Amelia

I'm going to trigger Strix's Complication, give him a Hero Point, and force him to make a Will save against an Emotion Control (Fear) effect. Sekhmet is PL7, so I'll make it a rank 7 effect. Will save (DC17): 18.

The edit request finally went through, so Mister Strix lost his Luck ranks, and gained +4 Initiative. (His Super-Senses powers also got reworked, so that previous reference to his "keen senses" is now accurate!) Mister Strix heads up one level to take on the next group. Move Action: He'll use his Leaping to jump up through the stairwell to the level above. Standard Action: If the leap brings him within touch-range of one of the thugs, then he'll start attacking. If it doesn't, then he'll Charge toward the nearest one (and get +2 Attack / -2 Defense until his next action). He'll All-Out Attack for +2 Attack / -2 Defense and Power Attack for -2 Attack / +2 Damage. That's Attack +8, or +10 if he had to Charge. He'll take 10 against the minions, hitting DC18 (or DC20 if he had to Charge). Damage +10 = DC25. Still on Autofire, so he'll get another +1 for every 2 points he gets over the defense DC (if any). He'll continue to use Takedown Attack 2 if possible. Until his next action, his Defense is at +6 (DC16), or +4 (DC14) if he had to Charge. I'll get an IC post up after we get the results.

Toughness save (DC23): 20. Officer Friendly takes another Injury. Initiative & Condition Summary 17: Arrowhawk (1HP, Bruised 3, Injured 2) 16: The Tattered Man (3HP, Bruised, Injured) 05: Mister Strix (3HP) 05: Officer Friendly (Injured x2) The Tattered Man is up.

Mister Strix's guidebook entry has an up-to-date personal timeline with thread links. Feel free to copy/paste from it.

Strix is going to try to "clear a path" for the other PCs by mind-controlling the guard. His Mind Control effect is Visually Sense-Dependent, so if the guard somehow has a chance to avert his gaze in time (and has reason to do so), he gets a DC18 Reflex save to avoid the effect. But Strix is going to try to deny him that opportunity by grappling him first. If necessary: Attack check: Assuming the guard is a Minion, Strix will All-Out Attack for +2/-2 and Take 10, hitting DC20 (Defense +10). (If the guard's flat-footed Defense bonus is +10 or higher, then we have bigger problems.) Grapple check: 24. Strix is focusing more on keeping the guard's eyes open and mouth shut than limiting his bodily movements. Unlike most attack powers, Mind Control uses an opposed power check against the target's saving throw, instead of a static saving throw difficulty. Mind Control power check: 22.

If I were coming in here alone, I could probably just stick to the ceiling, pull those books off the shelf one at a time, and figure out what's going on with this place right under the guard's nose. But I have company coming over, so I need to clean up first. Mister Strix silently dropped down from the ceiling, landing just behind the guard's chair. Tempting to just bite down and have a drink. He'd be out of the way, and it would be so...No. I don't know yet if he's done anything wrong. Just take a drink, and I'll know everything he's done wrong...No. There's a better way. Strix reached out, grasped the left arm rest of the guard's chair, and yanked it around to face him. As the guard's face become visible, Strix's hands shot out and clamped down on his face like a mechanical vise. One hand held the guard's eyes open, while the other one held his mouth closed. Strix glared into the man's eyes, and the blackness at the center of each of Strix's eyes quickly expanded to flood the entire eyeball. He whispered harshly. "Be quiet. Be still. I'm going to take a look around here. I have...'friends' coming, who are going to help. And that's fine. You aren't going to get in our way. You're going to answer any questions we ask. And you're not going to tell anyone else that we're here. In fact, after we leave, you're not going to remember we were here. You don't want to remember me, do you? No, you're just going to keep sitting here and playing your game."

