Dr Archeville

Not a-feared of me at all, Dead Head thought, he must be a necromancer. Or a really weird graverobber. Maybe he's new to this, looking to score some quick cash from someone who can't fight back? When Zak rose, the figure before him had kept looking down, focused on the grave. "Pardon me, madame," he said as his head craned up to meet Zak's. "I'm sorry, I wasn't asking you if I could help. I was talking to the gentleman ya just robbed." "But to you," the strange being continued, pointing at the roll of film in Zak's hand with the blade end of the well-worn shovel he held, held in an arm that appeared to bend somewhat... wrongly, "I say you've got about 5 seconds to explain why I shouldn't put you and the item you just took into the ground." Zak noted that the strange being never once blinked his fiery green eyes.

Correct! EDIT: Lies! She'd have Super-Breath 5, since that's 1/2 the rank of her Prehensile Hair.

Heroes getting into fights when first meeting due to comical misunderstandings? 'tis a fine tradition! Any particular plan for who's in the grave Zak got the film from? The occupant's identity will flavor some of my post.

"Vell, radiating energy vould be a bit of a misnomer," he said while standing on the ceiling, "in de same vay it is technically incorrect to say some metahmuan can radiate cold or darkness. Dese are an absence of energy, so it is more accurate to dey absorb or othervise nullify heat or light." "But, really," he continued -- rather cheerily, she noted -- as he flipped down from the ceiling and floated down to the floor, "it is not dat much vorse dan de ability to manifest any energy. De Vhite Knight is not dangerous because he creates fire, he is dangerous because he is a biogted psychopath. De Terminus is not evil, per se, no more so dan de passage of time itself is evil, but de von who rules over it, Omega, is quit de nasty piece of vork. Being linked to something ruled by evil does not make you yourself evil," the German scientist added. One of the machines let out a series of dings, crying for attention from the Doktor. He went to it, skimmed over the readouts, and nodded. "Ah, just as I had hypothesized: de needles I tried to use to draw blood, und de scalpels I used to try und get a skin sample, all broke not because your skin is phenomenally tough, but because deir physical structure vas catastrophically veakened. My guess is dat dis is de main defensive manifestation of your abilities: your body veakens any object trying to harm you, und diffuses any energy directed at you." He turned to face her, still quite chipper, "now, de qvestion is: is dis somehthing our body constantly does? Is de chair you vere sitting on, or de gravitic platform I had your arm in, veaker now dan it vas before you came in contact mit dem? Or is dis something dat only occurs vhen your body sense some localized und sudden threat?"

JoAB and Grim (or Gossamer) learn of Doc's experimental FTL ship, and talk him into letting them take it for a spin?

We're still not done with the awards for two players (alderwitch & Cyroa), but I figured we've kept everyone else waiting long enough. 2 PL bumps this month! Arranged by Player, it looks like this: alderwitch Phantom: 4pp Psyche: 3pp Angrydurf Ace Danger: 3pp Phalanx: 3pp and is now PL 12 :clap: Arcane Snowman (archiving chars) Dalkaresh: 0pp AvengerAssembled Avenger: 4pp Edge: 3pp Freedom Angel: 3pp Cyroa Dark Star: 3pp Hellion: 4pp Dariusprime Fulcrum: 4pp and we finally remembered to upgrade her to PL 11 :clap: Dr Archeville Dead Head: 1pp Dr. Archeville: 3pp Ecalsneerg Arrowhawk: 1pp Geckoman: 3pp Electra Fleur de Joie: 3pp Wander: 4pp Geez3r Atlas: 4pp Jester: 2pp Gizmo Jack of All Blades: 5pp Midnight II: 0pp Heridfel Hub: 0pp Heritage Gossamer: 2pp and is now PL 11 :clap: Grimalkin: 4pp Kakashi64 Madcap: 0pp Lone Star Kid Cthulhu: 1pp Moira Divine: 4pp Seraph: 2pp Nyrath Mongrel Angel: 2pp patcore Thad Minker: 2pp quotemyname Breakdown: 3pp Colt: 5pp Sandman XI Quark: 1 Wesley Knight: 1 ShaentheBrain Scarab II: 0pp Zephyr: 0pp Skysong Physicus: 1pp Warmonger (archiving chars) All-Star: 0pp Sen: 0pp The 100+ Posts per Month Club Colt (104) Jack of All Blades (101)

Dead Head introduces himself with his Fearsome Presence 12... which does nothing to the Fearless Physicus. ;)

