MASKS #25 - A HOUSE DIVIDED! [Recap]

Sepiaverse Charlotte wants to investigate the Sepiaverse cemetery, to learn more of when her family comes over. Byron and Rusty knew little of the Vyortovians. Just another cult. But from over on the Sepiaverse, learned that the Family were actually part of the royal family, took it up on themselves to go to the Prime universe and set about their deeds. Hundreds of years ago. So, yes, Charlotte is of Sepia blood. She was never indoctrinated ... (or, concern, did she get some memories wiped, perhaps when she died ...? Numina makes her excuses a few times to not be around. Taking breathers. But also contributing to the convresation. Indeed, she's the first to confirm that the Hecates must be in communication.  The Jason /Byron conversation has been going on for a while. He's gotten his emotional equilibrium back, and he's owning stuff as much as he ever has ... but he's also reasserting control. And "... memetic programming" as a term he invented. Okay, that's not going to work. Numina/Summer can debate that one. And Jason knows this. And Alycia clearly understands it from that whole warehouse thing. Numina starts to go down that rabbit hole, and Byron is sort of handwaving it aside it ("smartest man in the room -- when he can define the room"). J: What has Alycia told you so far. B: Nothing. She's in custody. [And, amazingly, they haven't questioned her.] J: Wait, you have the daughter of greatest nemesis, past and present; someone who was "easily" captured; and you haven't even questioned her? B: Why would we? What could she know? She hasn't been in touch with her father in two years. R: You know, he's got a point. [Exchange looks with Byron.] [Goes to check the guards.] C: Well, there's how she got here without damaging the membrane. B: Well, clearly, she just borrowed the tech from my son. ["and my son borrowed it from me"] [Byron seems weirdly blinkered about it.] J: I need to talk with Alycia before I take her out of here. B: (sputtering) Where would you take her? J: Back home. B: What possible reason could you have to remove her from custody here, where she's safe J: To maybe save my life. Or to restore my memory. Or is that of any value here? B: Watch your tone of voice, young man. There's no call to be snide. J: Right. I'm dying, my memory isn't working, all due to your shenanigans -- why should I be snide? B: Well, a lot of that was last-minute coding. Clearly it's a rounding error ... Jason is going to push the issue. Charlotte stands by to help. Numina is willing to support Jason, that Jason with Alycia is better than Byron with Alycia. Also, screwing with Byron.  [Provoke! 5!] J: Goddammit, Dad. I'm dying here. My memory has been raped . And you just -- I came here for Charlotte. For you, if you needed it. And for Alycia. And you are not standing in my way. Byron stands there. Anger. Affrontery. Cheek. He's not bellowing because others in room (and he always has to be the cool, superior intellect), but that restraint is clearly crumbling when ... ... a klaxon goes off, alarm lights. Shock. Byron picks up phone. Listens. Swears. B: Your "damsel in in distress" just broke out of prison. Adam It's been a few hours. Quarter to 7, easily before curfew. Doesn't want to answer questions TO HIS DAD about Keri. Hour and half after pizza. Flying home, heading south. Getting closer to school and ... school grounds have vision-blocking construction fences, just since the training session this afternoon. The buildings are cocooned in construction fabric on scaffolding. Calls team if they went by the school after pizza. Nope. Goes to investigate. Awkwardly goes to chat with the cops directing traffic. "Corvus Construction" signs. Construction crews in there working like ants. Adam thinks everything looks normal but ... um ... Keynome is here, so, maybe worrisome? Harry An hour and a half past the pizza. Hanging with people, A-10 and the Irregulators. Movie? Leo Clearly Adam's sitch is a problem. Cruising main street, getting their equilibrium. Adam Who's inside? [Assess the Situation! 5!] Energy pulse that knocks him on his back, 150 miles south. Seeing spots from what just happened -- oh, wait, one of them is getting bigger and closer and coming down here. "Round 2, Fight!" shouts Troll , and crashes into him. Adam "gives ground". Cops are shouting in alarm. Troll grabs him and throws him down the street, skipping off the asphalt. And Facet shows up and tells Adam to just Stay. Down. Harry Harry is with Alloy, A-10, and Telekinecian, and Armiger. They're in the theater. A-10 keep leaning closer. And Harry's phone -- and all of theirs -- get a Hero Alert. TK is up first, moving out of the theater. Harry grabs everyone out of the theater at superspeed. Leo Otto - news blast on all channels. Not about the high school. Vyortovia just offshore! They all round the corner, and there are Facet and Troll. Quick text. "Come to the school if you want to fight some supervillains." Harry and the Irregulators Alert! Is this a drill? I don't think so. GRIN Primeverse Leo plasters one on Troll. Flies backward along the asphalt. Grabs a lamppost behind him, runs forward, swinging it at Leo, catching light poles and power lines, sparks, craziness. Harry running ... Sepiaverse Jason laughs. B: Have you lost your -- [okay, that's awkward] [Exit] J: (to Numina and Charlotte) We should go and find her. Numina, big book, holds out hand, tosses the book to Jason, been doing some light reading. 