Board 8 > Inviso Also Also Also Ranks Their Top 52 Characters in Scarlet's DC TTRPG

(+) Yeah! (+)

Youve seen Hans list as Saoirse Aebischer, youve seen Wars list as Rozetta Schtone, and youve seen MIs list as Brendon Versace. Now, from one of the most consistent rankers of the Board 8 Ranks X Movies list series, comes Inviso Also Also Also Ranks Their Top 52 Characters in Scarlets DC TTRPG.

First, Id just like to provide a brief (by my standards) recap of my time in campaigns one and two. Campaign one, I played Talirah Brown, a strange girl who was arrested due to her connection with a series of arsons and fire-related murders committed by a brutal pyrokinetic man. Terrified and unable to communicate with the police officers questioning her, Mackenzie Bock took pity on the poor girl and connected her with a universal translator. From there, Tali was released from police custody, and Bock took her under his wing. He got her an apartment (where she amassed a multitude of cats), and a job at the library, where she further learned English. Tali Brown was slowly falling into mundanity, and that was fine with her. But then Bock came calling, and she got roped in with a group of others hed helped find their place in Gotham: Obrov Netvor, Rozetta Schtone, Xander Stray, and Jack Davison, and together, they endured the earthquake that rocked Gotham and got it cast out of the United States.

The fivesome eventually returned to the city, having attempted to speak to Congress for aid, only to have that backfire when another Batman ally, Azrael, went rogue and started attacking people on the steps of the Capitol. Their return saw a ruined city, physically destroyed by the earthquake, and emotionally destroyed by the roving gangs of criminals, each trying to carve Gotham up and amass power for themselves. Tali felt completely out of her depth, as a simple librarian, and sought comfort in a polyamorous relationship with Rozetta and Xander, though neither of them was particularly pleased with the arrangement. Still, she was powerless, and her lacking knowledge about modern technology rendered her a burden more than anything else unto the partys efforts.

Eventually though, the group learned that a sarcophagus not unlike the one connected to a mysterious Pharaoh with whom Tali had been associated, was seen in Gothams casino district. Investigation led to the team discovering a ritual in progress, and when the might Obrov found his one true lovean enchanted knifehe was compelled to shove a stunned Tali into an open coffin and help set it ablaze. Rather than killing the girl, however, the fires awakened something in VisI mean, in her. And Tali emerged from her tomb, a new woman. A revived woman. Calling a set of fiery snake familiars to her side, Tali unleashed a torrent of flames, revealing her metahuman pyrokinesis, and remembering her true identity. Talirah Isiset, princess of all Egypt.

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From that point on, Tali was a vital member of the team, but to keep things short, her two central plot points revolved around the daddy issues that stemmed from her abusive father, Pharaoh. First off, one of the territory leaders in Gotham was the very same Azrael who caused problems for the team in Washington D.C. He had charisma, power, authority, and a sizable collection of lieutenants who would wind up being some of the most memorable characters of not only campaign one, but campaign two as well. And he certainly remembered the group of Gothamites whod traveled with him to Washington until his psychosis was triggered by a codeword that drove him into his destructive frenzy. By the time we met him, the team had largely regained their powers, and Talis presence as a fiery princess drew Azrael to her. Hed received a prophecy, stating that he was to wed just such a woman.

Now, Tali didnt commit right away; she was still very much with Xander and Rozetta. But then we wound up in the Patchwork, which was a collective of alternate universes, with no way of escaping, short of gathering patches from every section of the Patchwork and breaking free from the central tower. To do so, Tali had to give up a piece of her soulthe piece of her soul that loved Rozetta. When the group escaped the Patchwork, the deed was done. That bond was broken, and Xander didnt exactly fight for their relationship afterwards. This cleared the road for Tali and Azrael to fulfill the prophecy, but first, Tali had to dethrone her doppelganger in the form of Heatstroke, a Greek fire princess trying to pull the old Elvis trick of taking credit for something a black person did first.

