Dr Archeville

Okay, is he referring to hisself, or the fellas I'm trackin'? Best keep up the act 'till I find out more. "Darker...," a sepulchral voice echoed from the IR-invisible intruder. It raised one hand and pointed at Midnight, "You... darker?" It continued to approach, now with both arms outstretched. "You... work... darkness?" Not gettin' any magic vibes off'a him... but the one at his feet looks like one'a the goons I been trackin'. Cain't see through that cloud he's makin', though, so I cain't see what dropped 'im. The creature's left arm pivoted down, so the hand now pointed to the body at Trevor's feet. It did not take its eerily glowing eyes off of Trevor, though. "Yours?"

Some hours later... Many souls were gathered in the soup kitchen at St. Francis, seeking sustenance as well as shelter. Few noticed one more face in the crowd, though the face could not be seen under the layers upon layers of clothing. Good thing I was able to find these sweaters, scarves, gloves and cap as I made my way over. The newcomer blended in seamlessly with the others, for all were outcasts wearing cast-off clothing. The newcomer said little -- few did, not until they got a chance to know one another -- and just took his serving of soup and sat at a temporarily empty table. "Aright, Gina, were are ya... word is this is a place ya'd probably hang at, an' I ain't found ya yet, s maybe yer here already...."

And if I had been aware of it, I would've questioned it then, too.

[RefSpeak] I severely question the validity of having the 5/day version of Unreliable in a VP that can be changed every round. [/RefSpeak]

Would Dok have any idea what's down the hallways the Wraiths darted down?

Grim and Dynamo both felt a fleeting bout of vertigo. Grim felt it more, since she was mostly in one spot, and she was more familiar with it because she had felt it more than a handful of times before. A pinpoint of blue-gray light appeared in the middle of the room, which quickly expanded into the team's benefactor. "Hello, Grim," he greeted curtly. His face was expressionless, "vould you call de others in here, please? Dere vill be no furzher testing." "Alight, I am going to make dis as qvick und painless as possible," he began as the last person came in. "First off, no, dere is not going to be furzher 'tests' by Avenger. I haff his vord on dat, und equally importantly (if not moreso), de vord of his vife. Second, it is clear dat some changes need to be made to de team...."

They recognize their true master.

New Spice: Study Like a Scholar, Scholar (Old Spice parody ad for the Harold B. Lee Library)

On the drive home, I realized Dok could be doing more than just verbally assault those workers: he could be scanning them. With, say, Super-Senses 4 (acute analytical ranged detect technology [radio sense]) from his Gadgets. Would it be kosher for me to edit my last post to show him doing such?

Power Loss drawback at best.

We don't know that we're switching (and if we do, it won't be for another year), and I don't want to see 3E stats in the general forums. Which is why this is getting archived.

"Oh? Vhat vere you dinking of?" Archeville was smiling again, clearly interested in the workings of the teen's mind. "I am sure ArcheTech vould haff de components you vould need, or can get dem if ve do not haff dem in-house." The Doktor began flying back towards Freedom. "Is dat de only instrument you play?"

"Achtung! You three!" the Doktor commanded out as he floated closer to them. "Tell me vhat you are doing here, now!"

Archeville seemed a tad irked that the cyborgs were not flailing around helplessly. "Hunh, dey must be relying more on deir own organic sensors und vetvare dan I had surmised. Fascinating... and horrible!" It was clear from the missed shots of Phalanx that the Doktor's work did partially blind them, though, so he kept the field up. But that meant his wondrous techno-wand was unavailable to heal the scintillating swashbuckler. Then again, Archeville was a Doktor, and he had a labcoat full of stuff. "Let's see.. C4? No, dat vould not make a good wound-packing material... ah-ha!" He withdrew some small dark marble-sized pellets from one pocket, and a cutting torch to open it. "Dese are filled mit a quick-hardening, porous, non-conductive foam, vhich should both patch de hole in your lung und stabilize dat fractured rib. Und for pain management," he produced a small water bottle from another pocket, and a dart from a third, and squeezed something from the dart's reservoir into the water bottle. He gave the bottle a quick shake, then used the same dart as a syringe to draw off some of the mix, "some heavily, heavily diluted neurotoxin to impede certain localized nerve transmissions."