3D representation of the subbasements of the building. Construction of the Federal City Capitol Building. Points at "here" for the Senatorial Cells. Also, FYI, this is the coolest power. C: Jason, come with me. [Grabs him, and descends into the earth to the cells.] The guards are unconscious (probably), doors are there. Alycia's backpack is there. Jason [barely, 7] assesses the situation. Pacing the room, looking at each cell, yeah, this one, looking at the cot, the chair, carrying her backpack, opens it up, riffs through, sketches of the building, the tunnel, diagrams (not in her handwriting). And rubber-banded stack of uncancelled envelopes, addressed to "A", all relatively recent, last 18 months, letters to her from Achilles. "My dearest daughter" stuff. Not his handwriting .  "18 months, my intellect dwindling, need every assistance ..." [[Dave: dictated via inter-Hecate comms]] Nothing referring to her responses. "I've learned this. Here are some clues." Based on the diagrams, basically know where to go to get to the Keynome chamber. Very circuitous, but a route. Charlotte grabs him -- "Not now, Jason, you're be ridiculous ..." -- and drags him through a more direct path. "Numina, track my loc--" First or second step, we're hitting resistance / headwind (from the Keynome?). Jason suggests using sailing / tacking tactics. She tries, even as the force takes something out of her [Condition: Angry, so tired of this crap, if you hadn't been arguing for hours ...] Primeverse Harry is running. Weird -- lights up at the schools. Flashes of light on the street. Heads in, sees Facet, who's blasting light beams at Concord, who seems distracted. Tries to protect Concord by hitting her, at a tangent, distracting Prism in turn, knocking her into a fence, vanishing from view. Adam tries to track her down (since Leo is probably able to handle Troll). "WE ARE CONCORD, AGENT OF THE CONCORDANCE. CEASE AND DESIST." Spots a bundle of insecurities hopping away over fences. Tries to bubble her. [Direct Engage! 3!] She whirls and blasts him! [Powerful Blow! 10!] Shouts out to call on Link for help (imposing a condition), and gives ground. Leo feels guilty for charging in without checking on how Adam was doing -- so he hesitates (along with Otto and Pneuma). Troll's light pole is heading into a wide-open Leo. Harry -- try to deflect the poll, [10!] [Clears insecure] Otto rocketpunches a bunch of the sparking cables over at Prism. [11!] Resisting blows, shorting out everything, fall to ground, "I give up, I surrender, don't kill me!" Sepiaverse Big underground space, extensively retrofitted. They're freaking TAPPING the Keynome. Oddly crude machinery. Silhouette of Alycia, arguing with another silhouette, gesturing ... Achilles. She glances at Jason, as they argue. Jason leads with the heart. [Pierce the Mask! 7!] What does she want him to do? Alycia shouts an order at Achilles, then turns toward Jason, takes a step forward, pulls out weapons, stepping over a line of the collapsed nanogoo, Chin steps behind her enough that she's blocking him. Her facial expression ... Let me GO. This is a crappy situation, I'm not happy to see you here, a fly in the ointment, and ... .... someone is standing right next to Jason. It's ... an older, worn, mid-30s Alycia. An AI flickering. "I so don't have time for an illusion," Jason thinks. Leans to me, "This is not going the way she thinks it is going to go." But clear over the tremendous noise, so, a Head'lycia. Call it Ol'ycia. As Achilles pulls out weapons of his own, pointing one at Alycia's back, one at the Keynome ... End of Session Jason: Away from the Team (Charlotte) Link: Closer to the Team (Concord) - clearing Guilty Mercury: Image of Self Ghost Girl: Image of Self - Savior+, Mundane- Concord: Closer to the Team (Harry) - Savior+ [maxxed], Danger- ------ I've been using (sometimes with slight variations) episode titles from old Stan Lee / Jack Kirby comics (esp. Fantastic Four). In this case, it feels vaguely unspecific but meaningful -- the team divided between universes, divisions in the Quill family, divisions between Jason and Alycia, the divisive fail between Adam and Leo and Harry, the divisions over that the hell is going on with Jason's head ... it's all divisive.  Very eager (for obvious reasons) to work through to a unifying conclusion.

