with him" way. When he surrendered, a bunch of heroes wanted to execute him on the spot rather than turn him over to the courts. Basically the only reason they didn't is because it's not what Paragon would've wanted.

With that sorted out: March.

The Ronin replace the Ashigaru Roku and put them in Santa Monica, shift the Heimin into Marina del Ray which they ruin to Hookers, and then spend what resources they have left to bribe up the Samurai from the brink of extinction and launch a counterattack on the Santos Espada. With their irreplaceable Verdugos sets hurting bad and on the brink of collapse, the Santos shuffle some expendable worker sets to the front lines and call off their attacks. The Family move the Marino Outfit, replacements for the Colombo Outfit who are not as strong but still nothing to be messed with, into Palms, filling up the rest of Westside, and then raise up a new specialist set to take the Marino Outfit's place.

Then Chimera takes their turn. They dump a bunch of resources on Dead Eye and attach him to the First Aggressor Division, bumping the Warfare of what was already more powerful than an elite set through the stratosphere. The First Aggressor Division uses their insane Warfare to level the Silver Guard in one blow, and then the Second Aggressors move in with the Enforcers to double-team the Platinum Guard, and while they're able to do some damage to the Second Aggressors on the way out, the Platinum Guard also collapses.

Normally this would be when things come back around to your turn, but from the tunnels below a new threat emerges. Because you have them mapped, the iRobots are unable to circumvent your shielding and attack the vulnerable Carbon Legion, so instead they hit the slightly less vulnerable Nightmare Goblins, who hadn't even finished fist-bumping the Avalon Legion over being reunited when the Nightmares were overrun by what you dub Network One, a set from below apparently from the mysterious Omnus Base.

Also, a few things about gang management, some of which aren't made clear in the rules and probably should be. First off, turn order is:

Iron Guard
Goblin Gang (Defunct)
Ronin
The Family
Santos Espada
Hounds
Stalkers
Nine Rollers (Defunct)
Chimera
Omnus

Second off, shielding sets can remain shielding even when they're attacking someone else and even if you change the exact location of the two sets, so long as both sets are still in the same region. It takes an action to get a set to start shielding another set, but afterwards it's automatic. A single set can only take one action a turn and that includes changing location, however, so if you move a set from Santa Monica back to Palos Verdes, they cannot immediately begin shielding either of your exposed sets (the Avalon Legion and the Silver Legion). However, being created does not count as an action for the set which is created, so if you make new sets, they can immediately begin shielding.

My audience usually begins dying about thirty minutes from now so this probably won't go very far, but I got all excited about the beginning of March and the nice big "welcome to the mid-game for realsies" it comes with. Action Points are full and, with the loot from the manor, resources are at 40, highest they've ever been, so now what?

Oh, a few more things I'd forgot, even though I doubt many people will see it unless they read through this in archive form later on. First, your ghostly spies have noticed a young woman who's been visiting Chimera facilities a lot, but she doesn't appear to be with the organization. She doesn't dress like them, seems anxious around them, and regularly sleeps in a totally normal apartment.

Daimyo Okata contacts you. He says he can take care of Santa Monica for you, but not with the resources he currently has. The attacks from the Santos Espada have nearly bled him dry. With 18 resources, however, he can rebuild rapidly enough to fend off the Santos Espada and clean up Santa Monica for the two of you without any assistance, so that you can focus all your actions and remaining resources on dealing with Chimera. He realizes it's kind of a steep request, but he just doesn't have the resources to fight a two-front war on the heels of his fight with the Goblins, especially if the Family gets involved.

File: 1348810035126.jpg-(18 KB, 480x360, One More Thing.jpg)

You're going to need to actually spend an action to set up the fake heist where Cat "steals" a plasma cannon to deal with Behemoth. Also, Tarot has decided there's never going to be a better time to go on a crackdown against you. Also, also, here's an updated events list:

Cat And Mouse
Objective: Defeat Behemoth
Reward: 3 XP

Rise Of The Machines
Objective: Destroy the Omnus Networks in Westside
Reward: 3 XP

Wheel of Fate
Objective: Defeat Tarot
Reward: 3 XP

>>20901312
How much xp would we get if we wiped out chimera LA division in one turn? Cause I'mma do it!