Supercape

OK moving into Combat. Nicks action was effectively a surprise one. 19 - Dragonfly 2 HP - Unharmed 13 - Slick - 1 HP - Unharmed Need Initiative From Nick who is down (I think) to 1 HP 1d20+10=16 for Knuckles 1d20=8 or actually 9 if I add the +1 bonus, for the Goon. The chaos here is pretty bad, meaning Master Plan goes out of the window. Also, so many people milling around, its shooting into melee. And AoEs are going to be nasty for the "innocent" addicts.

The effect was not entirely visible, but it sent shivers down Knuckles spine and that of his cronies. Pandemonium born from blind terror swept across the musty, shabby room. Screams, shouting and pleas for mercy rang out, as everyone but Knuckles and his chief goon made a scrabble for the exit. Knuckles, however, steeled himself and had more spine. "Pfah!" he shouted in defiance "'till take more than the spooks to break O'Hagan!" and with that he puffed up his chest, and put an arm across his second hand man, the chief goon, who was still debating whether to make a run for it. "Hold still!" he snapped "and let them taste lead!" He bent his knees into a crouching position, and charged at Slick and Dragonfly.

Yoikes. OK. Knuckles first then... Well, actually he has the fearless feat... never mind! I'm going to just say the non-combat people get the fear and run. Despite being drug addled! Knuckles goons are actually ex-military thugs. Im using the Soldier stats, with Streetwise and Drive skills at +4 added in. They are using various fire arms as described IC, and have leather jackets. Anyway... Will saves are only +1... 1d20+1=19, 1d20+1=13, 1d20+1=13 one makes it. Carrying a SMG. The woman sidekick is a straighforward thug. IM giving her +2 on this due to her loyalty to Knuckles and his fearlessness. 1d20+2=17 the Floozy still runs!!!

OK that hits - just! Its a DC 22 Toughness roll. I should add the boss wont be treated as a minion [should still be a pushover!] 1d20+5=22 Just made (after Giving him quite the wrong bonus for the first roll of +1!) Shotgun Blast back is +8 Attack [+6 Base, +2 Accurate] 1d20+8=15 Which I think is a miss (well, its a clear miss actually!) Also, as a Move Action, he will attempt an intimidate/demoralise... its at -5, so +5 Total bonus 1d20+5=7.. bleh! well, you can resist that with Will save, or Sense Motive. As your Will save is +9, you cant fail, so wave that.

Ok Shifting into combat time. The Anarchist leader is just same stats, with +2 to all statistics, Attack, Defence, and 2 Ranks of Defensive Roll (+4 Toughness) 1 Rank Improved Initiative (+4), and Intimidate 8 (+10 total). He is using one of the pilfered weapons, however, a Souped up flechette! Device 3 (Blast 6, Accurate 1, Improved Critical 1, AP Blast 6 Cone) for 15 PP. 1d20+4=21 for his initiative, although I forgot his DEX is 13, and means the roll is actually +5, for an initiative of 22. The shotgun blast, IC post, is fluff if he looses initiative (which he probably will!)

The Thugs stopped what they were doing, and seeing the Cat pounce out of the smoke and flames, just as they died (From Jubatus' efforts) was enough to put the fear into them. All but one scattered, running every which way around the building. The leader, however, was not so immediately impressed. He brought up his shotgun to bear on Jubatus, and, screaming at his subordinates to return, opened fire with the weapon. "I don't care what you are, Cat-Man! But you will regret the day you stepped into our party - it's invitation only, darling!" he sneered with a face stuffed full of malice verging on insanity.

Supercape peered into the lead container, and examined the computer that spewed out a list of numbers in a semi-organised fashion. He scratched his head, tapped his chin, and readjusted his bow tie. "Ahem. Yes. Well what we have here is some radiation that certainly... um... bears further investigation... examining the non-differential quantum parallax of inverted anti-resonance...err... entanglements of the... um... fractal distrubition of... errr.." He paused. "I'm afraid I don't know. Its really odd. Need to look at it more. X-Ray and MRI Imaging coming up!" he proclaimed with a mixture of embaressment and excitement. With that, he started to set up the imaging process, and before long, the screens lit up with the scans.

