Dr Archeville

Dead Head ignored Jack's and James' talk of their love lives, "y'all are welcome here at my place anytime, too. Ah don't think the neighbors'll mind too much. Well, they might mind some of ya," he nodded towards James, "but ah'm sure I can vouch for ya. Just watch where ya stand," he nodded this time to Atlas, "ah don't know if all the 'rooms' can handle ya. After a few decades, some shifting in th'earth does happen, and I wouldn't wanna see ya suddenly fall six feet into th'dirt." "Callin' ahead will be a bit difficult for me, though," the revenant added, "seein' as how the only phone I can access is the one in St. Stephens. Pay phones just ain't as common as they used to be, and it ain't like ah've got a way t'charge a mobile." "Oh!," he suddenly shouted, and the green flames in his eves flared brighter. "We should get together for movie night sometime! Y'know, when we ain't stoppin' cultists an' monsters an' such."

So close this and start a Christmas/Chanukkah/New Year's thread? Or just close it?

This seems a good place to wrap up, unless either of you had something to add. Oh, odd question: would either Breakdown or Grimalkin have relatives in the cemetery?

Psst... we gonna wrap this up?

Goddess of Trickery & Subterfuge? You do realize that, as her stats stand now, there's only one character in all of FC -- from all the books and all the player-made PCs -- who even has a chance at making a Sense Motive check against her (her uncle, Hades)?

"I'm a leper, visiting from Molokai," the angel's companion said. Heyzel instantly saw through the zombie's joke, but Divine was roped in, at least at the moment -- the guy certainly looked like he was seriously diseased. "I came here seekin' a cure, and lo and be-hold, I found myself an angel!" The 'leper' clasped his hands together and made doe-eyes at Heyzel. And then his left pinky fell off. The 'leper' seemed not to notice.

Fine by me.

FC:PbP is offering the community another "vignette" opportunity. If you'd like to read about our New Years Vignette exercise look here and here; info on our July 4th vignette can be found here, the Bloody Valentine/Friday the 13th one here, and the June Song vignette here. If you weren't around in those days (or even if you were), keep reading to find out more! A new year has dawned, bringing with it new opportunities, a fresh start. Will your character make any New Year's Resolutions, pledging to improve some aspect of their life? And if so, how serious will they be in holding to it? Will it be nebulous ("lose weight") or precise ("lose one pound a week")? Will your resolution be made known to others, in order to gain support in achieving it? Or do you keep it to yourself, a secret vow regarding some aspect of yourself that you would rather keep hidden ("give up bizarre internet pornography")? Who: Any player who is interested, for one or both of their characters. What: Write a one (1) page (single spaced) vignette about your character's New Year's Resolutions. When: The deadline for submissions will be Saturday, January 31st 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 January. 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.

One of the zombies manages to hit. Toughness save, DC 28 (1d20+17=19) That fails by 5+, which'd injure & stun Dead Head. Dead Head being KO'd by a mook zombie ain't cool, so I'll use 1 HP (down to 2 now) to re-roll. Minimum result would be 11, +17 is 28, so I pass. And Dead Head whacks the amulet again. +6 to hit, DC 29 damage.

Dead Head felt a brief flash of terror as the cultists cheered at the arrival of their Master... which faded as soon as Phantom slammed the door in the Master's face. "Nice one, Phantom!," he cheered as he dodged four more zombies. Three missed him by a mile, but one connected, with enough force to knock his jaw half off! "hat's no 'ay to treat a 'ellow 'eader!"* Clearly a lolling tongue and improperly attached jaw would not stop him from talking, "'ut I 'orgi'e ou -- I know yoouuu ain't in control!"** He raised his shovel again, and brought it crashing down upon the cracked amulet. "I 'ope 'is 'orks!"*** * That's no way to treat a fellow deader! ** But I forgive you -- I know you ain't in control! *** I hope this works!

"Wow, you are a compassionate one," the undead thing said as it re-set its neck. "Which I suppose would be one check mark in the 'really is an angel' column. No need t'worry, though, this ol' body's never quit on me yet." "Angel or not, though," the thing extended its right hand, "I'm always happy t'meet another freak. Folks 'round these parts call me Dead Head. What name d'you go by?" Don't be too trustin', now, Burt; remember what that movie said. 'Did you ever notice how in the bible when God needed to punish someone, or make an example, or whenever God needed a killing he sent an angel? Did you ever wonder what a creature like that must be like? A whole existence spent praising your God, but with one wing dipped in blood. Would you really want to meet an angel?' Man, I miss the movies.

