MENAGERIE #44 - NO ONE BEATS UP JASON LIKE JASON!

Alycia Alycia is eliminating various fatal booby-traps, sensors, etc. tripwires, devices, guards around the Wound in the World. Getting progressively more cheesed, because the tech is Quilltech along with Chintech (and Rooktech). (No Rossumtech in this stuff.) Suddenly worried. How old is that Chintech, anyway? [Assess! 11!] What here is the biggest threat? The Quill stuff has been here for years. Weathering, at least a decade ago. A year to 18 months post-Vyortovia bomb. Jason laid a bunch of stuff in here, but really hasn't been back. Chintech was not integrated in ... added after the fact ... maybe 5 years ago . Newer, not as weathered. Okay, worried --> paranoid. Chin stuff is adding lethality. Antimatter grenades. And the melding point ... are a third type of tech she's not seen before. Most visible in larger piece (e.g., all the mortar in this one building is designed to disappear) ... silvery tech, profoundly more advanced than either (order of magnitude ... or more). Entirely passive. It's only to make the tech play nicely. Not ... terrestrial. Not Vyortovian. Silver, white, and blue -- and the Conconrdance has no tech per se. Greatest threat - this stuff has been grafted to Chintech, and given the age, from this side within the last five years. Another player in the game. In fact, not really warnings/boobytraps -- that was Quill-Rook stuff (comms, sensors, warning, non-lethal). The add-ons make it a hornets nest of destruction, Hunger Games style. The Chin stuff is new. Or only 5 years old. (fuckfuckfuck) Does it have a communication component? And something shimmers in, as Alycia dives for cover. Starfishytech thing. Scanning -- deep, intrusive, scary. Then it rotates toward Alycia. Leo & Adam Sablestar! Jason has formed the Spideromnidroidbot Adam is going to tackle Facet-turned-Fractal, who is winding a really big blast. [Concord burns! 4! 3 conditions! -- angry at Sablestar, insecure, guilty-in-advance] Flashback! Getting ready back at the base! Leo and Pneuma fidding with Heart Factory. Concord goes to Harry. What's the most remote place your folk had a superhero fight in? King Cold, base in Russia. No, somplace you were. Training in Algeria, on the edge of the Sahara, really uncomfortable ... Concord grabs onto that emotional link, tether. Teleports to Fractal, wraps the memory, energy, around his hands, and Fractal gets yoinked across the globe into a sand dune in Algera. [Use Burn to get a 10+] Leo is watching this, and sees that 's not watching Sablestar ... but Jason is lining up on Leo. Is she Vulnerable? [Superior: 12!] Leo and Aria recombine, distract Sablestar by crossing her line of vision. Behind her, Phoenix slams in, whaps her with wing, knocks her into the portal that Concord raised. Concord -- ground is getting black below him, like spilled on it. Flies up -- black tendrils rise up. Ground and plants are being changed. Concord blasts.[Unleash Powers: 14! KAPOW!] Raises shield, blows shield outward, then grabs one of the nanobots. "What here is the biggest threat? [Is this Jason actively doing this, or is he calling on prepped nanobots around the city to activate?]" No, Jason is actively doing this. And it's a distraction, to go after Phoenix and Otto -- Concord warns Leo about it. Leo -- taunting him. "So, Jason -- working for Rook? Guess you'll never get away from being voiced by a girl." [Provoke: 12!] The tentacle that was worming out of the building behind Otto and Phoenix freezes ... Charlotte & Harry (& Jaycee) The core Alt!Charlotte was overwhelmed by the voices of all the ghosts she'd gathered. But Our!Charlotte got a key to getting in touch with her. Focus: a hair comb, image of her mother on it. She pulls it out of the spirit storm, a combo of her own and from Alt!Charlotte. Trying to get the storm moving ... and maybe get back some of Alt!Charlotte's consciousness. Talking to the whole, but pleading to Alt!Charlotte. [Savior: 13! +1 Forward] Ghosts - angry reaction. Harry! Touching solid Charlotte, as is Jaycee on either side. Hair