Results from Previous round votes:

Three Votes

Plan TalonofAnathrax, on SV forum

One Vote

Plan CCC on my blog

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

Winning Plan:

[X] Assuage Builder’s fear of firearms (Timeslot cost: varies by attempt; AP cost 1, refunds 3 on success, adds Builder to Posse)

-[X] Use a Blend (we have Bulletproofness,Q).

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

-[X] During the night, warp the building she’s in to make it difficult to enter/leave and navigate. Then toss in a few burning torches/molotov cocktails. Turn the building into a (nonfunctional) blender, if possible -> gotta sign it if we want the rep !

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

Day 11  Log:

5 AP at start of day

+1 for 6 hour sleep, (6 AP)

-1 for [Morning] Assuage Builder’s worries (5 AP)

Auto Succeed due to Blend use

+3 for Success (8 AP)

-2 for [Evening] Burn down Picker’s House (6 AP)

Initial Roll 7 Success

Secondary roll 9 Success

+2 for Success (8 AP)

End of day, (8 AP).

Note, due to night activity Blender will not regain an AP tonight

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

Give Bulletproof Blend to Builder

“Just shake your hand?” she asked.

“Yep,” I told her.

Builder looked skeptical.

“I know I’m not the brightest,” she said.  “But I think that if handshakes made bullets not work someone would have told me about it.”

I chuckled a bit at that.

“It’ll work,” I told her.

She looked dubious, but stretched out her hand to me.

I took it in both of mine, simultaneously reaching out to the scrap of law enforcement material that I kept always against my skin.  I took its ‘Bulletproof’ quality.

It was a strange feeling, very different from my ordinary Ultra Toughness.  That doesn’t really feel like anything specific, it just kind of mutes the world’s impact.  Being ‘bulletproof’, on the other hand, had a very distinct sensation.

In particular, it made me feel sort of stiff all over.  Or not stiff, exactly, maybe ‘coiled’ would be a better word?  Whatever it was that you felt right before you stretched a limb would probably be the best way to characterize it.

I didn’t have long to experience it.  As soon as I had the quality held in my gift I was already reaching out to Builder’s traits.

She was ‘cheerful’ and ‘living’.  I’d have honestly expected ‘hungry’ to be in there.

I pushed ‘bulletproof’ down the channel, easily blending it with her existing attributes.  With no Ultra Toughness to overcome it was over in an instant.

She pulled her hand out of mine with a yelp, then put her hand in front of her face with a strange expression.

“Woah,” she said, opening it and closing it again.

“You don’t have to worry about bullets anymore,” I told her.

She turned her wrist around, looking now at her palm.

“Woah,” she said again.  “What’s the, what did, hmm…”

She trailed off.

“Nothing much,” I told her.  “And I’d appreciate it if you kept this private.  I’ve shielded you from bullets, and I’ll keep doing so as long as you work for me.”

There was no reason to tell Builder that this was permanent.  I didn’t want people to know about this application of my gift at all, but if it had to slip out I’d like the info to be as incorrect as possible.

“Are you for real?” she asked.  “You can do that?”

“Why do you think they made me warlord?” I countered.  “She trusts me for a reason.”

She smiled, then reached up with a gasp to touch her cheeks.

“A bit stiff?” I asked.

“Yeah,” she said, “It’s everywhere.  Am I Ultra Tough now?”

I shook my head.

“Just bulletproof,” I told her.  “I don’t think it would protect you against anything else at all.”

“Well you won’t catch me complaining,” she said.

“Then welcome to my Posse,” I told her.  “Together we will do great and terrible things.”

***********************************************************”**************************

Confront Picker

Builder was already proving useful.  She’d agreed to watch over Owner on my behalf, and Owner had been delighted to meet the woman who’d consumed so many of her products.

I’d figured out what was up with that, to my own relief.  Builder had an allergy to the protein paste that the rest of us subsisted on.  She relied almost entirely on scavenged food from the old world, trading on her gift to acquire it.

I hadn’t been terribly surprised that she’d hit it off with Owner, and I’d left them in the Packer house to chat the night away.

It had been a while since I’d been out this late at night.  The streets of the Lair were dark and comparatively empty, aside from the occasional Knight patrol I saw no one else as I slipped carefully from street to street.

All of my old reflexes came back to me as I progressed.  I found myself moving as I had when I was hungry, when I was on the outside, and a hundred night raids like this had kept me alive.

I took my time.  I crept from doorway to doorway, from rubble to rubble, scanning carefully in all directions before making each move.

That was one thing that stuck with you, if you’d ever done anything like this before.  The night is LONG.  There is always time to be careful.  Better to tarry for an hour on the trip than to alert your target.

Picker was staying in a refurbished house, roughly the same kind of dwelling as the Packer house.  I hadn’t been able to find records of any other Ultras living with her, nor of any human servants.  As far as anyone else knew, she lived alone.

