Gizmo

I figured I should probably wait to find out how Jester and Colt's attacks turned out before taking Jack's turn.

Well, this is pretty much Ace's rodeo. What's the play, coach? Am I mixing my metaphors there?

I doubt it'll make much difference in the long run, but it occurs to me to ask if the lady in the shadows had concealment from all senses, or just visual. Generally speaking, anyone tossing around enough magic to counteract Dark Star's powers would kinda stand out, energy-wise.

Erik leaned further back in his chair, looking at the ceiling, then down into his drink. No topic of conversation immediately sprung to mind. Examining the nails of his empty hand, he let out a long breath then drummed his fingers on the table for a moment before turning to Billy. "Y'wanna start another bar fight?"

Tch, knew I shoulda tried rolling. Ah well. Presumably he missed it because he was too pumped to finally get to do some real sword fighting.

It seemed apropos. I figure chaos magic wouldn't come across as evil or creepy, just really, really random. Did none of us make the Notice check, Sand?

That... is super gross. Let's, uh, put that in the last resort column, right after Fulcrum's Terminus emissions. Seriously, why isn't anybody powered by sunshine or positive vibrations or something?

Jack stepped into the alley between Jester and Colt. "Hey, Yakko, tone it down, huh?" The energies of the clown's outfit fluctuated wildly to the swashbuckler's senses, transitioning from the sound of a thousand springing pogo sticks to the smell of rhubarb and pineapple smores. Jack sighed inwardly. Chaos magic. Joy. "Nice magic pants," he quipped to Colt before moving forward. "'Scuse me, 'Star." With a dramatic snap Jack pulled a tendril of the cosmic hero's gravitational powers to to his out stretched hand, a pitch black rapier of voidstuff forming there. He twirled it experimentally, smiling dangerously at its weight and heft. "Sword fights'd fall under my domain, yeah?"

That's fair. Any suggestions for an alternative?

S'kinda what I thought; I just wanted to reflect that he knows the West End much better than he does the rest of the city. As far as Ellie goes, she really is supposed to be a lousy liar. Basically both of the Espadas kids are pretty serious, responsible individuals at heart, but Erik learned to bottle a lot of that up and play if off around other people. All of his joking and theatrics are sort of a constant Bluff he's running. His sister, on the other hand, comes off as kind of abrasive, in a Daria sort of way. Consequently, high Bluff and/or Diplomacy doesn't really scan for her, while a high Taunt is pretty much essential. I suggested Sense Motive to reflect the idea of her cutting through people's comforting self images. So, instead of, "Ha ha, you're a big loser," she's more, "You're a big loser and here's a series of harsh observations to back up that thesis." Sort of an anti-Bluff.

Honestly? I think he's gonna make one out of Colt's magic pants. But yeah, he could easily leech off of Grim, 'Star or Jester for glamour, gravity or chaos magic descriptors respectively. It's always more fun to steal straight from his opponents, though! Should probably steal one of their regular swords just to be on the safe side, too.

So in the continuing effort to make the West End Jack's 'turf' and make him a little less ignorant (mechanically speaking), I was wondering if I could give him Knowledge (streetwise) pertaining only to that section of the city, maybe at a discount. It's not exactly going to break the bank to buy it normally; I'm just thinking about the flavour of it, kind of like the way Attractive is basically ranks at half price because they only apply half of the time. Using that as the baseline, would something like "Benefit (+8 Knowledge (streetwise) in the West End)" fly? Actually, since it's sort of related, got another skill related question. I've been monkeying around idly with some stats for Jack's sister, who'll likely become his sidekick down the line. Now, part of her character is that she's really good at zeroing in on someone's insecurities and needling them (it's deeply genetic, evidently) but she's not really a very good liar, since her insults are more about brutal honesty. With that in mind, I've been trying to work out a way to give her a high Taunt without a high Bluff. Since taunting is really demoralizing with Bluff, could I set something up that was essentially demoralizing with Sense Motive?

Jack's got Skill Mastery for an automatic 20 on his Notice check; he's using his energy awareness, too, which should give him some info, about the scene and the setting in general (gotta find out what he can make a sword out of!). Initiative (1d20+9=18) *sigh*

Erik blinked at Lynn's question, starting to speak then stopping. He rubbed the back of his neck uncomfortably and a trace of embarrassment slipped into his expression. "I, uh, that is..." The energy manipulator coughed awkwardly. "They just... kinda... work? I don't actually know." With a sheepish look Eric tapped the side of his head lightly. "I can't really sense my own energy the way I can with other people, y'know? Probably a good thing or there'd be, like, interference or something. I've only been able to guess, really. There was this thing with a card, but..." Erik shrugged."If I'm really connected to the other Jacks somehow, I think my abilities have to be at least partly magic. The Houses... our themes... it's all a little too cute to be coincidence. Still, the raw power, the source... that feels like it come from a deeper place, if that makes sense." The acrobat sighed, looking upward absently. "Or maybe I'm really one of the Glowy Sword People of Centauri Six and a Half. Couldn't say for sure."

Erik's expression flickered, mouth setting into a thin line as his eyes narrowed and the knuckles of his sword hand turned white around his glass. The flash of annoyance was gone almost as soon as it appeared, but when he spoke again it was with a deliberateness that suggested careful control. "Look, just... not tonight, alright?" Billy and Lynn were reminded that mere hours earlier their friend had worked himself into a cold but violent rage; as much as they might wish otherwise, all of the fencer's problems were not going to be solved with a few words and a stiff drink.

