Quest A Sword Through the Multiverse: Stabbing Space Whales[A FSN/Worm quest]

Prologue 1

Speaker4thesilent

Crazed Deplorable
A/N: Alright, last time I tried this, I was a n00b GM and made a bunch of n00b mistakes. I have located the papered-over cracks in my GMing style and torn them down to the studs and rebuilt. I think I can avoid making a hash of things this time.

For those of you who followed my last quest, yes, there is a reboot option. Kinda. Just vote for the SM crossover again.

XXXXX

You are Shirou Emiya and you:

[ ] - Wake. Your eyes open to a sky you've seen before. For a long moment, you are disappointed. How often have you had this dream? How many years have you sought to meet her here? You sit up, long grass all around you, hoping to catch even a glimpse of her form in the distance, but you know that- She stands in the distance, her hair down and a flower before her face. It is only then that you remember. After all the long years of seeking ...

You rise to your feet and begin to run toward her, feeling as if your feet barely touch the ground.

(New Game+ mode.)

Perk: ??? (The faeries are up to something.)

Flaw: ??? (Merlin is a troll.)

[ ] - Linger. In your few coherent moments, you can recall saving Sakura and something about Ilyasviel arriving at the eleventh hour, but those moments are few and far between. You regret, in a vague sort of way, that you won't be able to watch the cherry blossoms fall with Sakura. After all, saving you as you are now would take a miracle.

(Post Heaven's Feel, but not one of the main routes. Crossover with Highschool DxD. Easy mode. You don't start very strong, but you have allies and a while to build up.)

Perk: All Better Now! (Physically you're fine. In fact you're better than fine. One might even say this new body of yours is bullshit. Atrophy of your magic circuit? What atrophy?)

Flaw: Not All There (You've never been accused of sanity, but you’ve really been insane for most of the last year. Suffering from transplant rejection of the Soul does that to a person. As a result you aren't in real good headspace. Temporary (probably) - to all rolls)

[ ] - Fight. It has been years since the Fifth Holy Grail War, but you have never put down your swords for long. Trained by the King of Knights you have done battle on a hundred fields, it was simply your misfortune to have ended up on this one. Who knew Dead Apostle Ancestors had ways of bitch-slapping you clear out of creation when you refused to lay down and die?

(Post UBW good route. Wheel of Time crossover. Not-so-easy mode. Expect fights from pretty soon to immediately after you arrive. On the other hand, you're pretty much a pro at this whole fighting thing.)

Perk: Best of What's Left (You might not be the best warrior of the age, but you were trained by her. Your years belie your combat ability. You have pushed Reinforcement magecraft to the limit and beyond and in the process taken your first step into the realm of Legends. Start with the Prana Burst ability.)

Flaw: Idealistic (Your experience belies your naivety. No seriously you are that bad. A notable (-) to any attempt at intrigue and to resisting manipulation.)

[ ] - Seek. You've lived an unfortunate amount of your life in the night, wandering from battlefield to battlefield, championing hopeless causes. Even having seen the end result of this choice was not enough to dissuade you. It was said that two miracles were required. You know she will wait and so you will seek, remembering always the dawn where you left your heart.

(Post Fate route. Sailor Moon crossover(yes, this is the reboot option. Ish. We’ve already saved the Silver Millennium. Not doing that again.). Also not-so-easy mode. Expect fights against things that eat solar systems. Allies are questionable but you've been fighting for decades and you've got a fully realized reality marble. What could possibly go wrong?)

Perk: That Ever-Distant Utopia (You carry within you the greatest of defensive Noble Phantasms, Avalon. You may not be able to use it to its full power, but Excalibur's sheathe is still a formidable defense)

Flaw: I Walk Alone (You have spent decades fighting. Much of that time without friends or allies at your side. Papa Emiya may not have raised a fool, but he did raise an Anti-Social bastard with a sarcastic streak. You don't play well with others. Turning this up to 11 for the reboot. It should not have been so easy to get rid of.)

[ ] - Ache. The last thing you remember was Shinji screaming at the core of the Greater Grail. You ... fell? As your head begins to clear, you hear ... something in the distance that sounds almost like the clatter of swords.

(Immediate post-UBW start. Unknown start. This is the shiny, shiny mystery box option.)

Perk: Malleable (Shirou has just started his career as a Magus, his options for growth are wide open. And you just Mine!’ed the entire contents of the Gate of Babylon. The sky’s the limit!)

Flaw: F.U.N. (The sky indeed, everything’s looking up when you’re at rock-bottom. You might have beat Gilgamesh, but Rin’s power isn’t boosting you any more and you hurt right down to your bones. Doesn’t sound like resting is an option, though.)

XXXXX

Vote will remain open for 48 hours or until a clear supermajority appears. Will aim for weekly updates after the prologue here. You know the drill, please wait to post until I’ve given permission to post.
 
Character Sheet

Speaker4thesilent

Crazed Deplorable
Attributes

Strength: *****
Stamina: ***** *
Dexterity: *****

Appearance: ****
Charisma: **
Manipulation: *

Intelligence: ***
Wits: ****
Perception: *****


Willpower: 10/10
Legend: **** [15/16]

DodgeDV((Dex+Dodge+Legend)/2): 7
Parry DV((Dex+weapon wielding ability+weapon defense)/2):

Dodge MDV((Willpower+Integrity+ Legend)/2)=9
Parry MDV((Charisma or Manipulate+Ability)/2=

Free exp: 3 (Spawn more omakes!)

Skills(Mundane)

Melee(Swords ***): ****

Martial Arts: **

Athletics: *****

Resistance: *****

Archery(Swords ***): *****

Thrown(Swords ***): ***

War: ****

Dodge: *****

Integrity: *****

Linguistics: *****(yes)

Pilot: ***

Awareness: *****

Craft(Magitech): *****

Craft(Weapons): *****

Craft(Armor): *****

Craft(Cooking)(Cooking ***): *****

Larceny: *

Performance: **

Presence(Nerds ***): *

Drive: ***

Socialize: **

Stealth: ***

Survival: ***

Medicine: **

Investigation: ***

Bureaucracy: **

Occult: *****

Lore(Legends): ****

Lore(Leaders): ****

Lore(Local Customs): ****

Skills(Supernatural): May only use [Legend] dots

Structural Analysis: ***** ***** (Heroic Ability that effects Investigate, Lore, and Occult checks where Shirou can read an item's history. This can include immediate on-the-spot understanding of a weapon as soon as it is seen, and extend into understanding how it is and has been used.)

Eye of the Mind(True): ***** *** (A product of extremely extensive combat experience, Eye of the Mind(True) is a Heroic Ability that affects Melee, Archery, Thrown, and Dodge checks, granting additional successes on combat checks with these abilities.)

Hawkeye: ***** **** (An ability that reflects extraordinary perception. Effectively Heroic Perception, which grants bonus successes to sight-based perception checks.)

Magic Resistance: **** (A skill indicating resistance to Shaping and direct energy damage effects. Grants automatic successes against the first and increased harness and soak against the latter.)


Charms:

Reinforcement: Expend up to [Attribute] motes of Legend and 1 point of Willpower. For the remainder of the scene, gain an extra dice in [Attribute] for every mote expended. (Currently limited to 2 motes by Legend.) Applicable attributes are Strength, Stamina, Dexterity, and Perception.

One Who Seeks(Permanent): As an existence that Sought Endlessly, Shirou Emiya's Stamina exceeds normal limits. Maximum possible Stamina increased by one dot.

On the Scent(Permanent): With a successful (Perception + Survival) roll, Shirou uses his enhanced senses to pick up on the almost-invisible traces of a foe’s trail. May be contested by a (Wits + Stealth) roll if the target is a Thinker or a Stranger with an applicable ability.

Sixth Sense(Permanent): As one whose senses are superhumanly acute, Shirou is more likely to notice subtle hints that he has wandered into danger. Shirou gains extra dice equivalent to his Hawkeye rank on any (Wits+Awareness) roll to detect an ambush.

Unlimited Blade Works

Tracing: so long as one mote of Legend is committed to this ability, D and E Rank Noble Phantasms may be traced limited only by the number of blueprints Shirou can keep in mind at one time.

Internal Manifestation: Locked. Gain additional Legend.

Full Manifestation: Locked. Gain additional Legend.

E-Rank Noble Phantasms
Protophantasms:
The Crystalization of Legends-Yet-to-Be. No activated ability. May be Broken for AoE damage.

D-Rank Noble Phantasms
Zabaniya: The First Dark:
D-rank Anti-Unit Noble Phantasm: Wielded by Hassan-I-Sabbah before he founded his legendary order. The knife's only power is to be overlooked and ignored, by its wielder almost as frequently as its target. It can only be noticed by a target with high ranks in Instinct, Eye of the Mind(False), or similar abilities, but it can be avoided by those with sufficiently high luck.(Not DRM locked)

Bow of Agincourt: Chivalry's Demise:
D-Rank Anti Unit Noble Phantasm: One of the longbows wielded at the battle of Agincourt, it has become legendary by the [impossible occurrence] of mere peasants cutting down the flower of France's chivalry. As a result, any arrows fired by the bow have a conceptual advantage against [Nobility] and [Cavalry], doing double damage if the target shares one concept, and quadruple damage if it shares both. (Not DRM locked)

Fragarach: Gouging Sword of the War God:
D-Rank Anti-Unit Noble Phantasm: Fragarach counter attacks any opponent that targets its user. Multiple attacks will draw multiple counters.(DRM locked)(Please note that this is explicitly not Answerer)

Trap of Argalia: Down With a Touch:
D-Rank Anti-Unit Noble Phantasm: An ornate, gold accented lance wielded by Astolfo, Paladin of Charlemagne, this Noble Phantasm's killing power is sub-par. However, any foe struck by the tip is made to fall to the ground. Since the attack is not a lethal effect, it is very difficult to avoid. (DRM locked)

Yew Bow: The Bow of Prayer:
D-Rank Anti-Unit Noble Phantasm: A crossbow made from the wood of the Yew trees of Sherwood Forest. Wielded by Robin Hood, the crossbow's bolts are coated with a lethal poison, and invoking the Noble Phantasm's name multiplies the effect of the poison by several times. By mis-remembering the type of poison, Shirou may use this as a non-lethal effect. (DRM locked)

