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Welp Plan Make Us Sympathize With Marie was a success.
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Dec 10, 2017 23:58
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Xarbala posted:Welp Plan Make Us Sympathize With Marie was a success. QFT Also that flirty lead up was racy 
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Dec 11, 2017 01:07
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In a way, but also disturbing, and it's good Kenji apologized for it. Because for Mary, it's kinda gross, since she's very much a grown rear end woman mentally, and she really doesn't want to be kissing teenagers.
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Dec 11, 2017 01:23
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Yes, Kenji apologising was a good indicator of how much deeper he is than he even remotely lets on.
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Dec 11, 2017 02:06
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Deadmeat5150 posted:Who was it that originally posited that Marie was posing as her own daughter? Cause they nailed it. That was Don't Be Mean to Me who nailed it fully, or at least near fully, though I'm not sure about first. Xarbala posted:Welp Plan Make Us Sympathize With Marie was a success. Truly the writer himself is the biggest monster of the story. I hear tell that he's an rear end in a top hat.  Shogeton posted:In a way, but also disturbing, and it's good Kenji apologized for it. Because for Mary, it's kinda gross, since she's very much a grown rear end woman mentally, and she really doesn't want to be kissing teenagers. Yeah, Kenji isn't as much offended by what happened to Marie, at least in how she got the information and what she had to do to get it as I implied it. However he does care that she's suffering. He empathizes with her because he too loses large sections of time to Edward. Kenji feels like the true personality even though he is not. So he realizes he's not going to die and that despite Marie LeBlanc and Kenji being on different sides, cops and robbers, literally, he knows what she's going through. It would've been so easy to kill him and she not only stayed her hand, but felt terrible for what was done to him. I enjoy writing likable characters. You understand them, and because I'm a bastard I'll still throw them into conflict. If we choose certain types of conflict down the line we will have to face off against people like Marie LeBlanc who are cunning, competent and moral. Some of the best conflicts are between two or more people who the readers identify as good. Again, that's up to the thread whether we get into conflicts with these people or not. What hills are worth fighting over and dying on or not? What do we tolerate and what don't we tolerate? How do the characters' backgrounds influence their behavior. Kenji certainly has seen plenty of people use sex as a weapon like I heavily implied Marie did and in the ghetto that's what some people do to survive and thrive. As a person who views herself as good and regularly hands off the dirty work to compartmentalized parts of her psyche, doing that herself is viewed as a violation despite the fact that physically as an undercover officer she's had to do despicable things. Despite that she keeps her morality. Even some innocence, so when the poo poo hits the fan Marie may not prepared for it if she can't hand off the dirty work to others. At the same time, she's full of "characters" whom she regularly hands off the dirty work to. She all but admitted it. She did -exactly- what Edward regularly does to Kenji. The thread doesn't particularly like Edward. Some people feel bad for him, some people want to permanently suppress him, some want to maintain the status quo or even merge with him. Marie does horrible things to her characters like horrible things are done by Edward to Kenji. However, they're not separate people. Kenji and Edward are the same person. They're just completely dissociated personalities. They're entirely capable of merging with one another because they are the same person. Marie, Christina and Corinne are also the same person. Christina is a spoiled rear end in a top hat, Marie is not, but she designed Christina. I don't think I'm doing anything ground breaking here, but in the end all of these different people exist within one person. They're wildly damaged people who are abusing themselves. It's fairly new ground in terms of morality. It's complicated and there are no good answers and if you want to think about it you can try and parse the ideas out. However I don't force the reader to do so because I ground each and every character in easy to grasp concepts, preferences and desires. You can meditate on these high level concepts or not. I'm a huge fan of Eclipse Phase, which actually broke off from Shadowrun as a property. This would fit rather well in there. Are LeBlanc characters people? Who is real and who is not? Do the creators have ethical responsibilities to their creations even though they're the same people sharing the same brain? And all the while it doesn't fit fully with Shadowrun. It's not magic, it's not chrome or bioware. It's like a mental martial art. Marie LeBlanc forced herself into mental illness in order to weaponize it. And again, if people want to think about the ethics of that, it's there for the exploration, but I'm not going to talk about it at length. People will only see the end results. Kenji understands Marie. Marie understands Kenji. Kenji is helping Marie emotionally because Julie reached out to him. It could have went so differently if the dice roll went badly. That's the takeaway. Everything else is extra to be meditated on, looked at or simply left behind. I don't pretend to have any answers, but I certainly believe that I have interesting questions. Ice Phisherman fucked around with this message at 04:21 on Dec 11, 2017 |
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Dec 11, 2017 04:15
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It looks like Chip is getting etiquette. A strange choice for a normal Shadowrun game, but I guess this isn't a normal Shadowrun game as it's hybrid game and series of novels both and not about sociopath mercenaries (at least as main characters). So far it looks like Chip is going to be 100% a support character as he's built so far. He's fast, he can find stuff, he can influence people against their will, he assists with spell casting and he's about to learn how to "Win Friends and Influence People". His etiquette skill will advance every time we upgrade his magic, but I'm spacing that out so he'll grow with us over time. Come year 2 he'll be markedly more powerful when we find the karma for him. He'll also be a smoother talker and get a new power along with the boost. We're coming up one the final two (I hope) posts of Julie's story. I'm eager to get to arc 4 and sort of dreading the disparity between word count in the different arcs. Writing now.
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Dec 11, 2017 05:04
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Personally, I want to eliminate Edward as a personality. Even if he is the "primary". I view him as the worst kind of coward, the kind willing to destroy others to save himself. Also Im still waiting for Fuzzy to just casually drop that Rat Man is her momma around her friends so I can get their reactions. Which only gets better when you realize she will very seriously explain why.
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Dec 11, 2017 05:35
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Just rolled for the next to final scene. Minor teaser, poo poo gets real.
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Dec 11, 2017 07:27
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Ice Phisherman posted:Writing now. Awww man, missed the vote! Behind on my reading, so instead of commenting line by line, just gonna say really enjoyed the last two updates, especially the bringing Kenji out of depression and the coming-to-jesus with Marie. 'Tell me about Sasha Oliver' sounds ominous though. Also, Chip works; kid's turning out to be a spoiled brat food hound!
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Dec 11, 2017 20:32
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quote:'Tell me about Sasha Oliver' sounds ominous though. It should probably sound even more unfortunate than that. Like the Inception bwomm sound being played as your window gets broken through with a tungsten bar wrapped in powder poppers. Kenji either is physically incapable of lying about anything or will existentially imperil himself by doing so. We haven't actually found out which, which is fortunate because finding out would be an existential moment, but even getting as close as we have so far has been harrowing. Who knows if Marie will give him any outs at any point (present vs future information value, with only Marie knowing her criteria). I'd like to hope she would but this is still a character we hardly know. And once she's got her information, who knows how willing she'll be to push, or refrain from pushing, a (albeit only second-gen) corp princess - keeping in mind that Marie did what she did to herself all on her own and Kenji's just the unfortunate side effect of something half-way between clean-room engineering and a cargo cult. Thematically appropriate clip for where we are in the story: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CKfDO-wJ8JU&t=224s (also if I linked that clip before I apologize for nothing) dont be mean to me fucked around with this message at 13:02 on Dec 12, 2017 |
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Dec 12, 2017 12:59
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dont be mean to me posted:Who knows if Marie will give him any outs at any point (present vs future information value, with only Marie knowing her criteria). I'd like to hope she would but this is still a character we hardly know. How do you mean? Didn't Marie say to Kenji that "there is no us, as long as you don't out me, you and I are done"? So, are you saying that Marie is lying about letting us 'walk', or, that Kenji getting involved in this new 'hunt' is a bad idea?
