Dr Archeville

Jellyfish-Man?! Please do not forget to put an entry for this in the Timeline;)

Doktor Totenkopf has a Sidekick, a dog. A cybernetically-enhanced zombie dog. Its designation is Cyberdog, 4th Iteration, Rottweiler; Canine Assault System. C4RCAS Carcass

I'll throw Dead Head in as my first choice. The GoodMad! Doktor will come in if there's double-dipping.

I'd suggest continuing on in the initiative order. Since Plant Monsters just went, it's Hellion's go, then Fleur, then a new round, with Breakdown, then Jack/Blades, then DH will actually do something.

Works for me ;)

Right, time to see if I've really learned anything from Phantom's lessons. The strange being let out a deep, resounding laugh as it walked back towards the graves. "I'm far from an expert," he said at last, "but I am a quick study, an' Phantom's a good teacher. Well, a patient one, at least." "An', yeah, way I hear it, there ain't much magic cain't do... same as there ain't much technology cain't do," he said as he began collecting tiny rocks from assorted graves, "they jes do it in different ways. An' some typesa magic are better at a given task than others, jes like some pieces'a technology are better at certain things than others." Dead Head continued walking and gathering, heading towards the tall yew tree by St. Sebastian's. Once there, he knelt in the long shadow it cast by the light of the church, and began to draw a symbol in the dirt, adding the tiny collected pebbles -- which Physicus noted were all either red or white -- at various points along the design. Once he was done, he held out his hands, palms upwards, "take 'em, and hold on tight." Any tactile sensors in Physicus' gloves would indicate to him that the creature's hands felt exactly like those of a dead man. And then Dead Head began praying, though most of it was in a language Phyicus did not know. He did catch that the words "Legba" and "morte" or "morts" came up a lot, though. Physicus was suddenly engulfed in complete and numbingly cold darkness. Two distinct sounds could be heard: a great wailing, as if thousands of people were crying out, and a great rejoicing, as if thousands of people were partying. And then just as suddenly out of it, and standing -- a tad unsteadily -- in the shadow of a loading dock for Trinity Hospital, next to the still-kneeling Dead Head. He stood up, put his hands on his hips, and had a look of extreme satisfaction. Well, as much a look as he could show, given the permanent rictus grin. "I'm right glad that worked!"

initiative (1d20+2=16) *opts not to swing in on a rope of his own intestines*

"What is wrong with you people?," a figure called out from down the street, "y'all are being loud enough t'wake th' dead!" The figure lurched forward, not unlike the zombified people Breakdown had been blasting, but the fact it spoke -- and the glowing green eyes -- marked it as something else entirely. Then it broke into a run, like one of the zombies from that recent movie, the remake of the Romero one. But Breakdown was not phased, because he recognized the voice: it was Dead Head, Freedom' own friendly neighborhood zombie. "So, what's goin' on? I was up doin' some stargazin' and saw a big streak come down, then split into lotsa pieces. Closest one seemed t'fall here."

FC:PbP is offering the community another "vignette" opportunity. If you'd like to read about our previous vignettes, check here. Ah, April. It's got World Health Day, Earth Day, and Arbor Day. Passover and Easter. Tax Day, and 4:20. And All Fool's Day! Who: Any player who is interested, for one or both of their characters. What: Write a one (1) page (single spaced) vignette about a prank your character pulled, a prank pulled on your character, or their reaction to a prank they saw pulled on someone else. When: The deadline for submissions will be Sunday, April 18th by 11:59 PM EST (GMT -5). The vignettes themselves can take place at any time. Where: Anywhere. When you submit your vignette, please make a note clearly indicating in which forum it should be posted, as well as when it would be happening. Why: To enhance our community, to flex your writing muscles, to think more deeply about your character, and to earn a bonus PP for your character for the month of April. How: Once your story is finished and proofed, PM it to one of the Refs (angrydurf, AvengerAssembled, Ecalsneerg, Geez3r, Sandman XI, ShaenTheBrain, or myself). When all the stories are in, one of our staff members will post them to the appropriate forums (which is why we need you to be sure to tell us where it should go!), and provide links to them in this thread. DO NOT post them in a forum yourself, otherwise it will not be counted for this exercise. Post here with questions.

