Amelia

Persephone "It's true, 'family' is one of the big reasons why I've kept my two lives separate for now. I imagine that's the case with most folks like us. It's not so much that I'd put them in any real danger. They're well off enough that they can afford to keep themselves safe, even when I'm not around to do it. But it would make their lives a heap more complicated. And I've already slipped more than one burr into their saddle over the years, when the daughter they were trying to raise didn't quite match up with the daughter they got. I'm not all that concerned with my own reputation, but I've already done some damage to their's. Nothing major, just a few scratches and dents, but I'd hate to ding it up even more if I didn't have to. I hear Daddy's friends at the club still tease him now and then for having a daughter who lives, works, and went to school on the 'wrong' side of town, and Momma's gal-pals have brought it up at brunch more than once." "Oh, 'City Defender' is definitely a second job for me. I was already a 'professional', a self-employed one at that, so as you can imagine, I didn't exactly have a wealth of free time even before I became a superhero on the side. Most days I was already as busy as a mustard paddle at a weenie roast. But I worked too hard and sacrificed too much for far too long for that first career to abandon it if I don't absolutely have to. And unlike Marcus, I was lucky enough to have a fairly discreet 'debut', discreet enough that I had the luxury of choosing which parts of my life to keep private. That's not to say that 'going public' would necessarily end my first career, but, just like with the family, it would complicate things. As for the powers, it was all just luck for me, good luck and bad. Being in the right and wrong places at the right and wrong times. What seemed like me just trying to be a Good Samaritan turned out to be the closest I've ever come to meeting my maker. What seemed like just a mugging by some desperate folks down on their luck, folks I thought I could scare off by flashing my headlights and calling '911' on my cell, that turned out to be an attempted murder, by a pack of supernatural predators. What seemed like just another flower for my garden turned out to be a biological weapon from another dimension. What seemed like the worst mistake I would ever make, and the last one too, turned out to be opening the door to a whole new world of wonder." "My goodness, Mister Saki, I am so sorry. I certainly didn't mean to make you feel excluded or superfluous. You can rest assurred that I'm every bit as interested in your own plans for our beloved city as those of your comrade-in-arms here. I just try to avoid dragging anybody into the spotlight who doesn't want to be there. I always loved center stage so much that it took me a while to figure out that some people are in the back because that's where they want to be. More than once while I was growing up, I uprooted a wallflower and tried to re-plant them in different soil where they'd get more sunlight, only to learn the hard way that not every flower thrives in the same type of garden."

@Heritage You have nothing to be sorry about. I'm just doing my own due diligence as GM.

Now that the first meeting scene is winding down, do we want to move forward and do the next meeting in the same thread, or start a new thread and close this one?

@Gizmo I think you've been lapped in the current scene. Did you want to get an IC post in before I do another GM post?

I'd really like to get staff clarification as to which changes between the 5E Vibora Bay book and Champions Online we're using, if any.

There's no need for an attack roll, so I'm gonna say the Nullify effect is going to be capped at 10, not 11, everyone's effective PL in Bedlam. Go ahead and roll a Nullify 10 power check.

Mister Strix The man in white cringed when the so-called "goddess" simply grabbed their target by the throat and dragged him outside. Amateurs! I heard "Freedom City" and assumed these were the professionals, assumed they'd teach me a thing or two. But no, they're sloppy amateurs! What was she thinking?! Is this what passes for "investigation" in Freedom? We're lucky she didn't bring every gun in the whole place down on our heads. Lucky they can't be bothered...maybe The Rock & The Stone don't pay as well as they used to... Mister Strix evaporated into a cloud of mist and slipped back up through the roof the way he came, flying across it and down the side of the building to where the women from Freedom City were gathered around the sniveling weakling Dale King was quickly revealing himself to be. He continued to cloud the minds of everyone around him even as he coalesced back into a solid form. Better keep myself in reserve for now, just in case. Give them an ace in the hole...

@Ari: Minor detail, but Octoman's blood is under really high pressure. He's basically an anime character. It doesn't "dribble", at least at first, so much as "shoot out like a squirtgun". Also, if it matters, it's purple, and it's really thick, like syrup.