Anyway, Tali eventually took her rightful place as Azraels fianc, believing that if she became his wife, she could be his closest confidante, guiding his aggressive tendencies towards more amenable solutions. She viewed this role as not dissimilar to her mothers actions in tempering her fathers fiery powers. The wedding was probably the central event of Talis story for a long time, and she successfully married Azrael, right up until the Joker attacked the wedding and disfigured her husband beyond repair. All of Talis work went down the drain, and Azraels territory risked falling apart. Working through her shellshock, Tali eventually appointed Lady Vic (whod established herself as a rival earlier in the campaign, but also showcased her intelligence), and found herself comforted in the romantic embrace of Deadshot.

Meanwhile (and Im trying to keep some details short because they might come up in future write-ups), Tali found a kindred spirit in Cassandra Cain, and together, they began working through some of Talis aggressive daddy issues. Namely, the fact that Pharaoh was still in Gotham, and had been souped up by the demon, Neron. Tali confronted him in a demonic battle and through him to a seeming Disney death, down a chute in the Batcave, never to be seen again. Exceptno. If you dont see the body, theyre not dead. Pharaoh returned again, serving as Talis final antagonist as he attacked a hospital in the closing days of No Mans Land. But with Deadshot and Cassandra at her side, Pharaoh was defeated once and for all, and Electrocutioner saved Gotham!

Thats campaign one. Between campaigns, Tali joined a group of flashy, camera-ready superheroes under the guidance of Max Lord, called the Superbuddies. She had her modern-day big sister, Fire, as well as Booster Gold, Captain Atom, Ted Kords Blue Beetle, Elongated Man, and Sue Dibny. At some point though, something went wrong with Tali. Her body started to overheat, rejected her own metahuman abilities, and she fled over the Mediterranean Sea. She exploded in a nuclear blast that killed hundreds of thousands, but could have been much worse, had Tali not flown as fast as she could to the least-occupied area she could reach in time. And thus, Tali is no more.

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This brings us to campaign two, and again, Im going to TRY to keep it short, because a lot of what I have to say about my new character will hopefully be covered in the numerous write-ups I make for this list. Alyssa Davenport was a pretty, nice, normal Mormon girl who went to college in Austin. But as a chemistry prodigy (by her standards, at least), she got involved in producing drugs. It started as an effort to stick it to the man in Big Pharma, but she found herself making street drugs as well, and working with a local gangthe Nooseto keep pushing what she could do. One day, she bit off more than she could chew, attempting to synthesize a power amplification drug we first encountered in Campaign One, called Velocity 9. She got the formula wrong, and the college chemistry lab exploded, dousing her in a concoction of her own making, and calling into question what exactly shed been doing in those late-night lab sessions.

In the wake of the explosion, still shellshocked from her survival, and the impending threat of investigation into her actions, Alyssa went to a party with some acquaintances and had just a little too much to drink. Buzzed, but still coherent, she headed back to her dorm, and was offered assistance by a pair of polite young gentlemenwho proceeded to drag her into a back alley against her will. Fighting against her attackers and seemingly helpless against their considerable strength, she made one last effort to at least salvage some dignity, by spitting in her assailants face. It was moments later that Alyssa realized that the explosion had altered her, unlocking a metahuman gene that allowed her body to alter its pH level. She spit acid in the face of her attacker, ending that assault.

From there though, things went poorly. It turns out her attacker was the son of one of Texas senators, and he used his considerable power and authority to make her life hell, minimizing her accusations by calling her a terrorist that deliberately attacked his son with chemicals. Her family (mainly her father), unwilling victims of this smear campaign, slowly broke down and stopped supporting their daughter, instead begging her to drop the subject and let it end. Meanwhile, all of this media attention got the attention of the Justice League, and Hawkgirl paid Alyssa a visit. She gave Alyssa an ultimatum: train as a superhero, or youre going to prison for drug dealing. With an offer like that, how could Alyssa refuse? She became the protg of Lagoon Boy, and this partnership led to Alyssa getting kidnapped and held in stasis until being awakened by the events of the campaign.

