Avenger Assembled

APPROVED

"Are they food?" asked Aquaria, her eyes fixed forward as she looked at the reptile with fascination. Jessie might have been interested in the fruit, but she certainly wasn't. "I mean, uh, I was just asking what they were for, bre-ek-coax," she croaked, realizing that Jessie was giving her what had to be a familiar look. "I wasn't going to eat it. It is a very nice garden. You have found a good place for the crown." she added, rather relieved that she hadn't found Leviathan wearing the crown - for all that he would have cut a very dashing figure in it. At least we aren't talking about Blackstone anymore. Oh I do not like that place! "The plants and the animals, did you get them from space?" she asked. "I have not seen them on the Surface."

All fixed - though note that Wadjet has Speed of Thought.

The Lor handled this with great professionalism - there was no real word for it. Alarms blared and lights flashed, a eye-catching sequence of blue and yellow, and everywhere the station crew (though really, to Puigo's eye it was clear that this was a semi-permanently 'parked' mobile command headquarters) took shelter behind rapidly-closing vacuum seal doors. It wasn't long before Puigo found himself neatly contained in alternatingly blue-and-yellow branching corridors that went nowhere, behind doors that it would have taken him a blaster to cut through. "I'm sorry about this, pilot," said Samran's voice over the intercom. "I don't want to deploy counter-intruder measures against you. If you can stop and allow us to speak with you, I can tell you what we know about the fate of your empire - and what we can do for you here in the present in the new galactic order of things. You are not the only survivor."

Let us know!

Good good!

That hits - Reflex save vs 21 http://orokos.com/roll/603767 = 7

"...mmm." Doris took the twenty and looked squarely at Joule. "'S five bucks for the burger 'n curds, two bucks for the burger or the curds, two for fries if you wannem." She looked over Joule's shoulder as Lady Horus hit a biker with a glowing ankh hard enough to flip the man over the side of a trailer and promptly land in the snow-covered tree nearby. Bedlam was cold this time of year and the city didn't bother to do much plowing this far outside its territory. If not for the people at the mobile home park, the food truck probably wouldn't be doing much building. "Seen some things," she admitted, warming up a little bit to her new customer. "Got some good customers here, some not so good. Better'n workin' in Calabrian territory, you know what 'm sayin', though?" As she spoke, the burger was soon sizzling on a grill that looked to have absorbed the flavor of years; the cheese curds too sizzling in a fryer that must have been at least as old as Joule herself.

"Sorry," croaked Aquaria, embarrassed when she saw Jessie flinch. But if either of them held grudges about moments like this, they would hardly be friends. "I did not want to boast," she croaked modestly. "Jessie has her own things from those Below," she added, hopping along in Leviathan's company, the blue lights reflecting oddly against her pale green skin and the pattern of blue tattoos on her belly and sides. The elevator was a challenge she didn't expect but one she was quickly able to solve. Scuttling back against the rear wall and clinging to it with her fingers and toes meant that there was space enough inside the cabin for both Leviathan and Singularity - and it reassured the latter that no terrible enemies were going to strike them from behind. It also put her between Aquaria and the door, something she knew her friend would find comforting. It also put her close to Leviathan, who smelled absolutely wonderful. "We have a pet. He is a dog. I did not think he would work but he is a good dog."

I'm not 100% sure what there is for us to do at this point - can you make a suggestion?

@Tiff, if you can handle Ardent and Frostbyte's arrival along with your action, that would be great.

Alkahest fails the Sense Motive check, even with the -5 for a Move Action penalty. Okay, Giz, there's no Set-Up feat in play here - but that'll still give you an advantage when the Solution goes for the Cannibal Alkahest. But first, @Tiffis up as soon as alder posts IC.