Octoman is DC20 to hit, so that misses him.

Create Object is Sustained duration by default, so making it Permanent is a +0 change (+1 to go up to Continuous, -1 to add the Permanent flaw). The Toughness and lifting Strength of the object are also limited by the power rank, so anything made with Rank 1 Create Object is going to be pretty flimsy. Since you have 22PP to work with, here's how I'd do it: Create Object 10 (Extras: Affects Others, Duration [Continuous]; Flaws: Action [Full], Permanent, Range [Touch]; Feats: Extended Reach [10ft], Innate, Precise, Subtle) [14PP] That opens up our options to stuff that's potentially as strong as steel and/or strong enough to hold a fighter jet or an 18-wheeler without collapsing. Affects Others lets him touch someone and give them the power, which is basically what he did by handing a cube to OctoBen. Permanent (and Continuous) Created Objects don't go away when you swap to a different AP. Innate means they won't vanish if someone counters/Nullifies your Create Object effect after the fact. Subtle means that whatever objects they become seem "real"/"normal", not like some weird version of themselves.

Oh hey, this thread exists!

Mister Strix "Strix," the man in white hissed as he leaned in close to the gangster's face. "Mister Strix. You'll remember the name. That's all I'll let you remember." The vampire pushed into the man's eyes with his mind. "Your thugs will leave their money and their weapons and your poisons here, taking nothing with them but their lives, which they still have only because we allowed it. We'll burn it all. Every bullet, every speck of powder, every last cent, you'll sit here and watch while it goes up in smoke. And when you limp away to crawl back under whatever rock you slithered out from, and the other vermin ask you how you lost everything, when they ask why you stay out of Bedlam, you'll tell them about the white owl you see in your nightmares. You'll tell anyone who will listen those two words: 'Mister Strix'."

Linked Mind Control + Mental Transform power check: 25. That's a DC25 Will save for the Yakuza dude.

GM "YYYYOU!" Dale King stammered through the leonine fingers squeezing his throat when he looked up at the source of the claws shredding his clothes and finally made eye contact with Grimalkin. "GGGGodddddammit..." Sekhmet, Grimalkin, Temperance, in every direction King looked, all he saw were super-powered women ready and willing to shove sharp objects into soft places. "JESUS...*ack* CHRIST!" He held his open hands up in the air submissively as he hoarsely croaked out curses (but not literal ones). Tears streamed down his face, and a dark spot appeared and rapidly expanded on the front of his pants. "Talk...can't...even...breathe! What...whatev...whatever...you...*COUGH* wanna...know...plllease...don't...kkkkill me...jjjust a...jjjob...nnnot worth...this..."

Strix uses Hide In Plain Sight and gets a natural "20" on his Stealth check for 40 total, which nobody's Notice can match, so he disappears. He'll immediately swap to his Concealment power, activate it, and use his Leaping, Speed, and Wall-Crawling to keep up with the others. Whenever possible, he'll stick to the rooftops, or any other structures which allow him to remain above them.

Mister Strix "If you're actually soliciting advice and not just showing off, then I say go with the old white man. He's the one with the best chance of getting mugged in Hardwick Park. Nurse Silva sounds like she can at least pass for the 'right' ethnicity to enjoy the park unmolested. They probably won't mess with the little black kid and his young mom, either. The Mara don't want other gangs in the Park, but they do want it to stay a nice place for their kids to play in. Or, at least, their version of a nice place, where they still get to sell poison out in the open. Re-painting the see-saws with a teen mom's blood would cause more trouble for them than it'd be worth." The man in white waved his thumb at Merge Trois. "But the old man? They see her with him, they'll think she's a working girl and he's a trick. Which means they definitely have cash on hand. But it's your call. I'll be watching." Between the blinks of an eye, the man in white was suddenly just gone, as if he'd never been there in the first place, as if he'd been a figment of their shared imagination.

@alderwitch @Fox @Gizmo We still doing this?