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Since then, Alyssa (under the code name Pepper Spray) has dealt with several rivalries with her fellow PCs, while also trying to find her place in a world where everyone else is far more connected with the superhero community than she is. Shes largely playing catch-up in the worst possible scenario of the apocalypse. And her strange moral alignment (a superhero initially forced into the role as a means of keeping her away from her criminal enterprises) has also led to her adopting a secondary persona, Biohazard, for the use of infiltration into the collective of supervillains working as one, known as the Society. Again, not going too deep into this campaigns events, because things will be revealed during further write-ups. But thats a rundown of my characters and who they are. So, sit back, and enjoy the ride as I bring you through my top 52 favorite characters of campaign 2.

Oh, but before I do that, Ive got a little honorable mention to get to first. This isnt going to be a regular thingat least not until were closer to the end and my top tier should be more obvious. But I happened to have written this write-up already, and in the interim period, this character dropped out of my top fifty-two, since he got replaced by someone else making a strong push. Given that I already have the write-up ready though (and Im pretty sure I referenced it at least once or twice more on the list), I figure Ill toss it onto the front end here, before we get to the real meat of the ranking.

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Honorable Mention: Harry Matthews

This one is hopefully going to be shorter than the last one, because its a lot more straight forward. The Spectre is one of the numerous big bads in the campaign, and Harry Matthews is meant to be emblematic of the more twisted punishments the Spectre can dole out. He was just a normal guy, going about his normal life, and he got caught in the crossfire. Suddenly, a businessman became a talking pillow, and that pillow is hilariously detested by most of the people in the bar.

But Harry doesnt let that antipathy get him down, no no. He has a near-permanent positive outlook on life, save for a single moment when the crushing weight of his horrific life finally got to him and he snapped. Every story he has to tell is one of complete anti-climax; nothing exciting or unfortunate ever happens, and everything works out in a perfectly average fashion for him. Meanwhile, Pepper is a scientist, and whenever she goes into the Oblivion Bar (where all the magical folk hang out), she feels uncomfortable and introverted. Who better to serve as her safety blanket than a literal pillow who is incapable of depression, and is always there to talk up the positives? Its just a cute little dynamic, and in an often-times bleak campaign, Harrys upbeat presence is a shining beckon of happiness and positivity.

Also, in light of his recent removal from my top fifty-two, who better to take it in stride than someone whos likely just happy to have gotten a write-up of any kind from anyone. Gee, I bet this really makes his day all the same.

Hint for #52: A colorful character.

Bloodfruit

I would have guaranteed Harry low 40s. Damn.

Tag, and I think I'll go with the hint as name pun, and guess the Blue Beetle's parasite, Khaji Da.

Tag

Parademon

Inviso posted...

Tali joined a group of flashy, camera-ready superheroes [...] something went wrong [...] She exploded in a nuclear blast that killed hundreds of thousands

Oh damn Tali got the Nitro treatment.

I'm bad with colors
I'm going to go with... Kitten?

I'm gonna say it's an anti-pun and say Nightshade

Tag

I now understand why she's called Pepper Spray.

Did Tali ever bond with Rainbow Raider

Cody11533 posted...

Tag

I now understand why she's called Pepper Spray.

I had the same thought

TotallyNotMI posted...

Did Tali ever bond with Rainbow Raider

We saw him for like a total of 2 minutes in Campaign 1 when we were fucking up Blackgate

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52. White Lightning

Is White Lightning REALLY the 52nd best character out of EVERY NPC introduced in the campaign thus far? Probably not. She PROBABLY should be out before some of my honorable mentions, all things considered. But at the end of the day, this list is largely going to be populated by long-standing characters that we players interact with on a regular basis in our home base. Or major players who have multi-session appearances outside of Zonn Zorr. Or characters that might be coasting on their appearance in the first campaign. With that in mind, I feel like this placement is somewhat of an acknowledgement of all the quirky characters that got maybe one or two chances to shine, and deserve a chance to not be completely overshadowed by bigger personalities.

