Dr Archeville

The ramp leading down from behind the wine fridges lead to a large wine cellar, filled with enough beer and wine for a Bavarian Bierhaus for a month, all tended by a panoply of small insectoid robots, all going about their business without pause. Past the spiral maze of bottles and casks, and sloping down more, was a set of double doors, beyond which Scarab knew was Archeville's personal laboratories and workshops. Her ESP had shown her he was not there, but had shown the assortment of robots within loading a few crates onto the teleportal pad, then everything went to sleep mode; robots returned to their recharge stations, and the teleportal powered down.

An internal compass would be a useful trait to engineer into subterranean cave-dwelling freaks.

CT's magic ring functions perfectly fine under the Mutant-power negating fields at Castle Archeville.

"A shame I didn't have time to bring you three under my thrall," Deep One!Archeville said to Thrude, Willow, and the sprinting Chris, seeming to pay no heed to the former Claremonters escape, "but it took several months for my addition to Archeville's Christmas gifts to get their hooks sunk into them. And as mildly amusing as it would be to see how the three of you fare against my six Auffängers, I am on something of a schedule, so... Vince!" Uruk-hai!Vince appeared on the monitors set into the training room's halls, sword in one hand, shield in the other, a white A crudely painted on his forehead. "Jawohl, Herr Doktor!," he snarled. "Beginnen autodestrukt. Drei sekunde timer. Danach, dich hochladen zu computers an der Freiheit Halle." "Jawohl! Drei!" Vince clanged his sword against his shield. Ferros, the Interceptor's newest potential recruit, knocked on the Brownstone's front door. "Come along -- there's so much science to do!" "Zwei!" Another clang. The six Interceptors gathered closer to the vile fish-man. "Ein!" Another clang. And in a flash of blue-grey light, they disappeared. "Null!" A final clang. The Brownstone collapsed as the energy core overloaded, casing the wiring to overheat to the point where it disintegrated the supports/'skeleton' of the Brownstone. (Continued in News and ArchEvil: Load-Bearing Bosses)

They're your characters, you can do whichever. I'd just like an explanation, a "why." My main concern is that, unless there are a lot of very big caverns under their homeworld, extended vision simply isn't going to be of much use, and thus wouldn't be something their scientists would engineer into the species.

Lone Star: Indeed! I'll PM you some ideas. Cubist: I've got a tight schedule for Evil!Dok (part of the reason he's going to be redeemable is that's Evil!Dok's not going to be in charge for very long and have much opportunity to do horrible things), so #1's not viable; #2 or 3 would be perfectly feasible, though!

Ther'es no shotage of things for him to capture, 's'true! Heroes doing things in paces other than Freedom City, USA would be pleasant to see! And I am tickled at the idea of the WERNSTROM expy being a distant relative of Dok's Then he is no hero, and you should not be playing him here!

Clarifications [*:33jw0o6h]The dead that rose up are all Doktor Archeville's ancestors, being called to him -- or, rather, the Great Old One inside him that's been riding his family line for 13 generations -- to form the body of the Giant Tentacle Monster Dok/Evil!Dok's going to turn into. [*:33jw0o6h]The monsters streaming in from South America are also tied to Archeville: they're the creations of his grandfather, the Nazi super-scientist! (They'll also be contributing to the body of the Giant tentacle Monster.) [*:33jw0o6h]The people going mad throughout he world are distant relatives of Doktor Archeville's, who are infected with a smidgen of the pseudonatural taint Archeville & his direct ancestors have. Ideas offered thus far [*:33jw0o6h]Gabriel's going to attack the Deep One-commandeered super-sub at Riverside park [*:33jw0o6h]Nick Cimitiere's assembling an ectoplasmic mecha to fight the mass of dead, or attempting to lay all those dead back to rest (which would weaken both the Tentacle Monster's physical form and the link the alien spirit has to the Archeville family line/to this world). (I personally prefer the second one.) [*:33jw0o6h]Push is going to do... "something epic" (possibly involving Nichtuberall, Dok's super-secret asteroid base that he and only three others even know of) which may result in his hammer getting cracked. Also, I'd originally offered a thread with Dragonfly & Miss Americana going to Dok's space station and converting the communications array into a BFG to blast the Giant Tentacle Monster that's rampaging around Freedom (though they have to get by his mind-zapped staff wielding all sorts of super-tech gear), but I'm thinking that might work better as a Vignette.

1 & 2 understood, waiting on response from discussion with Quote for #3.

The Gorgon is coming (in a month), but before the threat of crystallizing order, Freedom -- nay, the very world -- shall face unfettered chaos! Will the heroes be able to push back the tide before all is lost? Who: Any player who is A] interested, and B] has a character not already involved in the main thread. What: Tell the story of your character fighting back these city- and world-wide threats. Will they fight Deep Ones coming in from the sea? Save any hostages still within the submarine? Attack the Super-Grue Drones, in Freedom or in some other city? Track their source, in the spooky (and metahuman power-negating) German castle? Try to track & confront the mysterious armored figure who made the announcement which preceded all this? Something else (which would need to be cleared with me)? NOTE: In addition to the crises listed in that News post, there are two other things of note that PCs can respond to: A] A few minutes after the mysterious armored figure's announcement, a mass of the dead rise up in Germany and surrounding countries, and a large mass of creatures/monsters from the South American rainforest; both groups fly (or, more accurately, are pulled by some force) to Freedom City, at hundreds of thousands of miles an hour, and converge into one spot in North Bay, where they merge into a Gigantosaur-sized thing. (The Giant Tentacle Monster that Dok turns into.) Good thing the Interceptors (and former Knights of Freedom) are there to fight it, but they may need some help! B] At around the same time as that, throughout the world -- mostly Europe, but pockets all over -- random people go completely insane and attack everyone and everything near them. Length should be at least one (1) page per character involved. When: All these will be taking place on June 17th, 2011, a Friday (two weeks after the Claremont Graduation). The deadline for submissions will be Sunday, July 31st, by 11:59 PM EST (GMT -5). Where: Anywhere, as there are threats all over! Why: To enhance our community, to flex your writing muscles, to help me conclude a big story arc for my namesake character, and to earn a bonus PP for your characters (the ones involved in this Vignette) for the month of July. How: Once your story is finished and proofed, post it in this thread. This way everyone will be able to see it, and play off it as appropriate. If you've got questions, post them here, PM them to me, or ask in Chat. Vignettes Posted Arcturus: fights Metaceptors in the West End! Blueshift: goes to Dok's super-secret asteroid belt HQ, finds much more than she bargained for! Cannonade: Fights maddened hordes in Southside! Citizen: fighting Evil!Vince in the Freedom Hall computers! Cobalt Templar: Fights Metaceptors throughout Freedom City! Crow: Fights Metacetpors in Bayview, receives unexpected help from... his mother? Dark Star: Fights Metaceptors and madmen all over the globe! Dragonfly: 'ports up to ArcheStern and repurposes its communications array into a massive microwave laser, which she fires at the Giant Tentacle Monster rampaging around North Bay! Edge: Helps free the prisoners of Schloss Wissenschaft, then rains meteors upon it! Fleur de Joie: Takes in precious refugees at Sanctuary! Gabriel: Attacks the super-sub of the Deep Ones with Ironclad! Harrier: got kidnapped by Deep Ones, but he turns the tables on them! Ironclad: Attacks the super-sub of the Deep Ones with Gabriel! King of Suits: Defends the Fens from Deep Ones and Metaceptors! Midnight: Saves people from the collapsing Centery Narrows Bridge with Wander! Miss Americana: shutting down ArcheTech teleportals! Myrmidon: Pushes back the Deep Ones at Riverside! Nick Cimitiere: Exorcises the dead from the Giant Tentacle Beast rampaging around North Bay! Overclock: Fights Metaceptors near Master Lee's in Hanover! Push: Keeps Metacetpors off Blueshift's back as she hax Nichtuberall's systems! Rene de Saens: painting/trapping monsters in Mexico! Silhouette: allows herself to be kidnapped by Deep Ones so she can find/free the other folks they're taking! Supercape: fighting Heavy Metal, maddened by the Blood of Archeville! Torque: Fights Grue & screaming madmen in Freedom City! Vanguard: The monsters in West End who oppose his shield must yield! Victory: Fights Metaceptors alongside Push up in Nichtuberal, but then faces a figure from his past. Warlock: While flying from Kingston to Riverside, is seized upon by eldritch forces and transmogrified back into Kid Cthulhu! But is it as a hero... or a servant? Wander: Saves people from the collapsing Centery Narrows Bridge with Midnight!

June 17th, 2011 (Friday) (continued from ArchEvil: Terrible Bosses) [floatl][/floatl]Static fills every television monitor and radio broadcast on Earth. Moments later -- just long enough for the majority of people to notice -- a figure appears, standing before some sort of ultra-tech command center, with six figures in shadow and a hazy smoke behind him, one much taller than the others. The being's skin -- particularly his bare chest exposed under a tattered lab coat -- was covered in fine black scales, and his lips and gums were sea-green. His eyes bulged slightly, and the pupils are unnaturally wide and; his mouth, half again wider than usual, sported two rows of yellowed teeth, one needle-like and one triangular. His arms were slender, almost willowy, but his hands were broad and distended; green webbing sprouted between his fingers, which ended in nasty talons. Most eerily, he had a head full of long, vibrant crimson hair, which swirled about him like the trailing tentacles of some poisonous sea creature. "People of Earth, attend!," the transmission began, on all frequencies and in all languages. "I come not to frighten you, but to praise you! You have done much in the past hundred years, and more still in the past ten! You have done much you should take pride in. Communications, like the satellites I have usurped, which bring instant contact across the globe! Computers, like the ones I now control, that enhance and supplement your own inadequate brains! Medicines, like the ones that enhance my agents, doubling quantity and quality of life over only a few generations! But that is the marvelous thing about science, is it not? That it can be available to anyone with merely the dedication and will to take it!" "But for too long you have allowed yourselves to be held back, shackled by outmoded thinking, by pointless superstitions and obstructive politics! You cower in fear of the reprisals from some invisible authority figure, or those with power who claim to be gods! You obsess over status and privilege, and fawn over those whose sole claim to fame is being a scion of wealth, or who've used medical science to enhance themselves in pedestrian, predictable ways! Faugh! Pathetic! You could do so much more, be so much more, if you got your priorities straight!" "Some among you have thrown off these limits, freed yourselves from such petty concerns! But you label them criminals, supervillains, madmen! I say they are the true visionaries, the shining examples of all mankind can achieve! If there were more men and women like them, who ventured forth boldly, without fear, without regret, humanity could achieve its full potential! These pioneers have already created many upgrades, genetic and cybernetic, that could revolutionize the species -- upgrades such as the ones I myself have taken! -- but the so-called 'heroes', who claim to have our best interests a heart, withhold them from you, as surely as they stifle the freedoms of the geniuses who made them! You need but a chance to try these changes, to see how they could so improve your lives, to know that this is the way of the future!" "I offer you that chance, to be transformed! Transform, and rise up! Stand with me, and we shall forge a shining new era for humanity, shaped purely by intellect and will and desire, with no barriers based on sex or class or color or creed! We shall remake the Earth and all its species to serve us, and remake ourselves in whatever image we choose! Under my guidance, we shall end hunger, abolish disease, and make first this world, and then the galaxies beyond, a technological utopia! Join me, and know a freedom that few have ever dared dream! Oppose me, and you shall be rendered down to your base components in my bio-vats, mortar for the great works that we shall build!" [floatl][/floatl]The figure stepped back and removed his tattered lab coat as robotic arms reached out to him from all sides, bearing pieces of an advanced suit of armor, black as sin with blood-red highlights. He placed his webbed, taloned feet into a pair of boots that appeared from a recessed compartment in the floor as waldoes brought over leg coverings, ratcheting them together over the tattered khaki pants he was wearing and joining them to the odd metal belt already around his waist. More waldoes descended from above, sliding on gauntlets and affixing arm coverings to him, followed by a breastplate that also connected to the odd belt. Two pieces of a helmet were brought down and assembled around his head, a faceplate snapped down, then separate arms brought down a tall crown of tarnished silver and a blood-red cape; when the cape attached, a small electric current went through it from the armor, and the shape-memory fibers aligned into a semi-rigid form resembling a demon's wings. "Resistance is fatal." The transmission cut out. ArcheTech is a multinational chain of research laboratories, with branches in Belgium, Brazil, Canada, England, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Poland, and Russia. In the United States alone, branches exist in California, Florida, Illinois, Indiana, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Texas, and Wisconsin, and of course in New Jersey, in Freedom City. The company has grown quickly, thanks in large part to the teleportation technology, based on Doktor Archeville's own personal wormhole-generating Belt (though not as fine-tuned and requiring much more power), which it uses to move bulk items about. And now, out of all these portals, across the globe, strode a grim sight indeed: Grue drones, marching forth in groups of three! But these were no simple Grue drones, though they had the red skin and featureless faces of those horrors: their simple functional uniforms, standard to all drones to emphasize their conformity and make them that much more homogeneous, bore a symbol, an upward-pointing triangle made of lightning bolts, blue on the bottom, red on the left and green on right. Over this was a blue overcoat, and dark brown boots gave their footfalls a terrible echo. Atop their head was something, too, a tight-fitting skullcap, covering the entire back of the head and reaching down almost to the eyes. The drones shifted, each member of the trio taking a different form. Some morphed their hands into gun barrels, while others saw their hands crackle with energy; some had their entire bodies crackle with electricity, others became more fluid, while still others grew several feet. "We are the Harvesters of Change," the member of each trio said in unison. "Surrender your flesh, and be reborn through us. We will enhance your biological and technological distinctiveness. Your culture will adapt. Resistance is fatal." As the Super-Grues poured forth across so many cities across the globe, Freedom was besieged by yet another threat. From the great bay two large metallic tentacle burst through the water, followed by the massive body of some sort of gargantuan robotic squid! It ploughed through the Centery Narrows, and as it approached the Centery Bridge which linked Bayview and Port Regal to Kingston, weapon ports along the sides of the robot opened, unleashing a barrage of blue-green laser blasts at the bridge's supports! The middle of the bridge -- mercifully clear at the moment of any vehicles -- was blown to rubble, causing cars on either end to screech to a halt even as the remnant swayed and threatened to collapse at any moment! The mysterious attacker moved on, not even pausing in for a second in its attack, towards Riverside Park. The thing beached itself on the shore of the park, not far from the 100-foot tall gold-tinted marble statue of the Centurion, and hangars along the front and sides opened. From the darkness within poured squads of hideous fish-men -- not unlike the one who had just made his global announcement -- which fanned out and charged into the city, grabbing women and children, assaulting men, and wrecking all around them in a frothing rush of violence. Many ran in with nothing but their claws and fangs, but a few wielded bizarre weapons, swords or blasting rods made of corral and bone, or were clad in battle-armor made from the shells of some manner of giant crab or lobster. As they ran through, the tentacles of the craft twined around the statue of the Centurion and began to crush and squeeze and pull, doing all it could to tear down the mighty monument! Perhaps most eerily of all, though, was that as these hideous creatures from beyond the seas ran amok through Freedom, their inhuman throats gurgled what sounded very much like religious hymns of praise to some dark and alien lord. (Continues June 2011 Vignette and ArchEvil: Omnia Mutantur, Nihil Interit)

"Now, now, Willow," the strange Piscine!Dok said, wagging a finger at her, "no need to be rude." "And good eye, Colt, Jill" he continued, winking as he shot finger-guns at the two. "Yes, it is me," he clapped his hands together and rubbed them, "though the explanation for my current state will have to wait just a few moments. First, I need to give you a quick debrief for our next mission." He raised his left hand, taloned forefinger extended: "Gold is for the mistress — silver for the maid — Copper for the craftsman cunning at his trade. 'Good!' said der Doktor, sitting in his hall, 'But Iron — Cold Iron — is master of them all.'" Colt, Grim, Dynamo, Fulcrum, Jill and Jack all felt a tingle through their heads as subliminal commands -- implanted over the course of months, hidden in mission briefings and in the screen savers on the Brownstone's and MAVERIC's terminals, and reinforced by nanites (introduced last Christmas) which were suppressing or agitating certain parts of their brains -- were activated by the code phrase he had just uttered. They all felt an overwhelming, fanatical loyalty to the fish-man, to Doktor Archeville, their master and savior, who would help them make the world a better place, for everyone. They lived for him, they would die for him, and they would kill for him. Their clothing, too, shifted, altered by more nanites now active in their systems, from their normal appearance to something much more sinister. "Ah, this shall do nicely," he hissed, smiling a sharky smile, "yeesss."

I reduced the rank of your Area Blast to 10, because General Area effect (the most common type of Area effect) is limited to your PL (since it does not benefit from attack/defense trade-off). If you want it to be a Targeted Area effect (which does benefit from attack/damage trade-off), you can have that up to rank 12. I'm curious about some of her skill choices. Concentration, the Knowledges, and Notice are fine, but why does she have such a high Bluff and Computers? Nothing in her background indicates her being particularly computer-savvy (or any flavor of techno-paganism in her home), or of being highly skilled in hiding the truth/making others believe what she says. Also, for the record -- and to know how things like Nullify or Drain work -- all her powers are Mystical/Supernatural, not Mutation, yes?

To JoaB's mystical synesthesia, yes. Well, Dok does, specifically.

Looks solid, just a few quick questions 1) Is she to be put in the Archive with Covalent, or should I go ahead and put her in with the other Heroes? 2) How/Why does she (and her bro) know Dutch? (Did they learn it from this fine gentleman?) 3) I get the Darkvision, but why Extended Vision? I would think that for a subterranean race, echolcation (Accurate Ultrasonic Hearing) would be a better choice. Also, I've put a link to Covalent's sheet on your page (and one to Cubic's on his), and a note on her Progress to Platinum.

Dead Head's still in for this!

I'mma say yes -- the odd smells of seafood & sausage that Jack normally gets off Dok (b/c that's how I've always imagined Dok 'smelled' to him, though if you have a better idea feel free to go with that!) is a lot stronger now. There's also a faint, lingering whiff of the Terminus (from standing near Omega's chestpiece, so it may be slightly different from the residual Terminus energy smell he has due to being close to Fulcrum).

The Dok/Evil!Dok Metamorph is on Morph 6 (+30 Disguise), so I'm just using that as the base for the Notice check DC.

Go ahead and roll using her new stats now, Heri.

Just because Dok has left doesn't mean the thread needs to end. The most likely scenario I pictured -- feel free to change it up some -- is that Wander keeps Civie!Arrowhawk & Civie!Scarab distracted for a few minutes, then either she goes to check on him or Scarab uses her ESP to scout the house, but finds no sign of him. But they find the note on Omega's chestpiece. If Scarab or 'Hawk clue Wander in on who they are, she may tell them about Mutant!Dok, which makes them realize things are, well, fishy. EDIT: HPs for all three, too, since the villain escaped!

Doesn't Colt have Skill Mastery for Notice?

Mechanics! Knowledge (Arcane) Checks DC 15: This appears to be a Deep One. Deep Ones are Atlanteans corrupted by some evil preternatural force. DC 20: They were corrupted by interbreeding with the Serpent People, as well as the influence of the Serpent Scepter (an artifact of the ancient Serpent People civilization of Lemuria that can control minds and turn humans into Serpent People). Notice Checks DC 30: It's Dok! Mutated into some manner of hideous fish-man (or, if you made the Know/Arcane check, somehow turned into a Deep One).

Colt now, Ferros later.

"Such a nice girl," ArchEvil hissed, watching her return to the foyer via the home's internal security cams, now displaying on his Screwdriver. "Perhaps I'll give her a raise. If she survives!" A series of quickly typed commands on the hologrpahic interface activated systems in his sub- and sub-sub-basement laboratories and workshops. Robotic drones carried boxes and crates of assorted sizes to the teleportal pads, sending them through microwormholes to ArcheStern, Schloss Wissenschaft, and other destinations. At one point, the teleportal refused to activate, "receiver at Fjölnirskraft disabled? And communications... are down? Hrrmm... ah, I will tackle that later. Redirect that to... ah, there, yes. Now, set to scramble the teleportal logs so they cannot trace where things were sent, and power down to sleep mode once you are done so there's even less suspicion of my activities." The wine fridges retracted, and ArchEvil strode up the ramp, towards the chestpiece of Omega. He smiled a shark-toothed grin, tracing along the symbol of the Lord of the Terminus with one talon. "Much, much work to do." Whenever Wander and the others returned to the kitchen, they would find a small post-it note affixed to the chestpiece. [bg=#FFFF00]Thanks for the scans. -A[/bg]

Date: June 17th, 2011 (Friday), later afternoon/early evening Continued from ArchEvil: Revelations The Brownstone! Home to the Interceptors! Dynamo, Fulcrum, Jack of all Blades, and Jill O'Cure, plus newer members Geckoman, Thrude, and Willow, were in the basement training hall, joined by former members Colt and Grimalkin, who had stopped by to pick up some forgotten items and were roped into the exercise by Jack. Some blocks away, a new potential recruit, Ferros, approached, having been told by Archeville himself -- secretly the founder of the fabled team! -- to come by for a tryout with them. ArchEvil appeared in the basement of the Interceptors' Brownstone, next to Vince's computer core. "Hey, boss-man, the gregarious AI's upbeat voice greeted, appearing in mechanic's overalls on the monitors along the walls. "Whatcha do- yeow! What happened to-" "Attend: Stratus. Nietzsche. Wave. Neper. Tornado. Shark. Venus Flytrap. Viktor. Vince. Viktor." Vince's image froze, the eyes went fuzzy, then his entire form flickered as the long-buried overrides were activated and hidden subroutines booted up. Now the AI was dressed in a very crisp, black uniform, with hobnailed jackboots and a leather trenchcoat. "I obey, Herr Doktor," he said, all trace of his jovial nature gone with the click of the back of his heels. "As shall you all, Vince. As shall you all." ArchEvil walked out of computer core chamber and towards the training room, as a hunchback!Vince began pulling on virtual cords, locking down the Brownstone. He entered the training room, using his Belt's intangibility function to simply bypass the door, so as not to interrupt their session. Eventually, of course, the Interceptors did notice the strange bare-chested fish-man in a labcoat and khakis standing in their danger room.