Shofet

GM The Emerald Cities, South March 21, 2020 Some time around Midnight The cargo came in at night. They always did. There was something cloak and dagger about it all, but Frank Pulasky was being paid well enough that he didn’t see much reason to care about that. He was content to ship the big, black crates from the dockside warehouse to the little shop down on the corner next to Daniken and Arnold every night while ignoring the strange lights he saw in the sky just before every deliver and the way the stevedores seemed to never say anything. He just wanted to do his job. Unfortunately for Frank, his partner Shawna was a little more curious. “You ever wonder what’s in those crates?” Shawna said as she climbed into the passenger side of the cab, slamming the door shut behind her. “Hell, even what they’re made of? It’s definitely not wood. S’like… Some kinda weird… metal… glass… thing.” Frank sighed to himself, gripping the wheel tightly. “Not really,” he replied, already wanting to leave the conversation. “I mean, it’s all kinda weird,” Shawna said, freeing her little gas-station coffee cup from its holder and taking a sip. “You think this is all legal?” Frank rolled his eyes as he turned the ignition, hearing the roar of the engine as the truck came to life. “Who friggin’ cares, Shawna? It’s not like we can pass up the money. Unless you suddenly won the lottery or somethin’, I’m gonna suggest you just be happy you got the work.” Shawna sighed, leaning back in her chair. “I mean, if it is illegal,” she began to say, but Frank interrupted her. “If it is illegal, then our legal defence is we didn’t know. We lose that defence if you keep bein’ nosy.” Shawna frowned, but had no retort. Frank took that as a chance to start moving. He pulled out of the dock, and turned out into the road. For a while, everything was blissfully quiet. Until he heard something go bang in the freight box. He cursed, and Shawna looked behind her as if she would be able to see through the metal. “We should probably check that,” Shawna said, frowning. “...I mean, probably something just fell over,” Frank said, gritting his teeth. “Which is bad, Frank,” Shawna said. “What if they get mad about broken goods?” Frank sighed. This time, he was the one without a reply. He ground his teeth and grumbled some more, before pulling into an alleyway and slowing to a stop. He glared at Shawna. “Alright, we’ll make sure nothing’s broken, but you,” he said, pointing at her. “Are not going to do any snoopin’.” Shawna rolled her eyes. “Got it.” Frank left the truck in idle, and they both hopped out. Wheeling around to the back, the duo flung open the door to the freight box, and immediately, they were illuminated by a green light. One of the black crates had shattered, and nestled amongst the wreckage was a glowing green orb the size of a bowling ball. Frank cursed, the light almost blinding him, but Shawna was transfixed. She climbed inside, walking as though possessed towards the orb. “What’re you doing?” Frank hissed. “It’s calling to me,” Shawna replied, her voice an eerie monotone. She picked it up, staring at it for a moment, before turning around. Frank saw, to his horror, that her eyes were now glowing the same colour as the orb. “Shawna?” Frank asked, stepping back away from the crate. “Can you hear it, Frank?” she asked. “It’s alive. It’s talking to us. It’ll give us everything. We just… Gotta get it out of here.” “I… think you should put it down, Shawna,” Frank said, climbing up into the box to try and take it from her. “NO!” Shawna shrieked, and suddenly, a pair of beams erupted from her eyes, striking Frank directly in the chest. His eyes went wide, and he went sprawling as he gawped down at the two new, smoking holes in chest. Shawna giggled evilly. “Yes. I see now. You’ll make me powerful. With you, I’ll conquer this c--” She didn’t have time to finish her thought. Another beam came, but not from her. The pain was only momentary before she fell apart into dust, the green orb falling onto the bed of the trunk with a heavy clang. Stepping out of the darkness and stowing his blaster pistol, Rojek sighed. “Humans are goddamned weak-willed,” he muttered to his partner. “Now we’re gonna hafta to drive the truck ourselves,” Rojek said. His partner, Ageda, smirked at him. “And you didn’t want to tail them,” she said as she hefted the lifeless body of Frank into the back of the truck. “I thought maybe at least something on this planet might not disappoint me for once,” Rojek spat as he kicked the orb. “Alright, let’s get this to the shop before we get in trouble.” “Just gonna leave the car?” Ageda asked. “Sure, why not,” Rojek said with a shrug. “We can just steal another one if we have to. Clunky pieces of crap are everywhere, here.” Ageda giggled to herself, and climbed into the cab, and as she did, her appearance became that of Shawna. “Whatever you say, ‘Frank’.” Rojek rolled his eyes as his appearance turned into Frank, and he climbed into the driver’s seat. “Friggin’ Earth.” They drove off into the night, leaving nothing but a small pile of ash. Before anyone found or saw them, Rojek and Ageda were long gone.

