Results from Previous round votes:

One Vote

Plan Neville, on SV forum

One Vote

Plan TalonOfAntares, on SV forum

One Vote:

Plan CCC (on my blog)

Randomized to Plan Neville

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Winning Plan:

[x] Give the Bullet Blend to: (Timeslot cost: 0, AP cost 0, refunds 0 on success, auto succeed)

-[x] Glower (Grower)

 

Not sure what to do with the rest of our time. I am inclined to pursue revenge with this:

[x] Investigate attack on me (Timeslot cost: 1; AP cost 2, refunds 1 on success)

-[x] By asking Blisser

 

 [x] Relax and Recuperate

-[x]By patronizing entertainment ares (Timeslot cost: 1, AP cost 1, refunds 3 on success)

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Day 7  Log:

2 AP at start of day

+1 for 6 hour sleep (3 AP)

-2 for [Morning] Investigate Attack on me, by asking Blisser (1 AP)

Investigate roll 4, Success

+1 for Success (2 AP)

-1 for Relax and Recuperate by Patronizing Entertainment areas (1 AP)

Rest roll, 1, critical Failure, relax and recuperate subtype changed to [Blisser]

+3 for Blisser Recuperation (4 AP), will continue until AP maxed out

End of day, (4 AP).

Day 8 Log:

4 AP at start of day

+0 for uneven sleep

+3 for [Morning] Blisser Recuperattion (7 AP), will continue until AP maxed out

+3 for [Afternoon] Blisser Recuperation (10 AP), recuperation complete

End of day (10 AP)

*************************************************************************************

Give Bullet Blend to Grower

“What do you get out of this?” she asked me, voice cold with suspicion.

I let the question sit for a moment, looking instead out of the irregular hole in the wall which served as a window.

“I remember this,” I told her.

Her frown told me that she was irked that I didn’t answer her question directly, but she had the self control to let me speak.

“I remember living in a place much like this, struggling in a manner very like yours, desperate to reach the interior.  It was a hard, brutal existence.”

Her face softened a little, losing some of its confrontational edge, her glower relaxing a fraction.

“It might have been the best time of my life.”

Her eyes widened involuntarily.  She’d clearly been expecting another direction for this speech to go.

“All your enemies are obvious.  Everyone around you has the same goal, aside from the people who’ve given up.  You are all rivals, all foes.  You go out there and it is all so simple.  You kick ass.  You take names.  You look at the Lair and you hope.”

She was nodding along as I spoke, now.  It hadn’t been hard to guess that she’d be the kind of person who would thrive in this situation, but it was still gratifying to see that I’d been right.

“This is the easy part, you get that?”

“Yeah,” she said.

Grower even kind of looked like me.  Skin the same shade, same basic fashion sense.  Her gear was a little more threadbare, more scavenged, but that could be readily explained by the fact that she didn’t have access to the Lair’s resources yet.  The biggest difference was that I was a few inches taller, and that she didn’t have a healing gift to get rid of the scars.

“Once you are in the Lair, the purity is going to vanish,” I told her.  “Your enemies will hide behind patrons that you can’t confront.  Your superiors will make demands of you that you will struggle to fulfill.  You will want to fight, but half the time you won’t even know who the opponent is.”

“And…?” she asked, presumably trying to push me back to her original question.

“And I can’t wait to see how you’ll do,” I said.  “I don’t know if you’ll be the kind of Ultra that I want in my Posse.  I don’t know if that’s even something that you want, but I can recognize talent when I see it, and you are too good for the Yard.  With this blend you can short circuit a few months, insure yourself against bad luck, and start playing the game for real within a week.  I’m eager to see what that looks like.”

“I guess it doesn’t make sense that you’d be trying to take me down,” she said.  “If you wanted to get that done, you could snap your fingers and set a mob on me, offer them this kind of Ultra juice, or just places in your force.”

“Sure,” I allowed.

