RocketLord

OOC for this. @BingoBongo

GM The West End March 6th, 11:00 PM The Seeker had been seeking. According to his contacts, someone had been making the rounds in world of organized crime in Freedom City, especially in West Freedom. Whoever it was had done a great job of staying under the radar of the police and heroes of Freedom City. After all, some lowlives going missing was hardly what would get the Freedom League to come running, but they were growing bolder. Perhaps it was because of their success. Perhaps they were simply moving up the food chain, or they wanted to make a statement. Whatever the cause, it was creating a measure on instability in the West End, and innocents could end up in the crossfire. As an added bonus, the culprit was rumored to have a connection to the Labyrinth. But, he was not an easy man to find. All the Seeker knew was that he was called the Talon. The Seeker had been following a lead to the West End. One of the Talon's potential safehouses, located in an apartment building just North of Greenbank, not far from the old railyards. Approaching from the outside, the building seemed unassuming. Some youths on the street. A man in a nice suit leaned against a wall, reading something on his phone. The groundfloor held a bar. The safehouse was supposed to be on the sixth floor of the eight story building.

Tricia doesn't appear as trouble as one would expect in this situation. She's strangely calm, actually.

Right. This. Was. Maybe not. Her best idea. Robin wasn't in bad shape, but even then, this was not just a jog in the park. Not climbing at this speed. Finally pulling herself up near a window, she looked in and well... alarms were blaring. And the attacker, no matter who or what it was, was nowhere to be seen. Fine. No time to waste, then. Figure out what's going on, stop people from getting hurt, and then try and get something on this place. Had to be a reason for someone to break in here aside from her, and hopefully, it would be something that could help her. Booting up the engines humming in her leg armor, Robin moved towards the reinforced glass, delivering a quick kick at it, before making her way inside. Sure, an alarm would go off, but that wasn't really important right now. Once inside, she stopped and listened for a moment, then made her way towards the noise caused either by people screaming or the attacker. Get to them, find out what's going on, quick as she can. No need to exercise later, after all.

Well, no eyes! That made the entire masquerade quite unnecessary, did it not? With a sigh, Pan dismissed the image of nothing and the classroom around them, making them all very visible as Oswald began unleashed magic and fire while shouting about strange things that were probably not here at all. It did appear that he was not attempting to trick the Mushroom Men, but were rather lost in hallucinations from having had a taste of the Mushroom Mountain. He should probably not have done that, should he? At least the Fun Guy was being useful! They sense tremors beneath their feet, these Mushroom Men? Then he should make none, Pixie Dust falling from him as his feet lifted from the ground, floating up, higher into the cave. See what would happen now that Oz had made his move, then make his own. And probably not get too close to those Mushroom Men. Infect was such a nasty word.

Alright, that was a Sense Motive for the gunman. Let's get some more. Two Sense Motive rolls: 1 for Tricia, 1 for Simon.

GM The leader appeared to be annoyed by Buddy, quickly approaching him, he pulled out a smaller sidearm, placing it directly at Buddy's forehead. "Well then, Mr. Brand, then I suppose all the rich and famous people here have better hurry, don't you think?" He pushed the gun a bit into Buddy's forehead before pulling back and holstering it again, then turning back to the cameras, pointing at them with his rifle. "You hear that, everyone out in TV-land? You better make hurry up and get those payments processed, or we'll make sure that everybody here loses! You heard it from Buddy Brand himself!" Around the room at the tables, more than a few of the guests had started using their phones, texting or calling or just starting bank transfers themselves. It seemed that even if Buddy Brand had started standing up to the gunmen, they were not quite as brave. Further away, Tricia Thorne had been handcuffed, her arms behind her back. She struggled a bit, but did not seem entirely uncomfortable. Maybe not her first time in cuffs? And Simon was sitting by a table, looking around.

"Prost, indeed!" Pan agreed, clinking the glass together with Zenith's before mimicking her way of drinking. If this was how you drank something like this, then he would do just that! He drank, bottle held high and the sweet fruity tamarind did honestly not taste like anything he had tried before. He had, based on the color at least, suspected it would be something like cola, something sweet, bubbly, but this was different! And it was good! Finally, bottle emptied, he set it down hard on the table, clanging loudly, before moving on to the next. The nachos were cruncy and somewhat salty, yes, a perfect combination with the soft cheese. He could hardly keep up with Zenith, but he tried anyway, laughing in between bites. "I love these! All these crunchy things! I do not think we had anything like this back home!" And then another mouthful of nachos silenced him.

@Cubismo: Alright, as Salvo has made very clear, her soul is on the line here, which means Pan's friends are in danger of getting hurt. Would that be enough to trigger Pan's I'll hold you in my heart, until I can hold you in my arms complication for you? I'm aware its kind of vague, but I'll be doing some work on his complications soontm. And just to confirm: Since last combat, where he had 2HP, Pan has spent 1, so he's currently at 1HP, right? If the complication isn't triggered, at least.

