Curious Key

Can Kat make like a disembodied voice from above? Throw her voice with one roll so that it's harder for SS to pinpoint the source and do a perform roll to add to the atmosphere, for instance?

Princess, huh? Kat looked away from the pair, a lock of wet hair falling in front of her eyes. Subito's compliments were dangerous things, and he didn't even seem to know it. "Magic welsh beavers," Kat said, more a statement than a question, resigned. Given power by a magic blue lady. Monster hunting family. Nothing was too absurd anymore. She shook her head to scatter the thoughts from her mind and sighed. "A few laps, then." She gave Cerys a sideways smile before pushing off the end and propelling herself forward. She tried the stroke Subito had just shown her; it was awkward, almost panicked, but she managed to stick to the form and only took in one two or three times. Though even if Subito could talk while they lapped, but Kat sure as hell could not.

"That's what was supposed to happen?" Warp was laughing, her tune having changed the moment the lightning-man was thrown back. She held her hands out in front of her as entropic darkness danced across her fingers. Darkness expanded between her hands and hit the elemental straight through . . . she would have said the stomach if it'd been a person. She was a little fuzzy on subjects of elemental anatomy, but she figured that that sort of thing was supposed to hurt.

Eventually I'm going to run out of ways to describe an entropic bolt. Attack: 24

Now that Arich has suggested it, I now realize that THIS would be the best place to announce that I was delaying, instead of trying to catch everyone in chat. Feeling dumb now.

Warp stared in awe as Arcturus froze the water in the air above her head . . . and then it fell uselessly to the ground. Kat glanced sideways at Marcus and snickered. She opened her mouth to say something when the elemental let another bolt flashing past. She snarled at the elemental, entropic energy flaring around her other arm; Kat raised it toward the elemental and shot a black lance that pierced it straight through before it could move.

Kat had no idea what a Fomorian or an Afanc were herself, so it wasn't hard to keep her face neutral as Cerys talked. She tilted her head to the side and let go of the edge, treading water in a way she hoped looked calm. "Yeah, I don't think I'd call that normal." It occurred to Kat too late that that might have sounded . . . inconsiderate. "Well, they taught you about monster hunting," Kat said in faux-seriousness, the shadow of a grin twisting the corners of her lips up. "But what did they say about swimming?"

Everything was ruined. Everything was falling to pieces. It was going to be nice and pleasant with maybe a little talk and fun and now it was all this. Kat shook her head and ran a hand over her face. Couldn't Kristin see? "I'm sorry I hit a boy peeking into the heads of a whole floor of girls out of it, once." Kat said through her teeth, don't you see why I'm right?

Kat looked at the smoky little spectre with squinted eyes, hands on hips. She blinked at it. "Huh?" She heard her own voice and looked down to see some girl in a . . . her. A girl that was her double in voice and body was trying to pull ahead in a snark-off with the floating wraith-lady. "Huh?" She shook her head, this is ridiculous, but she went lower, trying to make herself as small as possible as hard to see. Maybe the cavalry had already arrived . . . ?

I'll be delaying Kat's action until after Kit's, since right now she's waiting for this ghost-fox. Because it's a ghost fox and there's a fake Kat sitting down on the stage and she is confused.

It might have been easier if they'd just told her to bugger off and let them smooch in peace. She shifted her feet on the concrete, her smile meandering from neutral to uneasy. Had Kat misread Cerys? No, her expression might have been neutral but Subito had acted like a thief caught with a hand in someone's pocket when Cerys had caught him helping Kat in the water. That meant something. "Thanks," though they'd both let her stay, Kat was looking at Cerys as she said it. This time Kat lowered herself back into the water slowly, and let her arms lay back in the drain after her chest fell below the surface to support her. "It's gotta be hard going to school with us . . . " 'Freaks' was on the tip of her tongue until her synapses voted it off the island, " . . . weirdos."