“So I guess I believe you,” she finished.  “For whatever reason, you really do want to power me up.”

I grinned at her, relieved that she’d bought it.  No one knew about my need to give Blends away, and I’d like to keep it that way.

“Let’s do this,” she said, and held out her hand.

*************************************************************************************

Investigate attack on me (Blisser)

Blisser’s Den was just like I remembered it.

The Lair was, by and large, not a place for ruins.  The buildings around here were generally at least mostly intact, if only due to energetic repair.  There was power in those places that needed it.  It was something of an island, amid the overall squalor of the Regime.

Blisser’s Den defied this trend, remaining a sorry pile of rubble.  It had been a government building, back before the old world fell, and Blisser’s clients only real contribution to its livability had been knocking down a bunch of walls, and spreading tarps over the holes that they developed.

I stepped inside, her clientele scattering away as I entered, repelled by the bright light filtering in from where I’d pushed the blanket aside.

Blisser herself was obvious enough, laying in a heap of bodies on the other side of the area, sprawled out on a pile of mattresses.

I spent a moment looking at her, carefully noting her posture and attitude.

Blisser’s gift manifested itself in a ‘wake’ of oily smoke that followed along behind her, filling the volume that she passed through.  The darkness of the Den made it hard to tell exactly where it was, but it looked safe enough.  Some woman was draped across her lower legs, which made me think that she hadn’t moved in a few hours.  I shouldn’t need to worry about accidentally touching any of her gift.

I made my way across the room, heading for the humans who managed her business dealings.

One of them met me halfway across he floor, Marcy, the same woman I’d dealt with the last times I’d come here.

She opened her mouth to say something, but I put a finger over it, took ahold of her and walked her along.

She didn’t protest, let me hustle her out of a door and into a ruined hallway, where the sound of our words wouldn’t carry.

“Mia,” she said.

“Blender,” I corrected her.  “Blisser gets away with that crap because her gift messes up her mind when she shares it with people.  Daggers like you don’t get extended the same courtesy.”

I couldn’t see too well in the dim hallway, but I thought I saw the fear on her face.

“I’m sorry,” she said.  “She doesn’t, you know what she’s like.  It’s easy to forget, I, we, there’s so much to-“

I cut her off.

“SO much to forget, eh?  I hope not.  Because I’m looking for some information about the past.  If you ‘forgot’ it, I might need to ‘remind’ you, yeah?  You could see how I got my name.”

“I’m sure I’ll remember it,” she gushed.  “Absolutely.  What do you want to know?”

Ordinarily I wouldn’t have come on so heavy, but I was always conscious of Snitcher.  I didn’t think he’d be watching me, but I couldn’t take the chance.  Being anything but commanding was dangerous for me now.

“A pair of Knights came here,” I said.  “Their scythes were lifted by two others.  I’m very curious about those others.  Do you remember anything about them?”

She paused for a long moment, long enough that I decided to speak again.

“In case you are curious,” I told her.  “The answer had better be ‘yes’.  Those two were traitors to the Regime.  One reason that you might not have tracked their movements would have been if you, yourself, shared their rebel sympathies.”

She shook her head, furiously.

“They, of course I know,” she said, speaking quickly, with short, staccato bursts.  “The ones who took their brother’s scythes?  They said that they were other Knights, just here to make sure that everything was fine.”

“Do people normally do that?” I asked her, a mocking note entering my voice, “Do people come in here and take other people’s stuff, ‘just to make sure everything was fine’?”

She shook her head, mutely.

“So you knew this was a robbery, yeah?” I asked.

Almost against her own will, it seemed, her head nodded, feebly.

“You just didn’t know that they were going to do anything bad with them, right?”

She grabbed for this feeble lifeline.

“Yes, of course, yes Blender!  That’s it.  I, they, we knew they were robbing the Knights, but we had no idea that they might be after someone as important as you!  You’ve got to believe me!”

