Dr Archeville

It's extremely tough going, but with his supernatural strength, Avenger is able to eventually cut/tear the suit off of Vulture.

Okay, just need to have Ecal edit his post, and then... it'll be my turn! Md-Round 2; Initiatives & Conditions 24 -- Arrowhawk 23 -- Captain K -- held by gravity; 1 Bruise & Stunned 16 -- Doc 13 -- Dark Star

"I think a more appropriate question is how we are to be of help to... a certain Italian woman. One who took something from us, following a failed attempt to take something from her, or rather from her associates." "I could go into more detail, but I believe you would be more comfortable doing so inside, not out in this cold, drafty hallway." I really hope this works. It's risky, yeah, but letting him see my human form might put him more at ease. Shows him that I do have some vulnerability, and establishes some base level of trust, complimenting the fact that I now know where he lives. 'Course, I will exaggerate that vulnerability somewhat, just in case he decides to turn on me.

I actually think a Dramatic Soliloquy from Knievel would be better if done after he's kicked by Arrowhawk. ;)

Whoah... time warp.... If you want to speak out of turn, you need to do something that can change your initiative. If you want to talk while stunned... well, you can't, the best you can do is spend a Villain Point to reroll that save so you're not stunned. If you cannot or choose not to do either of those, then those words'll need to be deleted, yes. This may sound harsh, but "say what I want whenever I want" can too easily morph into "do what I want whenever I want." That cannot be allowed to happen.

That's not really allowed -- you can only talk on your turn. That Toughness save failed by 5, so Knievel's stunned for a round. Which means he cannot take any actions. Including -- horror of horrors -- talking!!! At least anything more complex than "blargh".

Hunh... okay, keep it cool, you're probably going to be meeting with a lot of crazy people. "Ah, you're quite fortunate," he said between tastes of brandy, "I've not had the pleasure of speaking with them. Whom was it you spoke to? Böcklin? Bruegel? Caravaggio? Taram?" He hoped he sounded convincing. The names he gave were all false -- in that, as far as he knew, they weren't actually the names of Death Lords -- though he hoped they sounded authentic. Arnold Böcklin was a symbolist Swiss painter from the later half of the 19th century best known for Die Toteninsel (Isle of the Dead). Pieter Bruegel the Elder was a Netherlandish Renaissance painter and printmaker known for his landscapes and peasant scenes, though two well-known ones were Dulle Griet (depicting a peasant woman leading an army of women to pillage Hell) and The Triumph of Death (a panoramic landscape of death). Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio was an Italian artist active in Rome, Naples, Malta and Sicily between 1593 and 1610, considered the first great representative of the Baroque school of painting, who focused on Saintly figures in assorted states of death/martyrdom. Taram was Marat backwards, as in The Death of Marat, a 1793 painting in the Neoclassic style by Jacques-Louis David, one of the most famous images of the French Revolution.

Natural 1's are still an auto-miss. Grr.

Archeville turned and flew back to the hangar. "Do you vant to go back to your brother?," he cooed to the device. "Of course you do." He makes a beeline for the other device -- though careful to go around what appears to be an increased region of gravity -- and zips past the recently-abandoned device up as he goes by.

As in, something the character would almost never take off, and can be disguised as something no one would think to take? In that case, it's not really a Device, or at least shouldn't be getting the full Device cost break.

At that moment, Jos Terhune was in one of the nicer sections of Riverside, being shown a large house which was in the process of being renovated. Terhune wore dark slacks and a matching jacket with elbow patches, looking very much like an antiquarian. His guide, the interior designer in charge of the renovations, was a prim-looking woman with her hair up in a tight bun and a British accent. "As you can see, I've fused Greco-Roman ambiance with the latest in 'modern spatial' chic," she said assuredly. "Almachtige Christus," Terhune gasped (and, inwardly, winced, as what he just blurted out was Dutch for "Christ Almighty"). "I'm sorry?" "You said it would have a 'traditional Italian feel.' It looks like a Roman brothel!" She was obviously taken aback. "I think it's the epitome of elegance." "Well I think it's garish, vulgar, pretentious 'modern spatial' crap!" Determined, the woman continued, "And these tiles here are from Tuscany. All hand-painted, of course; I use a little factory in-" "Hand-painted? By gibbons? Or possibly orangutans? Since quite clearly nothing with opposable thumbs could have painted quite so appallingly!" "What would you know anyway?," she snapped. Now Terhune was on the defensive. "What?" "You stand there and deign to have an opinion about the aesthetics of interior design?! These tiles were painted, glazed and fired according to tradition dating back hundreds of years. The block flooring upstairs is hewn from wood taken from one copse near the foot of the Dolomites, and is the same wood used for the paneling in the Vatican chambers! But then why should I expect an ignorant Philistine like you to appreciate such things?" Terhune as silent for a moment. Mmm... feisty. Terhune gave a half-smile, "Are you free for dinner tonight?" No time for that now, demone, he heard in his head, you're on the clock as of now. Follow the sound of my voice, and make it quick. "Say, Friday night, at Chez Henri?" he said as he checked his watch. "Unfortunately, I just remembered another appointment I have, so... I'll see you Friday?" Before she could answer, he'd already hopped back into his rental car -- one which looked a lot better than it actually was -- and sped off. And just where is it I'm going? To meet the other one I've geased. Turn left at the next light. Oh, and you may want to take a moment to change. Or not. It's up to you. "Hurm...." A knock soon came at Sammy's door. Checking any security monitors or peepholes revealed it was a slender but fit white man in his mid-30s, with short, brown hair, a narrow face, and round glasses, wearing dark slacks and a matching jacket with elbow patches. He looked very much like a librarian or college professor. "Er... Mr. Concertino?"

