Heritage

Okay, here's what's gonna happen now. Both competitors clearly want the fight to end; Grim is going to surge so she can feint as a standard action, which will push her to Exhausted. She will either hit Jack or be close to passing out, and either way, we are closer to the end of the match. So, full DC 33 on the Acrobatic Feint, with Jack getting the cumulative bonus for all the other feints. Grim is going to adopt the Aggressive Stance, which I'm told gives her +2 on attack, -4 on Defense. Again, if she doesn't hit Jack this round, she's closer to being dropped by Jack the next, and fight is that much closer to a conclussion. As I understand it, Grim will feel the effects of Exhaustion next round, so this round the +2 and -2 cancel each other out, yielding her normal +10 to hit Grim's swing at Jack: 1d20+10=17 if the feint works, I believe that finally hits Jack. DC is 17. That's so funny I forgot to laugh! :P

"Nurk nurk nurk!" Grim shook her head as she joined Colt in setting up the sleeping bags. So she'd been right; she understood his reticence to go into any details, at least for the moment, but she was glad her instincts were right. It meant that their bond was getting deeper, that she was learning to see into his heart without him having to say anything. It meant that they were falling deeper in love. Once the mats and bags were set up, the two of them lay side by side on their sleeping bags, Grim with her hands behind her head, staring up at the roof of the tent; if she closed her eyes, she could see the whole of the campsite with her ears. The drip drip drip of melting snow, the scampering of a nervous rabbit darting this way and that, the various ticks and clicks of Colt's bike as the engine cooled off. When she took a deep breath through her nose, she could smell Colt's delightful musk, not just coming from him, but on herself as well, and for some reason this pleased her very much. I smell of cowboy. For a whole five minutes, she says nothing; her breathing is so slow and even that she almost sounds asleep. At last she speaks in a dreamy tone, her eyes still closed. "Just so you know, you're gonna see a different side of me out here; you get me outdoors for a few minutes, and I shut the hell up. I just want you to know it's nothing personal, I'm just...basking, y'know? Basking in it all..."

"Mmm, thank you!" She eagerly takes the cup and takes a sip. "Ah, that's the good stuff!" Lynn takes a seat at one of the tables and runs a hand through her short spikey hair. "I'm sure you're right, that I'm different somehow, even if I don't feel it right away. I mean, that morning when I woke up the first time, I didn't feel any different. Well, I wasn't cold and my senses were all wonky and all over the place, but I still felt like me, somehow." She shrugs offhandly. "So why would this time be any different, right? The core of me, that thing that makes me who I am, is still there." She frowns in thought as she takes another sip of tea. "Mmm, there's a phrase I read somewhere that describes it..." Suddenly she slaps the table in triumph, rattling the tea service. "My 'essential nature', that's it! That, by its very definition, cannot be changed; I will always be an annoying little Jewish girl at my core."

As a side note, I just want to explain some of my roleplaying here. Yes, Jack's taunts really got under her skin, but for the record I've been trying to roleplay through the worst set of rolls I have ever seen in any combat. Having Grim get frustrated and emotional is really the only in-charcter way I can explain her horrendous performance this fight. In short, Jack will be quickly forgiven (not that he's really guilty of anything); Invisible Castle, not so much :P

I believe I was told in chat that they're all cumulative for both normal and acrobatic Feints; it's just hard to keep track of all the adjustments And on that note, what is Jack's current Defense? BTW, I actually don't think we were doing feint right earlier in the fight, or at least I don't think I was. Is the normal idea that you woud do a Feint one round, then recieve the benefits the next? Earlier I think I was having Grim feint then attack all in the same round, without any -5 until it was brought up in the chat. This combat has literally hurt my brain :D