Kilenc Sárkány: Dragon Cry Thundering Voice:
D-Rank Anti-Army Noble Phantasm: The cry of a dragon given physical form by the spirits of ancient Hungary, this Noble Phantasm has the unique attribute of basing it's attack and damage on the user's Charisma instead of Dexterity and Strength when activated. (Not DRM locked)
 
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Allied Information

Speaker4thesilent

Crazed Deplorable
Attributes

Strength: ***
Stamina: ****
Dexterity: *****

Appearance: *****
Charisma: ***** *
Manipulation: *

Intelligence: ****
Wits: ****
Perception: *****

Willpower: 10/10
Legend: **** [16/16]
Dodge DV((Dex+Dodge+Legend)/2): 7
Parry DV((Dex+weapon wielding ability+weapon defense)/2):

Dodge MDV((Willpower+Integrity+ Legend)/2)=10
Parry MDV((Charisma or Manipulate+Ability)/2=

Skills(Mundane):

Melee: *****

Martial Arts: ***

Athletics: ****

Resistance: *****

Archery: *

Thrown: *

War: *****

Dodge: *****

Integrity: *****

Linguistics: ***(Old English, English, Japanese, Latin)

Sail: **

Awareness: *****

Craft(Earth): *

Craft(Cooking): *

Larceny:

Performance: ****

Presence: *****

Ride: *****

Socialize: ***

Stealth: **

Survival: ***

Medicine: *

Investigation: ***

Bureaucracy: ****

Occult: **

Lore: ***

Skills(Supernatural): May only use (Legend) dots

Charisma: ***** *** (An ability consisting of the skill to command a group of people and a person’s charm, natural or learned. Effectively Heroic Charisma, giving bonus successes to all charisma checks.)

Instinct: ***** ***** (Arises from an extremely strong sixth sense. Someone with high Instinct does not see a blow coming, nor do they predict it with long experience, they simply know that they are about to be attacked, and react. This skill nearly rises to the realm of clairvoyance. Provides bonus successes to dodge, awareness, and join battle rolls.)

Mana Burst: ***** ***** (Utilizing a momentary surge of Prana, Saber boosts her combat capabilities for the critical moment she strikes or moves to evade an attack. Effectively Heroic Strength and Dexterity, granting bonus successes on Strength and Dexterity checks that are not prolonged actions as well as boosting her dodge DV.)

Magic Resistance: ***** ***** (A skill indicating resistance to Shaping and direct energy damage effects. Grants automatic successes against the first and increased harness and soak against the latter.)

Charms:
Carnwennan: Commit at least one mote to Carnwennan in order to become attuned to the weapon and begin gaining temporary dots in the Supernatural Skill Presence Concealment. (May gain up to [Legend] or 6 dots in Presence Concealment whichever is less. Cost as follows: 1, 2, 4, 6, 10, 12)

Additionally, may expend up to [Legend x 2] motes to activate Carnwennan’s Anti-Magecraft effect, converting one dice per mote of incoming energy damage into a ranged Melee attack.

Invisible Air: Keep one mote committed to conceal whatever weapon is currently being wielded behind a shroud of wind. May spend up to [Legend] motes to utilize either the Hammer of the Wind King (making a ranged attack with the Melee skill and gaining up to [Legend] automatic successes on damage dice), or Barrier of the Wind King (creating a zone of highly turbulent air [Legend] yards in diameter that requires any enemy that attempts to enter or who begins their turn within to succeed at a Dexterity+Athletics roll at difficulty: [Legend] or be knocked prone.

Excalibur: Locked. Gain additional Legend.

Rhongomynaid: Locked. Gain additional Legend.

Prodigy of the Sword(Passive): Gain one bonus success to all Melee rolls when using a sword. All other Melee rolls gain one bonus die.

Caught in Her Wake(Passive): As a leader who brought together a collection of individuals of incredible power, Arturia's Charisma exceeds normal limitations. Maximum possible Charisma increased by one dot.
 
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General information and thread rules

Speaker4thesilent

Crazed Deplorable
This Threadmark is for special Thread rules and general information.

The Character Sheets and thus combat system and all rolls will be based on the Exalted/White Wolf system.

Do not pester me for updates; I will do my best to update once a week. If you bother me, I will slow down just to spite you.

Do not abuse other participants. It can be hard to differentiate joking and more serious stuff on the internet, so let's avoid that problem altogether. I even promise to try to sit on my sarcasm.

Since it seems some participants can not be adults about this, discussions of racism in 1980s England are a derail and will be reported. Discussions of politics in 1980s England are a derail and will be reported. This should have been clear from the above rule, but it seems some people still missed it.



To clear up some issues, I will be posting some extra OOC/Meta stuff here. Try to use it IC and I will break your fingers spirit through the weight of salt I will pile on you.

1.) Parahuman energy effects count as magecraft.

2.) Contessa can’t path Saber/Shirou, they are blind spots like Eidolon. And even when she finally gets enough information to model them, her models are immediately rendered invalid due to EotM and Instinct.

A Short Guide to Stunts(This description is from Exalted 2nd edition. I own nothing except the pdf.)
The rules of Exalted reward players with additional dice for describing their characters’ actions in an evocative manner. The out-of-game rationale for a stunt bonus is that well-described actions keep the game interesting for everyone and help the Storyteller set the scene. In game, stunts represent the capacity of epic heroes to be truly spectacular when they take risks and act like heroes.

At the lowest level, one-die stunts require a good description of an action, adjudicated by the Storyteller. In return, the player gains one additional die, and the character may perform feats that border on impossible (such as running across the heads of people in a crowd, deflecting a blade or arrow barehanded and so on).

Two-die stunts require that the character interact with the environment in some notable fashion, taking advantage of the scenery that the Storyteller has provided. This can be physical environment or things the character knows about the world, like an enemy’s phobias or a lover’s favorite fl ower. The player gets two bonus dice and may perform limited dramatic editing. No detail of the scene may be contradicted, but minor details may be “revealed” in the context of the character’s actions. For instance, a character might leap off a parapet to escape a hail of arrows, and the player could use a two-die stunt to reveal a banner fortuitously hung on the wall, which the character grabs to save himself. The Storyteller may veto any editing that he feels strains belief or is otherwise inappropriate (such as an edit that contradicts a major detail he has not yet revealed). Players cannot generally use a stunt to draw a “hidden” weapon from nowhere, although some assassins might well have shuriken or throwing needles hidden all over their person, leaving exact placement vague until a good stunt opportunity arises.

Three-die stunts are singular acts of greatness, stunning bravado and visual poetry, defined by their capacity to leave the other players slack-jawed in astonishment. If any doubt exists as to whether a stunt merits three dice, it isn’t a three-die stunt. In addition to providing three bonus dice, these feats allow for the same measure of dramatic editing as two-die stunts.
 
Prologue 2

Speaker4thesilent

Crazed Deplorable
[X] - Wake.

Avalon Awakening
0.2

The incredulity had passed. You could not tell how long it had been. Avalon, it seemed, was like that. The sun was still high in the sky even though it must have been hours. Tears had been shed and laughter had been shared. Your reunion had been everything you’d never dared to hope for. Even now, Arturia’s face was pressed into your chest, your arms wrapped tightly around her shoulders while hers were wrapped tightly around your waist, neither of you yet willing to let go for fear that the other would vanish without a tr-

“Well, it’s good of you to finally show up, Shirou Emiya,” a voice said behind you and suddenly Arturia’s grip went from merely tight to painful.

“Merlin,” she said coldly while you had a bit of a BSOD moment, then continued in a voice as warm as liquid helium, “I have been waiting for this for centuries. Don’t you dare ruin it for me.”

She had ducked down and out of your grip to glare behind you, peering backwards from under your arm. You turned to get a look as well, your greater mass triumphing over even Arturia’s strength. You-

How the hell did the forest get there?

Somehow, the woods, which had been barely a hint of color in the distance off to your right had managed to sneak up on you. They were a bare dozen feet away, dancing with fey lights, a single tower peeking out over the tops of the trees, and in front of them …
That’s Merlin?

The guy looked like a goofball. Pale and silver-haired, he was wearing a blue scarf with gold tassels and an embroidered white robe with a belt tied like an ankh over black pants. Then his grin vanished, and the hairs on the back of your neck stood on end.

"Did you really think this was the end, Little Arthur? You’d be bored to tears inside a week here. Besides, Avalon was never meant for mortal habitation,” just like that, the grin was back and despite yourself your instincts relaxed.

“And you have no ulterior motives?” Arturia accused pointedly, shifting to glare over your arm rather than under it. “I remember what happened the last time you tried to be ‘helpful.’ It was a disaster. Sir Gawain ended up hanging from the rafters by his bootstraps! And poor Agravain spent nearly a month convincing the servants to come out of hiding!”

That sounded like a story you would really enjoy hearing, given some of the shenanigans Venus had gotten up to. Unfortunately, before you could ask for details, Merlin interjected.

“If you’ll recall, I promised you a chance at ‘happiness,’ my King, not just ‘contentment’, so I found a little place a few universes away where the rules are different. Much lighter cosmology than you’re used to, and none of the Solar parasites or Sector-destroying threats Guardian Emiya had to face.”

That got both yours and Arturia’s attention and you finally managed to get a word in edgewise. “Uh, how can we just go live in some other universe? Aren’t we dead?” you inquired.

Merlin just shot you a disappointed look, like a teacher preparing to chastise a particularly dull student. “Of course not. Avalon exists within the realm of the fey. There is no [Death] here, so of course you aren’t dead.”

Both you and Arturia freeze as you hear something outrageous. “You mean-”

Merlin, nodding, interrupts, “Indeed, for your afterlife, you get a new life in a new world where you,” he pointed at Arturia, “don’t have to be King, and you,” the finger swung your way, “can play superhero to your heart’s content,” he pronounced as though he hadn’t just said something else outrageous.

With a wave of his hand, a portal sprang open beside you.

“Now, since your boy-toy just had to go and outdo you by becoming a hero to a vast interstellar civilization, you’ve eaten through almost all of the grace-period I’d built into the plan, so you have to go now or you’ll be late. So go ahead and get reacquainted, have some fun.”

Arturia was glaring again. “And what’s in this for you, Merlin,” she demanded suspiciously.

“The satisfaction of a job well done?”

Yeah, not even I believe that one.

“Okay, you got me, I just can’t wait to see Little Arturia as a Girl Scout leader and attending PTA meetings at your kids’ school.”

