We Sons Of Daley [Manhattan Blues]

Alice, explain the DUNAHAN. Do we know if he's a good guy or a bad guy? Obviously you're a bit worried about him to have mentioned his name. Is there anyone else we need to look out for?

"Well, first things first- why he heck do you have to keep holding my hand when we do that... Shadow... Walking... Thing," you finish lamely.

Alice LAUGHS. "That's your first question? Easy enough to explain. You know how your shadow follows you everywhere?"

"Keep going."

"Well, part of the way to shadow walk is to convince the world that you're actually a SHADOW... And the other part is taking your shadow with you. So to make the spell work, I have to convince the spell anything coming with me is part of my shadow, and the easiest way-"

"Is body contact?"

"Yes." She smirks, the blue light casting a sinister tint to her features. "What else do you want to know?"

Alice, explain the DUNAHAN. Do we know if he's a good guy or a bad guy? Obviously you're a bit worried about him to have mentioned his name. Is there anyone else we need to look out for?

"Who's this 'Dunahan' guy? Sounds Gaelic." You gently start to feed the fire while she talks.

"It's not a 'him', it's a 'they'. Their own name for themselves- 'long-lived men'."

"Sounds familiar."

"It should, I did mention it ONCE OR TWICE."

"So is there a particular Dunahan you're worried about?" You turn the fish over. For all that it looks utterly unnatural, the fox-fire does seem to cook itself a good fish.

She nods. "And knowing her, she'll probably volunteer once she learns I'm in the area."

"How long will that take?"

"My bet is, there's a duty seer assigned to trying to figure out where I am at all times, since it usually doesn't take them much longer than a DAY to get a party together." She crosses her legs.

>_

You know this dunahan? Is there any abilities they have that we need to be worried about? Aside from yanno, the wanting to take Alice down part. IS THIS A PERSON WE HAVE MET BEFORE AND NOT REALIZED IT?! Freak out stress about this new player

Get some info on the nature of the Dunahan in general, and this one Dunahan in specific. Their motivation for attacking you, for instance. If we can negotiate (with sleuth diplomacy if need be) a tenuous peace, that would be ideal.

Check what the above-ground looks like.

Tsk. I thought she said that Manhattan was pretty quiet. How much worse are other cities?

You know this dunahan? Is there any abilities they have that we need to be worried about? Aside from yanno, the wanting to take Alice down part. IS THIS A PERSON WE HAVE MET BEFORE AND NOT REALIZED IT?! Freak out stress about this new player

Get some info on the nature of the Dunahan in general, and this one Dunahan in specific. Their motivation for attacking you, for instance. If we can negotiate (with sleuth diplomacy if need be) a tenuous peace, that would be ideal.

"So do we really need to worry about them attacking us?"

"Attacking? No. They tend not to shoot if they can avoid it, especially with the Home Guard being what it is. If anything, they'll send a MORRIGAN to make sure we're not going to blow ourselves up."

You pause. "When would they have done this?"

"... About mid-day today, why?"

"Did you ever stop to consider that maybe they consider you responsible enough to not blow up everything in a fifteen mile radius?"

"..."

Check what the above-ground looks like.

MUSEUM RUINS

You're in the ruins of what looks like an old civil building, filled with objects'd'art; none of them are anything you recognize, but you see the word- faded and degraded- METROPOLITAN. Ivy covers everything here, and where the sunlight never seems to hit, there's some sort of brown fungus lookin' stuff.

You see a small BADGE. It looks like it's made of PLASTIC, though it is yellowing and cracking.

Tsk. I thought she said that Manhattan was pretty quiet. How much worse are other cities?

You are now ELIJAH MORAN, a CONTRACTOR from SEATTLE, and you are in big trouble. Some jerk got his hands on a rocket launcher and decided that you were a good target for practice. So far you've done all right, but you're not sure how much longer you can keep up what with the fact that he's got more rocket propelled grenades than GOD.

The explosion rocks a nearby building, and it starts to collapse heartily. This... Could take a while.

<Elijah Moran is no longer accepting commands.>

>_

Look around for anything edible you could kill and gather. Might as well try stocking up on some food while we wait.

Take the badge and inspect it more closely. I'm just curious.

Try to ID some of that fungus.

Look around for anything edible you could kill and gather. Might as well try stocking up on some food while we wait.

This is an excellent idea; and soon enough you have a few deadfalls set up for whatever else might be burrowing around here (suicidal as that might be for little animals as it might be for you).

Take the badge and inspect it more closely. I'm just curious.

The paint has long since chipped off in the winter, but it's a vaguely circular badge. It still has raised letters on it, faded with time and weather and sun: ST_T_ _O____E. It almost crumbles in your hands. It's almost certainly a fake, but at the same time, you turn it over and over in your hands, carefully looking at the latch-pin, and then making out the number at the bottom square:

9 9 9 9.

Try to ID some of that fungus.

You're not sure about this one but it looks like it's connected up with the IVY somehow.

One of your DEADFALLS go off. Dinner, therefore, has arrived, if it didn't give a false positive.

Nope, that's a dead GOPHER, all right.

