System Supervillain - Book 5 Prologue

Prologue – Trade Chat

(Capes & Cowls Forum, General Chat)

Message of the Day: Remember, Capes & Cowls is ‘neutral ground’. Keep it civil, and if you try to track someone through our site, it will not end well for you.

Speedy, AngelEyes, Victory, HotStuff, Jester, Aegis, Stars, Emerald, Snowflake, MagicGurl, RedHot, Scholar, Turbo, DontYouWantMeBaby, KoolAidMan, SliceNDice, Destroyer, Inquisitor, Chummer, TheWhiteHat, LuckyDice, GrimDark, DarkAngel, Chiller, Sparky, MultiMe, Stepford, Dollmaker, Mindtaker, MrRoboto, TitaniumTits, Lolth, InfoGirl, ScoopGirl, HolyBlessing, and DonJuan are in the chat.

KoolAidMan: Oof, the New York Knights took a big L against Iceblade, it seems. Perfect ambush, and he still not only managed to complete his mission, but managed to get away clean.

Scholar: It is unknown whether he actually completed everything he set out to do. Yes, the upper leadership of the gang he targeted was eliminated in short order, but psych profiles suggest that he would have wanted more time to properly speak to whoever was next in line.

InfoGirl: You’re not wrong. According to my sources, the gang is in chaos now, and Iceblade is not the type to go causing chaos, as a rule. And, his history in the area suggests that his next step would be to threaten the surviving gang members, and get them to keep violent crime out of that neighborhood.

MagicGurl: But why would an international thief and assassin care about street-level crime in New York?

TitaniumTits: Our best guess is that he has someone in the area that he is close to. Or someone that did him some kind of favor, which he repays by keeping violent crime away from that neighborhood.

LuckyDice: You’re Mechana, right? How is Electra doing? She was taken by Iceblade, right?

Sparky: I’m fine. Really.

TitaniumTits: We have her under observation, for now, and on relaxed duty. Iceblade is known to use mind control on heroines, so we are being cautious. Even if she says she’s fine.

Victory: Ugh. I remember what he did to me. It was like watching one of those movies where the camera is someone’s point of view. I watched my body moving, but couldn’t control it. Barely even felt it, actually.

HotStuff: Huh. That’s different from the kind of control he used on me. I wasn’t detached like that. It basically made me wildly lustful for him, but didn’t actually control my actions any.

MagicGurl: Probably different facets of the same power, from the sounds of it. But this was before the System, right? No telling how things have changed.

Stepford: Permanent mind control is a lot harder to achieve than it used to be. It fades over time, typically.

Scholar: Well, that’s one good thing to come out of the System, then. Mind control is a terribly unethical thing, even when used for good intentions, like helping with a patient’s therapy.

TitaniumTits: Which is one of the reasons we want to capture Iceblade so badly.

Speedy: Where did he get mind control powers from, anyways? He’s an ice type, right?

Victory: Most likely, it is not an ability of his, but some gear or magic item that he stole.

InfoGirl: Hmm. Looking back on things, the evidence of Iceblade having some sort of mind control ability only goes back to just after his raid on the Smithsonian. Most of the artifacts were later recovered off the black market, but some are still missing.

Speedy: The Smithsonian just had a mind control artifact sitting out on display? Really?

MagicGurl: If it was a magical item, then it may have been dormant. Especially if there was any kind of spirit bound within. The spirit could have laid dormant, until it found someone it deemed worthy to gift its powers to.

InfoGirl: Well, Iceblade having mind control also coincides with a change in behavior. Before, he was a thief and assassin, sure, but afterwards, he seemed to become a great deal more confident and charismatic, at least amongst women. And his behavior turned more predatory.

MagicGurl: There are several types of spirits or demons that would encourage an already lustful individual, giving them power in return for corrupting them and getting them to act more like the spirit wishes. An incubus is the one that comes to mind immediately, but there are several types of fey, as well, that have similar proclivities.

HolyBlessing: You know, that was around the time that he started getting a reputation for never telling a lie, as well. That might be part of the demon’s corruption.

Inquisitor: This is all well and good, but you are missing the point. The source of these abilities does not matter so much as finding out their limitations, and how they have changed since the System activated.

MagicGurl: Fair. However, understanding that the power comes from a bound spirit could be why this power only works on women. An incubus would have little interest in charming men, after all.

TitaniumTits: There were at least two powers used. One drained the will of those around him. Probably an area effect, and passive. Both Electra and Prohibition showed signs of that one. Then there’s the mind control. Prohibition examined Electra when she returned, but there were no signs of lingering magic.

Sparky: And there weren’t any signs of residual controls, like they were scared of.

Victory: The question is, how do we defend against it going forward?

MagicGurl: Obviously, the best defense would be to be male. For the rest of us? Well, if it is magic, specifically magic tied to demonic or fey influences, then holy ground might suppress the power.

HolyBlessing: Oh, good! Everything around me is holy ground, all the time!

TheWhiteHat: I’ve been doing research on the System. There is a power called Mental Defense that should help protect people from mind control, and similar powers. However, it scales with your EGO, but even your EGO is drained completely, it will still have some effect.

Victory: That would be nice. Unfortunately, we would need to have points to spend on that, right?

TheWhiteHat: Yes, that is true. Having a device would be cheaper in points than an innate power. Obviously, devices can get stolen, but that’s an option for you.

TitaniumTits: Hmm. That’s something to look at. I could work that into my suit. And work on creating something for the rest of the team. The question will be how to get it powerful enough to block the effects, without costing too much for people who don’t have large stores of XP.

Chummer: Has anyone found ways of getting XP without some kind of combat?

AngelEyes: Yes, but they seem really subjective. I don’t think that grinding like you see in games is possible.

MrRoboto: Maybe we should go find that ‘Administrator’, and get some answers out of them? They’d be able to tell us how to get XP, right?

Jester: Yes, but how you going to get those answers? Threaten them? Good way to get another ‘random audit’ of your points, like the last time.