Doktor Archeville "Vell, I was at Oktoberfest de month before last," Archeville said as he and Jack made their way to the bar, "so I shall try not to judge your offerings too harshly," he said with a wink and a smile. As he approached, he waved to Taylor and Atlas. Archeville continued talking, though it was clear to Jack he was equally interested in the Greek goddess on Ace's arm. "Quite de crowd you haff here, Jack. I take it, dough, dat none of your... nocturnal associates share in de merriment? I vould not imagine marriages 'outside de community' vould be dat common, or velcome."

Archeville perked up a bit when Taylor mentioned her parents were both doctors. "Are sey, now? Vhat fields?" The Doktor went about taking some basic and routine readings, making small "hrm" noises as he checked this and that, and nodded along with what his two "patients" were telling him. After muttering a bit in German, Archeville stood back and gave them one more look-over, then turned slightly to face Taylor. "Vell... I vould take de teleportation-induced vertigo as a sign dat someding is 'off-kilter' mit you, as dat is von of de more common side-effects pregnancy induces on a metahuman. However, your regenerative abilities, und de lack of menstruation, indicates dat you haff not merely ceased aging biologically, you haff ceased aging chronologically. Dat is to say, your body appears fixed at de moment you became... vhat you are now, restoring itself vhen damaged until you return to vhat you vere, und I vould assume requiring no more nourishment dan you did at de moment you vere changed." "Vhich," he continued, "presents problems for any attempts at impregnation: you should not be able to get pregnant now, because you vere not pregnant sen." "Und as for you, Jack," he pivoted slightly to face the other half of the conundrum, "from vhat I can tell, de only biological functions you can express are vons under your conscious control, such as vhen you force yourself to breathe or move, but not involuntary vons such as a heartbeat. In addition, any sperm mitin you should haff died off long, long ago, as it appears -- based on mein studies of de skin samples I took months ago -- dat you haff no true cellular activity. So not only should you incapable of fertilization, you should not even be able to... 'rise to de occasion', as it vere."

For some characters (like Ace Danger or Colt or Dead Head), that tactic would work. For others (like All-Star or Atlas or Divine), it would not, since the bullet (or sword, or whatever) cannot go through them to the target on the other side. Question the First: how would the "shoot through me" trick work in M&M?

Stesha felt the hairs on her arms and the back of her neck stand on end. Ace felt just the tiniest bit dizzy as nanogravitational fluctuations played havoc with his inner ears. A pinpoint of electric blue light suddenly winked into behind them, which grew into an basketball-sized orb of swirling electric blue and eerily dull gray light. The orb then became a large flat disk, then a larger hoop, which slid back and revealed Doktor Archeville. Once he was completely through the hoop of energy, it shrank back down and winked out of existence. "Ah, Ace, Stesha, so good to see you two!," Archeville said warmly, "do you know of anyvone else who vill - oh!" The Doktor seemed just a tiny bit startled when he noticed Heyzel, "I do not believe ve haff met, sir, dough I haff been hearing rumors of a new vinged man in de skies of Freedom. I am Herr Doktor Viktor Archeville," he said with a click of his heels and slight bow, "und who might you be?"

Doktor Archeville "Oh, quite vell indeed, Jack," Archeville replied, giving a quick knowing wink to the man of the hour, "und my vedding gift to you is in part de fruits of dat investment advice. I am sure you und Taylor vill find it remarkably useful." The Doktor looked around the room, "now, vhere shall I place this, hrm? I vould rather not spend mein time here holding it, I haff dances to dance! Also... dere is a bar, ja?"

Power Attacking the amulet on the ground, with his shovel. +6 to hit, DC 29 damage. (If he's got 10 feet of space, he'll charge at it -- running, hopping up, and coming down with as much force as he can muster -- for an additional +2 to hit.) Do I need to roll, or can I Take 10? Will it stop the rampaging giganto-zombie? Will it blow up in Dead Head's (and Avenger's) faces? Will it do anything at all?!

"Not... gonna... let you...," Dead Head struggled against the cultist's mental power, which stopped as soon as Avenger came to the scene and laid his own mind-whammy on him. "No time fer hugs now, gals!," Dead Head said as he dislocated his spine enough to flop back and avoid the strikes of two zombies, "I've got a trinket to deal with!" The zombie shambled as quick as he could to the amulet, re-setting his spine to and upright position and lifting his shovel high above his head as he did. When he was almost at it, he leaped up a bit so as to add just a bit more downward momentum to the strike. I have no idea if this is going to work.

