THE MIND SLAYER [modplot/signups/infopost]

[letsgolegion]

THE MIND SLAYERBASIC INFO

Danger! A psychic assassin has been hired to target the Legion of Super Heroes! Using mental techniques forbidden by UP law and taboo on Titan, they've linked the minds of many of the Legionnaires into a psychic daisychain. Hiding in their memories, the assassin seeks to find an opportune moment to kill one of them by aggravating one of their near-death experiences into either a fatal heart attack or total traumatic mental shutdown. With their minds linked, however, if one of them shuts down, they'll drag everyone with them. Teams of Legionnaires must explore one another's memories, racing against time before the mind slayer causes a deadly chain reaction.


SETTING

Their memories.

Having seized control of the mind of the Legion’s sous chef, the deadly assassin called Esper forced them to seed the Legion’s food with telepathic nanofactories that, at a set point, would lock the Legion’s minds together, forcing them into an amalgam of their innermost thoughts. Their minds lock together into a confusing hub-world of the settings most important to them, though not necessarily the settings that are most pleasant.

From there, they’ll have to wander into the confusing cacophony of their teammate’s memories, seeking out the ones the most likely for Esper to be meddling in, or hunting her down themselves. That is, assuming they don’t just take the chance to invade their teammate’s privacy.

WHO IS AFFECTED AND HOW

The nanofactories are pumping out machines that connect to the minds of their hosts, and can even tap the electronic minds of artificial intelligences if their physical ‘selves’ (such as an AI chip) have come into contact with an ‘infected’ user. The entire team has been filled with these nanofactories by now, but only the ones in range of Esper and one another will be affected.

PERCEPTION

When wandering through memories, the ‘doorways’, if there are any, will be decided by the owner’s personality. They might find themselves in a filing room, wandering a long hallway with many doors, stumbling through images smashing together, or just popping randomly from one memory to the next.

When settling into a memory, they’ll be observing it from the third person, not through the victim’s eyes. However, if the memory has a strong emotional attachment, they might be buffeted by the feelings the Legionnaire was experiencing at that moment, whether it be joy, rage, or crushing despair.

The Legionnaires must be careful: usually they’re invisible observers, but by exerting some force of will, they can actually alter the memories of the people they’re inside. This can be extremely dangerous, risking personality shifts or total mental shutdown if the changes are too radical.

ESPER

Esper, Meta Ulnoor, is a native of Titan and a skilled telepath who requested Legion membership several years ago. After being humiliated by then-Legionnaire Saturn Queen, Esper stormed out of her tryout with tears in her eyes, vowing revenge. Since then, she’s looked for a way to make herself the most powerful telepath alive, using illegal electronics and machinery as a crutch. Once she’s gotten her revenge on the Legion, she plans on tracking down Saturn Queen, framing her for the crime, mind-frying the psy-witch, and taking her place in the hallowed halls of Legion World in good standing after getting revenge for their fallen comerades.

As a telepath, she’s skilled but her power doesn’t even approach those of the Legion’s former psychics. However, with the machines she uses to amplify her abilities, she can become an incredibly dangerous astral warrior. However, as dangerous as her tools are to her victims, they can be moreso to her if her will is overcome in the mental realms.

ESPER’S TOOLS

Esper’s nanomachines will work to alter the Legionnaire’s memories either by exacerbating the trauma or introducing unexpected new danger where there wasn’t any before. A memory of being totally overwhelmed by enemies, sudden tragedy or danger inserted into a happy memory, or just enhancing the level of emotion in the scene are all possibilities.

The memories that are being altered will stand out somehow, and somewhere in them are mental generators, cylindrical machines the size of bongo drums that work their telepathic magic to change the memories. They’re invisible to the victim and are generally tucked away somewhere ‘unnoticeable’, but they’ll have a slight purple glow to them for anyone foreign to the victim’s mind. Destroying them will slowly revert the changes to the memories, as there’s no driving will behind them.

