Gizmo

Jack clicked his tongue with exaggerated annoyance."This guy spent the night meeting pretty girls. I spent it helping a pyrophobic zombie put his body parts back together. If I had a nickel, huh?" The swordsman shook his head wryly. "Gotta be the accent. The whole Texas Ranger thing is money."

Oy. Stuck them into Regeneration.

Now, would those be regular muscles that just happen to be infused with cosmic power, or does Darkstar have like an extra set of glutes for controlling forces beyond the ken of man? I always though he was kind of uptight, but really he's just flexing his cosmic power muscles! It explains so much! I'd be fine with that, certainly. If we're talking about pulling punches, maybe we could just go to a certain number of successful hits? Or the fight ends once somebody reaches a certain number of bruised conditions? The former might favour high accuracy, low power competitors a little too much, but the latter captures the feeling of a friendly boxing match a little better, I think.

Man, who knew vanilla Super-Strength could get so complicated? Labeling those options as Power Feats rather than Alternate Powers is pretty misleading. Regardless, the offending linkage has been removed.

Jack of all Blades Invasion! - West End Interceptors! New Recruits Fisticuffs Fundraiser! Jaci o' Cups Coinpurse Jack January 2010 Vignette

"Hey." Only Jack's naturally liquid voice prevented the greeting from being a grunt. Rubbing his jawline the swordsman realized absently that his customary stubble was threatening to become a legitimate beard, given a few more days. He'd have to see to that eventually. Have to keep up appearances, after all, a cynical voice in his head drawled. Ignoring the stray thought, Jack began to buckle his greatcoat. "I was just about to head out on patrol. You still giving Sparky 2.0 the nickel tour, or should I give him the native guide version of the West End?" His smirk and posture were jaunty enough, but an unbidden edge of sarcasm crept into his voice. Jack's eyes narrowed briefly, as annoyed with his own behaviour as he was impatient for action.

I was under the impression that the Linked extra was free provided that the character can only use the component powers together. It's not like I have my heart set on this or anything; I'm fine with them being unlinked, I just don't understand why it works differently in this case.

"Grim!" Jack gasped, his tone scandalized. "Colt is standing right there!" He looked around the circle of heroes expectantly. "See, 'cause she said... then I pretended like..." After a pronounced pause Jack sighed and placed his hands behind his head. "This is why people cover their sidekicks' ears when I'm around, isn't it?" Admittedly, he was laying the puckish rogue act on a little thick, but with the topic of conversation invariably drifting back to the demonic invasion, Jack felt his disposition leaning towards pique and away from subtlety. Besides, a certain bawdy spectacle was the order of the day, he thought, a bit more petulantly than he cared for.

The corner of his mouth twitching subtly, Jack bowed deeply, his coat sweeping out as he gestured grandly. "True enough. Consider this rogue suitably chastised." Despite his words, the swashbuckler's expression suggested that, having confirmed that offense had not been too gravely taken, he was not particularly abashed by his lapse in decorum. Social awkwardness hadn't held much threat for Jack since he was a child, nor glares of disapproval. At some point in his youth he'd realized that much could be repaired by a sufficiently disarming grin. Even so, Fulcrum's scolding look stirred a vague recognition in the back of his mind. His own mother tended to voice her displeasure more directly, however; perhaps he was being reminded of an old teacher, or simply suffering from the continued distraction of the imposing heroine's energy emissions. Outwardly, he rose from his abasement and hooked his thumbs in his jacket's pockets. "At least I can cross 'Archimedes' off my 'Ill-Advised Pick-Up Lines' bingo card. If I get 'toaster pastries' I'll have the diagonal."

Alright, I took her Protection down to 4 ranks, which should bring her maximum toughness within her caps. I used 2 of the points that freed up to properly pay for her Linked Shockwave and Thunderclap, and put the other 4 into a touch of Regeneration, to represent a little extra hardiness without getting into the headache of mixing Absorption and Impervious. Does that solve everything?

The only coherent thought Jack was able to form as he attempted to reply to Fulcrum's greeting was, Gah, it's like pins and needles on my eyeballs. Fortunately, he'd long ago perfected the art of speaking without thinking. Unfortunately, there were some inherent flaws in the system. "Fulcrum, right? Well, if you've got a place to stand, I've got a lever long enough to move your world." The swordsman paused for a horrified moment as his brain caught up with his mouth, then promptly planted his palm on his face. "Ahem. Sorry about that," he continued ruefully. "That was sort of a Freudian prat fall, huh?" Peering through his fingers he grinned wryly. "On the bright side, there's a chance you'll get to punch me in the face shortly."

