Day of the Octopus OOC

[DammitVictor]

Kaine doesn't have any skill in Cosmic, though, so he may not be able to place the more alien scents.

Yeah, makes sense-- he should be able to tell it's "not human", but pinning it down to "extraterrestrial" is... outside of his personal context.

I think we all agree that Kaine's not going to notice until Sleeper either does something much more overt, or Kaine doesn't have anything much more urgent to pay attention to.

[Plaids]

Current status after trying to attack electro and rolling to resist attacks from mysterio and electro.

Stress: 1 Mental Stress
Complication: D12 Mass Confusion
Assets: None
Plot Points: 2 +3 from rolling a 1 for each check
XP: 1/10

[Thane of Fife]

Okay, so it sounds like Sleeper is going to roll to rescue hostages and Kaine is going to roll to, I guess, create a distraction asset to help him?

Hercules has rolled to clobber Electro, so what's Loki doing?

[Kareeah_Indaga]

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

Sleeper can see what Kaine could see before. I didn't think about it before, but probably there should also be some elevators to get up to higher floors.

The room is a large bank. There's all the furniture you might expect in a bank (some seats, a counter for customers to use to write checks or whatever, a counter for the tellers), as well as some pillars around the room and a statue/fountain near the center of the large room. The general layout of the bank shouldn't really matter, but in my mind, I'm imagining the main entrance and some windows on the south wall, the hostages along the west wall (and some windows higher up), the tellers' desk and entrance to the vault on the north wall, and the elevators and entrance to the offices on the east wall. I was imagining Sleeper as coming in through a window maybe a couple of floors up, high enough to not really be noticed, rather than finding some window on the ground floor that the police couldn't see.

The hostages aren't wearing gas masks.

The thugs are at the windows, looking out (and in some cases shooting out) at the police. Mysterio is closer to the middle of the room. Nobody is paying that much attention to the hostages.

So like this? (Sorry for the terrible map.)

=============================Vault Stairs===
||........Teller Desks.................................................. ..........||
||H.................................................. ..........................Office Doors
||o.................................................. .................................||
W s Sleeper.................................................. ...................||
||t.....................................Fountain..................................||
||a....................................Mysterio, Kaine..........................||
||g.................................................. ...........................Elevators
W e.................................................. ...............................||
||s.................................................. ................................||
||......Goons............................................Goons.................||
======W========Main Entrance=====W==========

Police, Herc, Loki, Electro, Reporters

Goon illusions

(W = window)

Other notes:

• 7 thugs (I’m not sure how Kaine’s earlier damage impacts their numbers)
• 24ish hostages
• Darker inside than outside (no lights on?)
• Exits from the bank are:
  
  • The main entrance (currently blocked by police, the fight between Electro and Herc, and covered with gunfire from goons both real and illusionary)
  • The window Sleeper opened (a story or two off the ground)
  • The door to the offices
  • The stairs to the bank vault
  • Elevators

If this is the plan you want to go with, go for it. I'm a little skeptical that it would work, but you've got the powers, so you can go ahead and roll for it - I won't apply any circumstance penalties or anything.

Hey, when the Dungeon Master asks me if I’m sure I’m more than willing to rethink my plan! I don’t have an issue with shepherding the hostages out the office doors instead, or down into the vaults, if the window seems unreasonable.

Re: dice pool. How does this look?

Affiliation: Solo (1d8)
Distinction: Crowd of Hostages (1d4)
Power(s): Klyntar Symbiote - Invisibility (1d8), Shapeshifting (1d6) (Multipower)
Specialty: Covert (1d8)
Complication/Stress: I’m assuming the hostages are my ‘target’ I don’t think they have any of these?
Asset: Invisible Insider (1d10)

I would say that, if for some reason, Sleeper needed to sneak past Kaine (or Wolverine or Sabretooth or someone), it would certainly be reasonable to use his powers to try to conceal his scent, but in a case like this where it doesn't really seem worth it to roll for it, I'd give it to Kaine, because hiding your scent is sort of a stunt off of chemokinesis, whereas Kaine's senses are the whole point of his power (but I'm also willing to go with whatever you two decide between you).

Kaine doesn't have any skill in Cosmic, though, so he may not be able to place the more alien scents.

Yeah, makes sense-- he should be able to tell it's "not human", but pinning it down to "extraterrestrial" is... outside of his personal context.

I think we all agree that Kaine's not going to notice until Sleeper either does something much more overt, or Kaine doesn't have anything much more urgent to pay attention to.

Works for me!