Second verse, same as the first. Attack: 1d20+13=31 I'm assuming that's a hit. For the record, living things cannot have their toughness reduced more than five below zero. So at most, the drain would be taking -5 from elemental. Unless this is considered an object, I guess, which would make it -10.

Kat glanced wildly around, looking for someone who might have stayed after or hid. No one. Good. With a will an entropic flash she swapped out her clothes. She didn't dare go out as Warp, not when it might exposure her, but at least she could get something she actually felt comfortable moving in. She crouched and warped back, in the rafters near the ceiling where Fred had been cut from. It was real tempting to just cut and run, but ghosty didn't seem like she'd just leave. She'd go after Jael; Kat needed to buy time until someone who could do something about a ghost got there.

Well yeah, and Kat just hasn't had to do subtle, at all! She is very frustrated that she can't just go up and punch this lady to solve the problem.

Kat swaps into something more comfortable and warps up to the rafters, and tries not to be seen. Stealth: 8

"An elemental?" Kat put both hands on her hips and frowned up at the thing. "Is it. . . Woah." Warp knew to expect Bad Things when the elemental pointed it hand at her, and she moved, dancing out of the way as lightning flared past her, the sweet smell of ozone in her nostrils as a little of the backwash rushed through her, making her hairs stand on end. If touching that thing was anything like being fired at by it, Kat figured just up and hitting it would be a bad idea. Cross punching off the list of things she was super eager to do. There were other ways to take something nasty down, though. Warp willed red-black entropic energy to gather in her right hand, flaring and flickering. "Is it natural? I never saw any back home." She released her sample of the end-of-the world in a zig-zagging bolt of black energy that speared straight through the elemental's chest.

Kat is going to try to hit the elemental with a disintegrate. That's a full action for her, so nothing more this turn. Attack: 1d20+13=20

"Kat please," Kat huffed, looking away from the ninja with a magic sword and down at Subito, her arms crossed, an eyebrow raised. "No one calls me Katharine anymore. And how'd you know I was a mutant?" She made a face and shook her head, doesn't matter, and turned back to Cerys. She snorted. Pretty? Kat decided to grin and bear the mockery, for Subito's sake if nothing else. If there was any doubt that those two were an item, it was gone. Her heart sank a little. She breathed one deep and careful breath. "Really?" Kat crossed her arms and tilted her head a little to the side. Studying Cerys a little closer, she edited what she was seeing until it matched a quiet girl who kept her head down a great deal. "That's right," she scratched the back of her head, looking embarrassed. "I didn't recognize you." The silence rose like a wave, and Kat's instinct was to cut it down fast, before it came crashing down. "So would you like me to leave you guys alone, or . . . ?"

Kat's Initiative: (1d10+4=12)

Katharine Shade Warp

First, Kat runs behind the curtains with her move action, then uses her standard action to teleport back into the dressing room, on the other end of the theater.