Mister Strix "You knew...when I was squatting on Ash Street, whenever I'm moving through the night, I always cloud the minds of the mortals around me. You knew I was here? You saw me?" He turned to Dead Head. "Only the strongest willed mortals can resist my power. And whatever else he is, he is mortal. I can hear his heart pumping the blood through his veins just like all the rest. I can smell his sweat and his breath. I wish I couldn't, but I can. That's also how I know he's telling the truth, or at least, he thinks he is." When The Ratcatcher mentioned his widow, Mister Strix glared at him. His fists clenched and his lips twisted into a snarl. His eyes turned completely black, and even through his closed lips and gritted teeth, a tiger's roar audibly echoed in the sewer. "DON'T...SAY...ANOTHER...WORD. DON'T EVER SPEAK OF IT AGAIN. DON'T EVEN THINK IT."

GM Dead Head had apparently not muttered lowly enough, because he received a response. "Ya go through life thinkin' yer...yer...*hic* ONEUVAKIND, but then ya find out yer just a FRANCHISE! What a world, what a world..." The raggedy man waved off Dead Head's bow. "I'm no king, Young Feller, not even king of the piss and dung floatin' by you right now." He sniffed at the air. "Wait, no, that's not piss, this isn't that kind of sewer. Then what am I smellin'?" He sniffed down at his own coat. "No wait, that's me!" He laughed uproariously and slapped his knee. "No kings, no masters, no standin' on CEREMONY, not fer us. YER the guests! You, the feller in the white, sorry about yer head! Grew back, though. Neat trick!" He motioned over to the floor. "Pull up a crate! Make yerselves at home. Want some wine?" He thrust the half-empty bottle in his hand forward. "I promise it's...no more than twenty, thirty percent backwash at the most!" He laughed again, a coarse sound, like metal dragged across stone. "I'm more of a...a...scuse m-" He turned and vomited onto the cardboard floor. "Ssshhhorry!" His several missing teeth turned half of his "s" and "sh" sounds into whistles. "Where was I? Right. I'm more of a 'ssshhhaman'. The city...talks to me. The rat, the roach, and the pigeon, they whisper their secrets into my ears. Been livin' in thish here city all ma life, and she's been livin' in me too. Not you, though." He pointed at Dead Head. "Yer NEW." Then he pointed at Mister Strix. "Notchu, though. Yer a native son. She saw you born. You left for a while, butchu never REALLY left, didja? These streets told me ALL 'bout YOU, back when we was NEIGHBORS. Didn't know what ta make of ya back then. Dressed in white like a bride on her weddin' day, but yer a big black spot on a grey tapestry is whatchu are. No bride for you, not no more. Death done didja part. The city, SHE's yer lady now, same as with me. But her SPIRIT is MY domain. You, you lie with her SHADOW." Little Emily turned around, her attention grabbed both by the mention of her name and The Ratcatcher's wretching. When she saw the man in white and the walking dead, she exclaimed "WHOA...COOL!" She scrambled to her feet and ran up to Dead Head. "Are you DEAD? When did you die? Did it hurt? Who killed you? Did you kill them back?"

Mister Strix The man in white shook his head. "No, too much splitting up already. Let's head up to the detention level. The sooner we find out whether or not this cure of yours works, the better. Adri-THE SURGEONS at the hospital are operating on that cop from the Delgado place as we speak. Last thing we need is another one of these vermin waking up on a cot or in a morgue drawer in two days and ambushing whatever hapless orderly opens the door or stops by to change their bedpan. We got lucky last time, and when it comes to luck, mine never holds for long. We should have a day before we need to head back to the hospital, but we need to know if we're heading back with a cure or with a stake. We find that out first. Then, the shelter. I guess Horus and the brat will meet us there."

Octoman "Nah, it's cool. Damn, that's HEAVY. Worst I can do with my powers is stain someone's shirt." Ben held his open hand toward a nearby trash can. Mia heard a wet squishy sound, and a glob of black ink splattered against the can. He let a few of his tentacles slip a couple feet out of his body and out from under his shirt. "Or, like, film a REALLY niche porno that gets pirated and cut up into .gifs and goes viral. But me making the next Two Girls One Cup isn't gonna crash the freakin' economy, no matter how much time people waste at work passing it around and watching the crappy sketch about it that Saturday Night Live will crank out at the last minute. Hey, if you really wanna know if the black helicopter guys are spying on you, I can probably help you figure that out. Set up a stakeout or somethin'." Ben's entire body slowly changed colors to match his surroundings. In a little over a second, he was completely invisible. He re-appeared suddenly a few seconds later, behind Mia. "BAM! Never know what hit 'em. Hunter becomes the hunted, know what I mean?"

