Heritage

By the time Velocity returned to the basement, she found Grim sitting down on one of the the couches she'd made earlier, the cricket bat resting on her lap. "Robert okay?" When the speedster nodded, the changeling visibly sighed with relief. However when her partner began to talk about criminal charges, Grim frowned. "Uh, I don't know how the laws work here in Belgium, but back in the States we'd be looking at a long list of assault charges, plus attempted vehicular homicide; the man shot me with a crossbow and tried to run me over with his Rolls." She shrugged. "Just sayin'." Then she turned to the Duke. "The thing that gets me is how selfish and short-sighted you are." She shrugged again. "Everyone dies. Nothing lasts forever. Entropy increases. That's how the universe works. But you, you could've lived forever in the hearts of your people if you applied a, a tenth of the energy and resources you squandered on yourself to, I dunno, fight world hunger? Or find a new cleaner energy source? Or a cure for cancer? Something..." She just sat there shaking her head, waiting for the cyberDuke's next move.

The much-shorter brunette paused and turned to face the two teens, her eyes flicking from the goggles to the Claremont logo, up to the big girl and then back down to the lithe one; a wry grin blossomed on her elfin face. "Is there a problem, officer?" Then she shook her head and chuckled; her accent placed her in South Jersey, quite possibly Freedom itself. "Boy, you Claremont kids really get around, doncha?" She pondered the pair for a few more seconds before nodding once sharply. "Yes, I'd love to tell you, but not out here; professional courtesy and all that. Uh..." Lynn looked up and down the street until she spotted a diner, which she indicated with a tilt of her head. "Tell you what; I could use a cup of coffee, and you two look like big eaters-" She squinted up at the Amazon and smiled. "Buy you some lunch?" To Cerys' vison, everything about Lynn registered as magic, except for what looked looked to be an iron ring on a leather thong that hung around her neck; in fact, it appeared to be the only metal of any kind on her person.

Grim jabbed a finger at her chest. "Hey, I like the English! They gave us Monty Python, Mr. Bean and the Beatles! And I watch Love, Actually every Christmas!" Some of the white-hot fury was starting to fade, but she was still pretty hot under the collar. She paused for a second, leaning on her cricket bat as she stared down at the Duke as she tried to catch her breath. "Now the Belgians...gave us French fries, waffles, Brussels sprouts...and Jean-Claude Van Damme; not too bad! Oh, and Tintin and Poirot!" Then she shook her head and clucked her tongue. "Wait, no, that was Agatha Christie; another one for the English!" Then she hefted the bat over her shoulder, both hands tightly around the handle. "And now I'm gonna knock you clear out of that stupid robot body!" WHAM!

Grim's to hit with her Bat of Justice: 1d20+12=27 She swings, she hits! Another DC 23 Toughness save, now with Bruised penalties.

Ana had not been living out among the stars for very long, roughly the equivalent of two Terran years; it meant she was often making faux pas or embarrassing herself, though she also learned very quickly and never made the same mistake twice. But there were one or two advantages to being a stranger in a strange land as well, like not having preconceived notions about the many races she encountered in space. "C'mon, Sei; we primatives need to stick together, right?" She unslung her gear bag, pulled out her tool harness, and slid it over her shoulders of her armored suit; this wasn't her full kit, which was probably light years away on the Xeno, but even her lightweight travel set was probably better stocked than this ship. Slipping on a pair of protective goggles, she turned her full attention to the FTL drive. "Shoot anyone who tries to interupt me, would you?"

Casey doesn't have Well-Informed, but she does have Kn: Technology! 1d20+4=13 Nevermind! (I added 5 instead of 4 by mistake) Out of curiosity, let's see how badass she's looking! 1d20+5=9 Oh, she looks adorable! :rolleyes:

Casey blinked for a second; she knows about Claremont? But then she regained her composure and continued following Terrifica. "Yeah, I'm going with 'Miracle Girl'." She shrugged. "Best I could think of; maybe they have a class for that." She decided to take the air once more, which got her glow working again; at the last minute, she threw back her hood, yanked off her knit cap and shook out her flowing golden locks. Motes of light danced in her hair as she folded her arms across her chest and floated a good foot off the ground, doing her best to look badass.

No, I went ahead and changed mine; opening night is much more dramatic than closing!

