Poncho

The hunter can be seen. remember it's technically Daniel's turn as well, so both can do their actions together and we'll sort it out together And a correction from Thev reminded me that Minions can't crit, so that's actually two bruises. Round 1 Neko: 28, 1HP Kazra: 26,1x Bruised Timeout: 21, 4HP Esquire: 21, Everyone has Total Concealment from him. Drones: 13, 6 of them - Iris: 4 2HP Daniel: 4, Bruise

so, Iris is being attacked with a roll of 17. I believe her Defense is +8, so 18, so it misses her. Daniel got crit, so he has to roll a DC25 Toughness save. After that, it is both of their turns.

Star Knight Power Level: 10 (180/180PP) Unspent Power Points: 0 Trade-Offs: None In Brief: An old Star Knight whose just one job off of Retiring. Catchphrase: A Star Knight is always Vigilant. Theme: My Way- Frank Sinatra Alternate Identity: Millisand Vermillion, The Ruby Knight, 'That Gorilla', 'The Old Man', and a hundred other epithets Birthplace: The State of Helian, on the Planque continent of Bereingi Residence: Roving throughout the Galaxy, or a home in Bereingi Base of Operations: Mobile, or Citadel Occupation: Intergalactic Peacekeeper Affiliations: The Star Knights Family: A large family on Bereingi, his Squire Xendriz Description: Age: 85 (DoB: Equivalent Earth Year 1939]) Apparent Age: Even people who don't really understand Bereingi aging can tell that Millisand is quite old Gender: Male Ethnicity: Alien Gorilla Height: 8ft 4 inches Weight: 630 pounds Eyes: Black Hair: Fully covered in a rich ruby fur Millisand is an 8 foot tall Gorilla by all respects, if not for the fact he speaks Galstandard and usually is wearing his Star Knight Armor, which is just as red as his fur. He's not patchy furred but he's clearly old; he has a pair of tiny glasses he has to wear when he's not in his armor, and he walks with a cane. While his size would seem to represent increased strength and resilience compared to normal sized individuals or humans, his advanced age has sapped almost all of his youth's impressive strength and resilience, leaving him only about as strong as an adult human. Because of his age, he's a bit clumsy now as well, but his mind is still sharp. He cuts a dashing figure still in his Star Knight Armor, which is covered in the scars of a lifetime of battle. He favors making his energy weapon into heavy hammers and axes, a left over from when he was younger. History: Millisand Vermillion is a truly ancient being, especially for his race. His race resembles Earth Gorillas, particularly the larger Eastern Gorillas. Bereingi are, indeed, almost physically the same as Earth Gorillas; they have similar physical strength and senses to those creatures. However, they are much more intelligent, and the fur that covers their body is a deep orange, with their 'silverback' fur being a deep crimson. As they age, more of their fur becomes deep crimson; when one's fur becomes fully red, they retire to live an easy life for their last few years. Millisand is entirely crimson underneath his Star Knight armor, but he continues to go out to protect the stars. He has a wife, he has a family; he has at least 10 grandchildren, last he knew. He had retired once, but the Communion forced him out of retirement. He was old then, but with the numbers of Star Knights reduced due to the Communion, he felt the need to once more don his armor and rejoin in protecting the universe. He walks with a cane when he isn't in his armor, and without the armor he has some issues with mobility. However, his mind is just as sharp as ever, and he attempts to carry out his duties with dignity and honor. He was recently given his very last 'mission'; to take the new Star Squire; Xendriz, and turn him into a model Star Knight. So Millisand has taken the hot-headed, aggressive Star Squire under his wing, so to speak. His goal is simple; if Xendriz is important enough to be worth the trouble of training- and Millisand has no reason to believe he isn't-, then Millisand is going to teach him everything about being a Star Knight, and then retire. Throughout his years as a Star Knight, Millisand- or sometimes called the Ruby Knight for his for his dark red Star Knight armor- is well known throughout the Universe, both positively and negatively. People know him, and they know about him; they know he's old, they know they have grudges against him, they're aware of him teaching a new Squire. He doesn't try to hide these things, but they weigh on him just as much as Xendriz's brashness and unflinching foolishness. He is just...tired. Personality & Motivation: Millisand is stoic, serious, and well-mannered. He carries out his job and does the right thing because he's always had the job and he believes in it. He doesn't wear the weight of the worlds on his