Why White Lightning specifically though? Well first off, I found her entertaining in our only encounter. We were on our second mission to Manchester, Alabama: the home of Kid Flash, and the city was all kinds of messed up. On our first mission, we found a school where most of the kids in town had been imprisoned and tortured to try and determine the identity/location of Bart Allen, aka Kid Flash. On this second mission, we got to explore the rest of the town, and witnessed the fascist regime that had taken control. Complete with book burnings. It was bad. And we were ALREADY tasked with tracking down an unfortunate young woman whod be captured by the Society forces in the town, so having seen the torture at the Manchester School, things were looking bad. In fact, you could argue that Manchester is almost entirely this bleak, concentration camp-esque setting with no levity to be had whatsoever.

Enter White Lightning. The first Manchester session offset some of the bleakness with the wacky return of Pinhead from Campaign 1, and the pretty fun introduction of Bagman. But this second trip through the town brought us into contact with White Lightning, who is practically the perfect in-session NPC for my character, specifically. See, I play Pepper Spray, who is an EXTREMELY rookie superheroine with chemistry-based superpowers and little in the way of combat ability. Im never big on the combat portions of our sessions, because Id much rather try to outsmart or outtalk an enemy than rely on my lacking brute strength. Furthermore, due to some issues in her past, Pepper has a feminist streak, or at the very least, she likes empowering other women.

White Lightnings whole deal is that she has this meta-human ability to manipulate men. And the party we had going into Manchester 2 consisted of myself, Minerva (Atlantean princess), and three boys: Artemis (a size-shifting dog), Brennus (a gay prince), and Spirit (an asexual doctor). Regardless of species differences, or the fact that Brennus and Spirit have no sexual attraction to women whatsoever, all three male party members wound up under White Lightnings spell (to an extent). So for me, it was kinda fun to be like one of the only sober people at a party, completely unaffected by White Lightning and helping to take her down. I should also point out that she was a fun enemy to interact with as well, because she spoke to the boys in this Betty Boop baby talk-style affect, which just gave a distinctive voice to her character.

Admittedly, the White Lightning sequence didnt go perfectly. The party was very spread out in terms of how we wanted to play the session, and we ended up knocking out unconscious twice, before I finally spoke with her and paid her off to develop an ally in the city. Thats kind of my characters thing: she believes in making in-roads with malleable Society member instead of just killing them outright. And White Lightning has a very interesting power, if we want to dethrone the NAZI ALLEGORIES THAT ARE CURRENTLY RUNNING MANCHESTER. Eventually, were going to head back to the town, and I think (or at least hope) that she will be a valuable ally to us moving forward.

Now, the other reason I rank White Lightning here, beyond just using her as the best of the best one-shot characters in the campaign thus far, is that I like Manchester. I feel like Im the only player in the entire campaign that has enjoyed it in either of the two sessions weve had there. Those sessions werent perfect, but I found them extremely fun, and Ill go to the mat to defend Manchester 1 and Manchester 2. Im probably the only person in the campaign that would even consider ranking a character from Manchester in their top 52 (and there are a couple other good ones that just didnt make my list), so yeah, Im going to give Manchester some love by highlighting my favorite character from the town.

Hint for #51: An ethnic minority.

Inviso posted...

Im probably the only person in the campaign that would even consider ranking a character from Manchester in their top 52

Preston and Carol would probably make mine

edit: And obviously Bart but he's not applicable yet

I do love White Lightning. I admit, I think we just had an off-night on Manchester II, but it would be nice to get back and resolve things soon.

This might be... Cheshire?

Abe Crane? I don't know why my gut says him

hombad46 posted...

