shojikitsune

Oracle looks up from her smartphone with the slightest smirk, giving Caradoc another one of those measured glances. "Oh, the irony..." She pauses just enough that some people might become uncomfortable, and then relays whet her internet search turned up. "This is the audio track from a CNN standby tape that recently was leaked to the media, performed by a military band in full uniform. It is older quality, probably ported from VHS or other analogue media recorded years ago. My music match app found the tape uploaded to YouTube. According to the leak source, it's queued by CNN to play 'if the world ends', and stuff." She raises an eyebrow and continues with her monotone monologue, "The person who did this needed internet or TV studio access and the desire to research a lot. Interesting. Apparently," the smirk comes back, 'this sort of thing was either done as a message, a deliberate clue, or as a very bent joke." She busies herself with checking to see how readily accessible the video and audio tracks are, and possibly Geo-tagging of the mansion the video was made at. "This specific version is NOT easy to find, perhaps looking into the download history might help. Also, they are in front of a mansion - maybe I can locate that place and it may be relevant. Or a red herring. Something about the video IS important though, because there are many versions of this song available. Why chose this one, otherwise?"

Oracle ponders this new revelation, the fact that there is indeed music backing it. "Perhaps it's a link to the 'attacker', using a song linked to his past? Or an artifact left over when the attack was recorded? An echo of someone's past... " Oracle closes her eyes, and tries to track the empathic signal, seeing if anyone matches the mood within range, even as she suggests an improbability. "If this is a high school band playing this song, then any way to narrow it down? Of all the songs played in all the years at all the schools in all the world, they had to play this one... although that's a very difficult thing to ask. Still the school would need to be large enough for a suitable sized band, so maybe we can narrow it down that way, then narrow the list further my seeing if wee can bring up their programs?" She focuses that flat eerie gaze of hers on the recording machinery, "Could this have played at a distance from whatever recorded the attack? As in background noise while the empathic attack was recorded?" It was mysteriously mysterious...

I can roll Knowledge (Current events) too. Don't have History, haha http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/4844631/ For a roll. Will it be the rye, or the kaiser....

We get one more girl, and we can set up bunk beds!

I messed up, Oracle doesn't *have* Skill mastery. But mostly because her player is dumb. So Not sure if you want her to catch it, or if I should roll... I'll roll in case. http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/4843115/ There, sorry for the mistake. Silly me...

"You did, you did see an Oracle!" Zephyr sighed, and elected to use toon logic to deal with this situation. "Have you seen Eileen? I'm supposed to help her remember how she got her powers. This is the where, close to the when, leaving me wondering how and what. You know? In any case, I think this is a dream she had, or I've gone straight into her subconscious. Of course, if you can tell me anything about any of this, it would be most helpful. And imagine her reaction when I tell her 'a little birdie told me'. It's too good a straight line to pass up." She pauses on the slightly luminous path, the tip of one of her school oxfords tapping out the first few beats of the old 'shave and a haircut' bit, just almost unconsciously. Probably another toon reference...

So does Oracle.

Oracle resembles a 60-watt bulb, her aura of calm casting everything in a warm light that stifles the miserable emotions produced by the song. "How interesting - who or what ever made this noise was as powerful an empath as I am. And they seem to have found a way to preserve the emotions in the signal. That is something I cannot do." She sounds almost a little jealous, but listens carefully, seeing if she can learn anything from the interruption itself, or the depressing music that she hears. "Is that an organ? Or maybe - horror of horrors - a bagpipe?" She definitely recognizes the signal's malevolent and depressing intent, but determining the origin will be a challenge. "Yes, the empathic attack starts with the first bit of static and just gets stronger. But how did they get their brain on this frequency?" She restarts her phone and checks to see if there are incidents of emotional control within the station's broadcast area. She's not much use with the broadcasting technology, but perhaps she can see just what the scale of the problem is.

Could always room her with Zephyr/Oracle.

Oracle blinked again, "I would recognize it if I sensed it again. I could then give a distance relative to myself at the time. I didn't think of that the first time because there were so many people here that were affected." She closed her eyes and reached out for minds in other rooms,on other floors; making sure to scan the building in detail for minds. Not only was she looking for the malevolent presence she sensed and fought earlier, but others who may need help. "I agree though - the building should be empty, in case my protections fail. It will free me to target the mind behind this and act, rather than react." Could it be some sort of combination of things? As powerful as she was, Oracle couldn't use a technological medium to affect minds. That spoke volumes to the nature of this dark mind she sensed. "The one that did this... searching...."

