Tarot Jerks Player Plot: The Chariot and The Tower

[jerks22]

Breaking News: An outbreak of rats descends upon Nova City! More as this story develops...

Hi all, this is JudgeCF bringing you another Jerks plot. This one will involve society-wide break down, rodents, maladies both physical and mental, techno-sewers, a showdown with "Patient Zero", and a note left behind by the mastermind his (or her)self. But let's not get ahead of ourselves. Onto the plot!

The first phase involves the invasion, and subsequent infestation. Nova City and your muses will have to deal with these pestilent-filled pests. And there's so many flavors! There's the usual symptoms associated with rats and disease. Fever, vomiting, joint and muscle pain, rash, headache, etc.

BUT! There's a more cerebral side to these vermin. For fun, your characters may be visited by a special kind of rat, each with its own distinct mental malady. Seven are more or less 'okay' for general audiences, whereas two more are kinky. If you're interested in those last two, let me know and I'll give them to your muses as an option. Without further ado...

The Rat of Proud Adulthood

Children are annoying. They whine, consume way too many resources, and don’t contribute anything to society. Who needs ‘em? Not you. You’re a grown-up; you can take care of yourself. The younger generation is full of leeches, and should be expelled. Do your part to spite the people of tomorrow today. If you’re a child yourself, however, then you will inexplicably be treated this way by most adults you come across.

The Rat of Dominance

No one should ever look down on you. Your boss? No such thing. Your friends? They should bow to you. If someone so much as looks as you funny, they’re on their way to a broken nose. Pick fights, take what you deserve, and make sure the world knows who runs the place. You’re the alpha here. Don’t let anyone forget that.

The Rat of Role Reversal

You know, the way you've been doing things just isn't cutting it before. The definition of insanity is doing the same thing and expecting different results, right? So, the most sane thing is to do the complete opposite! Switch polarities, and embrace a new you that has nothing to do with you at all. What could be more sane?

The Beautiful One

There are four ingredients to the good life: Eating, sleeping, drinking, and grooming. Going outside just isn’t worth the hassle. It’s all so noisy and there’s all these other people around…PITA, right? So stay inside. Order online. Take care of yourself, and only yourself. If you get so much as a papercut, you’re doing it wrong. Let the world worry about its own problems, and do you.

The Rat of Frenzy

HOLY CRAP YOU GOTTA MOVE NOW. EVERY SECOND IS A MISSED OPPORTUNITY. GET FOOD, GET STATUS, GET EVERYTHING. IF YOU WAIT, YOU COULD LOSE IT ALL. THERE’S NO TIME TO WAIT; NOW OR NEVER. SO CHOOSE NOW. RIGHT NOW. GO!

The Rat of Withdrawal

People are scary. They always want you to either serve or submit. So don’t bother; wait till everyone’s asleep, then take care of your business. If, by some chance, one of those monsters approaches you, always have an escape plan ready. You can’t trust anyone. Everyone’s out for themselves, so be by yourself. Always.

The Rat of Crowding

Safety in numbers. You’re not a picky person, so you’re down with whatever anyone else wants to do. Just so long as a lot of other people are doing it. Don’t stick out, don’t make noise, just go with the flow. A herd mentality is the best mentality. You go where they go, think what they think, and do what they do. That’s what being an upstanding citizen of the community is all about.

There are two more additional raunchy rats, but kids are playing this game, so we'll just forget about them. ;D let me know if you MUST

Now, which rat torments your muse? Up to you! You can either choose for yourself (so long as it's different from what your character usually acts like), roll randomly (or use this Shindan I made), or, best of all, let ME decide. I'll choose whatever's funny, based on what I know about your character. These infections can be fought with some difficulty. The only cure, however, is to neutralize the source...

Once the various diseases have spread long and wide enough, then comes phase 2: Patient Zero. By then the rodent menace will have been traced to the Nova City techno-sewers. A dangerous place in its own right in the wake of the turmoil. Note: ONLY THOSE INFECTED MAY MAKE THE JOURNEY! Others won't blend in well enough, giving away their scent and putting Patient Zero on the run. Once our brave heroes make it to the heart of the nest, the ultimate showdown may commence. Will the forces of civilization stop itself from crumbling? Will Genessia prove itself capable of harnessing its animal urges?

Find out in another spectacular Jerks adventure! Good luck in the rat race.

Questions, comments, concerns? Hit me up in this inbox, the comments, or my Plurk handle.

 

Comments

[askypirate]

Oh, this looks awesome! So, when is this outbreak going to occur?

[jerks22]

Fanx! It will occur soon(tm) around New Years; sooner if I drum up a lot of interests. Say, seven players.

[trueseeker]

Well, I am certainly interested, with at least two of my muses!

[goneturbo]

Gimme a rat!

[jerks22]

Okay! He's new, so the anti-social rats simply won't do. That leaves...*roll roll*.