“No I don’t,” I told her.  “But I don’t disbelieve you, either.  I nothing you.  You aren’t important enough to have feelings about.  I am focused on the two men who attacked me, the men I slaughtered.”

I emphasized the word ‘slaughtered’, watched her shudder.

“Had you ever seen them before?  I know you and your sisters run Blisser’s arrangements.  I know you don’t let humans in here without compensation.  The Knights, sure, they’d be on Second Fist’s dime, but why did these other two get in?”

If she was shaking before, then she was positively trembling now.

She shook her head, whispered something too low for me to hear.

“Marcy,” I told her, taking careful hold of her upper arm.

She flinched away from my touch, looking down at her feet and gritting her teeth.

“…cker,” she said.

“Louder,” I commanded her.

“Picker!” she said.

I let go, startled momentarily out of my role.  Picker?  The airhead, the child?  She’d been perhaps my least dangerous rival.”

Marcy sobbed, covering her mouth with a hand.

“They were with her,” she coughed out, in between jags of crying.  “We let them in because we’d seen them before, back when Picker helped Blisser out, back when…”

She collapsed down onto her knees, her weeping uncontrollable now.

I took a step back, never looking away, mind awhirl with this development.

Picker was a kid, a baby.  It was impossible to square this with my image of her, impossible to picture the girl who’d begged Subtracter on her knees not to make her show her gift with scythes flashing in broad daylight in the streets of the Lair.

I turned back, stepped through the door into the main room.

Behind Picker though, there might be, I needed to-

Arms and feet wrapped around me and a weight careened into me from the side.

I reacted instinctively, shifting my balance and dropping my center of gravity, trying to shift my assailant into a fireman’s carry, in preparation for a slam, reaching to my blends in case I needed to-

A tickling sensation at my neck stopped me for a beat, were they…nuzzling?

I lowered Blisser to the ground, tried to step away, even as she clung like a limpet, giggling loudly.

“Mee-ya!” she stage whispered.  “I’ve been so loooone-ley!’

A stupid grin forced its way onto my face.

“Blissy,” I said, “I-“

A part of my mind screamed at the rest of me.  I was touching her, had just taken a full wake of her gift.  I had to get back, had to take my agency back from-

The rest of my mind shut the spoilsport part up.

“-I missed you,” I finished.

And it was true, on some level.  I don’t think anyone who has spent time with Blisser is ever wholly the same again. 

I had spent one day here, back when I’d first earned entry to the Lair.  I’d pushed her memory aside, trampled it down beneath ambition and cold rage, but it had never really gone away.

“Of course you did!” she giggled, putting her hands up on my face, kneading at my temples.  “I missed you too!  I love you!”

I found myself reaching out, taking ahold of her arms and pushing her towards me, stopping her short so that the wake crashed over me.

“You love everyone,” I murmured, play pushing her back.

She just smiled, teeth white in the dimness and the smoke.

*************************************************************************************

Day 9:

Days remaining: 22

AP available: (10 end of last day + 0 for half night’s sleep (already max) = 10/10

Prestige: 3 (word of attack may reduce this if I don’t take public vengeance soon)

Timeslots available: 2 (morning, afternoon)

Posse: 0 out of 3 slots filled

Force size: 0

Condition: Healthy

 

(Ultra format: Role, Ultra Strength/Speed/Toughness, other gift description)

Ultra Allies:

Maker- Friend, and protégé of Snitcher, 0/0/1, can summon the spirit of things

Clawer – Ultra fighter 2/0/1, melee combatant, deadly hooks for hands

Stopper – partner of Clawer, 0/0/0, steals form’s velocity by looking at them

Sticker – Did dentistry for her brother, 0/0/2, Creates slime, can choose its stickiness

Ultra Enemies:

Masher- Enemy, and fellow protégé of Subtracter, 3*/0/3*, trades off strength and durability as she moves or stays still

Ultra Acquaintances:

Owner – housemate, 0/0/1 operates an imaginary firm, with real effects on the world,

