Dr Archeville

Date: Friday, May 15th, 2009 Temp hovering in the upper 50s/low 60s all day. Very humid, but with a light breeze most of the day, interrupted by occasional 20mph gusts; it rained some the night before, so the air smells clean. Darian Cale was walking around Riverside, partly to pass the time, but mostly to seek out new bookstores which might hold some new bit of lore for him. A part of him liked the bohemian, Old World charm of the neighborhood, the small parks and tree-lined streets which reminded him of some of the first places on this world he'd ever visited. The place was filled with young people, students and artists from the nearby universities, and an incredible assortment of bookstores and restaurants. While walking down one of the streets, he came to a building on an intersection which seemed vaguely familiar, a two-story building that could be either a house or a shoppe, or both. The sign hanging on a post jutting out over the door proclaimed it was CURIOUS THINGS, and it hit him: this was the shoppe owned and operated by Jos Terhune, the foreign businessman he'd helped with a gang-related problem many months ago. It appeared moderately busy, as Cale could see through the large front window three people inside looking over some cases.

Ye OOC threade. Any preference for a date/time?

Date: (To be determined) Legend stood on the platform of the derelict oil rig known to certain people as the Arena. The mysterious curator of the one place where the villains of Freedom City could mingle with their peers without fear of intrusions by the do-gooders of the city. Today, he was waiting for one such villain to arrive. Legend had sent out the message to the Captain after learning of his near-capture by the hands of Arrowhawk, Dark Star and Dr. Archeville, and his alliance with Malice. The man had shown himself to be a very interesting character to the city, and Legend wanted to see just how much power and skill the man truly had, and how much was just bluster. And perhaps, in being tested, Captain Knievel could learn of new ways to cause havoc within the city limits. Of course, he would have to first appear at the Arena before Legend could do anything. Legend looked off to the distant shoreline and waited for the Captain to appear.

September 28th, 2008 Finally met up with Ansel "Flying Dutchman" Kaars tonight. A part of me had missed him. And I was evidently not as prepared for the new Kaars as I thought I would be, despite all the things I've seen these past few months. I first met Kaars several years ago; he and his men had some objects d'art they wanted appraised, and knew I asked no questions. Only about a quarter were the real deal, the rest were forgeries, and to my eye obvious ones at that. I was still somewhat new to the "black market," and hesitated to tell Kaars the truth -- he was a big, imposing man, even then, and his love of (no, obsession with) mobster movies made him even more imposing. I had no idea how he'd react, though was sure it would be painful to me if I told him that most of his goods were worthless knock-offs. In the end, my professional honesty -- yes, I do still have that -- won out, and I told him... and he burst out laughing! Seems the items had been left to him by a rival racketeer on his death bed, which he thought was fishy. So he decided to get them appraised, to see what they were really worth. I had saved him from a huge embarrassment! Ever since that night he became one of my steady patrons, sending all art objects he and his associates acquired through me for appraisal. I was able to put him in touch with some reliable jewel appraisers and fences, too, and those connections -- along with his bold actions -- really helped him and his little criminal organiation. But his ambitions were too great for the Netherlands, so he came to the Americas in early 2005. We occasionally kept in touch, an odd letter now and again, but then I lost all trace of him about a year ago. I'd heard rumors -- a big shoot-out between either his men and a local mob, or his men and the cops -- but never heard anything solid. Not long after I arrived in Freedom, I received a letter, slid under the door of the apartment I was staying in. The handwriting looked almost like Kaars', but not exactly, there were some definite differences. The letter welcomed me to Freedom, and contained a phone number. I'd meant to call him soon after, but various plans of mine started taking off and the letter was filed in the back of my mind. Tonight I called him, and we met. He was a very changed man. Seems the rumors had been correct, he and about 30 of his men had been involved in a nasty shoot out with the police, here in Freedom City. Fortunately for them they had made connections with an underground cybernetics hospital. About a third of his men died either on the table or before even reaching it, but six months later the rest were all sporting gleaming new cybernetic enhancements. Now they've returned to the streets and are working to rebuild their territory; what they lack in numbers and finesse they more than make up for in brute strength, brutality and bionic augmentation. (Kaars has an automatic rifle concealed in his right forearm, and his chest can open to reveal a mini-missile launcher!) And if anything, Kaars' obsession with the classic mobster stereotype has not only gotten worse, it's been ingrained into all his men. They're all tough-talking, foul-mouthed men in fedoras, sharp pinstripe suits, and shiny shoes; most even carry Tommy guns, though some of those are multi-purpose assault weapons disguised as Tommy guns.