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Dec 12, 2017 23:58
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Julie, Chip, Marco, Julian and Devin - Sunday, January 27th, 2075 - Touristville, Our Abbey Underground Julian got yet another look from a dubious ork. The normally well dressed man, at least well dressed for a teacher, had an apron over his clothing as he ladled out stew. The ork who received his bowl looked at Julian dubiously. Julian flashed his best smile. The ork merely sniffed his food, frowned and walked away. "Hey, thanks for helping," said Julie, quickly. "Right," said Julian. "I think they were more eager earlier when I was healing them. Some of them even deigned to let me touch them." "I helped!" said Chip. "You certainly did. You're quite helpful," said Julian, with a smile. Julian, Marco and Julie served up a hearty stew behind the makeshift counter in her pastor's house. The house, also known as Our Abbey Underground was Julie's normal Sunday destination. Julian was accompanying Julie this week as he'd finished teaching all of his students early while Mother Bear hadn't. "You helped all of us," praised Marco. "You don't seem to get tired either. I tried asking for the help of spirits years ago, but their normal forms didn't go over well. People here seem to like Chip, though." "I was wondering why you didn't use spirits more to aid you with healing like Mother Bear does during rituals," said Julie. Another ork walked up to Julian. He seemed to be the exception because he actually smiled at the elf. Julian smiled back and handed him a bowl full of food. "God bless you!" called out Julie. "God bless you too, Julie Freeman," said the ork. "And your friends too." She waved as he walked away. Julian looked to her and shrugged one shoulder. "Nice guy," remarked Julian. "It's good to know I'm not a total pariah. Anyway the lines have thinned out. I think we're almost out of hungry bellies." "You're right," said Marco. "Anyway, as for spirits, most of them aren't as smart as Chip. They creep people out. Even spirits of man. Chip is probably the most human spirit I've ever met, well ork spirit in this case. Maybe there's something special about ally spirits that makes them more like people." Julie eyed Marco suspiciously. Marco sighed as he realized he'd stuffed his size 24 foot in his mouth. Chip looked between the two. "I'm not trying to be mean. I promise," said Marco. "Chip is special and people like him. I like him too and he's very helpful. That's what I'm trying to say." Julie nodded slowly. She sent Chip a silent, emotional message through their emotional bond. "Happiness," she emoted at him. "Happiness," emoted Chip right back. Neither could do anything less than smile and her mood was lifted once more and offered Marco a smile to let him know the apology was accepted. Devin, Julie's pastor, was done speaking to individuals in the crowd, addressing ills, giving advice and praying with people. Earlier on he'd doled out food, but as he identified those who he thought needed help he would normally break away once he spied a person in need. He came back now, nodded at Marco, Julie, Julian and Chip, and then the big troll with the black, curly hair and glasses squared his shoulders as he spoke to Julian. "I'm very glad to have you with us today Mr. Julian. Marco and Julie tell me that you're one of their teachers?" he asked. Julian had to crane his neck slightly upwards to speak to him. Devin took a measured step backwards so Julian wouldn't have to strain his neck, but at the same the troll time closed the distance by offering his enormous hand. Julian shook it. He didn't seem to mind that his own hand was completely swallowed by Devin's larger hand. "That's right," said Julian, affably. "Just call me Julian. I don't insist on titles." "Julian..." lead on Devin, as he politely requested his last name. "Smith," said Julian. "Nothing fancy. I teach manipulation spells at Blake Island." Devin released his hand. He was the only one who could break the handshake without Julian struggling, not that Devin was the sort of person who would make him do that. "What is that exactly?" asked Devin, curiously. Julian took off his apron and stretched. A few muscles popped and he sighed happily. "The simple version of what manipulation spells do is that they control, transform or animate matter or energy. There also tend to be a number of mind altering spells in the discipline, though that's not my specialty. Those spells in particular are restricted to students in the third year and higher and even then we use our best judgement to prevent abuse," he explained. "I specialize in the creation of fire and telekinetic spells." "I see. So you're a shaman?" he asked. "Yes," said Julian. "Does that preclude you from coming to service?" he asked, though already knew. "I do see that you haven't gotten the warmest welcome. I'm sorry about that. However, our group inside is far more accepting. Everyone is welcome." "Actually while Julie was at service I was going to take a look at her clinic. She's accepted my help. I'm arranging the more technical and sensitive aspects in order to help it be more professional, arrange money from donors and help her with any issues that may arise. Perhaps another time," said Julian, smoothly. "I understand. If you come again I'll ask again, but you're always free to say no," said Devin. "Or yes," said Julie and Marco together. They looked at one another, smiled and looked away. Julian chuckled. "You two are adorable. Anyway, I appreciate the lack of a hard sell. I must respectfully decline," said Julian, politely. "Must you?" pressed Marco. Julie noticed that the younger troll looked hopeful. Julie saw something strange on Julian's face as she turned to look at him once more. He didn't seem dismissive, only sad. "I must," he said, quietly. "Please excuse me." He nodded politely to everyone there including a deeper nod to Chip and walked away towards the crossroads. Marco sighed. "What?" asked Julie. Marco looked uncomfortable as Devin and Julie both looked at him. His face twisted from uncomfortable to ashamed. "It's not my place to say," he said, quietly. Devin eyed him critically. "I know you, Marco, and I know when you are hiding something important. Please share," said Devin. Julie's boyfriend shuffled nervously. He even wrung his soup stained apron. "It's just a rumor," said Marco, his face guilty. "What is it, Marco?" asked Julie. Marco sighed heavily and looked down at his shoes. "Well, more than just rumors. I assensed him once. That means I looked at him with my astral sight," explained Marco, to Devin. "It's considered rude to do so to another person without their consent. I...Tried to get him to come by reading his emotions. It was a few years ago...I thought..." "We don't approach people with any other agenda than love," chided Devin, gently. "We don't friendship evangelize or manipulate people. That is judgement. Judge not lest ye be judged." Despite Devin's kind tone Marco winced and he nodded slowly. "I know that now. I was young. I don't do that anymore after we talked about it. I'm sorry, but I think something has its hooks in him. His soul is not his own. At least that's what I think and what I've heard. I make myself available. I try to talk to him. He does not want to, or can't. I've been trying to get him to come here for two years. This was the first time he's come." Julie's eyes grew wide and she gasped. Devin's eyes grew serious. "Is this in the literal sense or the figurative?" asked Devin, gravely. "Literal," said Marco, immediately. Devin nodded once. He took in a deep breath. "Would you take over the lesson for me today?" asked Devin. Marco's mouth opened to argue, but he closed his mouth as he thought better than to argue. He sighed heavily, nodded and spoke. "Yes," said Marco, slowly. "Be very careful. Yell if you need me." "God is with me," said Devin. "I'm needed. Thank you for bringing this to my attention. Please excuse me. Marco, Julie. I'll see you soon." The pastor walked away towards the crossroads after Julian. Julie looked up at her boyfriend, her heart and her eyes full of questions. Marco looked at her, and deep shame was plain on his face, as if carved there. Complicated emotions played in his eyes before he turned away and began to clean up. Julie didn't speak. Instead it was Marco that spoke. "I feared for him. Now more than ever. I just want to protect the people I love, but it's hard to protect them from themselves," whispered Marco. "I worry that I just fed my best friend to something evil. God and Jesus are real, but so is Satan. Christian Theurgists, those of my tradition have an ongoing battle with the Satanists. There do exist Satanic practitioners. We must oppose them and show them the light. Some awakened kill them on sight but we do our best to save them. Other old powers stir though and there are so, so many of them. Julian is...I've seen his heart though he tries to hide it. He tries to be a good person even if he doesn't know the Word. I don't know what has its hooks in him, but it's not that. I'm not sure what though. Please don't judge me too harshly, Julie." Julie didn't know what to say. Julie and Marco leaned against one another for a moment before they headed into the abbey. Julie, Marco, Edward, Fuzzy, Sasha, Chip, Julian, Mother Bear, Devin and ? - Sunday, March 10th, 2075 - Touristville, Crossroads Clinic If anything else came of