The Meta-Naut Raya stared at Bobbi for a moment, and then nodded, shrugging. "Cool, cool, cool, cool, cool," she muttered. "So, uh, I'm the Meta-Naut, since we're doing the whole 'revealing our secret identities' thing. But, ah, do you intentionally talk like that when you change into your other self or is that like just something that happens? Like is this a 'maintaining my secret identity' sort of thing or is it like a 'I am being fused with another entity and she is very shouty' thing?" She then looked around, peering into the cave behind her. "Also, if you want, I have like an old couch in there and stuff. Going to level with you, definitely wasn't expecting the answer to all of this to be so easy. Was sort of expecting a big adventure to find the way out and... Nah, you know what, just going to go ahead and accept this. This is probably better." "...Seriously though, this is convenient."

Soliton Mia had mostly just been trying to take stuff in, but it seemed like this dimension wasn’t keen to let her do that. Which was more than a little frustrating, but whatever. Gideon and Spethia seemed nice enough, but Mia was not ready to immediately start playing volleyball with them apropos of nothing. She didn’t even play volleyball with the people she did know. “Uhh,” Mia said. “Hi. I'm not really a… You know what, it’s fine. So I only found out I was coming her like, last minute so I need some time to just… adjust? You both seem real nice but you know, dimension hopping and all that.” In order to ensure a lack of hard feelings, Mia felt she owed them some kind of gift or something. With a few sparkles and distortions in the air, two globes of her native Earth, made of sparkling glass, with the continents made in gold leaf, appeared. “Here, take these while I figure out what I am doing with my life.”

Soliton Mia giggled awkwardly when Eira yelled at her. She hadn't meant to spook her, she just needed a moment to loose a little pressure where people wouldn't judge her! She supposed that she could have just teleported off to the Himalayas or something but she didn't want to freak people out. Then Kimber started scolding Eira, and Mia felt even worse. "No, it's okay! I definitely spooked Eira, and I'm sorry," Mia said, wanting to get her newest friend out of trouble. It was funny, though. Not that long ago, she probably would have simply let Eira take it. It was strange how much a little hug could change so much.

Doktor'd! Starlok! Add 4 points to Intelligence to make it 30. Change knowledge (cosmology) to knowledge (galactic lore) Knowledge (Galactic Lore) and Knowledge (Theology and Philosophy) become +12 instead of +10 1 PP is leftover.

Soliton "Uh," Mia said, smiling as she took the towel. "So. Pan. He's a good guy. Kinda out there. Likes to have fun but, hey, who doesn't." She began mopping at her hair. "He's from another dimension, he can fly, can control his own shadow... Uh... Lots of stuff like that. Eira seems to get along with him really well, which is neat. Like right away, too." Folding her arms, Mia thought about it. "I dunno why you're asking, though," she says. "...Can you see something with your ghost vision? Is Pan secretly something else?" She leaned in conspiratorially. "Because like, he's a good dude, right? We've hung out."

Soliton Mia blushed a deeper red, nodding. "Thanks, and yeah, it's a date, er, uh--I'll see you there," she said. She made finger pistols, and then disappeared in a flash of light, reappearing underneath the surface of the pool. It was then that she took the time to scream her excitement at not having screwed it up too badly. While she was down there, Mia took a moment to think about what exactly was going to happen from here, but she resolved to let things happen as they did. She didn't want to freak Ben out by seeming too try-hardy, like revealing she had been trying to learn ASL for him or anything like that. She could reveal that more organically. Besides, she was really bad at it and only knew a few signs! She teleported back up, now dripping wet. She gasped for air for a moment, before grinning. "Water's a little chilly."