Her hand already in the air, accusatory finger extended, Saber froze and her face went decidedly pink and shifted to look up at you.

Perhaps that’s why she didn’t see the portal surge forward to engulf you both.

“Aw, you two are so cute together! Have fun with the genocidal abomination!” the silver-haired bastard called before the portal curved and he vanished out of sight.

“Merlin, you diiiiiiiiiick!” Arturia yelled just before the portal spat you both out. As you looked around, the first thing you saw was -

[ ] - a newspaper showing a guy in a costume on the front page. What the hell is a ‘Vikare’? (Earliest start and thus most potential impact on canon. Biggest chance of fucking up canon.)

[ ] - a naked woman with a strange skin condition about to tear into a figure in futuristic-looking armor. (Siberian versus Hero. Chance to intervene. Extremely high chance of butterflies.)

[ ] - a crystalline angel twice the size of Ilya’s Berserker surrounded by a cloud of debris. (Canberra. Close to canon, but large chance of complications from being at Ground Zero of a Ziz fight.)

XXXXX

So, everyone that thought this was Arthurian Britain, you had a good thought, but no. Welcome to Worm, where modern humanity is about to get introduced to Age of the Gods level heroes.

Spoiler: they ain’t gonna know what hit ‘em.
 
A Brave New World

Speaker4thesilent

Crazed Deplorable
[X] - a newspaper showing a guy in a costume on the front page. What the hell is a ‘Vikare’? (Earliest start and thus most potential impact on canon. Biggest chance of fucking up canon.)

A Brave New World

You took a step forward to catch yourself as the portal vanished and gravity returned. You felt as Arturia, who had spun in midair to yell at Merlin, took a step backward for much the same reason. Immediately, your senses were on alert searching for a threat or even an observer, but …

Nothing. You were in a normal alleyway on a low-tech world. You took a deep breath, and a wave of nostalgia hit. The smell of the Thames. Grease. Warm beer. Exhaust from thousands upon thousands of engines. The only thing that kept it from smelling like your own London was the absence of the concentrated prana of the Clock Tower. Then your eyes fell upon a discarded newspaper. Even from twenty feet away, you could make out the headline.

The Times said:
American ‘Superhero’ Vikare evacuates burning building!”

That was so unbelievable you nearly missed the date. May 3rd, 1983. You let out a hiss of air in reaction. That was …

Arturia’s shoulder brushed against your side as she moved to guard your back, trusting you to guard hers. Even after all your time apart, you still moved in sync. “Shirou?” she asked, tense but not worried. There was nothing her way either, you knew, but awareness was a good habit to maintain.

“I can’t smell the Mage’s Association, but this is definitely London,” you informed her concisely, then hesitated before just deciding to blurt it out. “I’m looking at a Times front-page with a picture of a superhero evacuating a burning apartment building on it.”

Her head whipped around to look up at you. Then seeing the direction you were indicating with your eyes, she turned to take in the newspaper as well. “You can read that from here?” she asked, walking closer. You followed, watching as she bent over to pick up the discarded paper to confirm what you’d se-

You turned away. Now that the initial rush of adrenaline was passing, you finally noticed the light blue summer dress that Arturia was wearing. And the curves that were filling it out. “Ah, you look a bit older than you did in Avalon,” you say and immediately have to suppress the urge to bite your tongue. Why the hell was communicating so hard?

Saber shot you a look over her shoulder, then blushed as she read you like a book and realized what you’d been thinking. She stood up and ran her hands over her skirt before looking down with a startled expression. She still had that ageless quality to her face that made her look old enough to drink even when her body had been stuck in her early teens. It was just that her body had gone and started to catch up. Her bust and hips were both more pronounced than they had been and during the portal trip she seemed to have gained about three inches of height.

She cleared her throat and thankfully changed the subject. “While we’re on the subject, your hair is red again and the tan isn’t as noticeable,” she noted clinically before beginning to peruse the paper.

You ran a hand through your hair, but it didn’t feel any different that it usually did. The back of your hand, however, did have a rather paler skin tone than you were used to. Of course, looking down at yourself let you see the outfit you were dressed in. The red and black outfit. “Oh, for Heaven’s sake, Merlin!” you exclaimed in disgust. Even though the shirt and pants looked nothing like it, they still managed to evoke Archer’s combat outfit.

“That’s relatively tame for him,” Arturia noted less than sympathetically, “At least it looks good on you.”

You opened your mouth to comment, then closed it, deciding to quit while you were ahead. Abruptly another consideration occurred to you, and you started searching your pockets. Thankfully, your right rear pocket contained a wallet. Less fortunately …

Official government ID, a hundred Pounds Sterling, a letter, the loopy writing made you certain somehow that it was from Merlin. A quick check of your pockets revealed nothing else. That was a problem. It had been a while since you’d had to go anywhere without an expense account, but even in the 80’s this was London. A hundred Pounds wasn’t going to get you very far.

“Uh, problem,” you said, “I don’t suppose you’ve got anywhere in that dress for ID. Maybe some keys?”

ASTtM

Arturia had been less than pleased to find a key tucked away in her bra, but at least it meant you had some breathing room. That had left the letter, which …

Merlin’s Letter said:
Congratulations! You’ve won a trip for two to Arturia’s old stomping grounds! London in 1983 is a fantastic place with scenic smog banks and ongoing road and metro construction, so I hope you enjoy the sights.

By now you’ve likely noticed that this world is a bit different than the one you’re familiar with. Though the supernatural denizens of this universe wiped themselves out in the early 7th century, superheroes have recently made their debut. Unfortunately, not all of them are so helpful as the flying rescue-worker from Michigan. On January 28th of this year, escaped prisoner David Martin became the first British parahuman when he developed superhuman abilities when police tried to arrest him. He won’t be the last.

With Britain’s economy in a slump, you’ll have to balance the mundane concerns of keeping yourselves fed with dressing up in costume to hunt down superpowered fugitives like the inimitable Mister Martin.

Maybe along the way, you’ll even find time to give Uncle Merlin some nieces and nephews to spoil!

He was lucky he’d left off there. You’d been able to rescue the letter from an enraged Arturia before she could tear it to bits. If nothing else, you wanted to have Martin’s name around for reference, but the address of your apartment, paid for the rest of the month, was also on it, so letting Arturia shred it wasn’t in the cards.

Which was another thing. Arturia’s ID, also fished out of her bra, didn’t have ‘Pendragon’ on it. Arturia Emiya had a very nice ring to it, and the sight had put an adorable blush on her face that still hadn’t quite departed entirely. Your fingers entwined with hers, you couldn’t help but smile as you walked up to the building that matched the address on Merlin’s letter.

The key, helpfully labeled ‘201’ fit in the lock, and you stepped inside your apartment for the first time. The … compact studio apartment. With a single bed.

Beside you, Arturia growled.

Shirou rolls Perception+Awareness 10d10+3=14 successes … So we’re starting with this again, then?

Arturia rolls Perception+Awareness 10d10. She gets 2 Successes. There’s the Urist we all know and loathe!

Shirou rolls Charisma+Socialize 1d10=2 0 successes. At least it wasn’t a botch.

Arturia rolls Perception+Investigate 8d10=6 successes. She understands what Shirou was getting at with a look. Flustered Arturia gooooooo!

It is Tuesday, May 3rd, 1983. You have an apartment, paid through the end of the month and stocked with the basics. You have a hundred Pounds to your name, 3 daytime AP, and 3 evening AP. What do?

Day actions:

[ ] - Find a job. Good thing Arturia kept that newspaper you found. In an age before the internet, the Classifieds are as good a method to find employment as any. Cost: 1 daytime AP. Results: 3 luck rolls for available jobs. (All rolls are at -10 because the British economy in 1983 sucks and the recently lowered taxes haven’t had time to turn things around yet.)May be taken multiple times.

[ ] - Accustom yourself to current technology. The CD is brand new. You’re already missing your personal AI and smartphone. When do the Americans get around to inventing the internet again? Cost: 1 daytime AP. Results: You get with the times. Skill roll to identify a need that you can invent or ‘invent’ something to fill. May be taken multiple times.

[ ] - Research. Merlin gave you have a name for what appears to be a supervillain. Head to a public library and look through past newspapers to try and get more details. Cost: 1 daytime AP. Results: skill roll to determine what information you’re able to suss out of the record. Better odds of tracking down David Martin. May be taken multiple times.

[ ] - Explore the Neighborhood. You knew your London almost as well as the back of your hand. This one? Not so much. Better to have an idea what’s going on immediately outside your base of operations. Cost: 1 daytime AP. Results: Some local intel. Knowing if there are any gangs or football hooligans in the local area.

[ ] - Write in. Subject to QM approval.

Evening/Night Actions:

[ ] - Socialize with Arturia. The Holy Grail War was a fast-paced even frantic conflict and it was centuries ago. It was still the last time you got to spend any real time with your wife. Cost: 1 evening AP. Results: Fluff, WAFF, happy Arturia.

[ ] - Experiment with your abilities. Just a cursory flaring of your Magic Circuits tells you things have changed. Your magic feels odd and doesn’t always do what you think it should. Cost: 1 evening AP. Results: IC knowledge of character sheets. Shirou swears a lot.

[ ] - Meet the Neighbors. You live in an apartment building. Make yourself part of the community. Just try to keep your mouth shut and let Arturia do the talking. Cost: 1 evening AP. Results: Get to know the neighbors. ???

[ ] - Search around for crime to stop. Clearly, as an Ally of Justice, you should be patrolling the neighborhood looking for wrongs to right. Cost: 1 evening AP. Results: Crimes thwarted? Justice upheld? Maybe just an annoyed Arturia.

[ ] - Search for David Martin. Thanks to Merlin’s note, you know he exists. You’ve tracked down a half-dozen cultists among a world populated with billions of people. How hard can it be to find one man in a city of a few million? Cost: 1 evening AP. Results: Try to find a villain to fight.

[ ] - Write in. Subject to QM approval.


Voting will be by plan. Also, please try to stunt options with a short (One or two sentences) description of what specific actions Shirou takes. This will make luck rolls luckier and skill actions more skillful. Bribe those Pattern Spiders. A short guide to stunts has appeared in the Thread rules Threadmark.

Edit: No moratorium on votes unless it becomes clear that one is necessary. Please attempt to conduct yourselves as adults. Or else.
 