shoulder, but he carries out what he believes he needs to without complaint. In the end, he just really wants to finish his final job as a success, and retire for the rest of his life- however long he has- on Bereingi to live out his days. But he isn't going to leave it half done either. Powers & Tactics: Millisand has the standard Star Knight Armor, though he relies on it more than most due to his advanced age. He was quite the brute in his younger days, using his large size and great physical power to handle rogue threats, but he's lost much of that strength in his old age; he's had to become more strategic, more careful, and plan out what he intends to do more tightly. He isn't a coward, but he's not rash anymore; the scars and marks on his armor speak to a life spent aggressively but he's grown out of that these days. Power Descriptions: Millisand's powers are regular Star Knight Powers; his armor is crimson and his beams in color vary from deep red to a light pink depending on the preciseness of the beam. His physical style resembles how he would fight in his younger days; relying on pure physical strength, but now it's heavily augmented by his Star Knight Armor and he has to be more precise, but thankfully he has many years of that. Complications: Old as Dirt: Millisand is quite old, and has many of the trials and tribulations that come with being old. He has difficulty seeing without the corrective lenses in his Star Knight armor or his stand alone glasses, he has difficulty walking without his cane, and he has back pain and bad knees. Any sort of effect that is standard to an aging body can be given to Millisand as a Complication A Household Name: Millisand is rather well known for his actions when he was younger. This is not neccesarily always positive, as troublemakers or those with underworld or criminal connections can spot him out quite easily; he's effectively worthless undercover or in sneaking missions because of this, and it's always possible for someone to have heard of him or spot him in a crowd to a negative effect. Rambunctious Student: Millisand puts a lot of his focus on making sure his job of teaching Xendriz is carried out correctly, and he will put his student's safety before his own Star Knight; Millisand also puts a lot of effort into being a proper, well meaning Star Knight. Abilities: -8 + -2 + -4 + 8 + 8 + 8 = 10PP Strength: 2/10/30 (-4/+0/+10) Dexterity: 8 (-1) Constitution: 6/10 (-2/+0) Intelligence: 18 (+4) Wisdom: 18 (+4) Charisma: 18 (+4) Combat: 10 + 10 = 20PP Initiative: +4 (Speed of Thought) Attack: +4 Base (5 - 1 for Size), +10 for Star Knight Array. Defense: +10 (+5 Base, +6 Dodge Focus, -1 Size), +2.5 Flat-Footed Grapple: +9/+19 (Strength in Array) (5 + 4 (Size) + 10 (Strength from Array)) Knockback: -9 Saving Throws: 7 + 8 + 5 = 20PP Toughness: +10 (Impervious 8 ) [-2/+0/+10 (-2/+0 Con, +10 Protection (Impervious 8)] Fortitude: +7 [-2/+0/+7 (-2/+0 Con, +7)] Reflex: +7 [(-1 Dex, +8)] Will: +9 (+4 Wis, +5) Skills: 28R = 7PP Diplomacy 4 (+8) Gather Information 3 (+7) Investigate 4 (+8) Knowledge (Galactic Lore) 4 (+8) Language 1 (Bereingi, Galstandard) Notice 4 (+8) Search 4 (+8) Sense Motive 4 (+8) All other Intelligence, Wisdom, and Charisma Skills +4 Feats: 40PP Luck 3 Sidekick 24 (120pp) Jack of All Trades Master Plan Leadership Beginner's Luck Dodge Focus 6 Native: Galactic Lore Speed of Thought Benefit (Fame) Powers: 13 + 2 + 68 = 83PP The Growth and Super Senses are from his Bereingi Biology. The Star Knight armor is Technological. Growth 4 (Extra: Duration (Permanent) [+0]; Power Feat: Innate) [13 PP] Strength +8, Constitution +4, Attack -1, Defence -1, Grapple +4, Intimidate +2, Stealth -4, +5' speed, +5' reach, +5 Strength for carrying capacity only Super Senses 2 (Low Light Vision, Scent) (Sharp Eyes and Nose) [2PP] Device 17 (Battlesuit, 85PP Container, Flaw: Hard to Lose) [68PP] (technology) Immunity 9 (Life Support, Starvation and Thirst) [10DP] Comprehend 3 (Understand and Read all Languages, Speak one at a time) [6DP] Weapons Array 10 (20PP, Feats: Alternate Power 2, Accurate 3) [25DP] BE: Enhanced Strength 20 (to Strength 30 [+10], Total Effect carrying Capacity Strength 35) {20/20} AP: Blast 10 (laser blasts) {20/20} AP: Snare 10 {20/20} Protection 10 (Extra: Impervious [8]) [18DP] Flight 8 (2,500 MPH) [16DP] Super Movement 3 (Space Travel 3) [6DP] Enhanced Feat: Quick Change [1DP] Super Senses 3 (Communication Link [Mentor], Radio, Direction Sense) [3DP] Drawbacks: (-0) + (-0) = -0PP None DC Block ATTACK RANGE SAVE EFFECT Unarmed Touch DC 25 Toughness Damage Blast Ranged DC 25 Toughness Damage Snare Touch DC 20 Reflex Snare Totals: Abilities (10) + Combat (20) + Saving Throws (20) + Skills (6) + Feats (40) + Powers (83) - Drawbacks (0) = 180/180 Power Points

