Player Plots

[apocalypsehowmods]

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Player Plots

Player plots are plots that have a large enough reach to require some sort of sign up, or would be difficult for those not directly involved to ignore, or need some sort of NPC/mod involvement.

Examples of player plots include:

Actions that would negatively affect 4-or-more PCs.

Death of a PC.

Death of a named NPC.

Death of more than 1 unnamed NPC at the same time.

Significant property damage.

A PC gaining powers as a result of aligning with a patron Entity.

Anything that could potentially expose the supernatural to the wider world.

Please submit player plots at least a week or two in advance of when you'd like to run it. In the event something happens suddenly that would escalate to a player plot, please let us know as soon as possible.

<b>Player Name(s)</b>: <b>Character(s) Involved</b>: <b>Dates</b>: When you would like to run the plot. <b>Plot Type</b>: PERSONAL, PAIR, GROUP <b>Plot Summary</b>: Please let us know what you're doing! <b>Questions</b>: Do you have any specific questions for us?

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Comments

[apocalypsehowmods]

If Fenix is clearly being forced to answer questions against his will, Austin will be able to identify that as magic at work, and Jon will be in trouble with ADI. To the tune of being treated the same way Jeff was: Followed by ADI employees, brought in to discuss why what he's doing is wrong and bad, and told that there will be significantly more consequences if he tries that again. Austin would not actively interfere in the interrogation, but he'd scruff Jon after it and be babysitting him until they get back to HQ.

We can definitely do the set-up for Fenix's kidnapping. Would you like to start from the point of him being in the interrogation room, or the actual capture. Given it's a bit later in the month, we would suggest starting at the point of the interrogation.

For the general attack on the other performers/circus, we can do a set-up post detailing the circus grounds and where performers are/how they're generally acting, but we hadn't anticipated NPCing Roderick and Penny. In general, folks taking them on will face the following:

Roderick
- Unaffected by the blackout in terms of his ability to see what's going on/respond to threats from the dark. His laser light accessories run on their own batteries. He will use said laser lights as weapons.
- Potential injuries from engaging: Blindness (temporary or permanent) from the lasers, burns from the lasers, dismemberment from the lasers when they're highly concentrated, deafness (temporary or permanent) from noise-based attacks he can throw at people (think supersonic screech)
- Parameters for taking him down: We'd like to see a minimum of two characters dedicated to taking him down. At least one of them should suffer some substantial injuries. More are welcome to sustain substantial injuries!

Penny
- Affected by the blackout in terms of her ability to see, but she will counter this by setting her whip on fire. She is extraordinarily nimble and can dodge/acrobatics her way away from people.
- Potential injuries from engaging: Blindness (temporary or permanent) from the gouts of flame she can spontaneously produce on command, burns from the whip
- Parameters for taking her down: We'd like to see a minimum of two characters dedicated to taking her down. At least one of them should suffer some substantial injuries. More are welcome to sustain substantial injuries!

[aelwyn_aberration]

I would agree with starting it at the actual interrogation, though Ros might want to thread out Jeff's meeting with Fenix. I think the larger interactive bit would have to be specifically the interrogation though.

Either way, just a set up detailing what's going on would be good for the attack.

[apocalypsehownpcs]

We've got the set-ups here: LINK.

If you want to let us know which sections in your log to post those under, we can do so. C:

[aelwyn_aberration]

The circus grounds set up can go under execution and the Fenix Down encounter can go under interrogation. Thanks!

[cacophonish]

And dropping my questions here!

So Jeff's real goal here is to get his hands on the Spiral mirror. Once Fenix is kidnapped and the others are going after the circus troupe, Jeff's going to be (making an attempt at) avoiding the fighting and try to steal the mirror.

...assuming he can get close to it, anyway. I wasn't sure if, as a Spiral avatar, it might affect him differently now -- at the very least, he wants to see if he can get some new insight from it, commune with his patron, amp it or his own powers, etc etc. And if nothing else, he doesn't want the ADI getting it!

Of course, I'm fine with him being unable to take it, getting hit with some consequences for going after it, and anything else! (Also fine with him getting captured, unless that would lead to his own death or derail the rest of the Fenix plot for everybody else)

[apocalypsehowmods]

We'll need to discuss the actual mirror part internally, but we'd recommend reaching out to Kai/the other players in the plot to confer on whether or not Jeff's capture would derail things. In short, if he's captured, he could absolutely be used as a bargaining chip to keep Fenix, Roderick, or Penny alive. If you guys want to do that, that's up to you! We have plans in place for all or some of them living/dying. We'd leave that up to all of you!

[apocalypsehowmods]

After some further discussion, the mods are okay with Jeff attempting to steal the mirror, but this is a full-length mirror. How is he planning to carry and conceal this when he's getting taken back to Gloucester? It's roughly a 2-hour drive to Gloucester. Austin is very much of the 'leave no one behind' mentality. Jeff's absence will not escape notice, and would precipitate a manhunt for him, likely involving the rest of the PCs involved in this effort. Is he planning to break the mirror, perhaps? Given his connection to the Spiral, he would be more capable of actually moving and breaking the mirror than any other character who has attempted as much.

