THIS QUEST IS NEWBIE FRIENDLY

Though I question how many people are going to want to jump right into the endgame, I have nonetheless worked to keep the thread as easy to pickup midway through as possible. This plot summary:

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

Will get you caught up in 6400 words rather than 30 separate threads. If those 30 separate threads sound like a cool time to you, the archive is here:

>http://suptg.thisisnotatrueending.com/archive.html?tags=Super%20Villain%20Quest

THE IRON MASTER
Health: 1 (3)
Power: 4 (12)

Athletics: 2
Cunning: 3
Technology: 5
Insight: 2
Observation: 3
Nefariousness: 2
Stealth: 1

Powers: Super Strength, Super Speed, AI, SynthSkin, Model T, Mobile Dolls, Ghost

Whisperer, Deathless

>Link to rules (including powers list): http://pastebin.com/cVXaZb4x

Action Points:

The Iron Master: 1/2
Julio Pedone: 2/3
Rica Rivera: 0/2
Red Death: 1/2

Resources: 23
XP: 1

When we last left off: Asrael. Asrael everywhere.

woop woop!

File: 1351447841959.jpg-(1.45 MB, 1600x1162, Villain Quest Gang Map 3.jpg)

Dammit, I keep forgetting to post the map with the post with the sheet and the links and such.

The map is actually out of date: The Hounds and Stalkers have collapsed and the Iron Guard have taken their territory (except for a small piece handed to the Ronin). Also, while Chimera hasn't actually lost any territory, they have almost completely collapsed, so the Long Beach area is going to be vacant or changing hands in the immediate future.

>>21326720
I thought act 4 was the endgame. Anyway, Convincing the family that we didn't do it is easy, after all, if we did do it, half of their sets would be attacking the other half. As you mentioned last thread, we do have a strategy. Also, I know you like to run multiple rounds of combat to speed things up, but please leave our mortal minions the option to run from an obviously lopsided fight before they get murdered.

>>21326802

Well, fair point in general, but the fight wasn't lopsided. Red Death has amazing Insight and his Athletics is pretty much maxed. Asrael was two hits away from death (or one particularly lucky hit) when he managed to get a lucky shot on Red Death.

Bump?

>>21327062
Oh, okay. Anyway, We know where Asreal is, Call Amp And tell him that the prick just blew up our peace conference, and his location. We'll try to keep the rest of Team Red from blowing up half the city. Then get on a conference call with the Family, Ronin and Espada. (quick question for posterity, could we have sent Rica to backup Red Death even though she was out of action points?)

>>21327354

You could not. She is, presumably, busy fighting Chimera during all of this.

You inform Amp of Asrael's location, and once again he makes no response except to begin heading towards him to try and intercept. The Santos Espada doesn't take your call, but representatives from the Family and the Ronin connect. "What do you want?" the Ronin rep asks.

Rolled 83

>>21327611
Asreal wounded and on the move

give him the location

>>21327611
Give them the quick run down of what happened.

>>21327699

What do you want the Ronin to do about Asrael? Their villain just died.

>>21327765

The Family rep responds with little more than a poker face and asking what exactly you're proposing. The Ronin rep is a bit more openly suspicious, but mentions that they will stand by the alliance and are still in favor of the ceasefire. Color the Family unsurprised.

Rolled 18

>>21327891
attack he was the one probable who killed him take your pound of flesh
same for family

>>21327891
Simple, the Ceasefire goes into effect. If necessarily we can move some forces out of ex goblin Territory (and into Compton) to give the family a bit of room to expand, plus maybe let the Santos Expand into Compton. (we start from ceasefire in place and bargain down) Also, if they think we did it, then why the hell did we have zero follow through?

>>21327953

Yes, but how? Even if Asrael couldn't clear out packs of low-Insight mooks practically at-will, he can fly and is really fast. Sending anyone without speed powers after him is basically throwing your men into a meat grinder until Asrael decides the risk is too great or he's just bored and flies off.

>>21328021

The Ronin are, naturally, still all for the ceasefire. The Family are opposed to it, because they still have a hell of a lot to gain from helping the Santos smack the Ronin around, now more than ever since the Daimyo isn't around to make a mess for them. However, if both you and the Ronin will cede Santa Monica to the Family, they'll agree to a ceasefire. The Ronin are willing to roll with this only if you can promise them either Eastside or half of Compton in return.

The Santos Espada did not respond to the call, so eh. Who knows.