Preston and Carol would probably make mine

edit: And obviously Bart but he's not applicable yet

I didn't even consider that, but it makes sense in retrospect.

Super Chief

HanOfTheNekos posted...

Super Chief

Ah
Gonna piggy back and say Chindi

The Native American lady who got her dead husband's powers.

Completely random question about the setting of the campaign, but approximately how much of the world's population has been equated, if it is known?

Week 1 we were told 4 billion were turned within minutes and the broadcast has still be airing since then.

we only have two and a half Equated in Z'onn Z'orr, tho

HanOfTheNekos posted...

we only have two and a half Equated in Z'onn Z'orr, tho

This reminds me of the dead half equated guy we found. It lead to one of my favorite jokes I made in the campaign

"Half Equated guy walks into a bar. Says 'Darkseid could be.'"

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51. Ice Sickle

The med bay in Zonn Zorr is not an especially happy place. Yes, Dr. Spirit gives out dum dums to all of his patients, but were talking about a setting where people only really show up when something is going WRONG. Weve currently got Uncle Sam, the spirit of America, perpetually bleeding from his torso as he has been bisected in the course of his travels, and he just lays there in the med bay, suffering. We have a perpetually suffering demon laid-up in the med bay. For a time, we had both rescued victims from Manchester, who were tortured in HORRIFIC fashions. And, of course, Cheetah regrowing her arm in depression and isolation. I repeat: the med bay is not a happy place, despite any and all efforts from our resident Doctor and the occasional NPC to the contrary.

However, there is ONE exception to that statement, and he ranks here at number 50. He had a mission to Portsmouth, Oregon, which prior to our arrival, was assumed to tie into the backstory of Minerva, our campaigns Atlantean PC. However, a large portion of that mission, while tying tangentially into Minerva, really looped back into Doctor Mid-Nites presence in the city. Namely, we found ourselves in an overrun clinic, being manned by a pair of underprepared doctors in the form of Irwin Tan (who has become my characters underling, but will not be making this list) and Ice Sickle. While Irwin was a medical intern, Ice Sickle was Doctor Mid-Nites personal protg. However, as you might guess from his character image above, he wasnt exactly the professional sort.

Scarlets interpretation of Ice Sickle is that of Chris Tucker from insert Chris Tucker Movie here. The majority of his speech begins with a drawn out Maaaaaaaaaaan, before griping about being asked to do something, and often times playing the race card. Its funny as hell, because you pair him up with the highly professional attitudes of Spirit and Rex (the two resident Doctors at Zonn Zorr), and you get the Chris Tucker experience of the 90s and early 2000s. Despite his wacky mannerisms though, Ice Sickle gets the job done, and he takes his job seriously. We have people weve installed in positions at Zonn Zorr who largely just fuck around and cause more problems than they solve, but Ice Sickles good as a nurse figure, just helping patch up minor wounds when need be. His bitching is endearing more than anything, and hes a fun addition to the Zonn Zorr family.

Hint for #50: An occupant of the Oblivion Bar.

Well it can't be Harry Matthews, who would be the obvious choice, but it might be Nightshade.

Nightshade sounds right

Chimp

To be different I'll say flippy

That dude who was faking being a god.

Also, who are the two equated people at your base?

Maniac64 posted...

That dude who was faking being a god.

Also, who are the two equated people at your base?

Alice's father and Tom Kalmaku's wife. Then our half-equated person is Savant, whose extreme dementia means he forgets the Equation before it can ever fully take hold, while his intelligence means he finds a way to sometimes function enough to communicate somewhat via writing despite constantly being in the process of being Equated.

Also I'll go with Flippy here.

Maniac64 posted...

That dude who was faking being a god.

Also, who are the two equated people at your base?

Tegra Kalmaku, who is the wife(ex-wife?) of Tom Kalmaku, who is a long-time supporting character of Green Lantern (Hal Jordan).