Oracle was rather nonplussed that so many of the thugs remained standing. These weren't their fated opponents. Taking advantage of the group incapacitation, she focused her gaze on the one guarding the door. Those two were serious trouble, and she needed to even the odds. "No more of that. I tried to be nice, but now, I can see that was a mistake." Even as the sphere of ennui collapsed, the young teen gathered power again. A brilliant beam of of saffron-yellow cracking with a black border, as bright as the plasma discharges of the armored men, seared between the gaze of Oracle and the guard at the door with an audible sizzling sound. His mask was no more a barrier to this attack than the open air between them. Oracle's diffused power could cripple a mob. Subjecting a single mind to to a blast of raw, focused power usually induced something akin to a grand mal epileptic seizure. Were anyone observing inside the guard thug's brain, they'd see all the neurons that deal with emotion suddenly all fire at once, repeatedly. The effect is right up there with being hit by a giant anime style mallet. He could handle depression alone. Can he resist the full weight of a lifetime of emotions loaded into one heartbeat's time?

Ok, using my Mental Blast on the goon at the door. http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/4838075/ I'll detail it in the post

Zephyr slowed down as she approached the flitting blue light, certain that it will be relevant. SHe will slow to a casual walking speed, and check to see if she is still making roughly the same progress. Such a deep exploration of a mind was somehting she hadn't ever done, and it kind of concerned her. Still, maybe the blue light ahead is something she can make a connection with, some link to Eileen or to the source of her powers. She was going to have to create all of this as an illusion for Eileen later, tough, since it's likely the emegry projector won't remember this part either. "Curiouser and curiouser..."

Oracle knew the question wasn't directed at her, but she still answered in her deadpan delivery. "I felt the emotional shift from the lake shore in the park... and I wasn't listening to radio or webcasts. I had one of those low tech devices called 'books'..." She sighed. Machines always seemed cold, indifferent. Hard to trust what you couldn't completely sense. "I will radiate calm again, while someone who knows how to work these things can search for whatever happened. That should blunt the efforts of any ghosts in the machine that target our emotions again. Also, is there a way to stop it from playing on the internet? A password or something? I am not able to extend my powers enough to calm a city... or a planet. This building, yes." "It's not just the sound boards though." The girl focuses that eerie gaze on Caradoc for a moment. "There were other devices that 'yon mystic knight did valiantly eliminate', as if everything wired in was generating the signal." The deliberate eye roll at the accent slip the knight had made earlier could have been detected from orbit, but there is no malice behind it. "My experience was stranger. Imagine having to try to 'shout' louder than someone else. Basically, that's what I ended up doing. There was *someone* shouting back, and mechanical devices *usually* don't shout. Well, some do. It depends..." The girl seemed to drift off into an elsewhere again, as if listening for something. Then she blinked, and began to help with the bandaging and the other simple tasks she could do, while being prepared to squelch any residual negativity in the broadcast should it be copied on the archive or work over the Internet. "We should be expecting outside interference in our search."

I am hoping to bring in Apex soon, once or if she gets approved. She's a gadgeteer genius and will be useful.

Oracle will take 10, and center her Selective Area Burst Emotion Control in the jewelry store, only targeting the thugs with Dispair. . DC is then 25, save for no effect, fail and Experience Fear, staged as follows: Simple failure: shaken, –2 on attack rolls, defense, and checks. Failure by 10 or more means the subject is overcome by hopelessness, helpless and unable to take any actions. (And then Sekmet will eat them, hahaha)

Oracle easily predicted their movements as they acted, because they were still having to think - to decide. Changing targets, she stared at the one that called her a 'mind freak', and her eyes flared with power. A split-second later, and the entire shop is filled with a crackling yellow sphere of raw emotion. Sensing the men's fragile emotional state and their very legitimate fear of the approaching Eye of Ra, she broadcasted utter, mind-numbing hopelessness funneled into six tiny minds. Every gut-wrenching emo she'd ever passed, every clinically depressed person she'd met, people who's worlds had ended and who felt nothing but an aching hollow void where their souls should have been. Soul-crushing guilt made an excellent seasoning, as they felt the pain of victims past, present and future as if it were their own. As if they had been both violator and the one violated. No one else felt anything odd as the pulse of light expanded swiftly through the room, but the reaction of the thugs was priceless. "No, you won't. You can't. It's not worth it. Just give in. Defeat is inevitable.", she deadpanned in a clipped monotone. The young psychic had taken another gamble. She hoped to affect all of the men with enough emotional trauma that Sekmet could get in close to them without injury - and to prevent them from taking out the hostages or firing at her or the crowd outside.. Although she didn't have any problems with them all curling up in a fetal position bawling, either.

Well, that's one lucky guard Initiative! http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/4835345/ Twenny-tree!