(Golden Star Post) "A flail...Huh." he rolled it forward. "You could like...wrap it around people's legs or something too, right? Trip them up." he pondered. "I mean this thing is all energy, right? So maybe I could manipulate it." he looked at it again and then laughed. "Ah! Whatever! I'm trying to not think about that stuff." He said bashfully, shaking his head as if to move on to the conversation and focus on something else. "School's almost over for the year, do you have any plans over the summer? Maybe if my family heads out on vacation somewhere you can come with us? Maybe somewhere out in the Midwest or something, they're still deciding. Or maybe Canada." He offered to her casually. "If you think your guardians would be okay with it, at least."

(GM Post) As Predator carried Echohead across the rooftops, the wannabe secret agent could...feel. He could feel, below him, the beings moving around now that he was close enough, and Predator carrying him gave him the time to focus. Each of the Dennis Deacons, even in their brains, was the same. More than 'the same', they were identical. These weren't surface level changes to the individual person. Even the connections in a person's brain were overwritten. Memories, IQ, Feelings, Emotions. All of them were all the exact same. But it wasn't just one mind; there was a second, somewhere, laying over each of the brains; a passenger, on each of the Dennis Deacon's brains. There was something at the root of this, infecting the inside of the brains. And then the pair were at the hospital, and one of the windows opened. In the darkness, lit only by the slowly flashing sign, someone waved them in. "Hurry, get in here before they see you. We're trying to hide in here." The voice was panicked, concerned, scared. It opened the window and stepped back to let the two in. "I don't know who you are, but I'm hoping you can help." In their hands or attached to their suits, the scanners they built beeped. They needed to get into the Hospital. To find the original Dennis Deacon and begin calibrations.

(GM Post) "Thank you, Lawrence." The huntress said. She continued to stay quiet, observing what was going on with Neko and the hunter carefully. The Hunter himself did absolutely nothing to help the wounded woman, in fact he went to push her out of the way before realizing she was fake! "Get out of the way, you crazed bird! I'm hunting!" then the cats came after him and he yelled in surprise. "Blimey! There weren't supposed to be any moggy in this forest!" he yelped as he fled, attempting to hide behind a tree, but not being exactly sure where his prey is. "Drones! Take them out! I don't want to be mucking about with this, I'm still tracking that big palooka!" At his order, the drones chirped like birds and moved directly towards the Claremonters and their guide; they were clearly fully autonomous, at least in some way, shooting bright red lasers into the foliage; precise beams struck Kazra in the hip again, leaving a nasty burn that smelled quite...unnerving. The drones continued to float around, trying to keep the group pinned in their hiding place for when the hunter finally managed to get his focus back in.