This is the current "endgame" build I'm working toward for Mister Strix. I don't want to raise his effective Power Level above 10, because I want to keep Bedlam City as his main base of operations, but I'd like him to hit PL10, so he can be a big fish in that small pond. I'm still debating what to do with those last few points: Skills: I was planning to have him rely on his powers (Search to find the clues, Super-Senses and Precognition to analyze them), but I could pick up Gather Information (with Well-Informed) and Investigation, and turn him into a more "traditional" detective. I could bump his Notice, Search, and/or Sense Motive from +15 to +20. Or I could give him even more semi-useless Knowledges for flavor than I already have. Feats: I was considering Accurate/All-Out/Power Attack, Elusive Target, Improved Pin, Move-By Action, and/or Stunning Attack. I haven't decided to what extent, if any, I want him to remain a relatively unskilled brawler. Powers: If I took an even more D&D approach to his undead physiology than I already do, then I could justify giving him 1/2 Immunity to Cold and Electrical damage. I considered possibly extending the 1/2 Cold Immunity to all Cold-based effects, but since most of the non-Damage cold-themed powers would probably force Fortitude saves, and there's nothing about being undead that should make it harder to Snare or Trip him, I'm not sure how useful that would be. I also thought about giving him 1/2 Immunity to Interaction skills, to represent super-senses, and to Mind Reading effects, to represent how awkward a place his mind could be for people who aren't used to having super-senses. I'm also debating whether I want to keep his combat stats at 10 across the board, as a "Mario" / "Jack of All Stats" build, or if I want to turn him into more of a bruiser with a tradeoff in favor of Damage over Attack and Toughness over Defense. If I did that, it would be a small one, +/-2. I'm still questioning the usefulness of pumping up his Recovery bonus with Regeneration. He's a Construct, so he doesn't take nonlethal damage. It gets converted to lethal. And Regeneration heals Injuries automatically, with no need for a recovery check. So the only conditions he'd need to roll Recovery for would be Disabled and Destroyed. And he can make that check once every round, without having to expend any actions on it. I wonder if it's really worth paying 9PP for the peace of mind that comes with avoiding the 50/50 chance each round of having to sit it out because I failed the DC10 Recovery check.

As of this writing, I've had an edit request for Mister Strix pending for almost a month and a half. He's received not one, but two monthly power point rewards since then. Instead of posting a new edit request, I have edited my previous one. See this post for details. Edited, TA in other post

Oops, sorry, my bad. Just double-checked his stats, and the driver is Fearless. The Tattered Man gets a Hero Point for the setback. Driver Move Action: Exit the vehicle. Free Action: Use his Quick Draw feat to draw his baton and pistol. Standard Action: Shoot The Tattered Man. He'll Power Attack for -5 Attack / +5 Damage. Attack check (DC18): 11. Natural "1". I don't think so. Fiat to re-roll. Attack check (DC18): 25. Much better. The Tattered Man needs to make a DC25 Toughness save against lethal damage. After the final results of the Toughness save, The Tattered Man gets a second Hero Point. Mister Strix His Readied action goes off. His Initiative drops down to 5 to match Officer Friendly. He'll go before Friendly next round, since he has the higher Dexterity. He targets Officer Friendly with a Charge, which gives him +2 Attack and -2 Defense. He'll All-Out Attack for another +2 Attack and -2 Defense. Attack check (DC18): 29. He clears the minimum by 11, so he gets +5 damage. Officer Friendly's Toughness save (DC28): 23. He takes an Injury and he's Dazed. I'll use GM Fiat to have him recover from the Dazed condition. Mister Strix gets a Hero Point. Strix's Defense drops from DC18 to DC14 until his next action. Initiative & Condition Summary 17: Arrowhawk (2HP, Bruised 3, Injured 2) 16: The Tattered Man (3HP, Bruised, Injured) 05: Mister Strix (3HP) 05: Officer Friendly (Injured) Arrowhawk is up. Her Dazed condition has gone away.

Mister Strix didn't react quite fast enough to launch himself at "Officer Friendly" before the ersatz cop shot at The Tattered Man, but the man in white sprang into action while the shot from that ridiculously huge pistol was still echoing down the street. The gunshot reverberating through the area was soon joined by a tiger's roar. The other vigilantes could only make out a vaguely human-shaped blur as Strix's fists swung at Friendly even harder and faster than they had at Arrowhawk during their brawl. He landed several furious blows about Friendly's head and shoulders, any one of which should have, from the sound of it, been a knock-out punch Mike Tyson would have been proud of. But while Friendly staggered under the assault, he didn't fall. He didn't even fall backward.