Well, okay, maybe that's not really DINNER.

But where there's one gopher there's generally more, so you're pretty confident you'll be able to get enough to feed yourself and ALICE.

You also grab some MINER'S LETTUCE.

Maybe think about how you'd defend the basement if an attacker were to teleport on top of the island?

Scrounge some more for materials?

Review your skills and abilities?

I can't think of much else you'd want to do to pass the time. Practice crafting?

Maybe think about how you'd defend the basement if an attacker were to teleport on top of the island?

Probably by running again; it's hard to get a bead on someone if they're too far away. If it came to a fight, you'd probably prefer to counter-ambush, since that's a tactic you're fairly certain both you and Alice are conversant with.

Scrounge some more for materials?

On the other hand, 'someone teleporting on top of you' tends to land in the general level of things that you've classified as 'beyond your pay grade'. Well. Before you woke up, anyway. It's like all the weird the world had for you just sort of spilled out into the last couple of days.

You take some of the fine marble dust that litters the area, and, with a little shoulder work and an hour or two, manage to build yourself a nice SAND WALL.

You also go ahead and start tossing REBAR down to Alice. She'll think of SOMETHING to do with it, you're fairly sure, once she's more topped up on energy.

Review your skills and abilities?

You're a PSYCHIC MARTIAL ARTIST who can SHOOT THINGS REAL GOOD and knows how to use a TYPEWRITER, and is SORT OF TOUGH. You LOOK GOOD DOING IT, too.

Now that your core competencies are out of the way, you're pretty good at PERCEPTION and DEFEATING IT. You've got more grasp of strategy than a novice in a nunnery. You're decent at ATHLETICS and such. You know how to JUGGLE, sort of, and can LIFT THINGS WELL. You're barely competent-to-abysmal at just about anything else, really, including BUILDING THINGS.

I can't think of much else you'd want to do to pass the time. Practice crafting?

Well, it's getting on toward sunset anyway, and you've a brace of gophers, so probably best not to burn daylight uselessly anyway.

You show up with them in hand and start up another fire while preparing the gophers and squirrels for food. Not much on them, you'll admit, but you don't eat much.

Alice looks at you, from where she had been looking over the PISTOLS. The DOUBLE-TAKES, and holds out her hand. "Arlington."

"Yeah?"

"Give me your DUSTER."

>_

>Okay, give her your duster.

You hesitate, but hand it over.

She looks it over after a moment, then nods. "Okay, this is on the block first." She starts to rip out most of the REINFORCEMENT. "Who made these clothes for you, anyway? They all look pretty horrid on you."

"They were factory-made; mass-produced." That seems sort of obvious to you...

"At least it has decent allowances... Let me see another piece of that damned uniform, it may not even be useful for rags later..." She tchs, even as you see her start to pull out a set of a strange powder blue thread.

>_

> Misunderstand completely and protest about taking your shirt off.

Alice: > Joke about meaning his pants instead.

Take off pants and strut. You're sexy and you know it.

> Embarrassed tsundere bullshit.

What's strange about the thread?

Take off pants and strut. You're sexy and you know it.

What! What!? What.

> Embarrassed tsundere bullshit.

"Now come on I am not about to take off my shirt just because you're telling me to." You cross your arms and look for something to lean against within a step's distance. Not noticing any, you decide to instead stand there. With class.

"Well, of course you're not." Alice smirks, and the needle and the thread adjust the weave and patterns of your DUSTER.

"Good to hear."

"I meant your pants."

WHAT!?

"You said that out loud, you know," Alice says, the picture of composure, even behind her obvious smirk. "besides, I know you have a spare in your pack."

Oh. Right. You get your spare uniform and toss them to her. Not surprisingly, after a couple of weeks of hard travel and the lack of quality of such items, some of the seams have started to come out. Really, the highest quality items you have are the DUSTER and the GUNS, and that's because Chicago can't AFFORD to cut corners. After all, the more people they can equip, the better they can UNIFY THE COUNTRY.

... That sounded CYNICAL.

What's strange about the thread?

That it's powder blue at all! That's not any dye you're aware of. It's almst like someone took indigo and deliberately bleached it, but it's much stronger than you'd expect from such a treatment.

Wait.

The next two days are filled with a surprising lack of excitement; even the brain rats and wolves appear to have decided you're too much trouble to eat, and Alice still isn't giving your DUSTER back. You bother her with a lot of questions about SEWING and FORGING, and thus gain a SECONDARY BONUS to the CRAFT skill.

At the start of the third day, someone seems to be approaching your HIDEOUT. On a closer look, he's alone. He's not unarmed, but he doesn't have a rifle- it's only a sidearm.

He's wearing the colors of one of those patrols. A quick check on Area Scanning and Sense Feelings doesn't turn up anyone else.

>_

Ping him telepathically and ID him. His name, what he plans to do, etc.

Quickly list all our DISCIPLINES, POWERS, INNATE SLOTS, PSYCHIC POINTS, and psychic potential. Because I'm a derp who lost track.

Ping him telepathically and ID him. His name, what he plans to do, etc.

Done.

