SCUverse Game 4: Gloomweaver in Rook City

[Edwin]

EXT. NIGHT - ROOK CITY SLUMS

ABSOLUTE ZERO (voiceover):  "I suppose arriving in your helicopter would have been out of the question?"

WRAITH:  "It's in use.  Besides, we're trying NOT to draw attention to ourselves here."

Camera shifts to consider a quintet of figures that are attempting to lounge nonchalantly in the alley behind an obviously disreputable gin-joint.  LEGACY is almost instantly recognizeable for his distinctive square jaw and chiseled musculature, despite wearing shabby street clothes over his trademark uniform and a ridiculous pair of sunglasses over half his face; attempts to conceal his legendary charisma have been earnest but clearly rather doomed.  TYLER VANCE is not much less imposing in plainclothes, and AZ is wearing the floor-length parka of a street person, but the faint blue glow from his faceplate is only concentrated eerily within the projecting fur hood which tries to conceal his armor.  With Wraith in her usual costume and lurking in the shadows, TACHYON is the only member of the team who actually passes for a local resident in her tank top and jogging pants, and thus is positioned the most prominently, acting as lookout.

TYLER VANCE:  "Given what we've seen of this town of yours, Maia, I don't doubt that people here are desperate enough to believe - and do - just about anything.  But still, what you described about this cult seems outright crazy.  They really believe this god of theirs can raise the dead?  And they're willing to kill based on that belief?"

WRAITH:  "The RCPD, those of them who are even still trying to do their jobs, say the killings are isolated incidents, crimes of passion.  But the source I talked to in the local occult underground believes there's a pattern.  The movers and shakers are said to have started out in New Orleans and Florida, mixed up with Haitian voudoun extremists, but found something even more out-there to believe in, something to do with Mayan blood sacrifices and Egyptian tomb relics...I don't fully understand it myself.  But before he managed to kill himself, the mook I cornered babbled something about a 'nightmare walker', an apocalyptically prophetic dream that all the initiates supposedly have, where doom and gloom fall across the whole world like a blanket, and death and life are transposed in an eternal hellscape.  Obviously, it's insane, but I believe that they believe it, and that this belief makes them extremely dangerous."

LEGACY:  "Belief is always what impels people to achieve their best...or worst.  I should know, I've spent my whole life trying to set an example for others to follow...it's tragic to know that there are others out there who are bound and determined to do the exact opposite.  I just hope your source is right about this being one of their gathering places."

WRAITH:  "Tony's never let me down so far.  He says he heard them shaking their death-rattles and sharpening their knives in the basement of this dive exactly one week ago, and fanatics are nothing if not creatures of habit.  Even as crappy as our disguises are, they'll be here."

TACHYON (enunciating extremely slowly and carefully):  "Speakofthedevil, lookaliveguysherecomestrouble...."

TYLER begins opening the large suitcase he was leaning on, extracting pieces of armor and strapping them on, allowing their servos to activate and finish assembling themselves into the BUNKER suit.  From the back door of the club, five gaunt and pallid figures shamble into view, the rearmost two carrying a comparably massive cylindrical object between them.  Dressed normally, they appear like a shuffling crew of slack-jawed locals at first - only when they come close does Tachyon's nose twitch and her face twist into a grimace, as the camera focuses on the leading figure's jaundiced, unblinking eye, and the several flies that swirl about it.....

Round One

Gloomweaver - Not a Target

In Play:  Zombie Servant x5

Trash: 

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Start of Turn: 

Play a Card: Drum of Despair.

End of Turn: Zombie attack!  6 damage to Legacy, 3 damage to Absolute Zero, 3 damage to Bunker, 3 damage to Tachyon.

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In Play: Zombie Servant [2], Zombie Servant [2], Zombie Servant [2], Zombie Servant [2], Zombie Servant [2], Drum of Despair [25]

Trash:

Effects: AEOVT, each Zombie deals 3 melee damage to the highest-HP non-villain target.  ASOVT, Drum of Despair deals each hero 4 infernal damage unless they destroy a card in play or discard 2 cards from their hand.

Hero HP (order to be adjusted):  Legacy 26, Wraith 26, AZ 26, Bunker 25, Tachyon 24.

[Odin]

Bunker starting draw: external combustion x2, gattling gun, turret mode, upgrade mode, omni cannon

Hand: external combustion x2, upgrade mode, omni-cannon

Bottom of deck: turret mode and gattling gun

Hand: external combustion x2, upgrade mode and omni cannon

HP: 25

Edit: Thanks to Ironic I corrected my previous discarding.

[Odin]

I was kind of planning on just killing off all the zombies with an external combustion on my turn…

Thanks for the drum reminder.

Also, does initialize allow me to draw two and put one on the bottom of my deck?