The other is Carl Zechlin, who is Black Alice's dad.

The half one is Savant, the guy who was a villain but also been utilized by the Birds of Prey? He like, forgets everything every so often which means he forgets the Equation, so he's in this state of continually being re-Equated, but having enough wherewithal to communicate by writing before it hits and his brain resets.

That sounds like absolute torture, constantly being Equated and forgetting in an endless cycle.

Don't forget Tefe is kinda half Equated too.

Ooh, good call. Not sure how I forgot that one.

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50. Nightshade (Eve Eden)

In our first campaign, we played through the No Mans Land setting. Gotham City, in the wake of a massive earthquake, was decided to be unsalvageable, and was cut off from the rest of the United States. Our player characters had to navigate this Escape from New York-esque scenario and bring stability back to the city, allowing for the eventual reabsorption into America. Now, while many of the PCs in campaign two have somewhat established reputations in the superhero community, this was very much not the case in campaign one. All nine player characters actively gained their superpowers during missions in the course of the first campaign.

As such, we were all very much greenhorns, and as greenhorns, Oracle (the central mentoring figure of No Mans Land) decided that it would be ideal for each character to have a personalized Superbuddy to kind of provide that one-on-one mentoring to help us improve and get through No Mans Land in one piece. One such Superbuddy was Nightshade, who was paired up with Rozetta, our Saturnian transplant who has since returned as a PC in campaign two. While my memory is bad and I cant remember the EXACT logic behind the choice (I can remember mostly everyone else), Nightshade still showed up a couple times in the campaign, and her main scene was being recruited to teleport a sniper assassin out of the city, so we wouldnt have to kill him in front of his daughter (and the guilt this caused when said sniper murdered people out in the world after the fact).

The thing about a lot of the Superbuddies in campaign is that they werent meant to be major characters. They didnt take up residence in Gotham, so we had to actively seek them out through video conversations via Oracle. But this meant, when campaign two rolled around, those Superbuddies could suddenly become a lot more prominent and developed as characters. This is very much the case with Nightshade. She wasnt around from the very beginning of the campaign, but she showed up early on, when the Oblivion Bar took up residence in Zonn Zorr. We already had Fire (my characters Superbuddy) and a handful of other characters from Campaign 1, but it was early enough in the campaign that any familiar face stood out to us.

Now admittedly, as I mentioned in my Harry Matthews write-up, my character does not really jive with the whole magic element of the campaign, so I personally dont spend a ton of time dealing with Oblivion. But other characters certainly do, and Oblivion is one of the larger hubs of activity in the campaign; you cant avoid it if you want to stay up-to-date on what other PCs are doing. In that regard, Nightshade stands out as an interesting personality among the many major NPCs of the magical realm of the campaign. Shes not the most prominent resident of Oblivion, but she gets enough focus that she winds up right in that sweet spot where shes memorable, but not so much so prominent that it feels overwhelming, trying to grasp her as a character. For someone like me, who isnt as strongly invested in the magic storyline, Nightshade just feels more welcoming as a character, because shes not intrinsically tied to EVERYTHING going on in Oblivion. She has her own little magic story, and its narrow and focused enough that I can follow it without feeling overwhelmed.

Campaign 1 Nightshade was largely oh, shes nice and shes Rozettas Superbuddy, and she got upset when we asked her to help us spirit a serial killer out of Gotham. Campaign 2 Nightshade has a much more distinctive personality. Maybe its because the denizens of Oblivion are forced into hiding (again, as mentioned in the Harry Matthews write-up, the Spectre is a major antagonist of the campaign, and is actively seeking to kill any and all magic-users he finds), but Nightshade just has this jaded aloofness to her persona. A lot of Oblivions residents do, but many of the bigger, more prominent characters at least seem to be willing to put that aside to offer advice when possible. Nightshade acts like she hasnt a care in the world, and at first, it was great to see this in conjunction with her reunion with Rozetta. But Nightshade has very much developed a storyline of her very own, which I find interesting it its own right.