[Thane of Fife]

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

I hope everyone enjoyed the holiday (or the regular day if you're not in the US).

So like this? (Sorry for the terrible map.)

Sure.

[*]7 thugs (I’m not sure how Kaine’s earlier damage impacts their numbers)[*]24ish hostages[*]Darker inside than outside (no lights on?)

There started off something like a dozen thugs (some of them came out of the vault with Electro). That equates to three dice. Kaine eliminated two dice, so there should really only be a couple left. Maybe more than that but they're disorganized or scared.

The lights are on, the room just isn't that well lit.

Re: dice pool. How does this look?

Affiliation: Solo (1d8)
Distinction: Crowd of Hostages (1d4)
Power(s): Klyntar Symbiote - Invisibility (1d8), Shapeshifting (1d6) (Multipower)
Specialty: Covert (1d8)
Complication/Stress: I’m assuming the hostages are my ‘target’ I don’t think they have any of these?
Asset: Invisible Insider (1d10)

That looks fine, except that you should roll Buddy since Kaine is helping you by distracting Mysterio.

[Kareeah_Indaga]

That looks fine, except that you should roll Buddy since Kaine is helping you by distracting Mysterio.

Thank you! I swapped it and rolled. You said to roll against the Doom Pool, are we still at 2D6, 4D8?

[DammitVictor]

There started off something like a dozen thugs (some of them came out of the vault with Electro). That equates to three dice. Kaine eliminated two dice, so there should really only be a couple left. Maybe more than that but they're disorganized or scared.

If it helps anyone else to visualize it, imagine Kaine is Batman for a second. There are a dozen or so gunmen, and neither them nor the hostages knew I was there before two of the gunmen vanished and very audibly shattered, and now Kaine is just there and talking to Mysterio like he's trying to split up the lunch check.

The other ten (or so) gunmen originally in the lobby are useless. The reinforcements didn't hear that horrible sound as clearly, and walked in on Kaine instead of suddenly realizing he was there, so maybe the Watcher is going to bring the Mob back up to 2d8 or 3d8 (totally fair!), and maybe Mysterio or the Mob could take an action to rally the other gunmen back into the game (totally fair!) but right now there's a handful of effective gunmen acting as a Mob d8 and the rest are just screaming furniture.

If it's helpful. I'm not trying to condescend to anyone or dictate terms to Thane of Fife, if he wants to describe it differently, but since people are new to Cortex I'm trying to help paint a picture of how the mechanics relate to the narrative.

[Lexiconjurer]

Sorry for the delay. Hope those who celebrate had a good Thanksgiving!

Turnabout is fair play, so Loki is going to attempt to distract Mysterio with an illusion of his own!

[Thane of Fife]

Thank you! I swapped it and rolled. You said to roll against the Doom Pool, are we still at 2D6, 4D8?

Looks like people have rolled some more 1's, so I'll give Kaine and Sleeper each a plot point and increase the doom pool to 1D6, 6D8.

[Kareeah_Indaga]

Looks like people have rolled some more 1's, so I'll give Kaine and Sleeper each a plot point and increase the doom pool to 1D6, 6D8.

Added one Plot Point to Sleeper's total, now at 2.

And that's a 15/d8 vs...a 15/d8 unless I'm misunderstanding how the Doom Dice work. Those die results are scarily similar. You said a draw was a success?

[Plaids]

I didn't realize that some of the goons could be illusions. That would certainly make sense with Mysterio around.
I think everyone has made their second action this turn. With Hercules attempting to smack electro, Loki in engaging in illusory warfare, Kaine attempting to convince Mysterio to release some hostages, and Sleeper attempting to hostages with stealth.

Spoiler: Hercules Status

Show

Stress: 1 Mental Stress
Complication: D12 Mass Confusion
Assets: None
Plot Points: 1 start + 1 taunting electro +1 resist electroshock attack + 1 resisting Mysterio's illusory confusion +1 physically attacking electro.
XP: 1/10

[Thane of Fife]

Added one Plot Point to Sleeper's total, now at 2.

And that's a 15/d8 vs...a 15/d8 unless I'm misunderstanding how the Doom Dice work. Those die results are scarily similar. You said a draw was a success?

A draw is a success for the acting party, yes. But in this case, it's not going to be a draw, because I'm going to spend some of those doom dice to increase me total and mess with Sleeper.

I didn't realize that some of the goons could be illusions. That would certainly make sense with Mysterio around.
I think everyone has made their second action this turn. With Hercules attempting to smack electro, Loki in engaging in illusory warfare, Kaine attempting to convince Mysterio to release some hostages, and Sleeper attempting to hostages with stealth.