Alright. With Timeout's healing power and Kazra's Constitution, she gets rid of the Stagger since the total is about 10, and the Bruises and Injuries heal automatically. Esquire is totally concealed, so he's going to attempt to hide himself. Stealth Results 1d20+10: 11 [1d20=1] That's an awful roll so that doesn't work at all! But it's the Drone's turn next! So since there's 6 of them, they're going to take 1 shot at each person- starting with Kazra, then Timeout, then Iris, then Daniel, and 2 at Neko! I'm rolling them all at once but I'll highlight which is which here; Attack Roll Results 6#1d20+6: 6 # 26 [1d20=20] 12 [1d20=6] 17 [1d20=11] 26 [1d20=20] 13 [1d20=7] 17 [1d20=11] So the listings are: Kazra is Crit at 26 Timeout is missed so I'm not even rolling his concealment Iris versus 17 Daniel is crit at 26 Neko has 13 and 17. These are against Defense. The damage is DC 20, so DC25 with the two Crits. Toughness Results 1d20+8: 17 [1d20=9] Kazra is Bruised and Dazed again. @Dracostern that will make it Iris and Daniel's turn :), then Neko's Round 1 Neko: 28, 1HP Kazra: 26, Dazed, 1x Bruised Timeout: 21, 4HP Esquire: 21, Everyone has Total Concealment from him. Drones: 13, 6 of them - Iris: 4 2HP Daniel: 4

Initiative Results 1d20: 7 [1d20=7] Man I can not wait to get some more Initiative XD

Apologies for lateness Golden Star 27 IC Posts Never Was [2] Star Crossed [1] Teenage Dream [3] Tropical Getaway [1] Only Monsters Left Alive [2] Digital Hex [9] Down on the Farm [1] Opening Day [2] Mind And Matter [3] Sound is Golden [1] Explosions After Dark [2] 1 Vignette The Hadley Duck Drop Festival [>1000 Words] Dwayne Devon Davidson 2 IC Posts A Journey Into Mystery [2] 1 Vignette A Normal Day At Work [>1000 Words] GM Posts 15 GM POSTS = 30 Effective Posts The Sword, The Gold, The Arrow [1] Red Team: Jeopardy In The Jungle [4] House of the Caged Sun [3] Sweet Child of Mine [0] SCP 46591 [3] Sound is Golden [3] Explosions After Dark [1] For Golden Star: 27 IC Posts + 23 GM Posts = 50 total posts for 4PP Plus Vignette for either 1 or 2PP. Assign Guide Point to Golden Star as well. Total should be either 6 or 7PP, bringing total PP up to 192 or 193, dependently Total PP gained = 6 or 7 For Dwayne: 2 IC posts + 7 GM Posts = 9 total posts for 1PP Vignette of 1 or 2PP brings it up to 2 or 3, for 154 to 155 PP Total PP gained = 2 or 3

Interesting. Alright, let's keep that in the back pocket for now, maybe find a auitably dramatic time for you to have to learn some skills from something that may not have the right body shape. Wiith an 18 and Leaping 3 + wall crawling I figure Predator can get over the rooftops good enough. I'll do a GM post in a little bit if you want to post in response to Predator carrying you IC

Michael had been prepared to try and block the axe swinging down at him from the giant lizard man, but it was casually stopped by Paradigm. He would have had to try his best to stop it, and still might not have been able to, but there was this Hero just doing it easily. He grimaced a bit about that and tried to step up, flying up to swing at the big lizard alien's face, but the creature moved it's head and he caught only air, which he felt was quite embarassing. He floated around the creature afterwards, trying to keep his eye on the entirety of the battle as best he could, including watching out for Carmen, in case she needed help.

Excellent!~ As per the goal of 'just hit the closest thing' I'm gonna swing at the Boran Lieutenant Attack Roll Results 1d20+7: 18 [1d20=11] Probably a Miss, but if it hits, it's DC 24 Toughness

we can get an Acrobatics roll to have Predator get across the Rooftops! It'll be a little more difficult if she also has to carry Echohead, let's say DC 20 if she has to carry Echohead while they're jumping, DC 15 if they're handling it separately; I'm not sure how Echohead's mimic works on if he can borrow her Acrobatics for his own attempt.