that day Julie didn't hear of it. Devin wouldn't talk to Julie beyond reassuring her that everything was in God's hands. She wasn't sure if she should keep Julian away or bring him more often. Devin did eventually give her the all clear for his help with the clinic which helped ease her fear though she didn't ask Julian about his problems. She was so busy lately. Julian made good on his promise of extra safety classes, though most of her work was written. Chip was actually a big help in studying, surprisingly enough as all of his questions lead her to clarification. After all aid in study was one of the main functions of a spirit ally and unlike spirits Chip could aid her in all studies magical and mundane. There was also Mrs. Maureen's classes in summoning. Her summoning teacher was more reserved at first after being burned twice by interactions with Julie, but eventually she and her teacher began to grow close once more. Nothing went wrong when they changed Chip's appearance which was a pleasant surprise. They embraced the recycled art form, though now he had a sleeker and more polished look. He looked much the same as before though far more like a work of art and far less like a toxic spirit. His joints were now covered in chipped glass, hence his namesake, though Julie couldn't see her reflection in the glass. It was just for show. Mrs. Maureen was stunned at first that Julie didn't want to give Chip any spells or spirit powers. Instead she wanted to make him better with people. However after a few minutes of thought Mrs. Maureen was all about it and Chip was far less bratty in the coming days. Julie also excelled in most of her other classes. She did well in biology and history especially, though she simply couldn't rely on her spells to make her a better artist for her art class. Spells don't do everything. Even Minuet, the one who'd bullied Julie seemed to be leaving her alone. Alone was a relative term though. She always had a nasty smile for Julie when she saw her. Kenji not only seemed to have recovered, but was flourishing which relieved Julie to no end. Fuzzy and Sasha were still doing well. Mother Bear and Julian still didn't know what to do about the note, but Julie resolved to give it to Fuzzy after she opened her clinic no matter what her teachers said and told them so. She couldn't dither forever. Making no choice is still a choice. She needed to arm her friend with knowledge even if she couldn't tell Fuzzy where she'd gotten it. She didn't choose opening day to tell Fuzzy for no reason. No, it was the one free day she could get as work normally burdened her. She was so busy between work, school, church, harvesting reagents, spending time with friends, bonding with Chip, signing forms to have her criminal record expunged and trying to carve out time for her boyfriend, Marco, that she barely ever had time for sleep. On the plus side she'd lost some of that pudge around her middle as she lost weight. Apparently hiking around the island to find reagents had its benefits. She wasn't svelte by any means, but she had to purchase new pants from Justinia, the friend whose shop she bought all of her clothes from now. Justinia made sure they looked good on her as she and Julie quested to find just the right style. So it was six weeks later after near endless toil that she was at the Crossroads Clinic. She'd finally gotten her record expunged. She was no longer a criminal. She wasn't even an ex-con. It was as if her status as a felon no longer existed. It didn't change what she'd done, but she wasn't ashamed for defending herself from her father anymore. She was glad she was alive. Julie Freeman was no longer merely existing. She had prospects, friends who cared about her and community that accepted her. Her clinic was official. It even had a sign. There were party streamers set between the lines of drying clothing, a ribbon to be cut in front of the door. She nervously played with her safety scissors. All of her friends were here, though Edward was here instead of Kenji. Edward would become Kenji later. Julian was here and beaming like a proud parent, though Fuzzy scowled at him. Mother Bear was even smiling for once which floored Julie. Mother Bear wasn't grumpy! If that was possible anything was possible. Julie felt nervous, elated, excited and vaguely nauseous all at once. Orks and trolls filled the crossroads area, though room was made so tourists could move around. The commerce never stopped. Justinia came from her clothing shop in the west, Manny came from his Tex-Mex restaurant in the north, Mrs. Liu came from 88 Tastes of China in the east, and the workers from the south packed in so tightly that there was standing room only. She'd picked their side after all. Not deep in their territory, but still, the southern side of the crossroads. Southside pride. "I like your sign," said Fuzzy. Julie looked up at her sign once again. It was a grey cross outlined in white light. The grey of the local Touristville stone and the white glow to make it stand out so people could find it. As for the design, Touristville wasn't perfectly symmetrical. It was shaped more like a lowercase white T, but slightly crooked. At least the main paths were shaped like that. There were hundreds of twisting, turning corridors. It was easy to get lost down here if you wandered too far off the main path. "Devin likes it too," said Julie. "I wonder why," said Sasha, with a smirk. Even Sasha had shown up despite her misgivings about the local police force not being Knight Errant. Julie knew her political leanings, but for Julie's sake Sasha hadn't yet talked about the police. "Thanks for coming," said Julie. "Wouldn't miss it," said Sasha. Julie and Sasha hugged, though Sasha paused. "Nope, no Christian side hug. A real hug," said Sasha. Julie blushed and gave her friend a two armed hug. Sasha nodded and stood back near Duncan and Beef, her bodyguards. Edward looked nervous. It was so strange to see someone else inside of Kenji's body. Edward was Kenji, but not Kenji. She had a fairly good handle on when Kenji wasn't himself, literally as they carried themselves differently. Kenji was confident while Edward was anxious. Edward smiled shyly at her and spoke over the din of the Touristville citizens. "I thought I'd...You know...Wish you well," he said, shyly. "Thank you," said Julie, politely She wasn't close to Edward. Marco was though and Edward stood next to him. "I'm so proud of you," said Marco. "You know you didn't have to do this." "I wanted to though. It's my project now and I'll run it how I like," she teased. "I know you will. You're going to do better than I ever will," he said, earnestly. "Wherever you go. I doubt you'll stay here forever, but every second you do isn't wasted. I promise." Julie blushed despite herself. She'd grown to understand that Marco didn't flatter her. His praise was genuine. Both her excitement and nausea ramped up in intensity. It was almost one o'clock and nearly time for the opening ceremony. She'd asked Fuzzy to stay over. Julie had her note in her pocket, the one she'd gotten from the other Fuzzy. "Win one argument," it read, folded so neatly and smudged with tears. She had no idea what she was going to say or how she was going to explain herself. She wasn't even sure if she could. It was the same problem she'd had with Kenji in January. She hadn't made a request of her teachers that she'd help Fuzzy and Sasha. She'd told her teachers that she'd help Fuzzy and Sasha. Surprisingly neither of them complained. Well, complained much, Mother Bear was a grumbler from way back. They'd extracted promises from her to keep the secret in exacting detail and to record everything with Julie's shiny new commlink so they could evaluate what she said after the fact. Julie realized she was daydreaming. She really hoped she wasn't expected to give a speech. "It's almost time," said Devin. He beamed down at her and she smiled up at him. "I hope you're not mad about the competition," she said. "No," he said simply. "Not at all." They hugged briefly and she took her place with the pair of safety scissors. She was about to talk despite her misgivings, but there was a stir from the north. She frowned, stood up tiptoes and furrowed her brow. Someone was using the lane that was made so Tourists could move freely. Again, commerce had to keep flowing. Tourists were the life blood of Touristville, and that blood was never intentionally kept from pumping. Julie noticed something glint in the ahead of the disturbance. The crossroads was well lit for the moment at least so her non-ork and troll friends could enjoy the festivities. They still had to put in permanent lights in the crossroads section. It was yet another bullet point on Julian's enormous to-do list. She focused on the glint as it grew closer, but it was too small to make out. She noticed other glints as they dispersed in all four directions though they were so small and so fast that she couldn't get a handle on what they were. The man from the north resolved into something more distinct as she paid attention to him. Not a man, but people, lots of them, armed and armored in similar looking security outfits. Their faces were covered and they were pushing their way through a confused crowd of people. A full dozen of them appeared along with a brightly colored and intensely smug looking Minuet. She smiled nastily at Julie, and the bottom dropped out of Julie's stomach. Minuet cleared her