Yes, I agree. Might take me a minute to roll dice and make a post.

[Thane of Fife]

Alright, lots of dice rolls have been made and the next IC post is up.

[Kareeah_Indaga]

This is a tangent but I feel compelled to share:

Also in the bank, Sleeper, first invisible, and then in the guise of Sue Storm, lowers himself down to the hostages. Working to free them, he sets off an explosive booby trap, though fortunately(?) he absorbs most of the blast, sparing the hostages.

Mysterio, alerted by the explosion, spins about to see Sue Storm.

Fluff objection: unless this explosion is kicking me out of invisibility, I never said I was turning visible. I can fluff it on my end as soot from the blast or whatever but I used the invisibility in the roll with the shapeshifting.

[DammitVictor]

Kaine's plan is to use his Spider-Sense to dodge Electro's lightning, then use his Saw that Coming die in a roll to grab Mysterio and use him as a human shield.

Can I see "Sue" or not?

[Kareeah_Indaga]

Can I see "Sue" or not?

Yes, at least briefly. I also dropped a hint for Kaine that something is up with ‘Sue’ if you want it.

[Thane of Fife]

This is a tangent but I feel compelled to share:
Fluff objection: unless this explosion is kicking me out of invisibility, I never said I was turning visible. I can fluff it on my end as soot from the blast or whatever but I used the invisibility in the roll with the shapeshifting.

I guess I was under the impression that the whole point of the shapeshifting was that you were not planning to stay invisible, but I'm fine with your IC post.

Kaine's plan is to use his Spider-Sense to dodge Electro's lightning, then use his Saw that Coming die in a roll to grab Mysterio and use him as a human shield.

That sounds reasonable to me, though I think Mysterio's smoke has defeated Peter's spider-sense in the past.

Can I see "Sue" or not?

We'll go with "You saw 'her' before she turned invisible again."

[Thane of Fife]

Plaids, Lexiconjurer, actions for Hercules and Loki?

[DammitVictor]

Kaine is going to tackle Mysterio into the fountain. I don't really expect that to stop Electro from throwing lightning bolts at me, but one problem at a time.

[Kareeah_Indaga]

I think Sleeper’s going to use his chemokinesis to steal Mysterio’s smoke and use it to sneak the hostages away.

[Plaids]

Sorry for not posting recently.
I think I would like to have Hercules make an asset and either use a plot point to push the roll or make the asset last throughout the encounter.

Maybe a distraction could be made by creating an intimidating aura around Hercules or maybe the asset could a hole in the side of a building either one could be a one turn or encounter long asset. Just wreath Hercules in fire to make the aura permanent or have Hercules be extra precise and careful when making a structural change to the building. Trying to scare off henchmen, should make saving hostages easier.

I would be willing to participate in a 'frenzy' period where multiple posts are made in small span of time.

[Lexiconjurer]

Unfortunately I am going to bow out of the game. It's clear I can't contribute the time this deserves but I hope it goes well.

[Thane of Fife]

Kaine is going to tackle Mysterio into the fountain. I don't really expect that to stop Electro from throwing lightning bolts at me, but one problem at a time.

Since you're inflicting physical stress on Mysterio, if you look back at his stat block on the first page of this thread, you'll see his limitation is that you can increase how much physical stress he takes. I don't think that I'll activate that myself, but, assuming he doesn't avoid your attack, do you want to spend a plot point to do it?

I think Sleeper’s going to use his chemokinesis to steal Mysterio’s smoke and use it to sneak the hostages away.

I'm not sure that you are normally allowed to use an opposing party's asset like that, but go ahead.

Sorry for not posting recently.
I think I would like to have Hercules make an asset and either use a plot point to push the roll or make the asset last throughout the encounter.

Maybe a distraction could be made by creating an intimidating aura around Hercules or maybe the asset could a hole in the side of a building either one could be a one turn or encounter long asset. Just wreath Hercules in fire to make the aura permanent or have Hercules be extra precise and careful when making a structural change to the building. Trying to scare off henchmen, should make saving hostages easier.

I would be willing to participate in a 'frenzy' period where multiple posts are made in small span of time.

I think terrifying the goons is inflicting emotional stress. If you inflict D10 emotional stress, then you could get the rest of them to run away or surrender or something. That would also be long-lasting without needing to spend the plot point.

But you could also just run inside and punch them if you like (or thunderclap or something).