What's the Councilman thinking, anyway, doesn't he know the Inquisiton should be arriving soon? This is crazy...

After a minute or two of this, you determine that he's a MESSENGER for one of the four BOSSES, specifically the one Alice calls the most honorable of the four, the COUNCILMAN. Right now he just wants to talk.

Quickly list all our DISCIPLINES, POWERS, INNATE SLOTS, PSYCHIC POINTS, and psychic potential. Because I'm a derp who lost track.

POWERS:
Arlington:
Martial Arts: More than you have a right to know, honestly. You're still not sure how that happened.
Ki abilities: DBarr 50, Erudition, Weight Elimination, Greater Ki Armor, Aura Extension + Spd + Dam, Great Ki Heal, Ki Concealment, Elimination of Needs, +10 Phys Resistance, Inhumanity
Ki technique: CROSS COUNTER
Ki technique: SLIPSTREAM
Disciplines/powers:
- Cryokinesis
-- Freeze
-- Crystallize
--- Everlasting Moment
- Empathy
-- Sense Feelings
-- Eliminate Senses
-- Destroy Feelings
-- Area Of Effect.
- Psychokinesis
- Physical Increase
-- Inc. Agility or Dex
- Telepathy
-- Area scanning
-- Mind Reading
POINTS FREE: 12

Alice:
Ki abilities: Ki Control, Ki Concealment, Inhumanity.
GRIMIORE OF ALICE:
Book of Essence 60
Book of Creation 72
Book of Darkness 72
Book of Fire 68
Book of Air 28

Stay underground. Consider options for empathic manipulation.
First contact could make a huge difference in our future interactions with the local powers. If we send the messenger back the right way, it could make the future infinitely easier.
Wait for the messenger to approach. When he gets near, have Alice go up to speak, while Arlington monitors the messenger's thoughts out of sight.

Aw man, looks like I'm too late to suggest that you practice your juggling.

> try to convince him you're harmless and not very skilled or powerful and that you're only here and alive because Alice took a liking to you. The less they know about your abilities the better.

Stay underground. Consider options for empathic manipulation.

Well, the first step would probably be reducing some of his frustration. Done gradually, it would be a lot less noticeable.

First contact could make a huge difference in our future interactions with the local powers. If we send the messenger back the right way, it could make the future infinitely easier.
Wait for the messenger to approach. When he gets near, have Alice go up to speak, while Arlington monitors the messenger's thoughts out of sight.

"Alice, someone from the Councilman's coming, you want to take this one?"

"Wait, someone from the councilman, why?"

"Messenger. Wants to talk to us."

"... Huh." She nods. "All right."

Aw man, looks like I'm too late to suggest that you practice your juggling.

Nah, you go ahead and do that with some harmless objects while you're waiting for the messenger to get here.

Luckily, Alice has some actual composure, unlike you, so when the messenger arrives she just walks up to your barricade that you set some time to improving on.

"Yo! Is the shadow-walker here!?" This would be so much easier if we had a gender or a name.

>_

Alice:
"Who's asking?"
and something like
"And what would you want with a shadow-walker?"

Arlington:
Start on that de-frustrating. How are these empathy power divided up? Is it by single emotions? Or increase/decrease of an emotion? Or is there a general emotional tweaking power? If it's something relatively general, it might be worthwhile to buy the power permanently. Otherwise free-point cast it.

Out of curiosity, what level of empathy/telepathy would be required to learn the skills an enemy possesed? Like, capture and integrate their own memories and experiences in learning the skill and making it your own?

Either way > play it cool.

Out of curiosity, what level of empathy/telepathy would be required to learn the skills an enemy possesed? Like, capture and integrate their own memories and experiences in learning the skill and making it your own?

Either way > play it cool.

This would be a combination of reading memories, a telepathy power you could gain access to, and Alter Memories, another Telepathy power. You'd essentially be reading their memories, then altering your own to match.

This would only work for training Intellect and Interaction skills- Infractive Skills are about as powerful as they're gonna get right now, and Physical Skills rely just as much on muscle memory as they do on learned skills.

Alice:
"Who's asking?"

"I'm with the councilman, lady. Can we cut the bullshit?"

and something like
"And what would you want with a shadow-walker?"

"I don't know. All I know is, the Councilman wants to talk to yas. I'm here to take yas to him, and that's it. Yas don't gotta come, and yas don't even gotta listen to me yak on if yas don't wanna."

Arlington:
Start on that de-frustrating. How are these empathy power divided up? Is it by single emotions? Or increase/decrease of an emotion? Or is there a general emotional tweaking power? If it's something relatively general, it might be worthwhile to buy the power permanently. Otherwise free-point cast it.

You can change feelings as a general power that's a little weaker than Eliminate Feelings; similarly, it's as general as that one is.

And you're trying! What is it with these people? It's like GROUCHY is their base state of being! It must be something in the water.

>_

Well let's gain access to reading memories!

Alice> ask him to tell you where the councilman is, you'll come on your own time.

Probably won't hurt too much to go with him. Might improve his mood too.
Arlington should tail them from out of sight with Area Scanning and Sense Feelings. Just in case trouble happens.