Amelia

I'm using GM Fiat to deny everyone Notice checks and declare an automatic surprise round for the cop. Once the surprise round resolves, I'll give the Hero Point to whichever PC is most directly and negatively affected by the results. The police cruiser is doing a full-speed Slam attack against the homeless woman. Accelerated move is +4 damage base, +5 for Speed 5 = Damage 9, DC24 Toughness save. The car itself has to save against 1/2 damage, rounded down, or Damage 4, DC19 Toughness. Police Cruiser's Toughness save: 19. The car passes. Whoever the car hits is also going to get slammed into (and through) the interior store wall. None of you are strong enough to stop the car in its tracks. The wall is Toughness 3. That's going to be less than anyone's Knockback result, so let's just assume that'll be another DC18 Toughness save. Police Cruiser's Toughness save: 29. At this point, the boards blocking the front door and window to the abandoned store are mostly gone, so everyone has freedom of movement. The car will hit the homeless woman, unless one of the heroes gets her out of the way. You each have 3 options: Option 1: Do nothing. 100% safety, at least for this round. Option 2: Anyone who has the Interpose feat (or who's willing to burn a Hero Point as a reaction to get it for a round) can use it to tackle her out of the way and take the hit themselves. If you do that, then make a DC24 Toughness save for the initial impact, then another DC18 Toughness save for when the car knocks you against the inside of the store wall. It's Toughness 3. Option 3: You can also try to knock the homeless woman out of the car's path while also moving fast enough to avoid getting hit yourself. This will require a DC20 Reflex save. If you fail the save, then you knock her out of the way, but you get hit. If you fail by 5+, then you and she both get hit. If multiple people want to try to intervene, then roll Initiative against each other. Highest Init wins and gets to her first. Everyone else who tries still suffers any negative effects. Mister Strix will try to intervene. Initiative: 28. Natural 20. No. I'll use GM Fiat to give him a Hero Point and force him to re-roll. Re-roll: 23. Still higher than I'd like, but oh well. Mister Strix gets a Hero Point.

When the knocking stopped and the people outside walked away, Mister Strix relaxed. He'd have breathed a sigh of relief if he'd had any breath to hold. He tensed right back up again when he heard the glass shatter in the alley behind the house. Not customers, then. Opportunists. Of course. This is Bedlam City, after all. He crept up the stairs to the second floor, where he dissolved himself into a cloud of mist and slipped through the crack under the door to the study. None of the people climbing through the broken window spotted him as he coalesced back into solid undead flesh. They don't look like hardened criminals, just young punks. I can just scare them. I don't have to hurt them. "You broke into the wrong house, Children." Between the blinks of the foursome's eyes, a man in white appeared in the shadows on the far side of the study. An unsettling echo reverberated under his deep voice as he spoke. He had the darkest eyes any of them had ever seen, and his skin was so pale, it was difficult to tell where it ended and his cowl began. "There is nothing here worth stealing. Here, there is only death." He grasped the lining of his massive cape with both hands and lifted it into the air, like the spread of a massive raptor's wings. He looked like a photo-negative version of the original Raven. "Leave, now, while you still can. While I still allow it."

A couple people made the Will save against Strix's Concealment, but none of them also beat his Stealth with their Notice, so no one knows he's there until he reveals himself. The Notice checks did reveal other stuff, though, described in the GM post. Search check: 16. OK, once people start Searching in earnest, I'll use the highest result from among the PCs as the "real" skill check, and all the others as Aid checks. Grimalkin got 34, so she's the lead. Temperance, Sekhmet, and Strix all cleared DC10, so they each add +2. None of them cleared 20 to add another +1. That's a final Search result of DC40.

