Heritage

I am very intrigued!

1d20+10=24. Notice check That's *much* better!

1d20+3=6 Eek!

Shrike cupped her hands around her mouth a bellowed back, "I was hoping to ask you about your plan to start a war with Russia, and the ongoing NSA investigation into your illegal activities!" She shielded her eyes as she peered up into the sky. "I just hope their spy satellites can get my good side as easily as they can make out the insignia on your chopper!" Then she smiled and waved towards orbit. "Hi, NSA! Normally I'm kind of ambivalent about you, but today, I think you're awesome! Woo-hoo!" Was there an NSA satellite focused on her position? She had no idea, though for once she actually hoped so. But hopefully she could ruffle some feathers and make the old goat second guess himself. She continued to float in the air and wave towards the 'satellites'.

1d20+9=15

Yeah, figured there's a good chance they're all radio linked or something; just wanted to try something different, to show that Casey is more than just a flying brick. Will have my Init roll up in a minute

"Bluff, bluff, bluff the stupid robots!" 1d20+16=21 Meh. I never pictured Casey as a liar, but for tactical deception's sake, I'm sorely tempted to give her SM in Bluff

When the Soviet-bots blew up their boat, Casey winced as if in physical pain; all her clothes, gear and laptop were safely packed in waterproof, buoyant bags, but she wasn't sure if they were explosion-proof. Thank God I started backing up my files on the Cloud! Stuff could be replaced, but not their lives; it was time to focus and get back to work. The blonde heroine quietly climbed up on the crate to get a better a view when an idea struck her; not her best idea ever, but worth a try. Clearing her throat, she adjusted her vocal chords to match the odd metalic speach patterns of the robots before calling out, "ADOLESCENT HUMAN LOCATED ON FOREDECK ... MOVE TO HER LOCATION AND SUBDUE."

Grimalkin/Shrike (10) [Maxed] A Performance to Die For (1) Black Heart of Dagon (2) I've Got A Golden Ticket (3) Late Night Out (1) Ounce of Prevention (2) The Box of Delights (1) Miracle Girl (2) Cold War Relics (1) The Reunion of a Scout and a Genius (1) All points to MG

FreeSA grad, baby! 1d20+2=10 Well to be fair, that performance probably did take a lot out of her.

I cannot put into words how happy your post makes me; I am literally laughing out loud

Lynn stopped, grinned and raised her eyebrows. "Uh, you didn't think I was serious, did you? I don't want one of my regulars to be devoured by a demon he summoned by mistake!" Then she placed a friendly hand on his shoulder. "I know you'll figure it out, Sam. Hey, if you want, I've got an old friend who's a vodun priestess who might be able to help you out; y'know, give you a few pointers? She's really good at making fetishes out of household objects." Gretchen's brow furrowed as she put the rest of the notebooks back in the hidden bookshelves. "Is that Reena, the cop who fixed up Jezebel?" The changeling snorted. "She fixed up you, too! Who do you think made that medicine bag I gave you in the hospital?" Gretch visibly gasped as her fingers involunatarily traced the scars on her belly through her shirt. "Wow...," she murmered softly, her eyes now unfocsed with thought. "Anyway, there's still a ton of stuff to go through before you crack the Yiddish Code; let me know if you need any more help." And with that, she left them to it, Gretchen still thinking back to the night she nearly died as she absent-mindedly leaned up against one of the steamer trunks.

Gretchen shrugged and scuffed the carpet with her foot. "After the incident with the elevator, I was kind of scarred to wander off. Didn't want to get lost in an Escher engraving." Grim frowned ss she sniffed the air. "Yeah, I can see why. My dad used to show me old Doctor Who episodes on tape when I was little; that one 'Castrovalva', where they're trapped in an endless city, gave me nightmares for a week..." Then an idea hit her, and she snapped her fingers. "This is just like the mines of Mars during the War! Mile after mile of tunnels that all looked the same, especially after the Company took the signs down to confuse the Resistance." She reached out her hand and a small wooden statue appeared, looking a bit like an oversized chess piece, a knight to be precise. The changeling crouched down and placed it in the middle of the lobby between two hallways that went off in either direction. Standing back up, she nodded in satisfaction. "There! I'll drop one of these at every junction we reach; if my powers work here the same way they do back home, I can use these for spying or teleportation." The young barista frowned and crossed her arms. "And if they don't?" "Well, then we learn that, too. Let's go...that way!" She picked a seemingly random direction, and marched off; Gretchen shrugged, then filled her.

Thanks for posting that.

Lynn squinted slightly as she did her best to follow the pirate lady's rambling drunken narrative; most of the words were English, but she just strung them together oddly. In the end, she nodded and sighed. "Alright, fine; you've convinced me. Gretch, let the folks out there know we have to close the shop early today due to a family emergency." She held out her hand, and a number of colorful coupons appeared. "Hand these out with our apologies; once everyone's outside, lock the door and come on back." Gretchen nodded. "Got it." Once she was gone, the changeling stepped over to the bookcase behind her desk, waved her hand to dismiss part of the glamour, then punched in the code and yanked the door open. "Wait right here," she said to Flintlock as she slipped inside; a few moments later, she returned with the foul tome held out an arm's length, a look of obvious disgust on her face. Gretchen then came back in the office and nodded again. "Coast is clear."