On Friday, May 1st, Sirius decided not to open the shoppe, in part due to some family business he had to attend to. He put up a sign indicating a family emergency would prevent him from opening this morning, and that the shoppe may be closed all day. As he left the store, the new pothole in the middle of the intersection barely registered in his mind. When he got back on Monday the 4th, he found the shoppe was already open... and Jos was at the counter, helping a customer, as if nothing had happened! In fact, Terhune looked better than ever, well-rested and neatly groomed. "Ah, good morning, Mister Vulpes!" he said cheerfully, "were you able to find those cinnamon buns I had asked for? I was so looking forward to them." I wonder what you were up to on your three-day weekend.

Added. Also added a reference to another, older thread one of my chars had been in (it got cut short when the guy running it disappeared):

Geckoman, High Note, and Quark. Thursday evening (Sept 25th), 5 days before the Delivery at Pier 18. Liberty Park, Parkside, Downtown Freedom. The moon is a waning crescent, only 15% visible. 64 degrees, 20mph NE winds, and there's a light rain which has been pouring for the past two hours. Jos withdraws his hand from Quark, and looks back to High Note, "the only times I know are when my shipment is to arrive, and when I am to pick it up. The ship should be arriving around noon next Monday, the 29th. I have been told it should take about six hours for it to clear customs, and I could pick it up then, which I plan to do." That silvery kid's a bit stand-off-ish. Is the The Muscle of this trio? Tabitha Connely and Ember Paw, with Jos Terhune and Cyber-Goons watching on. Early Sunday morning (Sept 28th, around 2:00am), 2 days before the Delivery at Pier 18. The Fens, Downtown Freedom. The moon is a waning crescent, only 1% visible. 69 degrees, 96% humidity, 4mph ESE winds, overcast. Jos looked the fox-man over, and his artist's eye immediately noted a similarity between the patterns on its fur and certain patterns on Vulpes' book. "Ah, yes, of course: I should have realized this earlier. Well, I believe we are done here anyway, so unless you wished to get better acquainted with these fine men," he nodded towards the gun-wielding cyborgs, "I believe you should come back to my shoppe with me. My Lady," he turned and bowed slightly towards the whip-wielding woman, "might I call upon your services once more for transport back to my humble home?" She had been keeping her eyes on Ember Paw almost the entire time, but nodded at Terhune's request, opening another hellfire-rimmed portal. "After you, Mister Fox," Jos instructed, then turned back to the cyborgs and said something in the odd, harsh language. After they replied, he turned back and stepped through the portal. Jos, Ember Paw and Lady Iniquity were all soon back at Terhune's shoppe in Riverside. Iniquity whispered something to Terhune, he nodded, then she was gone, leaving the werefox and the art appraiser (with cyborg mob connections) in the street. "Sooo..." he started as he began to unlock his door, "who was it you said you worked for?"

He's not grappled, but he is still entangled by Doc's magno-snare.

Ah, I missed the hands-free part. Yeah, that probably should be paid for with EPs.