GM The driver turned off the engine and the lights, and slowly stepped out of the police cruiser. Without the blinding headlights, the assembled vigilantes finally got a good look at him, and his vehicle. The car was completely generic. There were no seals or symbols identifying it as part of the Bedlam City Police Department, or any other law enforcement agency. The driver was dressed in a police officer patrol uniform, complete with hat, but that wasn't Bedlam P.D. issue either. The real Bedlam cops, having not been able to afford upgrading their gear in decades, already looked more like the cops in movies and television than their real-life contemporaries in other cities. But this "officer" looked anachronistic even compared to them, as though he'd raided the costume stash from an even older movie. The name badge over the right breast of his shirt read "FRIENDLY." His badge was dominated by a golden human skull, with the number "0000." But most striking of all was his face, or rather, the lack thereof. He wore a white stocking over his head, made from Lycra or some similarly clingy fabric. A big smile was painted over the lower half of the face. "License and registration, please." His voice was calm and even. Between the blinks of an eye, his empty hands were suddenly full, one with an archaic wooden baton, the other with one of the largest revolvers any of the assembled vigilantes had ever seen. The Tattered Man could immediately tell that it was a magnum from the size of the cylinder, and from the size of the barrel, he knew it was bigger than a .357 caliber, easily a .44 but possibly a .50. His brain barely had time to make those connections before that massive barrel was pointed directly at his face. "Do you know why I pulled you over?" "Officer Friendly" fired a shot. It sounded more like a bomb exploded.

Mister Strix is using the Concealment AP on his array, though he'll change to the Mist Form AP if he needs to in order to gain entrance to the building. It's a DC18 Will save to see through Strix's Phantasm Concealment power. Stealth check: 19. His cruising speed on foot is 50MPH, so while sneaking around he can "only" do 25. Assuming nothing else happens to interrupt him or divert his attention, Strix will conduct a search of the building. He'll try to remain aware of the other PCs, some of whom probably have better bonuses than he currently does, so feel free to use his check as an Aid for one of theirs. Search check: 15. So if his check Aids someone else, he got enough to give them a +2 circumstance bonus. He's got permanent Concealment to most machine senses, so he probably won't trigger any alarms or other security devices. NOTE: It occurred to me the other night that Horus is precisely the kind of deity whose symbols would trigger some of Strix's complications. I spoke with AA, and it didn't sound like there were any overt, explicit symbols on her costume, so I'll try to make subtle mention of him avoiding looking directly at her and being slightly uncomfortable in her presence. But if she activates her power that manifests as a big glowing ankh, that should absolutely trigger his complications. I left some suggested mechanics on that part of my sheet, but I left the specifics ambiguous so each GM could handle it however they preferred. Feel free to, for example, force him to save against an Emotion Control (Fear) effect.

Mister Strix remained kneeling for a few moments as Wadjet stood up and took off running. A distraction. Good. Getting myself inside was always going to be child's play. But somehow infiltrating a whole group, that was going to be a headache. First item crossed off the "to-do" list. One down, everything else to go. He closed his eyes and focused, broadcasting his subliminal psychic command which forced every mind in the vicinity to ignore his presence. Then he took off running too, only much faster. If it weren't for his powers of hypnosis, Wadjet and the other mortals might have consciously noticed that they felt a breeze as he rushed past them. However, instead of creeping into the side door on the ground floor, he jumped straight up, clinging to the outer wall and skittering up to the factory roof like a spider. Not everyone can enjoy the bird's-eye view. They have to start at the bottom, and work their way up. So I'll meet them halfway. Now, let's see what there is to see...

I made a GM post describing the results of searching the house, but don't feel the need to immediately go down into the basement with your next round of in-character posts. Feel free to take your time bantering, reacting to dialogue, and dealing with the eyes however you see fit. You don't have to stampede directly down the basement stairs.

