Zeitgeist Blue

GM Two members of the Xie Clan's bodyguard detail stepped into your vision, flanking the towering form of Sun Da. The three of them watch you impassively, their faces backlit by the lights of the kitchen not far from where you fall. "Nothing that will not matter before the next day, Laowai." He hawks and spits to the side. "Nothing at least for you." Then with a short phrase in Chinese, the bodyguards step forward, well-polished shoes crunching on the stone, and rough hands grab you on both your arms. In the distance, you hear a new song playing and the tune accompanies you deep into your sleep. *** You feel a jolt. You wake, in fits and starts, your eyelids flutter open then shut almost of their own accord. A dull pain throbs against your head, as if you had just woken up from a hangover. Overhead, fluorescent bulbs burn harshly. Though your eyes are weary and your mind sluggish, you see many a blurry dark figures moving around several parked vehicles in a row. The vehicles are white, nondescript, and the figures seem to be preparing them for something. There is a thrum of hushed conversation, the clacking of steel throughout the room. Mere feet in front of you, you see three people huddled together, one is the unmistakable form of Sun Da, as large as he is he towers over all the other figures. Another one is skinnier, smaller, than the other two. Your eyes adjust and your vision clears. Xie Fan is talking to Sun Da and a skinny man. Other men in dark suits ready their pistols, their cleavers or machetes or clubs, and congregate around five vehicles. Then the only doorway you can see swings open and the activity around you screeches to a halt. A small boy enters, Xie Fan's son you vaguely recall, wearing nothing more than his pajamas and carrying a stuffed giraffe. Slowly, he gazes around the room in wide-eyed wonder only for his gaze to meet yours. He points at you and says something. Before you can do anything, Xie Fan rounds on you and slaps a palm against your head. His face is hidden from everyone else but you can see it contorted in fear. The sleep hits harder this time. *** Unknown Unknown Unknown You feel a jolt. You wake, in fits and starts, eyelids fluttering open and shut of their own accord. Your head pounds as if someone had taken a hammer to your temple. Your vision slowly returns to you but before it clears you can already guess your situation. The floor beneath you thrums with each rev of the van's engine. The road is rough and the suspension not great so you feel more than see the dirt path you are taking. When you move your arms, the cuffs on your wrist jangle. Outside, all you can see are trees and more trees, shadows and the occasional patch of moonlight from above the canopy. On either side of you, a man sits and both have noticed you are awake. A third man sits across from you and behind him is the driver's window. "So nice of you to join us. You slept like a baby the whole ride." It is the third man who addresses you. As your vision clears you see more of him. His face is rat-like, with big teeth and ears, watery eyes, and a cigarette between thin lips. He is skinny but on his lap, rests a pistol unmistakably pointed at your general direction. He pats the naked steel easily as he sees you sizing him up. He leans back and stretches one arm across the couch "You pissed off the laoban real hard, friend. So tell me this," he plucks the cigarette from his mouth and waves it at you, smoke entering your nostrils in a haze. "What'd a magician do anyway?" That's when you realize. Your fingers are bare.

Oh welp. Guess you don't get your chance to take a few Triad 49ers with you before you enter Dreamland. You do realize however, just as your limbs fail you and you fall, that this feeling seems to emanate where Xie Fan had slapped you on the shoulder a few minutes ago. It was a small bother when it started but now? Well, now you black out. Dalir the Dashing - 1HP - Unconscious

Nicole Whitfield-Hall Salvo

Repaired by EP Salvo Added Bellios Device Protocol Sy: Enhanced Strength 8 (Iron Grip; Flaws: Only when having won a grapple check; Feats: Improved Grapple) [5] Hexagrammic Panelling: Impervious 5 Changed Physical Description of Salvo Bellios Device: Math was off from last sheet. Now fixed. Enhanced Feats: Dodge Focus to +1 rank in Hexagramic Paneling: Protection Sensory Suite Array: Made Super-Senses 11 the BE

Okay. So give me two Fortitude Rolls against Stun with Sleep Extra DC 20. And give me an opposed Notice against Sleight of Hand Roll DC 11 as well. Feel free to post Dalir's reaction to... whatever is happening to him at the moment. Results for the Fortitude checks are the usual for Stun with Sleep Extra and I'll tell you what the Notice check gets you at my next IC post.