There still a way for Dead Head to worm his way in? After all, Plants and Zombies are natural enemies.

Doktor Archeville's grandfather -- also known as Doktor Archeville -- was one of the higher-ranked mad scientists working with the Nazis; giant robots, mutant beasts, shrink rays, all sorts of horrible stuff, though you can't recall any specifics. Ace Danger and Captain Wonder both have fought him! Doktor Archeville (the one before you) has worked for years trying to atone for those misdeeds. He really did!

Ah-ha! DH can use Ritualist to get a one-of Teleport effect. He could teleport them to Trinity Hospital in West End -- hospitals, churches and cemeteries are the places he would've first checked out when coming to FC, and by now he'd know them well -- then we hoof it from there. The map seems to indicate that Trinity Hospital is ~2.5 miles from St. Stephen's & the Lantern Hill Cemetery, which'd require a Teleport 5 effect. Teleport 5 (500 feet/5 miles; Flaw: Medium/shadows; PF: Progression 2/500 lbs.) [7pp] Doing that as a normal ritual would take 28 hours to design/research, and 70 minutes to perform, and a DC 17 Knowledge/Arcane Lore check. Doing it as a jurry-rigged ritual would take 7 rounds, a Hero Point, and a DC 22 Knowledge/Arcane Lore check. Knowledge/Arcane Lore check for kit-bashed ritual (DC 22) (1d20+9=26) Huzzah! (If I hadn't made the roll, I would have handwaved it anyway for narrative purposes ) And, yes, it would've been easier to just stunt a Teleport effect off his Necromantic Powers Array (with those listed Flaws and Power Feats, he could stunt Teleport 10, and take Physicus to the Moon!), but this will be more... theatrical ;)

Dang, I knew I was forgetting something! Okay, Deady, think -- there's got to be some way to help this fella. "They... ain't," Dead Head admitted, with just the barest hint of reluctance in his tone, "'cept on Halloween, which was about four months ago. Or if I pose as someone what was in a nasty accident, an' I hitch a ride on an ambulance, but they're only of limited use. Or I use th' sewers." The odd being stuck its shovel into the ground again and leaned against it, facing west, and stroked its chin in thought. "I don't suppose that fancy suit'a yours lets ya fly, does it? Or ya got some sorta teleporter?" His hand dropped from his chin, "ah, no, ifn' ya did ya wouldn't've suggested we take a cab. Hrrmmm...." He resumed stroking his chin, then suddenly snapped his fingers, "ah, I got it!" He turned his head to face Physicus -- turned it slightly more than should be possible, not to mention comfortable -- and asked, "where's yer friend's body now? Dependin' on where it is, I may be able to teleport us there!" Dead Head's body turned so it and his head now line up properly, "with magic!"

I say we keep it going here. :)

Flip a coin, you say?

And since A) they're Minions and their Toughness save is so low they can't save against your attacks, I'm not even bothering to roll for them. Congratulations, you now have 36 dead people at your feet! And one more heading for Grimalkin's dainty feet!

Jack of All Blades kayaked through half of the zombie horde, while Colt took out the other half with a flurry of well-aimed rapid-fire shots. In a flash, the three dozen undead were merely dead-dead. As the trio calmed down, but before Jack made it back into the house, Colt & Grim heard a sound, a sound of something heavy slowly skittering towards them. It was the man who'd been in the center of the room, who'd "fainted" after you had all heard the zombies approaching the building. Judging by his jerky movements and thousand-yard stare, it would appear his collapse was less "fainting spell" and more "failure of an already drug-damaged heart." And now he was a zombie, scrabbling (slowly) towards Grimalkin.

"Done...," the Doktor said, then he disappeared in an odd warp of light. He then reappeared a few seconds later via another warp, in the exact same spot, "... und done. I dropped it off at mein home." "Now, how shall we determine who gets to ask de first qvestion, hrm?," he asked, rising a few inches off the ground and swaying slightly side to side as if in an invisible tether. "Rock-Paper-Scissors? Or do you have some other preferred method of determining someding by random chance?"