Eventually, only a few minutes before this would have made for a real breach of protocol, the Emir raised his hand - and just like that, the music stopped. "Jambo! I am delighted to greet the representatives of my sovereign as they deserve." Smiling, he greeted Red Lynx effusively, grabbing his hand right wrist with the left hand as a sign of respect. (The Lady Murjana did the same for the White Lioness, as befit a lady of the court and her counterpart in the court of the White Lion) It was hard to tell if the Emir was smiling out of approval for the emotional stamina of White Lioness and Red Lynx - or in delight at having gotten away with pushing the limits of propriety as far as a savvy nobleman could. Crocodiles did love to smile. The Emir favored a certain degree of antiquarian style, in his case favoring the 'look' of the Sultans of Zanzibar that had once been their allies, but he was as modern as any Dakanan prince. In the middle of the ceremony of greetings, while the entourages mingled over coffee and meats, the Emir and his lady wife were taken aside by bearded men in turbans with smartphones - telling them the same thing that Red Lynx and White Lioness were hearing from their own staff. "Your afternoon guest is on her way here, to the Crocodile Emirate - and she's bringing Monsoon." Tsunami's presence made enough sense; she was supposed to have arrived in the country long before her planned meeting with the royal siblings.The ongoing crisis in Socotra, where the scions of Typhoon were widely-known to be plotting his overthrow, was one of many Indian Ocean crises on the mind of the government of Dakana. Especially since an heir to that throne was only a hall away, the flat levelness of her gaze a sharp contrast to the seemingly-demure manner she projected alongside her husband. Dakana was a landlocked nation - but warring Socotrans could change that.

All right, @BlazingCoconut, give me a check of the interaction skill you're using here.

So the enemy speedster has not yet appeared?

Okay, @alderwitch, you're good! Now you're up in combat vs. the Alkahest.

Intimidate: http://orokos.com/roll/601974 = he's Startled! That just hits flat-footed! Toughness: vs. DC 25 http://orokos.com/roll/601975 he's bruised!

"We're not entirely sure what happened to you," admitted Dr. Ariel. "We're not even sure what happened to the world where we found you - it looks like it was displaced from its primary and cast adrift. We've only been excavating here for a few years." Ariel and Samran exchanged glances with each other, and then the captain spoke up, evidently trying to finish before Puigo could do the math. "The current date is-" He gave a figure 2000 years after the date Puigo had given. "I'm so sorry, Puigo. The empire you served, the people who founded it; they've all been gone from this Galaxy for nearly a tenth of its rotation. I'm sure you don't believe me," he added. "You're a pilot. If I show you the stellar data," he asked, gesturing to a smart wall that adjusted itself to reveal a map of the Milky Way galaxy centered around what had once been the territory of the Delaztri.

