Heritage
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It is indeed true that flattery will get you everywhere; now it was Lynn's turn to smile and get a little pink, mostly in the cheeks, but also the tips of her pointed ears, though thankfully her curly hair hid them. "Well, I like to think he'd...appreciate the effort." She cocked her head to one side. "Wow; not too many people know Great-Grampa Ira these days; you must really be a true fan." Then she lowered her voice and leaned forward conspiratorially; her hair smelled really good. "You know...I still have some of his things in back in storage; his first turban...a few of his scimitars...the mirror from the Mirror Illusion..." Then she gave him an innocent look that wasn't remotely innocent. "Wanna come see?" Gretchen rolled her eyes and shook her head; yep, the boss was laying it on awful thick.
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Lynn gracefully inclined her head. "A pleasure, Mr. Steiner. Is there anything I can help you find today?" Something about this guy struck her as familiar, but she couldn't put her finger on it; luckily her assistant was but a thought away. - Google 'Samuel Steiner' and any connection with magic; see if you get anything. - - I'm on it. Let me see...okay...yep, a Samuel Steiner, aka 'Presto the Preposterous', served five years for crimes involving mystical powers; before that, he performed on stage under the same name. Looks like I was right. - - Not necessarily, but thanks. - During this mental exchange, she appeared to give Sam her undivided attention, though to be honest she was probably going to miss a detail or two.
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Lynn's assistant pursed her lips and narrowed her eyes slightly, though a hint of amusement, and therefore a trace of warmth, danced behind her eyes. "Perhaps the owner might be able to help you better, sir; let me see if I can catch her eye..." She leaned to one side as she sent another sending her boss's way. - Hey Boss Lady. I think we have another Hogwarts grad up here at the counter. - - Is he cute? He looks cute from here. What house? - - Yes, he is very cute. And I'm thinking Slytherin. - - Oh, you think everyone's in Slytherin! Not everyone interested in magic is an awful person, y'know! - - My bullet scars and I prefer to remain judgmental. - - Fine, I'll be right there. - Turning back to the 'handsome devil', Gretchen smiled like a cat. "Oh look. Here she comes now." - Give it to him with both barrels, boss. - - You know it! - A very attractive- wow, scratch that; an extremely attractive woman stepped over to greet the curious customer; her smile was warm, her eyes dark and mysterious, and curly brown hair tumbled down to her shoulders. She held out a warm, soft hand with a surprisingly strong grip in greeting. There was a hint of a family resemblance to the posters of the store's founder on the walls, and her voice flowed like sweet butterscotch. "Hello, I'm Lynn Epstein, owner of Silberman's Books. How can I help you today, Mister...?" - Pure. Evil. -
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Lynn kept looking in the direction Gretchen went, but she turned back to Sam once she was asked a question. "Uh, no, I don't think I did. So right before Bill and I were about to go on our honeymoon to Yosemite, a weird portal opened in the parking lot behind our motel; it was this...crackpot inventor from back on his world named Otis T. Rosewater." She chuckled and shook her head. "Crazier than a bag of cats, but brilliant, just brilliant. Somehow he'd managed to track Colt to our world, and threw together a 'dimensional rift projector' out of spare parts to come find him. There was trouble back home, and he needed Colt's help." And here she stopped and fiddled with her napkin. "Now the thing of it is, travel between our world and Colt's isn't easy, because time doesn't move at the same rate there." She held her hands out, palms touching, and began to slide one past the other. "Time there moves almost thirty times faster than it does here, relative to our world. Pretty much everyone Bill knew back home had been dead for decades, so...for a number of reasons, he wasn't too eager to go back. But Otis was insistent, and as he laid out the circumstances, the situation did indeed sound, well, awful, and he swore he could get him back to our world less than a day after he left." The changeling clasped her hands and sighed; she was starting to tear up. "My husband of three days looked at me and said, 'Darlin', I have to go.' And I said, 'Not without me, you're not!' And so we went...and we dealt with the situation, like good guys do...but in the course of our little offworld adventure, poor Otis died; such a...brave, crazy little man." She was really struggling now. "So it turns out...Otis was not, in fact, an inventor; he was actually a reality warper who unconsciously used his so-called 'inventions' as a crutch. None of them worked once he was gone. So, we were stuck." Lynn looked at Sam with those same ancient eyes she'd seen the first day they met, though now they were filled with tears. "I was gone for three years." And then she went back to eating. "You do the math."
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Okay, Phantasmo is a hoot, so I think this has to happen! Maybe two different threads; Sam and Gretchen in one, along the lines I proposed above, and then Echo, Gretch and Phantasmo in another? We'll need plots and GMs, of course.