PM SENT by GIZMO Just a few small changes. [*:2wcjq2xj]Her skills were listed a +3 rather than +4 on acrobatic modifiers, even though she had 18 Dex, so I corrected it. [*:2wcjq2xj]Dimensional Pocket now cannot be used as an attack. Upgraded the quick change 1 feat in it to quick change 2 since there were points left over. [*:2wcjq2xj]Realized how rarely acting will actually come into play, rearranged some but not all of its ranks into other skills. [*:2wcjq2xj]Spending a new power point on Challenge (Fast Feint), if that's okay. [*:2wcjq2xj]Now that I have a better idea of how to build a martial artist, I tried to make her build reflect it better. Removed the mutant physique from her powers and added a mighty strike and shifted a number of feats to its power feats rather than the list of general feats. They include: Stunning strike, accurate attack 4 and improved critical 2. [*:2wcjq2xj]Since she already has a specifically long-ranged teleport, I made her ordinary one a short-ranged, which uped its rank a little. [*:2wcjq2xj]Since that opened up some power points, I spent them on things that would further the martial artist theme, like Evasion 2 and takedown attack. [*:2wcjq2xj]Got rid of the container called mutant physique. The strength bonus is gone, the dexterity and con bonuses are now her default abilities, not powers. [*:2wcjq2xj]Added a drawback to bring her in line with other heroes derived from Terminus mutations; Daka Crystal vulnerability. She also has a power loss drawback in the presence of Daka crystals attached to her Terminal array. [*:2wcjq2xj]Cut out a sentence in the biography that was screwing with her fluff and changed up her personality to better fit how she is in play. [*:2wcjq2xj]Decided I didn't like her being able to jump anywhere she thought to go with a thought, so I moved her accurate extra down to the portal instead and adjusted the point spread accordingly. If she wants to go anywhere she can think of, I want it to at least be hard. [b][u]Player Name[/u]:[/b] Freely Seek [b][u]Character Name[/u]:[/b] Warp [b][u]Power Level[/u]:[/b] 10 (150/151) [b][u]Trade-Offs[/u]:[/b] +4 Defense / -4 Toughness, +3 Attack / -3 DC [b][u]Unspent Power Points[/u]:[/b] 3 [b][u]Progress To Bronze Status[/u]:[/b] 1/30 [b][u]In Brief[/u]:[/b] A teenage girl and emergent mutant of Terminus energies trying to prove she has what it takes to be a hero. [b][u]Alternate Identity[/u]:[/b] Katharine Lilly Shade [b][u]Identity[/u]:[/b] Secret [b][u]Birthplace[/u]:[/b] Normal, Illinois [b][u]Occupation[/u]:[/b] Student [b][u]Affiliations[/u]:[/b] Claremont Academy [b][u]Family[/u]:[/b] Rose Shade (Mother), Alexander Shade (Father), Lyle Shade (Brother) [b]Age:[/b] 16 ([i]DoB:[/i] 1997, 3rd of August) [b]Gender:[/b] Female [b]Height:[/b] 5'1" [b]Weight:[/b] 95lb [b]Eyes:[/b] Grey [b]Hair:[/b] Red Kat's face is rounded and heart-shaped, with a pointed nose and eyes a little too wide for her face. Her rust-red hair, when left free, falls to her shoulders, but usually she ties it with hairband into a tail behind her; her skin is fair and lightly freckled and her eyes are a dull gray. Kat’s a teenager and it shows—her arms and legs have the lanky, almost clumsy look of a body not quite properly grown. Her figure is girlish rather than feminine, slim and slight, made trimmed and lean with all excess burned away by physical activity and mutant metabolism. During day-to-day activities, Kat wears a wide variety of clothes though most often she leans toward the practical, whether jeans or shorts or blouses or hoodies as the year runs through its cycle. She favors browns and reds. While in her capacity as a costumed heroine Kat lets her hair fall free; she wears an open dark vest over a close-fitting black full body suit extending from neck to wrists to ankle with a wavy spiral insignia emblazoned in red across her chest. She covers her hands with a pair of fingerless gloves and her feet with of dark-red boots. [b][u]Power Descriptions[/u]:[/b] Warp’s namesake directly relates to her connection to the Terminus, the dimension of entropy which lies between all dimensions. She breaks through the barrier between them and moves along the edge where they meet, where distance means something much different, before breaking through the other end. It's painful to watch , as it looks like she is ripping open flesh of reality and leaping through. With a red glow and threads of light-eating darkness Warp can cross great distances, tear open portals and throw reality-dissolving energies to destroy more tangible things than space. [b][u]History[/u]:[/b] [i]“ . . . Look at these records. See the way they flare up? That’s terminus energy.†“Why didn’t we pick this up beforehand? Does no one remember the invasion?!