Michael's happiness at the twins reuniting had been shattered by this general guy! He'd never seen him before, but he was really starting to get ticked off! Why was he so annoying!? He dipped between electric bolts and tried to stay close to the tower, to avoid letting the turret blast him. "This guy sucks!" Michael yelled to the twins, pointing up at the evil General Sparks. "And his stupid tower's about to fall over too! How about we knock it over and send him falling!?" he suggested. "This thing is starting to look like a stiff breeze could send it falling! Maybe we go down to one of the smaller points and just like...knock it over?"

OOC for This Thread Will Carmen and Michael finally have a regular date that isn't interrupted by superheroics!? Seems Unlikely.

Early April, 2024 Freedom Central Library It was a nice day in New Jersey, and in part because of that, Michael and Carmen had left Claremont after class to go have a date. A date that they both promised would not be about superheroing, would not involve alien invasions, or being trapped in time bubbles, or teenage delinquents, or any of that. Michael had picked up sandwiches from Stan's Super Heroes; the local place's habit of naming sandwiches after supers had obviously always fascinated their biggest fan, and he wasn't ashamed to admit that he hoped that some day he would have a sandwich 'of his own', so to speak. But he was currently eating one named for Velocity as he and Carmen sat under the stone sphinx named April on the stairs to the building. It was decently populated, but not enough to make Carmen uncomfortable, which gave the two enough privacy to sit quietly and eat together while enjoying the day. The actual Library itself was fairly busy today; they had announced an interesting exhibit of several of the first recorded written versions of many famous tall tales, in addition to oral counterparts spoken by historical researchers. Banners across the front of the heavy granite building in the City Center announced readings of the original stories of Paul Bunyan, Mike Fink, Johnny Appleseed, and more. Michael had some interest in those stories- they were, to him at least, somewhat of the precursors of modern Superheroes-, and he'd picked up several copies of collections of the tales earlier in the day, resting next to him as him and Carmen sat on the stairs. Michael was not talking about superheroing, or studying, or anything like that, at least at the moment. He was simply leaning against the base of the sphinx statue and enjoying his time with Carmen, and talking about more interesting, teenager things. That included the yo-yo that his brother had gotten bored with no long after obtaining, that he was now practicing with. "Honestly, I'm not very good with this thing." he said as he threw the yo-yo out and let it roll back into his hand. "I've watched some Youtube videos and people can do crazy stuff with them. Have you ever used one?"

As Michael and Daniel made their way up the tower, leaving the ko'd guards behind, the teen paragon was on the lookout for Iris the whole way, moving through the increasingly unstable tower with as much speed as he could muster without leaving Daniel behind or damaging the tower; the thing felt like it could fall at any minute! With a thunderous BANG! noise, he set his shoulder and muscled his way through a locked steel door, wobbling as the entire building shook; surely not from his impact, but from some other terrible thing. As he entered the next room, he spotted the broken glass, and Iris, and pointed her out. "Iris! Daniel look it's your sister!" he yelled. "Come on, let's follow her lead and get out of this building before we get buried in rubble!" he called to the other teenage boy as he started to fly, heading for Iris.

"Ah, yes. I imagine a holding company like this has truly astronomical beaucracy to navigate. Learning the ins and outs of it could take ages, especially if you're carrying out research at the same time." Michael said, then looked at Parker and grinned. "Parker's great though. He's got a real knack for the superheroing, you know. Plus he's actually pretty smart about all the sciencey stuff too." He noted. But when she moved over to the Twins he just watched. He raised an eyebrow and waited to see how the twins would react, willing to step in if they got uncomfortable.