(Harrumph. Can some one with forum privs add the [Recap] tag?)

I haven't really talked about this before, so in case anyone's interested - how do Link, Pneuma, and Otto fight effectively as a combined team? When Leo decided to be a vigilante superhero, the three started training together with the combination tech. They share a set of moves, a fighting style, an approach. Leo took up boxing and sports after his dad put him through home-schooling but before Pneuma was created, so he and she also share muscle memory, and Otto trained to match. When together, the trio take on different roles. Otto is obviously the muscle, the outer shell, the "main body" that gets things done, but he'll follow Link's physical motions if Leo indicates he has a plan. The three also share a heads-up display, or panoramic perspective on the battlefield. An eye-tracking system, along with a device that measures brain and muscle activity, lets them "paint" spots on the battlefield. Pneuma can also plug into Otto's senses, acting as a second set of eyes. That way, nobody is surprised and everyone can pay attention to something different. When Leo heard Concord call out, he hesitated. In that moment, Pneuma brought up a glimpse of what she'd seen - Facet and her tech. It would take a fraction of a second to highlight the spots on the suit that let Leo realize he's fighting a science-based enemy. In another moment, Leo paints the ground around them on the HUD, highlighting the cables. Otto knows to pick them up, Pneuma lines up the rocket punch shot, Otto fires it. This is why it's so important for them to stay in mental sync. They aren't telepathically linked - that would be easy. They need to share intent, be in agreement about what's important, be willing to trust each other and (just as importantly) surrender control to each other.

I love the deep thought you put into these characters and their interactions, Bill. Good, solid, well-considered stuff... more than the game requires, but making it all the more interesting. 

*** Dave H. said: more than the game requires I will always wonder if things like this mean I should skip it because people don't care, but I press on regardless. If anyone ever legit doesn't care or doesn't think it's useful, please just say so, so that I know for sure. That's the result of having Insecure marked in real life. :)

I understand that Insecure (and raise you a Guilty). Like me, you went from " Good, solid, well-considered stuff ... more than the game requires, but making it all the more interesting "   and dropped all the bits that might indicate that, no, you shouldn't  skip it. Well done. :-) Your additional write-ups add texture and depth to Leo and his family. And I wouldn't have made the comment if I didn't care. Ditto for Mike's artwork, Margie's Civil War research, folk writing cut-scenes, etc. It's when you post things and there are crickets chirping that you know folk don't care (or, perhaps, don't obsessively haunt the boards). And even then it's okay, if you care about it.

*** Dave H. said: (Harrumph. Can some one with forum privs as the [Recap] tag?) Done. For the record, I would happily give everybody those admin privileges but there doesn't seem to be a way to do so. :-)

Bill G. said: *** Dave H. said: more than the game requires I will always wonder if things like this mean I should skip it because people don't care, but I press on regardless. If anyone ever legit doesn't care or doesn't think it's useful, please just say so, so that I know for sure. That's the result of having Insecure marked in real life. :) I am personally very glad for these kinds of  explanations, and I don't even think that it's more than necessary, especially when you have a GM who makes assumptions instead of asking questions (sometimes). I listen to some of the early recordings for the game and the stuff I got wrong about how I thought everybody stuff work is just painful and wince worthy. For that matter, I'm still zeroing in on ghost girl and Concords abilities  sometimes. I really appreciate this sort of thing so I don't make the assumption that it's"basically  telepathy." (Which is definitely in the top ten ways I would have described it more than 5 minutes ago.)  :-)

Actually, I need to do a game retcon for the very last event (glad these are rare). Achilles only pulls out a weapon pointed at the keynome, he doesn't have one pointed at Alicia's back.

