Hellbound

Hellbound went along in the unspoken agreement that they needed to follow it. He might not have been much of a detective, but anything that could do this was not to be allowed its freedom. Moira and he might not have been the best choices for running down a mystery but, at the moment, they were the only ones available. "You notice it doesn't look like many dead bodies?" Hellbound asked as they walked, remembering the crowded sands from last night. "This must have happened after everyone cleaned up and took off. A few stragglers, probably. People who didn't want the night to end..." Of course, for those unlucky few, now it never would. "Let's see where it takes us." The trail didn't go too far, just to the end of the beach and around the riverbank a bit. The open, recreation area was made of a curved depression in the surrounding trees, and on past what had been visible from the party was a bit of industrial necessity. A pumping station to help out with flood control, it's gaping concrete maw laying quietly at the river's edge, beaconed as the entrance to a dark service corridor. Two sloping walls spread out from the sides of a large, open square entryway. There were no gates to bar the way from any fool from going inside, the whole facility little more than an urban steam tunnel dug into the hillside with an open face to take in high water. Splashing along a slippery bank, the pair could see a basin just inside of the concrete structure with large pipes waiting to draw out water to a holding reservoir. It was dim, cheap worklights glowing softly in the echoing distance of the tunnel's interior, and quiet. A ladder ascended from the river-side basin just at the entrance and led up a few feet to a landing. The trail led up to here, soft mud from the bank being drug into the shallow residue of water still in the basin itself. Whatever had done this, had came this way.

Now which one of these smilies over here represents whistling innocently...

Even as Hellbound stared at the carnage, trying to figure out what'd happened and who was responsible, part of the scene made itself clear. He couldn't see any of the calling cards that better investigators looked for; the incongruities and clues that always managed to point a sharp mind in the right direction, the microscopic residues and fingerprints that they looked for or even the logical discrepancies that told a good detective that not all was as it seemed. No, in this case, the man looking over the spilled blood and lost life needed something a little sharper than than that, a little more clear. Hellbound had spoken the truth in that he'd never taken a forensics course in his life and, to be honest, he simply wasn't the sharpest crayon in the pack. But even he couldn't miss the yards-wide trail of blood and guts that had dragged furrows through the sand. Obviously, whatever had done this didn't much care about covering its tracks, and it had gone --> that way.

We can poke around a bit. The blood trail's gonna be pretty clear on this one.

I think she's going to have to be an NPC, then. The entire reason for corrupting her own soul by merging it with a demonic spirit is to bring forth creatures more powerful than herself. Of course, as an NPC, she also wouldn't be limited to PL6.

So was the above line a misprint, or am I not reading it correctly?

"... I don't know..." Hellbound muttered, looking around for something to hit. That's what he did, that's what he was good at. Things tended to stand in front of him that he could punch. Unfortunately, whatever had done this wasn't anywhere within reach, or at least it didn't seem like it. The beach was silent except for the buzzing of flies around the shredded rags of meat. He'd wanted to be a superhero, but this was a scene out of a horror film rather than a comic book. Things like this didn't happen to people like The Freedom League, or at least not as he understood it. Heroes were supposed to get here before people were torn to pieces. It didn't really count if the killing happened before they even heard the first cry for help. "I guess we call the cops and try to figure out what happened." Hellbound wasn't an investigator. He was a brawler, a fighter who needed a clearly visible target in order to be effective. So where was their target? "Can you make any sense of it? They never taught us that CSI crap in reform school, but there's gotta be something here we can use."

'This still open to those looking to crack a few street-level skulls?

Okay, I'm just not clicking on how Arrays are built and the Alternate Power feat is used. I'll throw out this line from the Ultimate Power book... Yeah, okay, no information under the Array effect listing, so let's check out the first line of the Array description on page 108. Yeah? Okay, so how much does each Array rank cost in Power Points? They didn't say under the Array effect listing. Further, I'm under the impression that Arrays are built using the Alternate Power feat? So is an Array's rank equal to the number of Alternate Powers, or is it equal to the rank of the primary power? What if the primary power has a cost of 1pp per rank or even a fractional cost? What if I can buy three ranks of the primary power for a single power point? Does that mean I can have an alternate power built on more power points than the primary power? Sorry, but the damn thing's not clicking with me at the moment.

As they neared the beach, a stray breeze wafter across the pair with a scent of carnal decay. The immediate impression was that of a butcher shop or meat counter that hadn't been kept clean for some time. It was the smell of animal flesh left to age in the open air, the smell of death and exposed entrails. It was still faint, but the noxious odor was easily noticeable and very troublesome. This seemed to be more than just a few dead fish laying on the bank of a river or discarded steaks and hamburger from last night's party. This was the smell of something having gone horribly, horribly wrong. Hellbound glanced over at the girl on the phone to see if she was catching scent of the same thing he was before quickening his pace. The beach wasn't very far away and it didn't take long for them to come across the bloody scene. Dead bodies, at least four or five of them, decorated the sand and firepit. An exact count was immediately difficult to determine as the corpses seemed to be in too many pieces to identify. A few heads, limbs and torn gobblets of flesh had been strewn about in an orgy of violence. "What the..." Hellbound muttered, nearly in shock. The two syllables trailed off in a stream of fading vulgarities.

