Zeitgeist Blue

"Sounds like a plan," said Nicole as Facsimile moved to exit the room. "I'll keep Mister Horis company."

She turned to look at Daniel and sat down, staring at him intently as she thought. A hero, not one who used his talents to fight but one who must have saved lives nonetheless. It was another way of going about being a hero, perhaps slanted heavily towards one aspect that he had ignored the rest. Mask, code name, powers and all. He had done good even if he refused to go the well-trodden path.

Could she really criticize his decision?

She couldn't really imagine being in his place when just a week inside this thrice-damned book made her feel like pulling her hair out. That was alone of course and with only the barest use of electricity, so that made it ten times worse. It wasn't a feeling she cherished, being outside her element so much. Bereft of her gadgets and the world, of seeing real people, frayed ones edges. It tore down at their walls, bit by bit until there was nothing left.

Daniel had it so much worse than her, so much longer. It was a feat and put the man in front of her in a new light. Perhaps she shouldn't be so harsh, biting her lip against something she'd regret afterward, some retort about his magic or a critique about his heroics.

Knowledge (Current Events): 1d20 + 7 = 22

Notice: 1d20 + 3 = 15

So can I try rolling a Knowledge (Current Events) to see if I know of any hero who fits the bill of magical arcanist + doesn't fight villains?

"Call me Nicole," she said quietly, almost whispering as Daniel finished his story.

She stood up then, her stomach suddenly uninterested with the food presented to her. There was a time and place for eating and when and where that was was not when one learned the very bedrock of this book-realm's existence was actively malevolent towards them. Her food forgotten, she began to pace around the decrepit room, kicking up dust in her wake.

She sneezed as the dust reached her nose, her hand shooting up to cover her mouth. This wasn't such a big deal in all honesty. She had been thrown into a foreign realm before and so now wasn't so different. She'd cook up a big ritual and brute-force their way through if she had to, and get creative if that didn't work.

"And Facsimile's brother?" She asked, waving her hand. "Where is he?"

"That this guy sounds like an nine-to-five corporate wage slave? Not my type of bad guy, just-- no."

Nicole stood up shakily from the sudden jump and crash through the tower. She dusted her dress unconsciously as she took in her surroundings. Can't say she was a fan of this guy's taste in furnishings, but one could never account for what others liked. In any case, they had a job to do and she marched to the stairs, gripping her device tightly between her hands.

"Come on, Facs. I want to see this Sorcerer in the flesh."

Salvo

The Magic of Reading (4)

Search: 1d20 + 9 = 12

Can I have Jury-Rig another device using the remains of the old one when Nicole was riding shotgun? Forgot to mention that.

I'll spend a Hero Point to bring me down to one.

Here's how it looks like:

Nullify 10 (Descriptor [Magical]; Extras: Duration [Concentration] Range [Perception], Flaws: Action [Standard], Distracting, Side Effect; Feats: Power Loss [Has to keep pressing a button]) [9PP]

For a DC 24 to have made it.

Lastly, can I make a Search roll to check the Spire? See if there are any backdoors or hidden traps or hidden cameras, because just two guards visible really means they're not everything there.

Nicole shivered in her seat, not from the wind cutting through as Facsimile ran across hills and verdant plains but because deep down she felt the chill of fingers grasping for her core and being, her mind which she treasured above all turned to clay. Like a puppet with strings, she was manipulate from the rafters and she did not know because it was dark to her senses.

So instead she sat and fidgeted and created as she always would, and when they reached The Spire as the voice announced, she looked up and gingerly stood up. Her legs were numb from hours of travel. They were in a hurry and so what few rests they had was short and not enough for her to remove the cramps and aches. She stretched as inconspicuously as she could and turned to Facsimile.

"Think there's a back door to this place? Could be a trap either way because they had a way to know where we are, but I still want to try and get the jump on this second-rate magician."

And here's another Flamethrower attack. Lethal still.

Reflex Save: DC 20

Toughness Save: DC 25

"Why didn't you tell me you had a brother?" Nicole threw up her hands in frustration. One would think these were the sorts of things that were pressing news instead of a need-to-know basis. If it weren't for that she would have gone the other way no matter what the Narrator tried telling her to do, especially because he tried telling her what to do. She wasn't ready without any ritual or gadget. Perhaps, Facsimile was but she wasn't going to hide behind his back every fight.

She settled down in her seat, rocking uncomfortably as Facsimile carried the wheelchair at top speed. She pulled out the sphere with her smartphone inside and began putting it back together, differently this time.

"Come on. Let's just save your brother and get out of here." She pushed a finger to the sky, "But I'm coming back for this one if he says one more word."

Will Save: 1d20 = 19

"Maybe," Nicole said as she settled into her wheelchair, Alex's unintentional faux pas already brushed past her mind. It wasn't something she liked to put her mind on, and so even if her memory was picture perfect, she did not dwell on her situation anymore than she had to. It was what it was and moping about it was going to get her nowhere. 'Stiff upper lip,' as the British liked to say.

"There's only one way to find out for sure and that's to ask him personally. Let's just find out where we're supposed to go."

She pointed a dainty finger at the direction of the nearby village. "That way then?"

