olopi

Native Americans, great. If there was one think Hakim didn’t want to deal with it was Native American Curses. They lasted forever and often didn’t have a proper end clause, which just meant trouble. A quick glance at what the book told him only confirmed that. No ending to the curse, roaming the earth forever. And apparently being quite effective at his job, because the second Hakim had lost sight of him, there was more gunfire. Were there that many murdere- Oh, taking a life. Veteran’s Bar. That … made sense. And meant that more trouble was imminent. He stepped through the door, ready to start slinging spells. A proton beam maybe, that’d be stylish. “Creek, you cursed bastard! Show your face and we will take care of that curse. That, or I make sure it doesn’t go on myself.”

Judging by his movement, the sniper had just spotted his target, as he began to move a bit quicker than before, adjusting his rifle. It pointed … somewhere towards the plaza, or perhaps further, to the other side of the Reuss, or perhaps on the bridge. Figuring out who exactly he was aiming for just from his angle would take some time. Time that Auguste probably didn’t have. Perhaps it was somebody who stood out. He scanned the crowd, with his skillset that wasn’t too hard. But in a crowd of this size, a single person just disappeared. There wasn’t anybody that looked like an obvious target, not that Auguste really knew who would count as one. There was a group of businessmen sitting at a different càfe not too far away, there were two separate travel groups, there were many other people. But nobody that made for an obvious target.

So it was a spirit of the vengeful kind, then. Granted, the literal dead body that had caused all of this commotion should’ve hinted towards that, but now Hakim knew. An undead vigilante killer. There was a story in that, but for now there was an actual killer, at large. One that claimed he’d kill murderers, but nevertheless. It was probably best for everybody if he was stopped ASAP. Without any delay, Sha’ir followed him. This entire thing would look completely mysterious to onlookers. Great. He hadn’t done anything as Sha’ir in a while, but he’d seen the term pop up on his search alerts a few times recently. Some mysterious activity would help deal with rumours. On the side, his spellbook turned through pages, driven by Hakim’s thoughts. Perhaps it had something on vengeful ghosts with guns in it. It would probably turn out to be helpful.

Using the Book's Enhanced Knowledge to check if there's anything on vengeful spirits, the more detailed in description to this one the better obviously: Knowledge Arcane Lore: 1d20+20 40 Well, there goes my crit for the month..

OOC for this @Supercape

Mühlenplatz, Lucerne, Switzerland Saturday, April 21st , 2018 2:23 PM It was a beautiful day on Lucerne’s Mühlenplatz. People from both near and far enjoyed the sudden sunlight after a long winter by sitting in the restaurants outside and browsing through the various stores. There were travel groups, locals, and Swiss from other parts of the country. And there was Auguste Zoss. He’d not been in Lucerne for a while, there honestly weren’t that many reasons to visit the city. But today he was, thanks to an invitation by an old friend earlier in the day. He didn’t have anything else to do for the rest of the day, so it felt only fair to spend some time in the sun, amongst all the others. People were walking down the streets en masse, and Auguste was enjoying his coffee, occasionally peeking over at a man on a nearby table who was holding the most recent newspaper. But then, the occasional superhero noticed something. A glint, up on one of the roofs. A closer look revealed something quite disturbing. A man, set up with what quite clearly was a sniper rifle.

Things had to move fast. The entire building had security cameras set up, so that presented somewhat of a challenge. Hakim knew, he’d made sure to give each of them a magic filter. Better to figure out there was magic at his workplace earlier than later. There were the restrooms, and he sprinted towards them, ducking in and pulling up his scarf, thus assuming the identity. He stored his bag in one of the stalls, closed it, and, Mage Book in hand, stepped through the portal he’d created, leading to the front of the bar. Time for the obvious entrance. A subtle low-power application of “Divine Winds” blew open the doors, and Sha’ir stepped into the bar, his book floating by his side, his forcefield at full power. He expected to get shot as soon as he entered, so it was a bit surprising when he didn’t. It was … quite a grizzly scene. He’d seen some stuff while dealing with Vampires last year, but what he saw inside the bar made him quite queasy. At least, as far as he could tell, nobody else was injured. Sha’ir didn’t pay any attention to the other people in the bar. He didn’t need to, it didn’t fit his persona anyways. The Cowboy he spotted on the side, on the other hand… It probably was a ghost or another type of unliving spectral being of some sort. It would fit with the few things he’d read. Was direct approach the best way? Nope. Was it the best one Hakim could remember? Yes. He walked towards the cowboy, speaking with a relaxed voice, and a bit of a fake western-movie drawl. He’d always been a fan. “So, what’s your story, pardner?”