GM You don't hit it out of the park but it is a competent, if a bit of a true-and-tried, performance. You hear people chuckle as you flourish your sword from the sleeves of your jacket as if out of nowhere, the younger kids in the audience at the edge of the seats and the adults watching intrigued as they mill around the party. The suspense builds as you hand over the sword to Xie Fan, him weighing the sword and feeling the edge, and as he aims and throws the sword the crowd watches with bated breath as it hits you dead center. Bam! You melt and explode into bits and pieces of Chinese cake and you hear the laughs and cheers. They grow louder as you take the stage for one last time and bow to the delight of your audience. *** Xie Fan meets you behind the stage as the hum of conversation resumes in the party. An inch or two taller than you, he meets you with a smile on his face. "Wonderful performance, Dalir," he says kindly. "Now I'm sure you're hungry after an hour on-stage. Sun Da can show you the way to the kitchen. The dinner is served there." Sun Da is an even larger man than his employer. The head bodyguard of the Xie Clan, he carries a Dao oddly enough, sheathed and strapped around his waist. Together with an impressive Fu Manchu he is quite the intimidating sight. Yet he gives a slight nod at you and motions you away from the party. "The kitchens are right this way." An ensemble begins setting up before you leave and soon you hear the sounds of traditional Chinese music as you are led by Sun Da. You pass by several bodyguards in suits, in pairs or threes. They look at you but quickly avert their gazes, resuming their patrols or their conversation. You cross paths with an elderly woman, supported by her granddaughter perhaps, and Sun Da greets them in what you assume to be Cantonese. Finally, you hear the kitchen. Shouted orders, clanging and kitchen staff running to and fro as they fight to keep up with the appetites of the party guests. However, Sun Da motions to the side, a deserted looking path ending in a pagoda and tastefully strewn rocks and animal statues. "You will eat here so as to not get in the way of the servers." You notice his hands lightly tapping the pommel of his dao. "I will get you your dish. Wait here." Then your eyes begin to droop.

I'd give that a so-so. You don't hit it out of the park but it is a competent, if a bit of a true-and-tried, performance. It hits all the technical spots, checks all the boxes on how to reel the crowd in and give them the payoff. Certainly, you get a round of applause and wave of approving murmurs and guesses after you end but that's what you'd expect. Go ahead and write-up what Dalir's final trick is.

Salvo: 5 posts + 12 GM posts = 17 Total posts = 2PP Calling All Heroes (5) GM: 6 posts = 12 GM posts (to Salvo) The Jadetown Shuffle (6)

OOC for this. Roll Perform (Stage Magic) for your final trick of the show!

GM Jadetown, Emerald City, Oregon Friday, March 20, 2020 7:04:56 PM Xie Fan was a tall, well-built middle-aged man with a kindly face. He was normally one to wear a suit outside his family compound located smack down in the middle of Jadetown, but now the sleeves of his dress shirt was rolled back and the polka dot tie slightly loosened as he made his way on stage, a big grin on his face. Applause rang out from members of his family, his extended clan, and business colleagues and friends. You hear a whistle and shouted Chinese, probably from one of the more inebriated guests. Your audience was scattered around a large garden, mingling under the lanterns hung on trees that cast the party in a bright red glow, hanging around the small bonfire to warm themselves, or eating their dinner and noodles on the banquet tables. Toddlers chased each other on tiny legs as wizened old grandmothers and grandfathers sipped wine. A couple of bodyguards watched the proceedings at the edge of the gathering. The early spring air was chilly, not yet having cast of winter's cloak completely. Behind you, a banner hung between two poles, above the stage you stand on. Happy 50th Birthday Xie Fan! "Yeah! Haha!" Xie Fan waved at the crowd before he came to you, clapping you on the shoulder. "Okay. Let's do this." Time for your coup de grace.

Welp, sorry about this, Azuth. Life kind of just piled onto me and I had to drop a lot of free time. This plays out as relatively straight fight. Beat the bad guys, save the hostages, find out Hwang stashed an unholy mix of Omega-tech and magic rolled into one pendant inside his vault. The works.

Relocated by Thevshi Salvo Changed Residence: University Hill, Emerald City, Oregon Base of Operations: Emerald City Occupation: Student, Emerald City University Bellios Device Enhanced Strenght (Iron Grip) Moved from Weapon Systems Array to Protocol Sy Flaws: Limited [Only when having won an opposed grapple check] Added Affiliations: The Freedom League, Emerald City University Spoiler on History Write-Up

As was discussed, Salvo is back in the game after a brief hiatus. I'm still as busy as I was months ago but one thread or two participating as a player wouldn't hurt. Also, seems like you're missing the supernatural and magical element among your threadlines. Just an FYI.