†“Whoever did this, they did it right. Subtle. Somewhere no one would look too close. It was pegged as ordinary cosmic radiation until they found the Shade girl. More important—look at where it’s centered on.†“. . . The maternity ward, it’s centered on the maternity ward.†“It’s no invasion, but the Shade girl is proof—at that strength and proximity, mutations can still occur, if rarely. Fascinating.†“T-babies. Someone’s been making more.†“That much is obvious, doctor. What we really need to know is . . . why?â€[/i] [center]~o~o~o~o~[/center] There was no clear, dramatic moment when Katharine realized she was special. No epiphany, no realization in the face of adversity. It came in fits and starts, surfacing and falling back below by turns as her nature fought to exert itself more fully. Kat sleep-walked. Sometimes, she woke up in absurd places that she could not explain. Her hands were quick and clever and no sickness kept her down for long. She grew up in Illinois, in Normal Illinois, far from Freedom city. Metahumans and superheroes existed, of course, but they were something that happened to Other People, like hurricanes, like miracles. They didn't come to Normal. Perhaps this explains why no one came to the obvious conclusion. She played in martial arts tournaments in her father's dojo and won a great deal. It was something she did because it made her father smile and she enjoyed the challenge, while it was a challenge, and she learned the strength that comes to people who practice fighting their whole lives. She tried out in plays with the AbNormal Children’s Acting troupe, and loved it. Loved the nervous feeling in her gut before walking out onto a stage, loved looking at the smiling crowd, loved that it was [i]hard.[/i] One day, the AbNormal troupe was going to perform a depression era piece, and Kat was going to play a major role as street urchin in Chicago, working her way up. She dreamed of it the night before, and when she woke up she was in a dumpster. In downtown Chicago. In her pajamas. Kat was terrified. Back at home, her parents were terrified. A missing children’s report was filed and some generous soul lent Kat their phone to call 911. The problem was solved before it could make too many waves . . . but Claremont has special sources that kept an eye on these impossibilities. [center]~o~o~o~o~[/center] "I'm afraid so, Mr. Shade. As she is now, your daughter is a potential threat. Not just to herself, but everyone around her. She doesn't know what she is, she doesn't know how to control it, and one day she'll hurt someone badly enough that 'I'm Sorry' won't be enough." "Don't make that face; I know you're a good girl. And you can fix this. You just need to learn how." "I represent Claremont Academy. We teach many gifted children like Kat every year; to control their blessings, to be safe, and then go back to living normal lives, if that's what they want." "Thank you. You'll find that your daughter will receive the very best of care. Please sign here." [center]~o~o~o~o~[/center] Day after day, Kat struggled to bring her power under control, working day in and day out with specialists to help master herself. Kat's parents made noise about moving to Freedom city and finding new jobs to be there for their daughter. But they never did. Heroes were something that just didn't happen in Normal, but in Freedom . . . they were everywhere. One by one the Kat's irregularities were singled out and brought under her control, and she wondered, surrounded all the while by young superheroes making a name for themselves . . . what would she [i]do [/i]with it? [b][u] Personality & Motivation[/u]:[/b] Some might say that Kat has a strong presence and they're not wrong; so she’s loud, her gestures huge, even her stance is wide, like she’s claims the ground she stands on. It’s an act, or it was an act that Kat kept on playing for so long that she forgot how to be anything else; she's always concerned about how people think of her, always worried, but she hides it all behind smiles and scowls and smirks. Forget altruism, forget generosity, and forget justice. Kat knows these well and believes in them and they make her a decent person, but they're not the reason she became Warp. She wants to [i]be[/i] something, [i]do[/i] something, carve out a niche in the world for herself. She adores praise because it tells her that she's moving in the right direction. Warp might be a hero, but Kat is a girl craving acknowledgment. She’s played countless heroes, gone through the motions, said their witty-one liners and listened to the crowd cheer. Now? She wants more than to pretend. She wants to [i]be[/i] one. [b][u]Powers & Tactics[/u]:[/b] The way Kat makes use of her powers depends mostly on how she conceptualizes