Octoman "Oh man, you got turned INTO a Grue? That's ROUGH." Ben patted Dayv on the back. "A buncha Grue tried to eat me once. The invasion, back when we were little. Had nightmares for a couple years. Hey man, I know how it feels to be Extra-Freaky when you used to be Original Recipe, just 'cause you zigged when you shoulda zagged. But we gotta come outta our cages and be Mister Brightside, right? Sure, we'll die virgins, but we got powers and this place'll teach us how to become awesome superheroes." Ben's facial expression and tone of voice were both jovial enough that it wasn't clear to what extent he was being serious. Ben's hands waved frantically back and forth while a waterfall of words came tumbling out of his mouth. "Man, I wasn't even IN the lab! Cops were already RAIDING the lab. I got hit by a TRUCK driving AWAY from the lab. Some old lady lost her grip on her dog's leash, 'cause she's OLD, and that's what old people do, drop stuff. Dog runs out into the middle of the street, 'cause it's a DOG, and that's what dogs do, that's why they got leashes. Some real bad dude did a bunch of mad science on a buncha animals, threw 'em in the back of a truck when the cops showed up. Truck almost hits the dog, but I'm like 'NOT ON MY WATCH', I run out there, it hits me instead, it crashes, animals get loose, I get bit, BOOM. Thought I was gonna DIE. You ever get bitten by something, like, REALLY poisonous? I'm layin' there in the middle of the street rollin' around curled up in a ball, like there was a house party in my body but someone called the cops and now everyone's running out the first door they can find. I can't breathe, EVERYTHING hurts, I'm sweatin' outta every PORE, tears AND snot runnin' down my face, I'm throwin' up so hard stuff I ate a WEEK AGO's gettin' sucked back up my butt, and somehow I'm also crappin' my freakin' PANTS, just gettin' squeezed like someone's tryin' ta make a Ben-juice SMOOTHIE outta me. Bad times, Man."

Persephone "Oh, good for her! It's a great school. Made my short list back in the day. Leonard Miller's one of the top medical schools in the country. You must be so excited! I was going to ask the same thing, does she know what she wants to be when she grows up yet?" She turned to Cheval, smiled, and playfully punched his upper arm with a half-closed fist. "I didn't know that! I did grad school at UFVB." She rolled her eyes. "My parents weren't exactly thrilled about it, but they came around eventually." "No kidding? For the most part, I couldn't care less about sports, but I NEVER miss a Gators home game! Got the Orange and Blue in my blood and it'll be there 'till my dying day. We should go together next time!" Persephone turned back to the Dragoneer. "So, were you planning on operating here independently? Or were you hoping to become a municipal defender?"