Gretchen joined Samuel in his rueful appreciation of Al-Kazar's deviousness, grinning wryly and slowly shaking her head. "He was a wiley sonuvabitch, no doubt." Then her face lit up with cautious optimism. "Lynn reads Hebrew. She's a Conservative Jew who keeps kosher even when she can't eat, this should be no problem for her." A few seconds later, the store's owner showed up, clearly summoned telepathically; she offered the ex-con a warm smile and friendly wave. "Hey Sam! Let's see what you've got here." She took the notebook and peered down at it, then laughed. "Oh, man! You guys were close; it's not Hebrew, it's Yiddish! Uses the Hebrew alphabet, but it's mostly German with lots of Slavic loanwords, though I guess there is a lot of Hebrew peppered through it." She turned it over and shook her head. "Makes sense, though; no one outside of Israel or rabbinical school writes much in Hebrew these days, but lots of people from the Old Country used to use Yiddish. They used to have newspapers and everything." She jerked a thumb over her shoulder back towards the sales floor. "Actually, Mr. Levinsky or one of the other alte kakers might be able to figure it out; I don't think it's in code, but all I know of Yiddish is the stuff everyone knows: schmuck, shlep, putz, schlemiel, all the good ones." She shrugged and sighed. "Sorry I wasn't more useful."

It was starting to feel like Shark Week backstage; even with the power of the Three Gifts at her disposal, Gretch didn't think she stood a very good chance against these homicidal nimrods, at least not without her backup. It was time to hit them while they're guard was still down. It was times like this, when she was surrounded by a pack of undead predators, that Gretchen took comfort in one of Lynn's favorite maxims: when in doubt, freak 'em out. At first, she smiled liked a kid in a candy store. "Oh, I want it all! I want to party 'til my legs buckle. I want to-" But then she stopped abruptly like she'd been shot, her head snapping back violently. Then she began twist and contort her body like she was having some sort of seizure. And then her eyes rolled back and she began to float towards the f###ing ceiling as she howled like a banshee!

Shrike cocked her head to one side and looked thoughtful. "Two criminals are waiting at an abandoned factory, expecting a van to show up filled with stolen parts." She looked back towards they way they'd come in. "We could borrow the van and try to Trojan horse our way in. Gain the element of surprise." Then she sighed. "Really wish I hadn't let the air out of those tires now." Then she turned back to her two impromptu teammates and shrugged. "Just one suggestion. I'm open to any others."

Shrike shook her head and barked out a cynical laugh. "The Admiral's dirty? Should have seen that coming." She looked back toward the computer console, then up into the sky. "I guess we know who was targeting us. He must have had a spare set of keys." Then she finally started to lower her captive to the ground. When the chopper appeared bearing down on the them, the flying barista just sighed and crossed her arms. "Great. Now he's coming to kills us. You guys really need to pick better business partners." She looked over her shoulder and indicated the ground with a nod. "You might want to find some cover. I can't guarantee I can stop all his missiles." And with that, she rose up into the air, placing herself between the Sea-Stallion and the criminal element as she did her best to stare the helicopter down.

The changeling heard the pirate out as she described what they were all up against; she also did a few breathing exercises as she listened, and in a rare showing of PDA, Gretchen reached over and gently squeezed her shoulder. All of this helped her calm down and focus on what needed to be done. She tended to forget that not everyone could just wave their hand and conjure something out of nothing; many spellcasters needed to work with nasty and unsavory things to work their will upon the world. Hadn't she been freaked out by Morena Colby's vodun the first time she saw it? "Alright, you've made your point; Dagon is a serious threat and we have to work together on this." Lynn drummed her fingers on her desk as her eyes wandered around the room. "Okay, how much time to we have? Because I hate to say it, but I almost want to wait until dark to do this." Gretchen gave her partner her best 'are you s###ing me' look, to which the dark fae could only shrug. "Okay, call me crazy, but I don't want to shut the whole store down in the middle of the day while we go off into the woods to do this! I want to be able to focus on this thing without distraction; plus, you know you and me are at our best when we have darkness on our side." Her assistant manager turned to Flintlock and gestured back towards Lynn. "Please tell her this is the worst idea ever."

At the mention of her father's work, Casey grew somewhat uncomfortable. "My dad is...very old school, very traditional; he still sees me as 'daddy's little girl' even though I'm practically bulletproof. It was a big leap letting me come out East. But, he does have a lot of experience with the whole hero thing." She paused and looked thoughtful for a few seconds. "Actually, I think he's even been to outer space; he was seriously freaked out when the Lor homeworld was destroyed. Which might not make him super into the whole space thing, now that I think about it..." The blonde powerhouse was quiet for a while as she chewed her pizza between mouthfuls of Coke, looking off into space as she pondered her future. At length, she wiped her hands and face with a paper napkin, then nodded with firm resolve. "You know what, let's do this; let's start working on the ship and let's start training. I mean like hardcore; if I want to convince Daddy that I've got what it takes to survive out there-" And here she emphatically jabbed a finger into the sky. "Then I've got to be able to show him what I can I do." Casey hopped up to her feet and adopted a dramatic pose, legs apart and fists clenched at her sides. "I need to be tougher, stronger and faster than ever before!" She looked down at her friend, her eyes alive with passion and hope. "Will you help me, Saku-chan? Will you help me be all I can be?" And then just as suddenly, she giggled and covered her face. "Oh God! Never tell my dad I quoted an Army recruitment ad!"