Sort of how I imagine the return trip home.

Doyce T. said: Actually, I need to do a game retcon for the very last event (glad these are rare). Achilles only pulls out a weapon pointed at the keynome, he doesn't have one pointed at Alicia's back. I sent you a PM that won't work now if that's the case, not sure if you saw it. I'll try to rethink my suggestion.

Doyce T. said: Actually, I need to do a game retcon for the very last event (glad these are rare). Achilles only pulls out a weapon pointed at the keynome, he doesn't have one pointed at Alicia's back. Oh. I'm not sure if I'm disappointed by that or not, but it definitely changes what Jason is going to do next (which I hope I can figure out in a week).

*** Dave H. said: (Harrumph. Can someone with forum privs add the [Recap] tag?) (Harrumph. Can someone with forum privs capitalize the word "Divided" before it drives me nuts? I'm not sure if I was just incredibly sloppy in trying to slam that out or what. Yeesh.)

Doyce T. said: For that matter, I'm still zeroing in on ghost girl and Concords abilities  sometimes. Yeah, that's a moving target.  Sorry.   Probably doesn't help that I picked up the move that essentially says, "make up new powers as the plot demands."  Really doesn't help that I've thought way more about how Concord''s powers look than how they work.

Mike said: Doyce T. said: For that matter, I'm still zeroing in on ghost girl and Concords abilities  sometimes. Yeah, that's a moving target.  Sorry.   Probably doesn't help that I picked up the move that essentially says, "make up new powers as the plot demands."  Really doesn't help that I've thought way more about how Concord''s powers look than how they work. Well, it's not so much about what they can do as it is HOW they do what they do... internally, socially, I guess. As in what the Concord, Sol/Adam dynamic/synergy is. I get it about 90% of the time, and then miss hard, wide to the left.

I just want to reiterate I love that drawing of Jason so much. A cropped version should be his game icon. :) Also want to say how much I appreciate everyone's contributions during the game(s). It's a really good thing I had a basic vague outline last night, because I felt supremely scattered. Between several villain write-ups, the outline, the GM/villain move sheets, and all the other normal stuff, it just felt like chaos, and I was missing what SHOULD have been obvious hand-offs like "Adam creates an opening for the bad guys, making Leo vulnerable, so... what? what happens? *blank stare*"  OF COURSE the next move goes to Harry. Dead obvious, except it wasn't, and thank you Mike for pointing it out - ditto for everyone else at all the other points where I found myself just... flatfooted. Kind of felt like this... wild drop turned into picture perfect landing... with a little help. Or, if you want it from the GM's perspective...

Also, I'll note that we've achieved full comicbook realism at this point, because we have fanboys leaving ALL CAPS comments about how the U.S. military (and NATO) would 'realistically have taken down this island 30 seconds after it appeared off-shore.'

No worries, Doyce.  You did run, what... four sessions in the past week, on top of the Keri thread with me, and other posts on the forum.  I don't even know what your other activities look like, but I know that can lead to some serious mental fatigue. Doyce T. said: Mike said: Doyce T. said: For that matter, I'm still zeroing in on ghost girl and Concords abilities  sometimes. Yeah, that's a moving target.  Sorry.   Probably doesn't help that I picked up the move that essentially says, "make up new powers as the plot demands."  Really doesn't help that I've thought way more about how Concord''s powers look than how they work. Well, it's not so much about what they can do as it is HOW they do what they do... internally, socially, I guess. As in what the Concord, Sol/Adam dynamic/synergy is. I get it about 90% of the time, and then miss hard, wide to the left. Okay, this part I'm a lot more solid on.  If you want I'll write something up and send it over to you.

Doyce T. said: Also, I'll note that we've achieved full comicbook realism at this point, because we have fanboys leaving ALL CAPS comments about how the U.S. military (and NATO) would 'realistically have taken down this island 30 seconds after it appeared off-shore.' Okay, I totally want to hear how this training scenario went down: "Okay gentlemen, a landmass the size of Iceland has appeared off the East Coast and is run by a hostile foreign power with access to hyper tech, sorcery, and other various superpowers.  Remember your training and we should have this mopped up by dinner time..."