Wadjet PL: 8 (120) Character History: Born undocumented to a teen mom in the back of a pickup truck in northern Mexico in late 2000, Esperanza Azul and her mother made it safely to the United States on their next trip - when she was four months old. The Azuls (not the last name her mother had back in Honduras, before the gangs shot her brother right in front of her eyes while she was pregnant) settled in Bedlam's Hardwick Park area, where Esperanza grew up wild, her mother's poverty, drinking problems, and personality sending her out onto the street with the district's other wild kids. She was smart; smart enough to see that she was going to die or get knocked up if she stayed in this neighborhood, so she did things to get out of it - learning just enough in school to survive, working out every day of her life, making her plans to one day break out as a superhero. If she did some drugs or fooled around with bad boys in the meantime, so what? She was just doing what she had to do to survive. The Hammer of Justice showed up when she was seventeen, patrolling with a homemade costume to test out some new gear, and he - wasn't so bad. She'd heard he didn't like Hispanics but he seemed all right to her, and she appreciated that he wasn't a phony goody-two-shoes like the hero she'd expected to have to ditch once she'd saved up enough money to operate on her own. He was handsome, albeit a little old with his mask off, had some good stuff back in his lair, and if he had expectations about being his sidekick, well, it was her choice, wasn't it? And if sometimes he smacked her around, well, it wasn't the first time that had happened. Then came the day, after a time on the rooftop, when he beat her until she felt things break, and threw her off it, hard enough that she felt more things break when she hit, and it was so cold she thought she was going to die. The rescue by Lady Horus was unexpected, as was the discovery that the woman behind the mask was an old white lady who talked like Betty Boop and had been fighting the Centurion or something back when Esperanza's grandmother was in diapers. She knows why he did it. He was trying to use her as bait, and to make sure no one took his place as the only hero of Bedlam. Some time has gone by since then. She got her GED, thanks to some time-traveling (!) help from Anna Cline, and she has a home now that isn't that far away from where she grew up. She'll never be the person she was before it all happened, but she's still herself. She's going to be a superhero. She's going to get out of Bedlam. She's even going to make enough money for her siblings to get out of Bedlam too. But first things first - she and Anna Cline are going to take down the Hammer of Justice, and anyone who gets in their way doing it. It's okay. Anna Cline has fought superheroes before. Physical Description: Esperanza Azul is tall and rangy for a young woman of her heritage, indigenous stock from rural Honduras. She has dark bronze skin that's stayed that color even under the usually-grey Bedlam sky. She's cut her hair even shorter than she wore in high school and dyed what's naturally black an almost shocking shade of red. It makes a lot of guys think she's a lesbian but screw them anyway. She has a piercing in her nose and a tattoo on her neck that says "Nunca más." She's a lot sharper and less interested in talking than she used to be, and much less social - partially because of lingering pain from her injuries at the hands of The Hammer of Justice. She spends a lot of time in her workshop. As Wadjet, she's a masked figure whose face is totally covered by an armored costume that itself is partially obscured by a cowl and armored outer garment. Her colors in costume tend towards blue and yellow (which just happen to have been her high school colors too, as well as that of the Wadjet). She likes to stay anonymous, at least in terms of what she does in costume. She does generally sign her work with "Wadjet" when she's done, using spray cans or carefully placed paintball guns. Power Description: Wadjet's powers are combat training (from Anna and people Anna has managed to hire) and her brilliant mind - particularly her self-taught mastery of chemical engineering. Her niche in combat revolves hanging back out of harm's way and peppering her opponents with chemically powered projectiles that explode on impact with various exciting results. She only has a limited stockpile of such weapons other than her signature device, a pocket incendiary round, but she is quite skilled in their application. She doesn't actually have superpowers connected to the Egyptian pantheon, but she's not above allowing people to believe that she has such. Abilities: 2 + 6 + 6 + 10 + 4 + 0 = 28PP STR 12 (+1) DEX 16 (+3) CON 16 (+3) INT 20 (+5) WIS 14 (+2) CHA 10 (+0) Combat: 8 + 12 = 12PP Init: +5 w/Speed of Thought ATK: +4/+8 Gun/+10 Damage DEF: +10 (+4 Dodge Focus, +6 Base, +3 Flat-Footed) Grapple: +5 Knockback: -3/-1 Saves: 3 + 3 + 4 = 10PP TOU +6/+3 (+3 Con, +3 Costume) FORT +6 (+3 Con, +3) REF +6 (+3 Dex, +3) WILL +6 (+2 Wis, +4) Skills: 76R=19PP Bluff 4 (+4/+8) Climb 4 (+5) Craft [Chemical] 5 (+10, SM) Craft [Mechanical] 5 (+10, SM) Disable Device 5 (+10) Intimidate 12 (+12) Investigate 5 (+10) Knowledge [Technology] 5 (+10, SM) Language 2 (English, Miskito, Base: Spanish) Medicine 3 (+5) Notice 8 (+10) Sense Motive 8 (+10) Sleight of Hand 2 (+5) Stealth 8 (+11, SM) Feats: 17PP Attack Specialization (Gun) 2 Attractive Eidetic Memory Evasion Dodge Focus 4 Improvised Tools Inventor Jack of all Trades Master Plan Precise Shot Skill Mastery (Craft [Chemical], Craft [Mechanical], Knowledge [Technology], Stealth) Speed of Thought Uncanny Dodge (auditory) Powers: 8 + 5 + 13 = 26PP Damage 3 (combat training, PFs: Accurate 3, Innate, Mighty) [8PP] Device 1 (Armored Jumpsuit, 5PP, Flaw: Hard to Lose, PF: Subtle [Concealable]) [5PP] Protection 3 [3DP] Super-Senses 2 (Commlink [Anna Cline], Extended Vision x1 [100 ft]) [1DP] Device 4 (Paintball Gun, 20PP, Flaw: Easy to Lose, PF: Subtle [Collapsible]) [13PP] Gun Array 8 (16PP, PFs: Alternate Powers 4) [20DP] BE: Blast 8 (explosive balls) {16/16} AP: Drain Wisdom 8 (drugged balls 1.0, Extra: Ranged [Range], Flaw: Unreliable [5 Uses]) {16/16} AP: Obscure 5 (100 ft, visual and auditory, chemical chaff balls, PF: Reversible) {16/16} AP: Paralyze 8 (drugged balls 2.0, Extra: Ranged [Range], Flaw: Unreliable [5 Uses]) {16/16] AP: Speed 1 (10 MPH/100 FPM) {1} + Super-Movement 4 (Slow Fall, Swinging, Wall-Crawling 2) {8} {9/16} costs abilities 28 + combat 20 + saves 10 + skills 19/76 + feats 17 + powers 26 = 120 pts