Archeville retrieved a small hard leather case from a nearby table and returned to Avenger's side. The case was a miniature medical kit, though one that seemed designed by Jules Verne or H.G. Wells. He wiped the top of her hand with two substances, a clear fluid (rubbing alcohol) and then a blue gel. "De procedure isn't very painful, unless I happen to hit just de right- er, wrong, spot. Dis compound vill deaden de pain receptors; it should last only a few minutes, ten at most." "Should?!" "Ja, vell, I know nutzing of your neurochemistry, so it may last slightly more or less... or considerably more or less." It actually had no effect at all on "Jill"'s undead nervous system. "All de more reason for me to get dose samples!" The procedure was slightly more painful than having razor-sharp blades scrape off half a dozen dime-sized pieces of flesh... because while that is pretty much exactly what happened, "Jill"'s undead flesh reacted rather unpleasantly to the silver blade. ">," Archeville whispered in German, ">"* Victoria placed the samples into a group of machines, then applied something that looked like Neosporin to the back of Avenger's hand before wrapping it in gauze. Then she jotted down several names and addresses on a notepad and gave the page to Avenger. "Here's de list of tech suppliers I mentioned." * sounds something like "Sie haben, dort sind kein blut hier überhaupt recht. Faszinieren!"

Adding ranks in the Sidekick feat? Certainly! Here be yer second approval.

Background question: is Tina able to talk again? Looks fine to me, just two minor edits are needed. The Impervious should be listed in her Toughness, and Impervious alters how Knockback is calculated. So those lines should be written as Knockback: -1, -6 vs. physical w/ Force Field up Toughness +2; +7 (Imp. 5) vs. physical attacks with Force Field Edit those, and bold the names of her power and bold & underline the "section headings" (stats, combat, saves, skills, etc.), and we'll be good to go. ;)

Doc continues to ward people off... and gets a natural 20 on his Diplomacy check to influence them! Mid-round 9; Initiatives & Conditions 24 -- Arrowhawk -- fine -- 2 HP 23 -- Captain K -- 2 Bruises, Entangled, Grappled -- 0 VP 16 -- Doc -- fine -- 1 HP 13 -- Dark Star -- fine -- 2 HP Dark Star, you're up. The cops arrive at the beginning of the next round.

Archeville continued to ward people off, flying in a circle around Knievel to outline an invisible perimeter... which he then boost-jumped through "Get back! Dis is a very dangerous man, und ve do not vant you to get hurt! My associates und I have dis vell in hand, und de police shall be here in seconds, but anyding could happen mit dis highly dangerous und unpredictable madman, so stay back!"

Energizing won't work for an HQ-based Healing: Energizing Healing lets you 'heal' someone else's fatigue or exhaustion by transferring it to yourself. Which'd make the HQ itself fatigued, which... no.

No.

Archived per player request.

Sounds good to me, though I'd suggest a Disable Device DC of 8 for Struggling, 10 for Standard, and 12/14/16 for each successive level of Wealth. Alright, we've heard from 4/5ths of the Refs, so I'd say that's more than good enough. I'll add these to the House Rules post, then work up a separate Char Edit thread strictly for Equipment & Wealth things.

SMALLVILLE's ninth (and allegedly final) season will air on Fridays at 8:00 PM this Fall. FRINGE was moved to Thursdays at 9:00 PM. No word on if REAPER is continuing, though two of its creators signed a production deal with 20th Century Fox and won't be back, and the guy who plays "Sock" is leaving to be on a comedy on Fox.

I can -- Enhanced Feats (Defensive Roll). You know where the attacks are coming from, so you an roll with it to avoid the brunt of the damage. But your way works, too.

The biggest concern to jump out at me is that I'm not sure you realize just how fragile she is with +0 Toughness. On an average roll, against someone of equal PL with a PL 6 damage effect, she's going to be stunned & staggered (and disabled if lethal). (On average you'll get a 10 on the Toughness save, vs. DC 21, which fails by more than 10).

I would think "Masterwork [anything]" would be understood to not be included under "General equipment". Primarily because MW gear isn't something you can buy at a corner store, it's something custom-made. Secondarily, b/c it gives a bonus -- yeah, it's a small bonus, but that's a slippery slope I don't want to start on.

Who's seeing it? Who's avoiding it like the plague?

QFT. The 7th was supposed to be the last one, but they talked most of the cast into coming back for another season. They only got Kreuk (Lana) for a quarter of the eps, and didn't get Rosenbaum (Lex) at all.