throat and everyone could hear her as her security guards, all dressed in black, made a circle around her. Their guns were unslung, but pointed at the ground. The crowd backed up a few paces each in their own direction. Some just left. Julie felt like nothing good could come of this. "Hello Touristville," said Minuet, sweetly, her voice amplified. "I just wanted to briefly say something about my dear friend, Julie Freeman, or as some might know her, prisoner 417539-D of Darrington Correctional Facilities." Julie felt her guts twist up and the beginnings of tears forming in her eyes. She hadn't told the Touristville residents. This was the one place where she was fully accepted and Minuet was ruining that. The only people that knew about her past were her friends, her teachers and her pastor, Devin. Also everyone at Blake Island and that meant Minuet. Minuet looked quite pleased with herself and beamed brightly at the crowd as her private security kept watch. "Now some of you..." she started. She seemed to notice Mother Bear and Julian, who were giving her death glares. "One more word and I'll expel your narrow rear end," snarled Mother Bear. "Leave now." "You heard the lady," said Julian. "Turn around now. Go home." Minuet licked her lips nervously, but then her smug smile returned. She shrugged. "Maybe, maybe not. You're just teachers," she said, dismissively before she launched back into her spiel. "Well I won't waste everyone's time. I just wanted to let you know that Julie here is not only a felon, but she killed her own father. You've been had. You don't know what sort of creature has been lurking your halls. I just thought I'd let you know," she said, nastily. "That's all." Minuet smiled and waved at Julie. This was supposed to be her big day. She'd wanted a home so badly. She'd enjoyed being respected and admired instead of hated or pitied. Julie's body language confirmed the stories to the onlookers as she looked down at her boots in shame. Nothing could be heard save for Minuet's girlish chuckles, amplified and echoing down the halls. Those chuckles doubled in speed and sound when Marco stepped forward. Not enough to be drawn down on by her security, but he wasn't too far from that protective knot. Minuet's voice was no longer amplified as she spoke. "Hey Marco, what're you going to do, pray at me?" she snarked. "We both know you're not good for anything else. All that muscle and someone decided to stuff a coward inside of it. Get hosed." Julie's breath caught inside of her throat. Marco was known as a pacifist at school and Touristville both. She'd seen the half destroyed and often repaired punching bag. He'd admitted to her that he'd had problems dealing with his anger. She looked to his hands and saw that they were balled up into fists larger than sledgehammers. If he hit someone he would hurt them. If he hit Minuet without holding back she might die, and there would be carnage that followed. She looked at her boyfriend's back, and it was tense through his clothes and she could plainly see well defined muscles bunching up. He took a breath, let it out and his fingers shook as he unclenched his fists. Minuet sassed him with a head waggle. He turned to the crowd and his deep voice began to echo in the halls. "You all know me. You know who I am. You know what I do!" he shouted, as he turned to each direction in turn, "I know Julie Freeman! I know her heart! Minuet only told you half the truth! Yes, she killed her father, but it was because he was choking her in her hospital bed! Julie used to be human, but she goblinized and her father couldn't take that! I know what some of you feel about goblinized humans, but to me that means she was always an ork! She just didn't know it yet! Julie cast her first spell to defend herself! She's not perfect, but she's a better person than me, and if she continues improving like she does she'll do a better job for you than I ever have! She didn't have to be here! She stayed because she wanted to! Made a home here because she wanted to! Healed your bodies and the bodies of your friends and families because she wanted to! She's not even a felon anymore! I helped clear her of her charges because the only one who felt like she was guilty was Julie herself, and that's because she's that good of a person!" Julie felt like she'd been stripped naked before the residents of Touristville. Her story was already out, but she felt intensely grateful to Marco for setting the record straight. Minuet didn't seem like she was worried at all. She was here to watch the show. However she shivered and her guards racked rounds as growls and shouts of anger came from the crowd. She wasn't the only one. "poo poo, it's getting ugly," said Mother Bear before she snapped out an order. "Julian, you get south and east, I'll get north and west. You goons in the middle, we're protecting you from getting rushed and them from getting shot. Don't shoot." "Right," said Julian, quickly. The two teachers were used to high stress situations for entirely different reasons. Mother Bear fell back on her military training and Julian his hard earned talents as a shadowrunner. Mother Bear filled the north and west halls with spirits just high enough to block gunfire facing towards the orks and trolls and keep them from rushing forward. Julian created shining barriers made of pure force, though they still allowed people to see and hear. The security team was wary as this blocked off their escape, but Minuet called them teachers. The crew was unwilling to be seen drawing weapons on teachers and had not been told that there would be awakened shamans on site. A certain someone failed to mention just how dangerous the situation would be. They were in the middle of an ork ghetto cut off by matrix access, that was fine. They knew the score. The police were distracted. Minuet was going to say her piece and get out, easy-peasy, but she was hanging around despite their prompting to move away and that had gotten them trapped. It was going to be easy- A milk run. Instead they were surrounded by almost all of Touristville's residents with no easy route of egress. After all they'd come in the north end and that was being closed off by spells and the crowd as they stopped being so orderly. They hadn't seen that many orks and trolls. The path was short to the crossroads from the north. They'd been lied to and because there was no matrix access down here they couldn't call for backup. "Like Jesus said, let he who is without sin cast the first stone," spoke Devin, who not only knew how to talk to a crowd, but was also well known and respected, "We all have our faults. Some greater than others. Julie shared her story with me. I knew and accepted her because she truly feels the weight of her guilt. She repented her sins. I too have seen her heart, and she has a good heart." Fuzzy was next. She wasn't as tall as the two orks who could speak above the crowd, but she was nimble. She vaulted up and hung onto a second story ledge so she could be seen and heard. She hung from it by one hand. "We know how to deal with these people!" she called out. "You know me too! I got this! Take a few steps back, they've got guns! Don't give them an excuse!" Meanwhile Sasha was talking to the security guards in low, angry tones as she was flanked by her own bodyguards, Duncan and Beef. "My name is Sasha Oliver. My father is Matt Oliver. He runs one of the police precincts in Renton. I'm putting my commlink on public so you can verify it peer to peer since the matrix sucks down here. I'm telling you all right now that if you don't restrain yourselves not only will I have my father revoke your security licenses since that goes through Knight-Errant, but you will all see the inside of a jail cell tonight. Stand down right now," said Sasha, her tone filled with authority. "I'll ask the local...Police...To escort you out. When I can find them that is," she grumbled. It took a few seconds for their leader to verify her identity, but almost as a group they thumbed the safeties on their weapons and holstered them. Nothing phased Minuet so far, but Sasha talking down her guards spooked Minuet. She'd hoped to watch Julie fail despite people standing up for her, if anyone did that is. Now her guards were backing down and the crowd was backing off. "You're a bitch!" shouted Chip. That broke the spell. It seemed that Chip had picked up some new swear words. He'd mostly stopped swearing, but now he knew the difference between when to swear and when not to. The crowd began to laugh. Not all at once and not everyone, but the tension eased and Minuet's pale face darkened with rage. Julie found her cheeks wet with tears. She wiped them off with her sleeve before she finally found her voice. "I'm sorry, everyone. I should have told you all. I just wanted to have a home again and be in a place where I wasn't hated or pitied. I should have said what I did, but it's hard for me to talk about," she spoke. "I didn't mean to fool anyone. It's hard to talk about my life." Her words didn't carry far, but they carried far enough. Half the residents of Touristville were recording with their commlinks, many even beforehand when this was just going to be an opening ceremony and a party. Those who didn't hear her words later would think and judge for themselves, but the tension had been ratcheted down significantly. Fuzzy dropped down and brushed off her leather pants. She patted Julie on the shoulder and