>>21328376
To be fair, if they had photon, a single pair of boxcars could drop him. Also, agree to the deal and promise the Ronin half of compton (If it wasn't for the national guard we could probably table the Family and Santos, oh well. We need some peace and quiet for a bit)

>>21328521

Okay, so the Family and the Ronin are on board with ceasefire under those terms. Now what are you going to do about the Santos Espada?

>>21328733
They accept the terms, or they fight us and the Ronin 2 on 1. With the entire city knowing that they wouldn't even sit down at the table after Asreal bombed the initial peace conference. They might last two weeks without Asreal's open support. With his support things will be tougher, but they'll be the number one target for Team Blue.

>>21328862

Problem is, they're not responding to calls. For that matter, neither is Whisper, when you try to have him send the message through. He's fallen completely silent.

>>21328977
Ghost Recon Whisper's last known location. I doubt it will work with Asreal on the scene, but its worth a shot. (especially sine in the Damio we have a more dedicated than usual tracker) In the meantime, call up the dead espada guy, and ask him how to get his pals on the line.

>>21329046

The ghost recon doesn't show any sign of Whisper. It mostly looks like just a spare floor in an office building. It does show, however, that Red Death appears to have survived Asrael's attack. He is visibly moving about slightly, though his life signs show as negative on your monitors.

Morales is still uncertain as to whether he should be helping you at all. That said, he says sending someone to physically speak with the Santos Espada should be safe, since they were never actually at war with the Iron Guard, just the Ronin.

>>21329383
... How'd he pull that one off? (willing to bet it's an attempt by Asreal to track us down to our lair.) Well anyway, send a few people from our gang who are competent to bring him back. In the meantime send one of our officers (not an actual henchmen, just an officer) over to the Espada to talk to them.

>>21329502
Not to our actual lair though. Oh, and how long does everyone have to accomplish this territorial redistribution?

>>21329502

While you send your tiny men to look after your henchmen and the borders, Amp catches up with Asrael. Neither of the two are mic'd, so you're not sure exactly what happens, but it's clear by the time that the news cameras have shown up that Asrael has won. He is again breathing hard, but Amp is beaten, bloodied, and singed. Asrael is holding him a few feet off the ground by his collar and saying something, but he drops Amp and leaves when the news team shows up.

Meanwhile, your minions are able to recover the Red Death, while your officer arrives in Santos Espada territory. The Terceros Calle seem like they're probably the most important guys left in the Santos, so he heads to San Gabriel for a chat with them. Though suspicious, one of their own officers agrees to speak with you, though they won't let you in to see the set leader (who is, at this stage, very nearly leader of the entire gang, given how little influence the other sets have in comparison to the Terceros Calle). After some discussion and occasionally sending a flunkie to check in with the Santos boss, they eventually agree to a ceasefire, but only if you agree to cede either the other half of Compton or else half of Long Beach to them.

>>21329536

It's presumably going to take place over the next 2-3 weeks while everyone waits for the heat to blow over and martial law to get taken off the table.

>>21329778
Okay, just making sure that everyone doesn't expect us to do it this week. They'll get "half" of Compton (three sets worth giving them and the Ronin equal numbers given the destruction of part of downtown). So us and the Family will be equal in size, same with the Ronin and Espada. Except for the fact that we have three supers, and access to photon and Aegis.

>>21329745
Point out its either Cease fire or the National Guard cracks down on everyone, play up the whole "shooting gang members on sight" thing. They'll cease fire or be eliminated by the american government.

>>21329952

Santos Espada are basically all street criminals and zealots. They are not super bright with regards to anything they haven't personally experienced, so to them, the National Guard coming in just sounds like more cops, which is something they can handle (especially since the amount of actual cops has taken such a downward plunge in the last year or so).

>>21330015
Frankly, the only thing that surprises me is that the city resorts to the National Guard before the FBI.

>>21330075

In retrospect, it probably would've been better to have had the FBI making some noise back in Act II. Would've given Team Blue a more consistent presence in that act, would've made the current escalation more logical. Oh, well.

When the Red Death is brought back to one of your satellite bases in Compton, you find him suffering from mostly second degree burns. He's badly injured and won't be doing much this week, but he isn't dead and should be just fine by next week.

Action Points:

The Iron Master: 1/2
Julio Pedone: 2/3
Rica Rivera: 0/2
Red Death: 0/2

Resources: 23
XP: 1

Rolled 40

>>21330340
lets do some research with the alien

>>21330369

What kind of research?

