Airon

Saeid got out of the large office building with mixed feelings. He just successfully sold a 12’ x 8’ carpet, a true masterpiece, to the newly appointed CEO of Peach Pharmaceuticals. On the other hand, the interior decorator he dealt with was a jackass and a sycophant that kept pointing out flaws in his work. A hand-woven carpet is supposed to have flaws, you jerk thought Saeid if you studied a bit, instead of focusing on butt-kissing, maybe you’d be better at your job. With this irritated frame of mind Saeid stood on the sidewalk with the catalogue under his arm, trying to remember which way was the nearest Monorail stop – when a loud series of crashes coming from around the block filled the air. He quickly ran towards the end of the building to see if he could be of help – and he almost bumped into an old man slowly walking behind the corner. His eyes popped in surprise when he looked at him to apologize “Monsieur DeSa…?†he bit his tongue. He’d only met the painter while in his costumed identity “Ehrrm… I mean, are you ok, sir? I didn’t hurt you did I? I apologize, but there seems to be a large accident, I was in a hurry. I’m really sorry.†He turned back to the gridlock to see what was going on.

“More magic. Of course.†Luke rubbed his temples – he definitely wasn’t used to the yammering questions of the press, and he hated having to keep a low profile and a secret identity. “You know, things were so much easier in space.†he said to Kristin and Subito “No press, for once. And no darn magic! I went†he bit his tongue “ok, we went against astrobattleship, sun-eaters, living pulsars… I thought I had a pretty wide experience. And yet, here in Freedom, it seems every other lunatic is Gandalf!†He took a longsip from his can of iced tea – then he stopped mid-drink, a horrible thought coming into his mind. He didn’t know Subito that well “You… your powers aren’t magical, are they? ‘Cause you know, I’ve nothing against you.†he was starting to blush awkwardly “nor against Morgan or other magicians… it’s just frustrating for me, I’m just so out of my element; I have no idea how that thing works.â€

Arug perceived Ahmed getting up and snooping around where he shouldn’t have. He slithered on the floor from the door to the side of Al-Hakim’s bed and then rose up vertically, between the beggar and the urn. At the same time he sent off a empathic signal to Saeid, who woke up as if somebody had just spoken into his ear. “What the…†Saeid couldn’t see much in the shadow, and Arug couldn’t send complicated messages. Saeid waved his hand in the direction of the light switch, getting it at the third try. “Ahmed? What are you doing? Are you insane?†he jumped off the bed rubbing his eyes, pushing the sleep back. “Get back to bed, ok? Leave that urn alone, it’s dangerous. Very dangerous.†he snapped his fingers and a bedsheet came alive to envelop the urn. Now he'd have to rip through the fabric to open it. “We are working together towards a goal here, ok? One that is very dear to you, as well as to me. We can’t afford quirks and erratic behavior. Are we clear on this?â€

Arug's notice as I said in chat, bleah.

Saeid wished good night to the professor and the beggar and went to bed himself, knowing that the following day would be the true start of their trouble. He had problems falling asleep: his mind kept jumping from the thought of his pregnant wife, to the vague and uncomfortable information Ahmed had given him about their enemies, to the sensation of emptiness and madness that he had experienced not two days ago. He thought about his idea of making a puppet out of his clothes: imitating life it was a difficult kind of magic, and he spent almost an hour recalling all of his studies, trying to individuate and correct any flaw in the spell he had in mind. When he was satisfied, he decided it was time to put his mind at rest, for real this time. Before closing his eyes, though, he reached out to Arug, wrapped under his bed. Go lay in front of the door. Keep guard during the night he told to his sleepless sidekick.

Leviathan Her face relaxed for the first time, as she looked upon Veijlial with hope “You – you are right. We can prevail. We can stop this circle of slavery and subterfuge. I… I can tell you something about them, but we need to get away as fast as possible – if they are near me, they can cont…AAAHH!†she screamed and her eyes popped out mid-sentence. She clawed at her own head, still suffocating the screams “Nooo! Brother… they know… they’re here! We have to warn your frie… AAAAHHH†her skin started changing color quickly and incoherently, as she lost control of her powers. “Ah’m shohry†she tried to speak but her mouth didn’t collaborate, then all of a sudden her eyes went blank and she jumped forward to claw Veijlial’s face. Her moves were clumsy and unnatural, however, and the attack missed. She arched her back in pain, then went ahead and tried to hit him again. Steam & Revenant The powerful lights powered by the galvanic reactor of Alice shone bright, illuminating the fight in the water. From the front window, Steam could see the two Revenants swam facing each other, trying to stay afloat and to hit each other. Then one of them sprung forward and landed a punch. Lucy saw the doppelganger mimicking her own clumsiness in the water when just a few seconds before she was swimming like a fish. Her own troubles were real though, not a bluff, and she was too slow to avoid her punch. It hit hard – not only the enemy wasn’t really hindered by the water, she was almost on par with her inhuman strength.

