Well, it is now 1963 and the year has already started out weird for BW with the discovery that the Cube has the potential ability to act like a door, which has led to two kids landing on BW lap, one of them a girl that looks like she walked out of a Nazi camp.
Both kids are in comas and under constant surveillance. Though seeing Joy acting like a worried mother toward the girl was both interesting and weird.
Now BW has several issues to tackle, from investigating the Cube's origins, the possible security hole it has now revealed, the misplaced nukes, the comatose kids, and training Joy in her new Watchmen body.
Though why do you feel the need to write your will and plan an escape plan toward the Artic every time you thought of telling the main BW members about the existence of the Legacy.
MARTIAL (Pick 3)
-[X] Training Joy-
Cost- 1000, CoS- 50/10%, Reward- Joy knows how to use her new body and powers.
Roll- 99 13= 112 CRIT
Bonus= 8 (Training Ground Lvl. 3) 5 (Jack)= 13
Crit Roll- 89 12 (overflow)= 101
Crit Roll 2- 95 1(overflow)= 96 NAT CRIT
Crit Roll 3- 100
Crit Roll 4- 69
Let it be known that it was originally though that you were the most powerful Watchmen, with Indy coming second due to his experience and BL capability. But now, it is on everyone's minds the question if female Watchmen are the real powerhouse or that Joy is the exception.
This came due to when Joy began her training, she blew it out of the water, both figuratively and literally. Even though had been in a coma, she was able to get use to her body rather quickly to the point it drove Brandon nuts on how Joy was able to do it.
When it came to her body, she demonstrated all the same physical capabilities other Watchmen had. The primary difference being that even though she was still in her same size, she was stronger than you. Which she demonstrated when took on and defeated you, the other Watchmen, and the other BW soldiers in a physical fight. The fact that she won while holding back any real killing moves made her even more deadly.
Jack made the comment that Joy's fighting style, combined with super strength was a horror to anybody that decided to fight against her.
But when it came to training her BL, she demonstrated a level of control and power that really boggle the mind. By the end of the month, she could create and control up to 10 Bolts at the same time.
Though one unexcepted surprise occurred one day when Joy, in a moment of pure insanity (but not saying it to her face); had ordered the men to shoot her with heavy weapons, including using the helicopter, tank; Indy and you shooting her with Bolts. This was to test out her Bolts to intercept any thing that came at her at fast velocity.
At first the group started out with care in shooting her, but as time passed and the stress at her managing to take anything shot at her, made the men and you just go at her until one moment, the combined assault became too much for Joy to intercept and impacted her before the group could stop.
Though imagine the shock of the group when out of the smoke cloud came out a naked, uninjured, but flying; Joy, her body covered in what looked like a cloak of BL. A few moments of floating in the air, she landed on ground in full force, causing the ground to crack.
She stood straight and saw that the entire group was frozen at looking at her. She on the other hand, did not seem to notice her status.
"What? She asked when she finally noticed her status, lifting her right arm and seeing it was covered in BL.
"Well, that's interesting." She said in a calm tone.
From this accident, Joy learned she could turn her BL into a sort of cloak that covered her body, giving her a boost of strength and speed, as well as the ability to fly and that anything that touched her cloak suffered the same fate as being hit by a Bolt but at the cost of not being able to use Bolts at the same time the cloak is in use. She did discover that she could only use this ability for an hour before getting tired to the point that it leaves her running on empty for hours and needing to eat a lot recover her used up energy.
Joy was both glad and angry at her new ability. Glad because it gave her the ability to stand up to anything that could be thrown at her. Angry because every time she used the Cloak, it would leave her naked cause her clothes and anything she carries gets disintegrated by the Cloak.
You could honestly say that Joy's reputation as the Mother of Special Forces was not wrong at all.
Reward- Joy knows how to use her Watchmen body. Seems to be more powerful than Jacob.
Acquired:
Traits-
Watchmen (Specialized Battleship)
-Lvl 5 Bolts (create a floating ball shape projectile of BL, create and control at the same time- 10)
-Immune to tank shots
-Cloak- cover entire body in BL energy, cannot use Bolts, anything that she touches suffers the same effect as a Bolt, ability to fly and increase of speed and speed; usage of this destroys anything Joy is carrying. Time usage- 1 hour.