Picker – First Fist protégé, 0/1/0, ‘selects the outcome of things’

Tracker – Running buddy, 1/0/1, Creates tracks, and can move things on them

Shower – Adder’s protégé, 1*/0/1*, gains strength and durability from witnesses

Echoer – Singer I am a fan of, 1/1/1, can duplicate any action that she sees

Bubbler – Operates Ultra clinic 0/0/?, traps things in bubbles that heal and move them

Sucker — Ultra entertainer, ?/?/?, pulls objects/people towards her at incredible rate

 Gunner — 0/0/1, she shoots tracking Ultra Blasts at roughly Ultra Strength One

Chiller —  1/0/1, can freeze any object she touches, leaving them brittle and easily broken

 Cutter —  1/1/1, she is a brutal front line combatant

Joker —  0/2/0, a woman who can change what other people/herself look like

Smasher —  3/0/1, a woman who is billed as the strongest Ultra fighter of all time

Swimmer —  1/0/1, she can ‘swim’ through solid surfaces

Burner —  0/0/1, she can summon Ultra fire from anywhere that she can see

Maxxer —  0/0/0, she can augment the gifts of other Ultras, pushing their gifts

Puncher —  1/0/1, her strength and speed both go up when she repeats her movements

Replayer —  1/2/0, she can ‘step back in time’ to undo damage that she takes

Builder —  0/0/0, a woman who can alter objects for miles around into other things

 

Faction Rankings:

Regime 7

KEM 8

Pantheon 2

Union 4

Resistance 9

Prevailer 3

Knights 3

 

Actions:  

 [ ] Confront Picker (Timeslot cost: 1; AP cost 2, returns variable on result)

-[ ] Write in (Should I ambush her, accuse her publicly, reach out privately? This is a complicated situation, so if you have any questions about what is appropriate, what Mia would expect to follow from a given course of action feel free to ask)

 

 

 [ ] Investigate attack on me (Timeslot cost: 1; AP cost 2, refunds 1 on success)

-[ ] By asking bystanders

Motives: The fake Knights came from somewhere, perhaps I can find someone who saw them don their disguises

Concerns: None

 

[ ] Contact Knights (Timeslot cost: 1, AP cost 2, returns 1 on success)

Motive: My recent actions have opened up the possibility of collaboration with the Knights of Purity.  Their assistance could be valuable, insofar as they don’t count towards the Regime’s ridiculous rule against outnumbering our enemies, and I might be able to acquire some of their blessed equipment if I play my cards right.

Concerns: I don’t know if I really want to be associating with such a group.  KEM wouldn’t mind, but the Resistance would pull away from me, and I might end up coming into contact with Second Fist or their sponsored Ultras.  It is likely that anything they might want from me would be rather evil.

 

[ ] Seek Transportation

-[ ] Scavenge (Timeslot cost: 2; AP cost 4, refunds 3 on success)

Motive: My current transportation sufficed for me in my troubleshooter role, but I will likely require a larger vehicle, or several vehicles, in order to bring everyone to Ar Harbor. I can seek to find something in the suburbs and surrounding towns.

Concerns: Leaving Shington could be dangerous, and I am far from guaranteed to find a bus or truck suitable to my needs, as the area has already been heavily scavenged.

-[ ] Trade with existing owners (Timeslot cost: 1; AP cost 2, refunds 1 on success)

Motive: As above, but instead of fixing up ruined vehicles I’ll negotiate to get them from their current owners.

Concerns: Snitcher may disapprove of a warlord being civil

-[ ] Seize by force (Timeslot cost: 2; AP cost 4, refunds 3 on success)

Motive: As above, but instead of asking my contacts for vehicles I’ll just take what I want. My role as warlord and my Tally should minimize resistance

Concerns: People like their vehicles, and won’t like the one who takes them. I will make enemies.