Mike said: Doyce T. said: Also, I'll note that we've achieved full comicbook realism at this point, because we have fanboys leaving ALL CAPS comments about how the U.S. military (and NATO) would 'realistically have taken down this island 30 seconds after it appeared off-shore.' Okay, I totally want to hear how this training scenario went down: "Okay gentlemen, a landmass the size of Iceland has appeared off the East Coast and is run by a hostile foreign power with access to hyper tech, sorcery, and other various superpowers.  Remember your training and we should have this mopped up my dinner time..." My particular favorite was the idea someone would launch enough cruise missiles to flatten the place. ... a couple hundred miles from DC. Okay. To say nothing of navigation based on GPS satellites that just had a whole new land mass show up. ... which moves randomly, and at random times. (... although the placement THIS time, and the associated power surge Concord saw... makes this one at least seem less random, but still.) But anyway yeah sure man we'll scramble the Coast Guard we got this.

Also Doyce, I'd like to commend the level of investment you've gotten out of us.  Upon hearing that a freaking island randomly appeared off the East Coast, the players' reactions weren't "What?  How?  Shenanigans!" but instead, "Oh hell, what are the Vyortovians up to this time?" Suspension of disbelief is a hell of a thing.

I like creating situations where there's less disbelief you have to suspend as well. There's plausible reasons for people to act any given way, depending on what assumptions you make. I had already been planning a cutscene with Costigan of AEGIS, and if anyone wants to see how a world power might respond to the Vyortovian situation, I can throw in some descriptions of training and immediate response as well. Nothing that would change the status quo, but would hopefully explain it.

I was talking with a buddy about the YouTube comments (he's a military history guy and a totally tech encyclopedia about modern military stuff). Interesting conversation that actually led to a good narrative point. And to Bill's point, considering the Vyortovians JUST tried something like... barely two weeks ago, I have to think the whole eastern seaboard would light up with people (like Costigan, at the very least) yelling "They're Back! We are GO for that plan we developed last week!"

*** Dave H. said: Doyce T. said: Actually, I need to do a game retcon for the very last event (glad these are rare). Achilles only pulls out a weapon pointed at the keynome, he doesn't have one pointed at Alicia's back. Oh. I'm not sure if I'm disappointed by that or not, but it definitely changes what Jason is going to do next (which I hope I can figure out in a week). Bill's PM reminded me I needed to point out that Achilles is still a threat to her, he's just doesn't need a weapon for that.

If you don't want the Vyortovian fight to be taken over by the US military, here's why I think it wouldn't be. Check these things with your friend and see their opinion as well. Whatever the Navy's capabilities, they are still ultimately subordinate to civilians and their own chain of command. Common sense still applies (if they shoot at us, someone here and now, or our doctrine, lets us shoot back), but they don't get to pick their own targets in America. The last time the Vyortovians violated US sovereignty, they went to a random cemetery in North Carolina and got their asses kicked by some kids. Sure, there's a few eggheads that say they had a bomb, but we're not suure? What they didn't do is strike at US command and control centers. They didn't go after any strategic targets. They didn't kill civilians. There were some weird monsters on the streets of Halcyon at the same time, but aren't there always? And everyone was recovered. So whatever it was, it wasn't an invasion of the US. In the real world, we invaded Pakistan to get to bin Laden. Pakistan shouted, declared it was an act of war, and then.... did not invade the US. It sounds like they were prepared to fight us, if they'd had adequate warning. If we'd actually crossed the border with an army and tried to topple Pakistan's government, I expect it would have been different. But we did a thing, they squawked, and then we all got back to business as usual. How far up the chain of command do you go before you find an officer willing to take authority for starting a war with a vastly more powerful foreign power? Surely this has been discussed. I'm certain they have orders to attack military targets that appear threatening, after giving some kind of warning. Missiles can have a 5-6 minute flight time. Civilian decision making doesn't. Are there conflicting priorities between State, the Pentagon, and anyone else with an interest? Do we think that negotiation will buy us some of their tech? Are we trying to steal it? Do we hope to let them swoop in, then try and sabotage some of their operations and salvage what's left? After the Navy shoots its load, then what? What's the next step of the plan? Are they prepared to glass a whole country, civilians included, just because the island had the temerity to appear suddenly? If not, they need targets. Where are they shooting? What's the strategic value of those targets? What are we buying with every $1.4M Tomahawk we shoot? When a billion-dollar bomber gets shot down by AA lasers, did we get something out of that? Maybe we've spent the last 2 years furiously poring over satellite photos to determine objectives - tough to get if the island itself keeps moving, tougher if the Vyortovians have any kind of Wakanda-style force field, optical shields, or anything else that defeats satellite imaging. If not, we're just shooting blind. As narrated, there's damn little human intel that can be gained from fanatically loyal soldiers, unless you bring in truth drugs, telepaths, or the like. The US loves air power, but sooner or later, boots on the ground are how you take and hold objectives. How do we evacuate our guys if the island suddenly disappears? What do we tell the leadership if a quarter of our infantry is just gone the next time it Brigadoons its ass back into the Twilight Zone? You might be able to sneak a small commando squad onto the island. Their job is to scout around, get information, bring back tech samples, plant homing devices, sabotage whatever anti-satellite shielding is in use, whatever. They're probably not expected to come back, but if there's a chance, there's military bases around the world prepared to scramble a chopper to get them. The HHL and other superheroes aren't government assets. They're deniable, can scramble quickly, etc. and work for free. They're priceless to replace as assets, but often can do things the military just can't. I wouldn't expect any military planner to be happy with these things, but I think all of them are reasonable considerations and would stay the hand of the military if accurate. If you do want the military to fight this fight, invalidate any of the assumptions made here. We did infiltrate commandos over Christmas, and they came through. We have better satellites than they think. Some of the captured soldiers were made to talk. There's internal dissidents in Vyortovia itself, or a fifth column that isn't quite as hip to genocide as the Dread Queen. Hannibal Lectric likes the good life here and cooperates with the authorities to talk about the Hidden Family.