The rat of Proud Adulthood! Go forth, and knock over children's ice cream cones.

[goneturbo]

This is a slightly more exaggerated version of his actual attitude, actually! But maybe it'll mean he starts treating Vanelope badly again and she's NOT GONNA HAVE IT.

[jerks22]

Dang, a video game character spurning the enjoyment of children. Who do you think feeds you quarters there, bub? *smh*

[goneturbo]

Hey, he's a bad guy, it's okay if he has a generally cynical and disregarding attitude to the outside world.

[sugarcar]

You bet she's not gonna have it.

[goneturbo]

Yeah, well obvs. she needs to GET A JOB.

[sugarcar]

She's a child, Ralph, and a president at that.

[goneturbo]

any job that Ronald Reagan can do isn't a real job!

[koishi_komeiji]

Are the special rats magical afflictions or actual diseases?

[jerks22]

Magical afflictions. They're a tad subtle, so you'll need a nerd glasses high spellcraft dc to find out. And, per usual, even the strongest magicians won't be able to undo the spell permanently until Patient Zero is neutralized. They can, however, somewhat sooth the effects with curative spells.

[watercharm]

I'd love to have Aqua get a special rat and then maybe have Kahlan just get sick since she'll be exploring.

[jerks22]

Nice. Take your pick from these two:

The Rat of Proud Adulthood, OR

The Rat of Frenzy

[watercharm]

The Rat of Frenzy will be fun >.< Also she'd be acting soooo strange.

[jerks22]

Frenetically overactive Aqua. Seeing her hopped up on caffeine oughta be swell.

[knowledgeandshadow]

/slides Patchy in here

[jerks22]

They sees you. With their mouse eyes.

[trueseeker]

Richard is going to set about organizing a search for a cure as well putting a stop to the spread after Kahlan winds up sick (probably a network post) and will be visited in the course of this by the Rat of Dominance!

Balthier could use a rat, your choice.

[jerks22]

Balthier gets The Bootiful One! Does he have enough friends to be concerned with his sudden narcissism, or would you like something more outgoing?

[trueseeker]

Hmm...he's already pretty narcissistic

[jerks22]

All right, he gets the Rat of Crowds. He won't even go to the bathroom unless someone goes with him.

[askypirate]

Hahaha yes! Now that one I can play with XD

[orlokbutterfly]

What happens if one of these rats try to infect a cyborg? Do they get the same fare as everyone else or would their part machine nature get in the way in some manner?

I'm also very tempted to ask about those additional two rats but that's just because I'm terrible like that.

[jerks22]

That might help alleviate the effects of the physical diseases, but the nature of the mental conditions are supernatural/magical, so they'll effect every mind the same. That said, if they can literally program their own mind to fight back against the effect, that can provide some relief. But the pressure will always be there so long as Patient Zero runs free.

Resist your temptation

[orlokbutterfly]

Gotcha, so Gale'd be just as screwed as everyone else if I put him through the crazy mental effects. Mental reprogramming is one thing he can't do. :D

Telling me to resist only makes me more tempted. I'm very bad at this.

[orlokbutterfly]

'nother question. Do the special rats only effect one person each or do they infect multiple people so more than one muse get the effects? I mostly ask since I'm undecided about maybe having a visit from the Rat of Dominance.

But, I admit it, I gotta bite. If they're permitted, what are these scandalous other two rats?

[jerks22]

Nope, anyone can be infected by any rat.

[The other two would be hypersexuality and reverse sexuality]

[deadlysakura]

Zoisite needs a rat so he can TOTALLY lose his shit and be forced to overcome his fear of them. Or just lose his shit.

[youfool]

No one's taken Role Reversal yet, so there you go! Have a fun opposite day, Etisoiz.

[deadlysakura]

Genessia, be prepared for a gentle and humble Zoisite who takes blame for stuff that isn't even his fault!

[theonewithsixeyes]

So if your character's brain is a computer, how does that work? Reading through, I know it's a magical affliction, but magic tends not to work the same on machines as it does people...

That said, I'll take a rat! And if you want to put a spin on it based on computer brain, that'd be fun too.

[jerks22]

It's magic; I don't gotta explain jack! Still, if you're person is...well, a person, it'll affect them about the same as anyone else, although it does draw upon natural urges gone haywire. Urges to acquire resources, status, selfishness, and so on. I leave it up to your robo-brain to twist that as you see fit.

As for your rat, let's see....The Beautiful One! An urge to pamper and preen will become nigh irresistible. For a robot he'd probably oil himself up and do a lot of self-maintenance to the exclusion of pretty much everything else.

That one's the most self-absorbed of the bunch, so if there's no other characters to get properly worried for his sake, another rat is ready and willing...

[theonewithsixeyes]

Oh, I can definitely work with this. He already uses his abilities to groom himself enough as is, the desire to pamper and perfect his image would take that into MAXIMUM OVERDRIVE.