-[ ] Seek Transportation [Adder + Company] (Timeslot cost: 1; AP cost 2, refunds 1 on success)

Motive: As above, but Adder can use his gift to make something for my purposes, and the Company can duplicate it and make it permanent.

Concerns: Adder and I are not close, he may decline to aid me, owing to his rivalry with my sponsor, Subtracter.

 

[ ] Seek Target Information

-[ ] Company (Timeslot cost: 1; AP cost 2, refunds 1 on success)

Motive: The Company logs every Ultra they create. Their Ar Harbor records would be useful information

Concerns: Ultras migrate and conceal their gifts, this information would be incomplete

-[ ] Subtracter (Timeslot cost: 1; AP cost 3, refunds 1 on success)

Motive: Subtracter is the military leader of the Regime, she will have information on this target

Concerns: Subtracter is stupid and violent, I don’t like to be around her

-[ ] Survivors (Timeslot cost:1; AP cost 2, refunds 1 on success)

Motive: There have been 2 other attempts at Ar Harbor. I can seek out and question survivors in the outer city.

Concerns: I may be unable to find any survivors, and I may be misled by liars.

 

[ ] Seek Posse Members

-[ ] wander & gossip, (Timeslot cost: 1; AP cost 1, refunds 1 on success)

Motive: There are dozens of powerful Ultras in the Lair. I know only the barest fraction of them. I can learn the basics on 1-6 of them in a few hours of socializing and gossiping, opening up in depth investigation options on them and adding them to my list of acquaintances.

Concerns: None

-[ ] At Ultra Fights, (Timeslot cost: 1; AP cost 1, refunds 1 on success)

Constraint: Only available in the afternoon or night on days divisible by 4 (day 4, 8, etc)

Motive: There are dozens of powerful Ultras in the Lair. I know only the barest fraction of them. I can learn the basics on 3-12 of them in a few hours of socializing and gossiping at this kind of event.

Concerns: Ultras associated with the Fights are more likely than most to be melee combatants.

 

[ ] Seek Warband Members

-[ ] At the Yard, (Timeslot cost: 1; AP cost 2, refunds 1 on success)

Motive: The Lair is surrounded by hundreds of Regime Ultras.  The strongest come to the Yard to show their power and appeal to those like me, who would give them purpose.  I should be able to gather between 5 and 20 Ultras of such caliber.

Concerns: I will need to provide housing and direction to these Ultras, or risk them wandering off.  I can expect to spend at least an action a day on them, and training them might well eat up more.  Ideally a Posse member will be tasked with this.

-[ ] [Gang name] From a Gang, (Timeslot cost: 2; AP cost 5, refunds 3 on success)

Motive: The Ultras that surround Shington are organized into Gangs dozens strong.  If I can recruit such a force I might have my whole Warband right there.

Concerns: These Ultras likely already have patrons in the Lair, who I would need to negotiate with.  Their leader would also likely want a place in my Posse, and she would be the primary locus of their loyalty until I’d had time to win them over.

 

 

[ ] Investigate Acquaintance:

-[ ] [Name], (Timeslot cost: 1; AP cost 2, refunds 1 on success, 2 if we become allies)

Motive: I can spend some serious one on one time with an Ultra I’ve chosen, evaluating the capability of their gift, the alignment of their values with mine, and their basic ccompetence. If all checks out, I might move them into my Ultra Allies column.

Concerns: None

 

[ ] Invite Ally into Posse:

-[ ] [Name], (Timeslot cost: 1; AP cost 3, refunds 3 on success)

Motive: If I want to bring an ally into my posse, get them to take actions on my behalf and rise or fall with me, this is the way to do it. I will only take this action on those I’ve already made allies, and once this has been taken it is difficult to undo.

Concerns: Posse members are most of the way into my circle of trust, and will operate on my behalf, representing me to stranger. A mistake here would be dangerous and damaging. I should be careful before taking this step, potentially investigating a prospect several times.

