Paradigm_Shift

Mahamaya was not a man who took his entertainment lightly. He was a man who partied very. Very. Hard. So hard, in fact, that his partying had a habit of leveling everything within a long range of his location and this tended to get him in trouble with just about everyone. So he rearely got the chance to cut loose...Until Architect Entertainment came out.

"Largest size map, outdoors, cityscape, all enemey types." He said as he entered the datastream, having been to the bulding seeral times and knowing EXACTLY what to work for to sate his NEED...

The world materialized. A cityscape of skycrapers and buildings sprawled out in every direction. Every villain group was scattered about, wrecking mayhem. Every last detail of this environment could be destroyed, and it was open season on absolutely everything. This, and only this could sate Mahamaya's NEED...

He pulled something out of hammer space. A very BIG something. It could have been vaguely related to a gun, though guns were not often as large as tanks. It resembled a large, gun-metal grey rectangular storage tank with several holes mounted on a cylindrical device on the front. There were gattling guns, rocket mounts, flamethrowers, energy blasters, and every conceivable type of munition dispenser. This weapon of ridiculous proportions had been built for just one purpose...

"MOOOOOOOOOOOOREEEE DAAAAAKKKKKAAAAAAA!" He roared, mounting the device of ridiculous proportions onto his shoulder and pulling a tiny trigger on its underside that utterly failed to belie the amount of firepower that was about to be unleashed. Everything in a straight line in front of the "gun" suddenly erupted into pure chaos...

The rather plain and unassuming man in the monitor room nodded at her as she entered, and shook her hand when she extended it. "Welcome to Tonne Hall." He said. "I'm Lear, or rather, Operative Lear. I'll be our source within Arachnos for the duration of the project. Did you have any trouble getting here...?"

He was standing near one of the walls, but there were several chairs arranged in a semi-oval facing the northern wall, which was in fact a giant floor-to-ceiling monitor. The controls were ingeniusly hidden in plain sight, being a computer on a desk behind the chairs. Any officials snooping around down here were meant to see a records and temporary storage room, and that was what they would see unless they walked in during a video conference.

Okies. Hmm. Tafari has very few friends, most of the ones he does have are warrior spirits or blood knights who aren't too much into heavy introspection or conversation. But assuming for a moment that Taf and one of his "friends" are sitting about relaxing, and his friend keeps spitting blood at a target across the way, and this annoys Tafari...

After asking him to stop that final time? He'd do something incredibly painful and incredibly inconvenient to them, but it would also be something they could survive. *To learn from their mistakes...* So in this case, he'd probably throw his blood-spitting friend off the edge of Aeon city and into the ocean.

((For clarification, this is an Open RP. I tried editting the title, but the editor won't allow me.))

The Etoile Isles Tourist Guide was written by a private group of like-minded individuals who traveled the world, from place to place, writing oh-so-useful little books and pamphlets for the prospective tourist, filled with helpful tips and information. The Etoile Isles Tourist Guide contained all the information a person would need in order to visit, tour about, and go home satisfied, refreshed and relaxed. And for a time, this guide even actually existed. However, it had been pre-arranged before being written to vanish off the shelves after only a year, with only seventy five thousand copies ever being produced and distributed.

The Rogue Isles Survival Guide was written by a private group of like-minded civilians, scientists and licensed meta-humans who lived under the domain of Lord Recluse in secrecy, studying the people, locales, and happenings of it for an extended period of time. It contained information on the quality of life, the standard of living, daily occurrences and events, a wide variety of statistical reports, and information that would have made Lord Recluse very upset had he ever known it was going to be internationally published. There was also a “Limited Edition Hardback” version of the Guide, which contained…secrets. These versions of the guide generally only found their ways into the hands of Longbow, the U.S. military, some Hero Groups, a few intelligence agencies, independent mercenary companies such as Wyvern, and Nemesis. (Duh)