Doppelganger attack roll vs Revenant 1d20+13 → [16,13] = (29) it's a hit! TOU DC 24 for Lucy, then it's her turn. Leviathan, the Ewoma Impersonator is a Alien Inflitrator Oddball seriously scaled down (around PL 7). It also has the Deep One template applied. her initiative 1d20+2 → [7,2] = (9) also, make a Arcane Lore check DC 15 DC 20

26) Synth - unharmed, slowed, 2 HP 24) Glowstar - unharmed, 6 HP 15) Zodiacus - bruised, dazed, staggered 13) Wisp - unharmed, 3 HP Zodiacus is dazed this round, so he can't act (well, he doesn't act in combat, he still talks a lot). However the Paralyze has the Secondary effect Extra - another DC 17 Fortitude for our poor Synth. It's Wisp's turn. Before the fight goes on, though, a Notice check for everybody DC 20

Zodiacus stumbled back as Glowstar’s energy crashed into his chest, forcing the air out of his lungs. He coughed, and grabbed the stage curtain to stay on his feet and not fall down. Somehow, though, he found the energy to talk in that unsettling, insinuating voice of his “Oh, preoccupied about this getting boring, you cocky youngster? You don’t need an expert fortune teller to know this, but nonetheless – BE CAREFUL WHAT YOU WISH FOR!†his crazy eyes rolled in the orbits as he pulled down the stage curtain he was holding. Most of William’s stage apparel was behind it. The coffin which gets sawed in half, mirrors, smoke machines, a huge vase full of swords. There was also a 10-feet tall glass water tank, probably to be used in the Grand Finale of the interrupted show. More disturbingly, Patricia, the lovely redhead who assisted William on stage, was entrapped inside it: she was not tied up, but there was only half a feet of air between the water’s surface and the tank’s cover, and she was swimming frantically, pushing up her face sideways to breathe. “It is always the assistant when the magician is the distraction!†laughed Zodiacus “Pisces, ascendant Leo†he screamed to Patricia “This week, your love will bring you misfortune - better tone down the romance! But you didn’t listen, you stupid girl, you followed him anyway. And now both of your fates are doomed!â€

actually that 21 isn't enough to hit - as you can see from the build I posted upthread, she has a Defense of +13. The momentum of the attack brought the both of you to float - both your heads are now visible from the docks. Steam is up.

The doppelganger swam swiftly and moved at ease underwater – unlike Revenant who was out of her element, she seemed to move like an amphibious creature. She evaded Lucy’s grab with elegance, and even swam around her as to mock the hero’s clumsiness in that uncomfortable situation. However all that grace, all that elegance vanished when the two Revenants, original and copy, re-surfaced near the dock, under the astonished eyes of Steam, Michelle and Iobatus. The Atlantean seemed ready to dive in to help, but hesitated as he saw the bizarre fight between the identical women. Now the doppelganger was trying to swim as clumsily as the true Revenant, flailing her arms in an attempt to stay afloat by mere strength.

It was in that moment that the racing heartbeats Silvia was picking up finally came into shape. From behind the corner of the warehouse, about 30 feet away, two men appeared running. Their sprint came to a halt as they stood a bit startled by the trio: their target laying on the ground, a young woman squatting by him and a one-armed hovering freak right out of a Renaissance fair. The two were wearing heavy leather jackets and held machine pistols. They looked at the trio, they looked at each other, they looked again in front of them – then they shook off the surprise and cocked their guns, ready to shoot.

Ok, the two are your basic Gang Leader archetype (core rulebook page 227) with machine pistols (blast 4, autofire). They're also minions. their Initiative 1d20+1 → [10,1] = (11) there's enough ambiental noise that a few screams won't be heard at the warehouse where the Terminus deal is going down, but gunshots definitely will. Between the darkness and a bit of fog, there's Partial Concealment for everybody (super-senses aside).