it; as part of her body. She unleashes bursts from punches and kicks. In any engagement Warp prefers getting up-close and personal and striking down her targets with her bare hands, which her powerset makes quite simple, and when that isn't ideal she can always fall back to hitting hard with entropic blasts from a distance. [hr][/hr] [b][u]Complications[/u]:[/b] [b]All The World's A Stage:[/b] Kat has a flare for the dramatic even when restraint should hold her in check. As Warp she's even worse. [b]I Was Expecting Someone Taller :[/b] It is often difficult for Warp to get anyone to take her seriously as a heroine when it looks like a strong breeze could blow her down the road like a tumbleweed. [b]Late T-Baby :[/b] Warp's powers come from Terminus influence. It will take more than heroics to overcome the fear and suspicion reserved by the citizens of Freedom City for people like her. [b]Secret Identity :[/b] Warp's identity as Katharine Shade is not widely known, and she would prefer it stay that way. [b]Student :[/b] At Claremont Academy heroics aren't an excuse to skirt schoolwork. [b]The Show Must Go On :[/b] Kat had a great deal of stage training at an early age, and has taken up with an acting group in Freedom. She takes it very seriously. [b]Terminal Terror :[/b] Kat has had curiously accurate nightmares about the Terminus for as long as she can remember, and they have inspired strange fear and . . . awe at the works of the Terminus. What's more, are they something natural in her by nature of her powers . . . or did someone put them there? [b]The Omegas :[/b] A local and unsavory group of T-babies in Freedom called The Omegas consider Warp something of a misguided sister or daughter. They would like nothing more than to convince the girl that the rest of the world wants nothing to do with her and that she should throw her lot in with them. They know she is Katharine Shade. [b][u]Abilities[/u]:[/b] 6 + 8 + 6 + 0 + 8 + 8 = 36PP Strength: 16 (+3) Dexterity: 18 (+4) Constitution: 16 (+3) Intelligence: 10 (+0) Wisdom: 18 (+4) Charisma: 18 (+4) [b][u]Combat[/u]:[/b] 10 + 10 = 20PP Initiative: +4 [+1] Attack: +5 Melee, +5 Ranged, +13 Unarmed, +13 Entropic Bolt Grapple: +16 Defense: +14 (+5 Base, +9 Dodge Focus), +2 Flat-Footed Knockback: -4 [b][u]Saving Throws[/u]:[/b] 4 + 6 + 4 = 14PP Toughness: +6 (+3 Con, +3 Armor ) [+4 (+1 Con, +3 Armor)] Fortitude: +7 (+3 Con, +4) [+5, +1 Con, +4] Reflex: + 10 (+4 Dex, +6) [+5, +1 Dex, +6] Will: +8 (+4 Wis, +4) [b][u]Skills[/u]:[/b] 52R = 13PP Acrobatics 8 (+12) [sup]Skill Mastery[/sup] Bluff 12 (+16) [sup]Skill Mastery[/sup] Concentration 8 (+12) Disguise 6 [+10] Notice 8 (+12) [sup]Skill Mastery[/sup] Perform (Acting)] 4 (+8) Sense Motive 6 (+10) [sup]Skill Mastery[/sup] [b][u]Feats[/u]:[/b] 20PP Challenge (Fast Feint) Defensive Attack Dodge Focus 9 Elusive Target Evasion 2 Equipment 1 Power Attack Skill Mastery (Acrobatics, Bluff, Notice, Sense Motive) Takedown Attack Taunt Uncanny Dodge (Auditory) [b][u]Equipment:[/u][/b] 4/5EP [equip]Multi-Tool -1EP Reinforced Costume -3EP[/equip] [b][u]Powers[/u]:[/b] 12 + 35 = 47PP [b]Strike 4[/b] (Feats: Mighty, Stunning Attack, Attack Specialization 4, Improved Critical 2; Training) [12pp] [b]Terminal Array ([/b] 33PP Array; [i]Feats:[/i] Alternate Power 3 Drawback: Power Loss in presence of Daka crystals -1; Terminal, Mutant) [35PP] [array][b]BP[/b]: [b]Disintegration 7 ([/b] [i]Feats:[/i] Accurate 4, Incurable; [i]Flaws:[/i] Action [Full]; [i]Drawbacks:[/i] Full Power) - Warp holds out her hand and releases a sickly black-red bolt, like lightning, striking her target and scattering its atoms across the Terminus. {32/33} [b]AP[/b]: [b]Teleport 8 ([/b]2000 Miles; [i]Extra[/i]: Portal, Accurate; [i]Flaws:[/i] Long-Ranged), {32/33} [b]AP[/b]: [b]Teleport 14 ([/b]1400ft/2 Billion Miles; [i]Feats:[/i] Turnabout, Change Direction, Change Velocity, Progression 2 [500lb]) (Mutant, Terminal) {33/33} [b]AP[/b]: [b]Dimensional Pocket 9[/b], (50 Tons; Limit: No Attack; [i]Feats:[/i] Progression 6 [50 Tons], Quick Change 2){22/33}[/array] [u][b]Drawbacks:[/b][/u] -2PP [b]Vulnerability[/b] (Daka crystals, Frequency: Uncommon [-1], Intensity: Moderate [DC x 1.5]) [-2PP] [b][u]DC Block[/u][/b] [code] ATTACK RANGE SAVE EFFECT Base Unarmed Touch DC18 Toughness Damage (Physical) Strike* Touch DC22 Toughness Damage (Physical) Stunning Attack Touch DC17 Fortitude Stun/Daze/Unconscious Disintegration 200 miles DC17 Fort/Tough Tough Drain/Damage (Physical) *Improved Critical 2 feat applies. ** Reflex to avoid, Will to escape. +1 Bonus to prisoner's Will every round captured. Totals: Abilities (36) + Combat (20) + Saving Throws (14) + Skills (13) + Feats (20) + Powers (47) - Drawbacks (2) = 148/151 Power Points PM SENT by GIZMO

