Dr Archeville

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....

Artificer's two DC 20 Toughness saves First one 1d20+12: 15 [1d20=3] The fails by 5, do Bruised + Dazed... I'm spending an HP to re-roll that. 1d20+12: 22 [1d20=10] [minimum 11, so atually a 23] Passes, no damage! Second one 1d20+12: 29 [1d20=17] Passes, no damage! So he's still Unharmed, but down to 1 HP.

Same attack as before, see if we can take out the rest of the side-cultists Firing at the lead Grue cultist... 1d20+12: 26 [1d20=14] Pew pew! DC [15+8] 23 Toughness saves, please.

Doktor Archeville That's about half the backup taken out, but there are still several left, plus the lead. "Grue? The bogeymen of the galaxy?," he called out as he waved his Screwdriver about like a conductor's baton. "That explains why they're going down so quickly: fears often disappear when faced boldly, and dragged into the light!" At that, another prismatic barrage lashed out, harmlessly illuminating the cavern for a few microseconds and slamming into the Grue cultists. With psychic shapeshifters, questioning would be tricky even under the best circumstances. It may be best to knock them out and restrain them first.

Okay, setting his VP to Damage 8 ("nonlethal photonic blast barrage"; Extras: Area [Targeted, Burst, 200-ft. radius], Selective Attack; Flaw: Action [Full]; PFs: Accurate 2 [+12 to hit], Progression Area] 2 [25 ft. increments]) {20/20} Which should be a big enough area to (potentially) hit every baddie. And since that's a Targeted Area Effet, I'll need to make an attack roll.... 1d20+12: 32 [1d20=20] A Nat 20! So if that hits (pleasesaythathits), that's a DC (15+8+5) 28 Toughness save they'll all need to make. (Free Action to set VP, Full Action to attack.)

Doktor Archeville "Oh, I get that all the time," was going to be his opening reply to the robed figure's "you should not be here" statement. He'd keep things light, try to find out where they were from, what they wanted, see if a mutually beneficial arrangement could be reached. But then a grenade went off. "What happened to," he grunted as he rolled with the arcane blast, "to 'the word is bite'?," he called out to Starshot as a softly glowing force field sprung up around him. I know this dance - let's change the beat. Locking on to radar signatures... Viktor held his (fake) Electromagnetic Screwdriver high above his head, and the tip unleashed dozens of beams of rainbow light, like a spinning mirrored globe. "I say 'Disco!', you say 'Party!' Disco! Disco!" The beams passed harmlessly over Starshot and the Star Khan, but as it passed over the cultists, it pulsed and sent a concussive blast of compacted photonic energy colliding with them.

Alright, let me see to that Toughness save first He wasn't expeting a fight to break out to soon, so he does not have his Impervious Toughness up. But he shouldn't be flat-footed (due to his super-senses), so he'll have his full Toughness. 1d20+14: 32 [1d20=18] Easily passes!

Artificer takes to the air, and is going to try blocking the hangar bay doors with his Create Object effect. 9 10-ft. cubes of Toughness 9 material.

Artificer Heroditus was again momentarily dazzled by the display of Moon-Moth's magics, and was saved from certain red reptilian doom by an interposing Justicar Vor'an! Too close! Good to see the Star Khan's man is willing to defend us, though. He gave Vor'an a quick salute, then clicked the heels of his sandals together. The tiny wings emblazoned on them shimmered with mystical energy, bearing him aloft, and he zipped closer to the hangar bay doors. The League and Praetorians are making short work of Dovox's soldiers, but those fighter craft look ready to launch at any moment, and they remain untouched! Along the way he hastily withdrew components from his bandolier pouches, assembling what looked like a copper slingshot with a cup modified to hold crystalline darts. He launched the projectiles at the launch bays, and as they hit they exploded into a large plug of some quartz-like material. Ha! Let us see them get through that!