Soliton Mia blushed at all the compliments, wrapping her arms around herself and smiling as she looked down at the ground, though she did receive the high-five. Scratching her cheek, she found it impossible to remove the grin that was now stretched across her face. She hadn't expected this amount of positive reception at all. "Thanks, everyone," Mia said, still not making any eye contact. Then, she sighed happily, and looked up over at Ben. "Oh, uh... By the way, uh..." She stopped, then rubbed her cheek. "So I was gonna... There's a new like, horror anime my mom bought me the Blu-Ray for and I was wondering if, after all of this, you would like to watch it with me," she said, rubbing the back of her neck. "Really glad you like the hair, by the way."

Soliton Lately, Mia had been finding herself in a lot of places she would never expect to go. And that was strange for her, considering she could teleport literally anywhere on Earth should she choose to do it. But she never expected to go to space, or another dimension, or even just a superhero place here on Earth. And yet, here she was, in the bathroom of this weird place. She sighed to herself, psyching herself up. This wasn't a big deal. Just a minor appearance change. Definitely wouldn't be weird that she hid it with her hoodie on the way here. She emerged from the bathroom, wearing a white and black one piece along with similar swim-shorts, but that wasn't what really stood out. What did was the fact that her hair, which before today went down to her butt, now was cut into a pixie cut, short on the sides and longer on the top. More than that, the long parts, normally pitch-black, were now an angry red. "Uh, so," she said to the room around her, rubbing the back of her neck. "Does it look good or have I made a terrible mistake?"

Searchable Profile [A grey-skinned woman poses in profile for what looks a lot like a royal portrait. She is wearing a long, red silk dress that drags on the ground. Her blue-black hair is pulled up in an updo, framed by a gold circlet. Her hand rests on some weird golden orb on a velvet cushion] [The same woman sits in a golden chair, dressed in a tight-fitting blue dress, one leg crossed over the other. She is holding a wine glass full of red and smirking at the camera.] Name: I have no need for a secret identity. My name is Ori-Bath of House Nos, Countess of Lugo. Alias Starlok. Gender: Female. Preferred Era of Pop Culture: I do not know about your pop-culture. I enjoy several programs popular in the wider galaxy, like the Young & the Cosmic. I also enjoy watching hover-chariot races, and the literary works of Len-Cul, a writer back on my homeworld. About you: I am, as you might have guessed, not a member of your species. I am a Noktoni, a species from the Night Moon of Nokton. We are apparently much longer lived, hardier, stronger and smarter than your species. I am no exception. I am also a Countess, though at the moment my lands are not available to me. However, I still retain a sizable amount of wealth, which I am not afraid of sharing should you please me. As an outsider, I am interested in learning more about your planet and people. I understand you are a very diverse group, and this is interesting to me as most advanced peoples end up instituting a mono-culture at some point. Importantly, I am unable to go out during your day-time, as the intense light of your star will cause my organs to begin shutting down, though I can attempt to enjoy it for very short amounts of time. So I hope you are a night person. I understand that by the standards of your species (and most others), I have many desirable qualities but I shall endeavour to respond to everyone as promptly as possible. I will pay on dates. Also, I have spaceship. Looking For: I am open to all sexes and genders. However, I generally do not practice monogamy and it is unlikely you shall change this. Partner Goals: I am looking for strong consorts. It would only improve your chances if you were an intellectual sort. These conditions may be waived if I find you sufficiently attractive. I am not opposed to what you call “hook-ups.” Fun Prompts! · My Favorite Thing About The Place I Live Is.… I am unhappy with my current living arrangements and hope to return to normalcy soon. · Most People Who Know Me Would Say I'm… Those who are wise would say that I am exceptional in all ways. · My Favorite Childhood Memory Is… Going to my private beach with my mother and father and seeing the Hellwhales. They were magnificent. · Five Things I Am Not… Someone who suffers fools gladly, weak-willed, deceitful, indecisive or cowardly.