To be clear, I have no interest in the US Military taking over any of this. That's boring. I can watch that on TV at pretty much any time. I *do* like the idea of some ineffectual saber rattling while generals watch with expensive binoculars while supers fly toward Vyortovia.

In that case yeah, the brass chews its cigars but acknowledges all of the above, and every ship in the fleet gets ready to open fire if they get an order. But there's no big launch.

Doyce T. said: *** Dave H. said: Doyce T. said: Actually, I need to do a game retcon for the very last event (glad these are rare). Achilles only pulls out a weapon pointed at the keynome, he doesn't have one pointed at Alicia's back. Oh. I'm not sure if I'm disappointed by that or not, but it definitely changes what Jason is going to do next (which I hope I can figure out in a week). Bill's PM reminded me I needed to point out that Achilles is still a threat to her, he's just doesn't need a weapon for that. And honestly, if you think it's better tension for him to have a weapon on Alycia, we can leave it in. I bend to the people with skin directly in the scene.

As mentioned in the PM, the weapon vs. the charge makes the difference between "Achilles Chin the nihilist" and "Achilles Chin the suicidal nut", because he can threaten Alycia with both, but only one of them gives him a chance to walk away. So really it depends on how you plan to portray him.

Bill G. said: As mentioned in the PM, the weapon vs. the charge makes the difference between "Achilles Chin the nihilist" and "Achilles Chin the suicidal nut", because he can threaten Alycia with both, but only one of them gives him a chance to walk away. So really it depends on how you plan to portray him. There's a third Chin option as well. We'll see how it goes.

Bill G. said: In that case yeah, the brass chews its cigars but acknowledges all of the above, and every ship in the fleet gets ready to open fire if they get an order. But there's no big launch. One more consideration on this subthread: Aside from just appearing, are the Vyortovians doing anything? I mean, yeah, we (the US) are going to scramble, we're going to get ships to sea, we're going to go to DEFCON 1-2 ... but unless the Vyortovians start lobbing aetheric plasma bombs, we're not going to fire first. (The chance of an accidental incident goes way up, though.) I agree with Mike that the Yuletide "invasion" is small enough to not trigger a state of war, esp. since they got beat. The use of weather weapons is more serious, but that's about it, except to have warranted (a) major planning and (b) use as a casus belli down the road. That said, one other factor not considered is, how many of the Family are in high political or defense positions right now? What interference might they run until it's too late. (Also, if they are there because Chin is about to do something to with the Sepia-DC Keynome, they may very well just sitting under radio silence and waiting for the Plot to Thicken and/or Explode).