She didn’t have any security out.  No dogs or watchmen.  Nothing to warn her or defend her.  It was like she wanted to be assassinated.

The thought sent me into a quick paranoid spiral, and I spent what must have been a half hour carefully looking around, but there didn’t seem to be any ambushers lying in wait.

That made sense, to be honest.  If her plan had been to provoke me into walking into an ambush then she’d probably already given up on it.  I had let this slip for long enough that almost anyone would have assumed that I wasn’t going to take action.

The more fool them, if they’d thought so.

I reached a hand out to the building as I came up upon it.  It was simple, solid.  Old world construction without too many modern patches.

Its attributes were simple as well.  It was ‘stable’, ‘livable’, and ‘austere’.

I took the ‘stable’ away, waited a moment.

Being ‘stable’ was a strange experience.  It lent me a sort of ‘weight’, or solidity, like no matter what position I was in I was sunk deep into a comfortable chair.  I felt like I could stand on my fingers for days.

I reached out a finger and poked the building, and it fell over onto its side.

The noise was incredible, the dust cloud and the force that followed slammed into me, windows shattered for blocks around.

The building had gone over like a block, like a toy tipped on one side.  It had torn up out of its basement and slammed down in the road, with an impact like the landing of a bomb.  My ears were ringing even through my Ultra toughness.  If I hadn’t been ‘stable’, I would have been sent flying.

I coughed nearly choking, waving my hands around in front of my face as I waited for the cloud of dust and dirt to subside.

I was utterly covered, filthy with dirt and grime.  I glared into the darkness, blinking watering eyes again and again.

For an impossible instant the house was laying perfectly on its side, tipped 90 degrees and sent crashing down.

Houses, to understate the case, were not built to support themselves like that.

I had the presence of mind to turn my face away, as reality caught up to Picker’s dwelling and it collapsed down into a more general state of ruin.

The walls, now turned floor and ceiling, fell in upon one another.  The floors, now pitched vertically towards the sky, toppled and twisted against one another.  The whole thing went from ‘building on its side’, to ‘indistinguishable lump of ruin in the middle of the road’.

I crouched down, ‘stable’ and waiting for things to settle down.

I hadn’t been quite far enough away.  A few stones battered against my shin and shoulder, thrown aside by the violence of the building’s collapse.

Picker didn’t have Ultra Toughness.

I got up after a minute or so, started to make my way over to the rubble that had once been a house, listening for screams, alert for a possible counterattack.

I had little worry that anyone else would come.  The Regime’s capital wasn’t the sort of place where anyone would rush towards what they must think was a bomb blast.

I picked my way through the rubble, coughing now and then from the ever present haze.  My eyes were stinging a bit, and I kept them lidded.

There is a kind of stench that bodies have, once they are opened up.  Soldiers knew it, back in the old world.  Nowadays most of the people who would recognize it were Ultras.

I smelled it now, and hastened towards the source, a faint moaning helping me to close in.

I found Picker crushed in the ruins of what must have been a kitchen.

She was a huddled shape in the dark, only half of her face had fallen into a shaft of moonlight.

I said nothing as I moved closer.

She coughed weakly, raising a blood covered hand up into the moonlight to shade her vision, squinting through the dust and the poor lighting to try and make me out.

I was struck once again by how young she was.  Her gift let her ‘pick outcomes’, right?  It seemed as though she hadn’t use it tonight.

My own hand snaked out, caught ahold of hers.  I knew Picker’s gifts.  She had nothing that could threaten with bodily contact, and I was not about to spend another few days trying to get rid of a Blend.

I forced ‘stable’ down into her being, glorying in my return to full mobility.

“Wha-“ she said, her voice breaking and cracking, the one eye that I could see filled with tears.

“Every Monster,” I whispered, rising up and releasing her hand.

She got her arm in the way of the first stomp.  But not of those which followed.

 

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

Day 12:

Days remaining: 19

AP available: (8 end of last day + 0 for very little sleep) = 8/10

Prestige: 3

Timeslots available: 2 (morning, afternoon)

Builder Timeslot Available: 1 (afternoon) (Note, Builder can take any of Blender’s actions that you are comfortable with trusting to her, and will also have a few of her own, which will become available as Blender gets comfortable with her understanding of Builder’s gift)

Posse: 1 out of 3 slots filled

Force size: 0

Condition: Healthy

Posse:

Builder —  0/0/0, a woman who can alter objects for miles around into other things, blessed with a ‘Bulletproof’ blend

 

(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

Grower –  0/*0/1, an outside Ultra I sponsored into the Lair, has a bullet blend from me, can rapidly increase the size and mass of objects

 

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

 

Faction Rankings:

Regime 7

KEM 8

Pantheon 2

Union 4

Resistance 9

Prevailer 3

Knights 3

 

Actions:   

[ ] 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)

Builder Actions: Sealed until Tomorrow

 

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

Motive [Write in]

Concerns: [Write in]