Hmm, thinking I might want to adjust the timeline slightly; originally the active phase of the thread was going to take place on the LAST night of the attraction aka Halloween night, but now I'm thinking Lazer might have the right idea and we should do it on opening night. My current posts might also send that impression. Plus why would the queen let the mockery continue all week? Think I will adjust my last Grim post accordingly.

Ana reluctantly made her way to Oskar's side, hoping that for once her pessimism would not be rewarded; the shop keeper looked old, or at the very least wanted people to think she was old. The whole shop smelled of old, broken things, and she really wished they were all back at the ship, ready to leave this dark and cluttered planet. "So spit it out, Balus; we're all eager to see this mystery item." She really didn't sound all that eager.

Casey rolled her eyes and then buried her face in her hands; it seemed her newfound 'friend' was fond of tests! Thinking logically, she was probably not a villain; she hadn't killed any of the perps, took them down as quickly as possible, and made no move to take any of the very expensive looking equipment for herself. So maybe she was like a vigilante; they still had those, didn't they? She was obviously very smart, and even more obviously, pretty damn annoying. Either way, she couldn't afford to let her just walk away; there was a story here, and Casey just couldn't leave a good story alone. So she jammed her hands into the pockets of her hoodie and trudged along after the stranger, clearly not too happy about the whole situation.

Okay, and now we are into the active phase! Describe where your hero is at the time we're starting, feel free to make up some fun details about the area you're in, what you look like, etc. Vector can now enter the field of play!

Pier 13. Friday, October 24th, 2014. 6:10 pm Grim had taken to calling the monitor room 'the Attic'; it was properly sinister but also descriptive, since it was suspended inside the shed, high up near the roof. It was located in the center section, high above the Dark Forest area, though catwalks led out from either side into the two adjacent sections, which in turn leader to ladders, stairs and two elevators that reached the ground floor. It was basically another construction trailer, with chairs, several video consoles and walky-talky system for staying in touch with everyone. Grim planned to hang out there a lot, at least when she wasn't doing her part to scare the beejezus out of the guests. Currently she looked fairly zombie-like as she sipped a coffee, looking over the shoulder of Jack Crawford, a third year student at HIT who was in charge of the security system tonight. "What's the good word, Jack?" The blonde youth did a double-take at the changeling's ghoulish appearance. "Ha-wah! Wow, you're looking extra nasty tonight, Grim!" "Hmm? Oh, sorry!" She resumed her normal appearance with a grin. "There we go! Well, we made it to the opening night with no major incidents; not too shabby, eh?" Jack frowned as he looked at the time stamp in the corner of one of the monitors. "We've been open all of ten minutes, and you have to go ahead and jinx us?" The diminutive brunette waved a dismissive hand, but then her eyes became a little troubled. "Wait, did I?"

GM Pier 13 officially opened on October 24th at 6pm, just as the blood-red sun was slipping below the horizon; there were several food trucks parked close to the entrance, and a pair of spotlights stabbed up into the sky. Local news coverage was good, and a large crowd, many in costume, eagerly awaited the 'Three Worlds of Horror' to open up. Each had a specially-designed façade added to the outside of the shed; a decaying Art Deco front for The Haunted Warehouse, a crumbling castle wall strangled by thick vines for The Dark Forest, and the brooding neo-Gothic entrance to The Asylum of the Dead. Grimalkin worked the crowd in her costume (along with any other heroes who chose to join her), signing autographs, posing for pictures and talking with the press, clearly very much in her element. The mood was festive and morbidly fun, and the whole event looked to be a smashing success. Meanwhile, beyond the Faerie Veil... In the middle of the Forest of Whispers stands a castle; it is not huge and ostentatious the way most seats of the Courts tend to be, but the structure is captivating nonetheless. Built of sturdy gray stone, it lies surrounded by miles of trees scantly covered with dead leaves, which rattle in the frequent gusts of wind; the cold light of a full moon bathes everything in a pale, ghostly light. The moat is deep but dry, and the darkened windows of its three towers stare balefully out over the realm of its monarch, the Lady of Ash and Darkness, the Autumn Queen. A small shadow descended out of the wispy clouds, dropping straight down into the courtyard like a drop of ink, where it pooled and rose to its feet, appearing as a small stooped man with a hooked nose. On silent feet, the shadow crept into the main keep, and made its way first into the empty throne room, then the study, and then finally up a narrow flight of stairs to the top of the Old Tower. Here it found its mistress, dark of hair and pale of skin, as beautiful as a peaceful death in a black gown woven out of smoke and tears, seemingly content at her spinning. The shadow cleared its throat out of courtesy, which brought a small smile to the lady's blood-red lips. "Speak, little shade; what news do you bring from the mortal world?" "News of a grave insult to your realm, my queen." Its voice was like the soft rustle of silk between fingers. "Your sister's...thing has conjured forth a mockery, a palace of horror and delight where the mortals laugh and gape at the antics of mummers and marionettes." It leaned closer, forcing the vile words from its slit-like mouth. "The thing has the nerve to use glamour in its Art, the very stuff and birthright of our realm, for the amusement of swine." The queen's eyes went ice-cold. "Show me."