GM The first thing that struck Freedom foursome as they pulled themselves up through the window was that it was colder inside the house than outside. And 11-o-clock on a fall night in Bedlam wasn't exactly warm. Once they got inside, Grimalkin and Sekhmet both picked up on a few scents that were both, to put it mildly, unpleasant and out of place. The increasingly familiar mix of saltwater and saliva that greeted them at Silbermans was present here as well, though it was duller, more faint here than it had been there. They also both smelled blood, human or something similar, also faint, and a couple different types of mold or mildew, one significantly stronger than the other. Temperance, meanwhile, felt a slight charge in the air, and smelled a faint hint of ozone, similar to the air after a lightning strike. There weren't any spirits here, nor had there been. But some sort of passage between dimensions had taken place, more than once, and it had left traces similar to those left by spirits who travel between their native worlds and this mortal plane. Something from another place had been coming and going, and the scars in the fabric of this universe from the holes they'd torn open to do it were nearby, still raw and tender. The room they had climbed into was designed as a bedroom when this house had been built as a family residence, but it had long ago been converted into a study. The furniture was all solid oak, the color of fresh-roasted coffee beans. Half the room was dominated by an antique roll-top desk. Every inch of surface space on the desk was covered with old open books and hand-written notes. Bookshelves lined two of the walls, while a third was given over to a cork-board. Several newsprint clippings and photocopies of the like were pinned to the board. The articles came from both sides of the Atlantic, and ranged from just a few years ago to the early 1800s. Together, the books, clippings, and notes combined to paint a picture of how the occupant had been spending his time. He'd been making a detailed study of a volume of Scivias from the same series as the tome which had been stolen from the Silbermans vault, the same series as the book that had sold at auction. The same Latin morality plays written on the faded parchment taken from the Greek merchant's journal that had described his doomed voyage. The same faded ink embedded in those pages listed the same lyrics and musical notes for the same impossible songs the sirens had used to summon the leviathans who'd broken the Greek's mind. There was an obvious deterioration in the quality of the penmanship of the notes over time, as the writing degenerated from flowery to frantic, and the notes grew steadily less coherent. Those trends continued as the author had abandoned pen and paper in favor of clawing snippets of text directly into the wall and the hardwood floor. A close inspection revealed tiny spots of blood and chunks of human fingernail embedded in some of the writing. SING THE SONGS EYES DON'T SING THE SONGS HE SEES THEY WANT TO BE SUNG HIS EYES BLEEDING EYES HE WATCHES TEN-THOUSAND EYES HE RISES HE RISES HE RISES

The man in white reached out and touched the text with his index finger. "Is that a direct message to us? Is this some sort of automatic reaction built in to this curse?" He looked up and around. "Or are we being watched?" He stepped back, crossed his arms, and absent-mindedly stroked his sharp chin while his black eyes squinted at the map. "The city government offices seem like the most 'important' site that's been affected so far. But that almost makes it too obvious. And with City Hall still closed, they're spread out all over town. We could spend weeks tracking down every rented office that each individual department and commission's working out of." After a moment of silent contemplation, he turned to face the others. "With the strike, the Hardwick Candy factory will have the least amount of human activity and the most lax security of any of these sites. If it's the source, then whoever did this might have even specifically engineered the strike to avoid scrutiny." Whoever the man in white was, despite having only operated in Bedlam for the last few months, his reference to the factory's original owners betrayed an intimate familiarity with the city's history. The candy company hadn't borne Lucius Hardwick's name since the 1990s. "There's 'collateral damage' to consider. If I show up there, then they can probably say 'Goodbye' to most of the ingredients they currently have in stock, and I don't have any way of reimbursing them. That kind of loss could hit the workers' livelihoods even harder than the strike." He allowed himself a smirk. "On the other hand, safety and sanitation's so bad over there, overhauling their inventory could be considered a public health measure."

Stealth check: 29.

I'll need Notice checks and Will saves from everyone once they get inside the house. I'll also need Search checks from anyone who's going to actively snoop.

Mister Strix had been staking out the empty bookstore for two consecutive nights by the time the Freedom foursome arrived in Bedlam City. The heavy drapes covering every window completely blocked any view of the outside, so he was startled for a moment when he heard Grimalkin's knocking. His head jerked away from the open tome he'd been perusing, toward the front door. But he had no breath to suck in and no heartbeat to accelerate. Compared to that of a mortal's, his flesh experienced so few involuntary twitches or aches from maintaining the same position for long periods. Despite his surprise, the empty house remained as silent as a grave. The way it reeks of blood in here, I figured someone would show up soon. But I figured on someone with a key. Didn't expect visitors. He remained deathly quiet and still. Just wait. They'll go away, and they'll never know how lucky they were. Whoever they are, there's no book or trinket they could get in this dumpster that they can't get somewhere else. And what's upstairs isn't for casual gawkers.

