Week 1 Summary/Week 2 Plotting!

[powersthatbe]

Week 1:


Empowered Service Week kicks off with the usual fair - and the Travelers’ arrival, which is sure to raise a few eyebrows over the coming weeks. Mako is certainly suspicious as is his usual… in between reclaiming a local Pokemon gym, anyway. The Bronze Blade weaves through the crowds with his usual inhuman speed. Captain Blackhawk keeps at a slight remove more out of necessity than desire. Stinger does her nightly patrols. Jess isn’t terribly fond of all this crowding. Halitosis is just plain unimpressed with everything.

Joscelin sets up the traditional check-in/cat-herding, and Ed asks how to handle it when a close friend is infiltrating and you’re not, receiving advice of… varying effectiveness. Claudia, super pleased to finally be herself on one of these things, sets Malik up with some clothes before he gets around to exploring. Natasha sets about gathering information as only she can. Kanji is briefly overwhelmed by the sheer amount of signal his cybernetics from Gehenna are picking up. Right gets in on the Pokemon excitement. Stein does his best to blend in. Jason is well-placed to join in on the vigilantism shenanigans. Zoe sets about tracking down her husband and daughter. Alcuin is not having a very good time of things.

In pooling their preliminary information, the group hits on a possible mission in the planned installation of a Solomon Ring - something which Beatrice is quick to point out could have more to do with controlling the local population than anything more seemingly benign. A number of investigators plan to put their various info-gathering talents to work on this front (it’s a more likely reason for their being here than Pokemon, anyway).

Melissa is feeling too old for this shit. Various Empowered groups make their presence known and keep the masses entertained by day, doing their hero thing (or robbery thing) by night. Libby monitors the crowd for newsworthy events… in between reclaiming a local Pokemon gym, anyway. Jules tries to keep from petrifying while manning the local Empowered school’s booth; his mother is, of course, on the scene sometimes herself.

Dr. L looks for some new victimsvolunteers for his own work; in between doing the same, Thorne pursues her own goals and does some Trump cosplaying. Revenant isn’t particularly thrilled by Service Week - or much else, really. No Man’s Land is, as usual, open to all comers. Altair is certainly not here to investigate the Manticore Knights, whatever gave you that idea? Maria accidentally unleashes some chaos from the school’s collection of confiscated Empowered items. Imriel emerges from the spirit world only to find the physical one’s changed quite a bit in his absence. Poor Gregory just wants the stupid volcano spirit he’s merged with to knock it off.

Week Two:
The big event this week is ships arriving in the harbor. Some of them contain the materials that will be used to assemble the Solomon Ring; others carry other valuables, including Empowered artifacts. We strongly encourage infiltrator villains &/or investigators to plot heists in the comments below - and infiltrator heroes, or other investigators, to try and thwart them! When planning, just remember that all us players are on the same side trying to have fun together. Excelsior!

Comments

Questions

[powersthatare]

[taiyny]

Questions: What information can be found about the Solomon Ring, if Natasha and the Batgirls run in for an information heist? I'm thinking specifically files, usbs with information, anything Natasha can get her hands on.

Paired with that, what would be inside of such things, should she find them?

What's the likelihood of this succeeding?

Are any of the pieces of the Solomon Ring small enough to snag? I assume not, but want to be sure.

Thank you!

Re: Questions

[theflyingone]

What are the security measures? (outside of the occasional unsanctioned vigilante?)

Re: Questions

[amadine]

What names are associated with the Solomon Ring, besides the royal couple and the Manticore? In particular, are there any scientists, manufacturers, or mystics who might be involved with the production?

Re: Questions

[loyalrebel]

What sort of things would Malik be able to gather via eavesdropping on Manticorps and White Company as an inconspicuous sparrow?

He'll be sitting on windowsills, in trees and the like.

[awitchdidit]

Is there any kind of Spirit Community, beyond the public Empowered? If so, what are the odds that someone with Yellow/Illusion Magic and Mastery of Disguise could pass for one (well, one possessing a human body)?

Also, can spirits and humans supposedly go either way through the Solomon Ring, or is it a one-way trip into this world?


Relevant to my other character, what's White Company's official involvement with receiving, transporting, and setting up the Ring?

Re: Questions

[wholeheaded]

Let's talk White Company! I sort of get the feeling they need more fleshing out in general.

How is the Company's hierarchy structured? Do they have a leader besides the Queen? Am I accidentally playing him and didn't notice? Is there any symbolism/insignia associated with them?

More plot-relevant: do they have any unified feelings re: the Solomon Ring, or is it more a hodgepodge of opinions? How about the Knights? Occasional uneasy allies or distrusted rivals? How much government info access do they have?