--[X] Gain more troops-
Cost- 200, Upkeep- 30, CoS- 70/50/30/10%, Reward- one squad of troops (rank depends on roll)
Roll- 11 15 (Bonus)= 26
Bonus- 10 (Joy) 5 (Jack)= 15
Because of Joy's extreme training regimen and covering the Cube's security issue, neither her nor Jack had time to request for more armed personnel for BW. They would try better next time.
Reward- FAIL
--[X] Cube Security-
Cost- 600, Upkeep- 400, CoS- 50%, Reward- Security for Cube Room established
Roll- 87 15 (bonus)= 102
Bonus- 10 (Joy) 5 (Jack)= 15
Crit roll- 78 2(overflow)= 80
When you told Joy and her staff to cover up the security issue surrounding the Cube, it should have occurred to you that they might go overboard in dealing with it.
With the help of the scientists, when they had free time; they managed to turn the Cube room into a virtual kill zone. While the room still retained its original look and function, in the event of an unfriendly incursion from the Cube, the room would become a kill zone, equipped with hidden turrets and a function to lockdown the room and deposit sleeping gas into it.
All in all, you were pleased with the final result. You just hoped that it would be enough if giant bugs came pouring through.
Reward- Cube Room is now secure.
Crit Reward- Base Defense bonus now applies to Cube room intrusions.
DIPLOMACY (Pick 3)
-[X] Report the Nukes-
Cost- 500, CoS- 50/5%, Reward- Nuke situation resolved.
Roll- 94 27= 121
Bonus- 5(Walter) 2(Indy) 5(Carol) 15(MC oversee) = 27
CRIT Roll- 85 21 (overflow)= 106
Crit Roll 2- 66 6 (overflow)= 72
Wanting to prevent a clusterfuck of issues with the current 'Broken Arrows' in your possession, you immediately sent to High Command, through every secure and secret channels you, Joy and Fury knew; the report on the location of the 'Arrows' and why they were in BW's possession.
You did not hear anything back for two days when on the third day, you received a priority call from President Kennedy himself. The President, in the most simple and direct way; ordered you to see him person the next day at Andrews Air Force Base before hanging up.
Hearing the order, you grabbed all your diplomatic teammates, who upon hearing that the President has called you to see him; packed their essentials quickly and all of you boarded the military plane that was sent to Hartford's airfield to pick you up.
You did make sure to leave Joy in charge of the base while you were away.
Hours later, your group arrived at Andrews Air Force Base where you were met with the Secret Service (SS) and were told to follow them. You and your group did as ordered and were led to one of the base's main office buildings and there the President was waiting.
Upon meeting him and saluting him, he declared that the following meeting was now considered classified and that the current meeting was not in the books due to its sensitive material. Then he began to talk.
In summary of meeting, President Kennedy was grateful that you took the initiative to report the missing 'Arrows', when it could have been possible for you to cover their existence up and keep them.
He said that immediately after your report reached his ears, he ordered an investigation on the situation and found out later that the logistic officer in charge of base were the DCs were being developed screw up the requisition orders and instead of sending them to where they were supposed to be sent, they were accidentally sent to you. Sufficing to say that the officer is now learning how to clean the latrines of the base he is stationed at.
When it came to the matter of returning the arrows, the President surprised you and your group in stating that while he would normally have the arrows taken back, in a moment of future biological preparations and sign of trust, the President is allowing BW to keep them and have authorization to use them but only as a last resort; and if they are used, expect a very, very complex and long debriefing about the reason for the use.
Your mind really went into overdrive thinking about the fact that your CIC just gave your two nukes to your arsenal: the same though going over the mind of your staff.
In the end, you told the President you accepted the duty he just imposed on you and BW.
At the end of the meeting before leaving, the President did say that while he trusted you and BW has shown to be functional organization in its duty, he wishes to see if the investment poured into BW was worth it, so he stated he wishes to receive a tour of Crown Wall. You said that you would be glad to allow the tour but that it would take some time to make sure the place was safe for the President to be at.
Inwardly, you were worried that the President might find out about the Cube, the Watchmen's true nature or worse, the kids. That was one can of worms you were not ready to deal with outside of BW. Though you did find it strange that he did not comment on Indy who was next to you.
With that the President left with his SS agents behind him. Because of how late the meeting took place, you and your group spent the night at the base's barracks and the next day left back for BW HQ.
You honestly thought everything was alright until when looking over the luggage you and your group had, there was one extra crate among the stuff. When the content of the crate was revealed, it took you holding down an angry Indy to prevent him from blowing up the roof, literally.