Doyce T. said: Doyce T. said: *** Dave H. said: Doyce T. said: Actually, I need to do a game retcon for the very last event (glad these are rare). Achilles only pulls out a weapon pointed at the keynome, he doesn't have one pointed at Alicia's back. Oh. I'm not sure if I'm disappointed by that or not, but it definitely changes what Jason is going to do next (which I hope I can figure out in a week). Bill's PM reminded me I needed to point out that Achilles is still a threat to her, he's just doesn't need a weapon for that. And honestly, if you think it's better tension for him to have a weapon on Alycia, we can leave it in. I bend to the people with skin directly in the scene. The primary difference it makes is from Jason's PoV: As played: OMG, Chin is about to do something awful to this world and my own, but he's also threatening Alycia (who, yes, is threatening me) from behind, do I stop him or protect her?! As retconned: OMG, they are clearly not on the same page, but Alycia is also clearly giving Chin cover to do something awful to this world and my own,, but she's also threatening me. How do I stop them, and whom do I stop first? Both are decently dramatic situations, but I think the personal drama for Jason is higher with the former. (Because, to be honest, and in a vacuum, and without considering what Ghost Girl is going to do here), Jason's most likely going to do something he regrets deeply in the first no matter which way he goes, but in the second it's more doing something that was, at best, a tactical error (angst over injuring Alycia notwithstanding). But I may (a) not be interpreting what I saw correctly and (b) be unaware of Other Stuff going on.  From Jason's perspective, that Achilles is a threat to Alycia even without a gun is true, but not immediate (he always has been, he always will be); the gun is a clear and present danger (whether or not she's aware of it, and I'd initially assumed not).

She's not aware of it. 

Paranoid Thought of the Day: Just as Byron has Rusty as bodyguard and hatchet man (and so much more), Achilles Chin always has (minus the romantic entanglements) a bodyguard / hatchet man as well. There are been several referred to (Chin goes through personnel at a much higher rate than most businesses, but on the up side he never as to worry about retirement pensions), but the most recent we know of is Hector Callado, who's referenced in various cutscenes (mostly), and someone whom Jason always has trouble remembering his name . My rationale for that was both that there have been so many such bodyguards, they all tend to blur together, esp. when you're a kid, and honestly was all a hidden nod to my own inability to remember his name without looking it up again every single time . But ... what if there was an an actual  in-game   reason his name always slipped from Jason's mind? What if there was intent behind Jason's tending to forget about Chin's bodyguard, his name, even what he looks like, unless he intentionally tried to focus on it? What if Hecate had Hector also covered as part of her veil? What if Hector is her man inside of Chin's organization, and one of the means by which Chin has been brought over to alliance with Sepia!Hecate (who is, after all, one of the Council of Mutually Admiring Hecates)? What if that's the real reason Jason could never remember him.  Until now. (Hector was, as far as I can tell, absent from the DC Keynome scene played above. Which raises the question of what he's up to right this moment, and on whose behalf. Just to add potentially more complexity to that scene resolution, though it could be something as simple as holding off Rusty and the guards who are on their way.) I confess, I just had this epiphany, but it felt so good I had to share.

Dammit , if you'd just not thought of this for a FEW more days, I'd have surprised you... :) (Totally stealing that picture, though.)

HA! I promise to still be "surprised". (The thought had come in passing some weeks ago -- "Hey, wouldn't it be funny if there were a reason Jason couldn't remember his name?" -- and I intentionally had Jason lampshade the problem in one of the recent Cutscenes, just in case you wanted to play with it. But I didn't think of the Hecate connection until I was doing the Jason's Tale recap of 25, so obviously my mind was being clouded, too. I almost didn't say anything, but it was too fun not to.) The gent in the pic is Andreas Sepulveda, a Columbian hacker who's been involved in a bunch of electoral shenanigans in South America. That pic is from a big Bloomberg article on him, but you can find a lot of other pics of him, a bit less slender, but often surrounded by Columbian police ferrying him to or from court. In case you want some other reference shots. (Hector Callado, sans speculative spoilers, extended from a stub to a  full wiki entry .)

