Ecalsneerg

Hayley the Raccoon Power Level: 3 (45PP/Minion 3) Abilities: 0 + 6 + 2 - 4 + 2 - 2 = 4PP Strength 6 (-2) [Inc. -4 from Shrinking] Dexterity 16 (+3) Constitution 12 (+1) Intelligence 6 (-2) Wisdom 12 (+1) Charisma 8 (-1) Combat: 4 + 6 = 10PP Initiative: +3 Attack: +3 [inc. +1 from Shrinking] Grapple: -3 Defense: +4 (+3 Base, +0 Dodge Focus, +1 Shrinking), +2 Flat-Footed Knockback: -0 Saving Throws: 3 + 2 + 3 = 8PP Toughness: +2 (+1 Con, +1 Protection) Fortitude: +4 (+1 Con, +3) Reflex: +5 (+3 Dex, +2) Will: +4 (+1 Wis, +3) Skills: 36R = 9PP Climb 7 (+10, Skill Mastery) Disable Device 7 (+10, Skill Mastery) Language 1 (English, native: Raccoon) Notice 7 (+8, Skill Mastery) Stealth 8 (+15, Skill Mastery) Survival 4 (+5) Swim 7 (+5) Feats: 4PP Agile Climber Benefit (Dexterity to Disable Device) Improvised Tools [claw lockpicks] Skill Mastery (Climb, Disable Device, Notice, Stealth) Powers: 6 + 1 + 1 + 5 = 13PP Shrinking 4 (Extras: Continuous [+1], Flaws: Permanent [-1], Power Feats: Innate, Normal Toughness) [6PP] +1 Attack/Defence, -4 Grapple, +4 Stealth, -2 Intimidate, 3/4 carrying capacity, 20' movement Protection 1 (tough little bugger) [1PP] Strike 1 (claws & fangs) [1PP] Super Senses 5 (Communication link [mental; with Equinox], low light vision, scent [olfactory sense; Acute, tracking], magic awareness [olfactory]) [5PP] Drawbacks: 3PP Mute ( Frequency: very common, Intensity: minor) [-3PP] DC Block: ATTACK RANGE SAVE EFFECT Strike Touch DC 16 Toughness (Staged) Damage Abilities (4) + Combat (10) + Saving Throws (0) + Skills (9) + Feats (4) + Powers (13) - Drawbacks (3) = 45 Power Points Notes: This is Equinox's upcoming familiar, Hayley the raccoon. As she is partly magical, she gets a few extra benefits over your average raccoon. Like the ability to smell magic, communicate telepathically with her owner, and eat all the food in the house. The last possibly isn't a magical power. Her only real problem is that, well, she's a couple of feet long, about 20 lbs, and her owner is a very powerful witch. In a fight, she's down, so has to basically run way using Stealth, and the fact she's the only one there not spewing lightning bolts and hurling buildings around. I went under the assumption that, for an animal, you'd need to buy Languages to understand humans perfectly, and not Comprehend to understand your own species perfectly. If I'm wrong, well, I have 1pp left, enough for 'one species' Comprehend. As Equinox gets more powerful, she'll likely get an upgrade to a low-rank Sidekick. Still no use in a fight, but probably is going to end up tough and fast enough to kill a hellhound. Important notes: :arrow: Equinox will need to buy Super-Senses (Communication link) herself for this to work. :arrow: Unlike the myriad other builds I have, please don't copy this verbatim, since I am planning to use it as something other than a throwaway NPC. :arrow: A fun little extra to have would be Sensory Link 5 (5 miles, Extras: Does Not Have Additional Save [+1], Simultaneous [+1], Flaws: Limited - only familiar [-3], Power Feats: Subtle) [6PP], arrayed off Equinox's Super-Senses (obviously excluding communication link).

"I just used to ask people to call me by my surname. Who needs a craft name when your name is Drake?" smirked Siobhan. "But look on the bright side, tattoos are perfectly normal for people our age. Squeezing into tight leather, not so much." She paused to think for a moment. "But yeah, that's the problem. It is nice to have someone who says they respect what you're doing, especially when everyone else thinks you're just crazy, or at best, following some stupid fad." She looked downwards, not meeting Eric's gaze. "That's where they get you."

That's perfectly legal, but won't represent him being stuck at any speed, which would be a Permanent power. However, I can't think of any power where Permanency would make you unable to communicate with people, i.e. it's probably a Complication.