GM The second bedroom, across the hallway from the study where the vigilantes crossed paths, was a far more mundane affair. It had been converted into an office, with a couple of desks and filing cabinets, and a few boxes of books that probably hadn't been catalogued yet. The most striking feature was the complete lack of any computers, or electronic devices more complicated than a calculator. All of the business records were kept on paper. A quick examination showed that "Hawthorne Books and Curiosities" was a sole proprietorship owned by a "Lucien Hawthorne." The only employee listed in any tax documentation or paycheque ledgers going back at least two years was a "Dale King." The only listed address was a post office box, and even that seemed to have changed several times. The office also contained a half-size refrigerator, filled with spoiled food, reeking of mold. The decay of the food was far more advanced than it should have been given the condition of the rest of the house. The house appeared to have been abandoned for a period of days, while the food looked as though it had been sitting for weeks. This was one of the moldy smells that caught Grimalkin's and Sekhmet's attention when they first entered the house, but the second one remained distinct and faint. The only other room on the second floor was a lavatory. A single staircase led down to the first floor. Most of the dividing walls between rooms had been knocked down, turning the entire first floor into a single chamber. Only a small powder room remained. The walls were lined with shelves, and the floor was filled with tables and more shelves, all overflowing with books and assorted paraphernalia associated with numerous neo-pagan spiritual practices. Every piece of merchandise had a paper price tag affixed to it. There didn't seem to be any system of organization a fellow bookstore owner like Grimalkin could figure out. There was no proper "counter," just another table dominated by the most ancient cash register most of the assembled vigilantes had ever seen, with a "CASH ONLY" sign taped to the outward facing side. None of the books or other items appeared exceptionally old or high-quality to those with the experience to know such things. There was a sort of crawlspace beneath the stairs on the first floor, filled with more dusty boxes of books stacked all the way to its ceiling. Grimalkin spotted some odd dust patterns on the floor which seemed to indicate that the boxes had been moved recently. Once the vigilantes hefted the boxes out into the main room and cleared the crawlspace, they revealed a trap door set into the floor. Set and Sekhmet both spotted a brown stain in the wood on the trap door. A quick sniff confirmed it was blood. When they looked up, they found the source. At the highest point inside the crawlspace, staring straight down at the trap door, half-shrouded in darkness, a mound of what appeared to be moss was affixed to the ceiling. Resting in that moss was a cluster of eyeballs. The eyes appeared to be human, rimmed in red as though tired or irritated. The eyes moved, glancing back and forth between all of the people below them. A couple of fresh drops of blood fell from the eyes onto the same spot on the trap door. Opening the trap door revealed another flight of stairs leading down into a basement area. The second they lifted the door open, Grimalkin, Sekhmet, and Strix were all assaulted with the stench which had only teased them before. Saltwater. Saliva. Mildew. And even more human blood. Temperance, meanwhile, felt the skin of the universe flinch when the door was opened, as though the act of opening it had found the most tender spot under a ruptured blister, and poked it.

The man in white cocked his head slightly and blinked at the Freedom foursome, which drew their attention to the fact that it was the first time he'd done that since they first saw him. When he spoke again, his voice was still quite deep, but not as deep as it had been, and while it still had a slight reverberation beneath it, the effect wasn't as pronounced as before. "Well, then. Not thieves. Not vandals. Investigators, from out of town no less. That answers some questions, and raises new ones." "It's the first one. Put the knives away." His eyes widened slightly. Is my true nature really so obvious that everyone in this city with even a passing knowledge of the paranormal can identify me on sight?! "I don't know how forthcoming supernatural predators are where you're from, but if I were a vampire, would you really expect me to admit it?" The man in white raised an eyebrow and stared at her extended hand for a few moments. Then, tentatively, he raised his own to take it. The man's skin was cold, like he'd been holding an ice pack, but dry. She could feel the cold even through his gloves. "The name I use to create a bogeyman in the minds of the local hoodlums is 'Mister Strix.' You can call me whatever you want." When Sekhmet's fists lit up, Strix's eyes widened more than slightly. He flinched, and lifted his cape to cover his face. A literal tiger's growl rumbled from behind the cape. His voice deepened back to its original pitch and regained its former echo. "PUT. THAT. AWAY." His teeth grinded audibly for a few moments before regaining his composure. Then he slowly lowered the cape from his face, and his voice softened again. "This is an old building full of old books. One stray spark could turn the whole place into a crater." The deflection was obvious. The fire Sekhmet conjured up had either infuriated him, or scared him half to death, if not both. The man in white gave Set a look that was almost, but not quite, a sneer. "Hilarious," he muttered flatly. "The body parts are barely making the news here, let alone out of town. Are human limbs showing up in random dumpsters in your city, too? Or is this 'Hawthorne' mixed up in something else?"