winked at her. Despite her secret being out once more, Julie couldn't help but smile. This time there were more people to defend her. This time people got to know her before they judged her. It wouldn't be perfect, but she thought it would be okay. "You dumb loving trogs!" exploded Minuet, her voice amplified. "Don't you know what's good for you?! No wonder you live down here! You'll take anyone! You're barely better than dogs, you..." Her amplified voice was suddenly cut as one of her security drew their hand across their neck in a hand signal that spoke of silence. One of them pulled off his mask and helmet and looked at her. He a male ork with dark features. He peered down at her and she recoiled from him. "Shut the gently caress up right now," he growled. "I'm declaring you in breach of contract, and if you start a riot I'm not going to protect you. Shut up right now and you will be allowed to come with us as far as the surface." "gently caress you! You're going to hear from Horizon's lawyers," she spat. "I'll say whatever the gently caress I want to whomever the gently caress I want! If I'd known there were trogs on the security force I would've hired someone more loyal!" The ork's cybereyes couldn't betray any emotion as they were fully chrome, but his face twitched. "You'll hear from our lawyers then," he said, coldly. He looked at his crew and they nodded at him one by one. "It looks like you can't keep your mouth in check. You lied to us, that happens, but not at this level. Now you're endangering us and that was not in the contract. Fine then. Run your mouth, but you do it on your own. You better hope the police stop being distracted and delayed to find you and escort you out. I wonder where they are," he said, his voice full of dark sarcasm. The security force formerly employed by Minuet stood aside. She was no longer protected by a circle of well armed and armored employees. That left her standing alone in the center of the crossroads. The ork man put his mask and helmet back on and became indistinguishable from his crew once more. Julie was watching Minuet closely as her face went from near purple back to pale in a matter of seconds. Minuet had connections, wealth and power, but they were all elsewhere and outside of her ability to reach. She was totally on her own and she couldn't call for help. Touristville was known for its terrible matrix access and they were near its heart where that access was non-existent. She was left entirely to her own devices in an ork and troll ghetto after shouting slurs at them and alienating herself from her guards. Laughter peeled out of Julie as she had a revelation- Minuet was stupid and had zero street smarts. She'd hired people to have street smarts for her and then didn't listen to them. Magic is something distributed to the great and the small, the strong and the weak and the intelligent and the stupid. Not everyone had it, but magic didn't play favorites. Julie wondered briefly if she should rescue Minuet or not when something surprising happened. Minuet reached into her purse and disappeared. Julie's eyebrows climbed up her forehead. Minuet was definitely not powerful enough to cast that good of an invisibility spell. She was at best an above average student with less than a year of training. After all, Julie shared her spells and summoning classes with Minuet for both last semester and the current semester and knew she wasn't so powerful. Julie peered into the astral but it was a riot of colors and emotions. Minuet couldn't have gone far though. Everything was blocked off by spells and spirits by her two teachers so there were only so many places to look. After a few seconds she saw Minuet open the door to her house. It'd been locked, hand't it? There were going to be refreshments inside for a party, but she was sure she locked her door. Julie moved forward and entered her home and she wasn't alone. Minuet had a few seconds head start on Julie. The room was near filled to the brim with snacks and drinks on heavy tables. Her normal furniture save for the troll sized furniture was gone in the spare bedrooms. The troll sized furniture had to be assembled inside. Her rugs were now replaced with white carpet, the rugs gifted to those who needed them more. She'd had some months to redecorate after all. What was surprising were the spirits on the floor. There were three of them all about the size of large dogs. They were small for spirits, one a brown dog with a skull face, one a black cat with no eyes and two tails, and one a pure white serpent with pink eyes. "Minuet, why are you breaking into my house?" snapped Julie. "Gah!" shouted Minuet. She appeared out of nowhere. Her arms flailed as she was startled. Something dropped to the floor. It looked like a rod of some sort. She looked at Julie and then behind Julie as her friends stepped inside. Marco, Fuzzy and Sasha sans bodyguards were all here. Minuet scrambled in her purse and dropped it as she produced a firearm. She thumbed the safety and entered into a classic Weaver stance. She planted her feet, one behind the other and sighted down the barrel of her pistol. It looked like she knew what she was doing. "Stay back!" she said nervously. "You're not going to get me." "Whoa, whoa whoa," said Marco. "No. No violence, please." Marco stepped in front of Julie and slowly extended his arms to cover Fuzzy and Sasha. Everyone was very still. "You!" she hissed. "I saw the way you looked at me. You were just waiting for a chance to hurt me. We'll I'm not going to get hurt or lose anymore to anyone. Get back now." "I'm not going to hurt you. You took your shot. You lost, but if you keep escalating it's just going to get worse. Let's all just calm down. No one is going to hurt anyone," he said, soothingly. "Liar. You're just waiting for me to drop my guard. I have no idea why they let trogs at school. It's bad enough that we have them at Horizon, but I thought I'd be safe from them at school. Well I was wrong. You're not going to fool me. Get away from me," she snapped. Minuet was trembling and her spirits paced in front of her. Her breathing intensified and her gun wavered in her hand. "I..." started Marco. The near deafening sound of a gunshot filled the room. It was so intense that she heard ringing in her ears and almost felt it against her skin. He saw Marco flinch and clutch his stomach as she stood behind him. It took them all a few seconds to realize what happened. As Marco grunted in pain several things happened at once. The door opened wide and Kenji charged in, late to the party. Sasha reached into her own purse and produced a taser, but froze. Julie screamed and Fuzzy bounded forward and screamed out a war cry. All three beast spirits bounded forward to meet her. There were shouts from outside, dimly heard over the ringing of Julie's ears, but anything could happen in just a few seconds as Minuet turned her weapon on Fuzzy. CYOA Time Does Julie cast magic to kill or does she trust in her friends to help her take down Minuet? If Julie crits on her mana bolt though, Minuet dies, no save, GM fiat. Minuet is a tiny sixteen year old girl despite her willingness to initiate violence. If Julie doesn't she risks prolonging the combat and risks getting her friends shot or torn apart by spirits. Initiative is hidden this time. We don't have perfect information to make rational, informed decisions. We don't know how badly Marco is hurt, though he's still up. Combat is scary and it sucks. I will say that Julie goes first which is a lucky break for her (she's second fastest out of all of her friends), as she gets to make a decision. The other obvious routes are to stunbolt her or levitate Minuet or her gun, but a single stunbolt won't drop her (unless it's a crit), though it'll probably slow her down as she took some stun damage to summon that third spirit as Minuet only had two of them bound. However, most likely neither will put her down and end the fight immediately. Minuet is unlikely to fight to the bitter end, but she is panicking. Everything has spiraled wildly out of her control and she's acting on instinct alone. Or do we do something completely different? Etiquette is going to be hard because we'll have to stop -everyone- and we'll be at massive penalties as Minuet despises Julie and is good at resisting social rolls from her due to her new status as Julie's enemy. We might also not stop -everyone- and make the fight one sided which leaves us even more open. -- The situation: Minuet has lost her mind due to her terror, shame, embarrassment, racism, her failed plan B, her inability to accept a loss and poor trigger discipline. She shot at Marco and for all his strength has frozen as he's impacted by the bullet in his center mass. He doesn't dodge because he was protecting everyone. He may be tough and strong, but he's never been in combat before. He's a Christian minister in training who specializes in healing, not a Shadowrunner. Fuzzy is charging barehanded. Kenji is about to act. Sasha seems to have frozen as well. Chip will be able to aid Julie. Minuet's spirits are charging, weak as they are, they'll still buy her time to shoot if Fuzzy gets gummed up by them and can get lucky hits. We currently have control of Chip and Julie only. Everyone else is doing their own thing. We have full access to Julie and Chip's powers, but if Julie relies on Chip she'll have to order him to do something which will take time. Otherwise he'll do what he