Saiph, unlike Luke Perrin, didn’t really sweat – but he looked nonetheless very tired. He landed gently among the debris, an eye still very fix on the damn model laying on the floor – he was in the corner of the room when Morgan had worked his spell and didn’t really get what happened. “So… you turned it off?†he asked Morgan, but noticed with a bit of surprise he wasn’t there anymore where the…? Kristin was running away too – professor Perry just lectured her apparently. He looked at Subito, who looked just as perplexed as he did. “Man, good job there. I don’t know how you do it, but your little rousing speeches always help. Well, not really, since we barely dented the thing.†he shrugged “but at least we didn’t get hurt. Nor did anybody else. That’s something I guess.†He looked around, trying to think of what could happen next. “So, was it an animatronic robot? A dimensional prankster? Please, please tell me there’s no magic involved… not again, not after that idiot at the movie theatre…â€

for reference, the doppleganger is a slightly beefed up Master of disguise Oddball, with aquatic template applied. Her initiative. 1d20+7 → [9,7] = (16) oh, good. The surprise round was this one, where she attacked Revenant with the Snare. Now it begins a normal round. 23 - Revenant, unharmed, 2 HP 20 - Steam, unharmed, 4 HP 16 - Doppleganger, unharmed The Doppelganger is about 5 feet underwater, near the dock. Revenant is 15 feet below her. Steam of course is on the dock. Underwater fighting penalties are on Mastermind's Manual, page 125 (namely: speed halved, -2 to attacks, damage DC halved). In addition, being well below underwater means the whole scene is dark, so unless you have a Super-Sense of some sort, the Partial Concealment penalites apply to the underwater fight as well (20% chance of missing). Revenant has to make a Swim check DC 10 to move, but since she has Swim +10 thanks to her strength, I say we can skip this roll and get to the action. Revenant is up.

Saiph was still pumped up from the fight “Kristin, I’ll buy you chocolate, I’ll buy you dinner, I’ll buy you a puppy if you are that helpful every time. Thanks, really†he almost hugged her, but it was the first time they had met, so maybe it would come off as a bit inappropriate. “it’s very important for me to feel part of a team.†Then he realized he was still hovering a foot above the seats, sparkling with energy, projecting his shadow on the silver screen. And now the chaos had diminished, so some eyes were on him. He awkwardly waved at the teens watching him and flew out of the door. He looked that nobody was around, then he turned back to his civilian self. He rejoined the group. “Heh. Sorry. The headmaster has been really insistent that I keep a secret identity.†he told his classmates. “And Subito, don’t worry: nobody got hurt, and I actually enjoyed fighting in a team. It felt very good.†He shook his hand, as he did with Chloe “You guys are great.†Finally he got near Serge “Man, we should really do something for that suit… that finishing blow was incredible, really, but you should work on miniaturize it… would you like a hand in the workshop next week? I don’t think I’m on your level with tech, but I picked up a couple of tricks form the Lor super-minds…â€

That 25 is actually a hit Zodiacus TOU vs DC 28 (27+1 autofire) 1d20+13 → [3,13] = (16) oh. good. that's a Staggered + Dazed right there. Go ahead and post IC… Zodiacus is going to change tactics.

Ok, so. Leviathan is elsewhere. Steam can't act in this Surprise round - but he gets an HP because the Security System of his mansion was violated. He can still post his reactions of course. Revenant gets an HP for being dragged into water helplessly, and needs to make a Reflex save DC 20 vs a Snare effect.