1d20+12: 17 [1d20=5]

Doktor Archeville "I would normally agree with Starshot," he started, nodding to the hunter, "that we start with incapacitating and capturing them, halting their... whatever it is they're doing, and question them later. But things tend to go... awry when magical rituals are interrupted, are not properly shut down, as surely as an improperly deactivated nuclear fission reactor can cause a catastrophic explosion. Knocking them out may," he shrugged, "generate a backlash that drives the Sarcota to a destructive frenzy." I'd rather be disarming a nuclear bomb than dealing with... with this! But I can do this. I can face this. I will face this. "So," he looked to Kinarr, "I would suggest you and I enter openly, diplomatically, while you," he nodded to Starshot, "remain hidden and ready with gas and smoke grenades, should things go badly. I should be able to navigate safely in such an environment, and I'm sure he can," he jerked his head towards Star Khan, "too, so our ability to fight will not be impeded."

Artificer 4 + 3 = 7 posts, +2 [from GM] +1 [from Dok] = 10 posts = +2pp The Last Free Place (4) Written in the Stars (3) Horrorshow 0 posts +1 post [from Dok] = 1 post = +1pp, +1 [Mod] = +2pp Test Your Might (0) --Titanium Characters-- Dead Head 0 posts 000 Doktor Archeville 5 posts, added to Artificer & Horrorshow Fifteen Feet of Pure White Snow (0) Shoaling Patterns (5) Protectron 0 posts 000 --GM Posts-- Down on the Farm (1) +[1*2] 2 posts, to Artificer --Other-- Mod point, to Horrorshow

Artificer's initiative 1d20+1: 10 [1d20=9]

Artificer Heroditus had been quiet, his attention been drawn to one of the Praetorians. The young Atlantean could see mystical forces, and he'd been fascinated by the extraterrestrial magics of Moon-Moth. So many differences, and yet several fascinating similarities. Eventually the voices of te other assembled heroes broke through. "I could, ah," he shook his head, "that is, I should be able to help secure the hangars, fuse the openings shut, if their materials are not too dissimilar to what could be found on Earth. Oh, or, if I can get access to their atmospheric systems, I may be able to transmute their brething gases into an anaesthetic, put them all to sleep!"

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Doktor Archeville Normal igneous and metamorphic rock, standard silicates and metals... many similarities to Mercury's crust, not unexpected... oh, now there's something! Viktor gestured towards the heat traces on the ground, knowing Oskar's helmet could detect such traces and assuming Kinarr's armor could as well. He left it to the safari hunter to see what, if anything, could be gleaned from the tracks. Once he heard the chanting, he stopped, placed his Screwdriver to his throat, as if using it like a subvocal microphone, and radioed a message to his companions, "hold. I hear voices ahead. I can't yet tell how many, I'll need to filter out the echoes, but I'd say at least three, and likely more."

Dok's Quickness (Mental) is high enough he can Take 20 on a Notice check as a Free Action. Taking 20 gets him... 31! And I'm going to burn a HP (down to 4 now) to use Beginner's Luck, granting him 5 ranks in Stealth. So his Stealth check is... 23!

Doktor Archeville Viktor remained behind Starshot, using his gravity-based flight ability to hover a few inches above the ground so his footfalls would not make noise. Should I activate my cloak? No, I'd need to divert resources to make it wide enough to cover Starshot and Kinarr, and I'd rather use those resources to focus on detection of what's ahead. And so he turned his focus outward, drinking in every scrap of information his technorganic senses could bring him. He looked through infrared and ultraviolet bands, sent pulses of radio waves to form a radar image of the caves, even ran a few x-ray and magnetic resonance scans to peek through the surface of the cavern walls. An immense amount of data, processed by his superhumanly fast brain to form an incredibly detailed picture of what lay ahead of them. If I ran these sorts of scans on the surface, he thought, Ferrum would blind me. But here, under all this rock, I should be okay...