Player Name: AvengerAssembled Character Name: Lady Horus Power Level: 10/12 (177/181) Trade-Offs: +2 Defense/-2 Toughness, -4 ATK/+4DMG [as Lady Horus] Unspent Power Points: 4 No More Statuses: 0/0 In Brief: Lo, the Sunhawk returns for a new generation! But there are secrets. Homebase: Bedlam City Songs: "True Colors," Kesha "Meant to Live," Switchfoot "Hurt," Johnny Cash "God's Gonna Cut You Down," Johnny Cash "Calendar Girl," Neil Sedeka Alternate Identity: "Wouldn't you like to know?" Identity: Secret Birthplace: Bedlam City, Wisconsin Occupation: Adventurer Affiliations: Various Family: "Just look it up in the books!" - Son, Richard Cline, Daughter-in-Law Paige Psion-Cline, Grandkids (2.5...maybe?) Age: Stories of Horus go back around 4 millennia/eighty-four this year. Gender: Female Height: 5'9" Weight: 150 lbs Eyes: Blue Hair: Platinum blonde Description: It's clear Lady Horus is probably not Egyptian by birth - most Egyptian women of any generation have not been fair-skinned platinum blondes, for all that her hair hangs in the curly ringlets in fashion in the New Kingdom. But other that she certainly looks the part - her costume consists of a gold-beaded white linen kalasiri that hangs loosely on her frame and comes down just below her knees, white bodice, white shawl over that, the cloth reinforced with polished bronze pieces that sparkle like the sun, all adorned with the gold and jewels of an Egyptian noblewoman. On her head is the blue khepresh of a pharaoh at war. She should probably not be able to see! The upper part of her face is covered by a gold and blue half-mask of a hawk, decorated in the Egyptian style, the mask itself resting on the lower part of her nose. Yet she does seem to be able to see just fine, thank you. When not wearing the Helm, she looks like an attractive older woman who keeps herself healthy through vigorous running; slender and healthy, with hair she'd begun to actually dye blonde because her natural shade of platinum looks too much like the grey it really is. She favors jogging suits and other outfits suitable for both anonymity and fast running, and usually is wearing a pair of old-fashioned running shoes. When she does get a chance to dress up, she favors bright gold jewelry that's just this side of tacky and bright red pumps. History: Lo! The Sunhawk has returned to the World of Man - as a woman! Lady Horus appeared in Bedlam over the Christmas holiday back in 2016 but has already made herself notable as the city's loudest and toughest protector. In a town of grim avengers of evil, criminal vigilantes and vigilante criminals, she's the biggest action in the city. Before she donned the Helm, she was a lovable rogue. No, she was a cold-hearted monster. No, she was a loving mother. No, she was an irresponsible adrenaline junkie. Anna Cline has been all these things, and more, in her long life (she turns eighty-four this year!). She ran wild as a teenager, becoming Calendar Girl - one of the last true supervillains of the 1950s. Empowered by the chronitons her body had absorbed from a childhood encounter with Dr. Tomorrow, she fought Midnight and the Centurion before disappearing into the future - a future where she met Dr. Tomorrow! She spent a few months as one of his companions, traveling through time and space with him, learning the true extent of her powers and what it meant to have a connection to Time itself. And then they landed in the early 1960s, and she realized how Tomorrow had betrayed her - while she'd been going on adventures in time and space, her estranged mother and father had died in the Olympian Invasion. The so-called heroes had taken all the glory, but had they been there? No! Had she been there, playing at hero? No! She cursed Tomorrow's name and ran; and didn't stop running until she ran into some old friends who were forming a new organization - the Crime League of the 1960s! She made a new friend there; Bryant Haliday, and for a little while Calendar Girl and Doc Holiday were partners in crime, and more. And then she was pregnant, and Bryant left her. Was she an unnatural mother to make sure her son was born with powers like hers, exposing him to temporal radiation even in the womb? Was it so bad for her to support herself and her son in the only way she knew how - to reinvent herself as Clock Queen, the mistress of time and crime, and battle everyone from Doctor Tomorrow to her personal arch-nemesis - the Centurion (aka "The Golden Gargoyle!")? Her family was dead and the heroes would take her son away if they caught her. So she made sure they never did, at least not for long. She had to do some things that weren't too pretty; but she never killed anyone or was part of any plans about killing, and if she was around killers, well - that wasn't her problem! It was the heroes' job to stop the so-called villains, wasn't it? When her son was old enough, he joined her as Tempus Fugit and she truly couldn't have been prouder. Her son had a girlfriend from those crazy Psions - but what the hell, maybe they'd pull it off and she'd get to preside over another generation of people like her. But times were a-changing, the 1970s turning into the 1980s. Bowman got drunk and quit?! Whatever happened to class? Horus defeated Set and imprisoned him? Man, she liked Set. And then came the museum robbery - the police closed in, now with power nullifiers (where the hell had they gotten _those_?) and one put a gun to her son's head to make her surrender. She cut him after that, charges they added to the many, many still on the books for Clock Queen, and when she realized her friends had abandoned her and her son she was left with an inescapable problem. Richard Cline turned eighteen years old two days after his arrest. Freedom City juries hated If he was tried as an adult, he'd be in jail for twenty years. So what does a mother do? Anna took all the blame herself, spinning a tale of child endangerment and abuse, one that got her son held until he turned twenty-one and then freed (to a criminal career she happily followed) - and one that, between this and that and the other thing, got her a sentence of twenty-five to life. She spent the 1980s in Blackstone and the 1990s in Blackstone too, even coming back after a few happy days of freedom after the Terminus Invasion, knowing that her incarceration was what kept her son from being jailed for the rest of his life if he was ever caught. She was immensely surprised to be freed the first time she was up for parole. The Centurion, dead now for years, had left a message in her file - a statement on behalf of her character, urging that she be allowed to rejoin society. That was a hell of a thing. By the time she was out, her son was married and settled down. She drifted for years after that - she couldn't go back to her old ways without endangering the life her son and new daughter-in-law had built, not without hurting the grandkids she adored. She wasn't going to sell out and be a hero, that was for damn sure - but what else was she supposed to do with herself? She lived on the money her son sent, and selling a few items she'd saved over the years, and maybe stealing now and again - acutely aware of a reality that her long time in prison had made absolutely acute. She was old, and getting older. She wasn't immune to aging as she'd often thought, it just happened more slowly to her than it did and the reality that the immortals she knew were this close to dancing on her grave became an ever-heavier weight balanced on her soul. Then, a couple of years ago, what was supposed to be one last job turned out to be a brush with divinity - with unexpected consequences. . Personality and Motivation: Lady Horus has the charisma of her predecessor (and the habit of showboating in combat) but evidently a different personality - she's more inclined to mock and belittle the failings of her opponents rather than call them out as a fellow warrior. She's more close-mouthed