Rene did not have Nick's supernatural senses, although he was well aware of the presence of deep and powerful magic around him. What he did see, and could extrapolate from, was the slumping of the bodies around him (aside from a few who had ended up with their souls in the correct body) and then, after an varying amount of time, those same bodies 'come round' with a huge expression of relief and, in more than a few cases, terror or confusion, on them. "Well done, Monsieur Nick, Monsieur Ghede" he commented, with an arched eyebrow and a clap of his hands. He looked over to Doctor Singh, who remained slumped. "And what have we here? one soul is perhaps not willing to come back, and wishes to depart early?"

Various skills you could use here, such as Survival (DC 15) or Notice (DC 20) to navigate to the beacon successfully.

"Right then...page 61...lets see..." said Supercape, thumbing through the manual. "Ah yes, locating the camp in a snowstorm! simple survival exercise here... find the beacon. Its ahead of you. Beware of the crevasses and thin ice, however..." A distant beeping sound could be made out in front of Arcturus, but it was impossible to tell the distance. Meanwhile, the wind whipped up a blizzard that obscured vision for more than a few feet, whilst drifts of snow built up around the Ursine hero's feet...

Supercape Checking out the territory Grin and Bear it! The Heros are NEAR Indescribable, Indestructible, Insatiable Russian Reactors are Reliable Somewhere That's Green Vox Welcome to the Lab Rene Dead Good Dreamtime Forsooth, to Slay the Beast! The Radical Dreamer Run away and Join the Circus Santa Claws and his Slay Bells Unreal eastate Slick At the Opera Tonight Crack is Whack Part II Medical Matters On that note, I don't think Slick is working out for me despite efforts to regalvanise the character. Some elements (Fassbinders party, the oily mess) did - the rest I dont like, and at this point I'm going to cut my losses. NPC Him please. I will continue off his threads as an NPC and may well giving him a death scene. If its allowed can his posts this month be converted to NPC posts? GM Champagne Shennanigans! Crack is Whack Part II Dead Good Forsooth, to Slay the Beast! The Heros are NEAR A Hero's Quickening Russian Reactors are Reliable GM Posts to go to SUpercape (if needed) to push him to 100, the rest go to Rene.

"Oui, Oui" muttered Rene "A long time to practice. And yet, it is right here, right now, that I feel I will unlock the secrets of Magic more than ever. It is as if, well, I have run the marathon and now, the sprint!" he smacked his hands together emphatically. "Now, tell me, your Ursine transformation... how does it happen? Magical, yes, yes... but from where?"

In case its relevant - now, or later - some Knowledge rolls. 1d20+16=27 for Physical Sciences 1d20+10=16 for Life Sciences

"No?" asked Quentin, peering at the readout. The Spectrometre would be just as much as instrument of geologists, and he wouldn't be surprised if Tarrant knew more than he about the readouts. "What then? Metal? Crystal? Organic?... I hope we don't have to quarantine the thing..." He took the rock carefully and placed it with precision into a peculiar looking Lead container. "Lets take a look at its radiation levels..." he continued, already knowing that it was emitting something verybizarre...

"Good shot, my boy!" shouted Supercape with excitement. He pressed a few buttons on the control panel, and finished with an "End Simulation!" to the computer. The room once again faded to the blank, well lit, and vast holographic suite that had preceded the sand storm. "Nice work. Pays to know how to fight when one can't see to well" he commented. Unlikely to occur in my case, of course he added to himself. His superhuman senses extended well beyond the normal modalities. "Next up, let it snow, let it snow, let it snow!" he sang, as the room changed to an ice shelf, and a blizzard whipped up around Marcus.

Ok, need somebody to discover the asteroid! I think Rachel / Quote volunteered, maybe involving Dok A.

Natalie smiled "or you could look me up!" she said with a beaming face. She looked around the party, which was beginning to wind down. People where slowly drifting off, and it would probably finish in the next half hour, bar a few hard core friends of Felix. "I best be on my way, I have work tomorrow, but rest assured, I will call on you some day!" she said.