"I'll write an IOU later. Or would you prefer a pat on the back?" Nicole said, eyes rolling and arms folded. So maybe she wasn't the friendliest of pals in the best of times, but getting stuck alone inside a windmill for days wasn't conducive to her people skills. Worse than even that was the lack of any of the facilities she had taken for granted. Phones, internet, laptops, even old-school paper newspapers and books as deprived as she was. If this world allowed it, she'd be wearing hair that hasn't been combed and bags under her eyes. But of course she looked pristine perfect and every bit like she woke up with an instant makeover.

Little Miss Princess. Just her luck.

She couldn't help a cringe at Facsimile's words. Touchy subject even after all this time but she pointed at the wheelchair nevertheless, shaking her head. "No, this is mine. Whatever's happening here, it's changing things which shouldn't be changed. Physically? Sure, but I suspect it's primarily a magical by-product affecting us."

"So we better get going then," said Nicole from behind Facsimile as she pulled an expensive looking wheelchair from the windmill's doorway, glasses clipped over her collar. One glance at Facsimile and the Captain trading barbs while fractures threatened to undo her work was enough for her to interrupt the duo going at it. "Really? You're wasting your time like this?"

She was rearing to go before her hunters could free themselves, but it meant that she was leaving days of work inside the windmill. It stung and she was almost beginning to call it her windmill. With the amount of time she spent inside, it was almost a home in this world that wasn't hers.

As to where she and Alex would go, the nearby village should be their first stop. They had maps there, supplies and provisions though she had no idea how they'd pay for them. And most importantly, they could plan their next move without a dozen tin men breathing down their necks.

But first...

"Can't you knock him out before he breaks free?" She said to Facsimile, more exasperated than worried, as she waved a hand at the Guard Captain. Her spherical contraption broke the second it did its works. Serves her right for trying to cook up something on the fly. Magic was a science and an art that you did methodically, not a slapdash of glue and paint.

Nicole's going to look to Facs on what to do next. Also, is this jury-rigged invention/device one-use only or one scene (or longer *coughs*)? I don't think I understood that part in the Core Book.

3 hours ago, Vorik said:

Sorry for the long wait, Been really busy! https://orokos.com/roll/592390

 

 

9, 15, 13, 16, 9, 19, 9, 13, 19, 16, 10, 14, 7]

 

Here is the Captain 

https://orokos.com/roll/592391

12

 

Once again Nuffle the God of Dice dislikes me it would seem. All guards have failed and so has the Captain! Pray tell what happens.

Right, so their armor melds into one big slab of metal shaped like armor, meaning they don't have joints to move their limbs anymore and the helmet is welded to the breastplate is welded to the leg armor things. Good luck with your cramps if you're in a uncomfortable position when this happens.

Salvo
Formatting Error -Act 2 (1)

The Magic of Reading (5)

Salvo was forced a step back as an invisible force knocked into her. Out of instinct, she raised her armored gauntlets and forced Saunder's stab away from her with a screech like nails on a blackboard. She was on her heels from surprise but trying not to give ground to something she couldn't see. Her mind raced for options and found one that would make whatever was attacking her an open book.

Now if only it could let up just enough for her to bring her weapon suite to bear.

Then the assault ended as abruptly as it began as Spider's quantum web consumed the ground in front of Salvo. Then the ground bled with things Salvo had no time to consider as they crawled and reached for her and the other two heroes with a ravenous haste.

Instead, she brought her arm-mounted flamethrowers to bear and sprayed at everything she could see.

"BEHOLD!" Murk said from behind, and for a brief moment she could make out a tall and lithe creature's silhoutte - that thing she was fighting - before it was doused in flames.

Right. Alex is going to use her device to target all the Black Guard in her vicinity.

Reflex Save: DC 20

Nicole ran out of the windmill before the two could come to blows again, holding between her hands what looked like a spherical cage of alternating steel and wood, seemingly held together by nothing more than her will. Inside, her smartphone could be seen spinning on its top, shooting static out of its hardrive port.

"Hey! Try this on for size!" She held up the ball-like device and her smartphone began spinning faster until it was almost a blur. It made a racket as it primed, parts clacking together as a high pitched whine began.

Nicole's face couldn't be read but she hoped she got what she got it right this time. No targeting Alex. No explosions. No butterflies coming from the air. Just a good welding of steel to the ground and their joints, locking these Black Guard in place while she and Alex could make a quick getaway.

It's lethal and I'm just going to stand with Murk for this turn.

Right. So Salvo's going to use her Flamethrowers in the general direction of Dr. Saunders.

Reflex Save: DC 20

Toughness Save: DC 25

So the ritual's finished? How many turns has it been?

Nicole continues making her device/ritual.

Her eyes take on a steely gaze, jaze set in determination. She remembered nodding once at Alex and telling him to go do what he did but those were things of the past, barely of any consequence, not when she had work to do and a workbench full to do it.

Somehow she'd sat down and scattered what little tools she had managed to make. Pentagrammic circles to direct the flow of energy, though the metal wiring was not as refined as what a factory could produce with assembly-like accuracy. She feared a backlash, some seeping of energy from the cracks that would eventually form, so she worked slowly and tuned out the sounds of fighting below her.

Slowly, almost ritually, her contraption took form: a hodgpodge of nails, wood, and wiring to encase her smartphone within.

Its battery showed 43% on the touchscreen. A jolt of electricity zapped her finger and she pulled her hand back.

Soon.