In fact, the Etoile Isles Tourist Guide and the Rogue Isles Survival Guide projects had always been one and the same, one using the other as a cover operation. The project was based out of the Tonne Hall building, housing a large number of residents, (all of them members of the project) and located at -1430.8, 3.9, -1306.8 in Cap Au Diable. All members of the operation had been specially cleared and given a work-over treatment in terms of paperwork. All checks on any residents within Tonne Hall would reveal that they were legitimate citizens of the Rogue Isles, and all licensed meta-humans were in fact licensed threats, to be treated as any member of Lord Recluse’s “Destined Ones.” As mentioned above, there were two separate groups living in Tonne Hall: Undercover civilians, and licensed meta-humans. The civilians would simply “live,” traveling from zone to zone of the Isles every week to experience the life of the average pedestrian. The meta-human group would, when called, participate in espionage, urban pacification, and general response to any “occurrences” whenever they were available or inclined to do so, and were compensated for their work. A scientific group conducted most of the technical aspects of the project, researching and providing information for the other two groups.

Prominent members of the operation included:

Rick Davies (D.A.T.A. Researcher, retired technological hero)
Susan Davies (E.L.I.T.E. Researcher, government liason)
Rebecca Brinell (S.E.R.A.P.H. Researcher, general study)
Antonio Nash (G.I.F.T. Researcher, ex-department of defense analysis expert)
Gregor Richardson (M.A.G.I. Researcher, professional mystic)

It should be noted that the above were never actually on-site at Tonne Hall, as that would have been too large a security risk. They did, however, maintain 24/7 contact via a live monitor station that had been established in the basement.

And, of course, nobody can claim that ANY of the heroes or gifted civilians who were a part of the operation do not deserve mention. It also goes without saying that there were many encounters with the local super-human populace, the "Rogues" of the Etoile Isles...

***
New Haven, Cap Au Diable, Etoile Isles

It had been a week since the group of undercover civilians had moved into Tonne Tower, and their portion of the project was already underway. The first of many potential groups of heroes arrived that day, all of whom had been directed to meet in the monitor room for a brief initiation session. The lobby was currently empty, with the elevators to the upper hallways and the rooms therein silent. A door marked “employees only” led down to the basement.

There, Operative Lear, a hero working undercover within Arachnos patiently awaited the arrival of the rest of the group. He was out of uniform for now, just in case, standing 6’1 and wearing a plain gray t-shirt and a pair of khakis, with neatly combed black hair and a surprisingly soft face. He looked uneasy, not used to being seen without his face-concealing helmet, and wished that the rest would get here quickly so he could get back into his gear as quickly as possible.

My character list is just so erratic...I've made and discarded so many characters over time...Nothing is ever the same. I've even entirely forgotten some of my "trademark" characters. :/ But, I've been making an effort with my current characters. (Actually leveling them up, for one thing...) so hopefully they'll stick around for a while. For the ones I plan on keeping, I'll send you details, and you have permission to use them as you will.

((Hey Devious, we can't listen to your awesome music link since we don't have accounts for whatever website that is.

And a Knightmare Frame? Seriously? Has Krazy been rubbing off on you?))

He Who Lies moved both quickly and silently the moment the door closed. He took some of the fabric scraps from Ginger's quilting supply crate, and a bit of thread as well. Now it was all a matter of timing, and he knew exactly where to be.

'If this woman's conversation with those tree-people and their mouthpiece was anything to go by, she will soon be arguing with Tom. Which supplies the proper motivation...'

He Who Lies continued to wait, and he would stay as still as a statue and is immobile as a mountain until Ginger left, no matter how long it took.

And now all there was left to do was wait. He Who Lies scanned Ginger's room for details, belongings, furnishing, the works. (Description please.) He would then patiently wait for Ginger to leave, even if he had to wait all night. He was good at waiting.