Opposed Intimidate check: 12. The driver is Shaken for a round. (-2 to all checks, including Attack rolls and Saving Throws.) OK, you didn't take a -5 penalty on the check, so you Demoralized as a standard action. And you stood up as a free action. Was there a move action you wanted to do, or a full action you wanted to start?

When Wadjet spoke, the man in white's head jerked up toward her, and he hissed. When Lady Horus burst through the door into the back alley, he reflexively turned toward her, and hissed again. Both of them got a clear view of his face, at least the parts not obscure by his mask. Inside Doctor Thorne's office, his eyes appeared dark, but normal. Now, the whole of each eyeball was completely black. Twin obsidian orbs glared wildly back and forth at them, open so wide they threatened to pop out of his skull. The veins bulging down the underside of his jaw were also black. His mouth looked too big for his face, taking up the entire bottom half of his head, and it seemed to contain an impossible number of teeth, including canines that had grown to three times their normal length, as had the tongue that absent-mindedly licked a stray trickle of blood from his chin. When the shock of their intrusion passed, he slumped back down, covering his face with hands that seemed too big, fingers that seemed too long, now that attention had been drawn to them. He whispered through his hands. "Don't...don't look. Please don't look." His body dissolved into a plume of fog, which flew into the air and across the Bedlam skyline. Once the man in white and his massive cape were no longer present to obscure them, Lady Horus and Wadjet could see where his fingers had dug holes into the solid asphalt. ... Later, near Snacktastic, he touched down and coalesced back into his solid human form beside the other assembled vigilantes. "No. Covering fire might make it easier for the rest of us to sneak in, but it could also exacerbate an already tenuous situation. You start shooting people, and they'll panic, even it's not with real bullets. Hard to tell the difference when you're on the front line and your blood's already up."

Even though DRINK I'm dealing with probably BLOOD the two foremost occult authorities in the city, maybe IN MY HAND IT'S RIGHT THERE IN MY HAND if I can reach back into my scientific training and phrase things as...rationally as possible, they won't have to stop and think about it long enough to consider the horrible implications. "The candy factory is a risk, not a certainty. So far, I've observed the...'entropic aura' affect fresh food, and living plants and cultures. Fruits and vegetables, bread, milk, cheese, wine, those sorts of things. But crates of processed sugar and food coloring, packed with preservatives...that might be immune to the effect." The man in white glanced back and forth at the back door where Lady Horus had made an entrance worthy of the stage, and the Pyrex bottle he clutched in his hand and had tried to keep hidden behind the folds of his cape. "Excuse me for a moment..." he muttered before darting outside, moving fast enough to leave a white streak across the eyes of his observers. There was an audible WHOOSH from the displacement of air, but the pounding of his boots across the floor didn't make any noise at all. Once outside, he broke the top of the bottle off, lacking the patience even to unscrew the cap. His lips clamped down around the broken lid, but he didn't notice the shards carving gashes into the inside of his mouth as he guzzled down the blood. His tongue, now elongated to three times its normal length, was too busy frantically licking the inside of the bottle dry, scooping up even the tiniest drops of blood. His whole body shuddered, and he let loose a noise like a purr that gradually turned into a growl, both from the mouth of a hungry tiger. The others could hear it echo through the wall. As soon as he pulled the broken bottle from his lips, the cuts inside his mouth healed, the flesh knitting itself back together in a second. He fell to his knees for a few moments as the euphoria faded. He looked down at the two pieces of the bottle in his hands, growled again, and hurled them against the outer wall, with enough force to shatter the break-resistant glass. He closed his eyes tightly and pinched the bridge of his nose between his fingers. Monster...you're a disgusting monster...