A flicker of doubt on her face. How does it know my name? If Kat switched out to Warp now, after someone kicked this ghostly wannabee back to whatever underworld it'd crawled out of, who would it talk to? She couldn't change, not now, not while Dead Diva was floating and raving and trying to turn her head inside-out. And now the ghoul was getting closer. "Nah. Didn't you hear me? Your act is dead." Kat raised an eyebrow, turned and made a dash for the curtain. She slipped behind it and focused her will, and quick as thought she was standing alone in the dressing room where she had gotten ready with Jessica, on the other side of the theater.

Kat was practically bouncing from toe to toe as the family crawled back through her portal. So far, all her heroing had been done dry and in the proper atmosphere. It was hard to feel heroic when she felt wet and cold all over—and while the uniform Claremont made for her was better at holding heat than than anything this snug she'd ever worn, it still wasn't actually good at holding heat. Kat blinked the rain out of her eyes and leaned over the car, watching the lightning vandal float right down the street. Would the lightning hurt more since she was wet? Kat breathed. She bit down on the side of her lip. Once the last passenger slipped through the portal Kat let it drop and flashed forward, right in front of the floating . . . whatever it was, her arms crossed and one foot tapping against the asphalt. "Nice weather, innit?" She'd been going for dramatic, but you can only be so dramatic when you look like a drowned rat. "You could've picked a nicer day, at least," Kat said, kicking at the puddle she was standing in. "If you're going to rattle every building on the block might as well do out in the sun. Stay dry."

Kat looked up at Silver Scream, expression all puzzlement. Good try wha— And then she screamed; fingernails on chalkboard could not capture the horror of that damned voice. She gritted her teeth and kept her head together. "God," she breathed. "You are such a diva." She glanced over her shoulder and saw everyone retreating. A little more, and the problem of witnesses wouldn't be a problem anymore, and she could get out of this stuffy outfit and fight! Wait . . . Miss Hauntydress up there looked pretty ghostly to Kat. Could you even touch a ghost? Could she get her hands on drama queen at all? Kat needed time, as much time as she could manage to get. She braced herself to move. "Who are you even supposed to be? I've never heard of you." Kat rolled the eyes. "Some star."