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Gretchen stood up a little straighter at the hot guy's approach, and her best approximation of a flirty smile touched her lips. "Oh yeah, we should have a few; I'm surprised you didn't-" Then she stopped herself and cocked her head to one side, the hint of a smile quickly driven away. "Wait, Un-Natural Geographic? I'm not familiar with that magazine; give me a sex- sec!" Her cheeks went bright pink as she intently focused on her computer screen, her fingers nimbly dancing across the keyboard like a concert pianist. Stupid cute guy! Let's see what weird s### he's into...oh, of course he is. Well, then. Her composure now returned, Gretchen's face went neutral as she reported her findings. "Sir, I regret to inform you that we do not have that particular periodical in stock. If there's a specific issue you're looking for, we may be able to order it for you through our network of suppliers." She was still standing up straight, but her demeanor was now strictly professional...though she did still check him out from time to time, because duh!
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Sam and Gretchen would probably be easier to set up, so we can go with that, but a future thread with Echo also sounds like a good idea; had no idea her backstory was so cool and twisted! Gretchen set up a webpage for Grim that she monitors for her, and sometimes people send her cries for help and the like; normally, Gretch screens them and passes the important ones on to her boss. But many one day she gets one that's particularly urgent and Lynn's not available; she doesn't feel comfortable tackling it alone, so maybe she meekly asks Sam for help?
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Who are we waiting on right now?
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Lynn winced and thumped herself on the head. "Duh, I forgot about that! Boy, that's going to make things like driver's licences a challenge, though I guess people like us have workarounds for transport." The changeling paused to breathe in the damp air, then continued. "It's awesome that Freedom has a school like that; wish we'd had a Nicholson on Bill's world. Our kids grew up kinda feral; a little of formal school here and there, lots of tutoring, some home schooling. We traveled so much the early years, it was hard to have any sort of consistency." She smiled at a memory. "But we always read to them; that part never changed." Then she got a faraway look in her eye. "Ruthie became a pilot, a damn good one. Zach took over the family business, runs a bounty hunting firm with twelve agents. And Jon-Jon...well, they can't all grow up to be good guys..." Lynn's face crumpled into a mask of regret as she trudged along In silence.
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Silberman's Books. Friday, January 15th, 2016, 11:15 am. Lynn Epstein was not a fan of the sort of 'roller coaster' winter they were having this year; true, her fae physiology meant extreme temperature variations didn't bother her as much, but they were still irritating, and more importantly very hard on her mortal staff. Her assistant manager Kiki was home fighting a nasty bug, and Maddy's apartment had become a modern-day plague house, with her, her partner and child all sick and bedbound. So this Friday morning saw the store manned by all of three people in their brown Silberman's aprons: Lynn, her ever-reliable assistant and battle buddy Gretchen, and the indomitable Lance, barista extraordinaire. Many of the patrons were shuffling about and coughing, holding wads of tissue and/or wearing disposable face masks, giving the place a somewhat dismal air. But the store itself looked much the same: a combined front counter and espresso bar, several small tables and chairs for patrons, tidy bookshelves crammed with books, and walls covered with old movie stills and posters from the Golden Age of Magic, depicting such luminaries as Houdini, Blackstone, Thurston, Carter and of course the store's founder, the Amazing Al-Kazar. The morning rush was finally drawing to a close, giving Gretchen a chance to catch her breath and fix herself a quick espresso shot as she surveyed the store; today, she wore a green flannel shirt with rolled-up sleeves, black jeans and her favorite Doc Martin's. She had several of her favorite piercings in her ears, and her arm tats were clearly visible. Beside her, Lance wore classic reprint Star Wars t-shirt, jeans and a black bandana covered with tiny skulls on his head. The overall feeling of crappy winter and illness put Gretchen in a darkly humorous mood, and she sent a whimsical sending to Lynn out on the floor via the magic ring on her left hand. -"Bring out your dead!"- -Tell me about it! I keep expecting one of those skeletons from a Hieronymus Bosch painting to show up.- For her part, the attractive store owner wore a sand-colored Irish fisherman's sweater, comfy jeans and light hiking boots; being immune to illness herself, she took the lead on the sales floor, greeting patrons and offering suggestions.
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So I'm hoping to bump Grim's sidekick Gretchen to PL10 in the next few months, but I don't think she's logged enough field time to justify it. Any street-level heroes looking for a team-up? The Shrike is basically a PL8 mash-up of Robin (minus the high-end martial arts) and Dr. Fate, or as I call her, 'MTV's Daria with a Power Ring'.
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I tagged Blue Jay and Starlight here, not because I consider them part of a Silberman's 'team', but due to work association If you guys want either of them removed, let me know.