>>21330432
>>21330369
First thing first, take out the last Chimera set. I think the bruiser on our home Island is our best bet. Mechs will storm the most the place they are keeping the stealth jet, and fill it with plasma before it can fly. Then Julio starts rebuilding our downed sets by putting down two worker sets.

Rolled 84

>>21330716
that works too

>>21330716

The Quicksilver Guard attacks the Second Logistics Division. Upon discovering the location of the stealth craft after seizing their headquarters in a fairly simple firefight, you send in your mechs backed by the Guard to take it out before it can get airborne. Unfortunately, Chimera's ready for you with a pair of their own walker-mechs. By focusing fire on the craft as it cloaks, the mechs are able to destroy it, but nearly all of your own mechs are lost in the process. The Quicksilver guard takes fairly heavy casualties during the fight, but it is done. Chimera is gone from the city and their stealth craft has been brought down.

Chimera's been shuffling around their most sensitive information to keep it away from you, but now that they've run out of places to hide it, you've come across some interesting information. Nothing involving their technical specs, unfortunately, but lots of archives.

Chimera captured Span and Dandurand in the immediate aftermath of the detonation under Vernon Square. Whisper informed them via text (so it would seem he was screening their calls as well) that someone else was interested in purchasing their hostages, and confirmed that it wasn't the Iron Master, but rather a villainous organization from San Francisco called the Metahuman Brotherhood. A hefty sum was offered, and Chimera agreed to the trade-off. Asrael ambushed the trade-off, however, making off with the good doctors. They had an ongoing investigation into Droids Do that was put on hiatus when they started their final battle with you. You also discover the reason for their attack. They'd decided that with EdenTech and other, less notable tech companies well and truly looted, the only use LA had left was in your own technology, so they decided to pour just about everything they had into seizing and stealing that. To that end, they brokered an agreement between themselves, the Santos Espada, and the Family to keep the Ronin out of their hair while they attacked the Iron Guard. When that didn't work out, they decided to do their best to burn the city to ashes behind them. They had a few chemical attacks ready to go, so it's fortunate you stopped them when you did.

You have completed the Sting of the Chimera and Arrows of Bellerophon events, netting yourself a total of 8 XP.

Rolled 20

>>21331009
I think we were going to unlock monster form with that

lets look for the good doctors

>>21331009
Cool, Lets call the mayor and tell him that we seized a bunch of chemical weapons from chimera, who had apparently decided on scorched earth tactics, and could you please take them off my hands. Don't want anyone to think we are stockpiling that crap.

>>21331009
Did the deal include giving either the family or the Espada any tech?

>>21331062

That'd be 4 XP to unlock Shapeshifting and 4 XP more to unlock Monster Form itself. What kind of transformation were you going to go with?

>>21331170

He sends in a SWAT team to retrieve them from the Chimera warehouse you've found them in, which, naturally, you vacate before they arrive. This makes the news, of course, and your contacts in the media are able to spin it to help keep fear of martial law down in the sense of "hey, look, the regular cops can do things!"

Unfortunately, it also becomes pretty clear from all the member of Team Blue interviewed that although they're doing their best to keep martial law off the table (Amp specifically says that if martial law ever comes down, it means the heroes have failed the city and the government has been forced to come do their job for them), they still have every intention of taking out the one pillar left on the axis of evil that's been plaguing the city since November. And that pillar is, of course, the Iron Guard.

Behemoth publicly takes credit for finding the chemical weapons, although the Courier maintains this is just a publicity stunt and the Iron Master is really the one to be credited for saving the city from a chemical weapons attack.

>>21331204

Yes. The Santos Espada has Photon weaponry, but currently not the funds to develop it. The Family just got bought off with a bunch of extra cash.

Hey guys, don't forget that the alien is a Telepathic creature. That thing that Mesmer left us works best with telepaths.
Have the alien use it to learn what Mesmer left us.

I cannot post much because I'm on a phone, so, please someone suggest for this if we do not do it now.

Rolled 19

>>21331390
if we took Monster Form and had the stat drain hit mental stats would it effect some one with Deathless or just the body keeping us just as smart?

if so make it a +3 to Athletics +2 to Stealth -2 Technology and Nefariousness
how much durability could the form get us that's my idea


If not any one want a Mechagodzilla ? what could go wrong?

>>21331390
Athletics gets bumped by three, insight by two, Observation, Stealth, Tech and Cunning take the -2. Granted powers are Empathy and that other 1 star power in the same set. This is a pure combat transformation, we'll make up for our weakened observation by always working in a group with people who are better at it than we are.