I guess Jack could just fight unarmed. He'd be in a tight spot against some of those high-Toughness heroes, though! Darn Colt's wacky coat! Cowboy science is the toughest science of all. Regardless, I don't have any preference for match-ups. That's what all those Bluff abilities are for, amirite?

Sorry, I explained the Growth thing really poorly there. The idea was that a single absorbed hit gets her up to Growth 4, yes. With Slow Fade and Energy Storage, however, multiple hits should, I thought, enable her to Boost further than that. Am I misreading the Absorption power again? I think I've got my head wrapped around the power feat issue now, thanks. I'll just drop one of them, then, or spend some of the extra points coming from the reduced Protection to buy the linked version correctly. It depends on what changes I still need to make to her Absorption, I guess!

Ah, I misunderstood the Protection component of Absorption; I thought it was just the Impervious extra without the Toughness bonus. In retrospect that doesn't really make a lot of sense. Let's see, if I took the extra Protection power down to Protection 4, would that set things right? I did know she could get up past Growth 8 normally, though; that's why I put that restriction on her power as a drawback. Basically, I wanted to make it easier for her to build up a store of points to sustain the effect, in keeping with the 'cup' motif, but I didn't conceptualize her as being able to get crazy huge. I don't completely follow with regards to the Super-Strength power feats. I'm probably just being thick, but I'm not seeing anything about the PFs costing more than usual in UP. Any chance you could lay it out for me one more time?

"I don't see the problem," Jack replied airily as he reached up and allowed Atlas' massive red hand to engulf his own. "I'm nine foot seven, myself; I just look shorter in these boots." Briefly glancing over his shoulder at the event organizers, the swordsman lowered his voice. "So I totally wasn't paying attention when they explained the rules. How are we doing this, straight no powers, just no ranged attacks or what?"

Well, it doesn't make much difference to me. Probably at least a couple weeks after the invasion, so sometime towards the end of November?

"Right, yeah, never happened. Just checking," Jack nodded stiffly as Ace moved off. Intellectually he knew that it shouldn't be a problem; he was hardly the only person to have been saved by the invasions undoing. Still, he just hadn't been able to shake the lingering feeling of dread the incident had left him with, even weeks later. At least blabbing about the great beyond wasn't an issue; Jack couldn't remember anything about that. Honestly, that worried him more than a bit, too. The swordsman did the best to push his concerns out of his mind as he sauntered over to the event's other participants. Unconsciously making sure there were at least a couple of other people between himself and Fulcrum's unsettling energy emissions, he glanced between the heroine and the similarly massive Atlas. "Jeeze, this has gotta be how you feel all the time, Grim," he remarked dryly with convincing levity.