Under the long shadows of the yew tree at St. Sebastian's, a string of eerily hollow laughs had been ringing out. But while the source was otherworldly, the reason behind it was wholly benign. Maria Hayridge, a native of Freedom, was a secretary with a dream: to make it big in Hollywood, specifically as a comedienne. She had just two problems, though. One was that she got nervous around people, especially large crowds of people. The other was her remarkably good looks: when she finally worked up the courage to audition at assorted nightclubs, it was clear her routines (which were fairly good) weren't the bits the club's managers were interested in seeing. Each audition caused her to get more flustered and frustrated ("flustrated", she'd say), so it would be weeks between auditions while she re-gathered herself. One night, she got a break, and was able to get through an entire audition with a nightclub manager. He liked her work, and told her to come in the following week. The morning of her debut act -- November 16th, 1905 -- she slipped in the shower, cracked her head, and died. Her spirit lingered, unable to move on until she could fulfill her long-sought goal: to perform her comedy act. Worse, she could not manifest as some translucent spirit; her shyness around people magnified in death so she was wholly invisible and inaudible to them. In Dead Head, she at last found an audience. You really have been a wonderful audience, but I'm almost at the end, so I'll part on this: never let a fool kiss you, or a kiss fool you. And don't mistake asthma for breathless passion! Dead Head laughed again, then applauded enthusiastically for Maria. She bowed, and was about to say something, when she noticed her spectral form was aglow with a celestial light, and she suddenly felt a sense of freedom she'd never felt before. She looked to her audience, who merely smiled and nodded to her, and she knew this was it. She closed her eyes, and was gone from this world. "Hoo boy, I ain't laughed like that in years," he said, "an' it's always nice when they move on like that, all peaceful an' serene. Now, who's next? I believe I have an appointment with- uh oh." The undead's thoughts were interrupted when seeing the spirit of a young man in late 18th century garb running up to him. Mister Dead Head! Mister Dead Head! he cried, clearly disturbed by something. "What is it, Thomas?" Seeing the lad like this was deeply troubling, especially since Dead Head had yet to figure out why he still lingered. There's a man disturbing a grave! At the back of the church! Lantern Hill's resident defender took up his weapon of choice, a well-worn shovel he had stuck in the ground during Maria's performance. "Is he alone?" Yes, sir... well, no, not exactly, the lad corrected himself. Thoughts of the dead weigh heavily on him. He did not chose the grave at random, he searched for it. "Good lad, Thomas, you did the right thing in coming to me. Now, go see to the other children, make sure they keep away." Dead Head stalked towards the back of the church, towards the reported disturbance. He wondered who it could be; most graverobbers and necromancers waited until night was fully upon them to do their foul deeds, not the first hint of twilight. As he rounded a corner, he could see the figure's back, hunched over a grave it had been digging at. "Can I help you, sir?," a thin voice rasped out from behind Zakitaj. Zak had heard similar voices before, from the elderly or the infirm, but this did not quite sound like either.

She's clear on everything, and is back down to 1 HP.

Still waiting on AW to make an initiative roll for Phantom, yes? How's her recovery from the food poisoning going?

Goss used 1 HP to re-roll her Disarm check, so (I believe) she's down to 1 now. Initiatives 14 -- Gossamer -- 1 HP 11 -- Scrounge 7 --Minions (5) Scrounge attacks from a hidden position, and just manages to hit, but his attack can't get through Goss's Impervious Toughness. GM Fiat to have him SURGE (gains an HP), as he flies up about 30 feet, then attacks with a some stun-gas (Cloud Area Stun). DC 15 Fort save. 2 Minions attack with their guns. One hits (24), one misses (8); no crits, so Goss's suit protects her. The other three reach into the crate they're taking and bring out... things. One's something that's not really useful, one's a completeley fake replica, but No. 3 is an actual Foundry energy rifle. That one hits (23); the damage equals her Imp Toughness, so I need a DC 23 Toughness save.