Persephone 'Bout TIME I let someone else get a word in edgewise. The green woman sat in silence for several minutes, examining the other superheroes intently as she listened to them speak. Once she felt like they had ample time to put their thoughts into words, she stood up and started talking again. "Nobody knows better than I do how easy it is sometimes to miss the forest for the trees. It was a long night, and everything's happenin' so fast it's enough to make you dizzy. Even after a hot meal, I'm sure we all still feel like somethin' the cat drug in. So it's easy to get lost in all this talk about hideouts and burner-phones and forget that we're all on the same side here. Good grief, we're SUPERHEROES, not drug dealers! Everyone in this room, the city government, the police and first responders, even the press, we're all on the same team. We all want what's best for the people of this city. Let's try to keep that in mind. Now, I'm sure all y'all have your reasons for being so cautious. But the mayor has reasons not to trust us either, and she practically rolled out the red carpet. If she's willing to risk trusting us, then we owe her the same. No part of this is going to work without trust. We need to trust each other, we need to trust our city, and our city needs to trust us." She slowly walked around the room, pausing at each person's shoulder to address them individually, but loudly enough for all to hear. She rested a hand on Cheval's massive shoulder. "Darlin', it's mighty generous of you to offer financial support, and I'm sure the local taxpayers would appreciate the break. But the mayor and the city council will probably have their own ideas about who pays for what, and whatever that is, we should go along with it, at least those of us on the official end of things. We need the people to feel like we're accountable to them. On the unofficial side of things, sure, some secret clubhouse and off-the-books method of contact might be prudent, just in case the worst happens, and it's a certainly a relief to hear that we'll be able to afford it, one way or the other." When she reached Torque's chair, she made sure not to touch her. "I don't think an apartment and access to the VBPD motor pool is too much to ask for someone who's signing up to defend the city. I think we can convince the mayor likewise. For all we know, she might already be planning to offer us more substantial compensation than that. I don't know much about the cities who've piloted this program, but I have heard that, for some, 'municipal defender' is their full-time job." Sagrado Corazon, meanwhile, got a light, affectionate shoulder touch similar to the one Cheval had received. "Now that is one special talent right there. Thank the Lord it was given to someone worthy of it." When she got close to The Woodsman's end of the room, she walked in a much wider arc, giving him plenty of space. "Strictly business, no personal problems. That's a perfectly reasonable boundary to set, and I don't think anyone here will have a problem respecting it." She laughed. "Now, me, on the other hand, y'all can feel free to come to me for help with ANYTHING, personal or otherwise. Lord knows I helped enough of my sorority sisters get the vomit outta their hair after they had one too many, so it's only fair I do the same for my teammates." "I've been meaning to head up to the swamp sometime soon anyway. If you know the area, I wouldn't mind a guide. 'Croczilla' came down from the swamp, and I wanna see what the swamp has to say about it." She kept her hands to herself when she reached Betsy, but she rested one hand on the table next to her, keeping it where Betsy could see it. "Honey, I think you might be assuming a much bigger budget for espionage shenanigans than any city government actually has. It's not as though the local cops have James Bond on their payroll! Personally, I can't think of a place LESS likely to have eavesdroppers than a conference room in the back of City Hall. But if y'all truly aren't comfortable with having a sensitive conversation here, then there's no reason we can't do it elsewhere." "You're being a little hard on yourself there, Sugar. Not liking the spotlight makes you a wallflower, not a monster." "Well aren't you sweet as cherry pie? Thank you. I'm truly flattered. But as you said, I hardly have a monopoly on 'visual appeal' in this group." She tried to stop herself from glancing at Cheval. She failed. The skin on her face momentarily faded to a lighter shade of green. "I'm not sure it's necessary for the official team to declare 'a leader' or 'a spokesperson', or to set up any kind of hierarchy." She laughed. "For Heaven's sake, there's only, what, three of us? We're all adults here. We know our own strengths and weaknesses, how we can each do our part when a crisis hits. I've worked in high-pressure environments before where lives were on the line. You learn real quick to know better than to take it personally when someone starts barking orders at you in the heat of the moment, because time is of the essence and stopping to say 'Pretty please with sugar on top' could cost somebody their life. I don't have an ego about all this, and I'm sure none of you do either." "Some of us are clearly more comfortable in the spotlight or in front of a microphone than others, so we can each just follow our instincts. Let's keep things in perspective. All y'all had the courage, compassion, and integrity to put your own bodies between this city and a horde of the walking dead last night. I'm not worried about anyone being thoughtless enough to shove someone in front of a camera who doesn't wanna be there, or being petty enough to elbow each other out of frame. If any of us were just doing this for fame, then we would have had higher profiles before today than we did." She sighed. "Now that...that's a deep subject." She leaned forward, resting her hands on the conference table and staring down at it for several moments to collect her thoughts. "First of all, I just wanna make it clear that, while I value my privacy, I don't value it more than the safety and well-being of this city, its people, or its heroes. I won't let y'all twist in the wind just to keep my secret. And when it comes to gifted people who put on the tights and try to do some good, I'm luckier than most. If my real name came out, it'd be mighty inconvenient for my family, and it would cause a great deal of upheaval in my professional life, but it wouldn't be the end of the world. No one would go to prison. No one would die. And a time might come when keeping the secret does me and mine more harm than good. But in the meantime, I was never the type to leave a criminal tied up and hanging from a lamp post while I mysteriously vanished into the shadows. Whenever I was involved in an incident of some kind, I always waited for the police and the reporters to show up, so I could I answer any questions they had. I never wanted anyone in this city to be afraid of me, or to feel like I thought I was above the law. That's why I'm not as 'careful' as I could be when it comes to keeping my secret." She glanced at The Woodsman. "It's not because I'm just that NAIVE, or just that DUMB. It's a CHOICE. A question of priorities. Even though I do change how I look for this side of my life, I don't wear a mask, and it's not because I just forgot to make one. Again, I have nothing against those who do wear masks. I just want the people I'm trying to help, and even the people I'm trying to convince to surrender, to see a friendly face. If that means my secret winds up coming out before I was ready for it, well, that's a risk I decided I'm willing to take. That's how I felt before last night, and I don't see that changing tomorrow." "You changed your mind?" She smiled at Speed-Demon and squeezed his upper arm. "I'm happier than a pig in mud hear that!" She leaned against the table next to him, facing the opposite direction from his chair but turning her head to face him. "I understand the privacy issue, and I agree completely. I was already planning on bringing it up the mayor when I sign on. But I'd be surprised if she isn't already on the same page. Like I said before, she's always seemed like a reasonable person. That's part of why I voted for her." The smile faded from her face and her voice shifted to a lower, more serious tone. "Remember the old saying, though. God don't give out 'certain'. City Hall isn't Fort Knox. I'm sure they'll do their best to keep our personal information secure, but their best might not be enough. Signing up for the official team means taking a risk. It's a small risk, but it's still a risk. Never roll the dice if you truly can't deal with what happens when they come up snake-eyes." "I think you're selling yourself short there, Sweetie. There's a lot of young people in this city who're more likely to trust and listen to someone closer to their own age. You'd give them someone to look up to. That's important. Not all of them have that." She laughed again. "Goodness gracious, I'm only thirty! I know that makes me look like a senior citizen to most of y'all, but don't go checking me into a nursing home just yet. Besides, the older the fiddle, the sweeter the tune." She sighed and stretched. "It sounds like we've plowed this furrow clean down to the bedrock and it's time to rest the mule. Everyone has Betsy's number. Betsy, why don't you go ahead and pick a time and a place where you'd feel safe to speak freely, and each of us can call you later tonight to find out the where and the when. In the meantime, I'm fixin' to head back into the mayor's office and sign on the dotted line. Then, Woodsman, if you'd be so kind, I'd like to head up to the swamp. After that, weather fittin' and the Lord permittin', I'm goin' to bed early." The very mention of sleep made her yawn. "My head feels like it hasn't touched a pillow in a month of Sundays."