wants. This can't be peacefully resolved. The threat now is taking Minuet down without anyone getting killed or killing her or keeping everything contained until help arrives. The last option is possible. I'll roll a d6 after the first round to see if Julian, Mother Bear, Duncan or Beef arrive on the scene. If any of them gets a 5 or 6 they enter combat and gently caress poo poo up. Despite the deadliness of the situation none of the Blake Island students save for Fuzzy and Kenji are fantastic fighters, and Fuzzy only has a blade (which she's not using because she won't kill unless forced to) and Kenji can't tote a submachine gun everywhere so he only has a blade as well. Julian, Mother Bear, Duncan and Beef will kick a motherfucker's teeth in but they may not show up for a round or two depending on rolls and they'll still have to assess the situation. We don't know who has armor on or not save for Fuzzy who is always armed and armored when she's out and about. I know who else is armored, but the thread doesn't. Things are bad. Despite the fact that Minuet is firing a light pistol and has a bunch of little spirits anyone can still die if she keeps firing, especially the unarmored people, especially if she gets a critical hit which is possible with her 6 total dice. Beginners luck, and that'll do double damage which could very well end a life with 14 potential damage. Most people here can't take more than 11 before they start bleeding out though they'll be able to resist with body and armor (if they have it). Her spirits can do a little damage too. They're unlikely to hit with 5 dice in unarmed combat and have nothing particularly combat oriented in spirit powers (starts at force 3). However on a hit they'll do 4 damage plus any hits. On a critical they'll do 8 damage. Not immediately lethal by any means, but ouch. On the bright side everyone is getting great streaming video with their commlinks. Minuet is totally hosed. That critical glitch she rolled on composure made her start panic firing. Her backup plan (which I'll describe later) was foiled the minute any of Julie's friends spotted her trying to enter her house.  If we 100% don't care about Minuet, geek the mage works wonderfully in shadowrun. I'll say that if Julie mana bolts her and rolls intimidate and succeeds the fight stops immediately. That is the easy way out and it will have complications, but she can save her friends from potentially being shot and killed. Stun bolt won't have the same effect. She has to shoot to kill. However if Julie crits Minuet dies no save. GM fiat. Small reminder.
Ice Phisherman fucked around with this message at 02:31 on Dec 13, 2017 |
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Dec 13, 2017 00:30
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Breakdown of social combat. Real combat is hidden. --- Julie rolls an edge test to see if she gets a warning from Minuet's now ex-friends who'd once bullied Julie. Nope. No hits no successes. No warning but she's not particularly vulnerable either. Julie is opening her clinic and getting her criminal record expunged on the same day. We don't have enough karma for this so I'm making it up from scratch. Christina is no longer Julie's enemy. Minuet is, and she is meaner than Christina ever was. Any additional karma needed to clear up Julie's criminal record is added to Minuet's connection and rate of appearance. I'll do the math in a bit. Julian is here at the opening of her clinic. He was always going to be. Mother Bear is on the scene because we kept her in the conspiracy. So she's here to assist. Marco is here, but he's more predisposed towards violence now for good or for ill. Fuzzy is here. Edward is also here, but not Kenji and he's unarmed save for a knife and his magic. Sasha might show up. Let's roll loyalty for Julie. Loyalty + etiquette + charisma - 2 for prejudice versus the local "police force", so 8 dice. 3 hits, yep, Sasha is there too which is actually very important. Minuet shows up with private security into Touristville to poo poo all over Julie's reputation, and they have come armed. Julie never told the Touristville orks that she'd killed her own father and is a felon. Only people on Blake Island and Devin Faris, her pastor, knew of this. Here's the problem with Minuet. She's not particularly bright and she's an elven supremacist at the moderate level. She's not a nazi calling for the deaths of non elves, but she fully believes that elves are superior and She's at -4 for all actions and the Touristville orks are at a +4 for resisting her. She gets a +4 bonus for dropping knowledge on everyone though so it's a wash. However she gets +2 dice for having a number of drones to help spread her message up and down the hall and another +2 dice for her security forces. She has 12 dice to poo poo talk Julie and ruin her reputation. That's for now. The threat here is that Marco is going to get mad and either menace or attack Christina instead of defending Julie's reputation. After all, he's been dealing with anger problems and this strikes deep at the core of him. He needs 3 hits on 10 dice. He gets 3 hits. poo poo does not threaten to go violent because of Marco. He can step in to socially defend her and does so with 15 dice. 10 for charisma + etiquette and + another 5 for implied street cred. He gets 7 hits on his roll. Julie may not get all of those hits though. Her reputation is still shot and her etiquette isn't very high so she can only benefit from one of those hits (I've been brushing up on Shadowrun's rather byzantine ruleset). Currently she can get two. Fuzzy automatically defends her. She's an ork friend and Julie's friend. She rolls charisma 4 + etiquette 2 + street cred 4 for a total of 10 dice. Fuzzy criticals of course with 5 hits on 10 dice. She's Fuzzy Nogway. She's as ork as a human can be. I'll say that she keeps the crowd calm as well as giving Julie 5 more dice. Fuzzy knows peace and violence, and she keeps the crowd from getting ugly. This means she's able to drop the 3 noteriety for now and I'll give her a bonus of another +1 dice on her test. Devin Faris steps up. He's her pastor. He knows her heart and her story and acts as a good witness both as a person and as a Christian. I'll say he's going double his loyalty and connection for Julie in dice, so 12 dice. 5 hits. He can't increase Julie's dice anymore so instead he's attempting to lower Minuet's dice pool by 5. Minuet can defend against this with etiquette and does. She gets 1 hit on 12 dice. She loses 4 dice. Edward can't speak up. Kenji was supposed to come out later to congratulate Julie. His anxiety is too high. Let's see if he calls out Kenji or falls apart. 1 hit on an edge test. He'll need the scene to get Kenji up to speed with a text, but Kenji is on hand to help if poo poo goes bad. Sasha tries to help, but she's only got 4 dice. Charisma 3 + etiquette 3 - 2 prejudice (police force). She doesn't really have the cultural credit to talk to the Touristville orks, but stands by her friend no matter what. She crits with 3 hits on 4 dice. One of Minuet's security detail recognize her and the chances of them responding violently to anything but self defense drop to zero. Minuet loses 2 dice as she realizes her security force is no longer going to enforce her will. Chip pipes up. He's new, but he has etiquette and has been seen around Touristville. He has etiquette so he can actually help! 6 dice, charisma 3 + etiquette 3. 2 hits! Etiquette pays off. Let's see if Minuet can resist with her now 6 dice. Nope. Chip calls her a bitch and people laugh at her. -1 dice pool for Minuet. She's now at 5. Mother Bear and Julian are handling crowd control. They can't participate in social combat because they're distracted by the potential of actual combat. Minuet's guards have weapons and this could turn into a bloodbath. They're both able to keep people safe. Julian uses his barrier spell to keep the crowd at bay (for now) and intercept any gunfire in two directions. Mother Bear Summons bound spirits in the south and east, though invisibly. They're huge and will intercept any gunfire. Julie has 10 dice, charisma 5 + etiquette 1 + 4 street cred + 5 from Marco's teamwork test (she can't get the full 7, she gets the lower of the two charisma pools so they're both 5), no notoriety (for now) which would've drained her pool. However, since Minuet is on the attack Julie is defending against 5 dice with her 15. Minuet rolls with her 5 dice. She gets 2 hits. Julie rolls 15 dice. She gets 5 hits. Minuet loses. Minuet realizes she's losing. Minuet hates losing. She's been losing to Julie for a while and that's why she's escalating everything. That's what she does. She doubles down until she wins. She intentionally tries to turn the crowd ugly on purpose in order to "win" despite the fact that Mother Bear and Julian are here. She's arrogant and thinks she can get away with pretty much anything. Again, she's a vindictive and stupid person. She doesn't quite realize that she's surrounded by the better part of a thousand orks, two top tier shaman who are her teachers, that almost assuredly being recorded while underground with no hope of rescue and security forces who realize belatedly that they have really stepped in it, and that their charge is fantastically racist and stupid. Minuet starts shouting racist epithets at the orks and trolls. She shows her rear end to everyone. I'm going to roll not to see how well she does, but for