Oracle teleports from landing to landing, skipping a few flights in the gloom of the partially lit stairs. Soon, she should be exiting into the hallway where she sensed the minds unaffected by the weirdness. Of course, she had no idea she would see a pair of super heroes, both older than her, but she knew *someone* had been trying to help. She can also see the damage to the electrical systems is stronger here, which comforts her considerably, given the timing of the power surge coinciding with her empathic projection. And the freaked out fellow sitting by one of the doors, one of the many minds affected strongly. "Well, this is another fine mess," she comments glibly as she walks forward, still radiating the light that made everyone calm. Oracle walked to the man, kneeling down and checking him for injuries. A young girl in summer clothes was likely far easier to take in than heroes in armor and costume - even if she was glowing and radiating peace. "What in the world is going on here? Everyone in the building was out of their minds for a moment. I felt it all the way over at the lake. We had best search the rest of the building, in case someone acted on those negative feelings before they were stopped. I sensed actual PAIN up here somewhere. Although it could have been emotional pain. It could have been physical injury. Also, whomever was at the desk, or should have been, is gone. Lobby and stairwells are empty. Left things a mess down there. And there was an odd hissing or scratching on the building's PA system." The girl blinked, as if focusing on the others finally. "Oh, I am Oracle. I sense stuff. I predict stuff. Like the start of a very long night for all of us..."

Zephyr is going to Mind Control one of the thugs in the back, guarding the hostages! This is Perception ranged, so it's a DC 20 Will Save. Succeed, and that's that. Fail, and the thug will *defend the hostages and help them escape*.

Oracle wasn't really surprised when Sekmet passed her by, and decides to take advantage of the resulting diversion. Sparks of cracking yellow and black arced off of her, as she picked her first target She didn't even seem to be looking at the thugs, even as her eyes flashed yellow. One of the thugs tasked with herding hostages into a corner suddenly turned, eyes glowing the same saffron-yellow. Wordlessly, he raised his weapons and aimed at the other bandit guarding the hostages. Hopefully, in the confusion, one of the employees can trip the alarm and people can get out of the jewelry store. With all the other eyes on Sekmet, Oracle was going to start with the villains furthest from the door and prevent them from causing any more harm. Well, at least to heroes and civilians. Other villains, on the other hand - that was a different story. The mind-controlled thug repeats a mantra... "*defend the hostages and help them escape*" And Oracle predicted this would help take at least 2 of the men out of the fight right away, as there is another thug threatening the hostages... But somehow, the thug shakes off the influence. This could be bad...

Dice roll for my Emotion control opposed check. http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/4832818/ I guess i am a little iffy on the AOE rules. I thought she had a larger range. In any case, as long as it's not outside her radius, I won't worry much. I will remember in the future. Also sorry for the post delay, I didn't have the ooc thread followed, but that's fixed now.

Oracle moves to the main stairs, and begins to help those she can individually, She moves calmly amid the chaos, up a level towards the darkest sensations. She's never encountered such resistance before, and seeks to overwhelm the negativity with as much cheerfulness as she can project. she won't be defeated by some static 'thing' regardless of how powerful it seems.With a deep breath, she expands her emotions again, seeking to blanket the area with calming, positive feelings. And all the lights explode, the elevators short out and the hallway is plunged into an ozone-scented chaos, leaving the young psychic with an absurdly shocked look on her face. "What is this, Akira?" she sputters rather angrily. Somehow, she maintains the second pulse of emotion while wondering if perhaps there was really something wrong with her powers. "Never-mind, there's a mystery to all this, and that just heightens it." She abandons attempts to use the elevators and sticks to the stairs, hoping that she can finally get through to the residents without the now likely useless PA system. As long as the electrical overload didn't cause any fires or otherwise injure anyone, in case she now has to deal with those.

Corrected Grapple, Fort, Will numbers. Corrected Saves PP total. Instead of dropping a skill rank, I used the point from my bad math on saves to buy 3 additional skill ranks, spending a total of 17pp on skills rather than 16. that takes care of my left over point. Corrected Device so that Flight is now rank 4 and the Blast with accurate and 2 alternates is correct at 17 PP. Corrected my math at the bottom of the sheet in my totals.

Guess I'll post the details first. I am using the Emotion Control. It's a Will save, DC 20, and is a Mental Perception ranged AOE. I may have the Area Effect confused, as it is a Burst, but at Rank 10, it can affect miles based on the range table. Those that succeed will not have their emotions changed, those that fail will have either a warm fuzzy feeling, or any negatives canceled leaving them in at worst, a neutral emotional state. Also, I am searching the office prior to using the PA system, making sure that anything that doesn't look right is unplugged. I'll roll a Notice for that: Link! http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/4831681/ Lemme know if i did anything wrong here.