[cacophonish]

You know, I was so preoccupied wondering whether or not he could take it, and never thought about if he should. Or more specifically HOW HE SHOULD--

Anyway, I'll ask Kai to chime in, but I was under the impression that Jeff's involvement was strictly off the books, so he wouldn't have been directly included in any of the planning/travel/etc on the ADI's end. But I also don't want to assume that he could/would have managed to stay off their radar, especially since he'd been identified as a potential problem already, plus it's not like Fenix couldn't have narced on him... So I'm happy to roll with any consequences on that end if he goes through with it.

But I did wonder if he could break the mirror and bring the shards back, so if that's an option, it's the one he'd take!

[apocalypsehowmods]

Given he's playing an instrumental role in luring Fenix for capture, it might be a little bit difficult to keep Jeff's involvement hidden. We can offer that his involvement, as long as they're aware that he's using his business card connection for the lure, would actually go over well with ADI. They'd be appreciative of his assistance and see it as him finally making an effort to be a team player. It's if he starts doing obviously spooky Spiral things, then there would be potential consequences.

Something else to keep in mind if he got himself there by himself, he would have needed to figure out the logistics of doing that (both physically and monetarily) and have managed to lose his ADI tail. This isn't impossible, it would just be a challenge. In addition, there's the matter of the team coming up with a consistent cover story and lying to Austin about how they got Fenix... and then relying on Fenix not to narc. Which he absolutely will. Not intentionally, as he doesn't know the plan or what's going on, just in the course of interrogation.

We could also offer:

If Jeff is trying to be clever, he could take some of the shards of the mirror back, and he could also offer up the majority of the pieces for complete destruction by ADI. That way he gets a couple shards for personal use and ADI sees him as doing good.

If Jeff is trying to be contrary, he could destroy the mirror and hide most of the shards to come back for at some later date if he can, while taking a few of the shards back with him. This could lead to detrimental effects on the town for Springfield... but y'know? Probably fine.

Or a third option of whatever would make sense for Jeff, if neither of those work!

In any case, the pieces of the mirror will contain a fraction of original mirror's power. This is essentially going to let Jeff create some localized similar effects (i.e., making people see things in nearby mirrors that aren't there or seeing loved ones moving away from them that they can't reach). He is also welcome to see whatever he wants in the mirror itself. It might well show him what he wants to see, even (especially) if it isn't real.

[cacophonish]

OH perfect, yes, it definitely makes more sense for Jeff to seem like he's turning a new leaf and finally being a team player with the ADI! So with that in mind, yeah, his involvement won't be a secret; he'll be part of the team in an "official" capacity.

And since he's trying to look like he's behaving now, he'll also offer the majority of shards to Austin for proper destruction, and keep pieces for himself.

(And speaking of his tail and the ADI's monitoring of him, I will say that Jeff's behavior has seemingly improved since the blackout! Since he's moved on to subtler feeding habits, he doesn't do anything shady when he busks these days, so it's all just normal, totally mundane music.)

With all that sorted, a few more questions!

1. re: Fenix's capture and the ADI's knowledge that he's the one luring him out, I figure this means Jeff shouldn't try to use any Spiral powers to subdue him, since that'll get back to them. Should we play the thread out like he just takes him as far as X location, before Austin and more involved ADI personnel intervene and make the capture?

2. re: the mirror, Jeff's somewhat convinced there's something beyond/inside it, like its own liminal space or something. (Mainly because of the specific types of hallucinations it triggered in him way back in the Circus Circus plot and subsequent TDM prompt.) So one thing he'll be trying to do over the long term is access this theoretical space that probably doesn't actually exist-- eventually, like many months down the line, could this potentially build to a player plot of some kind?

Specifically, my goal with him as an avatar is to either be coaxed back in the direction of humanity, OR become more monstrous and more like a concept, since the Spiral's brand of fears tend to be more abstract. So becoming a what more than a who (like the Distortion/Michael/Helen), if that's even possible within the perimeters of the game. With the mirror, I was wondering if that could tie in, in a similar way to Michael's doors. So, like, eventually building to a plot where he's actually luring and trapping people in liminal spaces via the mirror, or using mirrors to travel and do spooky shit to feed, etc etc.

This is all vague and totally theoretical at this point, just brainstorming, but I just wanted to see what was even remotely possible before hammering out any actual details!

[apocalypsehowmods]

1. Yes! Please go ahead and run with those assumptions in place. ADI will consider this a major step forward for Jeff, and you can assume his tail will be less of a constant presence and more of an occasional check-in.

2. This is something that would be feasible down the line, yes! We would suggest that the best timing for something like that, if Jeff goes full monster, would be Arc 3, when becoming one won't lead to immediate focus for destruction by ADI. Just for your awareness, Arc 3 is planned to begin in mid-2023.