It was a day like any other, and Hakim was sitting in the office, just working his way through some bugged code. There had to be a missing close-paren or something somewhere in these 1423 lines of code. He couldn’t see any other reason for why the entire thing wasn’t working as soon as the clock hit the PMs. He was in a nearly-trance like status, immersed fully in his code. (Not as fully as that one time though). And then, gunfire. He knew it was, he’d heard it before. It came from nearby. Outside, people were running, which suggested that it was nearby. If it was at the bar right across, that was probably even worse. Last thing he needed was for them to turn up with military grade equipment. Inside the office, people took cover. It was the smartest thing to do, especially with a glass front leading towards the source of the sound. Usually this was the time to don the scarf and fly downwards. But right now, there was an office full of co-workers and friends looking at him. Still, he had to do something. “Okay. Everybody stay calm. It’s outside, this building has a security guard. Jen, call 911. The others, move away from the windows and towards the wall. I’m gonna go upstairs and talk with the others so none of them panic either.” With that, he duck-walked across the office, to the door, making sure to grab his bag along the way. It wasn’t a great excuse but how else would he get out of this situation?

Streetwise: 1d20+9 12

…F###. Cass supposed it was only human nature. People, especially people like him and Zyte, like to be noticed. Even when that was, from almost every perspective, a horrible idea. Cass hadn’t mentioned Armitage’s identity, and perhaps Zyte hadn’t realized it, so it probably was just him inserting himself. But Armitage had been quite clear about one thing, and that was his disgust over Zyte. Times like these, Cass felt he needed a bomb disposal suit. He was already bomb-proof, sure, but this, this required another layer. “I know a few people, who know a few people, who are experts on this stuff. I don’t know their exact methods, but I can vouch for their trustworthiness. “ Cass didn’t. Any of those things. But he had numbers, and he knew a few people. Surely somebody would be able to put him in contact with one of the big mages. Not that Sha’ir guy he’d read about over in EC, somebody local. He still needed to distract Armitage from Zyte a bit, probably by just not interacting with him for now. This’d have to be a fly-on-the-wall scene. “I can guarantee you, if there’s somebody I’d call an expert on occult matters, it’s those people. And I’m sure one of them will be interested in making sure this doesn’t get into the hands of anybody who shouldn’t have hold of it. “

Oh, now it was on. While Cass liked to joke about the whole Neutron Incident, it was a sore spot. And Armitage’s other suggestions didn’t exactly calm down Cass either. Or make him more trustful of the guy. He was up to something, he was pretty sure of it at this point. “However, as you may recall, I managed to resolve all those situations. Trouble gravitates towards me, but I’ve got the qualifications to deal with it. I’ve seen some glimpses of what this thing can do, and I’d say I’m more qualified to deal with the situation should it arise.” “I’ve got contacts and I’ve got experience at dealing with this stuff. We both know what’s happening to the mask while it’s around me”. Well, apart from any unexpected complications, but that didn’t exactly strengthen Bonfire’s argument so it was best not to mention it. “While with you, it’s a bit more complicated. It did enter circulation after you had hold of it the last time. “

At this point Cass’ slight mistrust of Armitage got a bit more pronounced. He had arrived in the city on a ship full of armed thugs, after all. The fact he was this certain about the bikers allegedly being hired by Drake showed something was probably up. Especially once he mentioned that he needed the mask. Cass couldn’t see any reason why Armitage would need the mask when communicating with Drake in any way, that seemed a bit counter-productive considering part of why he was doing it was to keep it out of her hands. Maybe it was the fire altering his mind ever so slightly, but this felt like a con of some sort. “What would you need it for? I’d rather keep it within lose distance of myself, I’ve seen how quickly it can cause some serious trouble…”

APPROVED

Combat As mentioned in chat, I’d not recommend using 8 Defensive Roll as it makes the Character a massive glass cannon. Feats These add up to 18 Powers Please Indicate what the Illusions affect, a simple (All Senses) before the extras is enough for this, but it makes a GM’s job a fair bit simpler.

Well, first off: Sorry for the wait, this must’ve gotten lost between various people’s IRL obligations. Now, as for the sheet: APPROVED

Good, the mask was still secure. Bonfire couldn’t really carry it at this point though, which meant it was up to either Zyte or Armitage. Great combination already. There was something about the mask and how it looked now – had it changed ? – that unnerved Cass, even more than it already did. He needed to get rid of this thing, fast if possible. Oh, and then there was Armitage. Who got up a bit earlier than Cass had hoped. Now he had to explain the entire situation. Including Zyte. Great. He wasn’t looking forward to this. Maybe he could distract him ever so slightly. Make it so Zyte wasn’t the first thing he’d see waking up. That’d probably help. “Unexpected change of plans, the fight got a bit out of hand. Say, you don’t happen to know if this mask has some kind of powers activated by combat happening in it’s vicinity? Police will be here in a bit to take care of the … quadbikers I guess, whoever they might be with. “