Nicole Nicole sputtered into her coffee cup as Rita stood back up and the doctor took that chance to walk away. "Wait, what the hell?!" Nicole started forward, wanting to chase after the doctor, but after a moment's hesitation stopped herself. Her hand curled into a fist and she rapped it against the armrest of her wheelchair. There was no denying what Rita had said. A naked threat, a way to stave off her inquiries as both Salvo and Nicole. And if the doctor was as competent as she seemed she was then the ensuing investigation would find nothing but Guy in the middle of the broken threat. The reports would praise Salvo, maybe a piece in the newspaper here and there, and everyone would get on with their lives at the end of the day. Rita would walk away. And if Nicole cared enough about her identity and everyone connected to her identity then she would let the doctor walk. It was enough to make her fist curl even more, pressing her fingernails deeper into skin. What. The. Hell. She breathed out, slowly, and with some effort uncurled her fists. She needed to think, recoup, and find another way to tackle the problem. A few days out of work would do the trick, and maybe even more than that. A thought crossed her mind that made her grimace. Rita had Guy working under her, an unwitting pawn from what it looked like. One man in the cog of her machine, so how many others were left, waiting to be called to act? She did not even know if Rita was the mind behind all this or if the doctor was just one more layer over whatever machination was going on. It seemed that Nicole was just as unwitting as Guy was. So a retreat would be good for her. She needed way more than a few days, not just to clear her head, but to find out what the hell was going on. And she needed to do it without Rita, or anyone else connected to her, finding out. She rubbed her face with both hands, up and down, until her cheeks were red from the hard rubbing. She couldn't stay. ArcheTech wasn't safe, not when one mouse, or person, or whatever little creature, could sneak up on her and take her by surprise. There was no infiltration or access or battle here when they knew about her and she nothing about them. That stung most of all. That she would be forced to leave because of the enormous disadvantage she found herself in. She loved the work she was doing for ArcheTech, the science and the discovery and being so close to the cutting-edge. And she swore to herself then and there that she would unravel this one day. She'd get Rita at the very least and bring her to justice and as much of her accomplices as she could find. One day. But for tomorrow? Her resignation. Her letter of defeat. The bitterest pill to swallow. She'd bite the bullet. What the hell.

That sounds cool to me. This does feel like the denouement after all.

Nicole blinked, a slow motion that hid the whirring of her mind. When she opened her eyes again she saw Rita sip her coffee and Nicole followed suit. "You could say that. I try my best to stay alive afterall." Nicole's eyes narrowed over the lip of her coffee cup. Maybe it was residual jitters, maybe Rita had just the most unfortunate turn of phrasing and language. That could have been it but Nicole was not going to discount a more nefarious motive underneath the doctor's words. "There's going to be an investigation, you know," she continued. "How the facilities had let the infected rats escape, even with the assistance of an insider like guy. Gaps will close. Salvo might even come back to lend a hand." She set down her coffee mug and forced the biggest fake smile on her face. "The biggest question is why Guy or the mice or whatever chose to strike so openly then. Nothing was happening but you and me going through the testing facilities." She cocked her head slightly at Rita. "You have a guess?

Nicole It was an odd sort of act, pretending to be merely a civilian bystander so soon after she had a hand in bringing the whole mess to a close. No matter how many times she's done the act, she knew she could never play the part of a civilian shaking in fear to the point of tears. She wasn't an actor but she felt that keeping quiet and out of the way was well enough to go through these situations. People were too busy on more important matters than one girl's way of dealing with the crisis. But she too had other things to occupy her mind besides playing her part. When she had left, there were the telltale signs of tampering within the recordings. Done before she had attempted to, she had little time to investigate further before the police had arrived, pointing a gun at her face. The mystery annoyed her, like an itch at the back of her mind she could not reach. Besides her pride lost at having been caught flat-footed, it posed risks to her identity. If someone had seen her in those recordings, which they most definitely had... Nicole looked up at Rita's question. She blinked as she realized Rita had been speaking to her for the past few moments. "Sorry, sorry. Just thinking" She shook her head as if to clear her mind, though it did little to dispel the thoughts. "I'm- I'm fine, I think." She gave Rita a wan smile. "I just hid in the closet the whole time." She averted her eyes from Rita and looked at the scene around her. Then when she returned her gaze back, her face fell, hand going up to rub at her arm idly. "I'm so sorry I left you in the elevator. I thought I'd left you to die." It was not a lie and so it was easy to say and show emotion for.

Sure! I'll be using Skill Mastery on that for a 22 result. What kind of changes are those exactly?