"Oh, I was worse. I did come into them fairly young..." laughed Siobhan. "You'd never notice now due to some healing magic, but I my ears used to be so full of metal that when I went to the beach the beach combers got a bit... annoyed. Oh, and the leather... skies above, the leather." Subconsciously, she tapped a couple of spots on her left eyebrow where there seemed to be thinner patches. "But the problem is, we're not the only ones looking out for those kids. And some of them out there... not always on our side."

Whatever works for everyone else, really. If it comes to a vote, though, skip to the bit we're skipping to.

The witch nodded, briefly closing her eyes to concentrate. Even when she did so, a faint white glow was visible through the skin. Opening them again, they flared back into a bright enough light to obscure her features slightly. "I can feel a lot of them, and therefore, can figure out what direction they're heading. If you'll all just follow me-" With a brief gesture, she rose up off the ground again, white wings spread. "I can lead you to wherever they're going." But she looked at Push, remembering Stratford. "But we do this properly," she stated, pushing aside the urge to say her way, trying to remain diplomatic. "No rushing in half-cocked. We ask questions before shooting, I don't care if you've got history with this man. And I will be flying myself there." Equinox kept her face locked in her best 'strict teacher' look.

"I've actually been really boring..." sighed Siobhan. "I'm still teaching, and thus still have a lot of work to do at the end of a semester. The worst incident was some student picking up a magical staff and rampaging after a professor who gave him a bad grade. Fortunately, he hadn't received any training in avoiding things like... being frozen stiff and disarmed." Absent mindedly tapping on the side of her cup, she gazed off into the distance. "Oh, and I've met a few low level practitioners, but they were just simple lessons on discipline and control." She broke out into a grin. "Teenage me would kill me if she knew I was going to end up like this."

"I'd go with letting it breath. I mean, I smoke, I'm not pretending my work area is very fragrant, but..." Siobhan trailed off and gesticulated wildly, breaking into a wide grin. "Hell, you've been in there. The incense... my Lord, it's like he got a good offer on it or something..." She leaned back in her chair, sweeping her hair back and away from her eyes. Okay, we're getting uncomfortably close to things I would rather avoid discussion of... let's keep moving swiftly onwards? "So, enough of my problems... what have you been up to?"

"I prefer witch to mystic, but yes..." Equinox bowed her head briefly, conceding the point. "I like to think I at least know what I'm talking about." "That rune?" she repeated, raising an eyebrow. "Well, have you seen Fantasia, with that Mickey Mouse short... The Sorcerer's Apprentice? It's that sort of thing. Only without the duplication of the brooms. It's modified a little to pick up random objects instead of sweeping, but that's it. I'm not sensing any incitements to offensive action." She pulled out a slender wand from her belt. "But they're not entirely magical, so I wouldn't count on that part."

That's cos there's not very much to post about her It'd basically get you any previous threads (like the golem incident, or Witch Hunt) she was in, plus the fact she's not been active for more than a year yet.

Siobhan had just come out of the small store and popped the tab on a can of Coca-Cola when the little robot went past, holding aloft what looked like... a Segway? Mournfully, she looked at the can of Coke, and handed it off to some random kid, not even bothering to explain herself before storming grumpily into an alleyway. And I was looking forward to that... Looking quickly around to make sure no one was looking, she clicked her fingers. In a brief instance, her jeans and t-shirt turned into white garments embossed with a black and white symbol much like a yin-yang sign. A black trenchcoat flowed down her shoulders and back as her hair turned jet black and her eyes began glowing white. Floating up into the air on white, glowing wings, Equinox scanned the area, seeing a veritable parade of these robots carrying various items, all moving in one direction. And through it all, she felt a crackling in the back of her mind. Swooping lower towards the robots, she extended her senses towards the robots, and was amazed to find a weak magical signature coming forth from them, cool, crisp and mechanical. Magitek, she thought grimly to herself. Abruptly, she swept down towards the pavement towards two individuals, one crackling with force fields, the other garmented in some form of bodysuit. As her feet hit the cement, her wings folded back and faded into nothingness. "You're superheroes, I presume? Because these robots aren't just machines. I can feel the magic coming from them. It's weak, but it's there. It seems like they're all heading Downtown. I think it would be easier if we worked together on this one."

Taking 20 on K: Arcane gets me 35. Equinox knows stuff!

Dork :P

Since no one mentioned it... Dorsia? Paul Allen? Really? :P

The problem is, while I acknowledge plenty of people with glasses can put 3D glasses on top with no discomfort... they're so goddamn irritating that to make me sit through an entire film it took Toy Story 3 levels of quality. For me, it's never going to be good short of having to buy contact lenses. i.e. 3D is only ever going to be enjoyable for me if I put things in my eyeballs.