The two men put up some opposition to Gossamer's nabbing of their nabbed items, but they are no match for her Herculean hair. A lance of crimson energy just manages to hit Gossamer in the shoulder, but mercifully her suit absorbs the impact. Though Dr. de Havilland's specialty is chemistry, she recognizes the energy all too clearly: it's the same as what was used by the Omegadrone Energy Pikes from the Terminuns Invasion! But what would they be doing he- The man stepping from the shadows was not an Omegadrone, but he was not much better. It was Scrounge, a technological pack-rat who had a nasty habit of stealing whatever ultra-tech gear he could get his hands on. He'd gotten his start by stealing items from the Supers Museum where he'd worked as a janitor), and now it seemed he'd returned for more. And right now, he seemed quite surprised and concerned that his blast had done nothing to the superheroine on the scene. "Masks, boys!" he cried out, then took to the air and fired a smoke canister from a large pistol. The smoke wasn't very thick, but it had a vaguely familiar odor, like chloroform.... The five minions put on gas masks as, then the two inside opened fire with automatic assault rifles they'd had slung over their backs. One got in a solid hit on her midsection, but her suit once again protected her. Butt hen there was the other three, the ones who had already loaded some crates onto the truck. They threw open the already-loosened lids, and pulled out what they were sure would be some horrible weapon from the Super Museum's vaults. The first brought forth a blue gem, and held it to his forehead. One moment of intense concentration later and... nothing at all happened. The second pulled out a long, brown staff... no, wait, that's no staff, it's a man-sized spider's leg! It would be hard to say which was more prevalent in his mind at that moment: disappointment or grossed-out. The third got lucky. He pulled out what looked like a prop from the latest Sci-Fi Channel made-for-tv movie, but when he pulled the trigger, a bolt of blue-white energy slammed into Gossamer's chest!

That is how Disarm goes by the books So now roll your damage (which'd be +10) vs.their Strength. Since there's two, one will Aid Another, to give a +2 bonus. They got 18 total. If you win, you've got the crate (since Gossamer's hair counts as an "unarmed attack").

Sorry for not getting back sooner, RL's been rather unkind to me of late.

The tests took some time, in part because Archeville started with routine medical equipment, which for assorted reasons simply could not work. The blood pressure cuff couldn't get a read because it could not compress enough to affect her blood flow. Attempts to draw blood failed because the needles would shatter when pressed to her flesh. The standard doctor's light was insufficient for the pupillary response test, as it was not bright enough to cause any appreciable reaction. Standard x-rays would not penetrate. "Ve learn as much through failure as by success," he commented as he placed the broken pieces into assorted scanning devices, "in case you are vondering vhy I am using methods dat ve both know vill be inadequate. But seeing how dey are inadequate, in vhat vay dey fail, is qvite useful." Then came the more advanced tools, which did look at least vaguely like standard doctor's instruments. There was some trial and error with these, too, though. One item, which emitted a small cone of light that should cause blood to ooze out of a target's pores -- "created purely for medical purposes, I assure you!" -- did nothing at all to Fulcrum; the gravitic press had to be cranked almost to one-quarter full power to compress her arm enough for a blood pressure reading. He was only able to get a blood sample when a panel on a medical laser accidentally flipped open to reveal the Daka crystal focusing lens, and he witnessed pained her reaction to it. Once the last of the data was entered into his systems, and the last of her samples placed in the assortment of humming scanners, Archeville returned to Fulcrum's questions regarding the Terminus. "De Terminus," he began, pacing back and forth (and occasionally up a wall, thanks to his gravimetric belt), "is a bit out of mein areas of study, dough I do know de major points... und dey match vhat you haff surmised. According to Dr. Atom, who vas von of de first to study it, it can be thought of as vater. Specifically, as de vater of a stream, und every universe und dimension is a stone at the bottom of dis stream, being slowly vorn avay by de surrounding vater. Omega is de Lord of it, attacking other realities in order to hasten deir topple into the Void dat is his domain. Dus far, dis vorld is de only von dat has repelled him. Repelled him tvice, to be precise!"

Archived due to inactivity.

Archived due to player absence.

Archived due to inactivity

Re-archived due to player absense.

The CPAP will take some time to adjust to -- I had hellaciously painful headaches for three mornings after first wearing it -- but it is definitely worth it in the long run.

alderwitch? Lone Star? Sandman?

Sinestro is DC's analogue to Dr. Doom? Hrrmmm...

Yes. Yes, he did. Though it's been brewing for a while, I hear.

Happy Womb-Breaching Day!

Saw two good ones today. From the webcomic Evil Inc "In righteous day, or boogie night, No jive or funk escapes my sight! Let all who groove on evil's might Beware my mo-jo: DY-NO-MITE!" And from Scans Daily (pic is HUGE) "Daleks are the race supreme! Your race will die with anguished screams! Your end is near, accept your fate, Red Lantern Corps: EXTERMINATE!"