A Brave New World 2

Speaker4thesilent

Crazed Deplorable
Plan: Getting Our Bearings

-[X] - Find a job.

--[x] People always need something or another fixed, and you were a 'Fake Janitor' before you were ever a superhero. A little Structural Analysis and offer to fix clearly-damaged hardware should be a good start on a flexible, part-time job.

-[X] - Accustom yourself to current technology.

--[x] You're already going to be going out to repair some of it, so that should help get an idea for where common manufacturing is now, to help you figure out what tech that you understand could be readily produced if you take out a convenient patent or two. Perhaps a well-engineered early Walkman?

-[X] - Explore the Neighborhood.

--[X] Knowledge of your surroundings is vital. Identifying problem areas like places frequented by gangs, busy roads near bars, or old flammable buildings should help you respond to situations that warrant a Hero of Justice sooner. Besides, any excuse to take a walk with Saber is a good one.

-[X] - Socialize with Arturia. The Holy Grail War was a fast-paced even frantic conflict and it was centuries ago. It was still the last time you got to spend any real time with your wife. Cost: 1 evening AP. Results: Fluff, WAFF, happy Arturia.

--[x]You have literally been waiting your whole life for this, and it was not a short life. This is not optional.

-[X] - Experiment with your abilities.

--[x]Merlin sent you somewhere where magecraft practitioners all died out more than a millennium ago. Your circuits feeling weird is... concerning.

-[X] - Meet the Neighbors.

--[X]You should probably at least make an effort to meet the people you'll be living with for the foreseeable future. After all, reclusive shut-ins who just seem to pop out of the aether one day seem suspicious. Plus, you wouldn't be able to forgive yourself if the people here were in genuine need of assistance and you ignored it out of ignorance.

---[X] Maybe try cooking or baking something to hand out? You've seen how food can be used to bridge divides between people.

The first project on your list was gainful employment. You were a little out of practice on that front; it had been a long time since you worked part-time at … what the hell had the name of the place been? Started with a C …

After spending five minutes wracking your brain for the name, you gave up and went back to looking through the paper’s Classified ads.

Thanks to the economy, there really wasn’t a lot available. There were a couple of places hiring delivery people, and a company that maintained boilers looking for a repairman.

Either of those was within your abilities, though you’d be profoundly underutilized doing either. You were letting individual pages slip through your fingers as you prepared to refold the paper when you saw it.

An article in the society section mentioned that the Ritz Hotel had been forced to dismiss their second Executive Chef in less than a month and rumors were all over the place.

Well, well well well. That seemed right up your alley.

Huh, Copenhagen. Why did words like that finally come to you when you stopped trying to remember them. You finished folding the paper for Arturia to peruse if she wanted.

You were going to make dinner. You needed to be on top of your game if you were going to get that job. The restaurant at the Ritz in your time had been the sort of place where you needed to make a reservation three months ahead of time in order to get a seat. It would be fun to get to make it that way yourself.

Which job do you decide to apply for?

[ ] - Special Delivery! (Gain one dot’s worth of Resources in income(lower class). Inconvenient mix of day and evening AP lost to job on an unpredictable schedule.)

[ ] - Real Repairman (Gain two dots worth of Resources in income(lower-middle class). Lose mostly daytime AP, but since you’re the low man on the totem pole, you may get called for an evening or weekend emergency. Potential for ???.)

[ ] - Executive Chef (Gain three dots worth of Resources in income(welcome to the middle-class). Lose mostly evening AP. Potential for ???. Possible ???.)

[Selected option will resolve in a short event]

ASTtM

As you bent over to pull the glass pie plate out of the oven, you couldn’t help but feel that a hungry lion was behind you, preparing to pounce.

Arturia’s hungry eyes tracked the dish as you set it on the stovetop to rest. With it out of the oven, you reset the rack to the uppermost position and turned on the broiler.

You would have preferred to let a steak and kidney pie marinate overnight, but organ meat was always the first thing to go bad, and it wasn’t worth risking Merlin being a troll. Besides, it was a good, filling meal, though a heavy one.

That was why you’d selected the accompaniment for it that you had. Potatoes would have been very British, but would have only tended to weigh down the meal more.

Instead, you had picked Brussels sprouts. Split in half, then drizzled in olive oil, salt, and fresh-cracked pepper, they were far lighter than potatoes, and quickly roasting them under high heat would keep them from releasing the sulfur compound that made children everywhere turn their noses up at the little cabbages.

With the rack in place and the broiler on, you slid the tray of vegetables into position, leaving the oven door cracked open just slightly.

Then you waved a hand in front of Arturia’s fixed, staring eyes.

Blinking in surprise, she leaned back on the stool she was seated on. The kitchen took up a rather large amount of the studio apartment, and the dining situation paid the price. Instead of a table, you had only a pair of stools drawn up on the far side of the counter that faced the room.

Even a western table would have been a vast improvement. Probably the first thing to do once you had a job would be to find an actual house to rent. If nothing else, you’d have space for a workroom. Possibly also a couch-bed to sleep on since Arturia was still too embarrassed to share the actual bed with you just yet.

Seeing the light of reason back in her eyes, you informed her, “Five minutes until dinner.”

“Ah, thank you,” She said, then a moment later continued, “Should I get plates and silverware ready?”

You snorted, then pointed at the countertop. Arturia looked down and blushed at the carefully constructed place settings. You thought she’d been too quiet for simple daydreaming when you’d gotten them ready a few minutes ago.

Instead of saying anything and risking making it worse, you just put the remaining half-bottle of red wine that hadn’t gone into the pie filling on the counter along with a pair of glasses.

“The side dish should be done about the time you’re done pouring,” you suggested, then tested the pie’s temperature.

Hmmm, still a bit warm for a plastic countertop, you decided. A woven rattan trivet solved that problem and the pie dish followed the wine bottle onto the counter. You had just enough time to pick up the serving bowl you’d set aside before the Brussels sprouts were done, the very edges browned by the heat and the stems cooked through.

You carefully slid the vegetables into the serving bowl, then stepped around the counter and shed your cooking apron. Grabbing the serving spoon, you dished a serving of the little cabbages onto Arturia’s plate beside the quarter of the meat pie that had mysteriously appeared there in the few moments you weren’t observing her.

Dishing up your own food, you announced, “Itadakimasu,” and speared a forkful of the pie, noting critically that the crust didn’t flake quite the way that you’d intended. It tasted fine, but the visual wasn’t as spectacular as it could be. “I think I’ll have to add more oil to the crust next time I make this; maybe it’s the humidity?”

You turn to ask Arturia what she thinks, but she’s sitting beside you with tears running down her cheeks.

Well. It’s nice to have an appreciative audience.

ASTtM

After the last of the dishes were cleaned up and the leftover half of the pie was put away for breakfast tomorrow, you found yourself curled up on the couch beside Arturia. Your apartment had a television, but you didn’t turn it on. You sat there, an arm around her shoulder and simply exulted in her presence.

You wanted to talk, to tell her about your search for her, but you didn’t know what to say. You could tell she wanted to speak as well, but perhaps it wasn’t time for that yet. In the end, both of you simply sat and drank in the others presence: a shared salve for old, unhealed wounds.

ASTtM

The next morning found you waking rested if not entirely comfortable. It was nice to be young again, but that couch really wasn’t meant for someone your height. On the other hand, a single glance at the apartment’s bed last night had turned Arturia into a blushing, stuttering mess. Much as you wanted it, much as you could tell Arturia wanted it, she wasn’t ready for that yet.

For all your star-crossed romance and legendary love story, you didn’t really know each other for very long, and you’d been separated for a very long time.

So you could wait as long as she needed. Until she was comfortable. You slid the leftovers into the oven to warm up before heading for the shower. By the time you were out and dressed, Arturia had managed to struggle into something approximating wakefulness.

Her mussed bedhead was adorable. “You’ve got time for a shower before breakfast is ready if you hurry,” you told her. You weren’t sure if the brilliant smile was for you, or for the promise of food, but you chose to assume the former.

After finishing off the last of the pie, you and Arturia went your separate ways. Today it was her turn to go job-seeking while you sought out the library and its stacks of old copies of Popular Science. You’d tried to finagle a hint out of her, but hadn’t had any luck.

You were thankful that it was the early 80s. The £100 was lasting longer than you’d initially suspected. Part of it had gone to Arturia for an emergency or for lunch out if an interview ran long. Most of the rest was with you.

A quick stop on the way gained you a pad of grid-paper at an absurdly low price. If the thought ruminating in the back of your mind turned out to be correct, you were going to need it before the end of the day.

As you walked along the sidewalk and took in the first true Western city you’d ever seen you couldn’t help but compare it to the London you’d known. You found it … lacking.

Part of that was the air quality. Supposedly that had improved some, but smog was still very much in existence. There were still a lot of cars on the road without catalytic converters, for instance, and other standards you took for granted hadn’t been implemented yet. That was tolerable, though.

What you found intolerable was the mood of the city. England was in the throes of a recession that just kept dragging on and, as Merlin had stated in his letter, the tax cuts that had finally helped end it had only recently been passed. It would take time for the economy to accelerate again, and in the meantime there were far too many people with stressed expressions and tense muscles, worried about how to provide for themselves or their families.

That, you had an inkling of an idea about how to change. It would, however, only work if what you thought you remembered about portable CD players was correct.

Mulling over your plans and thoughts carried you the rest of the way to the public library. Once there, it was a simple matter to find old editions of Popular Science and get to reading.

You didn’t have to read long to get to what you were looking for. As you had recalled, the CD had only been invented last year. Looking over the details in the magazine also revealed that any attempt to scale down the current players to make a portable or automobile-mounted version would be doomed to failure, with skipping of the tracks being a serious problem. It was even possible damage to the discs might occur on particularly hard jolts.

Setting the magazine aside, you brought out your grid paper and started to sketch. Creating proper engineering diagrams for your concept was not a fast process, even if thanks to your experience it wasn’t as hard as most would have found it. Once you were done with your initial draft, you went back over it with an eye towards simplification of the device.

The tech you were trying to work into it was probably a decade more advanced than the current cutting-edge. Making it prohibitively expensive to manufacture would be a sure and certain way to kill any attempt to produce is. Rather than edit your current sketches, you instead created a new one, adjusting slightly away from the circular design you’d wanted due to the lack of miniaturization.