>>21331556

Transformation always effects your stats, even if you're possessing another body. The transformation warps whatever body you happen to be in, regardless of whether or not it's yours.

>>21331621

Okay. We're fluffing this as some kind of extremis armor thing, right?

Also, for Julio's actions, where are you putting the sets, what kind of sets are they, and what should they be called? For reference, here's the empty Long Beach:

(Anaheim, Long Beach - Extortion)
(Santa Ana, Long Beach* - Robbery)
(Wilmington, Long Beach - Arms)
(Huntington Beach, Long Beach - Robbery)
(Long Beach - Robbery)
(Westminster, Long Beach - Hookers)

>>21331672
Two robbery neighborhoods. To deny team blue funds. Oh, and how do we change the specialty of our gang?

>>21331796
Worker sets. The Gold and Steel Legions

>>21331796

Still working out the rules for that. It'll be in v.0.7, which will probably roll out in a few days. Granted, it might not be worth doing at that stage, but at least it'll be there for the next city.

>>21331916

There's already a Steel Legion, so instead I brought back the Tungsten designation. I also updated the old Hound and Stalker sets to be in keeping with the naming scheme. I also cleared out the beaten sets from the wiki, just so we can get a solid look at how empty of crime the city is right now. Downtown and Eastside are both about as shot up as Palos Verdes, to boot. If the police had more funds, they'd be having a field day. Speaking of, it's their turn, so I'll go run the numbers and turn the glass over to the 2nd week of June.

>>21332029
One, we still owe the Ronin their Eastern Swords, if they still foot some of the bill, we will upgrade some of their men to super human levels. Beyond Made Man. Continue trying to cooperate with their new leader, who might be more controlled then Okata's wild side.
Well, it's time we become more subtle with the heros wanting to crack down. We can mop the floor with Behemoth, and Amp weve beaten more than once as well. Time to get them back to smashing gangbangers (Santos) then the men trying to improve the city. So we leveled a few buildings? Kidnapped a mayor or two, Eggs, Omelets, let it gooo. Also Behemoth watch that mouth because i've video evidence of my defeating Chimera. Keep up your press, but credit were credit is Due.)
Chimera's fault was turning more public, we need to become more shadow, and get some damn monkeys for our new hive mind buddies.

And Shit. We have to break the news to Sophia, no, Not Steve. We will.

The LAPD sets up a new precinct in Anaheim and decides not to declare martial law. The citizenry thanks a wide variety of deities for small miracles. The rest of the gangs are mostly rebuilding. The Ronin fill in the holes in Downtown and move the Heimin Roku from Marina del Ray to Koreatown. It's a good time to be a Family officer, because they're about to found a bunch of new sets and those sets will need capos. The Santos Espada spend their turn pretty much the same as the Ronin, rebuilding and waiting for you to vacate Compton so they can move in.

Probably the most interesting thing to happen over the week is what you hear from Kestrel. Asrael is calling for a meeting with what's left of Team Blue in Wilmington. It's clear of all gangs and the local precinct is still suppressed, which means it's pretty much neutral territory. The only reason the place isn't completely lawless right now is because of inertia. If it stays vacant too long the locals will probably start rioting just because there's no one around to stop them, but it's not likely to go unoccupied for that long.

With the completion of the campaign against Chimera, Kestrel is considered by most as a super hero on par with Amp or Behemoth despite her young age (which is a pretty big accomplishment, considering it takes most people about five years in the business to get that, and she's been around for about fifteen months). Thus, she might be able to swing the vote one way or another as to whether or not they should show up. And, of course, you might be able to persuade her to vote one way or another.

>Any advice for Kestrel?

Rolled 65

>>21332392
he has your dad get close to him get on his good side find out what he is planing, what sorta of backup/ distraction would you like
>army of bots
>mecha
or super monsters

>>21332392
Just that pounding away frontally at us is probably a terrible idea. Swordsman tried it, didn't work. Chimera tried it, twice, didn't work. Amp tried it, didn't work. Notice a pattern?

>>21332392
[Move to a different lab again by the way.]
You mean besides apologizing for failing her because the good doctors are sold off to a different out of city organization of unknown intent?