Not that you blamed him since you wanted to do the same.
Reward- Legal permission to keep the DCs.
President Kennedy's trust in BW increased.
'Invited by the Crown' action is free for the next two turns, with the President doing the visit.
--[X] Attempt to make friends-
Cost- 40, CoS- 50/40/20/10%, Reward- Connection established with a group.
Roll- 25 12= 37
Bonus- 5(Walter) 2(Indy) 5(Carol)= 12
FAIL
Because of the rush in dealing with the sudden meeting with the President and then leaving, your diplomatic members did not have time to create any new alliances.
Though it did not help what was found among your luggage.
Reward- FAIL
--[X] Mr. Blackwatch Goes to Washington:
Cost- 700, CoS- 55/25/5%
Reward- Forgo having a member of our command staff assist in their assigned activity to head to Washington for a particular mission or objective. This will have to be specified, but it could produce a positive gain to speak to someone directly from Blackwatch.
Roll- 5 12 = 17
Bonus- 5(Walter) 2(Indy) 5(Carol)= 12
CRIT FAIL
You are honestly starting to wonder what the hell was wrong with logistic officers in charge of sending stuff to other places.
This was the question that was in your mind as you were holding down a very pissed off Indy while the rest of the main BW staff could only stand by in shock(Carol), horror (Danny), and exasperation (Joy) at what they were seeing.
What they were seeing was a crate that came with your luggage from your trip to DC. When looking over your group's luggage, you found the extra crate that you distinctively remember was not a part of your group's luggage.
What was interesting of the crate was that it had French labels on it, stating that the crate came from France and later flown to the US, directly to the National Gallery of Art in DC.
When it was decided to open the crate and saw what was inside, the room became so quiet that if a pin were to drop in the room, it might as well have made the sound of a huge explosion.
The first one to react was Indy, who looked ready to explode, his eyes glowing. You quickly reacted and held him down to the floor to keep him still while attempting to cancel his BT. Though that did not stop Indy from yelling quite possibly every single curse word in existence ….in multiple languages, some that you knew were old as hell.
The reason for the current situation….
Somehow while being in Andrews, someone ROYALLY screwed up and sent the crate that was carrying the Mona Lisa, which if you remember correctly was supposed to be on display in DC during this month, with your luggage.
Of all the possible things that could get lost and find their way to BW, the most famous painting in the world was NOT ON THE LIST!!!
This was the source of Indy's anger. The situation that one of history's greatest master pieces ending up getting lost in the mail was something the archaeologist in him could not accept.
"This painting managed to stay hidden and intact for years during a war-torn Europe to keep it out of the hands of the Nazis. And now for the first time since WW2, when it leaves its country on a world tour, it actually got lost in the blasted mail." Indy yelled while stuck on the floor.
'Great, we managed to avoid a possible nuclear fallout situation, but now we a possible political fallout situation; one that if it gets out, the French are going to go lose their minds while Russia stands by and laughs at us.' You personally thought as you continued to hold Indy down.
The President is so not going to like this.
STEWARDSHIP (Pick 2-1=1)
-[X] Build Secret Production line for Cube Batteries, below ground-
Cost- 4000, Upkeep- 2000; Time- 4 Turns, CoS- 50%; Reward- Small factory completed, MP of Cube batteries possible.
Roll- 55 5(Hayden)= 60
PASS
With the construction of the medical factory done, you decided it was time to reroute the construction efforts to creating a small factory production line inside the base to manufacture Cube Batteries in secret.
Construction began in slow steps due to deciding to build the factory underground to hide its existence and that in the event of an aerial attack, it could withstand the assault.
Still, Hayden told you that construction will be finished on schedule.
To continue, finish in Turn 18
-[x] Construct Pharmaceutical Factory
Cost- 5000, Upkeep- 2000; Time- 6 Turns, CoS- 50% (Cost already taken and upkeep already in the list)
Roll- 92 5(Hayden)= 97 ART CRIT
STEWARDSHIP SUB-VOTE
-[X[FAC-POWER] Connected directly to HQ (Upkeep reduced to 500)
After months of non-stop work, the pharmaceutical factory is finally finished and mass production of WBS was finally possible.
To make sure the factory ran at optimal speed and had manpower to meet the obvious demand that is going to fall your product, you took the risk and decided to hire people from Hartford.
