Alright, first things first. I have screwed up with my wording in the last post and apparently terrified everyone, so let me clarify.
When she said "Kill them all", she meant "kill them all that you can actually, feasibly kill". Talion is in the arena atm, and the nullification field is still in effect. Ergo, the only people Talion has a chance against are the other 5 people in the ring with him. And of
those, he's only going to be gunning for the three that are already classified as his enemies - Knight, Ifrit and Gamble - and anyone who actively gets in his way. The audience, and Tony, are completely safe. Feel free to edit your posts to reflect this, or what not, but i'll be editing mine to make that last part more clear and offer the mic back after Conflux is done with it shortly after this.
Again, my bad, I'll be clearer in future.
Next order of business.
Why does Conflux's persuasion ability work in the power nullification field? However she's exerting her will, it seems like it would be coming from where she's standing (in the audience, which is within the nullification field), not from where the target is standing (in the arena, where the field is absent). Even if it is based on where the target is, Tony is in the field, and so should be unaffected.
This I'm unwilling to answer in telling you specifically how, but I shall confirm a few things. I have specifically hinted at how she does so in my post, but it's fairly well hidden unless you make a few assumptions of your own. It does come from where she is standing and has no bearing on the location of her target whatsoever. The best and most obvious answer I can give is the
she cannot negate or ignore the field herself.
but the "there's no save from this you just have to do what the person says for the convenience of plot" has never been one of those working solutions.
If you're using mind control and don't know how the players can defeat it, you're using it wrong.
*Darth Vader Breathing Noises* I find your lack of faith...disturbing.
First off, I have no plot. I believe I've said this before, but I mean it. All I have are characters with goals and motivations and PCs with the same, and utterly no idea where any of this is going. Conflux isn't using her power to advance any plot, she's using it to advance her own goals.
I know exactly how the players can defeat it, and was planning to slowly introduce countermeasures over the course of the saga involving her, but I shall post a text dump of stuff here I was going to reveal later but have hinted at most of this stuff already.
First off, for those who have actually read Worm, Kingmaker and Conflux share the same shard. For those who haven't, this basically means that their powers both share the same overall semantic theme and function. I called them 'Arbiter' in a previous post, as in Arbitration, persuasion and working out solutions with people.
Conflux's power has two parts. The first is a passive field around her that slowly - over a period of several weeks, months or years - makes a target more susceptible to her control. Her second ability is actively telling people what to do and works as thus:
- She can instruct a target to carry out a command. The target will then attempt to fully carry out this instruction ONCE via the most convenient means. "Kill yourself" may mean jump off a bridge, or shoot yourself in the head. This may then be stopped by other people or through circumstantial means. A jumper may be saved from jumping by a passing civilian or caught by a flying hero. The person trying to shoot themselves in the head may have just run out of ammunition. Either way, this marks the command as 'complete' - even if the outcome is not what Conflux desired. Completing the task - such as handing her the microphone - also completes the task.
- Once a task is 'complete', the target regains all control over their own actions and is only then aware of everything that transpired from when she used her power. This is caused by the target's brain being allowed to perceive the alteration to his consciousness, and allows the target to build up an immunity to this power because it has become hyper-aware to any changes. As such, her power can be used once on a target, after which they cannot be controlled for around three or four in-game days. This is increased when dealing with Thinker-powers by a factor of their PRT rating. Low-level thinkers will be unaffected for about a week, whereas high-level thinkers may gain years of protection. Since they both have the same shard, this 'cooldown' is shared between both Conflux and Kingmaker's powers.
Speaking of, Kingmaker also has two abilities. The first is another passive ability, in that he instinctively knows the best thing to say to make a target agree with his point of view. That does not always mean it is successful, but he can usually talk people into doing things without using his secondary power. The active ability of Kingmaker's power is far more limited than Conflux:
- He can command a target to follow an instruction, and the target will do so to the best of their ability while being completely conscious of what they have to do. As such, if the thing goes against their core nature, such as killing themselves, stealing from a close friend or betraying a faction, they simply will not do so. When the refuse to carry out a command - as happened with Geist in his penthouse - the target suffers crippling headaches and becomes completely aware of what Kingmaker asked them to do, and gains the same immunity to his power for roughly 3-4 days. As before, this is shared between both him and Conflux, which is why Geist refused to carry out both Kingmaker and Conflux's instructions during the post in the penthouse.
I have no intention of forcing a character to do anything that would cause any serious implications for them without the player being completely on-board. As such, while I may give instructions to PCs as I see fit, I am fully aware that any may be prevented by a number of means - be it active support from an ally or NPC, or merely co-incidence. In any event, Conflux will not be involved in many battles personally besides the Circus, as her entire power set revolves around preparing others to fight for her. She's only here to deliver an ultimatum to the city, once Talion is finished.
I shall have my post edit done soon, need to go prepare soup quickly first. Will likely not be around at all for the next few days, so have a very merry chrstimas, and I'll see you all again soon. ^.^