Finally, around three in the afternoon, you concluded that you weren’t going to be able to get the ‘repeat’ feature to work economically due to the restrictions with currently producible circuit boards and finalized your second design.

You looked the drawings over again and couldn’t help but be satisfied. You’d made something that would do the job you wanted and at the same time push the limits on current technology, encouraging others to explore other options for the new technology you’d ‘invented.’

It would also be easy to convert to a mounting that would fit in a vehicle without performance issues, and just to add another bird to the ones killed with one blow, setting this up to be manufactured in England would help accelerate the economic recovery just starting to get underway.

You flipped you book closed and headed for the exit. Most importantly, you'd finished with plenty of time to get started on dinner preparations.

ASTtM

Arturia’s announcement that she’d been hired for a position in the financing department of a motorcycle dealership almost made you choke on your bite of fried fish. It was somehow both so off the wall and yet so her at the same time that you couldn’t help but laugh.

“Somehow, that seems very you.” You explained your laughter with a smile.

Saber blushed a bit at your response. Playing with a last bite of fish, done more Tempura-style than the usual, greasy pub Fish and Chips, she responded, “I wanted a position in sales, but they didn’t have one available.”

Your grin just got wider. “You’ll end up there,” you stated with total faith in your prediction, “Once they see that you know what you’re about? They won’t be able to transfer you fast enough.”

Proving once again that she was weak to honest praise, Arturia’s blush deepened. She made the last couple bites of dinner disappear, then prompted, “Did you not want to spend some time this evening trying to determine what the effects this world had on our abilities?”

As methods of changing the subject went, that one was rather blunt; still you were willing to let her get away with it. Finishing your own last bite of tempura-battered french fry, you began gathering up the dishes so that you could use the breakfast bar in your experiments.

What followed was a great deal of quiet swearing, mostly from you, and elbows hitting ribs(entirely yours). What you discovered by the end was that an armory of hundreds of Noble Phantasms had been reduced to a handful of usable examples in a sea of tracings that just failed when attempted in a way that hadn’t happened to you in more than three centuries.

That Arturia couldn’t even get so much as a response from Excalibur was the sort of consolation that wasn’t.

“Well, at least we know,” you said with a sigh.

You and Arturia sat on the couch, huddled together against a world of unknown dangers, well into the night.

ASTtM

The next morning, you both slept in a bit after your discoveries the night before. You still made a full English breakfast. Well, brunch anyway. Seeing Arturia happy helped.

You still both found that you wanted to be around each other as much as you could manage for the day. Since you also wanted to check out the local area …

You took a walk. It was enlightening in the way that discovering that you’d accidentally set up camp on top of a nest of Venusian Glitter Wasps was.

You learned that you never wanted to make that particular mistake again.

As soon as you got away from the main thoroughfare, the quality of your surroundings dropped from the lesser fringes of lower-middle class straight into an open sewer.

You didn’t know much about early to mid 80s gang culture in London, but you suspected you were going to learn. At least there was only one tag on the buildings. That meant you probably weren’t in a border area where you’d have to worry about the walls suddenly developing bullet holes.

In even less pleasant, though perhaps more useful news you’re pretty sure you’ve identified either a drug house, a brothel, or both in amongst the sprawl of urban decay and firetraps. You’ve also picked out three separate dealers loitering on cracked stoops or leaning against walls. Each has at least a knife on their person and one appeared to have at least one guy with a firearm around as backup.

You also mentally noted the location of the worst of the firetraps, just in case.

Arturia draws some whistles and you draw some glares, which you choose to take as compliments. For a few seconds you wonder if you’re about to have an issue when Arturia reads one particularly offensive whistler his pedigree, but the critique is so well done and on point that she actually seems to get through to the young man. Maybe he’ll turn his life around.

For the rest, you’re tall, well built, and don’t walk like an easy mark, so even in the worst of the territory around your apartment no one seriously hassles you.

As you step back inside your apartment, Arturia finally breaks her silence, “It seems Merlin picked a wonderful place for us.”

You couldn’t quite contain a snort at her utterly biting sarcasm.

When you turned and smiled at her, you could already see her mind working over ways to improve things in the area. “I want to help too, just remember, you don’t have to be a king anymore.”

She met your eyes and smiled back, but before she could speak, a knock came at your recently closed door.

Your mind immediately jumped into combat mode. You didn’t think you’d been followed, but you’d been wrong about that before. A quick glance through the door’s peephole, however, made you sheepishly drop out of your combat mindset.

“Ah, one moment!” you called out, and opened the door up. Arturia stepped to where she could get a good view just as the young woman on the other side spoke.

“Oh, I thought I saw someone coming in here! Welcome to the building!” The young woman was probably in her mid-thirties and had the sort of outgoing disposition that could get just about anyone to open up eventually. Despite having black hair and a rail-thin figure, she reminded you a little bit of Venus.

Keeping your manners in mind, you replied, “Thank you for the welcome. I’m Shirou Emiya, and this is my wife Arturia,” even if it felt vaguely like a lie, all your paperwork agreed, “we just moved in earlier this week. Would you like to come in?”

The woman smiled at the two of you, but deferred, “And I’m Mrs Potts. Oh, I won’t take that much of your time. I just wanted to invite you to a little get-together tonight. Whenever someone new moves in we always try to have a little party to welcome them to the building. When old Mrs Anderson passed I took over doing the inviting, you see.”

You shot a look back at Arturia who seemed positively inclined towards the idea. “Very well, that sounds like fun,” you replied as you turned back to the woman, “What time were you thinking?”

“We usually hold them round about seven o’clock,” she explained, “Gives the other tennants time to get home and get something whipped up to share. At least we can save you the cost of a meal,” sh concluded with a smile.

Well, that simply wouldn’t do, “Alright then, what can I bring?” you inquired.

“Oh, you don’t have to worry about that,” she tried to wave off your offer, but you were determined.

“Please, I insist. We’d be poor guests not to contribute.”

“Indeed, we don’t want to make a poor first impression by arriving empty-handed,” Arturia said, stepping up beside you.

As usual, Arturia casually won Mrs Potts over instantly, or maybe she just thought that it was Arturia that would be doing the cooking. “Well, if you want to make a desert, I doubt anyone would turn it away.”

Instantly, Arturia’s eyes sought yours. Your mind went over what you had in the cupboards and your right hand went to your chin while your left hand supported your right elbow. “Well, I’ve already made a savory pie this week. I suppose a sweet one only makes sense.”

At Mrs Potts baffled look, you chuckled, “I love my Arturia dearly, but if you ever see her in the kitchen, drop whatever you’re doing and flee for your life.”

You only flinched a little when a blushing Arturia pinched your ribs.

ASTtM

A few hours later, peach pie in hand, you arrived at the community room in the building’s basement. If the numbers you’d seen on the doors were accurate, then you were the last to arrive, given that five other family groups seemed to already be present.

As soon as you step foot in the door, Mrs Potts is there to welcome you, “Oh, Mister and Missus Emiya! So good of you to come! And is that a peach pie? It does smell wonderful, doesn’t it? Follow me and I’ll introduce you around.”

What follows is a veritable bolley of names, occupations, and anecdotes as the incredibly enthusiastic woman introduces you around the room. You manage to fix the first in mind but even with the help of the little stories to fix things in your brain, you only remember a fraction of who does what.

Thankfully you manage to hold up your end of the conversations you get into. You briefly discuss fruit that you enjoy which is easy enough, then the economy.

You predict an upswing, but most of the rest of the room is more pessimistic even with your citation of the recent tax cuts as evidence. You’re fortunate that Arturia rescues you before things can get heated. It seems that she’s effortlessly assumed leadership of the group of wives in your brief period of distraction.

Even Mrs Potts waits on her to indicate that it would be a good time to start filling plates.

When desert rolls around, Arturia gets several compliments on the pie before passing credit to you. That seems to disperse any remaining awkwardness in the room. Mr. Potts makes a joke about understanding why she married you, to which you reply drolly that an affair between you would never work.

Half the room only barely manages to stay in their seats, they laugh so hard.

3d100-10+5(one dice stunt)=94,72,30. So this is going to be A Thing again, huh?

Dexterity+Craft(Cooking) 14d10(1 bonus die for stunt, though that barely qualifies)=9, 2, 6, 7, 3, 8, 2, 5, 4, 7, 10, 8, 2, 1. 7 successes.

Intelligence+Craft(Magitech) 10d10(+2 for 2 dice stunt. Nearly the first 3 dice stunt of the quest)=10, 8, 2, 4, 7, 5, 7, 2, 3, 10. 7 successes on a difficulty 3 check. Damnit Shirou.

Taking a walk. Luck check: 1d100=32+5=37 Well at least Urist is equal opportunity.

Perception+Awareness roll: 10d10+4: [9, 7, 5, 7, 9, 9, 8, 6, 3, 9] 11 successes.

Charisma+Socialize roll: 3d10(+2 dice from stunt): [2, 7, 2] 1 success. You come across as taciturn, but not rude. Arturia scores 8 successes, charms everyone there, and gets plugged in to the local rumor mill.

After the needs of your new job(whatever that ends up being) you have 2 weekend AP. What do?

[ ] - Socialize with Arturia. Weekends are for dates, right? Cost: 1 AP. Results: Fluff, WAFF, happy Arturia.

[ ] - Search around for crime to stop. Clearly, as an Ally of Justice, you should be patrolling the neighborhood looking for wrongs to right. Now that you’ve scouted the area out you’ve even got some idea of where to start. Cost: 1 AP. Results: Crimes thwarted? Justice upheld? Maybe just an annoyed Arturia.

[ ] - Search for David Martin. Thanks to Merlin’s note, you know he exists. You’ve tracked down a half-dozen cultists among a world populated with billions of people. How hard can it be to find one man in a city of a few million? Cost: 1 AP. Results: Try to find a villain to fight.

[ ] - Plan for the future. Collaborate with Arturia and decide what you want to do with your finances in the upcoming month or two. Cost: 1 AP. Results: Budget, better understanding of resources and how to best use them.

[ ] - Write in. Subject to QM approval.
 
A Brave New World 3

Speaker4thesilent

Crazed Deplorable
Uber JJK earned 3 exp for putting together the Armory post from the last thread and ordering it by Noble Phantasm Rank. He has chosen to use those three exp to purchase a dot of Socialize.