than her predecessor as well, talking little about the origins of her powers and what has brought her to Bedlam, generally spinning the question around to one about the welfare of the person she's speaking to. She likes kids and pets - is tolerant of certain kinds of crime but despises those who exploit others, particularly those who are hostile towards women and children. When angry, her accent 'slips' and she shouts in a gutter argot unfamiliar to the average citizen of Bedlam, sounding more like a 1930s cartoon character than the sometimes-Shakespearean Sunhawk. Without the Helm, she's not actually that different - just more tired. She can feel her time running out but she does her best to make sure no one can tell she knows. Powers and Tactics: Lady Horus is faster and more agile than her masculine counterpart, wielding the Ankh of Horus with a frenetic energy that speaks more to the kineticism of a young sunhawk at war rather than the brute strength of the Avenger of old. That said she seems to be less creative with her powers than her predecessor - generally striking with mighty blows of her ankh while weaving in and out of combat, occasionally blasting foes or pummeling them with great strength. She has manifested some abilities denied to her predecessor - in particular teleportation, self-healing, and invisibility. Without the Helm, she fights dirty - staying invisible as long as possible, hitting from behind, and otherwise doing whatever it takes to survive. The years may be catching up but she is still entirely capable of outfighting SWAT officers or even low-level metahumans, especially if her goal is just to run away and find the Helm (which it usually is). Complications: Anna, No!: Anna YES Fake!: Lady Horus is not the same person as the old Horus - a source of resentment for many, both divine and otherwise. Grandma: Not all of Anna's opinions have kept up with her age. Help Me Out Here, Sister: Much of Lady Horus' knowledge of the gods of Egypt comes from the spirit of Nephthys, the Lady of the Mansion. But Nephthys, or rather the fragment of her embedded in the Helm, has her own agenda and often keeps her own counsel - and has her own feelings towards the woman who wears the Helm of Horus. Hey, That's Mine!: When deprived of her Helm, Lady Horus reverts back to her normal self within the space of 1 minute. Long Past? Your Past: Anna Cline's life is on the record - and the record is not so cheerful. Not So Tough: Lady Horus lacks much of the physical prowess of her illustrious predecessor. Who Are You?: The mystery of exactly who Lady Horus is remains just that - at least to most. )$% @#$* *& @ !#$%*: Lady Horus's greatest antagonists are the Hammer of Justice and Stabbo the Clown. Also kind of the Centurion. Abilities: 0 + 4 + 4 + 0 + 4 + 2 = 14PP STR 26/10 (+8/+0) DEX 14 (+2) CON 14 (+2) INT 10 (+0) WIS 14 (+2) CHA 20/12 (+5/+1) Combat: 8 + 8 = 16PP Init: +2 / +22 with Super Speed ATK: +4 (+6 Ankh/+10 Super-Speed) DEF: +12 (+8 Dodge Focus, +4 Base, +2 flat-footed) Grapple: +4/+17 Knockback: -8/-1 Saves: 3 + 6 + 3 = 12PP TOU +8/+2 (+2 Con, +6 Protection [8 Impervious]) FORT +5 (+2 Con, +3) REF +8 (+2 Wis, +6) WILL +5 (+2 Wis, +3) Skills: 48R=12PP Bluff 10 (+11/+15) Disable Device 5 (+5) Escape Artist 6 (+8) Knowledge (History) 5 (+5) Knowledge (Theology and Philosophy) 2 (+2) Languages 2 (Ancient Egyptian, Arabic, Base: English) Notice 6 (+8) Sense Motive 6 (+8) Stealth 6 (+8) Feats: 42PP Dodge Focus 8 Eidetic Memory Equipment 3 (Headquarters Old Main) Evasion Fearless Move-By Action Sidekick 24 (Wadjet) Taunt Ultimate Save (Will) Uncanny Dodge (auditory) Equipment: Belchner College's Old Main: [Size: Huge; Toughness: 15; Features: Communications, Computer, Concealed (2), Infirmary, Laboratory, Library, Living Space, Power System, Security System] [15EP] A few people who work at Belchner College remember the good old days. Belchner has never been the most prestigious institution in Wisconsin, but it spent decades attracting students from all over the northeastern part of the Badger State. Then came That Guy - the president they don't name, with his friends on the Board of Trustees, and his ties to the city's 'business community', and the way secretaries had to go into his office in pairs. That was when faculty started deserting, when alumni stopped donating, and when the students began to realize they could do whatever the hell they wanted. Old Main is from the good old days - a three story brick building covered in gargoyles, actually the first building on campus built back in the late 1880s. It had classrooms and the library, a chemistry lab, even a small museum down in the basement full of artifacts donated by wealthy alumni The building's been boarded up since a few years into That Guy's reign as President - he was sure students wanted a bigger gym and skating rink, and he was sure they didn't want to waste time in an "old dump" like this. There were plans to demolish the place but then a small group of alumni sued the president for threatening a college landmark, then a few years into _that_ suit the college turned out to be running deep in the red; and then the president fled the country ahead of an arrest warrant... The college spent some time dumping things they didn't need anymore - microfilm readers, desktop computers that were supposed to be replaced with free student iPads, the various detritus of a college in the midst of a transition. From the outside it's a sad building, covered in graffiti, its windows boarded up where they're not broken, its doors boarded up too; the dying grass on its little plot full of cigarette butts and beer cans. Inside, the first floor still looks like Hell - but the second floor is full of superheroes! Lady Horus (aka Anna Cline) and Wadjet (aka Esperanza Azul) have been living here for the last few months, having moved in during the college's Christmas holiday. They've fixed things up - the library, the chemistry labs, the computers, Anna acquiring things for her protege's genius to put to good use. There's no central heat, but cunningly-concealed solar panels on the roof provide electricity, and luckily the water systems in the college are indifferently run enough that they were able to get running water in the building. Anna's lived in worse places. And this is a place Esperanza built. It's a good place to fight a war. The Hammer of Justice hasn't found them...yet. Powers: 45 + 1 + 1 + 32 + 2 = 81PP Device 11 (Helm of Horus, Flaw: Hard to Lose, 55PP, PF: Restricted [Those Chosen By The Gods]) [45PP] Enhanced Charisma 8 (to CHA 20/+5) [8DP] Feature 1 (Advice from Nepthys) [1DP] Immunity 3 (aging, disease, poison) [3DP] Ankh Array 13 (26PP, PFs: Accurate, Alternate Powers 2) [29DP] BE: Flight 5 (250 MPH) {10} + Strike 14 (PFs: Improved Crit 1, Takedown Attack 1) {16} {10+16=26} AP: Blast 14 (Extra: Penetrating 10 [as DMG 24], Flaw: Action [Full], PFs: Improved Crit 1, Variable Descriptor 1 [any light]) {26/26} AP: Enhanced STR 16 (to STR 26/+8) {16} + Super-Strength 5 (Effective STR 50, Heavy Load 12 tons) {10} {16+10=26/26} Protection 6 (Extra: Impervious 8 ) [14DP] Feature 1 (Temporal Inertia) [1PP]Immunity 1 (aging, Extra: Affects Others, Flaw: Limited [Half-Effect]) [1PP]Super-Speed 5 (Speed 5 [250 MPH/2500 ft per round], +20 Init, Quickness 5 (x50), 10PP array, PFs: Accurate 3, Alternate Powers 4) [32PP] BE: Concealment 10 (all senses, Flaw: Passive) {10/10}AP: Damage 4 (Extra: Autofire, PFs: Improved Crit 2) {10/10}AP: Damage 4 (Extras: Area [Targeted, Shapeable], Selective], Flaw: Action [Full], PFs: Improved Crit 2) {10/10}AP: Healing 2 (Extra: Total, Flaw: Personal) {10/10}AP: Teleport 3 (300 ft) (Extra: Accurate, Affects Others, Flaw: Short-Range Only, PF: Turnabout) {10/10} Super-Movement 2 (Wall-Crawling, Water-Walking, Flaw: Limited [Only While Moving]) [2PP] costs Abilities (14) + Combat (16) + Saves (12) + Skills (12/48) + Feats (42) + Powers (81) = 177/181 pts