Dwayne Devon Davidson A Normal Day At Work April 29th, 2024 5:30 AM Dwayne Devon Davidson woke up 30 seconds before his alarm. When the alarm went off, 80’s rock filled his small apartment. He sat in bed for a couple of minutes, gathering himself up for his day’s work. He turned off the alarm on his phone, got up, and prepared for work. Shower, shave, two fried eggs and toast. Classic EMT uniform in the Freedom City colors and patch. His kit was by the door; the work backpack and the like. He gathered it up as he headed out, half an hour from waking up to heading out the door. On his way into the station, he stopped by a corner coffee shop, where he’d sent in an order on his way over. He grabbed the coffee from the counter, and spent basically no time at all before he was back on his way. 6:15 AM Once he got to the station, Devon immediately went to the ambulance parked at the station. He checked in with the prior shift who were heading home, then did inventory; bandages, medications, splints. Anything that needed to be refilled was quickly refilled, checklists were filled out. He examined the air in the tires, checked the gas in the ambulance, and once everything was ready and to his satisfaction, he headed into the lounge. There, while the morning shift of firemen were also all set up and ready, he met his shift partner, who wasn’t Ronnie Hunter, the guy he usually worked with. “Oh, Ronnie’s out today?” he asked the new person, sent by dispatch. “Yeah, he woke up sick.” The replacement responded, a heavier looking man who was a bit on the older side. “I’m Marcus Gordan.” “Pleasure to meet you, Marcus.” Dwyane said as they shook hands. “Dewayne Devon Davidson. Hope we have a good shift.” “Hope so.” Marcus agreed, as they sat down in the lounge. Devon had put several detective stories on his kindle and began reading while Marcus joined some of the firefighters playing video games. 7:45 AM The Hospital was packed even this early as Devon and Marcus wheeled the older gentleman into the arms of the hospital staff. The older man didn’t look that bad; pale, a little sickly, but he probably didn’t need the whole ambulance treatment. It was something that happened sometimes, but it was up to the person themselves if they needed an ambulance or not, so Devon never worried about it. “You picked this guy up from George’s Breakfast Buffet?” Asked the charge nurse- Beth- as Devon and Marcus filled out their side of the paperwork. “Yeah.” Devon responded. “...That’s the third person today coming from there.” Beth said with a level of concern, which made Devon raise an eyebrow. “Well that’s going to be fun for you.” Marcus mumbled as he signed his paperwork. Devon could only shrug. “Good luck Beth.” he offered consolingly. “...Rather take that then a supervillain attack, honestly.” Beth said confidently as she turned to get back to work. “You ready Dwayne?” “Yeah, let’s go.” he said, finishing his own signing to head back to the ambulance. 1:15 PM “Alright m’am, can you move your fingers and toes?” Dwayne asked as he supported the victim’s head. “Y..yes. I can. I’m okay.” She responded. She had been hit by someone running a red light, and Dwayne and Marcus were the responders, carefully tending her injuries. The man who’d caused the crash hadn’t had any injuries, and was talking with the cops at the moment. “You may feel okay but we’re still going to get you checked out. It’s not smart to try and walk off a car wreck.” Dwayne said, keeping a calm, gentle tone as they put a brace on the woman’s neck. “Alright, we’re going to take you out very gently and see if we can see any damage, then if you don’t want to go to the hospital afterwards that’s your choice.” Always had to include that. He thought it was a bad idea but if someone didn't think they could afford the trip, he wasn't in a position to stop them or make the decision for them, especially if they were still conscious and responding. So after a check and a run through to determine she wasn't in immediate danger, and an observation period to make sure she wasn't showing any concussion symptoms, she went about her day, with Dwayne making sure she knew if she ended up feeling bad to either call or go to the hospital. 7:45 PM “Hey guys! The local church brought us some soup!” called the Captain as a few of the younger firemen brought in the heavy bottom pots filled with a meat stew. Those same younger men went after the food excitedly, while Dwayne continued to read quietly in the corner with an older fireman. “It’s been pretty quiet today, huh?” the older Fireman- Tex- said with a clear note of happiness in his voice. Everyone in Freedom City knew what an ‘active’ day was, when the Supervillains were out and about, and there was no downtime. “Yeah. A quiet day is a nice day, you know? I guess even the heroes and villains take a day off sometimes.” Dwayne pondered. “Hard to get too mad about it.” As the two enjoyed their quiet time, it only lasted a moment before the alarm started blaring. There was a groan from the table where everyone was forced to abandon their half-eaten bowls of soup, but Dwayne and Tex simply looked at each other and smiled. “Couldn’t be too quiet, otherwise it’d be boring.” Tex said with a laugh as he and Dwayne put their books down and headed off to the garage. 6:45 AM With a hamburger he had grabbed from a fast food place open all night in a bag, Dwayne made his way back to his apartment. Unlocking the door, dropping his bag on the chair next to the door, and closing it behind him. Sitting on his couch, he ate his hamburger while watching the news, then smiled to himself as he finished his meal and got ready to head to sleep. There was always satisfaction in a job well done, a day that didn’t involve any super powers, super villains, or him having to be a superhero. “...How pleasant.” Dwayne said cheerfully.