Forever Boy Now, this was exciting. Not just something new to experience, but something that was normally entirely hidden away from anything else. Pan was excited, of course. And the teleporter! He had never tried anything quite like that before. Well, that was not entirely true. He had never tried anything like that before where he actually knew where he was going and was ready for it. And then they were hit with the sand and yes, that was not really pleasant at all, the way it was flying everywhere and getting everywhere and just blegh. With Micah creating a zone of calm around them, he quickly moved up and slapped his roommate on the back, a huge grin spreading over his lips. "That was amazing!" It was great, really, because he was obviously not dressed for a sandstorm at all. Pan had heard desert, so he had thought hot, so he was dressed in a pair of dark green shorts that went right past his knees and no further, and a lighter green t-shirt with a white wing design on his back. Not really dressed by for the weather at all. Hearing Nicole's question, he quickly moved up to hear and Veronica. "That's impressive. Guess we will get to see some of all the old things, then."

No bonus there, since it was more about distinguishing amongst the number of very similar things, sorry.

GM "Sure, sure. You guys go ahead." With a sigh, the guard turned around, looking out into the darkness and trying to light up. Maybe he was looking for Talon, maybe for the murderer? Who knew, aside from himself? At least it meant that Talon had free access to the victim. It took a little bit of effort, but he managed to open the victim's mouth and extract a small, round ball. It was bright red, and it could appear to be a ball gag at first, but there was something else. An edge, running around the side of the ball. Like it could be separated. Whatever else, it seemed pretty clear that the red ball had been placed there by someone else, probably after the damage had been done to the victim.

Alright, I'll roll to see if the guard turns back around in time to see you trying to grab the thing in the victim's mouth or not! 1d4: If I roll a 4, he turns: 2 Alright, can I get a Dex check to see how much you disturb the victim's body, aside from opening the mouth?

Well, yes, Penny was right of course. Which was why Pan had tried to at least throw his voice elsewhere with the aid of his illusion, but Lorenzo had no such skill or knowledge. Or ability to tell a joke, mangling even one as bad as the one that Pan had tried to feed him! Really, this Black Rose was hopeless in the realm of humor, as dull as the gas that he was made of. And then Oz took the stage. With little fanfare, Pan changed the image of nothing he had created about them, making Oz very visible, leaving the rest hidden still. If Oz were to try his hand, he would have to be seen. And no longer was it simply an image of nothing around them, it was instead the middle of a grand lecture hall, with desks and blackboards and what had you. Just something to try and help whatever Oz was trying. Though if that didn't work, maybe some cutstabbing would be in place.

That thing was quick. How was it that Robin always ended up not having whatever tool or upgrade on hand for the situations she ended up in? Not that she thought building a jetpack or something like that would be easy. Just finding a power source would be a pain... and it had taken her months to get her suit this far already. Alright, fine. Doors closed, so she could probably have ducked inside when she had the chance, but no chance for that yet, even if she had to question the idea of going into full lockdown when someone had already smashed a hole in the roof to get in. Up the fire escape, as fast as she could, then. It gave Robin a moment to think, at least. All the way up? Not easy, but would only be breaking, not breaking and entering. On the other hand? People were screaming. At least scared, probably in danger. As soon as she saw a window, she would smash through it and get inside. It had to be faster to get in like that. And quickly try to make sure that whoever was on the other side that she was here to help against whatever was breaking in.

GM "Yeah, that is slim pickings. Not really worth our time, Mr. Brand." The gunmen's apparent leader seemed to know Buddy, not that it was a great surprise. "You go sit down, and nobody gets hurt. I don't want to shoot anyone, but some of the guys here would love nothing more than to put a bullet in your pretty little heads." He turned around, pointing with his rifle towards the some of the three cameras placed around the room. There were still someone stationed at each, and a gunman had taken his place next to each. "Listen up, anybody watching out there! We're here for money, nothing else! Look at all the rich and famous people in here, how much do you think they're worth? Five million? 50? Nah, we'll go high. Bidding starts at 1 billion." The gunmen by the cameras took out a strip of paper each, holding it in front of the cameras, while other gunmen moved around the tables, putting the papers out of the table. "Everyone in here, show how great you are at working together! You gathered so much money for the poor refugees, now go get some for us! You got an hour, then we start shooting!"

Can I get a Sense Motive check?

Last batch of my certification course coming up. Won't be online much, if at all from 20th to 22nd. And days before that might see reduced posting too. Sorry for people I'll be holding up!