[x] - Executive Chef (Gain three dots worth of Resources in income(welcome to the middle-class). Lose mostly evening AP. Potential for ???. Possible ???.)

-[x] Isn't it tradition for masked superheroes to move amongst high society and the wealthy in their mild-mannered alter-egos?

[x] - Socialize with Arturia. Weekends are for dates, right? Cost: 1 AP. Results: Fluff, WAFF, happy Arturia.

-[x] The theatre is a cultural institution that has been around since long before Arturia's time, and you're sure you can find a period play that speaks to the idealized Knight and King somewhere in London.

[x] - Search for David Martin. Thanks to Merlin’s note, you know he exists. You’ve tracked down a half-dozen cultists among a world populated with billions of people. How hard can it be to find one man in a city of a few million? Cost: 1 AP. Results: Try to find a villain to fight.

-[x] You have a key edge on local law enforcement, in that you've not just tracked supernaturally-empowered beings before, but newly empowered beings. You know what sort of things to look for. Given the limitations of conventional law enforcement, it'd probably be best if someone with a few extra abilities tried to take the man down. Besides, Merlin is unlikely to have mentioned Martin in particular without reason.

As you’re preparing to head out for the day, you make a point of memorizing the details of the culinary school diploma Merlin provided you with. You’re glad for that, since trying to apply without one would be an absolute disaster. You might be able to get a job as a line cook somewhere without it, though probably not unless you could convince someone to taste your cooking before an interview.

Before you left, you also traced a small carrying bag with your favorite set of knives. Assuming you managed to make it to an interview, they would almost certainly want you to demonstrate your skills. Even if that didn’t end up being part of the process, it was better to be overprepared than under.

The Ritz was far enough away from where you lived that you needed to take a bus to get there in a timely manner. During the ride, you reminded yourself that you needed to be professional and tried to come up with polite responses to some of the more common questions you thought might be asked.

It seemed to pay off. When you arrived to inquire about the job opening for executive chef, you were greeted and invited to fill out an application. Once that was done, you shook hands with the Human Resources representative.

You didn’t think he had very high expectations of you, given your lack of documented experience, but he was treating you as a professional at least.

“I note that your application reveals that you’re rather light on work experience, listing only a job during your secondary schooling and an internship during culinary school. What makes you think you’re qualified to take on the burden of administering and operating a kitchen and staff on this scale?”

That was one of the questions you’d expected. “Well, I’ve been making and following a budget from the time I was about twelve years old,” you said. At your interviewer’s surprised look you elaborated, “My adoptive father died when I was quite young. I had a guardian, but the relationship was distant. I was left to either sink or swim on my own merits. I’m familiar with the needs of budgeting, how unforeseen problems can affect a budget, and how to adjust to compensate. Handling the kitchen’s budget will be a matter of a difference in scale, not degree.

“As for the organization part of the job, that’s what my internship was mostly focused on, since my technical skills were considered unimpeachable. A claim I will be happy to back up in the kitchen,” you declared with a smile.

There were several more questions after that, but your answer to the first one had set the tone. You presented yourself as confident but professional and in the end the interviewer seemed pleased.

With a quick look at his watch, he asked, “Do you have time for a practical demonstration then?”

You smiled. “I’m at your disposal for the afternoon, Sir,” you replied.

As he lead you into the kitchen, he explained your task, “One of our more popular appetizers in the restaurant is beef tartare. You are to prepare two portions of your interpretation of the dish.”

You entered the kitchen and were shown to an area off to the side. “This will be your workstation,” the man declared, then stepped back to observe.

Throwing you into the deep end, huh?

You took the time to unpack your knives and do some simple preparation of your workstation before you got started. Getting it out of the way now would save you time later. A quick look around the kitchen identified where equipment and ingredients you needed were located.

Then you burst into action.

You were looking for round steak for the meat, but it seemed that the Ritz preferred tenderloin. You were disappointed. Not only was that an increased expense, but the flavor of top round worked better, in your opinion.

Still, harvesting enough for two portions was easy. You quickly moved the meat into the freezer to firm up a touch more, then began to make your dressing. They at least had good quality olive oil, which was essential. Mustard, vinegar, salt, pepper, and a couple other spices joined the olive oil, and the dressing came together rapidly.

A shallot seemed to just fall to pieces on your cutting board, followed by a tablespoon of capers.

Judging that the meat was ready, you removed it from the freezer and cubed it so finely that it almost appeared to be ground. Then you mixed everything together, adding an egg yolk for binding. Slicing a baguette on the bias, you grilled the croutons for look and texture then portioned the meat mixture on top of the bread before drizzling on some more of the dressing, portioning the final amount into a small bowl so that more could be added to taste. You gave the product a critical look. It wouldn’t quite be at its best with tenderloin instead of top round, but for rush work it wasn’t bad.

You stepped back from your station and realized that not only was your interviewer staring, but so were most of the line chefs.

Then the swarm descended, each trying a bite and asking questions. You answered them concisely: yes you used just a touch of garlic. Any more and it would be overpowering. No, you don’t use Worcestershire sauce, because that is overpowering, and you can get a better effect with your methods.

If it were the chefs doing the hiring, you’d be offered the job on the spot, but even though you can see that the HR employee is practically salivating (especially after tasting your cooking) he still managed to stay on script.

“If you would follow me, I’d like to show you our bookkeeping system and a few other details. Now-”

ASTtM

Looking at the books for the restaurant you narrowed it down to two options. “So, incompetence or embezzlement?” you asked.

“What?”

“Your last Executive Chef. Incompetence or embezzlement?” you clarified.

Clearly surprised, the man responded, “Embezzlement. How could you tell?”

You point to three items in the records, “Either he was spending three times what he should have been at the butcher, he was allowing a criminal amount of waste compared to the receipts for sold items, or he was skimming. Blatantly. I’m not surprised that you found him out so quickly.” You shook your head and made a mental note to double check that the butcher wasn’t also overcharging as well if you got the job.

“Well then, that neatly sets aside the last of my concerns about your fitness for the job,” the man said and extended a hand. You shook it reflexively as he continued. “Mr. Emiya, it has been an unexpected pleasure. I have interviews scheduled for the next two days, but you have set a very high bar. I think that I will be able to contact you Friday by the close of normal business hours about our decision, and I thank you very much for your application and interest.”

“It was a pleasure to have the opportunity. The Ritz is a grand old lady. I’d love to be part of helping remind people of that.”

With that you parted ways feeling like you were going to have good news come Friday.

Bearing and comportment: professional, adequate for the position.

Cooking skills: legend in the making. Michelin stars practically guaranteed.

Administrative skills: could be a professional accountant.

Overall grade: A++

Gain 1 exp for completing an objective and 1 exp for going all-in and succeeding with flying colors.

ASTtM

When you went looking for an idea for a date with Arturia, you ran headlong into a brick wall.

You went through the … extensive list of dates Minako had gone on and just …

You could not picture Arturia doing any of them, much less enjoying doing any of them, and that was before realizing that you’d have to cut the list by about sixty percent since those activities hadn’t even been invented yet.

Ami never went on dates, married to her work as she was, and Makoto and her husband were about as boring as it got. They worked, took care of their kids, and occasionally went to a restaurant to eat.

You were on your way home from your first shift on Saturday when an opportunity all but dropped in your lap.

The raised voice was the first thing that caught your attention. Raised voices weren’t precisely uncommon in urban London, but you could only hear one side of the conversation, which was. As you rounded the corner of the building, you saw a well-dressed man shouting into a payphone receiver. “And I’m telling you the tickets are wrong. The date doesn’t match up with the date I ordered! I have my damn receipt! All I want to do is bring them back and exchange them for … Yes, I know you’re sold out! I’m one of the ones who bought tickets ahead of time for tomorrow! Not tonight! No, I will not hold! I-”

He pulled the handset away from his head and stared at it, then slammed it back down on the receiver.

Your stride had brought you almost even with the man, and now your interest was piqued. “Can I help you, Sir?” you asked.

He jumped a bit and turned toward you, but caught himself before he snapped at you. “Not unless you’re looking to buy tickets to Robin Hood at the National Theater tonight,” he said grumpily.

You opened your mouth to defer, then actually thought about it for a moment. “Actually, my wife would probably love that,” you admitted. The tale of a corrupt official, a noble rogue, and a just King returning to lay down the law? Arturia ought to love it. The only problem was that you only had…

“Uh, I’ve only got twenty pounds on me, though,” you admitted.

Surprisingly, instead of turning up his nose at you, the man smiled and even chuckled a little. “Just married aren’t you?” he asked then looked down at the envelope in his hand for a moment.

“Oh, why not? Better that they get used. My wife won’t get back until tomorrow and I’m going to be at the office until late. Sold, young man, and I hope you and your wife enjoy the play.”

You handed over the twenty pound note, he handed over the tickets, and you were off. As you walked, you double checked the date and time just to make sure y-

You almost dropped the tickets. Back when you’d first come to London, this pair of tickets would have cost you £300. Even today these tickets must be worth ten times what you paid for them. You turned back to look for the man you’d bought them from, but he’d already left your sight, and you didn’t have all that long to get ready.

You guess you’d just have to pay it forward.

ASTtM

Your seats were literally some of the best in the house. If you and Arturia were just a touch underdressed, no one commented. And it was only a touch. Merlin had included some fairly formal outfits for the both of you.

The show was surprisingly good considering that you’d never heard of a Robin Hood stage production in your own world. The acting was good and it stayed true to the story while still fitting into the new format.

Mostly, though, you were happy because Arturia loved it. She scowled at the Sheriff, nodded approvingly at Robin Hood, and positively smirked when the King showed up at the end of the play to lay down the law.

As you walked the last stretch of the way back to your apartment, Arturia was all but bouncing beside you, “and the look on his face when the King had him arrested!”

She giggled. Actually giggled, and for the first time since you met her, she actually seemed to be only as old as she looked. You hesitated for a moment, leaned down …

And chickened out. Pressing a kiss to her cheek. Arturia looked startled for just a moment, but then quickly shifted to amusement. “That was hardly appropriate, Shirou,” she said, then grabbed the front of your shirt and dragged you down for a real kiss. “That is how you kiss your s-spouse.”

Her performance would have been more convincing without the stutter, and she seemed to realize it too if the blush was anything to go by.

