Dr Archeville

GM Post The teen's conversations were interrupted by a frantic "What's that?!" yelled out by the van driver. As the van pulled to a stop in the middle of the dirt road, the teens could see an old pickup truck, its red paint faded from decades of use, horn blaring constantly. It sat sideways on the road, blocking any traffic from movig either way along the route, but was still running. Inside, a figure sat slumped over the wheel, laid across the wheel and setting the horn off. "You kids stay here," the van's driver, Mr. Murtagh, called back as he undid his seat belt, "I'm gonna go check this out." In a moment, he was out the door and walking briskly up to the truck. "Hey, mister!," the teens could hear him clal out, "are you okay? Mister?"

Doktor Archeville "Ah, White Christmas, I adore that movie! Danny Kaye is always a delight to see. And the costumes!" He let out a gasp, "some of Edith Head's finest work, in my opinion. Definitely better than what she'd done on Sabrina that year, at least." "Surprised?," he added, smirking, "not 'technial' enough for a movie recommendation from Herr Doktor Viktor Archeville?" He chuckled as he placed his hands around the cup, feeling the warmth seep in, "alright, how about... 'White Christmas was the first film released in VitaVision, the precursor to IMAX, allowing for then-unprecedented richness of color, sharpness of image, and capturing rapid movements without blurring.'?" He winked as he took a sip of his cappucinno.

Doktor Archeville "The... whatever it is that that Grue did," he replied, "seems to have agitated the poor beasties. And... but..." Whatever that Grue did happened too fast for me to get a good scan on it -- assuming I even could get a decent scan on it, with what I have in me -- so I've no idea what they did, or how to counter it. And we've barely had any time to study them, so we still don't know how they communicate. We still don't know how intelligent they are, if we could communicate with them even if we figured out how they communicate; it could be like trying to speak with a herd of cattle... ... oh! "We may not know how to communicate with them, but we can likely nudge them away! Between Star Khan's blasts -- low-powered blasts -- pushing them from below, and Starshot using the Xeno to fly circles around them, steering them upward, you should be able to lead the swarm up and out of the atmosphere. Meanwhile, I will try to get close enough to one of them to perform some deep bioscans, find out what stimuli they best respond to, maybe learn how they communicate." It was... a plan. Of sorts.

Artificer 1 post = +1pp The Last Free Place (1) Written in the Stars (0) Horrorshow 0 posts = +0pp Test Your Might (0) --Titanium Characters-- Dead Head 0 posts 000 Doktor Archeville 1+1 = 2 posts, added to ??? Fifteen Feet of Pure White Snow (1) Shoaling Patterns (1) Protectron 0 posts 000 --GM Posts-- Down on the Farm (1) +[1*2] 2 posts, to ??? --Other-- Mod point, to ???

Artificer Heroditus relaxed a bit, seeing Nick back in control of his faculties, but he still felt ill at ease about, well, everything. So there were Deep Ones here, captured, and long-dead. Captured by whom? I know of no Atlantean outposts near here - did the Surfacers do this? If so, why? They don't know much about Deep Ones, would see them only as monsters, kill on sight. So why contain them? A scientific study? Some magical working? And did they actively execute them, or just... leave them to die, allowed this place to kill them? He thought back on what he knew of the Deep Ones, the lessons drilled into him as a child. How he'd had to re-examine those lessons when, four years ago, he'd first met Aquaria, and a few months after that, when his twin sister had been transformed into a Deep One. They're as much victims as the people they capture and sacrifice to their ineffable deities... though that makes them no less dangerous. He disassembled his device and replaced its components into their pouches, and kept his thoughts to himself.

Artificer's Reflex save is... 1d20+5: 8 [1d20=3] He's prone!

Sorry, was AFK for longer than expected! Three (3) Toughness saves, DC 25, for Artificer's Created Object (Toughness 9) 3#1d20+9: 3 # 27 [1d20=18] 29 [1d20=20] 23 [1d20=14] First two pass, third fails by 2, so that's an injury, reducing it's effective Toughness to 8. So the first CO he put up at the main hangar bay is still up but at Toughness 7, the CO barrier at the back bay is up but at Toughness 8. ... unless it was the first/main barrier they were attacking just now, in which case it's still up but at Toughness 6, and the rear one is untouched and at full Toughness 9.