With Chimera, the Hounds, the Stalkers, and most of all the Goblins now just a bad taste in our mouths, we can really set about Repairing, and bettering the city. I'll be setting up more legitimate businesses, making jobs were people dont have to sling copious amounts of weed or the clean hard drugs ive been pitching (IM doesnt cut corners when it comes to drugs i imagine, pictuing that he has those sterile production lines going on rather then having his goods shipped in). Ronin will be easier to turn into the fold on this, without the Daimiyo (He's dead by the way, Asreal killed him and almost set loose a four way war in the streets when he bombed a peace conference we arranged. I dont have spot on proof it was him, but that fire was a good guess. He's almost killed the Red Death, killed a made Super, and killed Julio. Burning To Death isnt a good experience. (nor is being vaporized in an atomic detonation now that i think about it) Th Family, the Legion, the Ronin, we're all very clearcut syndycates, not many are hurt, many profit, but i wont play crime-apologist here.

>>21332392
I vote they probably shouldn't show. The guy seems to be on a killing spree lately. (Deadeye, Made Man, the Damio)

>>21332687
'Mask'
Also, suggest the new leader takers the title Shogun.

>>21332602

Asrael interrupted the sale. What exactly happened to the doctors is unknown.

>>21332834
wouldnt it've been more obvious is he did? Sudden large plums of fire stand out in this city. So many is was an out of city sale...

>>21332952

Asrael can, in fact, shoot people. He's done it before. Chimera's just got regular goons. Really good goons, granted, but still. Just goons. Asrael has a couple of goons of his own on top of it.

So are we going with the "don't show up" or the "get on his good side and find out what he's planning" approach?

>>21332602
We DO look exactly like Jesse Pinkman.

I want to take extra special care to cover our tracks. Take advantage of the confusion and use it to make out work untraceable.

>>21333044
our work*

Also Im all for the dont show up

Rolled 44

>>21333011
>"get on his good side and find out what he's planning"

Rolled 619

I hate to interrupt, but I doubt I will be awake at the point where the thread is essentially over and it is Q&A time. I'm using this system to play a game with my GM, and uh... well, we've essentially run out of ideas and would appreciate some tips or something.

I'm in pretty much complete control of the city, making like 49 Resource a turn, and I'm at like 39 XP. I've only got one REAL enemy amongst my city's Supers, and we were considering branching out into the rest of the world. Would you have any tips or ideas on what to do?

>>21333011
I'd be more...
get a few birds on the scene with directional microphones to listen in from a distance, see if Cat can get a bug on Behemoth in his sleep, and Kestral has her own bugs that we can listen in from.

We've less to trust in with the new Ronin leader, the Family can be unawares for a bit, so for now the people listening in on the meeting with be Julio, IM, Rica, Red Death (cancer him if needed and it likely will) and Cat. Also its an excuse to have her around, it concerns her as the heros are pointing their targets back at us Supers now that the terrorists are taken care of (thanks to yours truely, you dont see a parade and breakfast cereal in my honor though do you? Fucking Chocolate Behemoth Waffles.) and a chance to flirt with her.

Rolled 15

>>21333107
go to Space go to Europe take over the world visit Atlantis

>>21333107
Well we dont know what you've done. are you a Minion Master? What powers do you use? Who is this enemy? Have you thought about televising your own heists and daring battles yourself for profit, sort of liek Tiger and Bunny, but as a villain. (soon you gather a stable of villains as they commit terros thoughout the city, trying to get the hgiest points, while you sit in your chair and Laugh, LAUGH) You likely have a 'gang', of what? what do thy do?

Rolled 332

>>21333169
>>21333169
I'm a pretty straight up tanky villain. Super Strength, Super Durability, Deadly Weapons, and with a bonus from Best Pirate He's Ever Heard Of and Charmed. XP has gotten me stats with a minimum of 2 and my best stats are Cunning and Athletics at 4 each.

My enemy is a Kira (from Death Note) rip off who I helped take down in exchange for an alliance with the mayor (who's ascension into office I engineered).

My gang is Robbery/Extortion/Drugs/Hookers/Arms, and I've pretty uniformly raised my city up to Robbery grade. They're styled after the oldschool mafia, in a way, with a great respect for honor, tradition, and a great deal of distaste towards violent crimes. I also have like three corporations in Robbery neighborhoods (and my city is pretty much, like I said, only Robbery grade).

Rolled 138

>>21333256
I should also, of course, note that the Kira-clone IS still on the loose, I just forced him into hiding.

>>21333107

Okay, let's talk about this real quick (note: I'm also writing up the Asrael thing, so that'll be up soon too).

As we draw closer to the finish, I've been thinking about where the Iron Master himself might go next, so here's a couple of ideas.