Folks Jack Knows The Interceptors Geckoman - Animalistic Acrobat Mini-Me! Alright, fine, the kid's more than proven himself, but don't tell him I said so. Jill O'Cure - Sarcastic Sibling She ain't heavy, she's my sister. Although she could stand to lay of the-- not the face! Not the face! Vince - Gregarious A.I. Aide I love this guy! Dude's a computer and he's got better comedic timing than most of the humans I know. Willow - Ancient Amor She's my immortal, inscrutable baby-momma. We... click. It's complicated. Reserve Members Doktor Archeville - Mostly Mad Scientist He messed up. End of story. Fulcrum - Statuesque Paragon ...I just hope she's okay, wherever she ended up. Archeville better bring her back in one piece. Close Friends and Family Colt - Gunslinger From A Parallel World Colt's solid. Knows when to keep his cool and when to unload with both barrels. Terrific wingman, before he settled down. Dragonfly - Earnest Inventor Well, I wouldn't let just anybody date my sister, y'know. Mara's been through some stuff but keeps on going. I like her. Dynamo - Spastic Speedster He's a totally different person since he came back from the future. More interested in research now than fighting. Grimalkin - Sprightly Shapeshifter Grim's good people. Total heart-of-the-team, den mother type. If she'd just shut up about feelings now and then... Former Interceptors All-Star - Overconfident Powerhouse I swear, this guys drives me up the wall. Nice to have all that muscle in a fight, but no idea where he is these days. Blink - Teleporting Ex-Thief About the only person I know who's as hard on themselves as I am. Shouldn't be surprised the teleporter disappeared, really. Razorwing - Brooding Teenage Vigilante Guess the 'redemption' thing didn't take. ...yeah, I don't want to talk about Razorwing. Velocity - All-American Speedster Booked it after the demon invasion. Can't say I blame her. Heroes Ace Danger - Gentleman Adventurer Holy snap! Ace freaking Danger! So cool, I swear. Arrowhawk - Archer Extraordinaire Fun guy; I wonder if he does parties? Possibly the only hero around who like guns even less than me. Atlas - Hulking Heavy He's about a bazillion pounds of muscle, but c'mon, he takes time to sign autographs for orphans. Good guy. Avenger - Vampiric Vindicator "Grr, argh, brooding is srs bsns." Whatever, dude. You're rich and happily married with a kid. Lighten up. Breakdown - Jukebox Jerk Jeez, ease up on the sugar intake, kid. If the gossip is true, he went off the deep-end big time. Citizen - Cyber Sidekick I guess he's Miss A's nephew or something? I assume he's a good kid, but we've barely met. Darkstar - Living Cosmic Energy All that cosmic power and he wouldn't know a joke if it bit him on the black hole... Dead Head - Heavy Metal Zombie Pretty much the most easy going undead you're like to meet. He's a chill dude, I like him, even if he is kinda gross. Edge - Positive Probability Controller Not sure how I feel about anyone who smiles that much being able to blow things up like that... Equinox - Black Magic Woman Lady can sling a fireball, I tell you what. Takes a lot on her shoulders, but who am I to talk? Fleur de Joie - Flower Child So, she runs an entire planet filled with giant, talking bees and makes cookies. Everyone's fave Mother Nature. Gaian Knight - Earth Mover Man, it's a crime he doesn't know how to use that sword, but not everyone can be as fly as me. Harrier - Freed Omegadrone Starting a barfight over a lady's honor makes a good impression with me. I've got Steve's back if he needs it. Hellion - Demonic Dilettante Not a big fan of the hellfire, gotta say. Little full of himself, too. I know, glass houses, but still. Ironclad - Big Brain Battlesuit Friend-of-a-girlfriend-of-a-sister scenario, but she seems to know her freaky science stuff well enough. Gabriel - Pious Stalwart Does not shy away from speechifying, that's for sure. I wonder if he's even considered politics? Midnight II - Silent Shadow No way this is the original guy from back in the day. ...right? Miss Americana The Nation's Sweetheart Man, they don't make 'em like than anymore, huh? Uh, I mean how intelligent and driven she is, obviously. Nick Cimitiere - Psychobilly Necromancer Pretty much my go-to guy for magic stuff. Seems like he's got every supernatural spook in his little black book. Phantom - Interdimensional Guardian When I met her she was totes preggers with a lil' vamp and her friend had just 'died', so... she handles stress well? Scholar - Resurrecting Alien Looking pretty fine for a lady who died in my arms right after we met! Nice enough, but way stressed out. Victory - High-Flying Cyborg I have trouble trusting military types, but Victory seems like a pretty straight-forward good guy. Wander - Aggressive Amazon Definitely intense; there's more going on there than she says. I think we're more or less okay with each other now. Wesley Knight - Life Controller Nice enough guy, really mellow, but... I'm sorry, those tentacle are just creepy.

Hey, do we know which day this takes place on?

That sounds like something a Grue would say! Well done, Cyroa, for a successful caper all around!

"Ha, pretty, right," Jack said distractedly as he turned back around, briefly wincing as he covered one eye with the heel of hi hand. Having adjusted to the sheer amount of energy radiating from Fulcrum, it suddenly occurred to him that he recognized the type of energy. It reminded him vaguely of the reading he'd gotten from the alternate, medieval version of Omega he'd encountered alongside Darkstar. Could her powers be connected to the Terminus Invasion somehow? She looks too old to be a Terminus Baby. Still, he'd heard nothing but good things about the heroine, and she certainly wouldn't be the first to put abilities from a suspect source to noble use. If she wasn't advertising her secret origin, Jack wasn't about to bring it up, at least not is such a public venue. Doesn't mean she doesn't creep me the heck out. Returning his attention to Ace, the swordsman did his best to compose himself. "Sorry, always did go a bit rubber necked around a pretty face," he grinned shamelessly. "Anyway, the reason I ask is... well, the whole 'Hell on Earth' thing, right? It's all pretty fuzzy, but I remember, uh, dying. Pretty clearly. Really clearly, actually. Then everything went back to the way it was and poof, here I am again. So yay. But I gotta tell you, little bit freaked out, on the whole." Jack rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly, shrugging at Ace. "I guess what I'm asking is if there's like a 'So You Came Back To Life' pamphlet I should be reading or something."