'After all,' He thought, 'I waited for fifteen years. Fifteen long, cold and dark years. The Chambers and the Husks could just stand there listlessly for days on end while I hid beneath a nearby car or around a the corner in a dead-end alley. The Spirits would illuminate the darkness, and even if they could not see you, they could sense you. There was no choice but to run then, and that would start a cascade. Every single corpse, shaman, spirit and totem within a three block radius would chase after me. And when that happened, I had no choice but to hide and wait yet again. Run. Hide. Wait. Run. Hide. Wait...'

He Who Lies stared passively at his surroundings as time drifted by almost instantly for him.

'...Wait...'

He Who Lies patiently followed Ginger as she went about her way. He had time to kill, and as it turned out, he could use the time he spent following her to his advantage. He had spent the last few minutes examining her for details. Clothing, gait, physical traits, that sort of thing. He had just about seen all that he needed to, and was able to conclude that...

(Hey Rotton, if you could have some details about Ginger included in your next response, I would be much obliged.)

He Who Lies listened to the conversation carefully, taking in all the details. The three Dryads needed a little psychic girl in order to talk. The group appeared to have a rather unstable pecking order. And Tom sounded like a rather interesting (if poorly named) character.

'The catalyst is not here, within all liklihood. But the traces...' He Who Lies continued to think, 'This will be the very first move...And they are Dryads. Or they at least look like them. Even if not, he wouldn't be able to tell the difference...' A plan slowly came into being, threads of probability, uncertainty and forward preperation weaving together. 'My first task will be to locate this Tom figure. Ginger appears to have the most contact with him, so I'll simply follow her out.' He Who Lies thought, withdrawing back towards the entrance and silently proceeded to watch the group.

So yeah. Yet another AE mission tossed to the masses to be slaughtered. :/

Ever wonder what the story was behind Arachnos' Arbiter Drones? The premise of this arc delves into their background history. It's not incredibly extensive given the practically non-existent information on them, but it tries. The Arc I.D. is 312787.

Arc Details:

Length: Very Long
Morality: Villainous
1st mission: Medium Map, 46-52, contains boss, ambush, collection, multiple allies.
2nd mission: Small map, 21-27, contains boss, ambush, collection, multiple allies.
3rd mission: Unique Map, 40-54, contains boss, ambush, collection, ally.
4th mission: Unique map, 41-54, contains boss, collection.
5th mission: Small map, contains boss, collection.

Enemy factions: Arachnos, Custom Group, Malta, Nemesis.

Contans: Archvillains, Elite Bosses, Enemies with custom power selections.



On a more personal note, I specifically designed this arc to be very difficult. It is not for the faint of heart, and soloing is NOT reccomended. There's a reason it contains "Strike Force" in its title. And keep in mind that although it's designed to be difficult, I do want to keep it down to a level where people can tell that it is actually possible. If there is any particular feature you are concerned about, inform me and I'll look into it.

Bit of a spoiler alert, I will list more in-depth information further below for those of you who like to know certain things ahead of time, or are stuck and need a helpful pointer. If you don't want to see it, don't look at it.


























Spoilers!

Mission 1: The Elite Boss is Dr. Aeon, and at a quarter of his health he will summon his elite boss clones usually only found in the Statesman Taskforce. They are ridiculously powerful for dev-designed critters, but are possible to defeat and are not required for mission completion. Dr. Aeon's private terminal has a tendancy to spawn on the lower floors despite my attempts to force it to spawn in the last room.

Mission 2: The Archvillain/Elite Boss is Arbiter Sands, who will have Wolf Spider Hunter powers and his standard Drone summoning technique. Fairly standard, but it should be noted that he spawns three ambushes as his health goes down.

Mission 3: The Archvillain/Elite Boss is Nemesis, (Fake, naturally) who appears to have a toggle-version of Moment of Glory. He also spawns three ambushes as his health goes down. All five of the bomb crates SHOULD spawn in the central area, with possibly one or two spawning in the corners.

Mission 4: The Archvillain/Elite Boss is a renamed Gyrfalcon, an AV version of the Gunslinger. I'm sure I don't need to elaborate on just how nasty those guys are. In addition, the entire mission is full to the max of pre-spawned Gunslinger and Titan bosses, which bears mentioning.