Blood Mister Strix closed his eyes for a moment and shook his head. Wait, focus...There's blood...Not the first time a strong-willed mortal saw through my tricks, but...She said BLOOD He gritted his teeth. ...But how long did she know I was here? The man in white dropped down to the ground. His boots didn't make a sound when they hit the floor. Thorne could see a white blur out of the corner of her eye as he raced to the refrigerator and removed the Pyrex bottle. DRINK He bit down on his own tongue. The pain helped him focus. He didn't open the bottle, but he gripped it tightly. "Thank you." His spoken words ripped his psychic veil away from him, revealing his presence to Lady Horus. He glanced back at the fridge. "'O' is actually one of the better tasting...nevermind. I appreciate the gesture. But I...I wouldn't drink that wine, if I were you. In fact, you should probably just throw out everything in there. Sorry about that. Sorry about the houseplants, too. I wouldn't...I wouldn't come here, if it weren't important. But I see you're already on top of it." "No connection I'm aware of. I noticed it downtown, near the Endler Library. But it's possible my presence is mucking up your divinations, like it mucks up everything else, independent of this...whatever it is."

Tiff: Apologies for the minor quibble, but while Thorne's Notice check beats Strix's Stealth, she also has to beat his Concealment (DC18 Will) if she's going to address him before he reveals himself.

Notice check for Mister Strix: 15. Nope.

GM (5) Siren Song of The Void (2) To Serve and Protect (3) Mister Strix (15) Golgotha Tenement Blues (2) Ink (8) Siren Song of The Void (3) To Serve and Protect (2)

The doctor and the preacher have to start at the top, and work their way down. It follows that I should start at the bottom... Mister Strix heaved himself up over the hand rail and jumped down the middle of the stairwell, holding his cape up to spread behind and above him like the wings of a great raptor. His boots crashed into the floor, smashing through tile and churning up concrete, but his landing didn't make a sound. The only noise came a fraction of a second later, from the chunks of floor bouncing off the nearby stairs. His cape flowed behind him as he slowly rose from his crouch to loom over the thugs who now surrounded him. Give them a moment to take it all in, to get a good look. I want them to remember this part. Then he became a white blur of fists and feet, an ivory tornado smashing into them. With each savage strike, a thug went flying into a wall, or the lobby ceiling, or one of the vending machines they'd been trying to improvise into some sort of barricade. At one point during his carnival of carnage, Mister Strix seized one of those machines, heaved it over his head, and swung it around, breaking it in half against the torsos of the two thugs unlucky enough to be closest to him at the time. Cans of soda flew out in every direction, some exploding when they hit the walls, leaving brightly-colored splatters of sugar-water to mark their passing, while others clattered loudly across the broken floor.

Wait..."vending machines," you say? Grumblefloof Googles "how much does a vending machine weigh". "400 to 900 pounds" Strix's light load is 612 pounds. At one point in the chain of Takedown Attacks, he'll grab a machine to use as an improvised weapon. Since his Strength bonus is +8, which is "solid iron" on the object Toughness chart, it'll probably break after the first swing or two, since that's generally what happens to improvised weapons with Toughness lower than your Strength bonus.

OK, he's landing on the ground, then. I assume Impervious Toughness 8 is enough to not have to worry about the falling damage (less than 80ft down).