Random thoughts: 1. Ultimately, is Chin willing to see his daughter killed in order to see his mission succeed? Does he reward her loyalty to him with a bullet to the back of the skull? 2. Regarding Ol'ycia -- if Alycia's using the nanobots, is she also getting a distributed consciousness? Is that's who's talking to Jason? Is Ol'lycia Alycia's Li'lycia, and Jason's on a party line? 3. I've always thought that Jason's DOOOOOOM was due to the nature of extending his consciousness too far, pushing past the specifications that Byron built into the nanobots -- i.e., kindasorta his fault for using the tool in a way that it wasn't designed for. But ... what if all the problems had to do with Byron's ad hoc memory tinkering with the code after the nanobot installation? That rounding error ending up overwriting parts of Jason's mind that could have properly managed the bots? The fault, dear Byron, is not in our bots, but in our brain, that we've had our memory poorly patched . I've been treating the nanobots and the broken memory as two separate items. Maybe solving the latter would fix the former. (Of course, it could also "cure" the nanobot power altogether ...) 4. Sure, everyone wants to swap Iceland and the Icelanders back to our world ... but is it right to send the Vyortovians -- all Vyortovians -- back to their despairing world? 5. The argument I didn't get to use: "Jesus Christ, Dad, the Chin of this world blew the whole thing up because your analog killed his daughter. Do you think our own Chin will give you a pass because you're only holding her prisoner in your basement?"

If Leo had any kind of say in it, he wouldn't be comfortable with "send Vyortovians back to hell", but he also wouldn't be comfortable with "give them a pass but leave everyone ELSE back there". Solving that problem - the migration of a planet of survivors across worlds - would require monumental effort. Assuming everyone's at the negotiating table, we tell the Vyortovians we'll help them cross over, normalize relations, all that great stuff, BUT everyone comes too, and the Vyortovians must help with that effort. There's also the issue of whatever happened in the Sepiaverse itself - is it somehow contagious? Would those people doom this world just by being here? I mean if so, that's really tragic, but if worlds are dying, better one than two. That outcome would be very, very grating on Leo, and that alone might have him eventually become a paragon of the city, devoting his life to fixing this for everyone. Where do you put everybody? If the Vyortovian super-science is up to it, why can't they build a new island, extend an existing one, terraform the Sahara desert or Antarctica, or some similar mega-engineering feat? The real problem is then ensuring they aren't a brand new security risk, but there's mechanisms (the UN, inspections, whatever) for that, which our game doesn't need to dive into very closely.

One more consideration on this subthread: Aside from just appearing, are the Vyortovians doing anything? I mean, yeah, we (the US) are going to scramble, we're going to get ships to sea, we're going to go to DEFCON 1-2 ... but unless the Vyortovians start lobbing aetheric plasma bombs, we're not going to fire first. Okay, now  I expect to see some US military action. Unless they're already scrambled and engaged elsewhere while the DQ launches her artfully delayed attack on Halcyon.

*** Dave H. said: One more consideration on this subthread: Aside from just appearing, are the Vyortovians doing anything? I mean, yeah, we (the US) are going to scramble, we're going to get ships to sea, we're going to go to DEFCON 1-2 ... but unless the Vyortovians start lobbing aetheric plasma bombs, we're not going to fire first. Okay, now  I expect to see some US military action. Unless they're already scrambled and engaged elsewhere while the DQ launches her artfully delayed attack on Halcyon. Right now, the League is in a nasty fight on the slopes of Snæfellsjökull. Most of the mobilized troops are between the island and D.C., or steaming that way. Those of you with eyes on the Carrier have spotted it, but you didn't actually notice it until it was almost on top of you, and no other alerts went up so: 1. Hasn't been very long. 2. Possible no one knows. 3. (Us government:) "It's Halcyon City - they can handle one big ship." 4. AEGIS: Crap, what do we have on call in the area?!?

5. "What, the Fantastic Four are off in space during an invasion again?!" I guess it will just be us, then -- -- oh, wait, I'm enjoying umbrella drinks in the Sepiaverse with Charlotte, Summer, and Alycia. Sweet! Let us know how things work out, guys. 

*** Dave H. said: -- oh, wait, I'm enjoying umbrella drinks in the Sepiaverse with Charlotte, Summer, and Alycia. Sweet! Let us know how things work out, guys.