Also we have to stop posting at the same time 

[Ironic]

Draw starting hand: [Take Down, Surge Of Strength, Heroic Interception, Next Evolution, Motivational Charge, Superhuman Durability] - I'll send Surge of Strength and Superhuman Durability to the bottom (Take Down is a hinderance most of the time in this game, but there just might be a turn when we need to buy a little time to avoid being overwhelmed, and better safe than sorry).

And Odin, I don't think we discard until the start of the Villain Turn, by which point you'll have played a card and drawn one, so it'll be something of a different situation.

Regarding those Combustions: do you want to play one and drop all the zombies at one go? Presuming so, that means I would do something else instead of using Next Evolution to tank them all as I had planned.

[Ironic]

Yeah, I'm not up on my forum game protocol, sorry I jumped the gun.  Edited.

[jffdougan]

AZ's starting hand, as determined by spreadsheet (not in a position to grab the physical deck right this minute): Isothermic Transducer x 2, NPCU, Sub-Zero Atmosphere x 2, Cryo Chamber. Put one of each duplicate at the bottom and keep the rest. I'll rig a physical deck at the earliest opportunity, but that might not be for a bit yet.

Odin & Ironic, in previous games we've let people post turns for round 1 as soon as all the starting hands have been posted. After that, order remains fixed for the duration of the game. And yes, Bunker's Initialize power does the same "draw 2, discard 1" as ordinary end-of-turn draws. I don't recall if there's a ruling about how Wraith's Trust Fund or Tachyon's Research Grant work, but they're the only ones that have that structure here.

[Ironic]

Good to know, jff.

...is it cheaty to observe that ideally Odin should wait until after AZ's had a play to deall all that fire damage?

[Oaktree]

@jffdougan

AZ's starting hand, as determined by spreadsheet (not in a position to grab the physical deck right this minute): Isothermic Transducer x 2, NPCU, Sub-Zero Atmosphere x 2, Cryo Chamber. Put one of each duplicate at the bottom and keep the rest. I'll rig a physical deck at the earliest opportunity, but that might not be for a bit yet.Odin & Ironic, in previous games we've let people post turns for round 1 as soon as all the starting hands have been posted. After that, order remains fixed for the duration of the game. And yes, Bunker's Initialize power does the same "draw 2, discard 1" as ordinary end-of-turn draws. I don't recall if there's a ruling about how Wraith's Trust Fund or Tachyon's Research Grant work, but they're the only ones that have that structure here.

I believe the agreement on "Trust Fund" was that the player would do 4x (draw 2, bottom of deck 1) and then discard two of the four "kept" cards.

[Edwin]

@Odin

Also, does initialize allow me to draw two and put one on the bottom of my deck?

Yes it does…any normal "draw" effect (except for drawing four at the start of the game) gains the benefit of the de-randomization rule, as does any "play" of villain or environment cards from the top of the deck.  (I'm debating whether automatically playing a card from the top of a hero deck, as with Atlantean Font of Power, Incapacitated Set, or eventually Setback's main power should qualify as well…other similar effects such as Timeshift and DDA, which involve any degree of choice on the hero's part, definitely do not.)  Anything which lets you gain cards in some fashion other than the word "draw" is not affected by this rule.

@jffdougan

I don't recall if there's a ruling about how Wraith's Trust Fund or Tachyon's Research Grant work, but they're the only ones that have that structure here.

You perform each draw individually as a take-two-keep-one, then you perform all required discards as normal.  So in performing Trust Fund on an empty hand, you don't get to see eight cards and reject six of them; instead you bottom one from two, repeat three times, and then discard two of the four you kept.  Research Grant is the same principle: pick one of two, then pick one of two, then put the picks in your hand, then discard any card in your hand.

@Ironic

jff…is it cheaty to observe that ideally Odin should wait until after AZ's had a play to deall all that fire damage?

Since ExCom doesn't hit any hero targets other than Bunker, it hardly matters.  (But if we had redirection in this game, then yeah, that would be a little cheaty.  I kind of share Envisioner's belief that it's slightly "off" for the players to have perfect knowledge of each other's abilities; there's no Martian Manhunter to give the team perfect instantaneous awareness of each other's thoughts, so the only real reason not to have starting hands kept secret and handled through PMs, enforcing the need for players to actually say things about their "battle plans" rather than just knowing what each other have access to, is that it'd be too damn much work for me to put up with.)

[Humble-Knight]

The Wraith draws Grappling Hook x2, Utility Belt, Throwing Knives, Trust Fund, Mega Computer. Bottom Grappling Hook then Mega Computer

 

On a completely unrelated, and totally awesome, sidenote, IR/RC arrived today. I can't wait to try out the new heros and play the villians. I've fought a couple before, mostly on G+ but I did also beat Matriarch with you guys.

[Ironic]

Wow, bottoming two anti-Environment cards in the deadliest Environment in the game?  Confidence!

(To be fair, it's still only Gloomweaver.)