Mister Strix is going to try to engage the lowest group of thugs directly, so he can work his way up while the others work their way down. Move Action: Strix hops over the hand rail and drops straight down the middle of the stairwell. If there are any thugs on the ground, he'll drop all the way down. If the lowest group is higher than that, then Strix will use his super-strength or Wall-Crawling or whatever he needs to in order to break his fall. Free Action: Swap the Vampiric Power array over to the slot with the Autofire Strength. Standard Action: Start beating up thugs. All-Out Attack for +2 Attack / -2 Defense. Attack +10. Since they're (presumably) Minions, he'll take 10 to hit DC20. Damage +8 = DC23. Autofire gives +1 damage for every 2 points he gets over their defense. Takedown Attack 2 as available. Strix is at -2 Defense (DC16) until his next action.

Gizmo, Heritage, either one of you can go next in the IC.

It's been 4 days since the last IC post.

Knowledge (Pop Culture) check to see if Mister Strix has any notion of Lady Horus's exploits: 24. Really am wasting all my good rolls up front this time.

Clinging to a corner where the ceiling met the walls above and behind Doctor Throne, Mister Strix was about to open his mouth to speak when Cleopatra stormed into the office. At first, he froze, too startled to think. Then he tensed up, preparing to lunge at the intruder. He relaxed a little when it quickly became clear that her intentions weren't hostile, that she wasn't even a stranger to the good doctor. Still, he decided to leave the psychic screen in place for a while longer. It can't hurt to see what they have to say when they think no one else is listening. So whatever this is, it's not just me, and it's not just the library, either. As she spoke, it dawned on Mister Strix whom he was looking at. Right. I read about you. The Informer calls you "a menace." The City Paper calls you "Bedlam's own Captain Thunder." And apparently Doctor Thorne calls you "a friend." High praise all around...

Per his standard procedure, Mister Strix shows up sneaky and spies on people. Stealth check: 27. Using up the good rolls early. Mist form to get into the building, then psychic perception filter. DC18 Will save for anyone who wants to notice him and beats his Stealth check with their Notice. Normally a -Phantasm Concealment effect requires the character to do something to draw attention to themselves before potential observers get a save, but when he's around, it gets cold, plants die, and security cameras flicker and get staticky, so I think that counts.

It had taken Guy Giordano two nights of sifting through the rare books in the Hardwick Collection of the Endler Library to find the one containing the two-hundred year-old French translation of the three-hundred and fifty year-old Romanian treatise on their stories about the Moldavian striga, the last link in a chain of bibliographies he'd been following for over a week. When the French shifted to English and the subject matter abruptly changed from ancient Eastern European mythology to a contemporary children's book, he was confused, but also annoyed. Guy put the book down and opened another, and found a similar chunk of out-of-place text. He opened the door from the rare books section and shouted into the hallway at one of the off-duty cops moonlighting as library security whom he'd previously hypnotized. "Hey, you!" The guard stopped walking, but kept staring straight ahead. "You can remember that I exist now, but it's OK, because I'm supposed to be here." The guard blinked, then turned toward Guy. "What can I do for you?" Guy motioned for him to come over, then thrust the book in his face. "Read this page out loud." The guard's words matched the text Guy had just read. Guy let him drone on for a few seconds, then snapped the book shut. "That's enough, thank you. Now go back to forgetting I exist." The guard blinked again, then turned and leisurely strolled down the hall, whistling to himself. Guy muttered to himself. "Multiple instances, so it's not the book. Multiple subjects, so it's not just me. This reeks of paranormal activity. At the moment, I only know one expert in the paranormal who lives in Bedlam City, but she's good enough that she practically 'diagnosed' me on sight. Fortunately for me, Doctor Thorne's listed in the phone book. Unfortunately for me, I can't call her on the phone, so I'll have to drop in unannounced, and uninvited. Fortunately, near as I can tell, 'uninvited' isn't a problem for my kind after all. Just have to stop by the house first for a change of clothes." Aside from the black suit he was wearing, the suit he'd been buried in six years ago, he only owned one other piece of clothing: The costume of the urban legend he was building, "Mister Strix."

Tiff, are you sure? He said it's perfect for you.

I can give up my spot for Tiff.

Point of bookkeeping order: My last edit request dropped Mister Strix's Luck feat ranks. It's still pending, but you might wanna dock his HP total anyway. And he burned one HP back at the church to clear the fatigue from a power stunt.