 

[ ] Seek Information on Snitcher’s patterns

-[ ] Passive listening (Timeslot cost: 1; AP cost 1, refunds 1 on success)

Motive: Snitcher can ride my senses at any moment, and bring Her along. If I am ever to contact my KEM allies, my resistance allies, or show any kindness or weakness whatsoever, I need to understand when this is likely to take place. Gossip can hint at this, particularly if I carefully steer conversations. This action would be mostly undetectable, even if he was riding me when I took it.

Concerns: None

-[ ] Active interrogation of Snitches (Timeslot cost: 1; AP cost 3, refunds 2 on success)

Motive: As above, but rather than listen for random gossip I will seek out other linked individuals and directly ask them how often he rides their senses, and what actions he has reacted to in the past.

Concerns: More likely Snitcher notices this, unknown consequences of that.

-[ ] Confront Snitcher Directly (Timeslot cost:1; AP cost 4, refunds 3 on success)

Motive: As above, but take the simplest possible route. Go to Snitcher and ask him for the deal.

Concerns: I am sponsored by Subtracter, not Snitcher, he may not wish to aid me. He may demand favors or other services in exchange for the information.

 

[ ] Seek Information on Regime military operations

-[ ] Ask Subtracter (Timeslot cost: 1; AP cost 3, refunds 1 on success)

Motive: My life depends on doing this right. I need to get a basic understanding of what She is expecting from my attack on Ar Harbor. Do I need to seize the Company Facility? Kill all the enemies? Are there any constraints on how I go about it? Subtracter is the leader of the Regime’s military, and my sponsor, she will know these answers.

Concerns: Subtracter is stupid and brutal, and she killed my neighbors, I hate spending time with her.

-[ ] Ask Around (Timeslot cost: 1; AP cost 2, refunds 1 on success)

Motive: As above, but ask survivors of previous missions instead of my evil boss.

Concerns: My predecessors may not have told them everything, their views of their missions may omit certain command level details that I need to worry about.

 

[ ] Relax and Recuperate

-[ ] By visiting Blisser (Timeslot cost: X (slots spent until AP reaches max), AP cost 0, returns 3 per time period.  DANGER, this action may cause addiction)

-[ ]By lounging around, (Timeslot cost: 1, AP cost 0, refunds 1 on success)

Motive: I could do with some rest.

Concerns: None

-[ ]By patronizing entertainment ares (Timeslot cost: 1, AP cost 1, refunds 3 on success)

Motive: I could do with some rest, and I might learn some things by socializing

Concerns: None

-[ ]By using my gift to repair the city (Timeslot cost: 1, AP cost 2, refunds 5 on success)

Motive: It needs to be done.

Concerns: This is not becoming behavior of a warlord, Snitcher may take notice, and people may talk

-[ ]By using my gift to heal people (Timeslot cost: 1, AP cost 1, refunds 5 on success)

Motive: This is why I have my gift.

Concerns: This is not becoming behavior of a warlord, Snitcher may take notice, and people may talk

 

[ ] Organize Armory [Timeslot cost: 1, AP cost 2, returns 2 on success)

Motive: I carry, in my backpack and on my person, various items to blend with if the need arises. I am overdue to look through my setup and take an inventory, once that is done I could seek out new objects if I am missing anything useful.

Concerns: None

 

[ ] Seek new residence [ Timeslot cost: 3, returns 1 if successful ]

Motive: I could get a lot more done if I got a full night’s sleep

Concerns: Owner and I have guarded one another’s rest for a long time. I wouldn’t necessarily be able to trust a new person to the same extent.

 

KEM Actions: (Sealed until I figure out how to deal with Snitcher’s surveillance, or resolve to defy him)

Resistance Actions: (Sealed until I figure out how to deal with Snitcher’s surveillance, or resolve to defy him)

 

[ ] Action: Other (Timeslot cost: x, returns x if successful)

Motive [Write in]

Concerns: [Write in]