Rolling his eyes, Erik made gun from the fingers of one hand, miming shooting himself through the side of his head, while he used the other to pick up his drink. "Fantastic, I've got Abbot and Costello for wingmen. Talk about who's on first base." Taking a long sip, he regarded his companions coolly with lidded eyes. "You guys really don't get how I operate, do you?" The swordsman waved the question away before they could respond. "Regardless, I'm just getting off of a month during which I slept about four hours out of every forty-eight, the rest of which I alternated between pushing myself to my physical breaking point and solitary brooding whist crouching dramatically on rooftops and ornate gargoyles. Not exactly bringing my 'A game' tonight."

Jack gave Edge a flat look as he stepped away from the fallen Power Corps. Don't know if he's joking or not. Either way... Feh, teenagers with powers... He turned his gaze to Ace and shrugged. "Not much, it was a pretty simple smash-and-grab job. Apparently the buyers need that little post-it note by tonight, though, no excuses." The fencer craned his neck to get a better look at the scroll. "What d'you think? Planetary-alignment-occult-evoking-of-dead-gods? Resurrection-spell-on-the-anniversary-of-their-master's-death?"

Erik pulled a face that went far beyond a mere grimace, entering into the realm of abject horror. "I'll tell you what," he replied, composing himself quickly. "Leave the sword puns to me and we'll call it even. Tch, 'polishing my...' Sometimes a cigar is just a cigar, y'know?" Taking a deep pull of his beverage, the fencer muttered to himself. "Nobody gives Mr. Two Barrels of Overcompensation a hard time..." His apparent agitation evaporated as one side of his frown turned upward in a toothy smirk. "Besides, who said anything about just one girl?"

Finishing his shot, Erik set the empty glass aside with a grimace. "Dios. Is this going to be, like, a thing now?" he asked the diminutive New Jerseyan. "'Cause I'm thinking I should maybe wait for her to figure out why my mojo's got that brimstoney-fresh scent before telling her that her badge really flatters her, ah, case files." What the fencer didn't mention was that, having been raised to respect police officers his entire life, this was one situation in which he was inclined toward professional courtesy. Regardless, he turned to his beer with a serious look. "You really don't need to be trying to set me up."

"What does the scouter say about his toughness save?" "It's over 19!" "What?! Over 19?! There's no way that can be right!" Yeah, so that was insane enough I felt obliged to give Jackie B an in-character response (Benefit #57 of a High Bluff: never letting on that you need a new pair of underwear). I can't believe that didn't even stun him! This is going to be rough...

Jack of all Blades' arc took him over the villainous Dark Star to land softy in front of him, pulling his flickering dimensional blade smoothly from the energy being's head as he went. Looking up, he expected to see their foe clutching his face in agony; the swordsman was stunned to find him instead shrugging off the attack with a featureless scowl. Well, nertz, Jack thought weakly as he braced himself for the inevitable retaliation. Outwardly, however, his confident demeanor remained unbroken. His eyes flicked to Ace and Avenger as he gestured to Darker Star with his free thumb and smirked. "Heh. Stabbed him in the face."

Jack of all Blades wasn't terribly surprised to find that their foe's portal was invisible from the rear which, he reflected, said an awful lot about his life experiences in general. Fortunately his energy awareness gave him a general idea of its location; unfortunately, it gave the villain the advantage of what amounted to a wall at his back. ...but not a very tall wall, the swashbuckler reflected slyly. While Dark Star's diabolical double focused on removing the 'un' from Avenger's undead condition, Jack coiled his legs under him and soared up and over the inky black doorway. Really don't want to know what happens if I undershoot this. Either luck or skill was with the acrobat as he momentarily found himself flying over the cosmic horror's head. "Guess if I want to keep your attention," Jack quipped as the startled doppelganger looked up, "I'll have to make a bigger impression!" So saying he buried his rapier of dimensional magic to the hilt right between the energy being's eyes.

Ha! Social fighters so crazy! It looked like EDS had +15 to Sense Motive, right? Hrm, that's pretty good. Probably can't get away with many move-action Bluffs... Alright, Jackie B will move to get around to the other side of the portal, standard action Feint at DC 31 then surge to Power Attack 5 (1d20+10=30). Oh snap! Critilicious. That's DC 22 + 5 + 5 + probably 4 from Autofire = DC 36, with whatever descriptors Phantom's powers usually have, since the sword is made out of her magic.

Taking in his suddenly altered surroundings with a raised eyebrow, Jack of all Blades patted himself down, making sure everything was still attached in the proper places. He recalled registering a powerful blast of magical energy moments before, and now his energy sense felt oddly dulled. Can't feel the power lines, he frowned inwardly as he instinctively felt about for the city's ever-present electricity. Glancing at his similarly displaced comrades, all of them neatly arranged in a circle, the acrobat adjusted the collar of his greatcoat against the dreary rain. "Did we just... respawn?" A response to Dark Star's question was cut short by a sudden scream, sending Jack sprinting after the cosmic hero without further thought.

Well, Jackie B totes has 'special senses', but I take your point. I guess my question is whether the plan is to just buy Phantom time by keeping EDS busy, or whether it's time to start attacking him in earnest.