Nightshades primary powers revolve around manipulating shadows and darkness, and this campaign really leans into that. While the Spectre is a major antagonist, we also have the ever-present threat of Eclipso, who was, I believe, a similar entity to the Spectre, but become corrupted by darkness. On multiple occasions, weve come across NPCs that have been infected by Eclipso shards, empowering them and just generally wreaking havoc whenever possible. These shard encounters basically demonstrate the dangers posed by Eclipso, and by association, the potential dangers inherent in all shadow-users. This is what brings us back to Nightshade. Aloof as she is in Oblivion, her primary goal seems to be the outright eradication of all other shadow-users, so they cannot be corrupted by Eclipso.

What makes this more interesting is the fact that Zonn Zorr has SO MANY shadow-users. Weve brought back Nocturna (who hasnt really interacted much with Nightshade, largely because she has a high survival instinct), the Shade (who Nightshade has considered killing when he was in his weakened state), Silhouette/Nihkto (one of the campaigns PCs who seemed to have an infatuation with Nightshade, but is more just emotionally-stunted and wanted her to train him), and more recently, Lady Blackrock (who became the Kryptonite Woman, after we removed an Eclipso shard that was corrupting her heart).

That last one was the interaction that pushed Nightshade over the edge for me, into the top 52. We brought Lady Blackrock back, on the verge of death, corrupted and infested with darkness, and we came up with the idea that Nightshade could help us. So we brought Lady Blackrock to Oblivion and left her in Nightshades capable hands, before going to chat with someone else in the bar (Im pretty sure it was Constantine). In the middle of that conversation though, the realization hit: we left her with NIGHTSHADE?! Smash cut to Nightshade attempting complete and utter murder, because of COURSE thats how shed react. We talked her down, but it was still hilarious in the moment, and honestly, it was just great to see Nightshade in-action, instead of being calm and chilling at a table with a drink.

Finally, the last thing I have to add, is that we have a variety of younger mages and magicians in Zonn Zorr, who are supposed to represent the Eighth Age of Magic, and as such, the older magicians of the Oblivion Shadowpact want to maintain a certain level of control over this new age. They want to have their number mentor the new blood. Nightshade serves as the mentor to Black Alice who, spoiler alert, is going to do very well on this list. And they make for an interesting duo. Nightshade kind of enables some of Alices more punk tendencies, which makes sense, since Nightshade herself is a bit detached from the rest of Oblivions goals. But at the same time, Nightshade has that kill all darkness mindset that shes trying to impart unto Alice, so it makes for some interesting conflict, as Alice has this teacher she really likes, but she isnt one hundred percent comfortable with some of the teachings she receiving. Its just a fun dynamic and further boosts Nightshades profile for me, as it gives her another character to play off of.

As an addendum since I first wrote this write-up, I recently had a scene where Pepper was formally introduced to Nightshade, since Alice wants to bring her best friend and mentor together. The result was an awkward conversation where Nightshade is a bit edgey, and Pepper is a bit not, and Nightshade very much played on Peppers apprehensions towards Oblivion and magic, and everything surrounding their introduction. Always good for a prank, Nightshade pretended to go full shadow witch, scaring the bejeezus out of Pepper and even making Alice think the rage was real. This is not to mention her general antipathy towards Saoirses recent advances as well.

You just never know what youre gonna get with Nightshade, because theres a very serious side to her that she maintains when it comes to her duties, but she also seems to lean hard the other way to try and balance that out.

Hint for #49: A member of Checkmate.

The most important aspect of Nightshade is that she's been reared in the darkness for so long that it's almost impossible to understand how she'll deal with things - she has an alien development, in some respects.

I'll guess Terrific.

Inviso posted...

since Alice wants to bring her best friend and mentor together.

I didn't see that scene with Rover. I guess it's coming soon!

Inviso posted...