18 + 9 = 27 3 remaining reward PP for Lady Horus/Wadjet = another headquarters! Belchner College's Old Main:. Old Main: [Size: Huge; Toughness: 15; Features: Communications, Computer, Concealed (2), Infirmary, Laboratory, Library, Living Space, Power System, Security System] [15EP] A few people who work at Belchner College remember the good old days. Belchner has never been the most prestigious institution in Wisconsin, but it spent decades attracting students from all over the northeastern part of the Badger State. Then came That Guy - the president they don't name, with his friends on the Board of Trustees, and his ties to the city's 'business community', and the way secretaries had to go into his office in pairs. That was when faculty started deserting, when alumni stopped donating, and when the students began to realize they could do whatever the hell they wanted. Old Main is from the good old days - a three story brick building covered in gargoyles, actually the first building on campus built back in the late 1880s. It had classrooms and the library, a chemistry lab, even a small museum down in the basement full of artifacts donated by wealthy alumni The building's been boarded up since a few years into That Guy's reign as President - he was sure students wanted a bigger gym and skating rink, and he was sure they didn't want to waste time in an "old dump" like this. There were plans to demolish the place but then a small group of alumni sued the president for threatening a college landmark, then a few years into _that_ suit the college turned out to be running deep in the red; and then the president fled the country ahead of an arrest warrant... The college spent some time dumping things they didn't need anymore - microfilm readers, desktop computers that were supposed to be replaced with free student iPads, the various detritus of a college in the midst of a transition. From the outside it's a sad building, covered in graffiti, its windows boarded up where they're not broken, its doors boarded up too; the dying grass on its little plot full of cigarette butts and beer cans. Inside, the first floor still looks like Hell - but the second floor is full of superheroes! Lady Horus (aka Anna Cline) and Wadjet (aka Esperanza Azul) have been living here for the last few months, having moved in during the college's Christmas holiday. They've fixed things up - the library, the chemistry labs, the computers, Anna acquiring things for her protege's genius to put to good use. There's no central heat, but cunningly-concealed solar panels on the roof provide electricity, and luckily the water systems in the college are indifferently run enough that they were able to get running water in the building. Anna's lived in worse places. And this is a place Esperanza built. It's a good place to fight a war. The Hammer of Justice hasn't found them...yet.