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Silberman's Books [15EP] Size: Small [0EP] Toughness: +10 [1EP] Features: [14EP] Communications Computer Fire Prevention System Gym Library Living Space Powers 4 (120PP, see below) Security System 2 (DC 30) Workshop (Electronic, Magical) Powers: [120PP] Concealment 1 (ESP Effects, Extras: Area [General, Burst], Duration [Continuous], Feats: Progression [Area] 4 [100ft/rank = 100ft radius], Selective)[9PP] (Magic Wards) Dimensional Pocket 2 (Flaw: Range [Touch], 250 lbs.) [2PP] (Magical Safe) Nullify 12 (Summon, Super-Movement [Dimensional Travel], and Teleport Effects of Any Descriptor, Extras: Action 3 [Reaction], Area [General, Burst], Duration 3 [Continuous], Selective, Flaws: Range [Touch], Feats: Progression [Area] 1 [10ft/rank = 120ft radius]) [109PP] (Magic Wards)
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When her claws failed to make as much of a scratch on Cultist Lady's person, Grim pursed her lips and nodded. "Okay, my mistake; you're actually kind of a badass!" Then she heard the sound of pounding feet from the doorway, and she sharply sucked air between her teeth. "Jeez Louise, this is a private ritual, people! No paparazzi allowed!" She did a quick backflip to get out of Lady Marbleskin's reach, then threw up her hand in the direction of the doorway; she couldn't see much through the smoke, but her audio picture of the room was still pretty sharp. Within the open door frame she conjured up a thick barricade of solid oak, one solid foot deep and filling the entire space; it did nothing to stop the goons already in the room, but at least it would keep out any more unwanted guests, though through a trick of her will she or any of her companions could walk through it like smoke.
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Unarmed Attack roll: 1d20+10=20 Grapple check: 1d20+20=22 Edit: Sorry, I messed up the post, not the roll!
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PHOTOBOMB'D BY HGM This is a minor one, but Gretchen's pic has been broken forever, and I'd like to swap it with one that I think fits the character as she's been developing a bit better.
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When the lioness she hit suddenly went 'poof', a light bulb suddenly went off over Casey's head. They not real lions; they're solid light projections or something like that. Which makes sense, because since when to lions rob banks? The last little bit of residual Girl Scout guilt she felt over beating up such magnificent creatures disappeared just as quickly, and a confident smirk spread across her face. "You're nothing but a pack of phonies! Sorry, pride!" And with that she reached out to grab the closest lioness around the neck, fully intending to flip her over her shoulder and hurl her against the wall.
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Hmmm; further proof that things that look cool in movies are usually too risky to pull off in rpgs It will probably just be easier to hit one of the two that are still on her. Edit: Alright, looks like we'll still have a bit of a grapple situation; so I take it that's two Attack rolls, one for the grab, the other for the throw?
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And Eyeglass Adjusting The one idea I'd considered was that there was a defunct school paper called something like the Claremont Courier that Casey might ask for permission to revive as a sort of intranet blog. Her maternal grandfather is a retired newspaper man who used to work for the Miami Herald who was a big influence on her growing up; she knows that the age of the print newspaper is rapidly drawing to a close, but the romantic notion of working for a paper still appeals to her, so she would rather work on it with others than as a solo project, though she would go it alone if no other students are interested. Part of the reason I'd like to do something like this is because Casey is almost completely disconnected from Claremont; I think she's the only PC left in the junior class, and she has almost no contact with the large sophomore class, which I'd really like to change.
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This year, still in its infancy, has already been most unkind. I would never have thought either of them was 69; both were vital, talented artists until the end.
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I'm assuming it would be internal only. And yes, I was also thinking some sort of web-based concept for the modern era.
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Hmmm; my first thought is for Casey to grab both her lions, fly straight up and slam them into the ceiling, but I don't think the rules allow for a dual slam attack. Could she at least do that with one of them? I take it that would involve a grapple attempt.
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Hmm. I rthink Grim wants to level the playing field a bit, or at least keep anymore jokers from joining the party. She will attempt to block anyone else from entering the room, conjuring up a thick wooden barrier to block the door; any sort of rolls you'd like me to make for that, Geez? Edit: the barrier would be Selective, allowing Grim, Kingsnake or Brandish to pass through it, but no one else.
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Cannonade was right, they couldn't keep this charade going on forever. Taking a firm grasp of the gurney, the blonde heroine gave the dapper criminal a hard look. "I'm not sure what you hoped to gain from all this, but it ends now." She looked down at the rousing disabled man. "Sir, we are holding you for questioning regarding the violation of military airspace and destruction of government property that took place today." Did she really have the authority to say that? Probably not, but in the heat of the moment the words felt right. Her eyes scanned the area in search of the proper military or law enforcement personnel who could back up the impressive-sounding claims she just made.
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Has there ever been a mention, either on this site or in canon, of a school paper at Claremont? It struck me that this would really be something Casey and maybe other students could work on.