Thanks!

Re: Questions

[amadine]

Is there any information available on how the spirits' society functions on their side of the rifts? In particular, what sort of social hierarchy there is, and where spirits like the Manticore might fit into it?

Re: Questions

[theflyingone]

Regarding our "Eagle Vision patchfix," i'd like to ask both permission and information about what Altair might see if he activated it while looking at the crowd of protesters in the first mingle prompt. Naturally i expect most police and other lawfuls to appear red and most nonviolent people not to show any color, but are there any other significant percentages of enemies or allies? Plainclothes officers, mass murderers in disguise, activists looking to prevent Nineteen Eighty-Four-esque tyranny, etc.?

(He is in Newport specifically to investigate Solomon's Ring and its power's potential to be abused, so informants/leads connected to it may show up in white. Since he doesn't have a specific target as of yet, no one's going to show up in gold. Probably.)

Plotting!

[powersthatbe]

[leftbehindagain]

Claudia will be continuing her research into the Solomon Ring, Kau Lung and other spirit-world-related incidents, and all that good stuff, and starting her own little Artifact hunt with the school's misplaced property. I don't know if she'll want in on Solomon Ring-shaped heist activity or not.

(She's also going to be trying to convince herself she's reading too much into some of Tybalt's information. I don't know how successful she'll be.)

Naoki... will do something. He's not a heister or a thwarter.

[taiyny]

Natasha will absolutely want to attempt to get at those parts for the Solomon Ring, although whether to steal them so she can keep them 'safe' or just take a look at them is up in the air. Anyone wanna come with her?

Mako

[shiroganeheir]

Mako is going to be Watching. Everything. As much as he can.

He's not personally in the Thwarting business, but the rest of the Manticore Knights are just a phone call away, so he's liable to call in the... infantry? Cavalry? if he sees people trying to disrupt things.

... then again, it depends on what's being disrupted. He might either not care or give you tips.

If you have any ideas for Mako getting all up in your business, please let me know! He's definitely around for such things. And getting his damn gym back from whoever keeps taking it

Re: Plotting!

[thornsofmalkav]

Midweek to end of week, Thorne is going to pry too close to Manticore operations and get killed while in, uh, secret police custody? Well, the custody of a squire and a full knight and things are going to go wrong and there is going to be a Cover Up so that the rest of the Manticores don't find out they accidentally killed a suspect.

Maria will go out to chase the first of her Furniture Cards because we are going all in on the Cardcaptor thing.

Chie is going to try out the whole vigilante thing for herself :3

Re: Plotting!

[teamsad]

Planning to have Wreckingball tangle with some villains this week! If anyone's planning a heist she could (attempt to) thwart, or wants to team up against some NPC bad guys, let me know?

She's likely to steer clear of the protests, but might drop in to try and lend a hand if things get violent.

[professorwolf]

okay, so Lyall (Dr. L, otherwise known as "the spirit" cuz he hates his name apparently) and Thorne are gonna try to get the blueprints to the Solomon Ring and work out how to make it permanent/free of control/much bigger. Don't know if it's going to WORK but they're gonna try...

plotting for my others to come later, but this seemed important to put up early :P

Re: Plotting!

[theflyingone]

Altair is infiltrating, and is deeply suspicious of the people set to acquire the Solomon Ring. He will try to at least investigate (if not steal) some parts. His main goal is to prevent abuse of its power and loss of innocent lives.

If your character is infiltrating and has the same goal, i'd be open to assuming previous communication backstory to facilitate a team-up, even as simple as "our bosses want us to work together."

Investigators will have a harder time getting his trust, but he'll still appreciate the help in (probably) dire circumstances.

Meanwhile, I'm thinking about him getting his hands on an artifact, probably one that does invisibility. I may fit that sidequest into this main heist too.

[lunchleader]

Right will definitely be trying to stop any thieving attempts, as well as trying to stop any other criminal activities. There are Plans for him, Kenzaki, and Tachibana to get into some trouble due to not being insured heroes. Would anyone want to either catch them in the act? And who'd be willing to help them get out of said trouble?

Also, if any of the thieves wish to try and snatch his stuff, this week would be a great starting point for that, too, provided that it doesn't already come up in a Week 1 thread...


Natsumi, meanwhile, I'm hoping to get her recruited into the White Company at some point. It can either be during this mingle, or during a back-dated thread in the first one. Would any members of that group be willing to do a recruitment thread?