He never shuts up. I could kill him, chop off his head and drop in the sea, and he would still be talking! All the way down to Davy Jones, yappin' his freakin' trap! Grim is starting to get dizzy; for some stupid reason, she's still blindfolded, and the verbal barrage plus her own anger and power of her last assault are starting to take a toll. For the first time in the fight, she actually stumbles; her head feels so hot she's sure astronauts can see it from space. Yet still she bobs and weaves, though some of the anger is gone, replaced by bewilderment and confusion; she's yanked to and fro like a toy, jerked this way and that by some unknown impulse. I want it to be over. I want Colt to hold me while we eat ice cream. I want to be able to breathe. She hears rather than feels another hit connect; she must have twisted out of the way instinctually, reducing the force of the blow to a mere slap. She continues her odd little dance, an unpredictable set of dodges and thrusts. Lacking the power of her earlier strikes, she makes a jab at Jack's belly, hoping to touch him just once this whole fight.

Grim's lucky streak continues with another stellar roll! Bluff to resist Feint: 1d20+18=20 "I like these calm little moments before the storm. It reminds me of Beethoven. Can you hear it? It's like when you put your head to the grass and you can hear the growin' and you can hear the insects. Do you like Beethoven?" Toughness save: 1d20+3=18 - huzzah, she is uneffected! Okay, doing the move action Acrobatic Bluff feint; based on Skill mastery (I can't trust IC), that's a DC 28 on Jack's Acrobatics roll. Then she's just gonna try for a normal swing at -1 due to bruising. Swing at Jack: 1d20+9=14. Ya see what I mean about not trusting IC? Jeez Louise!

After this whole song and dance, it was almost a relief when Jack finally punched her in the stomach, if by relief one means 'shooting agonizing pain', but at least the wait was over. How the hell did this day lead to having her teammate punch her in the gut with a blindfold on? What universe were they living in? This damn charity better cure cancer or something, or I'm gonna be so damned pissed. :x Of course, she'd felt much worse pain than this in her crimefighting career, but it was the current circumstances that made it burn more intensely. You have to drop him, Lynn; you have to drop his prancing, smart-mouthed ass now! Despite the twinges in her side, she was moving again, bobbing and weaving with a savage grace that mirrored the swirling emotions in her belly; she could feel her teeth growing longer, and the tips of her ears becoming more pointed. Inside her gloves, her claws bit sharply into her palms. She was snarling like a caged beast, the hurt and the anger combining to make her blood boil. Drop him! Drop him! And now she invading his space, her hot breath scorching his cheek as she darted in, again and again, like a shark rushing a diving cage, only to veer off at the last moment, her gloves whistling past his ears. With a feral grunt she finally launches a rocket of a left towards his jaw. "Eeeyah!"

Ok, the first one is a definite hit. Flatfooted Toughness check: 1d20+4=9 That would be a miss by 13, stunned and staggered. I really can't afford that right now, so let's blow Grim's final HP on a reroll. Reroll on FF Toughness save: 1d20+4=21. Grim has been bruised! Okay, now she's gonna surge (!) and do an Acrobatic Bluff, DC 33. After that she is gonna Power Attack +3 and hopefully make some kinda contact. Swing at Jack (including PA adjustment): 1d20+7=13 Augh! Next round she's fatigued! :wallbang:

Wait, I forgot you always start with one HP in any given thread, so I guess she would have one left; argh, I forgot! Oh well, she will use it soon enough... :twisted:

Sily jokes aside, it would be cool to have Grim actaully work with Arrowhawk. And be found wanting :P

Heh. This reminds of the time I visited friend living in LA; he said no one really wants to call the cops there, because then the LAPD shows up :shock:

I actually think I'm out of HP; she blew two, that's all I thought I had.

"Thank you, kind sir!" :love: Grim leans over to give Colt a quick peck on the cheek, and then thankfully stops abusing her glamour ability. She gets change for the chip and then enthusiastically drums the table a few times. "Okay, from here on out, I'm strictly above board, except for the lying part. Now who's dealing?"

And Grim does know him since they're both ex-Knights, but I never got the sense they were tight or anything, since they've rarely shared a thread together. Actually, is White Wedding the first?