[BlueHairedMeerkat]

Tachy-bot draws Accelerated Assault, Fleet of Foot, Quick Insight, Blinding Speed, bottoms Sucker Punch, Supersonic Response.

[Ironic]

America's Finest

LEGACY


 

The Drum of Despair beats loudly, and there is no "Danger Sense Sound" as zombies pile on Legacy, dragging him to the ground.

 

Start: Ohgodsomanyzombies.

 

Play: Next Evolution

 

Power: Next Evolution: Immunity to Infernal Damage.

 

Draw: [Next Evolution/LeadFromTheFront] - Yessssssssssss… I’ll deck Next Evolution.

 

End: Grit my teeth and prepare for the heroic reversal.

 

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HP: 26

In Play: Next Evolution

Hand: Take Down, Motivational Charge, Heroic Interception, Lead From The Front

Trash: Empty

Notes: Unless people have really garbage hands, taking the 4 damage is probably a good call - I've got a Heroic Interception coming AND the ultatank combo ready to roll, so we’ll have some edge as we get set up.

[BlueHairedMeerkat]

Tachyon

HP: 24

In Play:

Hand: Accelerated Assault, Fleet of Foot, Quick Insight, Blinding Speed

Deck: 34x?, Sucker Punch, Supersonic Response

Trash: 

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Start:

Play: Fleet of Foot - DRAW! Tachy draws Quick Insight and Accelerated Assault, decks Accelerated Assault.

Quick Insight - draw Sucker Punch and Hypersonic Assault, deck Sucker Punch, draw Fleet of Foot and Nimble Strike, deck Nimble Strike, draw Hypersonic Assault, Supersonic Response, deck Hypersonic Assault, discard Blinding Speed, Supersonic Response.

Power: Rapid Recon reveals and replaces Research Grant.

Draw: Research Grant and Sonic Vortex, deck Sonic Vortex.

End:

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HP: 24

In Play:

Hand: Accelerated Assault, Fleet of Foot, Quick Insight, Hypersonic Assault, Research Grant

Deck: 24x?, Sucker Punch, Supersonic Response, Accelerated Assault, Sucker Punch, Nimble Strike, Hypersonic Assault, Sonic Vortex

Trash: Fleet of Foot, Quick Insight, Bilnding Speed, Supersonic Response [4]

EVERYBODY DRAW!

[Ironic]

Legacy gets Surge of Strength and Bolster Allies, and decks Surge of Strength.

Hand: Take Down, Motivational Charge, Heroic Interception, Lead From The Front, Bolster Allies

[Humble-Knight]

Draw infrared eyepiece and micro targeting computer, deck micro targeting computer from fleet of foot.

Play infrared eyepiece

Power infrared eyepiece: look at top 2 cards and draw mega computer and infrared eyepiece. Deck infrared eyepiece

Draw suture self and grappling hook, deck suture self

Was going to play trust fund but IE was better

[Edwin]

IREP reveals Pouch of Bones and Strength of the Grave.  One way or another the zombies will be happy next turn (briefly, until they notice that they've been gnawing on Legacy's head for five minutes and still don't taste any brains).

[Odin]

I hate ruining this suit so early...

Draw adhesive foam grenade and deck upgrade mode.

Bunker

HP: 25

In Play: nothing

Hand: external combustion x2, adhesive foam grenade, omni cannon,upgrade mode

Deck: upgrade mode, gattling gun, turret mode and ???

Trash: nothing

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Start: nothing

Play: External Combustion (each of the zombies dies (can zombies die?) and the drum of despair [22], Bunker [23]

Power: Initialize to draw recharge mode and deck recharge mode

Draw: Draw Flak cannon and deck flak cannon (seriously? what is with this shuffling?)

End: nothing

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HP: 23

In Play: nothing

Hand: external combustion, adhesive foam grenade, omni cannon,upgrade mode, recharge mode, flac cannon

Deck: upgrade mode, gattling gun, turret mode, recharge mode, flak cannon and ???

Trash: External Combustion

Notes: Sorry to post this before Humble-knight responds but I won't be able to make a turn for about a day. Also what zombies? All I see are burnt corpses that aren't moving.

[Humble-Knight]

I’m not going to be able to make the decision until I get home anyway because I don’t know what either does. That said it shouldn’t affect AZ’s turn so he can go.
Also when I pick the card does the draw rule still apply and my power is mostly moot? I remember that it was talked about but don’t remember what the decision was

EDIT: I remember that the pouch is a relic that we need to kill to win but I’m not sure if we want to have 2 out to keep him from flipping. The way the deck plays it shouldn’t be too long til it comes out even if I do bury it. So what do you guys think

[Ironic]

I strongly recommend sending the relic away.  We don't have the damage to be dealing those yet - best to hold them off until Absolute Zero, Bunker, and Tachyon have their combos in order.