Mission Five: Three big bads here. The first is an Archvillain/Elite Boss, The Conducter, and will quite possibly be the hardest enemy in the arc. He comes loaded with the entire dark melee set and all of the Electric Armor set save for static shield. He proved exceptionally difficult to defeat in tests, and so I am going to be particularly open to suggestions about balancing him out.

The second Archvillain/Elite Boss is Erik "Red Death" Raoul, who has all the powers from Thug Summoning except for empty clips, and has sooth and soothing aura from Pain Domination. He has not been observed using either of the two during tests, but you never know.

The final hazard is...drumroll please...An Arbiter Drone. Drumroll end, cue the record-scratch noise. It cannot be damaged, mezzed, end drained, or even affected by any power at all in any manner whatsoever, and it auto-hits auto-kills anything it targets. It is not required for mission completion, but encountering it is inevitable since it spawns within close proximity of the final objective. To those who either cannot see the final objective due to the angle of the corridor, or those who just didn't realize it, clicking on the terminal by the Drone completes the mission. It has a 10-second timer, which means that it is borderline impossible to complete the mission lonesome style. It has been accomplished using masterminds and/or liberal use of temporary powers, but is risky nonetheless. There is a reason the contact mentions you may want to assemble a team of six or more friends.

Would you mind elaborating a tiny bit on that statement?

With i16, pretty much every power set and power is now customizable, with very few exceptions. Which includes fire melee, by the way.

Unless we have different definitions regarding customization, that is.

Lightning Rod currently has a recharge time of 1 minute and 30 seconds, which isn't bad. It comes up often enough. It also has a chance for knockdown, and who can forget the neat teleport feature?

What annoys me though, is that it has such a long recharge time when other high-end powers from others sets can do higher damage, while either holding or stunning the target, and are available every 20 seconds. With proper slotting, such attacks can become a part of your regular attack chain, which cannot be said for Lightning Rod.

"But wait," you might say. Lightning Rod is an AoE attack. So although other tier-9 attacks may outdamage it by a marginal amount, Lightning Rod is dealing damage to every enemy on the field rather than just one. The problem with that is the fact that foot stomp has a 20 second recharge and does roughly a third/half of the damage capable of being delivered by attacks like seismic smash, knockout blow, energy transfer and total focus.

So my suggestion is:

Shorten the recharge rate on Lightning Rod to either 1 minute or to 45 seconds, and increase its base endurance cost from 13.52 to 20. This allows you to use Lightning Rod much more often, while adding a penalty to using it. Most people would slot it with damage/end rather than damage/recharge like they do now.

Blackdraft would discover that no matter how carefully she surveyed her surroundings, nothing was amiss. There were no gaps in the wind, no shadows where they shouldn't have been, no sudden puffs of dust, no tell-tale step vibrations in the ground - nothing. Either there really was nobody following them or somebody WAS following them but was skilled or talented enough to not give themselves away. Even searching for presence would turn up nothing.

And should it come to be that somebody was following the pair, said somebody had just followed them inside sanctuary undetected.

Hot Pink Dark Miasma.

Don't tell me you weren't thinkin' it.

OOC:

Just between all of us OOC, He Who Lies is a stalker. He'll be vanishing a lot.

Besides, they already offer discounts for certain payment plans, and give bonus time for packs or newly bought additions. I'm also fairly certain there's some sort of time-card you can use. Point being, there's already plenty of ways to earn/aquire free months/discounts. We don't need more.

Holy crap. I barely remember you.

Uhm. Wow? Welcome Back?

Somebody help, i don't know what to do. >.<

He Who Lies stared at Blackdraft for a moment before withdrawing his hands. Not so much because of her than noticing that Dreg had arrived and appeared to be standing by. "You are so ignorant that you're beneath my contempt." He spat. "Go do something useful, like dying in a fire. I have better things to do with my time than killing squatters."

There was a sudden burst of white light, and when it faded, He Who Lies was gone.