Siobhan flashed Eric a brief, radiant smile, but only for a few seconds before it faded again. "Thanks. That... means a lot. Although I could probably find you pretty easily with some simple spells, there aren't that many necromancers in the city. Mostly because most of them won't stop at the mancy, but that's not the point." "That's... a sore spot," admitted Siobhan, averting her eyes from Eric's. "Let's just say... I didn't seek him out for teaching, and it wasn't entirely voluntary on my part. But I'd much rather not go into that, I've tried for years to put it behind me... still, I'm not sure I want to see him again. It wasn't the best time of my life."

"Yeah... sometimes the hard thing and the right thing are pretty much the same," agreed Siobhan. The thing is, all this is ifs and buts, I don't know if it'll go badly, or if it does, how bad things will get. It's one of these situations where there's just no way I can have any idea what to do, and I've very rarely had that feeling in five years." She sighed again, rubbing at her eyes. "But if I need someone to talk to... I can call you, right? I mean, I don't know many of the practitioners in the city that well, apart from Eldrich, and well... it's more a teacher-student thing than friends"

:approved:

"For those of us who are not quite so old..." said Geckoman, gazing into the distance as if he was thinking hard. "And even for those of us who roomed with a guy who owned possibly every record ever made... Jill O'Cure was a band? Spellbound, get me my Google!" There came no reply, only the sound of a palm slapping the forehead of its owner with force. "C'mon, that's just obscure. Couldn't you have mentioned them earlier and logic bombed the robots?"

"Yeah, they'd be welcome side effects," nodded Siobhan, draining the rest of her coffee in one long gulp, flushing red as the burning sensation in her throat made itself known. "Yow. But, much as I hate to admit it, my question was a bit more selfish. What I mean is... what happens now that I can no longer just walk away from the job if it gets too much? Can I ever have a semi-normal life? Ever get a date? At the risk of sounding flippant, ever have affordable home insurance? That's what terrifies me, and I don't scare that easily."

Siobhan nodded. "Yeah, I was thinking of setting up a mailbox and an email service especially for this. Keep it separate from my normal services, to at least minimize the cranks. But I'm obviously going to need to do a publicity tour just to get the knowledge of them out there. Maybe set up a website." She ran a hand through her hair in an exasperated manner. "The Freedom Ledger is very pro-superhero, so I was thinking of setting up an interview there as a starting point, and go from there. Take each day as it comes. I'm not too worried about work objecting too much, thankfully. I mean, I teach theology anyway." She took a sip of coffee. "I'm just not a hundred percent sure how well this is going to work, or what the long term ramifications are."

"I've already taken the liberty of setting up a couple of counter measures, not long after I told them what I did," explained Siobhan. "They're... well, okay with it is a bit much, but it's not the elephant in the living room. They're just... not especially open to the idea of magic in their home, and whether that's going to work out for the better or the worse long-term... that's what worries me." She let out a small snort of laughter. "That's the rub. If I set up more mystic defenses, they won't be very pleased by it. If I don't... well, what if someone wants to get at me through them? The best compromise I can think of is some form of panic button that can have me teleport there quickly."

"Well, that's the thing," sighed Siobhan. "You can't plan for it. I can't watch my family all the time, and I'm not sure we'd get on with me doing so. There's... a lot of problems there. Because I was one of the kids who could have used direction." She smiled and shook her head. "On the other hand... my dad's a decorated Air Force General. In terms of playground games of 'My Dad can beat up your Dad', I sort of win. They're also not likely to get much flak off this, simply because he is known publicly to be a good man." She sipped her coffee. "He's also got a good answer to the question of 'You and what army?', so, y'know..."

"Um... well..." Siobhan was visibly struggling for words. "Ever since that incident in that town... with those kids not having a clue about magic, or much of their faith, and having to basically hide it from everyone... well, I came to a realization. I could stop this, take on a higher profile, set a good example. Parents and authorities would be more willing to take information from a superhero, and I might be able to raise awareness that there are plenty of folks who know about magic and faith, things like that... um..." The woman ran an exasperated hand through her hair. "The problem is, while doing all this to stop kids from having to hide, I'm... still hiding who I am. So, the only way I can see clear of this is... to go public with my secret identity, and I really, really, need to talk it through with someone." She looked at Eric somewhat pleadingly.

Siobhan nodded her thanks and took an experimental sip of the coffee. "That's great coffee, thank you." She took another sip. "And yeah, the back table would work. We'll probably need a bit of privacy for this, it's relating to... our other jobs." Perhaps a bit obvious a euphemism, but it got the point across. With that, she headed off to secure the table at the back while Eric went to tell his colleagues he was on his break.