Three PL bumps this time! :clap: Ad one new member of the Platinum Club! :clap: Akmenos (archiving char) Duskstalker: 0pp alderwitch Phantom: 5pp Psyche: 3pp Angrydurf Ace Danger: 3pp Phalanx: 1pp Angelica (archiving char) Ionica: 0pp Arcane Snowman Dalkaresh: 1pp AvengerAssembled Avenger: 4pp Edge: 3pp Freedom Angel: 0pp Bendigeidfran (archiving char) The Spartan: 0pp Blink Blink: 1pp bootslof (archiving chars) Frycook: 0pp Cyroa Dark Star: 4pp Hellion: 4pp Dariusprime Fulcrum: 3pp Dr Archeville Dead Head: 1pp Dr. Archeville: 1pp Ecalsneerg Arrowhawk: 1pp Geckoman: 1pp Electra Fleur de Joie: 5pp Wander: 4pp and is now PL 13 :clap: Eviscerus (archiving chars) River Rat: 0pp Spitfire: 0pp ex3leven Razorwing: 1pp Geez3r Atlas: 3pp Tempest: 4pp and is now PL 14 :clap: and Platinum :clap: Gizmo Jack of All Blades: 1pp Golentan (archiving char) Hercules: 0pp Heritage Grimalkin: 3pp Jimb011 (archiving char) The Entropic Cerberus: 0pp Lone Star Kid Cthulhu: 1pp Master Pelle (archiving chars) Leon Mighty: 0pp MBCE Ghost: 0pp Moira Faith: 0pp Moira/Divine: 4pp Nyrath Mongrel Angel: 0pp quotemyname Breakdown: 2pp Colt: 3pp Raylis (archiving chars) Calvin Parker: 0pp Twilight Gryphon: 0pp Sandman XI Quark: 1pp Wesley Knight: 1pp and is now PL 12 :clap: Semi-Autogyro (archiving chars) Doppelganger: 0pp ShaentheBrain Scarab II: 1pp Zephyr: 1pp Sorus Paladin: 1pp TheJoshie (archiving chars) Tarantula: 0pp Thevshi (archiving chars) Velocity: 0pp Troubleshooter Elektron: 1pp Warmonger All-Star: 1pp Sen: 0pp The 100+ Posts per Month Club Phantom (179) Fleur de Joie (117) (only two? Tsk, tsk, tsk.... )

"WHOA!" was all the ghoul could say as he spun around towards the source of the voice, lost his foots, slipped, and fell out of the tree, landing with a loud THUD. A moment later, he sat up, shook his head vigorously, and pulled himself up to his feet. Heyzel saw that the undead thing before him had taken damage from the fall, but its body reknitted itself back together as fast as the bones broke and muscles tore. "Whoa!," the undead said again, "looks like the rumors were true! Or... are they?" Certainly looks the part... but with all I've seen in my time, I'd think I would've seen an angel by now. Then again, maybe that big Demonic Invasion was a wake-up call for the Heavenly Hosts.

"Vas?" To Jack & Taylor's surprise, the look on Archeville's face could only be described as "stunned confusion" -- head tilted just a tad, the brow lightly furrowed, eyes looking beyond them, and the mouth just a bit agape. But soon it passed. "Vell... you two certainly did not vaste any time, eh?" he said with a chuckle, "but... before I can even begin to make any sort of assessment, I vill need to know more about you two. Medical history stuff, und de like. Und do not vorry," he held his hands up, "I am not going to start right avay mit de probes und de electrodes und all dat 'freaky' Super-Science stuff. Just some basic qvestions, und a few basic tests, taking your temperature und blood pressure und veight." The Doktor walked over to one small work station and began to pull basic medical exam tools from the drawers. "Computer, fangen an zu notieren; gesichertes und verstecktes Faltblatt*," he said to the air next to him, "Now, my first qvestion is, just how long haff you two been in your present situation? Und here I refer both to de pregnancy -- or vhatever it is -- und your own parahuman states." * "Computer, begin recording; secured and hidden folder."

"I vill be glad to send you a copy of de lyrics, Stesha," Archeville quickly replied before Lynn started in on her song in earnest, "as vell as lyrics for other songs by de same voman. Dr. Parrott, biology teacher from New York, mit a very keen musical mind. She did a bit of touring back vhen I vas a student in Germany, und ve haff kept in touch." {after Lynn's song} "Herrlich! Wunderbar!" Archeville cheered once Lynn was done. "Simply wunderbar!"

"Er... I'm guessing that 'open yer home to us' just means 'fer Midnighters business'," Dead Head asked, a slightly confused look on his face, "and not fer, like, just crashin' anytime, or a permanent living- er, co-habitation situation, right? 'Cuz, like James here, ah don't wanna be intrudin', and I'm comfy here anyway. 'Sides, I tend to... leak, and stain things." "I would need directions, though," the revenant added. "Unless someone here," he gestured towards the graves around them, "knows where it is."

Archived due to two months of not posting.