Mister Strix takes a Move Action to leap over to a spot between the car and the other heroes, and a Standard Action to Ready a Charge against the driver. Initiative & Condition Summary 23: Mister Strix (2HP) 17: Arrowhawk (2HP, Bruised 3, Injured 2, Dazed, Prone) 16: The Tattered Man (1HP, Bruised, Injured, Prone) 05: Police Officer Arrowhawk is up.

I don't want the GMPC to steal a hero moment from either of you, so I'm going to disregard him winning Initiative. Strix's Toughness save (DC24): 25. Ecal, it didn't actually change the results of your rolls, but you forgot Arrowhawk still has a Bruise from her brawl with Strix. TK, The Tattered Man doesn't actually have the Interpose feat, so it'll cost him his Hero Point to gain it temporarily for one round. I'd normally throw the Hero Point from my Fiat to Arrowhawk, since she got beaten up the most, but that would leave her and Tattered Man at 3 and 0, so I'll toss it back to him. Initiative & Condition Summary 23: Mister Strix (2HP) 17: Arrowhawk (2HP, Bruised 3, Injured 2, Dazed, Prone) 16: The Tattered Man (1HP, Bruised, Injured, Prone) 05: Police Officer

Mister Strix turned to the homeless woman first. He was barely able to ask "Are you O-" before he saw her scramble to her feet and start running down the street. Good enough. Then he turned back toward the police cruiser. He crouched down, then leaped into the air, his powerful legs propelling him up over the parked car. His boots landed squarely between the front of the car and the stretch of asphalt where the bodies of Arrowhawk and The Tattered Man were splayed out. You want them? First you go through me. He let out a tiger's growl that echoed down the street. "Get out of the car."

GM Arrowhawk and The Tattered Man both reacted to the oncoming headlights by darting toward them, rather than away, a testament to their mutual courage. Arrowhawk dove into a somersault and tackled the homeless woman out of the path of the car as she came up, while The Tattered Man simply shielded them both with his own body. The police cruiser hit The Tattered Man, driving him into Arrowhawk, and then both of them through the front wall of the abandoned store. The Tattered Man took the brunt of the impact from the car, but Arrowhawk's body shielded him from the worst of the collision with the wall. The police cruiser screeched to a halt on the street a few car lengths away from the store. The sudden stop hurled both The Tattered Man and Arrowhawk to the pavement, not far from the corpse of Mike Donaghy. Mister Strix, more startled by the sudden appearance of the car, was slower to leap into action than either of the other assembled vigilantes. The corner of the car's front bumper clipped him and sent him spinning away, thwarting his attempt to dive into its path. He remained standing inside the ruined storefront. The bright headlights and the flashing lights on top of the car made it difficult to see more than a silhouette of the person behind the wheel of the police cruiser.

TK, your decision and Init roll?

GM The figure in the shadows dropped something as they darted up out of their hiding place. It made a series of high-pitched CLINK! noises as it hit the ground and rolled toward Arrowhawk's feet. A bottle of whiskey. Something to provide the illusion of warmth on a cold night. When the homeless woman ran up to the door, Arrowhawk could see that she was covered in at least four layers of torn flannel shirts, and that the blonde hair trailing down from under her knit cap hadn't been washed or even brushed in months at least. She had dark bags under her eyes, but those eyes were stretched wide in terror. "Y-y-y-you g-g-g-otta help me! I s-s-saw 'im! And h-h-he saw me! He saw me seein' 'im! He killed those guys, and he drove his car right through their car, right through the wall, up the side of a building! I know what yer thinkin', but I swear, it's not the booze! That smile! He SMILED at me!" Her rant was cut short by the roar of an engine and flash of light as a police cruiser passed through the opposite wall of the abandoned store as though it weren't there. It sped directly toward the front door, the homeless woman, and Arrowhawk.