GM For Dirge, the apparition was different. Instead of a three-eyed woman, it was a tall, blue Fryxian woman. Patches of fur had been torn out, and she seemed to have been burned by blaster fire. At the start, her screams were that of the other apparition, before they stopped, and she turned to Dirge, flat faced. "Kanemu, why did you leave me?" Just as quickly as she appeared, the woman vanished as soon as the lights ceased to flicker, leaving no sign she was ever there. Ea'Po took her chance to speak up, though her words were not comforting. "Oh, no. This ship, hmn. It might be haunted."

Starlok Starlok averted her gaze as Dirge regurgitated his food, shuddering. Of all the ways to consume food in the galaxy, this had to be her absolutely least favourite. Except perhaps the Muscan Fly-Lords of Morpha. They were perhaps slightly worse. But vomit was involved in that one too so it was a close race. Why couldn't the other species of the galaxy simply drain sustenance from their prey? Yet then, Dirge began to act strangely, and her disgust gave way to concern. He wasn't choking as she had thought he might, but instead seemed to be in a daze. This wouldn't do. Dirge was indispensable to her in situations like this. She placed her hand on his arm. "Are you alright?" Starlok, her voice coming out softer than she intended. Her face screwed up, and she righted herself. "You better be alright, Dirge. We cannot afford you to get ill right before we make our way into the belly of the ship." Her attentions were drawn, when suddenly the lights flickered inside the Stigmata, before flickering inside Archeville's ship as well. A woman's bloodcurdling howl of anguish emanated throughout the bowels of the great vessel, and flickering with the lights was a woman in strange clothing screaming not far from Dr. Archeville's face. She had three eyes, but they had all been reduced to ruins. Thin, fingernail like clawmarks covered all her bare flesh. Just as quickly as she appeared, the woman vanished, and the flickering stopped. Starlok frowned, and looked around. "What was that?"

Soliton Mia side-eyed Pan for a moment, already getting a weird vibe from the store. She realized, on some level, that a lot of this had to do with her bad experiences at the haunted house. But by the same token, an out of place building with a magical air about it inevitably would draw comparisons, wouldn't it? She hoped, at least, that this wouldn't be some Needful Things sort of business. Just don't accept anything you've always wanted for free. And also probably blast the shop owner if that is the case. Because he's probably Satan or Nyarlathotep or something. Inhaling through her nose, she took a step into the shop, looking around herself. She had already prepared an image in her mind. Cramped, full of weird baubles, an owner who was probably some hunched old man who seemed friendly but off. Normal evil antique shop stuff. Time to see how right she was.

Soliton Mia accepted the hug with a smile, though she wasn't sure what was wrong that indicated she needed more church in her life. Still, she followed Judy on out into the room with the movie once more, and listened to the boys talk. Her ears perked up at the mention of a Synagogue. "Oh, yeah. We have lots of temples here in Freedom City. My grandparents go to one on, uh, it's in South Freedom anyway, not far from here. It's a Conservative Jewish one. Rabbi Shulman is a pretty nice guy, I could introduce you. Unless you wanna go to Ben David. That's the big one, it's a Reform Jewish one though. That's, uh, that's on... It's in the West End." "My dad tried taking me there for a bit but it wasn't really for me."

Soliton Mia turned to Lulu, rubbing her forehead. She felt nauseated. She took another puff on her inhaler. Her forehead felt damp. She was so far from home. She wanted to go home. How did her mom do this? Her mom didn't even have teleporting powers if the moon rocket exploded. This was awful. All of this was awful. "Lulu, I dunno if I can do this," Mia said, her voice quavering slightly. "How does anyone do this? People were not meant to go into space. We were built for 1 atmosphere of pressure, a natural environment where the oxygen comes from plants, and a thick magnetosphere that will block all of the radiation without needing batteries. We have non'a that here." She groaned. "Ugh. I can feel Buzz Aldrin frowning at me from Heaven. I don't have any sense of adventure."

