Zeitgeist Blue

Right. Sorry about the late reply. I was waiting on word whether we were continuing this or not.

Her curiosity piqued, Salvo stepped beside Terrifica, looking over the other hero's shoulder as she worked. Tools and documents out, her movements efficient, wasting little precious time on frivolities or non-necessities. Salvo struggled to keep up, even just watching Terrifica work, and there were several times when she was forced to abandon a thread of thought and skip several steps ahead , filling in the gaps with conjecture and Hail Maries, as Terrifica left her behind. The speed with which she worked was fascinating, almost as much as the project on the worktable, and when the prototype was finished Salvo took a step back, adjusting her bearings as the intensity of the mental exercise wore off. Salvo shook her head from the wonder, and just a bit of envy, before she opened her files on her interface. "I have," she simply said as lines of code flowed from her suit's databanks to the prototype. "Terminus has been using a passcode to tag friendly assets going in and from the midway dimension. I'm passing on to you and ASTRO labs a workable solution to that dilemma." A few last second tweaks and flourishes and Salvo ended the data transmission. "This will provide a semi-adaptable e-offense to their defenses and the initial responses if they somehow manage to catch on to the disruptor before it could fully take hold." "As for the effectiveness against more durable Terminus sheathes..." Salvo moved forward and lifted the prototype device to eye level. "Perhaps just increasing its energy output would be sufficient? We don't need finesse if brute force can get us the results faster." As she said this she slowly rotated the device between her hands, her sensors analyzing the cold surface and the delicate hardware beyond that. Where her fingers swept over, thin lasers branded the device with arcane runes, microscopic in size but not in the scope of its effects. "There," she handed the prototype back to Terrifica. "This would do it."

Would you guys want to go out on the field to go punch some Omegadrones/Annihilists/ the portal nexuses? @Thunder King has done little right now. Terrifica is asking Salvo what's missing and I could say we need a sample or a record of something that isn't in the Terminus stockpile. It'll have to be something new, that it wasn't seen in the past Terminus invasion, but also rare enough that it isn't yet found in the recent Terminus stockpile we have on hand. Probably like the energy or wavelength signature of the sensors, third dimension, and/or portal nexuses.

Okay, so assuming we can roll all we want, I'll start with the Omegadrone neutralizer. Knowledge (Physical Sciences): 1d20 + 12 = 30 Knowledge (Arts): 1d20 + 7 = 20 As for the sheath destabilizer, can I just use my previous aid rolls if I have them? Knowledge (Cosmology): 24 (+3) Knowledge (Physical Sciences): 1d20 + 12 = 14 (+2) Knowledge (Technology): 22 (+3) Knowledge (Art): 1d20 + 7 = 27 (+3) Craft (Mechanics): 18 (+2) Craft (Electronics): 24 (+3)

I am cool with that. Bonus if we take samples of the machinery ourselves.

Salvo Spent 1 PP to gain 4 R in skills. Added Knowledge (Cosmology) 4 (+11)

Okay then. Salvo is going to aid Terrifica on the five rolls. Knowledge (Cosmology): 1d20 + 7 = 24 (+3) Knowledge (Technology): 1d20 + 15 = 22 (+3) Knowledge (Electronics): 1d20 + 15 = 30 (+4) Craft (Mechanical): 1d20 + 12 = 18 (+2) Craft (Chemical): 1d20 + 12 = 24 (+3)

Salvo waved his offer away. "I-- no, just some coffee will do. I'm just tired." She walked to the ASTRO Lab mainframe, that which dominated the room in her mind. Computers. Not so obvious at first glance, but it was this field which she excelled at the most. It was present in the software of Bellicose that she had brought to life with, encoded it and melded the magic and mundane with worlds of data and codes and systems. Nothing would run without the electronic presence running through its very skin. She connected to the mainframe's databanks and began to search, delegating the task to her AI even as she scanned the information for pertinent details within her mental interface. Then she moved to the Terminus technology, her outward sensors unfurling like an unseen field of roses, scanning the wreckage pile through radar first then the more esoteric means. "A third dimension?" Salvo repeated at the mention of Terrifica's discovery. Like a dam, the implications began to flood her brain. "It's odd that they are able to reliably send data packets through the dimensions, coordinating as much as they have. I assumed the various staging forces were coded various contingencies and plans, but with how well they are adapting to changes in the invasion and unknown variables this makes simpler sense." She took a breath and blinked, still watching as her sensor suite work. "The doomforges provide a somewhat plausible nexus, but what if they were still directed from the Terminus?" She turned to the others, breaking her scan momentarily. "But that would be impossible-- no, just very, very hard. And the only way to do it would be to create or find center points that not only connect each dimension to the other, but are stable and robust enough to exist simultaneously in all three. The physics and amount of energy required..." Fingers plied at her helmet in concentration. "Much too fragile for outside interference. Vacuum-sealed and locked. Perhaps with nano-second evolving systems to ensure equilibrium of data and software. Such things might be ported to existing extra-dimensional technologies but... maybe." She looked up at the others, frantically switching her gaze from one to the other. To Terrifica occuppied with her equations, to Westerman still standing there like a college student at a Nobel in Physics Laureates get-together, and Solar Sentinel who might as well be. "You realize what this means, right?"

