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trollthumper

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  • Birthday 09/06/1986

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  1. I'd say suitable rolls here would be Medicine, Notice, Knowledge: Arcana, and Knowledge: Theology. I'll get Nick's rolls out when everyone else is done.
  2. Nick realized, in retrospect, this was likely a bad idea. He was a landlocked individual, of course, and while he had an understanding of the political tensions between the Deep Ones and the Atlanteans, he had a good sense that Sea Devil and Artificer would be the ones most likely to put aside bad blood in the name of focusing on the potential crisis at hand. That, and Glamazon hadn't returned his calls. "Thank you for coming so far on such short notice." He gestured to the house. "As you heard, we've got an incident that looks to be related to Deep One theology. Two people seem to have committed suicide, and one of them left a prayer to Dagon in their own blood. We don't know if it was of their own volition, or..." Nick let it hang in mid-air, especially with Sea Devil present. This was his area, and he felt like a party crasher. "I'm going to try to read the scene, but I wanted to get your insights first. This isn't entirely my department, and I don't want to do anything that could potentially color the fabric of all this before I try and call up the dead. The local authorities are giving us a wide berth, so... let's go in and see what we can do."
  3. "No... but it's gotten a bit of a touch up." Cavalier leaned in to inspect the power cell. "The engine itself is like a Plymouth F - I mean, like an old Vidaga-class starcruiser, the kind some people who own whole continents like to use as vintage luxury yachts. The cell itself is like shoving a grade 3 fusion core into it, which I wouldn't be surprised if someone tried that and took out an asteroid." He got up and looked around. "Which I wouldn't recommend while we're standing inside it. So, it's likely somebody built this as a guided missile and gave it just enough of a push that it could complete the journey on a set timetable. Like to hit Korus at just the right moment to ruin their day."
  4. Nick Cimitiere, Sea Devil, and Artificer explore signs of Deep One activity in the Salton Sea.
  5. Bombay Beach, California March 19, 2024 CW: Self-Harm, Torture, Imprisonment, Suicide This was a place of decay. And Eric LaCroix both loved and hated it for that reason. Both of those were strong terms, of course. Especially "hated." In the years since he'd really started to make use of his photography education, Eric had been jetting across the country, catching the spirit of crossroads, ghost towns, and graveyards. Often for photo shoots and Instagram feeds, but maybe working towards a coffee table book. Some of his photos were now hanging at the Black Petal Cafe where he had served as eternal barista. Of course, the spirit of places was more than metaphorical for Eric. Which is why the Salton Sea was screwing with him royally. A shoot at Slab City - "The Last Free Place," haven of snowbirds, outsider artists, and RV off-grid life - had spun out into a tour of the cities surrounding one of Southern California's greatest marvels gone to rot. A simple diversion of the Colorado River had led to the refilling of a long dried-out lake bed, creating a large saltwater body deep inland. For a few decades, it was a resort paradise, all the fun of the coast in the middle of dry land. Until the saline levels kept rising, and the agriculture run off kept flooding in. It was not a great place, especially for someone attuned to the flow of death. The shores were littered with the bones of luckless fish, and the sky itself reeked of salt and waste. The cities around the sea, life clinging on in the face of devastation, had elevated rates of asthma, lung cancer, and heart disease. The main wildlife willing to make it a native habitat, the pelicans, were riddled with botulism. Even the sea itself was dying, as California had enacted policies to let it evaporate in the hope of restoring wildlife on the exposed playa. And yet. Life persisted. The people here lived, likely because there was nowhere else to go or because they were stubborn enough to make homes. The cities were even drawing in its share of artist communities - though Eric knew which way that would go, and he bet it would be a while before this became the next Joshua Tree. But if life could persist him, if people could make it a home, he could at least put up with the fact that his death sense left him with the constant sense that he was hearing radio static from another room. Until the signal cut through loud and clear. And he knew that it was much more than dead fish. It was time for his night work. A quick jaunt through Osiris's back closet, and he was at the house. At least California Winter made his leather jacket tolerable, as Spring slowly approached. The house itself was nice, by Bombay Beach standards - a little bit of rime and dust to the walls, but a simple, one-story abode. Red and blue lights filled the driveway, and the two beat cops on duty did a double take as he walked up. "Get lost on your way to some metal concert?" The older one asked. "Nah, Joe. I know this one. Seen him on Instagram. Cemetery, right?" "Cimitiere, but I'm not a stickler." He was a long way from Freedom, but thank God social media had enough of a reach to make sure authorities wouldn't just mistake him for a Ghost fan with delusions of grandeur. "What's the situation?" "Two dead. Marie and Daniel Johnson, 25, 26. Both locals; I... knew 'em from church." The younger one looked down, trying to hold something in. "Wounds seem self-inflicted, but... there's reason to suspect... well, occult shit." Nick let them walk him in. He was too used to small town cops believing that "occult shit" meant they had a Ouija board or a copy of The Kybalion. The bodies were a quick scan on the way through the center of activity. Marie was slumped before the sink, her wrists cut open. Daniel was sitting at the kitchen table, his throat open, a steak knife fallen at his limp hand. It was a terrible tableau, and he knew he'd need to look at it in detail. But they weren't here, which was either good for them or very bad for them. Because the writing on the table, done in Daniel's bloody finger, said everything Nick needed to know. HOME DAGON HOME HOME YHANTHLEI SEA TO THE SEA "You were right. I think I may need to call in some consultants for this one..."