Elsewhere The Crocodile Emir and his wife sat before their thrones, giving the proper submission to the White Lioness and the Red Lynx, as befit loyal sub-rulers of Dakana. Bum-bum-bum! The traditional musicians were pounding away on their hippopotamus-skinned drums and playing their flutes made of leopard bones. The central throne room of the Emir's palace was crowded with the Emir's followers and their families, all there to show their loyalty to the newly-anointed heirs to the throne. So what if the Emir's father had tried to kill their father? More than once? With the current Emir's help? Mamba was a man of ambition, but he had played his cards close to his muscular chest and not made the challenge that Red Hyena had. He was an ally, and his ceremony of submission was important. Interrupting it would have been an insult that the Crocodile Emir, who never forgot an insult, would remember. The Emir had served hot coffee liberally to his royal guests, and sweetmeats too. The musicians had been playing for at least half an hour; White Lioness and Red Lynx had observed one 'shift change' already as drummers and pipers and all the rest built and built and built towards a crescendo that...that had been coming for a good fifteen minutes now? Distinctly the Emir was smiling, his hands folded on his lap as he carefully did not look directly at his monarch's agents during this ceremonial moment; though his outlander wife was as impassive as stone, her head wrapped in a scarf in the same green-and-brown that were omnipresent in the tiled walls of the main room of the Emir's palace. There was the distinct, omnipresent sound of running water from the river that ran underneath the throne room, an echo of sound that played along with the music. At this rate, how were they supposed to make it back for their meeting with Tsunami? - On the train Monsoon was silent on the tram, hands folded on her lap despite their mundane surroundings. It seemed that the interior of high-speed trams didn't vary much between nations - there were commuters here and advertisements, and landscape passing by beneath. If the commuters were dressed in Dakanan fashions rather than Western, if the advertisements were in Arabic and Swahili and at least two or three other languages, if the landscape of high-walled river valleys went by almost too quickly to see, well. Monsoon and Tsunami, neither of them local and the former in armor, were the objects of quiet but intense attention. The locals didn't get many like them. "We will be there soon. Do you need time to change?" inquired Monsoon.

