Dr Archeville

March 28th, 2009 (Saturday) Kenny, one of the HIT students who lives down the road, came by to tell me about a "big kegger" some friends were having, and wondered if I'd like to join. Of course, he also asked if I could bring some refreshments, due to my reputation in the neighborhood for having some of the best beers this side of Wading River. I've hit on some downtime -- the few experiments I'm currently running are pretty much on auto-pilot for now, cultures growing and computers compiling data -- so why not?! March 29th, 2009 (Sunday, afternoon) Awoke with a bad hangover, made worse by the screeching alarms which woke me. Which weren't as effective as they could be; I need to find some way to wake me faster in case something like this happens again. "This," of course, being the massive explosion in the Sunberry suburb in Riverside, so powerful it actually set off my seismographs. By now the fires have been brought mostly under control, thanks in large part to several superheroes -- Ace Danger, Arrowhawk, Avenger, Dark Star, Phantom, Scarab, and Sen -- who came in to help. Fortunately, most of the Sunberry residents were away this morning when the blast went off, so there were few injuries or fatalities. Unfortunately, it appears the source of the explosion was Eric Micheals, who owns one of the companies I consult for... and was (until now, secretly) the supervillain Malice! (What's more, Eric lost an arm in the blast.) On the one hand, I'm kicking myself: I've worked with the man for almost a year now, I should have seen this sooner! But maybe I just didn't want to see it. Or maybe I was too wrapped up in my own secrets (and on making sure I wasn't too generous with my inventiveness) to notice his. Worse, what if some of the projects I consulted on were components of his armor? Sure, I can (rightly) say I had no idea that's what he was using me for, but some lawyer may insist that I can't not have known Eric wasn't Malice, and thus I had to on some level know I was helping a supervillain! And even if that doesn't happen, I'd still know that my genius was being perverted by his anti-metahuman bigotry! On the other hand, if I play my cards right, I can turn this to my advantage. I might be able to use resources -- both materials and personnel -- from Darts, Inc. to finally start up my own company. Yes, that would be most fitting: turn a weapons manufacturer that was run by a metahuman-hating bigot into a multidisciplinary research center for all manner of fields pertaining to metahuman activity and the increasing emergence of metahumans.

I'll be rolling the Bad Guy's saves, thank you But I'll let that one go. These are meant to be more distraction than anything. Initiative 12 -- Skeletons (4) 7 -- Belphegor -- 1 VP -- Bruise x3 1 -- Ghost -- 1 VP -- Bruise x3, Fatigued They regroup a bit, all four try to strike Ghost, and all miss again. 8, 3, 2, and 3! Bel takes out another one with a hellfire bolt. Three left now.

The skeletons regroup a bit, all four try to strike Ghost. And again, they all get tangled and miss widely. "This is fun!," the demon bellowed as he toasted another skeleton, "though it would be nicer if they screamed some as I destroyed them. Ah, well."

No, they're not machines. Initiative 12 -- Skeletons (6) 7 -- Belphegor -- 1 VP -- Bruise x3 1 -- Ghost -- 1 VP -- Bruise x3, Fatigued These Skeletons are treated as Minions. The Skeletons all charge for Ghost, but due to the confines of the stairs only four of the six can get to him. Since this is the first round of combat, everyone is flat-footed until they can act. So Ghost is both flat-footed and fatigued, so his Defense is 11. Their (4) Attacks: 5, 6, 6, and 6. They all miss by a good margin. (Ghost's luck is back?) Belphegor shoots at one of the skeletons in front of Ghost, with a hellfire bolt. Taking 10 on the attack easily hits; it can't pass the Toughness save, so it dies.

The six skeletons move with disconcerting speed for Ghost, bony claws outstretched, but the confines of the stairwell shielded him from two of them. Still, four sets of bony claws reaching for him was nothing to shrug off.... ... or maybe it was! The four that were able to get in position to reach him got tangled up in each other and were completely unable to reach Ghost. Lady Luck was smiling on him again! "Hunh... they don't look that tough," the demon grunted. A ball of dark fire appeared in its hand, which he tossed down onto one of the skeletons; the skeleton amazingly appeared to catch on fire and rapidly burn down to ashes. "Really not tough," he added.