Go ahead

The Killbots? What? Was this lady serious? And then she ran off leaving Robin alone, and did she really talk about Killbots while going to call security about somebody flying down and attacking their roof? But right, whoever the figure was, they seemed really intent on getting into the building, so maybe Robin should actually try to use that and get inside, too. So, time for Justice, then. Ducking away and out of sight as best as she could, Robin reached into her jacket pocket to pull out her domino mask, quickly putting it on. No reason to have someone actually see her out of uniform when she transformed. Then, activate the program on her phone. Upgraded belt ready. Not the first time she took this upgraded suit out for a spin, but first time in public. Program activated. Command sent, and in no time at all, the new and improved Justice armor expanded out over Robin's clothes. First the red undersuit, then the new armor plating, finally the new helmet. The design was different from her previous suit, sure, but it was a huge upgrade. Better protection, better power. And with the red scarf appearing from her neck, she rushed forward towards the building. There had to be some way to get up to the roof.

Storytime The night was dark in the small home. The fading light from the starts outside the window barely illuminated the young boy's room as he sat in his bed, his grandmother by his side. "Grandmother, please tell me a story," the boy asked. "A story?" the grandmother replied, a smile on her lips. "Yes, please! You know the one! My favorite!" "Your favorite, you say? And which one would that be?" Of course she knew. She knew her child well, after all. "You know the one! Come on! The story about the Forever Boy!" "Well, I suppose I do. I guess you have been good." And so, she started telling the tale. --- "Once upon a time, there was a boy. He was not just any ordinary boy, mind you. He did not live with his mother or father, like you or every other child out there. In fact, as far as he could remember, the boy had never even met them. " "Did he ever miss his parents?" the boy asked. Of course he was not tired yet. "Maybe he did, maybe he did not. He never told me. Now, no interruptions." "As luck would have it, the boy was found by the Pixies while he was but a baby. So young, so small, all alone in the world. The Pixies were worried, but they could not find the child's parents. Despite their worry, they decided to leave the child behind. After all, while he might be a boy now, he would one day be a man, and the Pixies had learned to stay hidden from man. The boy was silent, watching the bright lights as they flew about him, watching the glowing dust as it fell around him. And then he laughed. And the Pixies could no longer leave the child." "The Pixies brought the baby to the Wish Isle, carried by dust, smiles and laughter. They named him Pan. There, the baby grew. He laughed, he learned, he flew. The Pixies were perhaps not the best to raise a child, but he wanted for nothing, and he learned much in the ways of trickery. He ran, he jumped, he swam and he grew. The baby became a boy, and the Pixies feared that one day, he would become a man." "What did they do?" the boy's voice asked, hidden under his covers. "Do you know why Pixies can fly and glow? How they never seem to grow and change? It is all because of their Pixie Dust. And sixteen years after they found the child, the Pixies gifted him with Pixie Dust. Like the Pixies, he would fly, and now, he would forever be a boy." "For uncounted years, Pan continued to live amongst the Pixies. Like them, he was now forever. Like them, he revelled in fun and laughter, in tricks and games, in adventure and stories. Until one day, when he saw a magnificent ship on the sky. Pan had never thought about the world outside Wish Isle. Why would he? As far as he knew, Wish Isle was the world. He was intrigued, he was amazed. There was a whole world out there, one that he had never seen. The Pixies did not approved, but they were small, and they would not decide for the boy. And so, the Forever Boy flew out into the world." The boy had peeked up from under his covers now, his long black hair standing in every direction. "He flew to New Avalon, where he followed the route that would one day become the Great Canal. He visisted Trader's Haven, flying amongst the shops and vendors, playing tricks on the guards and the working men. He would be seen, and he would disappear. He spent years in New Avalon, never aging, never changing, and the story of the Forever Boy spread." "In Victori, he flew amongst the stars, his Pixie Dust trailing behind him, charting new stars across the sky. He was a light in the darkness, a story told to children. Behave, or the Forever Boy comes your way!" The boy was shocked. "Was the Forever Boy bad?" The grandmother smiled, shaking her head. "No, not at all. But some times, grown ups tell stories to make their children behave, do they not? The Forever Boy was laughter and smile, he was adventure and story. He met the people of the seas, he saw the turtle islands. He was everything that he wanted to be, on an endless adventure, never ceasing, never ending." "And then, one day, he met a girl." "WENDY!" the boy happily chimed in. "Now, who is telling the story here?" She was not mad, of course not. "But yes, he met Wendy and her siblings. It was a coastal city, once a great and shining place of commerce. Until the Hooked Man and his Sky-Pirates came. They had all but destroyed the once shining city, reducing it to rubble. Few were left, and for the first time, the Forever Boy knew evil. He was horrified. How could he not be? After all, for longer than he knew, he had seen only good, and now, evil had come to his world. For a time, he travelled with Wendy and her family. He learned much in those journeys, he saw beauty and horror. He grew close with Wendy and her family. He protected them, learned of new ways to use the Pixie Dust that had once been used for nothing but fun and laughter. To Pan, time passed quickly, and one day, Wendy was no longer a child. She and her family had settled in a new place, and Pan bid his farewell." "He flew through the night, he flew through the world. Now he knew evil, and his adventure had changed. As his tricks and jests delighted the world, he fought for us all. He fought the Sky-Pirates across the clouds. He traded blows with Whale Hunter. Even the Hooked Man himself would come to know and hate the Forever Boy! He became a light in the dark, flying across the sky, and for the first time since the Hooked Man first appeared, we knew hope." The grandmother grew silent, smiling. The boy was almost sleeping now. Good. "But... grandmother... where is he now? The Hooked Man is still out there? What about the Forever Boy?" So tired, the words barely coming out. The grandmother smiled, lightly stroking the boy's hair as he laid on his pillow, his eyes almost closed. "Oh, he is still out there, of course. Still on his never ending adventure." --- With a sigh, the child gave in. And the grandmother stood up, a smile on her lips, before she abruptly turned away from him, made her ways towards the windows and threw them open, coming face to face with a glowing boy. "Hello Pan." "Hello, Wendy. It appears that you have grown older still." She smiled. Of course he meant no insult. "That is how time is, my boy. It catches up to all of us. Well, except for you, perhaps." He returned the smile, landing windowsill, looking in at the boy. "You left out quite a few things, did you not?" The old woman laughed, shaking her head. "He is a child. Let him have his innocence a bit longer." She paused. Something was wrong, she could feel it. "Why are you here? It has been years since your last visit." Pan was silent for a moment. "We might have found a way to stop the Hooked Man. I hope so, at least. If we can find the Crocodile... Even he should not be able to stop it. We have a lead, maybe we can finally end it." Wendy shook her head. "The Crocodile. I wish you best of luck, but you do realize how absurd that sounds, do you not?" Of course he knew. But it was an adventure, and the only thing that might work. And with his never-ending smile on his lips, the Forever Boy said "Goodbye, Wendy. I will see you soon." But even he knew that was a lie.