Raya grunted as she was picked up, a loud ripple of pops and cracks emanating from her spine. It turned out that sleeping in a cave was immensely bad for your back. She had tried generating a bed with her badge, but it turned out she wasn't quite competent at that, yet. Just a lot of hot, insubstantial light. "Hurk!" she cried. "Uh, I appreciate it, but you've missed some stuff. Namely that this is... So if you brought me back with your horse friend, I'd probably just disappear or something and my body would be screwed. This is some weird soul dimension. I tried porting out of here myself but it doesn't work." She sighed. "Anyway, I've been trying to find a way out of here for a while now but no dice. We gotta find a way to get my soul back into my body and I think the answer is somewhere in this weird world, I just haven't found it yet."

Starlok The Countess cooed as Archeville poured her the glass of wine, but she divided her attention. Her eye wandered over to Dirge, who was in the process of gorging himself, and she made plans to get up and use the Heimlich Manoeuvre on the Cerulean Caprine should he start to choke. It was hardly fitting for Dirge to go by something as mundane as that, no? Besides, she had grown a little fond of him. A little. Her attention was then drawn to Dr. Ea’Po, who began to explain the situation. “Um, so that’s unlikely for a variety of reasons,” Ea’Po said, shrugging. “First and foremost, the Gauat primarily made their tools out of arsenical bronze, which is unlikely to survive 11 000 years. We have a few tools, but they’re very corroded and usually only in fragments. We do have a few clay tablets documenting their language, but they were mostly for things like tax records and other accounting things. Occasionally, we see a court history. We only know the names of two kings - Ompenopter and Asat. It just seems really unlikely,” she said, frowning. Starlok thought about this. “Do we have any physical remains from that time?” “Oh, yes, a bit. Mostly unmarked mass graves. We know they practiced some sort of… Well, this is a little ghoulish, but… They ate their dead, ritually. We know from polished bones and some teeth marks.”

Soliton Mia grimaced slightly, looking around her. The dome was the first thing she saw, and that seemed like immediate cause for concern. What had happened that had made people choose to live in domes? Some sort of environmental collapse? Or maybe this was a method of corralling people, keeping them contained in an easily controllable place? It would be in keeping with everything else she knew about the world, which admittedly wasn't much. Then Leroy said something spooky. The guy really still believed his crazy mom was going to conquer their Earth. God, she really hoped she wasn't going to have to become a resistance fighter. God, she could hit really hard, too. She'd definitely be recruited by the government or something. She didn't wanna have to blow people up for the government. That would suck. What was it they did to the Abe Lincoln Brigade after the war? "Leroy, you gotta stop saying stuff like that," Mia said, frowning. "It's really concerning. The future stuff. Not the swimming stuff."

Soliton Mia was having a relatively normal morning, for the most part. She was getting prepared to spend some time with her grandparents, given that she had been less able to visit them while she was at school. She yawned, still in her PJs (mostly just a mostly ironic Grumpy Bear t-shirt long enough to go down to her knees), and stepped through the door, only to find herself not where she was intending to go. She looked around, eyes wide. “Excuse me, what?” she said, staring. “Oh. I thought I said no to this,” she said as her eyes focused on Leroy, then looked over to Eira. “I did say no to this, right? Pretty sure I did.” She looked down at herself, then up at Leroy. She thought about it. Oh. No, she hadn’t said no. She had given a non-commital ‘sure, why not’ so she could go back to watching anime. “Ah crud,” she muttered to herself. “Gimme a second.” She reached into her pocket dimension, pulling out a pair of jeans, and stepped into them, then frowned at the surroundings. “Isn’t your home dimension horrible? Also my grandparents are gonna kill me.”