The Wis check allows RRG to realize, based on patterns of crushing and burning along the trees and grass, that the Blobs came from the southeast, and had been slowly moving northwest. He also realizes that the Promenade is right on Wading River, and near the Hanover Zoo. He also knows there are several water treatment plants and water runoff drains along the river. Also (and this part would be an Int check, but your Int's high enough you can Take 10 to get it), RRG recalls that the Green Man once used the water treatment plant at the Liberty Park reservoir to try and distribute a compound that would turn all people into plant-creatures. So maybe someone's trying something similar, something in the water fountains along the jogging paths that's doing this, or these are just some critter that slipped in through a river processing plant or drainage pipe. Those Notice and Search checks do not locate anything supporting this, though. The few grates/water run off drains which he finds (at the parking lots around the ends of the Promenade) do not have any slime or goo around them, so they didn't come in that way, and the few basic tests he can do on water from the fountains -- including watching as people drink from them and don't turn into blob-monsters -- shows it's ordinary water.

I suppose Ember can try a Knowledge (Arcane Lore) check, DC 16 (the same one Jos will be facing when making his Artificing checks), to work out that he's using demonic magic. And a Sense Motive to see if he can beat his Bluff ;)

Good, I won't have to worry about him trying to gnaw off my kneecaps. Jos starts making a mildly disgusted face, then is clearly relieved when Ember comes clean. "Ah, excellent. I would hate to disappoint Sirius' matron by telling her I was unable to complete my work due to you tearing my throat out after some full moon-fueled rage. Though I suppose the fact she was leaving you here to watch over me for as long as it takes me to do this should have tipped me off to that... unless, of course, she wanted me dead after I finish this." ... let's try not to think about that possibility. The planning stage took several hours, drawing diagrams and charting planetary positions, and cross-indexing the names of various entities that Ember may never have heard of. Once that was done he started the actual construction process, cutting a frame out of a tin baking sheet which he said would house the mirror he was use to locate the Mysterious Woman in Red. The mirror itself would be made in part from some of the gemstones from the rings Ember had gathered; he'd replace them with fakes later. Around 1:00am, Jos start yawning and stretching, and generally showing signs of considerable fatigue. "I am going to have to stop soon for sleep."

Ah, right, I forgot Subtle has a slightly different definition for Create Object. Carry on!

And I'm more than a bit leery of Subtle 2.

Give me a Wisdom check and then a Notice check. If the Wisdom check beats DC 15, you can also attempt a Search check. The results of these may see you editing your last post.

Archeville gave her Estelle a very quizzical look (one that perhaps lingered a bit too long), but eventually shook himself free of his mental lock. "Dat, I do not know, but I do know dat it vas activated by somevon in de other dimension vhere de Claremont students are now trapped. Unfortunately, dat other dimension is de von known as Erde, a parallel reality vhere de Axis powers von Vorld Var II und took over de United States of America. Vhich could mean de Nazis dere haff used Grue tech from some crashed saucer... or dat de Nazis dere haff actually allied mit de Grue somehow." "Given a choice, I vould greatly prefer de former; I vould rather not face a group of shapeshifters mit Nazi sympathies!" The Doktor began pacing around the device, occasionally floating up and over it to get views from different angles.

The six skeletons along the wall spring to (un)life as soon as Ghost's foot touches the dirt floor; they approach with bony claws outstretched, and pinpoints of hellish red light in their eye sockets.

It is, indeed, a trap. The skeletons are comin' for ya! Initiatives Skeletons: 12 Belphegor: 7 (and he'ss till got 3 Bruises)

Archeville smiles at her, a smile that is both disarmingly inviting and serves to remind her all the more of just how agitated he was a moment ago, "Oh, I vould not dream of doing anyding to damage your relationship mit ASTRO Labs, but I vould be very pleased if you came over und did some vork on me. Ah, I mean, mit me, vork on projeckts mit me." The Doktor's face turned a few shades redder. Just then, a waitress -- one very much unlike any seen before -- arrived. "Ach, Viktor! Still so skinny! It's a good ding you come here to eat properly, ja? Und who is dis fraulein mit you, hrm?" The Doktor's face was now several shades redder. An explosion suddenly rocked the front of the Biergarten, sending dozens of people flying. Out of the conflagration strode a quartet of humanoid figures, each clad head-to-toe in gleaming chrome armor, adorned with a large numerical character on the chest. 1, 3, 5, and 7. #1 did the talking, while the others covered the area with gauntlet-mounted blasters. His voice had an eerily flanged, bass-augmented register as it rang out through the speakers in his armor. "We have come for Doktor Archeville. We know he is here." One of the armored figures passed something to #1, and he tossed it to the ground several feet in front of him: it was the head of the animatronic David Hasselhoff Gosamer saw was driving Archeville's limo, badly damaged and with the left half of its face torn/burned off. "Surrender him now!" No. 5 keeps a lookout behind them, while Nos. 3 and 7 cover the sides.