So, the Invasion! storyline didn't go so well for ol' Jack of all Blades. Long story short, one wallop from a particularly massive demon later and the scintillating swordsman is pining for fjords, if you catch my meaning. Luckily the big reset brought Jack back to life... but not quite right. Basically, when a semi-magical energy manipulator gets killed in a city saturated with hellish energies the brought back to life through even more magic, it seems appropriate for there to be, y'know, complications. That said, I'm still playing around with the specifics. Immunity to Aging or Resurrection are pretty standard fare in this kind of situation, but I'm not convinced they're particularly appropriate for Jack, and there's no telling when he'd actually notice either change. One option I rather like is that from now on, anytime he makes a sword out of fire, he involuntarily transforms it into hellfire instead. I'm not sure how to mechanically represent that in an elegant manner, however. Perhaps simply as a Complication? I'm looking for some thoughts either on how to make that work or on other possible 'came back wrong' effects.

Woof, when All-Star decides to punch something, he really punches something! Glad to see Jack's not the only one getting thrown for a loop. Speaking of which, since talking all that smack while disabled saddles Jack with the dying status again, I'm going to have him succumb to his injuries, since he'll be revived by the 'reset'. That said, you can understand why in later threads he's been acting a bit out of it. Your first super hero resurrection is always the toughest, after all. Anyway, I figured I'd give everyone a heads up since I'm not sure how we're going to do the wrap-up for this fight.

"Well, Colt and Grim turned out," Jack replied, missing the adventurer's meaning, "but some of the Interceptors prefer to keep, y'know, a lower profile." He certainly didn't expect to see Blink or Razorwing in front of any cameras, anyway. It seemed right up All-Star's alley, but perhaps the big man was uninterested in a competition that wouldn't give him a chance to display his full power. Elektron... Jack really couldn't say one way or the other. The swordsman realized with a hint of shame that he'd made little effort to get to know the team's newest member. Admittedly, he'd been preoccupied with his thoughts, but even so... That line of thinking took him down a path he'd been attempting to avoid for at least one evening with this raucous event, to a dilemma which had been plaguing him since the demon invasion - or rather since the invasion had ceased to have happened at all. It dawned on Jack that it was a problem with which the man before him had a singular expertise. Clearing his throat, he began, hesitation in his voice, "Uh, listen, all those stories about you, ah, coming back from, well, back to life -" It was at that point Jack was interrupted by a ball peen hammer blow to that back of the head. That's what it felt like, in any case. It took the swashbuckler a stunned moment to realize that it was his energy awareness, translating confusingly into his conventional senses as it always did. He'd long since grown used to the constant hum of living beings. Within the locker room, the respective glows of Colt and Grim were familiar, the former wafting the faint residue of dimensional travel and the latter sparkling with the ethereal sheen of transformative magics. Ace was much the same, though he had a sort of circular motion to him, an odd looping sensation. Atlas registered more strongly, as a rumbling, bass redness with an alien aftertaste Jack couldn't identify. Darkstar was a veritable cacophony of cosmic chimes and strings, but even he didn't have the effect of the figure who just entered the room. Turning to the door, Jack was nearly overwhelmed. As his senses adjusted, he briefly saw the newcomer outlined as a silhouette backlit by a cascading explosion of pitch black energy. It carried with it an intense strangeness, not the oilslick discomfort of Dead Head's animating forces, but an almost active warping of the space around it. As he regained his composure the silhouette resolved into what Jack was surprised to recognize as the statuesque heroine Fulcrum. "Dios..." he managed faintly. Realizing his jaw was hanging open, he snapped it shut, his teeth practically vibrating with the dark energy that radiated from the blue and gold clad woman like a belladonna perfume. Well, that's new and unsettling.

Jack of all Blades sauntered casually over to Ace Danger and crossed his arms. "So, you're really him, huh?" The younger man wore a cocky smirk that couldn't quite help slipping into something more genuine. Jack had been fascinated with the more roguish Golden Age heroes, snapping up every scrap and anecdote about la Renard Rogue or Spitfire Jones he could find. In truth, he could recite a handful of the Danger family's more public adventures by heart, and being in the same room as Ace himself was a bit wild. The swordsman hoped he'd get a chance to match himself against the celebrity adventurer's legendary wit.