Also, while you certainly don't need to reroll anything if you want to stick with the intimidation plan, note that when you are spending a plot point, you can increase it to a D8 (a stunt) if one of your power sets or specialties is relevant. In a case like this, for example, you could easily say that your walking through their gunfire is good enough to work as a stunt off your power set to get the D8 instead of the D6.

Unfortunately I am going to bow out of the game. It's clear I can't contribute the time this deserves but I hope it goes well.

That's unfortunate to hear, but it happens to all of us. If things clear up for you in the future, you can come back.

For the rest of you, does someone want to take over Loki for the duration of the scene, or should we push him into the background a bit and say he's helping to control the chaos outside?


Also, Hercules, Sleeper, and Kaine can have one plot point each, and I'll add 3D6 to the doom pool.

[Kareeah_Indaga]

Ouch, the dice just do not like us right now.

Unfortunately I am going to bow out of the game. It's clear I can't contribute the time this deserves but I hope it goes well.

Sorry we didn't get to play together longer!

For the rest of you, does someone want to take over Loki for the duration of the scene, or should we push him into the background a bit and say he's helping to control the chaos outside?

Either works for me. I don't think I have the experience with the system to be useful running him, but I don't object to someone else doing it.

Also, Hercules, Sleeper, and Kaine can have one plot point each, and I'll add 3D6 to the doom pool.

Sleeper's sheet was updated with the Plot Point.

[Thane of Fife]

Either works for me. I don't think I have the experience with the system to be useful running him, but I don't object to someone else doing it.

DammitVictor, Plaids - either of you have a preference? If not, I'm going to leave him cleaning up the chaos outside.

[DammitVictor]

I don't think that I'll activate that myself, but, assuming he doesn't avoid your attack, do you want to spend a plot point to do it?

No, but if everything goes according to plan I'm going to do it next panel.

[Thane of Fife]

Rolled defenses. Hercules has either stressed or complicated out the last of the goons (if you wanted to spend a plot point to make that complication persistent, you can have it back, Plaids; I don't think you needed it). Mysterio has a total of 14 and an effect die of D8 against Kaine. Kaine can have his plot point back for the extra effect die (because he won't get it), but I will spend a D8 from the doom pool to lay a complication on him - Kaine goes through the smoke and into the fountain, but finds himself coming up with a Soaking Wet Hostage D8. That goes into Electro's dice pool as he tries to blast Kaine again.

And just to make matters worse, Mysterio will create an illusion that Kaine is attacking the hostage, acting as a complication on Sleeper if he does anything other than try to save the poor fellow.

[Thane of Fife]

It seems that the net effect of your guys' actions has been that Hercules has scared the last of the (real) goons into surrendering to the police or just running away, Sleeper is still busy trying to rescue the hostages, and Kaine has tried to tackle Mysterio but has actually gotten one of the hostages.

I think we've been leaning toward a posting scheme of You guys roll reactions, you guys roll actions, you post IC about what you're trying, I roll reactions, I roll actions, I post IC about what the villains are trying. Before I make an IC post about the results of your actions, would you prefer to use a scheme of You guys roll reactions, you guys roll actions, I post IC about what the villains achieved, I roll reactions, I roll actions, you post IC about what you achieved?

I'm looking for the best place to slot in the IC posts to avoid putting words in people's mouths. (That said, Kareeah_Indaga, I generally don't care if you want to post reactions for NPCs. Maybe be more careful about the named characters like Electro and Mysterio, but you're welcome to decide why the hostages aren't cooperating if you like - or I can do it if you prefer.)

[Plaids]

I'm looking for the best place to slot in the IC posts to avoid putting words in people's mouths. (That said, Kareeah_Indaga, I generally don't care if you want to post reactions for NPCs. Maybe be more careful about the named characters like Electro and Mysterio, but you're welcome to decide why the hostages aren't cooperating if you like - or I can do it if you prefer.)

I think having heroes react then make attempts to act before villains/challenges react then attempt to act works. The react and attempt can be compressed into one post that way. Having players decide their own order seems fine. I'm not sure how villain orders are decided though.

Thank you for the tips on Stunts. A man charging through a hail of gunfire unharmed due to his superpowers would be pretty scary.
As for Loki, I could direct Loki for one turn. I would like to have him try to create an asset. The asset being an illusory spiderman which can be leveraged by other heroes to distract villains.

I think I will have Hercules is going to try to save some hostages. Maybe pull off the bank safe door have some hostages sit on it, kick the collapsed door, and have the hostages sled away to safety.
Posting soon.

[DammitVictor]

Okay, Sleeper sees me attacking one of the hostages (clever), but do I know I've grabbed one of them by mistake?