Each victim will have 1-3 mental generators, chosen at random by the player.

Somewhere, in one of the victims (Who will be RNGed from people who have signed up for it in the comments below and have filled out the Activity Bonus) Esper will be hiding. Frustrated by her machine’s lack of power, she’s taken matters into their own hand and will be trying to straight up murder the Legionnaire herself, using her telepathic abilities to make herself more powerful than any one hero has a chance of dealing with.


HOW NPCING WILL WORK:

The mods will npc Esper in combat. Any extras, like if someone’s surrounded by more gunmen than they remember, will have to be handled by the players in charge of that character’s memories. They’ll also decide where the mental generators are located and what effects they’re having. In short, each player will be running each scenario until Esper gets involved, at which point she’ll take over.


PLOT START


Signups are open until the end of the plot unless you plan on confronting Esper. This is a gamewide plot, open to all, so signups here are largely for planning.

You may sign up to fight Esper until: 6/13/17 @ 12pm EST, but you must have completed the Activity Bonus in your last AC in order to do so. The character she’s hiding in will fight as well, and you should say whether you want to fight her or host and fight her in your signup post. Only four people will be chosen to face Esper.

Plot will go up: 6/8/17.

Please direct signups, questions, concerns, plotting and other issues to the comments below.

Comments

[nofortunateson]

I guess some good news is that they do have a bubble shield for the first volley, and that North should be able to keep defense under wraps for the most part between shielding allies and bubbling Esper herself, as much as he's able to do so, until the power nukes can do their thing on her.

[fantasykiller]

I think Wash would be much better suited for the role of the power nuke than Touma. Wash's power nullification has far better range and can keep her powerless for two minutes (which is the equivalent of a century in a fight) compared to Touma's almost nonexistent range and power shutdown duration. Touma would work better as a defensive wall along side North and a trump card against any unexpected bullshit.

For example, North can focus on keeping the four year old safe with his bubble wrap shield while Touma sticks with Wash.

[nofortunateson]

I mean, North can selectively bubble/unbubble as needed, especially considering they're only facing one opponent. Heck, if mods allow it he could just bubble her long enough for Wash to do his thing. He doesn't have to be inside the shield for it to work.

[fantasykiller]

Considering the mods chose a group with two characters with very defensive abilities and one that can render her completely helpless, she should have enough firepower and tricks to justify having four dudes gang up on her. It would be pretty boring if it only takes half the team to steamroll her.

[legionnpcs]

I mentioned this on plurk, so I'll also bring it up here.

Don't feel limited by their actual powersets. Remember that this is a mental battlefield, not a physical one. You're fighting a telepath, true, but on the Legion's home turf and she's not powerful enough to override them completely. Otherwise the fight wouldn't be happening.

[unrecovered]

Well then. I vote we go full Nightmare On Elm Street 3 up in here. :D

Though someone else will have to figure out that that's a possibility, because Wash probably won't think of it.

[nofortunateson]

Ditto on someone else figuring that out, as that level of outside-the-box is not really North's forte. I'm canon blind for Touma - does that seem like something he'd go for?

[fantasykiller]

It's definitely something that Touma would figure out. The guy is pretty good when it comes to analyzing his opponents' powers and thinking of clever ways around them. He wouldn't be pulling any mind-blowing stunts once he realizes they're not limited like their real world counterparts due to his aversion to obtaining power, but he will immediately inform everybody so they can take advantage of it.

[unrecovered]

If everyone's up for it, I'm down for starting the battle with Wash trying to knock out her I Am Become Death Destroyer Of Minds form (unsuccessfully, so we can have a dramatic round or two, until Touma figures out they're not limited, and then successfully the next go round). What's everyone planning on doing?

[nofortunateson]

Planning on North blocking the initial strike then playing protection duty as needed for the rest of the fight. He is all about Operation Dudes Let's None Of Us Die.

[fantasykiller]

Go for it! I'm perfectly fine with North starting us off.