how much damage she does to herself because Fuzzy and Sasha got the right crits. She gets 8 dice for charisma + etiquette, but a bonus to be a racist from her prejudice, so 4 more dice for a total of 12. Let's roll that poo poo. 4 hits. She's solidly racist on camera and is going to thoroughly embarrass her corporation (Horizon, one of the megas in deep into the media. That's going to be a problem later). The crowd is angry, people mill about and while security is tight around Minuet she manages to disappear in the confusion. Literally disappear. Poof. She uses an alchemical device prepared by someone else to go invisible. Let's see who notices besides Julie! Mother Bear and Julian are out. They're making sure things don't turn ugly. Julian is keeping the crowd calm with a manipulation spell as he drops his barrier spell. The corridors are small, dimly lit and full of people. People could get trampled to death if people moved too quickly. Both teachers are distracted. Duncan and Beef are distracted trying to keep Sasha safe, but Sasha has a few seconds where both of them have to watch her, the security forces and the Touristville orks and trolls. Julie's door to her home opens. It -was- locked, but Minuet unlocks it. It's subtle, but she does it and slips inside. Everyone needs 4 hits to see her or a 2 on assensing if they can see the astral. Fuzzy has 10 dice. 5 hits. Critical. She'll help Julie in the encounter. She's an old hand at dealing with racists and so she's already recording everything on for her commlink. She has been since the start. No check needed. Marco rolls 8 dice for assensing. Not his best subject. He gets 4 hits. He's there. Kenji rolls 9 dice. He needs 4 hits. Kenji gets 3 hits. He's not going to get there immediately, but he will get there belatedly as he sees his friends all go into Julie's house. Sasha is a pro at assensing. 11 dice. She gets 5 hits. She's in. Duncan and Beef briefly lose her. They are going to get chewed the gently caress out later. Julie goes in first. She was always going to go in, but it was a matter of if she'd be going in alone or not. She never stopped watching Minuet. We didn't have to summon Chip, so he was always going to back her up the second we did. She treated her friends well and so they're all here and they're all perceptive enough (save for Kenji, who shows up half a minute too late) to show up with her. Minuet has summoned 2 level 2 bound spirits of beast and has had enough time to summon another level 2 beast spirit, instructions unknown, but that's taxing and she's taken 2 stun. They're laughable as spirits, but they can still get in a lucky hit which can seriously injure someone and can definitely intercept someone. She doesn't want to fight, but she has a firearm and some basic training with it and has leveled it at Julie and friends. Kenji is late to the party, so he can't be the talker as he wouldn't suffer penalties so it comes down to the next best talker, and that's Marco. Marco rolls self-control. He criticals, and so he steps in front of Julie and is fully protecting everyone with his bulk. She has no chance of being hit if there's combat as she's 100% unarmored and everyone else has cover as he throws his arms wide. He's her boyfriend and he's willing to fight, but he kept cool enough to stay calm earlier on and so his willingness to fight is a willingness to protect. Minuet is loving furious. She's been thoroughly embarrassed despite the fact that she thought she was going to win. She's waving around a gun and shouting. Marco rolls 10 dice (charisma + etiquette) minus 4 dice for her prejudice against non-elves. He needs 3 hits to defuse the situation. Marco fails with 2 hits. She has 12 dice to resist an etiquette test as Marco is a troll. She gets 5. Failure. Minuet rolls 1 die for composure due to her fear. Marco is a "big, scary troll" and she's not thinking rationally, but she does have a gun. This drains her composure roll of 6 to 1, as I need to roll something. She gets 1 hit. Marco tries again at a -1 penalty. 1 hit. Minuet gets 5 hits again to resist hearing them. Roll composure again. Minuet critically glitches. She panic fires as her finger twitches. It's a light gun made for a small person who's not very strong so the pull on the trigger doesn't need much to accidentally be pulled. Marco isn't trying to dodge because Julie is behind him. He stands his ground. Marco has been shot. I'll roll to see if she crits. She does not crit, but gets 1 die to succeed. Marco is hit. Damage unknown. It's the next round after the surprise. Kenji has arrived. Everyone rolls composure to act save for Fuzzy and Kenji who are combat hardened, and Chip who is loyal enough to Julie that he acts to protect her. Julie rolls 10 dice, but she's at -4 for Marco being shot at as this is her first time in combat. She gets 2 hits, I edge and she's gets 1 more hit. She can act this round. In fact she goes first. However she only has 1 edge left. Sasha rolls 6 - 2 dice for composure. Normally I'd say she's at -4 for being in live combat, but she's played tons of Miracle Shooter and so her instincts are there, so only -2. I pre-edge and she gets 5 more dice for a total of 11. She gets 0 hits. I reroll failures with another edge and she gets 2 hits. She will not act at the bottom of the round and won't be able to edge to the top. Initiate combat. Ice Phisherman fucked around with this message at 00:35 on Dec 13, 2017 |
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Dec 13, 2017 00:31
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KILL THAT BITCH Julie is not the most subtle of people when you've literally just shot her boyfriend and are currently about to turn a deadly weapon on her/all her other friends. Like, if this was a fistfight or something I would stick with nonlethal methods, but she just pulled a gun and potentially murdered Marco. This is not the time to gently caress around. Crazycryodude fucked around with this message at 01:18 on Dec 13, 2017 |
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Dec 13, 2017 01:16
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Chip run fast into her and push her against the wall Chip calm her down Chip boost my stun bolt But I'd rather kill her I know those are all independent actions just brainstorming
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Dec 13, 2017 01:24
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I'm tempted. Sorely tempted. It's entirely justifiable in this situation. Killing in defense of others. But I'm voting stun not for Minuet's sake, but for Julie. She's got plenty of poo poo on her plate. If she kills Minuet, that'll weigh on her. Especially with more violence yet in the future. And I want Minuet to be alive to reap the whirlwind she sowed. It's not often you get a corpse prince/princess who's really dumb enough to so utterly gently caress themselves and utterly and totally make racism look like the toxic, insane nonsense it is, rather than 'just people sticking together and not being PC and realistic' how it can be hidden. And then not just for the sake of Minuet, but for society. If Minuet bites it, then this becomes a story about some sweet girl getting killed because she did some dumb poo poo in Touristtown. Her racist screed will be a 'okay, but that doesn't justify her murdering' her shot will be talked as 'well, self defence, she was clearly in danger' Things will get muddled, and a society is all too willing to refuse to face its own ugly racism. And Touristtown will suffer. Badly. If she gets stunned, there's no looking away. A corpse princess went down, threw vile insults around, tried to break in, shot someone when she was called out for it and got brought back alive. If she hadn't been so stupid, it'd be a 'he said she said' and the hardcore racist assholes will still make excuses while quietly agreeing, but the rest of society will associate racism with a stupid, self-destructive, murderous little spoiled princess. Horrifying and yet pathetic at the same time. It can for racism in 'polite society' when Fuzzy did for racism in 'gangs'. For the same reason it's a better thing Fuzzy left the gangers alive, it's a good thing for Julia. The disadvantage. It risks innocent lives. It's not an easy choice, and man, part of me is definitely baying for Minuet's blood, but I'm gonna stick with Stun If the story was feeling a bit on the bright and nice side, I might have voted kill, but right now,, I'm good with this day being a net plus in the long run. Came up with another idea. Shogeton fucked around with this message at 03:35 on Dec 13, 2017 |
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Dec 13, 2017 01:35
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1.Stun 2. Improve Logic Julie isn't a killer at heart: and Manabolt is a scarred spell in her memory. She wouldn't jump to it even in this situation. Shout to Chip at the same time Influence her, Chip! Nothingtoseehere fucked around with this message at 12:32 on Dec 13, 2017 |
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Dec 13, 2017 01:43
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High society is never going to own up to its racism, and especially not because of some dumb teenager. The right thing to do is put this piece of poo poo down hard before she can kill people that are actually worth the oxygen they consume, not try and win some nebulous moral victory while gambling with our friends' lives.