Salvo With her scans completed, Salvo stepped away from Guy's form and, with barely a glance at Rita to see how she was doing, strode towards the basement doorway from which she had entered. It would do little good to engage Rita in conversation when the doctor knew her civilian identity. She might let slip something and Rita could have suspicions. Even as bewildered as the doctor might be now, there was no need to engage in unnecessary risk. So she ignored Rita's questions and Bellios' the heavy footfalls at first dominated the room. "You're safe now, Doctor,"' she said as she passed by Rita. "Wait for the emergency services to arrive and you will find assistance from them. In the meantime, please stay put." Just as she said this, her suit rang 9-11 and several other emergency services directly - emergency medical service and the police mostly. They service operators would find a prerecorded message in Salvo's voice waiting for them, informing them of a metahuman incident in the Archetech Emerald City HQ. Dealt with, fortunately, so they only needed to clean the mess and figure out what had happened. That wasn't a job for someone like Salvo. She reached the stairs and her suit began to fire again, targeting all recording systems within and around the Archetech pyramid. Then it found all footage of Nicole and of Salvo and imposed a new reality into the recordings. Nicole never scrambled down the hallway on the second floor. Guy never called to her as she had just entered the laboratories. Salvo never appeared where once Nicole had been. In fact, Nicole had reached the ground floor and instead of fighting her way through a passing horde of mice, decided to hide in a nearby janitor's closet. It was Salvo who appeared from nowhere, unbidden by anyone inside, just as she would disappear. Bellios banished back to whence it came from. The lights of the whole building flickered, sending Archetech into darkness for a few seconds. And as the lights turned back on, Nicole sat inside the janitor's closet, her eyes peered almost shut, gripping a lamp as a weapon in both hands, as she waited for emergency services to arrive.

Salvo To no one's surprise Rita was confused and scared as she stirred back to consciousness, noticing both the heavily armored Salvo and Guy, who was drooling silver fluids from his orifices. As she began to speak, Salvo held out an arm to block her path towards Guy. "Stay back, Doctor. You aren't safe yet." Salvo's voice was deeper, electronically altered to sound like another woman's voice. Salvo and Rita did not know each other but Salvo was a known hero, perhaps not so much in Emerald City as she was in Freedom City, but she hoped a calm tone would be enough to get Rita to sit still while she worked. She felt her programs run their course, slaughtering the nanomachines in their path, but she had to make sure the deed was done. And more importantly, if there were any survivors left. She glanced once more at Rita to make sure she was behaving, then strode towards Guy. And as if he were a stuffed doll, she lifted him up until he was level with her, his toes dangling against the floor. Silver fluids continued to leak down, spilling on her armor plating. Annoying, but she had more important things to focus on. She peered at him as she prodded into the now broken nanomachines inside his body, and only then did her eyes widen with the realization. "Damnit damnit damnit!" Guy's body dropped to the floor as her systems overclocked to expand throughout the facility and locate the infected persons. She had to shut down the nanomachines' continuous replication, or else they'd kill their hosts in the process.

Salvo There was little time to gloat or to bask in her success. Once she had noticed the physical effects of her breakthrough, like hardware effecting a forced shut down from internal processes, she too stopped in her tracks. From the outside it seemed like Bellios and the blob of nano-mice stood still together but Salvo was frantic in her mind's eye. She knew control could be an ephemeral thing and no doubt some uncompromised portion of the nano-network was fighting back now. So she began torching everything she could find, starting with Rita and all the nanomachines near her, and spreading from there. Among the indiscriminate destruction, she set a small portion of her automatic runtimes to searching for Guy and identifying other infected humans. If Rita and Guy could have been then there was no telling who else was infected inside the building. When she was confident enough her programs did not require her full attention she turned to the Bellios' physical space and with a mental confirmation moved his body. Salvo climbed over the railway and fell down the middle of fire escape, armor clanging and crashing through cement and steel bars on her way down. Cement cracked under her with her landing, plaster and bits of cement raining down as she rose from her knees. She found the door to the basement and began to walk, intent on only one thing: Rita.

Yay! Salvo will do three things, two with the control of the nanomachines. 1. Destroy every nanomachine starting with Rita and her surroundings. 2. Search for other infected humans in the building and destroy them. 3. Fall down the stairwell.

Alright, give me a Notice test to perceive all the guns with your Metal sense power. Then give me a roll for your Move Objects power at a +9.

Salvo = 1 post = 1 post = 1PP Happiness in Slavery (2)

Salvo When one got down to it, nanocode and systems were just like any other cutting-edge machine, just incredibly small and a dozen other minor differences that were moot. She wasn't all too familiar with nanotechnology so when something baffled her, instead of trying to bash her head against a wall she quickly diverted to the use of magic to supplement her infiltration. There was no time for pride or curiosity with both her and Rita's lives on the line. Yet as immersed as she was in cracking the nanotech, her eyes caught movement at the periphery of her vision. Tugging and scurrying around and behind her were once all the mice had been surrounding her. She let go off her assault, her program scripts running on the background, and turned around to see the dozens and dozens of mice merging together. Bodies melting, bones crunching and sliding, silver blood pooling into one incoherent mass. It had no shape. No eyes to watch her, no limbs to move. It was just a blob of silver. "S*&^." They found her out. So she dropped the act and let her independent networks reroute. They exploded into the the nanites' security walls, shedding subtlety for an all-out assault. Then she ran. Down the stairs to Rita before it was too late.