Marks caught a few villians in his day, and one thing they always seem to have in common is they never shut up.
Not everyone can leave themselves open, provoke in just the right way and even let themselves get into seemingly precarious situations, just to loosen some lips.
He's learned how to conversationally 'push their buttons' and make them talk.
So far, the most reliable way has been to talk about himself, to instigate their inevitable sense of competition.
It takes constant conversation, so when Mark mentions his relavent truths, their target does too.
Preferably in the form of a back and forth gloating/determination sort of thing if it is antagonistic, or a comraderie building honesty moment if not.
Examples:
"I'm Mark Collins, fighter of injustice, protector of the weak. I'm here to stop you! " (flexes in superhero pose)
"It's too late, Mark!" (laughs maniacally) "You'll never find the bombs in time!" (Shows him live feed of the city.) "Watch your public failure with me! The world will know my name! ZOXOB!"
"If you have to look along the shaft of an arrow from the wrong end, if a man has you entirely at his mercy, then hope like hell that man is an evil man. Because the evil like power, power over people, and they want to see you in fear. They want you to know you're going to die. So they'll talk. They'll gloat. They'll watch you squirm. They'll put off the moment of murder like another man will put off a good cigar. So hope like hell your captor is an evil man. A good man will kill you with hardly a word."
Terry Pratchett
Exert your Mind and spend one minute. Select a Sapient target within 20 feet. You must actively converse with the individual in question for one minute in order to gather any information. At the end of your investigation, roll Brawn + Influence at Difficulty 6.
You learn all the following information about your target:
The quality and specificity of information gained depends on your Outcome. For any information you learn about your target, the corresponding information about you is shared with them.
Any information you gather is A spoken conversation and made publicly available. This also includes any information the target learns about you.
You cannot investigate the same target more than once per day.
The Entomancer opens up a cup full of tiny insects and releases them into the surrounding area. A minute later, they march back to inform their queen of their findings.
Activation Roll: Intellect + Entomancy
Exert your Mind and spend a minute. Investigate an area with a radius of up to 500 feet You must use up a cup of bugs in order to activate this Effect. At the end of your investigation, roll Intellect + Alertness at Difficulty 6.
You learn the following information about the area:
Possession of this Power grants the following Trauma at all times: Human Stain - Your dreams are filled with humans and their evergrowing hubris. (Nightmares).
You cannot investigate the same area more than once per day.
Tam lets out a breath, and closes her eyes for a moment. When she opens them, her fingers are twitching, making small motions in the air as if she's writing. As she finishes, she's formed, in her mind, a mental map of the surrounding area, and she can visualize what's in it.
Exert your Mind (unless no other person is within 100 feet of you) and spend one minute.
You may perceive things through sight within 1 mile of you with perfect clarity as though there were no walls or obstacles blocking your view for the next 30 minutes.
This Effect is not obvious, and the only sign you are using an Effect is twitching fingers. If someone suspects that an Effect was used, they must roll Perception + Alertness, Difficulty 8 to pick up on your Tell.
You may perceive through up to 15 feet of material. The Difficulty of all Perception rolls made through a wall are increased by 1 per wall.
When Rocco makes a deal, the air tightens, and a weight settles in—like a hand on your shoulder, reminding you that promises in this family ain’t just words.
You may make an oath with a physically-present, Sapient target. Communicate the oath's terms to the target, including the requirements and penalties for each participant. If all agree to the terms, you must Exert your Mind and all participants must A Handshake to seal the deal.
Record the oath as a Condition. If a party breaks the oath, the Condition ends and they suffer the oath's penalty.
When crafting your oath, you may incorporate any of the following penalties:
The target cannot be compelled to agree via a direct threat of violence, another Effect, or another oath. If you would like to use clever wording to mislead the target, you must succeed a contested Intellect + (Culture or Influence) roll.
When crafting your oath, you may opt to enforce compliance. If you do, any participant that wishes to break the deal must take 3 Mind damage and succeed a Self-Control roll. They may attempt once per day.
Whenever a participant breaks the oath, you are immediately made aware and may even witness the act as if standing nearby.
The same terms and penalties must apply to every party in each deal.
Possession of this Power grants the following Trauma at all times: A Criminals past (Nightmares).
Embedded into Gimmlin's chest is a supernaturally powered reactor, fashioned after one he'd seen in another world. He can, when nearby, expose the core which will glow and supply its otherworldly power to the object. The power can revitalize and reform the object into it's intended shape, along with the residual power keeping it running for extended times.
Spend 1 Action. Select a Object within arm's reach that is no larger than an SUV. Cannot be used on Alien technology. More than half the target object must be present in order to begin repairs. Roll Intellect + Crafts at Difficulty 6.
If you succeed, your target is repaired back to a functional state. If you fail, you spend the full time working before realizing you cannot repair the target. If your target only requires fuel or power and is otherwise in working order, this Effect costs no Exertion, and the target is fueled/powered for the next 24 hours.
This Effect ends if you are stunned, fall asleep, go unconscious, are incapacitated, die, or if your total Stress ever exceeds 5.
The Princess lays her hands upon the injury, and closes her eyes. Her Inner Light glows, and ribbons of light begin to emerge from her hands. They begin to stitch together, layering over each other. From her target, their own inner light is kindled some, coaxed out by the Princess's. The two weave together, reforming the injury, and the injury glows at the end, warm as a noon day sun. And then it settles.
The Princess opens her eyes, smiling a smile just as bright.