Lend Forever Boy your power! Anything that can help him, anything to circumstance bonuses, be it knowledge or theatrics! And then we'll scam Baal out of his pants, if it comes to it!

At least Nicole backed down from signing the contract in one fell swoop, actually thinking it through a bit more. Good, great! Whatever troubles the two of them had from their past encounter, Pan did not wish to see her in a bad contract with a devil like Baal. No, that would be a most horrible fate. Pan listened intently, more focused than either of his fellow students had seen him yet. He read through the contract. There had to be something, some loophole, something they could exploit to turn the contract back on Baal. The weapon that Nicole were to make had to make a difference? Did it say anything about in what way? Weakening Baal's forces would be a difference, would it not? But of course he had clauses for that. Yes, Baal was good. A true trickster, it seemed. Pan had managed to speak fast and smart enough to give the devil pause so far, but this contract seemed ironclad. Nothing that could be done without making serious amendments, and he doubted that Baal would accept any of that. And then a light was lit, an idea was formed, as Nicole relayed her concerns. It was low. And Baal was supposed to be anything but low, was he not? He was not something like the three beasts that they had so easily dispatched, he was something much more. And he had pride, and he had peers, and they could see weakness, and according to Nicole, weakness was just what Baal was showing right now. His idea was half-formed by now, but rapidly growing. But he would need to know more. Just a little bit more. "Demons are prideful, and hide their weakness, then. I imagine there is lots of competition in Hell, and Baal is aiming to gain ground? I say we play to that desperation. No deal, we do not need it." If he was alone, Pan would have tried already, but he wanted to be sure. He was not alone, after all, and was that not a wonderful thing? "Tell me, who would come for Baal, and who could reach them? Anything that can be used, anything you know. Then I will scream and shout, if that is what it comes to. He will not take anyone here."

GM "Right. No point in looking for that Talon guy. Guy probably didn't do it anyway, and he's far away by now." At least the guard seemed to be on Talon's side in this, even if the officers didn't seem fully convinced. "Sure." The lead officer moved closer to the body. "Hey, look at this. Guy's got something stuck in his mouth." Another officer reached up for it, but the lead, a man with a brown greying moustache, stopped him by slapping away his hand. "Gotta wait for forensics, buddy." With a sigh and a muttering about newbies, he made another command. "Alright, spread out and search the area. See if you can spot anything. You," he paused and pointed at the guard, "stay right here, make sure nobody messes with the vic. Forensics should be here soon." Then he turned away, spreading into the darkness around the train car with the rest of the officers, leaving just the guard behind.

Police notice roll: 12 Silent as ghost!