Golden Star The Hadley Duck Drop Festival A sea of umbrellas covered a deluge of people from the rainstorm that filled the sky. The dark clouds above cast a heavy shadow on the proceedings, but people were still out and about, darting from covered pavilion to covered pavilion to enjoy food trucks, beer gardens, and festival games. Local crafts were for sale, paintings and carvings. Michael Adon was not a guest of honor at this event as Golden Star; he was not the guest of honor for charity work or participating in any of this. He, and the rest of his family, were attending a small city gathering in his mother’s home town, a small city on the Connecticut river in Massachusetts. It was the day of the yearly duck drop festival, and his family had driven up to go visit some of Stella’s - and thus their own- extended family. Michael could have made the trip in an hour or two given how fast he could fly these days, but instead they had all piled into the family SUV and driven up. Michael had, for a little bit, almost been frustrated- he missed Carmen, Parker, and the rest of his friends-, but that was mostly related to being bored in the car and getting a little carsick trying to read while they drove. Once the family got to their relative’s house, a giant, sprawling three story affair out in the woods, he had quickly adapted; spending time with his cousins and related family members in a variety of activities. He’d played video games, walked the nearby Mount Holyoke Range State Park, helped cook a massive family meal, and visited an Emily Dickinson Museum. The capstone to their event was the duck drop; a city event where people dropped carved wooden ducks into the river, and the accompanying festival surrounding it. Despite the rain, the turnout had been significant, leading to a sea of umbrellas bobbing in the rain as people wandered between handmade crafts stalls and ate snacks. Michael was hanging around close to his little brother, who was wandering around in his Catgirl Reacts jacket while Michael escorted him to the stalls he was interested in, getting him a tasty handheld pie and a hand-carved yo-yo. He was practicing with it as they walked, which mostly involved hurling it down with a lot of force and trying to waggle it back up, with it instead staying fully extended and not doing much of anything. “This is hard.” Kenny complained as he rolled the yo-yo back up to try and get it to work. “It’s not that it’s hard, it’s that you’re trying too hard.” Michael noted. “You can’t force it to do something, it’s a math equation.” He knew it was really physics, but it had to deal with math and Kenny wasn’t even 10; he wouldn’t understand physics when he already hated math. “I hate math.” Kenny whined like it was a prophecy. “You don’t have to know math to get it to work, but math is how the world works. When you drop it, the string around the central piece unwinds, releasing energy. When it reaches the full length of the string, it goes taut, and that force pushes it back up the string. When it catches, it continues rolling back up until it reaches the top, back in your hand.” “That’s too complicated.” “Here. Give it to me.” Michael said, holding out his spare hand. Kenny obliged, putting it in Michael’s hand. Holding his umbrella on his shoulder, Michael threaded the loop through his finger and held the yo-yo in his palm. He didn’t think about it as a Hero, he didn’t think about it through his powers; all that was put away for now. “So watch.” He let it drop from his hand and as it hit the end of the string it paused, then rolled itself back up to his hand. “See?” He said to Kenny, rolling it out a few more times casually. “I don’t get it. You’re not pulling it up at all.” “Yeah. You don’t have to. The reason it’s not working is because you’re pulling at it when it reaches its peak. That knocks all the energy out of it, so it just hangs there. It needs to glide to a stop and then come back up.” Michael explained, throwing it a few more times before handing it back to his younger brother. “...Sometimes with something that's already moving, you just have to let it go on its own.” He finished. Kenny looked at him in frustration but sighed. “I don’t really get it. But okay.” he said with a huff as Michael and him continued on towards the large bridge where people were gathering. With a hand on Kenny’s shoulder, Michael guided his younger brother through the gathering people to the rest of their family, where Stella gave them both a duck. “When the mayor says to do so, everyone drop your ducks, okay!?” she yelled to the gathered dozen members of her side of the family, extremely cheerful at participating in something she hadn’t done since she was much younger. Michael hefted Kenny up over the barricade, holding him in one arm with his own duck in the other. They listened to the Mayor as she made a speech about how happy she was about the turnout even on a rainy, overcast day, how the duck drop was a fun thing that had been a tradition for years, that it would continue to be so for much longer, and that she hoped all the visitors would come back again the next year, and the year after that. Then, after all her thanks and speech, she counted down, and when she yelled drop, the entire family released their ducks, along with everyone else, filling the river with bobbing ducks as they slowly floated down the river in the rain, a wave of yellow, wooden bodies being watched by a dam of yellow, fleshy bodies. “Well now! Wasn’t that fun!” Stella said cheerfully. “A totally normal day, nothing weird or strange happening! That might not mean much to you,” she said to her relatives with a grin. “But for us Freedom City folks, a day where nothing strange happens is weirder than anything.”