1) New super, different city, vague relation to old super. Basically, you can play again using the exact same system but in a new city with a new set of villains. If you like, the new city can be geographically close to the old one and you can have the new villain pledge allegiance to the old one (or vice versa) in the endgame, thus resulting in a united Team Red shadow government. I'll probably do something like this for San Francisco and/or Las Vegas. Depending on how firmly your super controls his gang, it's also possible that they just won't follow him to the new city, forcing him to start over. And also the new city is inexplicably home to a whole bunch of Justice League-grade heroes for some reason.

2) Zoom out. Another sequel idea I'm planning is called Iron Master Versus Chimera, wherein the Iron Master gets Kony, pisses off the Frightener, and starts a land war in Asia. I plan to rework the system for large-scale stuff by then, but the easy solution (and one I may end up using) is just using the same rules, with cities instead of neighborhoods, nations (or clusters of small nations) instead of regions, and a geopolitical region instead of a city.

>>21333553


3) Planet Hulk. Somehow or other you get zapped into another dimension, teleported to another planet, or shifted onto another plane. You are now a stranger in a strange land, cut off from your budding criminal empire, and can do basically the same thing as you did in the last city only now it's a space city or a magic city or something.

Alternatively, bask in the magnificence of how Super Villain Quest campaigns are things that you can actually finish and then start a completely different campaign.

Question, though, about how many supers and gangs did the game have?

>>21333553
2 sounds badass to me.

Rolled 24

>>21333654
yea land war in Asia. all my heart

Rolled 791

>>21333568
On Team Red there's me (The glorious Boss Daystar), Debbie Cooper (Mix of Catwoman and Green Arrow), Kiraclone, REDBEARD (a super human who got his powers from raping a frost giant).

On Team Blue there's Oracle (Flying, wind powers, see glimpses of the future and HUGE Observation), Kitchen Sink (Basically a heroic Iron Master with SCIENCE! guns), The Heap (Mix of Toxic Avenger and Plastic Man).

Also Network, which is basically an organization of information merchants who works for anyone who can supply the cash.

The gangs were Anonymous (Business suits, green masks, and voice synthasizers), Beasts (Thugs in animal masks), Chrome Boys (Fake cyberpunk with some super science weapons here and there), and Midnighters (Buncha goth gangbangers).

I beat Redbeard and Oracle in fights, drove Kiraripoff (Named Heartbreaker, btw) into hiding, and dated Debbie Cooper. Redbeard and me have a friendly rivalry, Debbie Cooper and me are on decent turns, and the Team Blue pretty much say 'keep on staying away from violent crime and we could not care less'.

Rolled 705

>>21333796
ALSO, I'm sorry, I should have noted this. The only gang who had a Super backing it was Redbeard's gang, The Vikings. They were nomadic and I didn't really deal with them much, just brawled with Redbeard himself.

>>21333796

By "dating" Debbie Cooper he means he got pumped and dumped by her, after she robbed him of about a half-dozen Resources.

Rolled 978

>>21334115
It totally counts.

After writing this scene, I have decided to retcon it as taking place in Exposition Park. It's probably the last opportunity I'll have to make that joke.

There's always an abandoned warehouse around with a few folding tables and crates. Amp wanted to prepare an ambush for Asrael, Behemoth was in favor of ignoring him completely, and Kronos surprised everyone by actually turning up and advocating that they hear him out. Kestrel and Commissioner Capalbo weighed in on Kronos' side, convincing Team Blue to meet with Asrael, though an ambush from both the city's remaining SWAT team (they're looking into funding a new one with some of their new precincts, though) and some of your mechs.

Asrael arrives with about a pair in all-white street clothes. Members of his crew, no doubt. "To begin with," Asrael says as he crosses to the table in the center of the warehouse, "I damn well know you're prepared for a fight and I am, too. Trust me, if I wanted to kill you, you'd all be dead by now."

"Charming," Kronos says, "why did you want to speak with us?"

"Chimera is gone, after half a century the Hounds and Stalkers are pacified, the super villain population is plunging downwards, and we are quite possibly looking at a Team Blue victory," Asrael says. "Problem is, the only reason that's possible is because of two major crime fighters and right now, neither of them are actually on Team Blue."

"I take it you think you're one of these two," Capalbo says.

First off, wow, this scene is long, it's going to be, like, four posts. I'm worrying it'll end up tl;dr and dull to read. Oh, well.

>>21333796

Looks like it was a smaller game, then. That's probably why you reached the end so quick.

Anyways.