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Artificer Good, good, the crystallos barriers are holding, he thought with satisfaction as he witnessed the mecha's failed attempts to blast through his blockage of the main hangar bays. They will not hold under a sustained assault, but they do not need to hold for long, just enough for the others to subdue the- oh! A large movement at the back of the hangar caught his eye as more hangar bay doors started opening. "Oh, you naughty barbarians -- trying to slip out the back!" He flew towards the rear and drew back on his 'slingshot,' flinging more fast-growing crystallos chunks which quickly expanded and blocked the exits.

Then that is what he shall do, with his Create Object effect ( 9 10-ft. cubes of Toughness 9 material).

So the enemy fighters blasted at the crystalline plugs Artifier put up over the hangar bay doors, they're still holding but obviously damaged. Are there any other hangar bay openings which need plugging, or did he get them all?

Artificer is holding his action -- if it looks like Aquaria's cool-down hug is going to work, he won't do anything, but if it looks like she's not getting through to him, he'll use his Move Object effect in an attempt to grapple him.

Artificer Heroditus let out a yelp, dropping his goggles and stylus as he took a step back. Subverting the wills of these civilians is one thing, but to snare Cimitiere's mind... As Aquaria leaped into action, Artificer hastily withdrew more components from his bandolier, assembling something like a three-pronged tuning fork. She might be able to break him out of it, but if not... or, worse, if she also falls under its sway... and yet, any threatening actions from me may worsen the situation. I must time this carefully. The three tines of his device began glowing with a soft blue light, but held off on releasing the arcane forces which -- he hoped -- would be sufficient to restrain Cimitiere. If he is not of a mindset to use his own magics to counter mine, this should work... unless the effect on him also gives him berserker-like strength...

Artificer "I hear nothing," he replied with a shrug, "but I am aware that some of your k- ah, that some Deep Ones are able to perceive mystical auras as sounds. Perhaps," he looked to the bodies again, "perhaps these are not full hybrids, but they do carry some tiny amount of Deep One cor- ah, connection, from some distant ancestor. Not enough to evidence any physical manifestations, at least not outwardly, but enough to be sensitive to certain... tones?" He removed the goggles from his head and a tool from his bandolier, "I can perceive mystical energies visually, and these goggles can enhance that further. Some further refinement may allow me to discern precisely which manner of magics were used here -- illusion, mind control, or something else." He began carving small marks onto the rim of one of the lenses, "though if too much time has passed, the auras may have faded too much to get such a detailed read." He concentrated on his work a moment, then suddenly looked up, "Cimitiere, do their spirits still linger? Can you get anything from them?" He knew Nick was a necromancer of some skill, but was not entirely certain of the particulars. If he can question the murder victims directly...

Curse their villainy! Reconfiguring VP to Enhanced Flight 10 (“nyoom;” to Flight 11 [25,000 mph / 250,000 feet per Move action]) {20/20} ad nyooming out & up to see what's going on.

Doktor Archeville Dozens of scenarios raced through Viktor's mind. Stay and confront this Grue, subdue and restrain him, but let who-knows-what continue above? Rush outside to see what was happening, knowing the cultist would flee, to wreck havoc another day? Split the party, some stay to prevent the Grue from escaping while others see what's happening above? No, chances were not good that divided resources would be adequate for either task. Crraaapppp "Agreed," he grunted, already reconfirguring his internal systems for faster flight. "Starshot," he called out, "we fly!" He sneered at the lead cultist, but said nothing, instead turning and zipping towards the exit.

Claremont's Blue Squad -- Owain "Copper Knight" Celliwig, Jonah "Jotunn" Janse, Ryan "Sever" Jacobs, and Michael "Golden Star" Adon -- take a field trip to a nearby farm. Shenanigans ensue! @Avenger Assembled @TheAbsurdist @Thunder King @Poncho

2024 March 15, 9:00am Halfway to Medford, New Jersey (about 20 miles NNW of Freedom City) ~60o, gentle breezes (~10 mph), cloudy Field trips! Hands-on learning, a vital part to any well-rounded education! And this was the most classic form of that time-honored tradition: a trip to a working farm! With beef and dairy cows, hogs and chickens, and numerous orchards covering its 250+ acres, Medford Farms had been serving the lower half of the state for over two centuries, and was always eager to welcome curious students. And these students were curious indeed, coming from a most curious school. As the Claremont Academy van pulled off Highway 40 and started down a side road (to avoid a construction crew), the four students within -- Owain "Copper Knight" Celliwig, Jonah "Jotunn" Janse, Ryan "Sever" Jacobs, and Michael "Golden Star" Adon -- were busy with their own thoughts.