Plan A -- HP to stunt a "I just happen to have this Healing salve in my Utility Coat" off his Equipment -- got nixed by Quote in PM. So now for Plan B, which uses moar HPs. Free Action: Spend HP to nix fatigue. (2 now) Free Action: Maintain Force Field Free Action: Maintain Obscure Full Action: Switch Pseudonatural Brain Array. Use an HP for Heroic Feat (1 now); specifically, the Alternate Power power feat. Free Action: Extra Effort to SURGE! Standard Action: Use Healing Unreliable check; 1-10 = no work, 11-20 = works (1d20=16) w00t! JoAB gets a recovery check. Total bonus is +5 (+1 from his Con, +4 from Healing). Hit DC 10, he's no longer Staggered. Hit DC 15, he also loses one of his Bruises. Hit DC 20, he loses two Bruises. DC 25, and he's completely healed. Now for some IC technobabble.

Free Action: Spend HP to nix the fatigue from his Extra Effort last round. (4 HP left.) Free Action: Maintain Force Field. Standard Action: Reconfigure Gadgets Free Action: Extra Effort to SURGE. Standard Action: Attack with Snare, splitting it so it's Snare 7 (Reflex DC 17) on each. Unreliable check; 1-10 = no work, 11-20 = works (1d20=1) Free Action: Use HP to re-roll. Minimum I can get is 11, so it works. (Down to 3 HP now) Two Snares! Vs. two giant bees! (1d20+8=15, 1d20+8=24) (I do believe that hits both of 'em) Move Action: Fly up to Freedom Angel, see freakishness is going on with him.

Archeville looked up, just in time to see Bee-Keepers blast meant for Dark Star hit Freedom Angel, and the winged hero's horrible metamorphosis! "Oh, dis just keeps getting vorse und vorse...." "Vell," the Doktor addressed the two giant bees still on him, quickly adjusting his techno-wand as he took a few steps back, "as much as I vould love to stand here und talk mit you two fine, upstanding examples of Apis mellifera, I really must... be going! Heh, get it? Bee... going... " The Doktor held up his Screwdriver, and a bright red and blue energy pulse flashed out from it. Metallic debris from the streets and from within the Hall itself lifted up and streamed towards the two bees on barely-visible lines of magnetic force, wrapping them (the Doktor hoped) in tiny metal cocoons. "I haff been hanging around Jack of All Blades too much," the Doktor mused as he flew up towards Freedom Angel. "Okay, now to see vhat is going on here..."

While the Nosfera-Grue's reply was fairly deadpan, the zombie reacted quite differently. "You an' her... I mean, not you-you, but he-you, but... ain't she..." He looked back and forth between everyone, "ain't she a bona-fide goddess? They already got a goddess on their side?!" "An' what's she... oh, man, that is gross! It's bad enough when the livin' do it, but tha Dead oughtn't... eugh!"

"" Archeville replied, taking another gulp of his beer, "" "" The Doktor's face fell, then swiftly brightened as the light bulb went off. "" He set his beer down and approached Elena; she noticed a pair of thin robotic tentacles extend from a concealed port in the wall and place a coaster under the beverage. "" A Cheshire grin began to spread across the Doktor's face as he stroked his chin.

So... is Gossamer's turn, yes?

Heritage, is Grim following her teammate's plan? Need to know what she's doing/where she is before I start attackin- I mean, describing the abandoned gang house....

Someone (either you or the judging Ref) please be sure to copy & paste those Chat discussions into this thread. Chat logs are much more fleeting than char sheets.

Last night's Fresh Air on NPR had an interview with Billy West, wherein he discussed how he came up with some of his voices on FUTURAMA.

I'm very glad all this has been dragged out into the light and explained to all. Rapid Crisis Response = Good Training Ground for New Heroes (too old [or not angsty enough] for Claremont, too inexperienced for the League) = Good More non-social threads (combat, investigation, etc.) would definitely help you to show yourselves in a different light, in the light the team was meant to be seen in. I admit I dropped the ball on that one (and apologize for such), but I (and perhaps a few other Refs) can help rectify that in the very near future. As for immediate changes, and to make sure that ginormous misunderstandings and build-ups of ill-will don't build up again, I'm going to make Vince the acting leader of the Interceptors. As an NPC he can easily be a mouthpiece for Ref concerns, which can be addressed as they arise. IC, he's got a direct line to Dok, and through him to many other experienced heroes, so he could easily morph into some conglomeration of inspiring, leader-y type heroes (but still keep some of his sense of humor). Anything else? Any other concerns?

247 -- I had one pp left unspent after my June edits (that is, the edits I made with pps earned up through May), and earned 4 more in June, so he should have 5 unspent.