"Naturally," Asrael responds, "I've got rid of Daimyo Okata as well as an artificially produced villain named the Made Man. You haven't heard of him, but he is going to be the first of many. The Iron Master has captured the Swordsman serum and plans to use it to give the Ronin an army of artificial supers."

"And you're the only one who can save us from the coming villain apocalypse, right?" Behemoth says, "why should we believe you?"

"Miguel, if you would?" Asrael says, and one of his comrades steps forward, laying a briefcase on the table and opening it up. Inside are several manilla folders, and he picks out the one labelled "Katanas" and hands it to Behemoth, who paws through it with oversized hands long-used to dealing with objects much too small. The thick file contains transcriptions of conversations between yourself and Daimyo Okata, in which your plans are mentioned. It appears to be the conversation at the party you held, where Okata first proposed the triumvirate. "This flash drive," Miguel says, sliding it across the table, "has recordings of the original conversations."

"That's besides the point, though," Asrael says, "you tooled around with Chimera, barely keeping them at bay, until they decided they were done with the city anyway and left."

"They left because we made staying way too costly," Kestrel says, "they left because with us shaving the cream off all their sets, they'd be lucky to beat the Santos Espada in a fight."

"They left because I pulled Doctors Span and Dandurand out of their hands, atomized an underground supply depot, and then the Iron Master brought down the hammer on them," Asrael says, "You helped, but you didn't win that war, the Iron Master did, and he didn't do it out of altruism. If I can just take you guys waaaay back...All the way to December, you remember Palos Verdes? And Harbor City before that? The Iron Master is not our friend and he owns half the city."

"Maybe you'd like to go back a little further?" Amp says, "to January, 2008, when you murdered a super?"

"Forty people died that day," Asrael says, "and my scuffle with Scientology has a body count of over a hundred. Meanwhile your fight with Chimera cost three hundred of their men, four hundred police officers, and over a thousand civilians. So tell me again, Amp, of that mountain of corpses is there really only one person who matters?"

"Chimera are terrorists, Scientology is a religion, and butchering them for running a drug rehab is no better than the crusaders butchering Muslims at Jerusalem!" Amp says.

"It's funny you should use that particular analogy," Asrael says, "because the only Muslims butchered by crusaders at Jerusalem were Seljuk Turks, who'd occupied the holy land and gotten into the habit of robbing and occasionally murdering Christian pilgrims, which is what kicked off the First Crusade in the first place, so with that in mind, are you willing to commit to my attack on Narconon and subsequent lethal actions against the Church of Scientology being bad only if it is true that they are a legitimate religion?"

"You think some conspiracy theories from Anonymous and disgruntled ex-members will convince me that Scientology is secretly run by a super villain who's been lying in wait for over half a century?" Amp says.

"I'm asking you to commit," Asrael responds, "are super's lives worth more than other people's? And is killing people worth it if it means stopping an organization form hurting many more innocent people than get killed in the process of stopping them? And most importantly, if I can prove to you that Scientology is in fact torturing and killing the innocent, will you agree to drop your vendetta with me?"

Amp is silent for a moment. "So one of those folders has proof that Scientology is evil?" he asks, sounding unconvinced.

Asrael gestures to Miguel, who withdraws another folder and explains the contents, "back in September Scientology busied itself playing up some publicity when one of their holdings in Los Angeles got attacked by the Iron Master, so we took the opportunity to slip into their top secret headquarters. It's called Gold Base, and after the en masse slaughter of scilons by vigilantes in the wake of Operation Snow White, they made sure only the highest ranked members of Scientology ever knew about this place. It's their administrative headquarters, but also a detention center for members they find displeasing for whatever reason. That folder contains all kinds of photographic evidence and this," he slides another flash drive across the table, "contains recordings of several of the detained ex-Scilons we extracted that day, describing their experiences in 'the Hole.' We've still got most of those ex-Scilons in our hideout, recovering. We've got evidence of about two dozen ongoing human rights violations."

Amp looks over the documents inside the folder, saying nothing. "Regardless of justifications," Kronos says, "the fact of the matter is that if we make open alliance with someone who killed a super hero for moral reasons we'll have half the major supers in the country taking time out of their day to put us in the Towers sooner or later."

"Yes, god forbid someone ask you to live as a fugitive for four years just so we can save a few million innocent people from a megalomaniacal madman," Asrael says. Kronos scowls, but before he can respond, Asrael continues "regardless, I'm not asking you to make an open alliance. I'm asking you to work with me, because I can actually get shit done and frankly, so far, you guys can't. Once it's done I'll move on to some other city, you guys can take all the credit, bask in your victory, and make sure it doesn't come apart at the seams."