Octoman Ben was completely oblivious to everyone except Heroditus, far too engrossed in the contents of his laptop screen to read anyone else's lips. "Yeah, I get that a lot. Most kids my age don't have my, let's call it 'breadth of education' when it comes to TV and movies and stuff. Gotta show y'all THE CLASSICS and BROADEN YER MINDS." "It uses electricity, yeah. It's like..." Ben's hands waved frantically through the air in pantomimes which, at best, only vaguely resembled the scenarios he described. "OK, picture you gotta buncha tunnels all running parallel to each other, and there's a buncha fish swimming through all those tunnels. And every coupla meters, you got gates you can slam down to stop the fish in each tunnel. Now imagine that every single piece of information in the world, every word, every number, can be represented by some combination of which tunnels are closed and which still got fish swimmin' through 'em. And for each tunnel, it's just two options, one or the other, Yes and No are the only people in the room with us, Maybe's on the bus headin' outta town. Computers are like that, except the fish are electricity. Or electricity is the fish. Man, not to be a cliche or anything, but I could go for some fish right now. Anyone else hungry? I bet we could Postmates some OH HEY, so this thing can pick up thoughts, but, like, are thoughts energy? 'Cause this thing can use a couple different kinds of energy as a carrier to transmit information, coming AND going. That's how I'm gonna get a lot of the stuff I wanna send it. Coupla different wavelengths of radio, which is basically light. And this thing's old, so I can even send stuff over infrared, which is basically light AND heat. Can you do anything with that?"