Suffice to say that the reaction to a new factory opening near their town that provided a new source of income was a welcomed one.
Though you did ordered Fury to run a background check on every employee to make sure they were really who they were and not spies. Last thing you needed was for the Soviets to acquire a sample of WBS.
According to him, all the new employees in the factory were clean, so that was one less worry.
One additional perk to the factory was that to save on utilities, the factory was connected to the Crown Wall's power grid aka the Cube. This meant that the factory practically had unlimited power to work its machines 24/7.
When the first batch of WBS was delivered to the Armed Forces, they were very pleased, and the higher ups decided to give a bonus increase to BW's budget once again.
Bonus Income Roll for WBS, to be added to Federal income= 1d100 = 27
27,000 monthly income added. (Will be added in the next turn.
According to them, spreading WBS across the Armed Forces will take time.
Though, Joy did tell you and your staff to expect that some shipments of WBS were going to be given to other agencies in the US government like those in the CIA but that was just the cost of doing business. You just hoped that it does not reached the hands of enemies.
Reward- Factory finished. Factory capable of mass producing two products at the same time; one slot currently in use for WBS. Upkeep for factory reduced.
WBS is now being MP and sold to the U.S. Armed Forces.
U.S. Government's opinion of Blackwatch massively improved.
Hartford's opinion of Crown Wall somewhat improved.
LEARNING (Pick 3)
-[X] Investigate Kid's Armor:
Cost- 5000, Upkeep- 2500 (While action is taken), DC- 300/500/1000 (Understand/LP/MP), Reward- Armor understood.
Roll- 434 (Bonus)= 38
Bonus- 5(Marcus) 10(Robert) 2(Strangelove) 2(Christopher) 15(Laboratory)= 34
Crit Fail
Reroll- 3234= 66
Okay, so apparently trying to examine a futuristic armor was not easy, even with all the scientists at your disposal. Since they had no idea what they were working with, and the only person who knew about it was in a coma; they had to take it slow and steady in examining the parts of the armor individually.
You told them to take their time and be patient.
Though for some reason, you had this nagging feeling that you managed to avoid a disaster.
NEW DC- 262/462/962*
While the reroll cancelled the negative of the first roll, since it was Crit; the number used to decrease the DC is 38 not 66.
--[X] Investigate Cube's history-
Cost- 700, Upkeep- 250 (while the action is being done), DC- 400, Reward- Cube's origins discovered.
Roll- 9 29 (bonus)= 38
Bonus- 5(Marcus) 10(Robert) 2(Strangelove) 2(Christopher) 10(Indy Special) = 29
Besides working on the armor and improving the Tacpur, your scientists, with Indy taking special charge; were looking for any hints to the origins about the Cube. Sadly, this task seemed to be even more difficult due to its nature of looking across history for clues.
NEW DC- 362
--[X] Improve Tacpur-
-[X] Computer Room (BRLESC): (10 to one Learning Action per turn that could use a computer to help)
Cost- 4000, Upkeep- 1000 (while the action is being done), DC- 200/600 (Taste/Normal), Reward- Tacpur improved.
Roll- 77 44= 121
Bonus- 5(Marcus) 10(Robert) 2(Strangelove) 2(Christopher) 15(Laboratory) 10(Computer Room)= 44
Crit Roll- 82 21 (overflow)= 103
Crit Roll 2- 100 3 (overflow)= 103
Critl Roll 3- 45 3 (overflow)= 48
NAT 100 CRIT OVERIDE, FINISHED
So apparently, while your scientists had difficulties in beginning in examining the armor and looking for clues to the Cube's origins; when it came to making food, they shine like no tomorrow.
Or maybe Christopher was tired of eating food that tasted like crap, not that you could blame him.
Either way, after days of testing, the group managed to come up with two new versions of Tacpur. One, called Tacpure; is a version that can only be eaten by Watchmen but now actually taste good. According to the gossip pipeline, seeing Joy eaten through them without having to worry about her figure caused some mildly jealousy in the other female BW personnel.
While the other version, called Tacpuro; is a version that can be eaten by normal humans without problems and taste good as well, which all normal BW personnel responded that it really tasted good, specially the soldiers. The best thing about it was that it could be MP and had an exceedingly long shelf life. Which lead to the idea of maybe giving this the government and have it replace MRIs, something that every soldier would definitely have enjoy.
Marcus was proud that his first invention was finally completed and in ways he never imagined.