"So what's your plan for dealing with the Iron Master, then?" Kestrel asks.

"The odds this place is bugged or being watched by his ghosts is too high," Asrael says.

"His ghosts?" Behemoth says.

"Yeah, he picked up some necromantic tricks when he cleared out those vampires a while back. Do you remember that? The Courier ran an article on it," Asrael says. "Anyways. If we can agree not to kill each other, we can meet in a more secured location and I can elaborate on the details there. Suffice it to say that I have the Iron Master basically exactly where I want him, and I just need extra firepower to finish the job."

Okay, long post is long and this is usually about when my audience dies anyway. But. If you have anything in particular you want Kestrel to say, mention it now. Being that she is not your character, there are no guarantees, but it probably won't hurt to ask. Also, you do have mechs on hand.

>>21335091
How about a syncskin?

Rolled 68

>>21335063
get a copy of those Scientology findings please

>>21335185
Basically I want it to go as the innocent by-standard that julio borrowed and got crushed, approach with a slow clap then say something along the lines of "You know sooo much about me Asrael, I didn't know I had any superfans. Tell me, just how is it you were able to get those recordings anyway? I've been suspecting at least one of my associates was a plant. And poor Mesmer and his girlfriend... do you have them locked up somewhere? Or did you just kill them too? And what of the good doctors? I had tried to clear them out of the sewers but you seemed to have snatched them right up. I can't forget that final person, Whisper, are you torturing him for information now? Or did you just kill him too?"

Rolled 59

>>21335331
fuck yea this is great

>>21335331
and if he doubles back with "You killed innocents and cops" we can get the AI to compile a list or every person who died from gang violence since we began, eliminate people we know who weren't us, the point out we have always practised restraint when fighting against the police

>>21335063
"If you're so confident that he's bugging us, how do you expect us to work in the shadows?"

>>21335331

The bot has gotten through about the first five words when a bolt of white fire turns it into scrap metal. "As I said," Asrael says, "it would be much wiser to reconvene in a more secure location to discuss the details."

"That seems a little too conveniently timed," Capalbo says, "how do we know the two of you aren't working together?"

"Why would I be talking to you if we were?" Asrael asks, "if the Iron Master were working with me I'd just use his men to steamroll you instead of the other way around. Honestly, I wouldn't even have to do anything. Without me helping you, you'd already lose a fight with him."

>>21335828
Have Kestral say "Well the work in secret part of your plan is going great. Can't wait to here the rest of it."

>>21335828
Wow? Seriously? Asshole.

To do list:
-Make robots fireproof
-Figure out WTF Asrael, why you in our shit?
-Make base superproof.

Rolled 40

>>21335828
sue the other bot
"thing is I got word" dive for cover "alien invasion the same guys who took out new paragons home world "

>>21336067
Please don't do this. Its a really bad Idea. Also, Paragon is a human, from earth.

>>21336098
New Paragon is an alien

>>21335929

Asrael: I've killed less than three hundred people ever. You, Amp, have killed something like two thousand.
Bot: Well I've killed four or five thousand people!

I'm legitimately curious as to why you expected that approach to work.

>>21336098

Paragon is from Earth, but the New Paragon is from another planet that was destroyed, probably by the same people who destroyed Eidelos' home world.

>>21335902

"Don't lecture me about secrecy, Sofia," Asrael responds, the others glancing among themselves, and Behemoth and Kronos no doubt wondering if that's really her name, "as I already mentioned, in case you'd zoned out, I'm well aware the Iron Master might be listening here. This location was chosen specifically for its neutrality so of course he isn't going to have much trouble getting inside. Hence why I'm not eager to discuss the details of my plan until we get to a more secure location."

>>21336197
>>21336067
Still a really bad idea. If you want them to believe it, let them "Steal" the data from one of our facilities. Then they might actually believe it.

>>21336214
its 130 am, I dont expect anything to work.

>>21336214
Frankly, I just want to delay any further confrontations until we manage to get cloning.

>>21336316

Cloning is a completely non-mechanical development that triggers based on how far in the plot you are. It's actually impossible to avoid further confrontations until you manage to get cloning.

>>21333553

I might be late, but I choose 2, or 3. Both of those seem fun.


Also, none of you fuckers suggested to use that alien to investigate that thing Mesmer left us which works for telepaths. Come on.
I bet OP had that alien fall down precisely for this.