All GM Posts go to Starlok Starlok: 18 IC Posts + 5 GM Posts = 28 posts = 3 PP All Board the Nightmare Ship: 14 IC Posts, 3 GM Posts Toccata and Fugue: 4 IC Posts Soliton: 25 IC Posts = 25 posts = 3 PP All the Good Girls Go to Hell: 8 IC Posts The Eagle Flies Alone: 2 IC Posts Intergalactic Sightseeing: 5 IC Posts Puppy Love: 2 IC Posts, 2 GM Posts Shenanigans: 2 IC Posts Wheels Are Turning: 6 IC Posts The Meta-Naut: 1 IC Post = 1 PP Meta-Justice Z: 1 IC Post

Mia took Eira's hand, squeezing it gently. The turnaround in their relationship had been dramatic, alright. That also meant she felt a responsibility to play peacemaker here, rather than taking a side against Eira by default. Amazing how things could change so fast. More than that, she needed to clarify some political illiteracy she had just heard, otherwise the mom in her heart would scream at her. "So, like, to explain, political anarchy is different than what you're describing. Actual anarchy is a political system that argues for a horizontal society - no one above anyone else. It means "without leaders", not "without government." Y'know? The definition you are using was pushed in the early 20th century by imperialist powers to delegitimize anti-capitalist and anti-colonialist groups." "I'm explaining it bad. My mom would do better. But warlords aren't anarchy by default. So, you know. They're arch. They're power." She looked at Aja, smiling like she really didn't want to be yelled at.

Starlok Starlok sighed to herself, removing her helmet and taking a seat. She reclined, running fingers through her hair. It was a minor blow to her ego that she could not find any obvious answer to the cause of the carnage, but it comforted her that it was not only her who had failed. It was clear, now, that it was not her fault, but that there was no discernible reason. When the food came out, she cooed. "Oo," she said. "I definitely drink wine." She took a moment to produce some hand sanitizer and rubbed her hands thoroughly. She gestured for someone to pour her a glass, and then crossed her legs. She was less reserved about taking the chips, picking up the carrot and beets particularly. She daintily laid one on her tongue and then crunched it, and proceeded to repeat the action a few more times. "Ea'Po did mention oversized pineal glands," Starlok said. "Perhaps the violence was induced by something aethereal in nature. Not all superluminal travel uses the same avenues." Dr. Ea'Po nodded. "It's entirely possible. As for the runes... I recognize them, but... Well, the language is from their planet, but it isn't Atchpan. It's from a Bronze Age civilization that existed roughly 11 000 years ago and.. Well, they just sort of disappeared. We don't know why or how. They were called the Gauat civilization. Unfortunately, I am only barely familiar with the written form of their language."

GM The minds went to work on analyzing the scene around them. Immediately, they ran into problems. Most of the corpses simply had too little remaining of their soft tissues to get any proper answer as to what had happened to them. The few that did, had little to show for it. The remaining food inside them was entirely mundane, being a petrified assortment of cereal grains, having a silica content similar to grass. All that said is that humans couldn't eat them without severe intestinal distress and ruining their teeth. Analysis revealed no pathogens, nor any prions that could have triggered the sudden outburst or aggression. Nor were there any sort of chemicals that would induce a frenzied state. By all accounts, there was nothing - that science could explain, at least - that could have caused the scene they saw in the hangar. More and more, though, they began to see signs of ritualized violence in addition to the more spontaneous kind. Notches in bone. Examples of scarification. Yet Ea'Po was quick to point out that the Atchpa had ceased any form of ritual self-mutilation in their planet's equivalent of the Industrial Revolution as the drop in sanitary standards brought on by early factory conditions made wounds like that too dangerous to deal with.

Mia had not been expecting this at all. Yesterday had been something of a change for her, making peace with Eira, and she thought she was starting to understand her. It turns out, she really wasn't. Not that she objected, this was pretty cool, all things considered. Then, Eira shouted the magic words. Anarchy. Now, Mia was obliged to come in. "Anarchy!" There was a brief set of sparkling, and then her hoodie had an A in a circle on it. She stood, and fist-pumped towards Eira. This was definitely going to get her in trouble, but honestly, who cared at this point? She'd gone a while without a reprimand anyway.

That's a natural 20 to get 28 for Starlok, while Dr. Ea'Po rolls a 36 herself. So you get your goodies.