Player Name: AvengerAssembled Character Name: Lady Horus Power Level: 10 (150/168) Trade-Offs: +2 Defense/-2 Toughness, -4 ATK/+4DMG [as Lady Horus] Unspent Power Points: 18 No More Statuses: 0/0 In Brief: Lo, the Sunhawk returns for a new generation! But there are secrets. Homebase: Bedlam City Songs: "True Colors," Kesha "Meant to Live," Switchfoot Alternate Identity: "Wouldn't you like to know?" Identity: Secret Birthplace: Bedlam City, Wisconsin Occupation: Adventurer Affiliations: Various Family: "Just look it up in the books!" - Son, Richard Cline, Daughter-in-Law Paige Psion-Cline, Grandkids (2.5...maybe?) Age: Stories of Horus go back around 4 millennia/eighty-four this year. Gender: Female Height: 5'9" Weight: 150 lbs Eyes: Blue Hair: Platinum blonde Description: It's clear Lady Horus is probably not Egyptian by birth - most Egyptian women of any generation have not been fair-skinned platinum blondes, for all that her hair hangs in the curly ringlets in fashion in the New Kingdom. But other that she certainly looks the part - her costume consists of a gold-beaded white linen kalasiri that hangs loosely on her frame and comes down just below her knees, white bodice, white shawl over that, the cloth reinforced with polished bronze pieces that sparkle like the sun, all adorned with the gold and jewels of an Egyptian noblewoman. On her head is the blue khepresh of a pharaoh at war. She should probably not be able to see! The upper part of her face is covered by a gold and blue half-mask of a hawk, decorated in the Egyptian style, the mask itself resting on the lower part of her nose. Yet she does seem to be able to see just fine, thank you. When not wearing the Helm, she looks like an attractive older woman who keeps herself healthy through vigorous running; slender and healthy, with hair she'd begun to actually dye blonde because her natural shade of platinum looks too much like the grey it really is. She favors jogging suits and other outfits suitable for both anonymity and fast running, and usually is wearing a pair of old-fashioned running shoes. When she does get a chance to dress up, she favors bright gold jewelry that's just this side of tacky and bright red pumps. History: Lo! The Sunhawk has returned to the World of Man - as a woman! Lady Horus appeared in Bedlam over the Christmas holiday back in 2016 but has already made herself notable as the city's loudest and toughest protector. In a town of grim avengers of evil, criminal vigilantes and vigilante criminals, she's the biggest action in the city. Before she donned the Helm, she was a lovable rogue. No, she was a cold-hearted monster. No, she was a loving mother. No, she was an irresponsible adrenaline junkie. Anna Cline has been all these things, and more, in her long life (she turns eighty-four this year!). She ran wild as a teenager, becoming Calendar Girl - one of the last true supervillains of the 1950s. Empowered by the chronitons her body had absorbed from a childhood encounter with Dr. