Dr Archeville

Breakdown, Muse, Rift, and Slick against the malevolent Maestro... and more?

From articles in the Daily Herald, the Freedom Ledger, and the Riverside Review: It's Thursday night, the night of the first section of the epic work. The cold, gray skies are a stark contrast the the warmth and light coming from the Beaudrie Opera House. Due to the sheer size of the event, as well as the wealth of many in attendance, there is increased police presence around the BOH... but it would likely, at best, merely slow any determined supervillain. Of course, there could be some superheroes nearby already, either in the audience, staked out on a building across the street, or just passing by while on patrol... assuming, of course, they can still squeeze into their costume after a hearty Thanksgiving lunch!

Hopefully tonight

"Tryin' t'get a look at ol' Mutt?," he asked as he saw her waving the scanner about. He whistled, "'ey, Mutt, c'mon an' show yerself to th' nice purty lady!" A large dog slowly faded into view, both to Gina's eyes and the scanner. It was big, about 0.6 meters at the shoulder, and looked to be mostly Mastiff, with some St. Bernanrd, Newfoundland, and a few breeds thrown in. He looked up and smiled at Gina, and walked over and nuzzled her hand, looking up at her with big, soulful, glowing crimson eyes. "Far as I know, he's housebroke; 'e don't even eat!" he chuckled. "Nah, ya should be able t'get a sample with some reg'lar tools." He looked idly around the lab, "problem that Dok feller had was that th'incisions kept closin' up 'fore he could do his thing, but just removing' a sample fer study shouldn't be no problem. If'n ya got any silver-plated scalpels or such, though, that might work best -- my body don't recover as quick from damage caused by silver as it do other stuff. No idea why that is; I thought it might have t'do with the natural antimicrobial properties'a silver, but Phantom just kinda giggled when I said that. 'Course, I don't know if whatever mojo's in me is gonna be kept in a bit'a me what's been cut off..."

Breakdown, Muse, Rift, and Slick? Yeah, I can definitely work with that....

"Sorry, ma'am," he said, sitting up, "ain't got no real idea as to the how's an' why's. Phantom or Nick Cimitiere could prob'ly tell ya more, they's real smart in thin's like this. I'm tryin' ta learn, but, well, there's a reason I didn't get inta pre-med..." "What I can tells ya," he continued, "is what all happened. First," he held up his right index finger, "some big nasty critters from beyon' time an' space tried usin' me as a back door inta this world, after Baron Samedi an' Malador tried -- an' failed -- ta summon 'em. That's what killed me, blew the back'a my head clean out! Then," his middle finger went up, "Papa Ghede came to me as my spirit was passin' on, tol' me he'd help me if'n I helped him, so's I did. I got up, but I looked a lot... messier than I do now. An' after that," his ring finger went up, "back on Halloween night, Ghede popped out durin' a big throw-down with Samedi an' Hades. 'fore he left, though, he brought me back up, an' cleaned me up, too. An 'e left me with a companion, too!" Miss Americana heard a large dog's bark behind her. But there was no dog to be seen. "Oh, hey, Mutt! Didn't think ya'd make it this fast! I- oh..." The zombie turned sheepishly to the heroine, "is it okay if Mutt comes in? He's real well behaved, won't knock over nuthin'!"

Archeville looked upon the tome with trepidation, "I... think I shall stay away from that for now." He cleared his throat, "so, how, exactly, did that book cause your change? Did either of your parents exhibit any... side-effects, as you have? Do you know of anyone who has been as changed as you have?" As he talked, he reached into another pocket and brought forth his Electromagnetic Screwdriver, and fiddled with the controls some.

Dead Head looked on at the newcomer rocketed off, and waved farewell to him. "Nice meetin' ya!" "Squirrely lil' fella," he thought aloud as he finished gathering up the four thugs he'd knocked out. "And, man, I've really gotta start carryin' some zip ties or somethin' with me. Hrrmmm..." He looked around the area, "Eh, I'll just hang 'round in that alley yonder 'till the cops show up, make sure these fellers get carted off." ~fin~

3rd char at PL 7.

They pass, so Colt does not lose control of the MAVERIC (unlike the driver of the van Mysterious Sniper is in).

Indeed, and he does get an HP for the complication! EDIT: Actually, it's worse. You may have missed that I indicated he's doing lethal damage -- this is a madman firing a gun with a cold iron bullet at a faerie -- so failing by 10 puts you at Staggered + Disabled + Stunned. Staggered: A staggered character can take a single move or standard action each round, not both. Any further damage to a staggered character shifts the character's condition to unconscious. Disabled: A disabled character is conscious and able to act but badly injured. He can take only a single attack or move action each round, and if he performs any strenuous action, his condition changes to dying after the completing the action. Strenuous actions include moving all out, attacking, or using any ability requiring physical exertion or mental concentration (including any power requiring a standard action). Less "grazed her temple," more "tore open her jugular"

"Well, I can only show so much," he replied, "but I am happy to give you a quick overview!" His tone shifted slightly, to a more concerned a doctor-ly one, "But, uh, perhaps that should wait a bit." He say down on a stool opposite the Kid, and retrieved something that looked like an iPad from his labcoat pocket. He pressed a few buttons, and a holographic image of the preliminary paperwork the young hero'd had to fill out appeared in the air. "Please, tell me when and how this all started. The device will record what we say, and transcribe it to your file. It can also be used to record images, so I will be using it to take some pictures of you for the file."

Don't be silly! Slick's not fibrous enough to have pulp!

The severed arm stopped in place at Gabe's decline, and the hand actually... moped? as it crawled back towards its host. "Name? Oh, I gots plenty'a 'em, though a few ain't fit t'be said 'round polite company," the creature chuckled. "Most folks call me Dead Head, though." Smooth one, this guy is; didn't panic at the arm gag. A good sign! The arm pulled itself up Dead Head's pants leg and slowly inched up, but he scooped it up with his free hand and stuck the arm back up his jacket sleeve. It twisted and turned a bit, then appeared to be re-set at the proper angle. He flexed the hand, then held it out to Gabe, as one would when offering a handshake. "What's yer name, stranger? Where ya from?"

... actually, yes, Slick would work better for what I have in mind :twisted:

Keep in mind this adventure takes place in February. Were they that close then? (I honestly don't know the 'timeline' of y'all's courtin')

Anatomic Separation FTW! Str 22 = light load 173 lbs., so he can move these guys one-handed with little problem.

Average police response time was four minutes, so Gabe knew he had a bit of time to deal with this, but not much. But... what was he doing? The creature tilted its head the other way, and stared at Gabe with its flaming blue-green eyes. "Ain't never heard'a no Scratch feller, but if'n ya got an itch..." It propped its shovel against a nearby lightpost, and grabbed his right forearm with his left hand. One sickening POP later, his right hand and forearm was in his left hand, and he threw it to the ground in front of him. "... yer free ta use that." To Gabe's horror, the hand began crawling towards him! The creature bent down and with its one remaining hand picked up one of the burly men in the street, and dragged him towards the sidewalk. "Ifn' yer lookin' fer some devils, though," he continued, very nonchlantly, "we had a whole mess'a 'em here, 'bout a year ago, but most'a them's been kicked back down. There's still a few here an' there, but that's life..." Its' head twisted at a very unnatural angle to look at Gabe straight on. "... an' a bit beyond, too!"

Let's go with yes on both, to make this final encounter that much more dramatic (and a reason to really not like this guy when he makes an inevitable return in the future)!

Dok hit a home run with Fulcrum on Valentine's Day. Corny? Yes, but corn goes quite well with Black Forest ham ;)

Full Action: Use Aim action. Motion of the van requires a Concentration check. Concentration check, DC 10 (1d20+3=6) GM Fiat (Grimalkin gets the HP) to re-roll. since the minimum result would be a 13, he passes. Free Action: Extrra Effort to SURGE for another standard action Standard Action: Fire on Grimalkin. I'm going to say that since it's only Grim's head sticking out the MAVERIC, she has cover, so she gets a +4 bonus to Defense. (Which nearly cancels the bonus he gets from Improve Aim....) Attack vs. Grimalkin (Defense 16); DC 22 Toughness save if it hits (1d20+14=32) Blast 5, + her Cold Iron weakness = Damage 7, so DC 22. And it is lethal.

It was not long before the team caught up with the van, a beat-up and nondescript number they'd easily miss if not for Grim's heightened sense of smell. It sped through red lights, down side roads, and tried shaking the heroes off, but Colt stuck on him. Suddenly, the back doors of the van flew open, and a man in a camo-patterned flak suit and big game hunter-style ammunition vest -- the very man Colt had seen and shot -- was there, connected by a harness to the sides of the van so he'd be steady enough to get off a shot with the large sniper rifle he had out! Before the heroes could react, he got off a shot... right at Grimalkin's head! And as the bullet sped towards her, she could feel the gut-wrenching sensation of cold iron coming at her at 2300 feet per second! The grim pleasure on the shooter's face quickly faded as the person driving the van, perhaps distracted by the gunfire, swerved and rammed into a corner cafe!

Dok can do that with his Electromagnetic Screwdriver! :D

I'll go ahead and get the Toughness save out of the way Toughness save, DC 27 (1d20+15=21) That fails by 6, so he'll get injured & stunned!

After the fourth man fell, the creature looked up, eyes glowing with an unnatural blue-green flame. It raised one hand slowly, as if reaching for Gabe... then waved at him. "Hey there!" ... what? "Loot? I an' seen no loot, I just seen these fellers chasin' that girl a few blocks back. Lucky for her I was in th'area! Seemed awfully rude'a them, so's I stepped in. Stopped 'em long enough t'let her get away, a' when they realized that, they came after me. Which was their second mistake'a the night." The creature cocked its head and squinted at Gabe, "say, I ain't seen you 'round before. You new to the heroin' gig?"