That tree had done more than Cass expected. He’d assumed he’d get back to his previous powers, he hadn’t expected it’d make him that much more powerful. So that was CP dealt with, at least for the moment. Which only did so much good, because there was one thing that he’d wanted to avoid with this trip to the park, and that was direct public attention. And that was there now. It would also slow the entire thing down a fair bit, because now he had to deal with the fire form for a while longer. And that just meant problems over problems. He was glad he’d used it because it had really saved his ass, but at the same time, what came after was never fun. Like the first step, getting back to the ground. At that point he could shuffle along, but for now that meant closing his eyes, flying downwards, and hoping he didn’t impact too hard. Once that was done, he turned to Zyte. “Alright, that’s gonna make the entire situation a bit more complicated. I’ll assume somebody’s called emergency services already, but can you do that too? I’m a bit preoccupied with all this fire. Need to get both CP and the guy he injured out of here.” “Oh, and then there’s those biker guys. So, call the police too I guess.” Really, if nobody had contacted them already that would’ve surprised Cass greatly. But there was a chance. Speaking of which, he had to check if Zyte had done the one job he’d been given, whether or not the bag was still there…

GM To that, Bonfire responded with a nod. Which always looked a bit weird considering he didn’t have any neck to speak of. He’d figured out how to spin this, now he just needed to get the officer to believe him. Which didn’t feel that complicated, this entire situation was quite outrageous already. The officer noted down some of what Leviathan had said, and as expected followed up on the hackers. At this point, Bonfire cut in, explaining that he’d gotten contacted by some longtime fans of his who just happened to be hackers as they’d overheard something about mAZ. This then led into a conversation about how many people Bonfire knew, which was perhaps a bit narcisstictic but served its purpose, as it drew attention away from the hackers and thus the Ph0enix question. The questions continued for a while longer, but after probably around 30 minutes, the two were free to go, leaving the airport through the front gate. Once outside, Bonfire stretched. “Well, that went surprisingly well. Sorry it took a while, but I don’t think we have to worry about them pursuing us further. I’ll ping some contacts later on just to be sure though. “ “So, what next? Do we hit her up immediately or do we wanna wait until tomorrow? Do we even have a way to contact her directly?”

That was one thing. His eyes. Definitely related to his powers in some way, he could only pull those icy things occasionally. That was something that Cass could abuse … probably. Of course, in order to do that he first had to figure out how he could use it to his advantage in some way. But maybe he had enough time to figure that one out. CP’s insults had really stooped to a new level, now he wasn’t even trying. And then, there was the tree. “Oh, look at you, now you’ve arrived at property damage. It’s a step up from injuring innocents, but come on.” The tree flew towards Bonfire. He didn’t mind that this shot was on target. Really, it only helped him regain his powers in spite of all the cold that was still lingering. The tree pretty much went up into flames as it touched Bonfire, burning to ashes in the blink of an eye. “A tree? Much appreciated, can you throw up another?” He had regained enough power to attempt an attack, so he did it again. A few more burning trees weren’t that bad at this point, stopping CP could be spun as more important easily. Once more, the sky filled with fireballs, raining down as localized as Cass could get them to. Which seemed to work a bit better this time around…

Alternate Power: Blast 13 ( VolleyFireballs; Extra: Autofire, Flaw: Full Action Drawback: Power Loss [When not in Fire Form] [-1] ) {25/27} (Fire) again, this time with a +2 Attack Tradeoff Attack: 1d20+10 28 I assume that hits, so that's a DC26 + any additional extra from Autofire

Wisdom: 1d20+4 19 Yay!

Wha- If there was one thing Cass hadn’t expected, it was eye-lasers. He’d not prepared to move at all now that he’d created a safe distance, and that turned out to be a major issue, since any kind of unplanned movement in this form was essentially impossible. Something he could feel very well, as he stopped feeling anything but sheer cold. It was strange how even when being a literal flame, he could still feel as if he was freezing to death. So CP could attack from the range they were currently at, and probably from further away even. So much for that plan. At this point Cass felt a bit helpless. Not only because he was currently freezing to death while tapping into his complete power, but also because he was running out of option. Clearly thus guy was adept at all these situations. And then, there was the whole angle he was spinning. The fire had been weakened to the point he couldn’t attack further, but he could still talk. “Well, somebody had to unfreeze the ground after what you did, and I’m a lot faster than the sun.”

Concentration: 1d20+8 26 That should be enough, I think?

Toughness Save: 1d20+11 23 I rolled Toughness, but if it's fort that just reduces it by to, sooo 21 Which will daze Bonfire.

“Eh, alright, you win that one. There’s some heroism involved in that. “ Cass had to concede as much. It was somewhat heroic he guessed, probably involved a lot of uncertain factors and risks. Selfish in the end, sure, but … yeah, no that was fair. Still, that didn’t change the situation as whole. Part of him did feel a bit bad about hitting him from outside his range and slowly burning up his clothes, that didn’t look nice. But CP had made his intentions very clear, and Cass couldn’t risk that much just to get a fair fight in. Not against him. Once again, a part of his body split off into an independent flame. This time it was much larger than the last time around though, and it soon split into more and more smaller flames, which themselves grew and split again. “Well, unless you want to be known for collateral damage and threatening innocents, you’re not doing a good job at it. “ The first fireballs began to move downwards, as more took their place. “And boy, let me tell you, being known for those things suuuuuuuuucks. “ That was the signal, as all the remaining fireballs shot forwards at once. Perhaps he’d emphasized the words collateral damage too much, because judging from the looks of it, that was what was about to happen. Whoops.