"Many" replied Rene. "I was born in 1777, in France, and grew up to be a man in the revolution. Bloody business that.. not to be recommended. It was my fate to be trained by the Master Mage of that Era, Broken Crow. A fine man, and a master of the mystical arts. " He continued ambling through the park with Marcus, nodding at an occasional passer by and tipping his beret at a few ladies. "I have spent the last two centuries perfecting my art. Both the visual kind, and the sorceries that accompany it. Whilst I know a lot of magic, for me, it comes in a particular form, that of painting, or creating, with my mind. You saw some of the brush strokes of my power I think, hmmm?"

Supercape couldn't help thinking of that science fiction film that he had watched once many years ago. Preposterous stuff, of course, all laser swords and moon sized space stations. He vaguely remembered one scene with a man wearing a helmet, thus obscuring his vision, trying to strike at a drone. His teacher used some phrase... what was it? use the power... or something like that. Anyway, Marcus' swiping at the drones reminded him of that scene. He was tempted to quote the dimly remembered film, but instead just called out "Good show! keep at it!" What was it called? Planet Battles? or something like that...

"mmm delicious" said Supercape, helping himself to a sandwich. "And yes, I think we all survived. I don't mind a bit of PR really, we should keep up a good image. Make sure the public realise this is a worthwhile and serious institution, and not a marvellous box of toys for us to play with!" The twinkle in his eye was impossible to miss, and clearly indicated he thought the Lab was more of the latter and less of the former. "Nice bit of evasion by Ironclad, too. Well dodged!"

Bingo!

Should have made this at set up! The drones do no damage. If you really want to test the waters with to hit rolls, defence 10, and they have partial visual obscurement due to the sandstorm. The heat is bad. DC 10 Fort check.

"Excellent, excellent!" shouted Supercape over the sandstorm. "Thats kind of the point!" he added, as Marcus could barely see anything. "Releasing the target drones now! Just holograms, wont give you more than a tickle of electricity, but they are there for combat practice in... um...." He consulted the hefty tome marked 'TRAINING MANUAL' in big red letters. "...lets see, page 42... ah yes... combat practice in sub-optimal and hazardous environs..." As he spoke, two purple spheres bolted from the ceiling and started wheeling around Arcturus. They were quite fast and agile, and by no means easy to hit in the best of circumstances. And every time one touched him, he felt an unpleasant (but not dangerous) jolt of static electricity.

For January! and Sorry for delay! Its been a fallow month. Supercape Grin and Bear it (7 Posts) Indescribable, Indestructible, Insatiable (6 Posts) Rise of the Machine (7 Posts) Somewhere That's Green (4 Posts) The HEROs are NEAR (1 Post) The Dark Mother (2 Posts) The Marvel's of Science (6 Posts) Welcome to the Lab (8 Posts) Worst New Year's Eve ever (2 Posts) Slick At the Opera Tonight (2 Posts) Champagne Shennanigans (2 Posts) Crack is Whack Part II (3 Posts) Medical Matters (2 Posts) Rene Dead Good (10 Posts) Dreamtime(12 posts) Run away and Join the Circus (5 Posts) Santa Claws and his Slay Bells (15 Posts) Vision in White (1 Post) GM (33 Posts total = 16 Posts to be added) Champagne Shennanigans (4 Posts) Crack is Whack Part II (1 Post) Dead Good (1 Post) Dreamtime(1 post) Earth Victoriana: The Brit Machine (6 Posts) A Hero's Quickening (18 Posts) Santa Claws and his Slay Bells (2 Posts) If (thats a big if!) I counted correctly! GM posts go to Supercape to boost him to 50 (from 43) and then to Rene to boost to 50 (Also from 43). If I miscalculated anywhere (probably!) then Supercape gets priority. Cheers!

"Lets try a Sandstorm then" said Supercape, almost excitedly. He stepped into the simulator suite control room, and asked Marcus to enter the vast arena of the floor. He had chosen Simulator Suite B, just to make sure. Dragonfly was still running diagnostics on suite A after it had recently malfunctioned and needed emergency repairs. He clutched his chest remembering the lightning arc that had struck him squarely there during the chaos. "Activate Simulation: Desert. Sandstorm" he said, and the simulator suite filled with sand and wind, the former holographic, the second very real - and full of artificial sand particles. On top of that, the room was filled with blazing light and heat from an artificial overhead sun. "Hows that feel?" he said over the commlink.