Leviathan “You… you were a surprise for them, did you know this?†a sad smile appeared on her face “Two birds with one stone – see, I learned even the most surface-bound sayings.†“There are a few like us. Not many – you are the only other one I ever met, but I know they’re there. Those like us… they don’t like us. They want pawns, puppets and soldiers, while we’re wild cards. So they kill and blackmail and they break our spirit – because we were strong enough to say no.†all the regret in the world was in her eyes “Sometimes I think you were the lucky one. Maybe you lost a friend, but you gained your freedom. And even if a friend is so rare, so precious to those like us, is it worth your free will?†“When you came up during the follow-up of the assassination, you became a secondary target. I was under so much stress, I almost… I almost let you unmask me in front of them… I don’t know, maybe you’re right… maybe Iorgo’s sacrifice would be worth my… No! NO! I’m despicable only for thinking it!†the anger now was forcing her way through the sadness “Come with me, take the damn scepter or what else they want you do. Please!†Steam & Revenant “That is… a terrifying hypothesis.†said Michelle “I worked so hard to ease King Theseus and his court – but Atlanteans tend to be quite stubborn†she amicably patted Iobatus on the back of the head “They barely tolerate us humans – they Royal Council less so than King Theseus himself – his past with the League helps a lot in this regard. They completely despise both Serpent People and Deep Ones – under the sea the situation is a lot more explosive than it seems possible, if you pardon the pun.†she looked pensive and preoccupied “Do you think the assassin wants to make Diocles the next Archduke Franz Fer…†Her reasoning was interrupted by Revenant screaming and splashing into the water. Revenant Lucy was listening, enthralled by the delicate games of politics, so similar to the subterfuges of law and justice she knew so well. It was with double surprise then that she felt something grabbing her ankle and pulling her into water. She barely had the time to scream that water was filling her lungs. It wasn’t painful – those lungs had been useless for a while now – but it certainly felt uncomfortable. Way more disturbing was what she saw – barely, through the dark water: she saw a mirror image of herself – couldn’t tell how precise, with the water: at first it looked like a trick of the refracted light. However a detail was very wrong: a satanic smirk was on the face of her mirror image, while she could tell that her own mouth was wide open in surprise. The doppelganger winked at her, then touched her chest with what looked like a ball of algae – which rapidly started to entangle her and dragging her to the bottom . The mirror image gave her a sarcastic thumbs up then started swimming towards the surface.

Still hovering near the ensnared shark, Saiph’s face got a bit worried “Boy, did we even manage to dent it? They should make bridges out of that stuff, not museum models!†he scratched his head and felt the energy on his hands fizzling on his skin Unless… let’s try this! The words of his physics teacher danced around in his head “a laser - Light Amplification by Stimulated Emission of Radiation †they had seen in the lab a laser cutting through diamond. And a stimulated emission of radiation was just about the extension of his powers. Ok, so if I charge my left hand thusly it could act as a gain medium his left hand assumed a crystalline quality now I push in a focused light beam from my right hand – let’s make it blue, for Obi-Wan… and I have… yes! he let out a scream of excitement “We have a functioning laser, ladies and gentleman. Thank you Ms. Clark!†he chuckled never thought I'd say that. The concentrated blue beam pulsed out of his hand in short-ranged bursts; Saiph lifted himself above the shark’s head and then flew down towards its tail, the hand down close to the synthetic spine, the blue beam cutting through it “And if that doesn’t rattle your bones, I don’t know what would!†he said while breathing heavily - that move tired him considerably.

can I Stunt the following thing? Damage 8 LINKED Drain Toughness 8 (16/20 pp) or is the shark considered an inanimate object so I have to use the 3 pp/rank version of Corrosion? cosmic energy is a pretty wide concept, and Saiph has Variable descriptor on his Blast so he's used to manipulate energy. I can describe it as weakening gamma radiation or something. EDIT I had the ok in chat, this is the power I'm stunting Damage 8 (PF: accurate, Improved critical) LINKED Drain Toughness 8 (extra: affects only objects [+0]; PF: accurate, slow fade 1) (20/20 pp) attack roll 1d20+6 → [1,6] = (7) yes, of course. The only way I could miss a Helpless target Extra Effort, second attack roll 1d20+6 → [9,6] = (15) +10 for Improved re-roll = 25, that's better. If the shark is an object, the Drain 8 TOU is automatic, otherwise he gets a Ref sav I think. after the drain, TOU DC 23 I'll end my Move Action as far away from the shark as my Flight 1 allows me. I used Extra Effort twice, I'll use 1 HP to recover from the first one, then I'll take my chances with being Fatigued the next round.

“Wait, wait!†screamed Saeid as he jumped forward grabbing the beggar by the shoulder. “Ahmed, please, I’ll bring you the banquet of a king, but here, in the name of the Merciful.†He looked at the professor, with an imploring look. He leaned in and whispered to him in English “What do you say, we take turns making sure he stays locked in? The other guests didn’t see him, and it looks like the crew got my message along with my bribe… but if he starts making a ruckus, it would be very conspicuous.†“Are you ok with me going out to eat, maybe scout a bit the rest of the passengers – let’s hope we’re not being followed – then I’ll come back with dinner for our friend here and you can relax a bit yourself?â€

wait, what? is the shark free and no longer helpless? how did that happen?

this could sooo backfire... taking 10 for a total of 23 in bluff (25 as soon as REFs edit the sheet), and adding the Distract feat if you think it can help with the situation.