Reward- Tacpur evolved into two separate products:
Tacpure= Version for Watchmen only, taste good.
Tacpuro= Version for normal people, taste good, can be MP.
Action regarding how to deal with Tacpur's future in the next turn.
INTRIGUE (Pick 2):
-[X] Hide the existence of the kids:
Cost- 1000, CoS- 40%, Reward- Kids' existence covered.
Roll- 15 5(Fury)= 20
FAIL
Reroll- 70 5 (Fury)= 75, PASS
Apparently, Fury discovered that trying to hide the existence of two kids was more difficult than running background checks on BW's factory employees and looking for any possible Soviet spies.
At best, their existence for now is hidden but he also stated that this means that they don't have any official existence either, which would have to be dealt with in the future if they wish to have lives.
You told him that for now, it was enough.
Reward- Kids' existence hidden for now.
--[X] Factory Background-
Cost- 500, CoS- ???, Reward- Background checks on Factory workers done
Roll- 80 5(Fury)= 85
PASS
READ 'Construct Pharmaceutical Factory' action
PERSONAL (Pick 3):
-[X] Oversee an action- Personally oversee an action and help carry it out. (Oversee Report the Nukes)
-[X] Investigate weird occurrence-
CoS- 50/20/5%, Time- 1 Turn, Reward-???
Roll- 35, FAIL
With all the things having to be done in and around BW, you did not have time to investigate anything out of the ordinary, especially since nothing happened during the unveiling of the next batch of Stones like in the other times.
Though you wished something did happened as opposed to the news you received that hit you hard in the soul.
Reward- Nothing investigated.
-[X] Confide the Legacy-
CoS- 50%; Reward- BW core group learns about Legacy.
Roll- 29, FAIL
With all the things occurring around BW, especially the Mona Lisa situation; you honestly forgot to set up a meeting to reveal the Legacy to the other primary members of BW.
Will try to some other time. Though you still felt that you managed to dodge a bullet for some reason.
Reward- Failure
Translation Roll:
DC- 280
Roll- 10
NEW DC- 270
Boy Coma-
Roll- 39 vs. 55
FAIL, 5 next turn
Girl Coma-
Roll- 29 vs. 33
FAIL, 5 next turn
Philosopher's Stones (PS) Status:
Roll d50= 5
5 stones have been created.
Random Event Roll- 7
"Brandon, I want you to give me to me straight. How long does she have?" You asked Brandon while looking at the bed in front of you that had a sleeping old lady hooked up to machines and liquids.
The old lady on the bed was Ms. Kara Jansen, your old orphanage caretaker.
It was a day ago that you got a call from New York's Presbyterian Hospital, telling you that your old caretaker was admitted due to being found sick in her home and that you were her emergency contact.
The reason for her collapse was the fact that Ms. Jansen had breast cancer, one that was not discovered until her collapse. Luckily for her, she had some of her friends in her home due to having a tea party and they managed to get her to the hospital.
"I am sorry to say Jacob, that her cancer has progressed far beyond any of the known treatments. Best estimates, if we give her medicine to slow the cancer down, she will only last one more month. Right now, the only things I can think of to help her would be to continually give her drugs to ease the pain until she passes naturally, or…." Brandon said in a sad tone and did not finish the sentence since he knew you could easily think what the last option was.
Hearing it made it really sting in your heart. Ms. Jansen, the closest thing you had to a mother, which must have meant something since according to the legal papers, since she had no family, she named you as her holder of power of attorney in the event something happened to her; was really dying and there was nothing it could be done to save her, either leave her in a coma to left her die naturally or to pull the plug and let her pass quickly and save her the pain.
At this point, you did not know what to do.
'Reward'= Ms. Jansen in BW's care; diagnosed with cancer, time to live- 1 turn
[X] [CATA] Do not do test.
[X] [BIRTH] Increase Base AP for all categories by 1. (Would take effect in the next turn)
[X] [BIRTH] NAT Crits activates the Crit Roll without needing an overflow of remaining points.
[X] Yes (Joy gets the bonus)
Final Cost Result:
New Upkeep= 5,610 3,650 = 9,260
New Federal Income= 26k 27k= 53k
New Income= 589,068 – 9,260 (Upkeep) – 18, 240 (Turn Cost) = 561,568
Legacy Fund= 168,539,325,843 (not touched this turn)
'Reward'- Acquired the Mona Lisa.