Exert your Mind and spend a minute. Select a Living target within arm's reach. This Effect cannot be used unless must be in alternate form. You must actively and obviously use Phylactery to activate this Effect. Select a Battle Scar on your target to treat.
The treated Battle Scar heals as you finish activating this Effect. If used on a Battle Scar caused by an Unstabilized Injury, that Injury is Stabilized.
You may specify a specific condition that the patient must adhere to. If they break this condition, the treatment is immediately reversed. Record this regimen as a Condition. Lasts until the end of their next Contract or 1 month for non-Contractors.
The mad scientist produces thorium cores that can be used to upgrade tools and other devices. The core supercharges the item, increasing its quality and rendering it indestructible for a period. However, once the core runs dry, the object is rendered less useful than it was before. The core crackles with blue electricity while active.
Spend 1 Action and use up this glowing blue disk. Select a non-Alien Device within arm's reach. Cannot be used to improve Armor.
Lasts the next two hours. Your target receives 2 extra dice to all actions taken for its intended use. Attacking with an upgraded weapon grants +2 Weapon Damage instead of additional dice. While it is upgraded, the item cannot be destroyed.
After the Effect ends, any upgraded targets suffer a -2 dice penalty until they are either repaired or upgraded again.
Doc puts his hands on you and begins to mutter to himself in french. The effect is instant and horrible. You begin to remember all of the sins of your past, all the ways that you've wronged those who loved you. All of the terrible, evil things you've done on these contracts in order to survive. Doc seems to be in the grips of similar memories, tears running down his chin and dripping onto his hands that are pressed tightly against you. At the point where your mind feels like it's about to break, it's over. Just as quickly as it began. You feel your wounds begin to close.
Exert your Mind and spend 1 minute. Select a Living target within arm's reach. You must make a Trauma roll when you use this Effect. Its Difficulty cannot be reduced by any means. If you fail or Botch, you receive one Mind Damage and a new Trauma. Your target must make a Trauma roll to reap the benefits of this Effect. They may choose to Resist the Effect and not make the roll. Choose a specific Injury on your target that has not yet been treated with this Effect and roll Charisma + Medicine at Difficulty 6.
If you succeed, the Injury is reduced in Severity by your Outcome. If you reduce its Severity to 0, the Injury is fully healed. Otherwise, it is partially healed and will heal the rest of the way at its natural rate.
This counts as a successful Makeshift Stabilization if the Injury was not already Stabilized; any Battle Scars caused by the Injury will remain.
Come one, come all! Stand in amazement and behold as the Fire Eater consumes a flame as if it were cotton candy! Gasp with fright as they breathe a plume of fire a great distance! And yes, ladies and gentlemen, it is quite dangerous.
Exert your Mind (unless you win a coin flip) and spend two Actions performing the following ritual: perform a fire-breathing trick. Select a target within 20 feet which has both fuel and oxygen available (if you are starting a new fire). Roll a single D10 as a critical failure check. If you roll a 1, the Effect fails, and you take a Severity-4 Injury as the fire burns your throat. You must maintain Concentration while activating this Effect, and it fails if you are interrupted.
You may start or extinguish a fire as large as a firepit's fire at your target. Extinguishing a fire does not cost Exertion. You may create or extinguish fires the size of a lighter or candle flame without Exerting your Mind. Your fires require fuel and oxygen in order to continue burning.
Lighting a target on fire deals 4 Damage each Round on your turn, starting in the Round after the one in which they caught fire. This Damage is reduced by Armor, but the target’s Armor rating will be shredded by any Damage dealt, destroying material Armor once it reaches 0.
You may extinguish flames as a Reaction. This does not extend to explosives.
The beastmaster puts their nose to the ground and sniffs about the area. Their feral nostrils tell them what sorts of creatures live in the area, and who lays claim to each region.
Exert your Mind and spend a minute. Investigate an area with a radius of up to 100 feet Can only be activated while you are in the wilderness. At the end of your investigation, roll Perception + Survival at Difficulty 6.
You learn the following information about the area:
You cannot investigate the same area more than once per day.
This witch is a cruel and vengeful creature who works her vile arts against those she deems worthy of punishment. All she must do is point. A flash of green lightning strikes her victim and disappears. Immediately, or upon the completion of some condition, if the witch chooses, the victim's body warps and shifts into a gross mockery of its former self. Whether she's giving someone the head of a donkey or stealing their voice, the witch's enemies always get what is coming to them.
The sheer wickedness of this spell corrupts the witch, giving her a disgusting, witchy appearance.
Exert your Mind (unless you win a coin flip) and Spend an Action. Select a Living target within 45 feet. Roll Intellect + Occult at Difficulty 6. The target may roll Body, -2 dice at Difficulty 7, as a Free Action to resist.
If you succeed, the target receives a new Battle Scar of your choosing, limited by the contested Outcome:
When you activate this Effect, instead of occurring immediately, you may choose to delay its effects until the target takes a particular Action. For example: "when they fire a gun" or "when they swim in deep water."
Possession of this Power grants the following Battle Scar: Witchy Appearance. You have a long, warty nose and chin, wrinkled skin, and a hunch back. Social rolls are at +2 Difficulty, and your free movement is reduced by 10 feet.
Your alteration "heals" over the course of the next month, after which it is fully cured.
Possession of this Power grants the following Trauma at all times: Compulsion for payback. You must roll Self-Control to avoid using this Gift on anyone who wrongs you in a major way.