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Dec 13, 2017 01:46
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Best case scenario, Kenji makes her put a bullet through her brain.
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Dec 13, 2017 01:57
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Crazycryodude posted:High society is never going to own up to its racism, and especially not because of some dumb teenager. The right thing to do is put this piece of poo poo down hard before she can kill people that are actually worth the oxygen they consume, not try and win some nebulous moral victory while gambling with our friends' lives. I feel you. It's not gonna end it, but it might at least make it fall out of fashion for a while. Have its worst excesses crawl back in their holes for a bit. Minuet already hosed herself. Her corp, and her family, is likely to drop her like hot garbage, as an example to others who make their corp look really, really bad. It's not really a moral victory. In a way it's risking with people's lives in order to try to protect the community as a whole. I honestly could see Julie go two ways, so in my case it's less of a 'this is what I see Julie doing' but more of a 'this is where I'd prefer the story to go.'
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Dec 13, 2017 02:04
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Crazycryodude posted:KILL THAT BITCH I can see Julie losing her poo poo here and charging. I can see Fuzzy and Kenji both flicking their metaphorical safeties off now because poo poo just got real. Sasha has probably been drilled on reacting to gunfire but isn't combat hardened or emotionally triggered here.
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Dec 13, 2017 02:08
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I can see Julie (trying) to just bodycheck Minuet: But using Manabolt after last time on requires conscious effort to push past the bad bits in my mind, and if Julie has enough presence of mind to do that, I don't see her willfully killing. I can see her in anger rushing forward to bodycheck Minuet with lethal intent, but not using a lethal spell
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Dec 13, 2017 02:09
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Minuet has escalated this from publically making GBS threads on Julie and trying to incite a riot, to armed B&E with the intent of killing, as evidenced by the spirits and her lethal weapon. She has now fired said weapon at a person, potentially lethal self defence is absolutely warranted here and will probably even save lives by taking her out quicker. This is an armed shooter going postal. changed vote sheep-dodger fucked around with this message at 03:01 on Dec 13, 2017 |
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Dec 13, 2017 02:30
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I’m in favor of STUN as well.
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Dec 13, 2017 02:34
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Outside the box option. Use Improve Logic on Minuet. Make her realize how completely utterly dumb she's being, and the only thing that lets her get out of this alive is to immediately drop the gun and raise her hands.
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Dec 13, 2017 02:54
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Shogeton posted:Outside the box option. Use Improve Logic on Minuet. Make her realize how completely utterly dumb she's being, and the only thing that lets her get out of this alive is to immediately drop the gun and raise her hands. This is too funny not to vote for. Use Improve Logic on Minuet.
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Dec 13, 2017 02:56
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Shogeton posted:Outside the box option. Use Improve Logic on Minuet. Make her realize how completely utterly dumb she's being, and the only thing that lets her get out of this alive is to immediately drop the gun and raise her hands. This is too good not to be the answer here.
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Dec 13, 2017 03:02
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Hexenritter posted:This is too funny not to vote for. Bonus. Julie will get to see that moment of dawning realization of just how utterly, utterly she hosed herself on Minuet's face. I mean, that's something to brighten up any cold day later. I mean, moments before Fuzz loving decks her.
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Dec 13, 2017 03:02
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Shogeton posted:Bonus. Julie will get to see that moment of dawning realization of just how utterly, utterly she hosed herself on Minuet's face. I mean, that's something to brighten up any cold day later. I mean, moments before Fuzz loving decks her. That really is the icing on the cake and the cherry on top here. That moment will probably stick with Julie for the rest of her life as a warm fuzzy (pun intended) feeling she can look back on.
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Dec 13, 2017 03:07
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sheep-dodger posted:
Yeah, I agree. mana bolt. Julie's the most accomplished mage, I'd trust her over most of her friends (except maybe Fuzzy) to control her attacks. The logic idea is funny, but it might backfire! Minuet's goal is to win in a social situation , a logic spell might help her realise how to humiliate Julie and get one over her friends too. I don't think logic would necessarily make her reflect upon her actions.
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Dec 13, 2017 03:49
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Hexenritter posted:This is too funny not to vote for. It's funny, but it's just going to make the dumb racist a smart racist and probably start a hostage situation or some poo poo with a wounded Marco. STUN
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Dec 13, 2017 03:52
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Kinda to late to go back to 'humiliating' Julie. There's not really time to sling any more bon-mots. Her options right now are to shoot, or to surrender. One of these is the smartest.
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Dec 13, 2017 03:53
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Okay, so the improve logic spell is comedy gold. Logic is tied to composure which is why she started firing in the first place. If Julie improves her logic Minuet will get another composure test to calm herself down. Or it may make her more ruthless and calculating. Depends on the dice. It's all a risk. Edit: This is not an endorsement or rebuke. I think it's funny, but it may or may not work. It depends on the dice. Ice Phisherman fucked around with this message at 05:06 on Dec 13, 2017 |
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Dec 13, 2017 03:55
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Please do not make the dumb racist murderer into a smart racist murderer, she will just use it to get creative and kill our friends better. It's comedy gold, yes, but this is NOT a funny situation. Like, nobody has plot armor, this isn't a comedy story, bad poo poo can and will happen. Don't voluntarily make the person trying to literally murder you into a genius.
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Dec 13, 2017 04:20
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Crazycryodude posted:Please do not make the dumb racist murderer into a smart racist murderer, she will just use it to get creative and kill our friends better. It's comedy gold, yes, but this is NOT a funny situation. Like, nobody has plot armor, this isn't a comedy story, bad poo poo can and will happen. Don't voluntarily make the person trying to literally murder you into a genius. Agreed!
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Dec 13, 2017 04:30
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Okay, it looks like mana bolt, stun bolt and increase logic may not give me 50% that I need to make a decision. Please list your first and second choice so I don't have to do a runoff so I can finish this chapter quicker.
Ice Phisherman fucked around with this message at 05:22 on Dec 13, 2017 |
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Dec 13, 2017 05:19
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1. Manabolt 2. Stunbolt Seriously guys, please do not vote for Improve Logic. It's funny and lighthearted and has a small chance of working, but holding out for a happy ending when the alternative is having to read the scene where Fuzzy bleeds out in our arms isn't worth it. Just drop Minuet before she can hurt anyone else, that's what any sane person does in real life. Crazycryodude fucked around with this message at 05:26 on Dec 13, 2017 |
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Dec 13, 2017 05:23
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My votes ranked are: 1. Manabolt 2. Stun
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Dec 13, 2017 05:24
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1. Manabolt 2. Stunbolt
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Dec 13, 2017 05:25
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| # ? Apr 26, 2024 04:58 |
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1: Increase Logic 2: Stun Bolt
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Dec 13, 2017 05:26
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