comb held up. Everything just ... stops. Harry can feel that something bad is about to happen. Ready to drag Jaycee away -- Charlotte is solid, sure, but she can handle this, right?. [Defend: 7! exposing self to danger] Charlotte's plan in case they are about to smite. Harry and Jaycee are gone. Oh, hey. Corporeal. Asserts the authority of being their General: [Superior: 5!] Jaycee warns Harry that Charlotte is still just Charlotte. He runs back -- with Jaycee. But ... how to deal with a typhoon of ghosts? Slow them down by doing the super-speed tornado routine. Harry: Hopeless, as the ghosts swirl and flow through him, this crap world, their anger and despair. Charlotte: Insecure, because it didn't work. But ... Jaycee seems most effective in holding them off some. Alycia Voice from the starfish. "Alycia Chin, you are in the incorrect dimension and incorrect timeline. Correct these errors, or you will be disciplined." [Superior: 8!] Have heard ths voice ... broadcast ... not someone that I paid much attention to, just noted ... Doctor Infinity. Alycia rises from behind rubble in surrender. Starfish minutely pivots. "I'm here to heal the wound in the Worlds." "That will not be permitted. The tear will remain. The tear will expand. This is the final remaining rift, and is expanding appropriately to cause a dimensional collapse. The result will be catastrophic, but will achieve intended effect." "What effect" "No. You will be sent far back enough in time with that knowledge that you will possibly be able to interfere, and definitely be able to annoy me." "If you send me back, I won't be able to bring to others back." "What others." "They're moving into position. Almost in place." [Provoke - Superior: 4! (Guilty!) --> Afraid!] "Of the two, only the self-designate Mercury has to be returned  in time and dimension. The wielder of the Excalibur shard has only to be returned to her dimension." Not counting / aware of Charlotte? Scanning from arms. Lasers coming toward her ... and she can see space beyond is hazier. [Direct Engage ... Afraid ... 7!]  Aim at starfish. Shoot building that was rigged to collapse. One shot, run! [Take away ... Doctor Infinity's sensory lock on her (destroy bot? damage sensors? pin it under a few tons of rubble?] Choking brick dust. Insecure ... because freaking Doctor Infinity Is it dead? Let's not wait around to find out. Charlotte [Doing critical move to separate Charlotte out, which would also leave the other ghosts around to help close the portal.] Express appreciation for Harry. Leo & Adam Leo: Provoke on Jason! "Come at me, bro." "I didn't go far enough last time." Nanobots reaching for head. Otto and Phoenix are leaping on from behind. MOMENT OF TRUTH! Loaded up one of the Heart Factory brains, loaded with some personality states, so Jason's bots run into a Jason mental structure -- readings of Jason's brain from the Heart Factory. Something they recognize as home. And the bots are designed to act as extensions of his brain. Making Alt!Jason remember a complete 17yo Jason. The barriers are broken into. A walking demolition crew. Tearing apart the nanobot shell around Jason, physically. And that causes the overall machine to reel, and feedback to Jason, too. And nanobot Jason rises up, who's just as good as 17yo Jason at beating himself up. And Alt!Jason didn't see that coming, as the bots open up, reaching in and dragging Alt!Jason down onto the ground, than then wrapping him up. Not only fixing the old memories, but patching ongoing years of progressively broken memories (because that was still freaking happening .) Leo: "I'm sorry I left you alone back then. I'm not going to do that again." Jason's eyes widen as he loses consciousness. Alycia Break line of sight. Comms - "Hey, guys. Doctor Infinity is here. Top that!" Wrap-Up Alycia: Image of Self --> +Danger, -Mundane Leo: Closer (Concord) --> +Savior, -Danger (Savior locked!) Harry: Closer (Charlotte) Charlotte: Closer (Jaycee) Adam: Closer (Leo) --> +Danger, -Superior COME BACK NEXT TIME FOR MENAGERIE #45 ... "DOCTOR INFINITY IS A PURPLE!"