Beyond that, she's going to help the rest of the Investigators keep track of what's going on with the Solomon Ring. Especially if there's any stirrings of any villains wanting any pieces of it for themselves. She's still suspecting that there might be some hidden evil organization, due to past experience in other, similar worlds to this one, and she's not keen on letting this huge device fall into the wrong hands.

Coffee Shop Wars

[comebewe]

Okay, so this is not so much plotting as an available location for everyone to use. Basically after some ramblings on plurk, there's now a coffee shop called The Coffee Shippe which is the eternal rival of the Starbucks. Starbucks is, well, Starbucks, and is basically the coffee shop of choice of the Manticore Knights (or at least Mako). The Coffee Shippe is nautical themed, has great desserts - and we were thinking could be the coffee shop of the White Knights, if the people playing them were up for it.

Also, they are both totally pokemon gyms. Because of course they are.

[comebewe]

Okay, actual plotting for Matthew - while he's not really going to be trying to get involved in the heists specifically, since his Empowered ability lets him locate Spirit-possessed items I imagine he could get called in by people wanting him to retrieve/find them for him. So, if anyone would approach him wanting him to Find A Thing for them, let me know!

Other than that, he's going to be doing some searching for Alcuin (on account of Thorne hiring him), and finding nothing because WHOOPS he's in a dungeon. So, he'll generally be wondering all around the place trying to find him.

[loyalrebel]

Malik is going to be up to a bunch of shenannigans things this mingle!

Spying Malik's going bird form and spying on... pretty much anyone associated with Manticorps and the White Company. He's after information beyond the public image, and will be eavesdropping from windowsills, trees and the like on people. He's likely easy to mistake for a small inconsequential spirit if noticed.

If you do not want him listening in on things, then please drop me a line either here or via plurk!

Heists

Malik will be helping Claudia out with getting hands on artifacts, and can pretty easily be convinced by either infiltrators or investigators to get in on Solomon Ring stuff.

Other

Other plans include continued parkouring around the city, probably talking with protesters as well as showing off his spiffy lightcycle and mostly doing whatever else happens to strike his fancy.

[stopinthenameofawe]

Melissa is going to be hella side-eyeing this whole business, or she will at least until she gets distracted by her son being in this century. Then her priorities might change a bit.

Phillip is... idk. Possibly gonna steal a thing from the ship? Confuse Rise?? stuff. stuff will happen.

[truerevelation]

Kanji's likely to be running round on errands a lot this week, feel free to stop him, or visit him at his new job if anyone needs gear for anything...

Otherwise, not sure? Checking out the protests? Getting caught up in things at the docks? I'd possibly like him to end up having to play support or healer for something?

[virioncomplex]

Faed: He is going to be donning his robo-armor and alternate canon persona and set out to do some bounty hunting, as is his usual means of survival. It seems appropriate enough. SO IF YOUR CHARACTER HAS A BOUNTY ON THEM or some sort of thing let me know! I'll have him come knocking! Otherwise maybe there can be accidental or on purpose interference as he's hunting people?

Davesprite (Nicholas Davies): aka 'The Nick of Time' super thief is definitely planning on going HEIST AN ARTIFACT or something related to solomon's key. Not because he wants it per se, he's just bored and in desperate need of a challenge. He works alone and his 'do over' powers make him slippery and infuriating to deal with, so I'd be down with people wanting to thwart him, or even him thwarting other thieves along the way!

Gale (Davison Guthrie): Is going to continue doing everything in his power to help Dr L (Lyall)'s plan succeed. Don't have any specific thoughts in mind for him ATM, but they're always looking for people to make stronger/better/faster/more so... if anyone wants to get powers and/or screwed up by super science, he can make it happen!

Zaknafein: Is going to continue to feel like a stain in an otherwise bright world. I would really like people to start explaining to him this strange modern world. Unless someone got him off the street already he's been a wandering hobo for the most part, hiding out somewhere dark during the day and coming out at night since the sun is painful. His continues to be angry and frustrated, but he's no longer randomly pulling his blades on people though i want him to get startled by a tv or something and stab the fuck out of it. MUSIC would also be an awesome thing for him to discover!

[triggerhappytraitor]

Tachibana is at some point going to get in trouble/arrested with Right & Kenzaki at some point for uninsured heroing, but other than that I'm still flailing around not quite sure what to do with him yet. He's mostly just been having conflicted emotions about all the hero world stuff, trying to get a better feel for how everything works and feeling a bit lost.

I do want him to get over his resistance to/stubborn ignoring of the Psychic Network because that's kinda important to him getting out there and finding out what's going on but he really needs some prompting/help from others for that, if anyone wants to help on that front?