The rest of the walk was conducted with your arm wrapped around her shoulder and her tucked into your side. That night, as you prepared to head for the couch, Arturia stopped you. You met her eyes and nodded. She still wasn’t ready, but ...

That night you held your wife in your arms as you drifted off to sleep.

ASTtM

Arturia was a grabby sleeper. Extricating yourself in the morning meant letting her have the shirt you’d slept in, because there was no way you were getting it away from her.

You had an early shift again today, getting settled in to your duties and helping deal with the weekend Brunch. You’d made a couple of small changes to the food and more to get away from dreadful 80’s plating choices. So far they had been well-received, but you needed to talk to suppliers before you could start making any more.

Still, rumors of a new Executive Chef had been spread, probably deliberately. As a result, the curious had already started to show up. As word began to spread, no doubt more would be coming as well. You expected that next weekend would start to see the restaurant busy at more than just peak hours.

You whipped up a light breakfast which nonetheless attracted a hungry Saber like a moth to flame before heading out.

ASTtM

When you dragged yourself back home that afternoon, you were much more tired mentally than physically. You’d spent the day wrestling with schedules, ordering forms, and dealing with the other minutiae of the job. Your subordinates hadn’t even needed to bother you when the restaurant got busy with the after-church rush. You really wanted to do something to blow off some …

Hmm.

Well, it would take some time before you could really go out to start searching, but that just left you time to pick up the Sunday paper and do some research.

ASTtM

A good keyword to search for when investigating a supernatural crime was ‘baffled.’ As in ‘Police Baffled,’ the last two words of a small headline back on the eleventh page of the paper. The story described a series of expert robberies performed with no signs of breaking and entering. Nothing had been damaged by the thief or thieves entrance and the doors had still been locked when the residents returned and found their belongings rifled through.

The crimes had all been in a certain geographic area as well, though most of them had been during the day. The exception was the robbery of businesses that were closed at night, of which there had been two, both in a geographically similar area.

Well, you knew where you were setting up shop tonight.

ASTtM

Even in May the nights got cold in London. You’d picked an abandoned building near the center of the geographical area described in the paper. Now you were waiting, your ears Reinforced to listen for out of place noises in the night while you tried to keep warm. You were at once distressed by how much improving your Perception cost and impressed by just how much of an effect it had.

You were seriously considering starting a roof-hopping patrol just to keep warm when a brief flash of bright white light caught your attention. With additional scrutiny drawn to that area, you realize that the footsteps you’ve been hearing from there now sound … odd. Almost as if-

The footsteps stopped and you heard the sound of wood sliding. A moment later, the light blinked out.

Well that was odd. That light was about right for an LED flashlight, but no such creature existed in the 80s, and that sound had been odd. Definitely worth investigating. Standing up, you traced your old armor with the addition of a helmet to protect your identity, then Reinforced your muscles a touch to jump from rooftop to rooftop.

It took long moments for you to make your way towards where the light had come from, but as you closed in, you started hearing more and more sounds from an otherwise silent building. Since you hadn’t heard a door, the odds that you’d stumbled across a crime in process were definitely increasing. The only question in your mind was whether or not you’d stumbled across the right criminal.

As you circled the building and found no obvious entrance on the ground floor, that likelihood increased in your mind. Then you got to the far side of the building from where you started, and immediately noted a second-story window open. Had the sound of wood sliding been that window opening? If so, then how?

You were so absorbed in trying to figure out how the thief had managed to get the window open that you almost missed him returning to the window. You threw yourself down, only barely managing not to hit your helmet on the opposite roof.

You don’t think the guy saw you, but suddenly the white light came back. You popped back to your feet, expecting to have to dodge, only to find the man jogged down the wall with a canvas bag in hand. That was …

You shook your head, and watched as he stopped dead for a long moment at the base of the wall. You noticed that the light didn’t actually go out for about three seconds after he stopped. Then the man turned and began to casually stroll away.

You decided to-

[ ] Trace the Yew Bow and hit him with a sedative.
[ ] Trace the Trap of Argalia as a sword and attack.
[ ] Demand his surrender.

Charisma+Presence roll. 3d10(+1 from stunt)= [7, 2, 9] 2 successes.

Dexterity+Craft(Cooking) roll. 14d10= [5, 5, 7, 8, 3, 7, 10, 10, 3, 7, 10, 7, 2] 11 successes.

Intelligence+Investigation roll. 7d10=2 successes ['3 (0)', '4 (0)', '10 (2)', '6 (0)', '1 (0)', '6 (0)', '1 (0)']

Intelligence+Bureaucracy roll. 5d10=3 successes ['7 (1)', '7 (1)', '7 (1)', '1 (0)', '2 (0)']

Ugh, I even had other people rolling dice for me to try and keep my luck out of it. Didn’t help.

Luck roll 1d100+10(stunt)=92 Somehow I am unsurprised.

Intelligence+Investigation roll. 8d10(2 dice stunt)=[5, 10, 8, 6, 10, 6, 6, 7] 6 successes.

Perception+Awareness roll. 13d10(+3 dice from reinforcement. 3 Legend, 1 WP spent)+3(Hawkeye)=[1, 8, 5, 9, 5, 9, 3, 6, 2, 2, 2, 10, 1] 8 successes.

Opposed roll, Dexterity+Stealth vs Perception+Awareness. 8d10=[8, 4, 5, 5, 7, 2, 5, 3] 2 successes versus 6d10=???
 
A Brave New World 4

Speaker4thesilent

Crazed Deplorable
[X] Demand his surrender.

-[X] Some thieves fight when challenged, but many others retreat or fold. None of those reactions would be new, even across worlds.

“Put your hands up, a-”

White light blazed in the alley, and you prepared to defend yourself, but instead of fighting, the criminal took off in a dead sprint that most Olympians would be envious of. At that speed, he was out of sight around a corner before you could even consider tracing the Yew Bow.

It appeared that it was going to be one of those nights.

You leapt across the alley, cutting the corner on the man only to see him taking the next corner at a dead sprint, changing direction on a dime without losing any speed. That was going to make this harder.

Over the next minute, the fugitive attempted to lose you several times through his combination of speed and cornering ability.

Most pursuers would have been left in the dust by a man sprinting as fast as he was. Those who could manage to stay caught up in the short term would have been exhausted by maintaining a sprint for longer than the human body was designed to manage.

Shirou Emiya, however, was not most people. You were not merely staying in sight, you were actually catching up.

If the man you were pursuing could be described as having peak human speed and superhuman endurance, then you had supernatural speed and inhuman endurance.

Finally, it became clear to the thief that he wasn’t going to be able to outrun his pursuit. Like a rat backed into a corner, he turned and attacked.

You weren’t sure what form that attack would take, so you were already tumbling aside in a dodge as the beam of white light swept through the space you’d just occupied, only just clipping the edge of the roof, but blasting an antenna behind you to smithereens.

In return, you threw yourself into motion again, the Trap of Argalia flashed into being in your hand, altered into the shape of a blunted longsword. The golden weapon swept out at your opponent, your power flowing through it.

You had expected him to be as quick in a dodge as he had been on his feet. You was disappointed. The man clearly knew very little about how to defend himself from a physical blow.

At the last moment, you held back and turned to hit his foe with the flat of your sword. Saber would have yelled at you for failing to swing through the target, but you wanted to capture the man, not break half of his ribs. Your blow still blasted the air from David’s lungs even as the man’s legs went out from under him.

As he collapsed to the ground, his left hand came up, but you were inside his range. A tap to his wrist deflected the burst of energy harmlessly into the air. Then you pounced.

It took you less than ten seconds to have Mister Martin pressed face down into the asphalt with his hands in rapidly traced manacles, and not much longer for another traced set of manacles to hobble his legs, just in case the Trap’s touch wore off unexpectedly. With your prisoner thus secured …

“Mr David Martin, you are subject to a Citizen’s Arrest for your unlawful entry into a place of business and your theft of items from that business,” you informed him, thereby complying with the one major requirement that English law had in cases where someone who wasn’t a policeman made an arrest.

You reflexively reached for a phone you didn’t have because smartphones hadn’t been invented yet, and bit back a sigh. “Now I need to find a telephone box,” you muttered as the glow around Mister Martin finally died.

As you picked the man up, taking care not to add any further injury to what had to be some seriously sore ribs, you considered that last bit. The glow had persisted for quite a long time after he stopped running from you, whereas before it had vanished very quickly. Additionally, the beam attack he used had been the same color as the light that surrounded him. For that matter, the light had not vanished when he stopped resisting, but had persisted for several moments afterward, nor had he continued to flee while attacking you.

That, in turn, seemed to indicate that he wasn’t able to do so, nor was he in control of how long he could use the light beams. Was it a function of how long he’d been running? Did he somehow store up energy while running that he could then weaponize when he stopped?

It was a curious and seemingly contradictory power, one that would let him run but not hide or fight, but only for a short time, and not while running.

Abruptly, you realized that you’d made it to a main road while dissecting Mr. Martin’s abilities. Your perception, still Reinforced, allowed you to easily spot what you’d been looking for down the sidewalk barely twenty yards.

Slipping a coin into the machine, you dialed the local police office from memory. When a harrassed-sounding officer answered, you reported, “Yes I’d like to report a Citizen’s Arrest of David Martin …”

Gain 1 Legend from stunt.

Join battle: Shirou. 10d10=5 successes [5, 9, 7, 6, 4, 2, 3, 10, 9, 3]

Martin. 7d10=6 successes [3, 10, 10, 4, 3, 10, 6]

Stamina+Athletics. rolled 11d10: 12 successes [7, 3, 6, 8, 10, 10, 9, 10, 5, 8, 10] Shirou isn’t even feeling it yet.

Dexterity+Archery+3 accuracy dice. Rolled 11d10: 6 successes [6, 7, 4, 4, 10, 9, 6, 10, 4, 6, 1] Dodge DV is 7. Miss.

Dexterity+Melee+2 accuracy dice. -1 Legend. rolled 14d10+3: 13 successes [8, 10, 4, 1, 1, 6, 8, 9, 9, 8, 7, 6, 7, 8]. Versus Dodge DV 4

14 Damage Dice(No dice added for Strength. Shirou pulled this one.) 10 after soak. rolled 10d10: 5 successes [10, 5, 4, 6, 8, 3, 10, 10, 7, 4] Mr. Martin is down to his -4 health levels and his legs don’t work. He’s done.