"Pretty sweet party trick." He admitted. Being able to create objects out of nothing? Particularly ones as complex and large as the little cottage? The possibilities for something like that were nearly endless. Hellbound had to wonder what else she could create, and how the SuperSlams officials would look at such a power. Not every match allowed items to be brought into the ring, though some most certainly did. Would this sort of talent be considered in the same vein as natural weaponry or were such creations still foreign objects? Depending on how it went, that could be a major advantage for Moira if she ever decided to compete. As for the questions posed, he admitted that getting her started on training wouldn't be a bad plan for the day since he didn't have anything else going on. His recovery time from the fights was fairly impressive, seeing as how bruises tended to fade almost as fast as he received them, and his less combative rebound times weren't bad either. The recent physical activity he'd gone through recently only made him hungry for more... though another nap later on would most likely be in order. He thought the Saturday night adventures might be doable as well. Hellbound asked what kind of place Morley's was, though, as he didn't have much of a wardrobe for the more upscale locales. He listened to the conversation as they made their way back to the beach, realizing that it was the same Jack they'd met last night. Hellbound wondered if he'd bring up the possibility of taking on an agent again, and what his own response would be to the idea...

An open ended Variable Descriptor isn't the whole story, however. If Jen would summon a lightning based demon, then she wouldn't be able to access fire powers with a simple free action. She'd have to release the current gestalt and go through the summoning process all over again to access a new descriptor.

Array of Summons is what I was thinking, yes. Do you have advice on how to represent a whole host of potential spirits as opposed to just four or five? I've already mentioned breaking them up into classes (Warrior, Sniper, Stealth, Transporter, Spirit), but what about variations within individual classes? Suppose she could manifest as a Sniper which fires blasts of intense cold one day, and then a different Sniper which fires off shards of flying steel the next? The same Effect built with a differing Medium?

Thanks -- I'd like to ask about the following line from the Summon (Minion) description: So... which power modifiers are they talking about? Would that be the Alternate Power feat? Also, I was considering taking the Astral Form power for the char (hereafter known as 'Jennifer Wu'), just to give her something to do while her projected soul is not being possessed by demonic spirits. There would probably be a fifth class to the summoning power in this case -- that being a formless spirit which has not been merged into the gestalt entity. There's no reason why she couldn't call one up and send it out as an immaterial spy without giving her soul over to it.

Hellbound welcomed the embrace happily, sharing his warmth with the newly risen Moira. The tenderness wasn't something that he was used to, but he decided quickly that it was something he could learn to appreciate. Something about the morning seemed pretty damned satisfying right then. "Good morning, yourself." Hellbound replied. Amazingly, she'd managed to clean herself up a bit before leaving the building. He hadn't spotted any kind of bathroom while he'd been in there, himself, but he wasn't exactly paying much attention to the surroundings. There'd been something far more interesting in his sight than candles and interior decorations. "We should probably head back soon. I'd hate for you to get into trouble with anyone." He wasn't sure if Moira had someone waiting for her at the moment, and hence catch hell from for staying out all night, or if the girl was still a free agent. The question seemed like a relatively innocent way to find out, however. "And does that thing come with us?" He indicated the cottage which had magically appeared last night, "Or do we leave it there for the squirrels to move into?"

Hellbound caught the garment and let it wrap around his hand as he stared at Moira's creation. Now there was a handy talent to have. As he made his way inside, the fighter wondered if she could do the same with a Lexus or maybe a BMW. It was a long walk back to town, after all, and Hellbound didn't have much to spare for taxi cash. --- Morning broke lazily, and it was a tried and tired Hellbound that made his way back outside into the golden light of dawn. He stretch in the cool air, a chilled breeze coming in from the river, and scratched his shaggy head happily. He was wearing his pants, but only by a loose technicality. The button had yet to be done back up and the jeans lay partly open, held in place only by the tension of a zipper slid only half-way closed. He was shirtless and his skin shone with the dull patina dired sweat. Turning around, he faced away from the rising sun and saw that, yes, the cottage was still there. It hadn't been a dream after all, though the final moments (unseen by the prying eyes of the world), had been very difficult to believe. Moira had proven to be most talented within that memorable chamber, more so than any other person he'd been with in his life. No just physically capable of matching his own strength (actually, she'd managed to exceed it on numerous occasions during the night, but he wasn't planning on mentioning that part to any one at any point in the future), but also wonderously skilled. So who the hell was this chick that'd so suddenly and dramatically entered his life? Hellbound tried not to think about that as he put a discreet distance between himself and the cottage to take care of those unsightly chores that most guys needed to take care of first thing in the morning. The building was kept in line of sight, however, almost as if he were concerned about it vanishing into the morning mist without warning.