Malice feels someone glowering at him from his Placement Test.... I do hope Toptomcat/Shinken comes back. Has Red Star done a Placement Test?

Variable Descriptor only goes up to 2, which can get you "any technological descriptor".

... hunh?

:D

Indeed so. And now it's Dark Star's go.

"My vord? Kapitan, I did not break my vord," Archeville said in a firm voice as he slowly stepped down off the dais and approached Knievel and Arrowhawk. "Firstly, you stipulated dat no harm come to you. Dis I haff kept -- you are being immobilized, not damaged, und you shall be kept here until de authorities come und arrest you. Secondly, de terms you stipulated implicitly applied only to me und to anyvon I vas avare of in de area -- I haff no control over vhat dis newcomer does. You also said I haff de ability to prevent injuries und deaths... und I am exercising dat ability now." Archeville was now about ten feet from Knievel, arms crossed and with a very smug smile on his face. "You didn't think it vas going to be dat easy, did you?"

The book doesn't say, but I'd think it should, yes. Initiatives 24 -- Arrowhawk 23 -- Captain K 16 -- Doc 13 -- Dark Star Surprise round, Dark Star did the gravity thing. First "real" round, Arrowhawk tries to grapple, Capt K opposes.

While under that, Capt K is not completely helpless. He does fall prone (which in an of itself may be a huge blow to his ego). If he can make a Strength check (DC 10 + Gravity Control rank, or DC 20 in this case), he can take either a standard action or a move action (though normal movement is restricted to crawling 5 feet per move action) each round.

Yeah, now would be a good time to roll Initiative. Doc = 16 I don't see why you couldn't use Offensive Stance with a Grapple Attack. However, Dark Star was (at least theoretically) holding or readying and action (to do X when he gets the signal from Doc), so there should be a surprise round (between when Doc says "You wanna know why I asked?" and "Two reasons: One, ....."). Meaning Dark Star could take one move or one standard action before everyone else... assuming that he had been paying attention the whole time ;)

"Oh, Kapitan," Archeville called out as Knievel spoke to the man at the door, "vould you be interested in knowing vhy I asked you dat qvestion, asked about any allergies you may haff?" As he spoke, one hand went to the E.S clipped to his belt. He tapped a button, causing the mechanisms of his Gravimetric Belt to send out a faint gravitic pulse. To anyone with sufficiently advanced gravitic senses, the pulse was the equivalent of screaming NOW!. "Dere are two reasons, actually. Von, in case ve do meet again in such convivial circumstances, I may vant to buy you a drink or a meal. Und I vould not vant to inadvertently poison you. Death by anaphylactic shock is not de vay de Kapitan vould want to go, hrm?"

Continued in Low Places.

Since we're done here (and have progressed to Low Places), I'm locking up.

Also, Arrowstar is a bona fide scientist-type smarty-man. And Shinken's very Iron Man-y.

By now most everyone else had left the theater. A few students remained, either hanging by the doors or clinging close to the walls near the doors or in corners. "Friend of yours?," Archeville asked, though it was hard to tell if he was talking to Knievel or the newcomer. "Ach, no matter. Very vell, I agree to de terms you haff set out. Your qvestion: what do I know of how Doktor Metropolis repairs de city? Vell," he paused and sighed, "I regret to say dat I do not know, as de few studies und tests I haff done haff proved inconclusive. De structures he repairs show no evidence of lingering transnormal energies, no indication dat dey vere repaired by any means other dan routine materials und labor. I do haff several hypotheses, of course. He may be some sort of extradimensional being who came over from de Terminus, one mit powers similar to a Geokinetic Metahmuan. Perhaps de form ve see is its natural form, und its arrival here vas accompanied some form of amnesia. Or perhaps it is some manner of gestalt psychic entity, an energy being formed by the co-mingling of de mental energies of all dose who died during de invasion, und coupled mit de veird energies of de Terminus itself. Or perhaps Metropolis really is von single Metahuman, von who lost everything dear to him during de Invasion, und dis new persona emerged to protect de previous von from its traumas... dough, as I said, mein tests have yet to find evidence of any Metahuman activity, so dat hypothesis is fairly veak." "Because mein answer vas so... unsatisfyig," he says, stepping away from the podium and taking center stage, looking right at Knievel, "I vill ask you an easy, simple qvestion. Do you haff any food- or drug-related allergies?"