You can try a Knowledge/Pop Culture or Knowledge/Technology check to see what Fulcrum knows of Archeville's grandfather. ;)

"Escape velocity vould be approximately 25,000 miles per hour," he rattled off, rapidly converting from the metric system he grew up with to the Imperial one he assumed she would be more familiar with, "dough it's higher de further von gets from de equator, und varies depending on vhich direction von flies tovards. Und, ja, I do know of de charity battle you und Atlas und ozhers vere in -- it took us days to recalibrate some of our seismic monitors after dat!" The machine steadily increased its pull on Fulcrum. When the conversations turned (back) to less scientific matters, she could just start feeling its effects. "Oh, I am open to all kinds of of cuisine," he replied, smiling, "und I must say dat Freedom does have an incredible variety, almost as broad as all of Europe! De food of das vaterland shall always be first in mein heart, of course -- und dere is an excellent biergarten, Der Augenblick, not very far from here -- but I do enjoy Italian und French cuisines, too. Oh, und when I gave a lecture at HIT in May of 2008, I had Greek food catered in; it vas quite excellent." Archeville hoped that, if they wound up going to the biergarten, it went better than the last time he was there on a date. "Ah, mein accent," he said sheepishly, as if she'd uncovered some great secret. "Vell, ja, you are right, I can master most languages mit ease; I taught meinself Hindi und Urdu in about a veek. But I haff found dat people tend to be more put-off vhen I speak mitout an outrageous accent dan if I do talk mit von -- by keeping de accent, I am still visibly, or, razher, audibly identifiable as an outsider, dey see I am not trying to completely hide who or vhat I am. Vhich..." his smile and the lights in his eyes dimmed for just a moment, "makes it a tad easier for ozhers to accept my attempts to atone for vhat mein grandfazher did." "So, ja," he continued, his spark back, "I do know someding about trying to do good mit someding dat comes mit a lot of 'Evil' baggage."

Astralle. Jack of All Blades + Dead Head = Dead Man's Hand There were some other good NPC/PC ones mentioned last night. Talos + Malice = Malice finds Talos' inert form and uses it to replace his damaged/missing bits, but Talos' mind slowly starts taking over, and Malleus (as in Malleus Maleficarum) expands his "kills all metahumans" policy to "kill all humans!". Malice eventually breaks free of Talos; Talos retains much of Malice's insanity, starting him on the path of a Heel Face Turn. Daedalus + Doktor Archeville = When he lost his son, Doktor Daedalus didn't just turn from the Greek Gods, he turned to the Old Ones!

And now their Notice check to see if they spot you. Notice vs. Goss' Stealth (DC 19) (1d20+5=25, 1d20+5=8, 1d20+5=24, 1d20+5=25) :shock: Three not only hear you, they hear you while she's still on the floor above them. But perhaps they think Goss is just a drunken neighbor that stumbled in, and are staying down in hopes they'll stumble right back out...

Gossamer slowly makes her way down the beach house, trying to focus beyond the innumerable party noises coming from outside. With some luck, she thought, those noises would mask the sounds of her entrance from any bad guys in here. She still saw nothing by the time she reached the stars going down to the ground floor, but she could now hear something: muffled voices, and an electric hum. Carefully, tentatively peeking down, she still sees no one in the house. The ground floor does have some signs of habitation -- several empty food containers strewn about, as well as a few large empty UPS and FedEx boxes -- but still no signs of anyone. It wasn't until she (again, carefully, tentatively) ventured onto the ground floor that she finally saw something definitely out-of-place: electric-blue light coming up from the floorboards in the kitchen. That area was where the muffled voices and electric hum was coming from, too. Goss' keen scientific eyes could see that the boards could be moved from up here; apparently whoever was active here had dug a "basement" under the house, accessible from the kitchen. Such actions would likely frowned upon by the landlord.

New eps of Batman: The Brave & the Bold return tomorrow night. I saw the "Chill of the Night" ep on YouTube about 10 minutes ago, and I still haven't picked my jaw up from off the floor.

There are another 15 or so left. But Colt only has Takedown Attack (1), JoAB has Takedown Attack 2. But the only benefit of a second rank in TA is to be able to move between attacks... which Colt doesn't need to do, since he's standing there and shooting them in the face. /action needs to find a way to do maps here