Gretchen snorted and shook her head as she continued to study the back of the cabinets, looking for some sort of hidden catch. "I'm actually nothing special." She held her left hand up, allowing the Ring of Power to catch the light. "This little guy and the other two Gifts do all the heavy lifting. I'm basically just a girl with some nifty toys." But then a look of realization spread over her face as she took a step back from the three cabinets. "Heavy lifting..." Then she looked down at the Ring and laughed. "Of course." She began to slowly raise her hand and squinted one eye. "If I had a magic ring that could move objects without touching them, I'd lock up my valuables behind a lock that had no key..." The cabinets rattled and shook, first this way then that, as Gretchen began to probe them with invisible intangible hands, feeling for the secret mechanism. "It's actually one whole piece. He just made it to look like three seperate cabinets. Incredible." She screwed up her face in concentration, like someone fishing for a quarter that fell down a drain. "I think...I've got it..." There was a deep metalic clank from inside the ingenious wooden contraption, almost like a railroad switch being thrown, and then the whole thing slid forward on hidden rollers, creaking as it came; as it did so, a pair of slender bookcases slid out, one from either side, each filled with neat little notebooks with crisp red leather spines. Lynn's assistant let out her breath all in a rush as she dropped her hand to her side. "Damn that thing was heavy! Let's see what we have here." She traced a row of spines with a gloved finger, noting some faint squiggles on each one. "Not sure what kind of system he had. We'll just pull one at random and see-" She carefully turned to the first page, and then her face went blank. "Oh s###." She flipped a few pages a bit faster than Sam would've liked, and then to his horror actually dropped the notebook as she yanked out another. She flipped through that one even faster, and then dropped that one too as she yanked out a third before she stopped, the pages held tightly between her fingers as she looked up at Sam with baleful eyes. "Oh Sam...I'm so sorry." She turned the book so he could finally see the pages; there were indeed many beautiful illustrations, of what looked like either some sort of summoning ritual or maybe a protective ward, but... The text was all in Hebrew; pages and pages of it, filling all the notebooks in intricate script. The Amazing Al-Kazar really was protective of his secrets...

Grimalkin/Shrike (18) [Maxed] A Performance to Die For (3) Black Heart of Dagon (5) I've Got A Golden Ticket (5) Late Night Out (2) Ounce of Prevention (1) The Box of Delights (2) Miracle Girl (7) Cold War Relics (4) The Reunion of a Scout and a Genius (3) All points to MG.

Grim's powers were normally a bit weirder than Starlight's, so she wasn't quite as unnerved as Sam was, though the multiple perspectives thing was pretty novel. Once she realized she was herself again (so to speak), she looked around the odd little lobby and noticed Gretchen huddled down on the carpet. Thank goodness, she looks alright! When Sam checked up on Gretch, the sarcastic barista looked very young and small crouched on the floor, but a friendly face quickly seemed to rouse her as her eyes lit up with hope. "Is that actually you, Sam? A place like this tends to make you a bit paranoid." But then her gaze landed on Lynn, and she launched herself up and practically flung herself at the changeling, crushing her in a fierce hug. "Lynn!" Her carefully constructed facade began to crumble as tears of relief and joy wet her cheeks. "I knew you woudn't leave me! I knew it, I knew it! Oh God, I'm happy to see you guys!" For her part, Grim seemed shocked by the intensity of Gretchen's feelings, but happily returned the hug just the same. "Hey, hey, it's alright! Of course, we were coming to get you!" Then she disentangled herself from her ecstatic employee and paced around the extradimensional space, hands on her hips. "Though now that we're here, we still need to figure out how to get home." Gretchen once again composed herself, apparently deeply embarrassed by her emotional display. "The, ah, door just heads out into a void. Anything that goes out there reappears back in here."

Backstage, Gretchen let her eyes wander about the room as she took a seat on the sofa, trying to take in everything. Blacked-out window probably means sunlight's a problem. Too bad sunrise is several hours away. Any drink they offered her would almost certainly be drugged or worse; even bottled war could be tampered with in undetectable ways, especially if these guys were using magic. A certain amount of caution on young women's part involving drinks was normal these days, and didn't necessarily mean you suspected your hosts were vampires, but she was trying to sell the idea that she'd already drunk the proverbial Kool-Aid, so too much caution might make them suspicious. Time to make a compromise and pray to the God she didn't believe in. She turned to the girl (the damn fine girl) and smiled. "I'll take a bottled water."