Artificer "<The Stylianos clan shall remember your assistance in this matter, Oramacles,>" Heroditus assured the Atlantean monitor tech, "<and you may count on us to return the favor.>" He gave the technician a salute, then turned back to watch the feed with the others. "Would he be capable of that?," he asked in response to Patriot's question, then looked to the spacefaring heroes. "Not just in terms of having the cunning and guile necesary to come up with such a scheme, but the resources to either communicate with mercenary figures native to this world in order to arrange things, or to seed his own agents here without alerting anyone?" He wanted this new Khan's claims to be sincere, for these space-barbarians to become space-gentlebeings, but he'd also learned that things were not always as they seemed.

Doktor Archeville "Traps will indicate that whoever's behind this," he said as he hopped out of the vehicle, "has been here for some time, and anticipates that this location's remoteness won't be enough to deter interference." He approached Kinarr, looking the young Khan up and down (and running a quick scan of him) before offering his right hand. "An honor to meet you in person, sir. But if there is someone down there, your diplomatic skills may be of more use than whatever weaponry your armor may contain." After pleasantries were exchanged, he ran a hand over his belt, and silently levitated a few inchaes off the ground, then moved behind Starshot, letting the hunter take point.

Doktor Archeville Viktor smiled as he realized Lynn was not put off by his unintended broadcast, and relaxed a bit, placing one elbow on the counter. "Einen cappuccino, bitte!" The corners of his mouth fell a bit at her question, his smile diminishing but not completely fading, "ah, that. Well," he cleared his throat, "it's from one of the most famous Christmas songs in Germany, Leise rieselt der Schnee, 'the snow falls softly.' The lyrics were written in 1895 by Eduard Ebel, a Protestant pastor, but the melody is based on a folk tune that's at least a hunded years older. Funnily enough, though, the first version I'd heard was performed not by a German, but by a Spaniard: Julio Iglesias!" "I know we'd discussed my Jewish heritage some time ago, but," he shrugged, "my father raised me Protestant -- nominally, at least -- and I suppose some of those stuck with me. Do you have any childhood favorites which have stuck with you?"

Doktor Archeville "I've a feeling we'll need to go to ground on this one," he replied grimly. "I'm not thrilled with the idea of maneuvering the Xeno around in there. Fortunately," he patted Starshot reassuringly on the shoulder, "we've already got your ATV prepped." He headed back to the garage-hangar and busied himself with re-finalizing the prep on the ATV while Starshot found a landing spot. But doubts nagged at him. I suppose it was foolish to think I'd never encounter that again, out here. I've just got to keep a clear head, open eyes, and an open mind. If this is some... some natural supernatural thing, he shook his head at the seeming contradiction, maybe something unearthed by construction, or an errant drone, then it could be contained. And if there is a person behind this, someone intentionally drawing Sarcota here, then we can try to reason with them. Or, if need be, force them to stop. Some supervillains cannot be reasoned with, at least not in an immediately productive fashion. So if there is a person behind this, who could it be, and why are they doing it? "Hey," he called to Starshot, "there's no sapient life native to this world, is there? I didn't see any mentioned in my briefing on the flight over, and the climate makes it unlikely, but... well, you know this part of space better than I do. Are there even rumors of intelligent life here? Intelligences which might be opposed to what the Lor corporations have done to the planet?"

Doktor Archeville Static crackled softly over Lyn's radio, and Gwen Stefani's powerhouse soprano was slowly overlaid with a crooning tenor. "...Still schweigt Kummer und Harm, Sorge des Lebens verhallt..." Lynn was then aware of footsteps coming down the stairs from the apartment above. It was her former mentor, uneasy ally, and current tenant, humming merrily. He smiled and waved at her as he passed, but the smile was quickly replaced with a look of utter horror as he realized what was playing over the store's sound system. His voice snapped off from the stero, and Stefani's sang true once more. "Oh," he ran up to the counter, hands up, "oh, my goodness, I am so very sorry about that! Sometimes, when I've got a song going through my head, it will, well, leak out to nearby devices."