  6. "It's a term used for a knight on horseback. It was close enough to 'knight' that I thought it would be a good way to stand aside but still have the title come through." Kyle double checked Kath'lana's figures. "You're right. And it's an old one, too. All right, looks like we've got some spelunking to do."
  7. Thank the Space Gods for the general power of default INT. That's a 20. Also, sorry for the delay.
  8. One of these days, Kyle, someone's gonna get terminally pissed at you deciding to use Earth cultural references. Fortunately, that's not today. "There's something hidden at the heart of the comet," he said. "It could be an explosive payload, it could be a propulsion system... for all we know, it could be the cryogenically stored bodies of some long dead civilization. But odds are, it's not anything that's going to enrich anybody's spirit." He looked to Sri. "I'll be close behind. And we... appreciate the offer, Khan. Let's go." Because I'm sure as hell not leaving you out here unattended.
  9. "All right, good news first," said Cavalier. "This is not some sort of miniature spaceship or home for endangered bacteria or hidden transforming robot engine of destruction. It even has a few good weakpoints to target for easy dismantling. And now the bad news." He pointed down, tracing his finger to where he could surmise the entry point to the asteroid would be. "Someone put a toy surprise inside the comet. We've got a possible point of ingress that way. Who wants to go spelunking?"
  10. He obviously couldn't be trusted. That was the baseline level of intergalactic diplomacy here. It was one of the first things Kyle committed to memory during induction at Citadel. You don't trust the Khanate. But. As long as he was offering an open hand instead of a closed fist, it was best to accept it. What was he going to do, tell the head of a powerful if despotic state to frag off while investigating a potential planet-killer? That wasn't going to win anything except ego points, and those didn't spend well. It was of course while doing all this internal calculus that Kyle realized he was supposed to be doing a density scan. He rerouted the power from his thrusters into his HUD, accessing some analytical protocols. One would be able to pierce the surface of the rock and figure out if there was anything going on under it that shouldn't be on your average asteroid. The other would be to help detect points of weakness that would allow them to turn this into a bunch of much-smaller-than-average asteroids.
  11. Okay, time to reroute power: I will Power Stunt off of Auxiliary Thrusters for some 8 PP Super-Senses: Super-Senses 8 (Detect Weakness, X-Ray Vision) [8 PP] I admit to being rusty, but my plan here is X-Ray Vision to figure out if this is more than just an asteroid, Detect Weaknesses to find best way to blow it to debris if it's just a plain old asteroid. Well, at least this Notice check isn't a 1. It's a 15.
  12. Every single urge in Cavalier's body went to violence. He had seen this face in his nightmares, run through with veins of computronium and leading the armies of the Communion. Lor-Van died, and you're still breathing. Well, I know one way to make up for all that... It was Kath'lana's words that kept him from engaging in some very hasty assassination. He couldn't believe he'd let his rage get the better of him. Of course this wasn't the same man. For one thing, there was a lot more flesh. He allowed himself a moment of peace and focus. Hopefully, he wouldn't kick himself for it later. "What brings you out to this part of the galaxy?"
  13. And, belatedly: 9. Not only do I need to buy up ranks of Galactic Lore, I need to get new dice.
  14. "It was to distinguish myself, I guess," said Cavalier as he flew over the rock. "I came into the armor through a... well, let's say''oblique' route. Not theft or anything like that, but more ending up in the wrong place at the right time. When I was brought into the Knights, Earth already had one, and she was using the moniker full time. So, if I was going to go back to Earth and represent the Knights, I needed my own title. Or we could have shared, but that might have gotten weird." There is such a thing as too casual, of course. Although Kyle is experienced in this kind of thing, the regular patrol can cause a sharp eye to relax too much. Hence why the asteroid seems relatively mundane to his scans.
  15. Notice: 9. Cavalier doesn't see a dang thing.
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