Dexterity+Archery+3 accuracy dice. Rolled 11d10-2: 3 successes [2, 6, 6, 2, 1, 7, 4, 4, 10, 9, 7] Not even close.

Intelligence+Occult. Rolled 8d10: 3 successes [5, 1, 6, 6, 5, 5, 7, 10]

The Bobbies are on their way, and if you don’t hang around to make a statement there’s at least some chance he could get off on this charge at least. In the end you decide to-

[ ] - Stay and give a statement, maybe talk to the press. Point out what you’ve gathered about how David Martin’s powers work. Maximum helpfulness.

[ ] - Stay and give a statement. Avoid the press like they’re Venus. Helpful but skittish.

[ ] - You’ve done the hard part, the police can figure out the rest. Depart the scene unceremoniously.

Assuming you stick around, what do you call yourself?

[ ] Guardian

[ ] Archer

[ ] Shirou Emiy Yeah no.

[ ] Write-in.
 

Speaker4thesilent

Crazed Deplorable
The new update is out for Beta reading at the moment and will likely go up later today. Voting will only be valid if done here, on the Sietch.
 
A Brave New World 5

Speaker4thesilent

Crazed Deplorable
[X] - Stay and give a statement. Avoid the press like they’re Venus. Helpful but skittish.

[X] Guardian

In less than three minutes, a pair of Area Cars, only one of them the distinctive white with orange stripe, pulled up, lights flashing.

When he saw them, your captive just started muttering more loudly. His words, however, were entirely indistinguishable. Once he’d gotten his breath back, he’d started in with progressively more foul language until you’d simply traced a roll of duct tape and made good use of it.

The four Bobbies that piled out of the cars eyed your armor and blue overcoat suspiciously for a moment, but were far more concerned with your prisoner.

“Is that him?” one of them asked. You looked down and saw that Mr. Martin had his head tilted down.

Rolling your eyes, you grabbed him by the shoulders and pulled him to his feet, where he couldn’t hide his face.

“He certainly is, caught him coming out of a store’s second floor window with a full bag,” you explained as one officer shined a flashlight, a torch in British parlance, in Martin’s face to confirm his identity.

“When I called on him to surrender, he took off,” you stated. You debated a verbal detour to explain bits of how the man’s power worked, but decided against it.

“I was able to keep up with him when he rabbited, and even close the distance. When he noticed, he stopped and fired a white beam of energy at me,” you continued. “I was able to dodge, but someone’s antenna caught at least part of the blast.

“With him stopped, I was able to close to melee range and subdue him. He tried to use another of those energy blasts, but he doesn’t really know how to fight up close, so it was pretty easy to deflect it into the air.

“After that, I was finally able to inform him that I was performing a citizen’s arrest. Had to carry him out here from that alley,” you waved in the right direction, “and put in the call for you.”

Two of the officers had pads out to take notes, but only one of them was still writing. The other was staring at you like the time Mercury had enchanted the speech bubble to follow you around.

“Thank you for the concise report,” the officer that had managed to remain professional said, “and we’re glad to finally have the man who murdered four policemen off the streets, but I do have some questions for you, if you don’t mind?”

You’d expected the questions, but the revelation that Mr. Martin had killed that many people as part of his escape? You were even more glad to have taken the man down before he could hurt any more people.

“Certainly,” you responded.

“Alright, first, you said you called on him to surrender. How’d you even manage to find him in the first place? He’s been invisible ever since he-”

ASTtM​

“-and that’s why I slapped the manacles on him. Based on the duration of the glow after he stopped running, I think he stores some sort of power while he’s running and can then utilize that stored power in the form of white energy beams. Keep his feet hobbled, and you should be able to keep him from hurting anyone else.”

The cop nodded and you hoped against hope that that was his last question. It must have been a slow news day. Either that or David Martin was a much bigger deal than you’d thought, because every paper and news outlet in a hundred miles seemed to have sent a reporter if not sound and cameramen as well when the announcement of David Martin’s arrest had gone out over the police radio.

Three more cars had needed to be called in to help keep the press, and the curious citizens they’d awakened, back.

“One last question,” the Bobby said as he finished writing. You closed your eyes behind your helmet and took a deep breath to help you maintain some patience.

“I take it by the face-concealing helmet that asking for your name wouldn’t do much good, but what do you want to be called, for that matter, I know there’s a reward for information leading to his arrest. I don’t think we can rightly give it to you without your real name.”

There was really only one answer that felt right to give for either of those questions.

“You can call me Guardian,” you answered, “as for the money, I would request that it be distributed to the families of the policemen David Martin murdered.” That had the twin benefits of being the right thing to do and also earning you some goodwill with Law Enforcement.

With police manacles now on the prisoner’s feet and his hands cuffed both together and to the bars in the area car, you let the ones you’d Traced dissolve into briefly sparkling dust. Mutters and camera flashes immediately broke out from the direction of the media.

“Hopefully things will stay quiet and I won’t have to see you again anytime soon, Officer,” you said. Then, since your strength reinforcement was still active, you jumped up to the roof behind you, drawing gasps, shouts, and a great number of strobes from camera flashes from the press.

You took the opportunity to vanish. The last thing you wanted to do was talk to those bloodsucking vampires. If they were even half as bad as the Silver Millennium’s Newsies, they’d be more trouble than any dozen Dead Apostles.

Morning was going to arrive all too soon, and with it, a hungry Arturia. At least you were off today, Mondays being a slow day in the restaurant industry. Still your plan for the week was a bit busy. You intended to-

What mood are the cops in? 1d100=74 very good mood.

Charisma+Presence roll. 2d10 rolled. 1 success [7, 4]with that luck roll? Good enough. Though I’m starting to think that Urist is trolling me.

Gain 2 exp for solving the situation with David Martin relatively peacefully and helping ensure that he is unable to escape from custody.

Current Exp total: 4

It is a new week. It is, in fact, your first full week in your new Universe. Since your job hours will be somewhat flexible and mostly in the afternoon and evening, Arturia will be taking an afternoon shift at her job as well and I can simplify the AP system. You’ll have plenty of time to hit government offices in the mornings before work. As such, after the needs of your job, you have 10 weekday AP. What do?

[X] - Hold down your job. You need to get paid, so this is sort of a requirement. Cost: 4 AP. Results: You do the minimum required to get paid. Your bosses won’t love you, but barring something both unexpected and awful happening the restaurant will slowly keep improving.

[ ] - Supply Solutions. Some of the suppliers for the restaurant aren’t giving you the combination of price and quality you want. Hunt around for better bargains. Cost: 1 AP. Results: Better quality, better price, or both. Either way, your bosses and the customers will notice.

[ ] - Pleasing the Eye. Plating matters, and the 80s is a plating wasteland. You made a couple changes already, but to have any additional improvement, you’re going to need new hardware. Cost: 1 AP. Results: Scout out a supplier for new dishes that will let you take the next step in presenting portions that are pleasing to the eye.

[ ] - Train your staff. Instruct your Chefs so that they can come closer to what you can manage in the kitchen. Cost: 1 AP. Results: Increased competence of staff which will lead to improved reputation of the restaurant. Happier bosses.

[ ] - Socialize with Arturia. Weekends are for dates, right? Cost: 1 AP. Results: Fluff, WAFF, happy Arturia.

[ ] - Search around for crime to stop. Clearly, as an Ally of Justice, you should be patrolling the neighborhood looking for wrongs to right. Now that you’ve scouted the area out you’ve even got some idea of where to start. Cost: 1 AP. Results: Crimes thwarted? Justice upheld? Maybe just an annoyed Arturia.

[ ] - Plan for the future. Collaborate with Arturia and decide what you want to do with your finances in the upcoming month or two. Cost: 1 AP. Results: Budget, better understanding of resources and how to best use them.

[ ] - A patentable project. Work out how to patent your invention and then what to do with it afterward. You could certainly sell the rights and have it produced by another company, or you could try to attract investors and start your own manufacturing firm. Cost: 2 AP. Results: Options for introducing the automobile and portable CD player.

[ ] - Home Hunting. The apartment Merlin set you up with is … well, it’s an apartment. It’s small and cramped and has you living in proximity to other people a lot. You miss your suite in the Palace. You don’t exactly have a budget yet, but you can at least get an idea of what’s out there and how much it will cost. Cost: 1 AP. Results: A list of homes for sale.

[ ] - Gym Hunting. It’s been a while since you were able to work with Arturia. Her Instinct might help you fake working as a team, but you’d rather not depend on that. Cost: 1 AP. Results: Find a place where you can spar with Arturia, or at least exercise together.

[ ] - Write in. Subject to QM approval.

Do you spend any exp?

[ ] - Write in.
 

LordsFire

Internet Wizard
[X] - Hold down your job.
-[x] It's important to establish what the new minimum standards are. And those standards are 'to the best of your ability within the limitations of the circumstances.' You can be gracious in helping the rest of the staff to learn these standards, but these are the standards they will start working towards now.
[X] - Supply Solutions.
-[x] This is a top-flight restaurant, which requires top-flight supplies. There's prestige (and money) in being your supplier. Challenge local suppliers to bring their best, and see what you can make of it.
[X] - Pleasing the Eye.
-[x] High speed, high-skill production can be a form of art to behold in and of itself. Who says that western cooking cannot entertain by the manner of its preparation as well? Not just how it is on the plate, but how it is put on the plate...
[X] - Socialize with Arturia.
-[x] A walk through the Notting Hill market, looking for interesting antiques, and possibly swords and similar with interesting histories for you to learn and share with Arturia sounds like fun.
[X] - Plan for the future.
-[x] "So Arturia, how many children do you want to have?"
[X] - A patentable project.
-[x] During this time in the 80's, it might be reasonably possible to sign distribution deals with different manufacturers in different countries. If you can do this right, you will be in excellent negotiating position for the next money-making idea you want to sign a deal with a manufacturer on.


I'm thinking it'll be better to save 'train the staff' and 'House Hunting' for after some of this groundwork stuff is laid. No point in finding a 3-bedroom if Arturia wants 16 kids, after all.

If I had one more AP, 'Search for Crime' would go in, but it's just not quite time yet.
 

mwkillkenny84

Well-known member
And we will have to wait for the rest of the crazies to get there...

... or the SB staff to clean up their act.

EDIT:

[X] Plan LordsFire
 

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