As a follow-on to dealing with Jason, I expect Alycia will want to know how Leo did it, and I don't think she'll react well to hearing Leo's tactic. I'm ready for that conversation once things wrap up, including what I hope will pacify or at least surprise her.

*** Dave H. said: COME BACK NEXT TIME FOR MENAGERIE #45 ... "DOCTOR INFINITY IS A PURPLE!" I feel like there is some reference I'm missing. *** Dave H. said: Sablestar! Ugh, apologies if I got annoying towards the end of the session about this fight.  I'm still super excited to see this shake out.  Also, I have found the most frustrating thing about the Nova--knowing, unequivocally, what the next roll will be.  Hell, knowing you will do certain things without a roll at all. That way leads to madness.  That was leads to flow charts. Next game we play, remind me to stay far away from the game mechnics outlier playbook/class.

I'm super jazzed to see a Concord-Sablestar throwdown, even if she's not "our" Sablestar. In fact, I think it's even better that you may get to fight her twice.

Mike said: *** Dave H. said: COME BACK NEXT TIME FOR MENAGERIE #45 ... "DOCTOR INFINITY IS A PURPLE!" I feel like there is some reference I'm missing. I.e., a Purple -colored way-over-your-level MMO game character, usually untouchable. 

Bill G. said: I'm super jazzed to see a Concord-Sablestar throwdown, even if she's not "our" Sablestar. In fact, I think it's even better that you may get to fight her twice. I mean, the possibility of ending that fight thinking "Good, I understand this now.  If she pops back up in our time, I'll be ready!" only to learn that the timelines are alternate in more ways that we think is a really exciting as well.

I'm really hoping that her  teased interaction with Velasco both puts a novel spin on the main-timeline Sablestar fight, and gives Concord the much-coveted Grail Knight interaction.

*** Dave H. said: Mike said: *** Dave H. said: COME BACK NEXT TIME FOR MENAGERIE #45 ... "DOCTOR INFINITY IS A PURPLE!" I feel like there is some reference I'm missing. I.e., a Purple -colored way-over-your-level MMO game character, usually untouchable.  Ahh.  I'm more used to referring to that as "Level: Death"  due to my own history with MMOs .

Bill G. said: As a follow-on to dealing with Jason, I expect Alycia will want to know how Leo did it, and I don't think she'll react well to hearing Leo's tactic. I'm ready for that conversation once things wrap up, including what I hope will pacify or at least surprise her. You're not wrong, on multiple accounts. But I think we'll let the specifics of the reactions come organically.  Though being armored up is recommended. 

Bill G. said: I'm really hoping that her  teased interaction with Velasco both puts a novel spin on the main-timeline Sablestar fight, and gives Concord the much-coveted Grail Knight interaction While still a cool thought to me, I'm sort of at that point where it feels like stepping on Charlotte's toes by intruding into the Grail Knight stuff too far.  She's already got the relationship with the Grail Knights through Jaysee and Lucius.  Excalibur and Rifts seem to have some sort of connection, tying back in to Charlotte's arc.  At this point if Charlotte summons up Excalibur as her General of the Aggrieved Dead sword and uses it close the final rift (either here or back in our own time), that's just all kinds of cool.

*** Dave H. said: You're not wrong, on multiple accounts. But I think we'll let the specifics of the reactions come organically.  Yeah, I have no idea and no plan how it'll go. I only know the one thing Leo has to offer as a peace offering.   Mike said: While still a cool thought to me, I'm sort of at that point where it feels like stepping on Charlotte's toes by intruding into the Grail Knight stuff too far. If I have any complaint about this game, I think it's that we sometimes feel like a lot of solo PCs who show up for each other's stories. I'd really love it if we had plots where 2-3 PCs all had a stake, and they could all equally participate. Nobody should feel compelled to drop in on someone else's plots if either person isn't comfortable with that, obviously. But at least for any plots involving my PCs, I'd hope other people would feel welcome to join in if they found the particulars interesting.

Well, I've enjoyed playing around the edges of the Newman saga with both Jason and Alycia (in different ways). But, yeah, I would be by default reluctant to tromp around on top of Leo's core story, or anyone else's, without an invitation. 😓 Of course, I feel completely different about anyone who wants to engage with Alycia and her plots. Assuming we ever get back home to them. 😂

*** Dave H. said: Well, I've enjoyed playing around the edges of the Newman saga with both Jason and Alycia (in different ways). But, yeah, I would be by default reluctant to tromp around on top of Leo's core story, or anyone else's, without an invitation.  To all and sundry

(Alycia finds herself inexplicably irked that anyone would think of Summer as a Welcome Mat, even she knows that's not how it was meant. :-) )

So ... how far in the future are we? In a previous episode, my impression was 2-3+ decades  -- that Bot was in his 40s or 50s. Among other things, that made it less likely that Dr. Chin was still around. This episode, with some of the stuff Doyce was talking about regarding equipment aging, it seemed more like maybe a decade, tops. That significantly changes the dynamics a lot as to how physically old AltFuture!Jason is (et al.), how much people remember about the Before Times we're from, and so forth. It's sort of like, "We're here in 2018 (eep!) -- and the Vyortovians attacked in 2008" vs "the Vyortovians attacked in 1988". I can work with either, but it would be helpful to know what's what.