Hellbound listened to her whisper as a smile slowly grew across his face. When he spoke next, it was with a chuckle and a little lust. "Well, we do still need to check out your stamina, don't we?" He looked over his shoulder towards the glittering bonfire still blazing away in the night. Music could still be heard coming from the party, and while the particular song had changed the beat remained the same. It was a driving rhythm which was perfect for dancing as well as a host of other physical activities. Fortunately, nobody had noticed their previous exercises and were still leaving them in solitude. "C'mon." Hellbound wrapped an arm around her midsection and cast his eyes into the dancing darkness of the woods beyond. Surely they couldn't be the only ones seeking out seclusion for more romantic encounters than the beach could provide, and he gently led the girl off in search of their own memorable moment. "Let's get a little more privacy between us and the yahoos over there."

I'd like a little advice on how to build an adversary of Hellhound's using the following concept: She's a Chinese witch who summons minions to hunt him down, but she uses a nefarious shortcut to draw more power than a minor spellcaster (PL6), like herself should wield. Using a rituals, she Astrally Projects and then summons demonic and undead spirits which merge with her soul, granting her power and the ability to give the formless, gestalt entity physical form. So, basically... she sits in a summoning circle, steps out of her body, conjures a one of a variety of disembodied spirits, merges with it and produces a very nasty monster to go do her bidding. Limitations? Well, the amount of time it takes to perform the ritual, naturally enough. 'Could be as much as a few hours to get everything just right, so this isn't something she'd be doing on the spur of the moment. Other than that, not much beyond the typical vulnerabilities that hellish spirits have to put up with. She would, of course, inherit all of the weaknesses to holy water, blessed artifacts or exorcisms that come with the territory of raiding the mortal world from infernal realms. Advantages? A wide variety of superhuman forms would become available to her. Whatever demon from her arsenal she choose to summon and merge with, those are the powers she'd gain. I suppose that the easiest way to work that is to limit the classes of 'minions' she'd be able to summon to the following; Warrior (melee combat), Sniper (Ranged Combat), Stealth (Sneaky) and Transporter (Movement Powers). That sounds like four different applications of the Summon (Minion) power, each with their own specialties and variable special effects. I think that's the way she should be built, but I just don't have enough experience to know for sure. Make the Minion power dependent on the use of Astral Form and have her body unconscious and vulnerable while she's wreaking havoc? Perhaps this should actually be Alternate Form that's dependent on the use of Astral Form and Summon Minion? I'm not sure, but I'm looking for suggestions.

Sweet!

"Yeah, strength you have. I'm not going to argue that." Hellbound agreed. He released her at that point, figuring that it would just start to get creepy if he kept a hold of her for the entire lecture. "I'm guessing your endurance isn't bad, either, unless you're a lot stronger than you are in shape. If that's the case then jogging and swimming can help you build that up. The speed and balance is just going to have to come out of practice, though. Sparring with people and actually getting out there to fight with things." He shrugged, knowing that he could take her through a bit more here, but that would have involved killing the mood. "Gotta admit, I don't really feel like doing that right now. Somehow trying to hit you is the last thing on my mind, and for me that's really kind of weird."

Untrained Notice check to see if Hellbound spots Moira not breathing: 1d20 + 8=10

Moira had ended up with her arm curled across her midsection, held lightly there by Hellbound's grip. Her back was pressed up against him and he was looking over her shoulder with an amused expression. "Managed to pin you with one arm tied behind my back? Yeah, I'd say some defense is in order." His left arm wasn't actually tied behind his back, of course, but he'd managed to move using only his right. Fortunately his cigar had been lost during that first larring shot that Moira had layed on him otherwise he'd be puffing foul smelling smoke with every breath. She wasn't truly pinned, not unless he applied some leverage to her left shoulder, but she'd been spun into this position almost as if he'd twirled her across a dance floor. It'd been a fluid and elegent movement, one that'd caught her by surprise and by the time she realized what was happening, she could feel herself being enfolded in his strong grasp. "But I think we should work on the basics first." He continued talking over her shoulder, not yet 'releasing' the girl who only looked trapped, but honestly could pull herself away if she wanted. "Strength, speed and endurance. That's what wins fights. You need to figure out your footwork and learn to react a little more quickly before worrying about anything else."

Two rolls posted for Hellbound's next action. The first being a grab attempt to precede the the grapple. Since Moira's defense is +0, I made the assumption that his first roll would succeed. For the sake of expediency, I went ahead and followed it up in the same post. Please let me know if this was not the correct thing to do and I'll edit.

Hellbound dug his feet into the dry dirt of the ground and tried to hold his position. It was an amazing amount of power, more than he'd ever felt before and his blood started to race at the thought of training her. If he was looking for a good fight he found one, only who would have expected it to be wearing such a pretty face? As the last blow came in and fell short, Hellbound took advantage of the momentary loss of balance and shot his hand out to grasp her wrist. The grip came swiftly and without a chance for evasion, leading him to pull Moira forward. It was a demonstration on what stance and form meant for a fighter. While she was temporarily out of position, and he was still firmly planted on the ground, he drew her in closely. Suddenly, the captive arm was twisted smoothly as he tried to wrap the redheaded girl up in her own punch.