There wasn't enough time for Lynn to thouroughly go through the abandoned purse right now, so she flew a tight circle around it, dropping into her transdimensional hiding place. Then she zipped back to the platform, resumed her normal size and retrieved her own bag before stepping out to the cab stand. Once I'm checked into the bed & breakfast, I can do a quick Internet search on local legends, and see what I dig up. It felt weird flagging down a cab; she hadn't done that in years!

Oy, forgot she has absolutely NO Bluff! Untrained Bluff check: 1d20=12 (16 if Attractive counts!) Cryokinesis (Create Object 8): 1d20+8=16 Hoo boy, not so great.

So I guess I'm rolling Bluff and...something with the Cryo?

"Holeeee s###..." Yep, this was quality pandemonium right here! What was needed right now was a strong directing hand and no small amount on BS; Ana cleared her throat and spoke in what she hoped was a clear, authoritative voice. "Attention crew! My name is Ana Plonsky, and the acting captain has authorized me to take command of this team. We have two primary objectives: optimizing the atmospherics so we don't kill everyone on this tug, and getting that damn FTL back online! I need data, people, raw data on oxygen levels and our power capacity!" She pointed at the crewmen trying to put out the fire. "You men stand back; I'll take care of the fire." She held out her hand and attempted to smother the blaze under a rock-hard coating of ice just long enough to deprive it of oxygen.

Craft: Electrical: 1d20+19=35 Craft: Mechanical: 1d20+19=27 Knowledge: Technology: 1d20+15=34

Thank you, Giz! So I was wondering if Ana can tell anything right off the bat (assuming she makes the appropriate rolls, of course) or if she has to go in deeper, talk with the poor beleaguered folks already present, etc.

A frown slowly crossed Casey's face as she tried to follow the conversation; it sounded like the woman in the trenchcoat was negotiating with whoever hired the goons! Was she trying to work some sort of con? Was that how heroes did things here in Freedom? And then another thought hit her; how did she even know she was a good guy? Maybe she was from a rival gang, and thought Casey was just some random delinquent with superpowers? The blonde pulled her knit cap down almost to the bridge of her nose, then tightened the drawstrings on her hood until her face almost disappeared. I really shouldn't have said I was from out of town...

So like an idiot, I overwrote my previous post with a new post; this will take a day or two to recreate and fix :argh:

Ana's jaw dropped as the Lor in charge dismissed her outright. "But I can-" Then her mouth snapped as her eyes narrowed to slits. "Fine; we can just sit here and wait to die, then." She turned on her booted heel and marched away, brushing roughly past her reptilian 'escort'. She made it halfway back to the cargo hold before she stopped and back over her shoulder towards the bridge. "You know what, screw her." She took a sharp turn and began to head aft, which if memory served was where the engineering section was on this class of vessel. "C'mon, Sei; we're going to save that bitch's life whether she wants me to or not."

As soon as Lynn's ears and nose told her Sam was now in the entry way, she smoothly stepped over to the main door into the shop and quietly closed it; when Kiki gave her an inquiring look, the store owner just shook her head sharply and headed over to the snack table, where she turned and clapped her hands. "Okay, who's ready for some Halloween karaoke? Gretchen, to your laptop, if you please!" She hoped this would distract the rest of her employees from the little drama about to play just outside.

Ana really wanted to browse like Oskar, but she figured at least one of them should keep their mind locked on target, so she let her employer indulge himself a bit as her eyes darted between Balus and the path ahead, determined that nothing bad would happen to them due to her lack of vigilance. She went back over the route they'd taken in her head, trying top recall landmarks she'd seen on the way in; more than likely, they'd all be horribly lost if things went south during the deal, but the blonde engineer had a memeory like a trap, so she'd be damned if she wouldn't at least try to get Oskar and herself out alive.