Three DC 25 Toughness saves First Save 1d20+9: 10 [1d20=1] Yowza! Using my last HP to reroll that one. 1d20+9: 13 [1d20=4] +10 = 23, fails by 2, 1 injury Second Save 1d20+8: 26 [1d20=18] woo Third Save 1d20+8: 16 [1d20=8] fails by 9, that's 1 more injury (2 total) And Artificer's got 0 HP now.

Bruised, 6 HP Okay, let's go for this serpent's head. Switching VP to Blast 8 ("nonlethal blaster"; PFs: Accurate 4 [+16 to hit]) {20/20} And power attacking for 2, so that'll be +14 to hit with a Blast 10 effect. Targeting the lead Grue cultist, and... 1d20+14: 30 [1d20=16] Assuming that hits, that's a DC 25 Toughness save.

Doktor Archeville He glanced back at Starshot to make sure he was alright, and steeled himself against any psychic trickery. My mind is my mind. My mind is my mind. My mind is my mind... "Indeed they are all too real," he called back to Kinarr, "as is their scheme to- what," he maneuvered so he could look directly at the lead Grue cultist, trying to get a glimpse under the hood, "to disrupt power supplies to the Coalition and the Republic? Throw their worlds into chaos, make it easier to slip some of your agents in? And using innocent Sarcota like that? That's just..." A single photonic blast lashed out from the Doktor's science-wand, hitting the lead agent solidly in the chest. "... mean."

Knowledge (Arcane Lore) 1d20+15: 20 [1d20=5] Knowledge (Theology & Philosophy) 1d20+5: 12 [1d20=7] Medicine 1d20+5: 24 [1d20=19] Notice... if he can Take 20, he'll do so, getting 25. (This reminds me, I've been meaning to get Artificer some ranks in Investigate.) He's got Super Senses 4 (Low-Light Vision, Magic Awareness [Descriptor Frequency: Very Common, Sense Type: Visual {Default: Accurate, Acute, Ranged}]) and his goggles give him Super-Senses 5 (adds Analytical to all Visual senses, Sonar [Ultrasonic Hearing; Default: Acute, Radius, Ranged; Enhancement: Accurate])

Artificer 'Perhaps they went mad!'? How could you tell.... Heroditus kept such musings to himself, trying to keep up a diplomatic front. "If this is... atypical behavior for Deep Ones," he began as he looked around the scene of the incident, looking both for signs of trespass and any lingering traces of mystical auras, "perhaps it is something in the waters that caused it? Some Surfacer pollutant that affects the nerves, or a bacterial infection causing fever and delirium? Improper agricultural infrastructure can lead to a whole host of health issues." He looked to Cimitiere, "have there been such reports among the Surfacers here? Of... mental aberrations, connected to rising pollution levels? Connected directly to the pollution, not merely to the death such corruption brings, and the despair which follows?" It would be a difficult knot to untangle, but it was as good a place to start as any.

Toughness save 1d20+14: 25 [1d20=11] Fails by 2, that's a Bruise. I'll take it.

Artificer Generally speaking, the waters of the Pacific ocean were less dense and less salty than those of the Atlantic. So while its waters were more welcoming than the arid Surface, the typical Atlantean would find them less comfortable than those of their home, a strange place where the colors were too bright but the water smelled/tasted too 'dull' and 'flat'. Heroditus Stylianos had never been, but he'd read of many other Atlanteans who had been, so when he received the call of potential Deep One activity on that coast, he felt he'd be prepared for the journey. He was wrong, but that's only because he wasn't going to the Pacific ocean proper, but to a landlocked body of water over 100 km from the coast. A choked, dying, rotting thing, a twisted mockery of what should be healthy and life-giving. Which would make it a beacon to Deep Ones and their foulness, he mused as he flew over, zipping across the continent with the aid of an experimental flight booster. But, between my knowledge and devices, and whatever local powers Cimitiere enlisted, I am certain they can be dealth with in a swift and- He came to a screeching halt (literallly, as the osprey spirit bound to his winged sandals screeched in protest at the sudden stop) as the edge of the Salton Sea came into view, as did the mystical aura of adisturbingly familiar Hydran artifact. A few Atlantean curses passed through his mind, but he stopped himself before too long. Well, he thought as he approached, better the devil you know....