And now... SUPERVILLAINS! I'm going to assume Estelle has her Devices, either under her clothing or super-compacted into her purse. Initiative for the Bad Guys #1: 8 #3: 17 #5: 13 #7: 20 And Doc has a 9. So right now, the combat order is: 20 -- Power Corps #7 17 -- Power Corps #3 13 -- Power Corps #5 9 -- Doc 8 -- Power Corps #1 For the purposes of this thread, #1 (the field commander) will be treated as a proper Villain, and the rest will be considered Minions. No surprise, but everyone is flat-footed until they have had a chance to act.

From what RRG can tell, that was the center of the colony. As he travels out, he finds a few more man-sized blobs, which quickly fall to him; further out he finds dog- and then housecat-sized ones. The slime coats on the trees also get thinner and less frequent, until at last he barely sees any slime on any trees. He gets the sense that he can clean these up, here and now, as long as he kept his wits about him and didn't let them surprise and swarm over him. It'd take a few hours to make sure he got them all, though.

"Hunh? After the gauntlet one would run through to get to this point, the deterrent here is... skeletons dangling on strings?" Continuing down, Ghost's keen eyes pick up on some movement in the darkness below. As he pauses and lets his eyes adjust, he can make out six skeletal figures standing against he southern wall. They sway slightly, but he does not see any ropes or wires holding them up. "What now? Why have you stopped? I don't see anything down there."

DC to bypass it was 20, so you got it. I'd meant to say that the only light is coming from Kapatelis' Panic Room at the top of the stairs, but I forgot. So I'll say the stairs are lit (lights wound around the hand rails), but the walls of the room below are shadowy. Belphegor's Infravision does not help him see inanimate skeletons. Or undead skeletons. If he had true Darkvision, that would help.

Yes, I checked the calendar; Mysterious Woman in Red visited on August 3rd, on August 5th there's a full moon in the north east section of the USA. ;)

Why is he talking like Jar-Jar Binks? Jos gives Ember a confused look, then shrugs and turns to the back door, "This way, this way; we have to go out to get down into the basement. Don't worry," he quickly added, "I have several crates and boxes out there blocking the view, so the neighbors won't see you." The basement had a simple dirt floor, but you'd barely know it from all the boxes and jars and barrels and crates in it. Ember knew most of them; as Sirius he'd helped lug them down here and stack them in accordance to Jos's inventory. At one end was a workbench, which Jos had used to "touch up" certain pieces, either to genuinely restore damaged items or to put the finishing touches on some of his forgeries. The bench had seen less use since the deal he'd made with Gwen, but Sirius knew he still came down from time to time to tinker with things. Alright, Jos, time to see just how good you are with the arcane secrets you've learned. "It is going to take me about a day to work out just how to track her down," he said as he retrieved some sheets of papers and a few small books from a concealed shelf, "and probably another three to actually assemble and construct the tools I need for the search. Fortunately for me, in two nights there's a full moon in two nights, so that should help my divinitory practices." Jos paused abruptly, "you're not... affected by the full moon, are you?"

It seems I was terribly wrong on the times listed above (which is why I started the thread linked at the end there, to double-check). Searching the entire city would take just 1 day, not 50 years. So I will go with Telelocation 6 (20 miles, or any spot in the city; PF: Subtle) w/ Linked Quickness 3 (x10; Flaw: Limited to Extended Telelocation Searches only [-2 Flaw]) and Linked Enhanced Skills 8 (Search +8 [+9 total]). 1 day divided by 10 = so the Search will take 2.4 hours 32.4 hours altogether, or a little over 4 days work. And Jos's Search check is.... 19. EDIT: 20, due to Jos's +1 Int. .... I have no idea what the DC for this Search check should be; the books don't say. I wouldn't think it would be that high, since she doesn't know she's being scryed on, so she wouldn't know to hide from his peeping eyes... but if she's the cautious/paranoid type, she might try to hide just because.

So, for the record Searching 1 mile diameter (4 steps up the Range table) takes 1 hour (4 steps up the Time table). And searching Freedom City -- ~20 miles diameter (6 steps up) -- takes 1 day (6 steps up the Time table). And searching the entire Earth -- ~8,000 miles in diameter (9 steps up) -- takes 3 months (9 steps up). Right?

Alright, I thought things seemed really off. And now we have one coherent, semi-official thread to record it all ;)

The last blob exploded, showering the area with slime and chunks of... something. Looking around, RRG could see the place was an absolute mess. And possibly still hazardous: where the dead blobs lays, their leaking fluids hissed and bubbled out onto the ground, dissolving leaves, branches, tree trunks, and chunky, non-oozey bits of their own bodies. Something sparkling caught RRG's attention: a silver necklace, in one of what had been the medium blobs. As they continued to melt and seep into the soil, more metallic items appeared -- necklaces, rings, belt buckles, buttons, and so on -- now freed from being obscured by thick slime and partially-digested bits of the victims.