Salvo could try Aiding Another for the ultimate nullifiers. Terrifica has a higher bonus in every check, so Salvo would be giving the bonus. However, I'm not sure if the Feat Jack-of-all-Trades allows Terrifica to use her Intelligence Bonus. If not, then Salvo has a higher bonus in Craft (Chemical). Neither am I sure if Eidetic Memory allows Salvo to use her Intelligence Bonus for Knowledge (Cosmology).

Silly me, I forgot about the OOC thread. Salvo will try to work on the Astro Lab mainframe and the salvaged Terminus tech. Astro Lab Mainframe: Computers: 1d20 + 17 = 19 Using a Hero Point (if we have one) to reroll: 1d20 + 17 = 35 Salvaged Terminus Tech: Knowledge (Technology): 1d20 + 15 = 28

Salvo stuttered into the room, half leaping and half flying, as black smoke trailed behind her and energy crackled erratically from the rents in her scarlet-clad form. She had just arrived at ASTRO Labs facility after what seemed to her like years fighting on the streets. She had no time to sleep, no time to eat, no time to fix Bellicose, her armored suit. For who could rest when the world was on fire? With what Bellicose was capable of, it only made sense for her to be fighting at the front lines. She had been doing it since the time when the Omegadrones began streaming down until her last fight, when she heard the call for help. It was the one best thing she could do, even better than magic or fighting. To think. Not that her magic or fighting helped much out there. She flew to ASTRO Labs defeated, knowing she would not survive another engagement at her current state, barely able to stay awake now that the adrenaline was fading. She left the other heroes to fight, left the civilians that she could have helped. It stung. Badly. With a deafening bang, her jets gave up and she landed on her knee with enough force to crack the laboratory floor. "Stupid. Piece. Of. Crap." Every word was punctuated with a slam of her palm to the side of her leg, as if hitting it would jar it to work. She stopped on the fourth try and, her eyes bleary with fatigue and emotion, looked up. Three people caught her attention. Inside her mental interface, her father placed a hand on her shoulder and she shrugged it off instinctively but when she turned to him, something of his expression as he looked back at her stopped her from snarling a barbed remark. Sorrow? Understanding? She looked away confused and focused on the material world outside. "I wouldn't know, Doctor." Salvo spoke up, channeling her full seventeen years of sass at the closest adult physically there instead of her dad. "I don't tend to formulate groundbreaking theories on lateral dimensional movements while fighting for my life." "I need something to work with; academic papers, reports on the ground." She pointed to the Omegadrone. "That thing, maybe we need to gather more data ourselves." She shook her head vigorously, sending sparks to fly from the motion. "Yeah, more muscle will be good. That's what no one ever said in a lab," she muttered in response to Solar Sentinel, just loud enough for everyone to catch. She didn't care, couldn't give a flying crap really, not with her nerves frayed to an edge.

I could have Salvo in for the Technobabble thread with Terrifica. A bit more brain never hurt anyone.

Salvo Formatting Error - Act 2 (1) Knowledge is Power (2)

Salvo breathed out a sigh of relief. Turns out entirely normal ice cold water was all one needed to shock someone awake, even if that someone could sleep through a fight and a half. "We need to get out of here, Mister Murk," Salvo said, glancing back at the thing had smashed against the wall then back to the old-fashioned Murk. "Do you have any ideas? I'm blind and all out of luck here." She scanned the room with normal eyes behind a glass case, her HUD fizzing around the edges of her vision. The room was cold, broken, but suddenly quiet with the absence of a fight. Shadows crawled from the hole on the ground and though she had a hunch they were an illusion, she still steered clear from it. Beyond the walls was nothing but the same room, somewhere which still had whatever invisible monster lurking within it. It almost seemed to want to trap them inside, the room, with way out except dying. As careful a predatory cage as she had seen.

Can I aid Mr. Murk with a Knowledge (Arcane Lore) on whatever he chooses to do next? Knowledge (Arcane Lore) = 1d20 + 15 = 17 + 15 = 32 So that would be a +4.