Wait, I think I was thinking of ep like skill points, i.e. 1pp=4ep, when it fact it's actually 1pp=5ep, right? Actaully that still requires 3pp spent, but the extra 3ep could be used for something else for the character, I guess.

Soon enough their camp was set up, and Grim crawled into the tent to check it out. "Wow, I love this tent! When I was little, we went camping a lot, but we had this old tent from my Grampa, that had a kinda musty old smell? Though now that I think of it, I kinda loved that smell, too." She pokes her head out to smile at Colt. "Y'know, memories." She scampers out to fetch their sleeping bags and bedrolls. "So, did you camp a lot? I mean, I know you guys had technology and everything, but sometimes I have a hard time picturing it. Like, I think you know a lot about horses, but maybe you didn't actually ride 'em much, or maybe the saddle had a tape deck or something." Then she stops and gives him a searching look. "And sometimes I think a lot of bad stuff happened that you don't like to talk about; maybe I'm wrong, but I see this look in your eye sometimes, and it just..." The petitie shapeshifter quickly stuffs her burden into the tent, and then crunches across the snow back to her boyfriend, wrapping her warm hands around his arm. "You know you can tell me anything, right? I've done wrong in my life; I've got blood on my hands. I don't wanna push you, but I don't want you to hold back with me, either; I don't ever want you to be afraid about what I might think." She smiles and dusts a bit of snow off his pants. "And if I'm nuts about all this, tell me that, too."

Lenya shrugs and sort of wiggles her hand. "It is small city, not so many people as this, far from Moskva-" She looks apologetic. "Sorry, is 'Moskow' in English. Not too much to do for me; there is football, but our team is not so good." Looking over her shoulder, she leans in to speak to Eddie in confidence. "There is much mafiya in Tambov; when I am having powers, my mother and father fear for me. They think the vory, the prison gangs, will come for me, to make me steal for them. Then they read of place in America where I can be safe." Thank you, Freedom University law library! And how horrible am I to do this to poor Eddie? She looks about ready to cry, a mixture of sadness, happiness and love. "I am sorry, it is rude of me to say so much." With some effort, she smiles as she wipes away the tears. "So Eddie, your school is big; when we are both done talking with Mr. Summers, you will take me to see it?"

Grim will be good for 2pp worth, so Jack woujld just need to spend 1pp.

Just to clarify, Grim's last thought does not mean she's going to activate her Glamour next round, it just means she's getting sorely tempted. Hopefully it will not come to that.

Grim felt Jack's breath in her ear, and suddenly her body went rigid with rage; behind her mask, she squeezed her eyes so tightly shut that purple spots danced in the blackness, and the roar of the crowd become muffled, like her head was wrapped in cotton. Jack was humiliating her in front of thousands of people, people she'd sworn to protect; would anyone be able to take her seriously after this? She had no idea where the hell he was anymore, and part of her didn't even care. If I could use my glamour, this fight would already be over, but we're not playing by those rules. But rules can change... :evil:

Bluff to resist Distract: 1d20+18=20 Dear God, I am rolling like crap! Jack's taunts appear to be working on Invisible Castle as well! Notice to hear Jack: 1d20+15=17 Sigh.

I dunno, is Geckoman free? Yeah, I was thinking her family is like the Lutheran version of the O'Dares (love that comic!); she's a ritualist with a halfway decent Arcane Lore score, so we could probably come up with something. Of course, having looked over her sheet again, I really dig this character; part of me is thinking of bumping her up to PL10 and having another go at playing her. I'm finally starting to want to play another character, since Grim can't do everything, but maybe Gossamer would be better...gah!

I also like what I'm reading here. So how much do the three core members half to come up with next month to cover expenses? Q's right about the intercepting part, but I think that's covered more under the other thread. And War, nice to hear from you! I know how it gets sometimes; I love my character, and I still sometimes want to take the occasional break from posting :D

Okay, looks like Grim might have missed with her stunted 'Blast 15 (Flaw: Action/Full)'; oh well!