This is not to mention her general antipathy towards Saoirses recent advances as well.

All I seem to recall is Saoirse playing Nightshade like a fiddle :triumph:

Terrific I would guess is higher. Maybe this is like, Etta.

Echoing Han. Going Etta

Etta yeah

scarletspeed7 posted...

The most important aspect of Nightshade is that she's been reared in the darkness for so long that it's almost impossible to understand how she'll deal with things - she has an alien development, in some respects.

I'll guess Terrific.

This is true. Nightshade feels pure mercenary in her attitude. She looks out for herself, first and foremost, but also feels a responsibility as a shadow warden.

Hi Vis

Prowley

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49. Lono

As I mentioned with Manchester, there are certain sessions that I feel like I enjoy a lot more than other people. Typically, its when we go to a more enclosed city and deal with a specific problem that sets that city apart from its fellows in a memorable fashion. I just like more micro-scale stories sometimes, because you get the chance to have a more intimate exploration of the world, and some more personalized character work with someone like Lono, in a city like Tampa (which has been a fun excursion every time weve been thus far.)

Now, this might be recency bias, as we just went back to Tampa and met with Lono again for the first time in a long time, but hes great. Weve visited Tampa on three occasions now, and every time, we hook up with Lono and something absolutely insane happens. First trip, we show up at a burger joint just in time to watch this beefy, shirtless man with a CROATOAN tattoo murder a doctor, before trying to kill us as well. A misunderstanding, of course, and once we reveal were Checkmate agents, he lightens upbut he also informs us that Checkmate is dead and the Black/White Kings/Queens are gone, so hes going to find his own way to take power by ensconcing himself within The Trust (a group of thirteen wealthy and influential families from around the globe).

All of this is very standard for meeting a new NPC out in the field, but what stands out is what happened next. The burger joint gets attacked by an OMAC (ask ScareChan what that is), and we wind up killing it and fleeing in a pair of cars that engage in a lengthy highway pursuit. This was week twelve of the campaign, and up to that point, the car chase was perhaps one of the most fun sequences wed experienced. A large part of that was because of the reckless, manic energy of Lono, just spurring us on to go as full throttle as he did in our efforts to escape pursuit. Eventually, we did lose our tail, and that just gave us a chance to relax in Lonos parking garage base, planning our next move while Lono made unsavory comments and gestures towards the women or our party (namely Minerva).

Trip two to Tampa, we met up with Lono again (after he had previously punched out our teleporter out of pure machismo), but this was less us working directly with him, and more us giving him a task and sending him out like a one man army corps. While we infiltrated a power station (having gained access to the Societys recruitment station by stage a drug-fueled riot), Lono ran off and murdered a WHOLE bunch of people by invading a TV studio and blowing up their broadcasting tower. Our plan succeeded, but then we took a LONG time to get back to Tampa, during which time Lono became Tampas most wanted, with every two-bit low-life looking to make a name for him or herself by being the one to bring Lono in alive.

Long story short, we fought our way through a different parking garage, just in time for Lono to help beat the shit out of the last few bounty hunters. Thats one of the things that makes Lono great. Tampa is meant to be an early campaign mission, and Lono is OP as hell. While we, the players, are still learning the ropes, its fun to have an NPC that can just beat the shit out of whatever blockade stands in our way. And as we fled Tampa with him in tow, he managed to continue his streak of being a hilariously-unpleasant douchebag. Minerva gained the powers of telepathy to communicate between players across long distancesand she used this on Lono, which allowed him to beam back sexually-explicit imagery of Minerva herself. Thats the kind of quality dickbaggery Lono provides.

Theres just something fun about a complete asshole character whos nominally a good guy, working towards the benefit of the party, and because hes a good guy, you have to kind of tolerate his worst behavior. With Lono continuing to be a fixture in the campaign, Im sure hes going to similarly continue being a hilarious point of contact out in the field for the future.

Hint for #48: Has at least one pet living with them.