(GM Post) Predator and Echohead carefully work together to create an appropriate pair of trackers. Handheld devices; handles with a beeping scanning screen on them and a spiking antennae, they have the ability to test them on the sealed corpses. In the specially designed train, they work quite well, but as soon as they leave the safety of the train, they start to beep in frustration; you can even feel the scanner's own frustrations as they start to spit out errors. Specifically, two errors; Error 1: Radio Signal from Prime Tower currently interfering with radio signals. Need in person calibration from the Prime Tower. Error 2: Unable to locate Prime Designate; please locate Original Body to determine prior passages. As the pair were standing in a forest overhanging Woodbury; where only a few lights were on, fires pressed across the street, and from where they were standing, they could barely make out groups of people traveling, finding singular stragglers, and falling over them like a wave. Then the singular straggler joined the group. In the very center of town was the Central Radio Tower; across various burning streets and possible groups of roving zombies. They needed to get there. And to the East, along the edge of the city, was the hospital where they had taken Dennis after they found him. Lights on individual floors flickered on and off as did the sign for the Hospital in general, like it was aghast at the sites before it and blinking. Hard to decide which seemed more dangerous, and which was more important, though both were necessary.

Alrighty! So that's DC 18 Will to see through the Illusion, then a full obscure on all senses. Will Save Results 1d20+9: 24 [1d20=15] So the Illusion doesn't work, but the Obscure obviously does, so he still can't see any of you. That makes it Kazra's turn. Since she's staggered and knows that running in and doing something stupid would be bad for the group right now, she's holding her action. @Thevshi it's Timeout's turn Neko: 28, 1HP Kazra: 26, Staggered, 2x Bruised, 2x Injured Timeout: 21, 4HP Esquire: 21, Everyone has Total Concealment from him. Drones: 13, 6 of them Iris: 4 2HP Daniel: 4

I'm not actually expecting a roll, actually. Rather then having a roll, I'm just gonna give you the HP and let you have a set of locations to visit to calibrate it. If you're okay with that? My idea was the roll was to skip the two encounters; by taking the HP, you're giving up on that and taking an HP and maybe getting some more posts.

"Woah." Michael said at both Parker and Carmen's actions, picking up his feet and walking towards his girlfriend while he clapped. "That was incredible! You're so cool Carmen!" He said as he jogged over towards her. "You really are a top class athlete, you know? You'd put pro athletes to shame."

Michael was having fun with his new froggy friends, enjoying the brand new and unique situation he was in. But he had paid absolutely no attention to the approaching Atlantean ship, but now that others had pointed it out, he turned his attention to that, inclining his head to the side momentarily as he thought about it, then looked at his froggy friends again and smiled, giving them a thumbs up. "Sure! I'd love to go and greet them! Getting meet new cultures is good!" he said without fear, having fun just in how out there his current experience was; he wouldn't have been able to do this if he was still a normal kid and his horizons were eternally expanding. So how could he not be happy about that. "If that's okay with everyoen else, at least!"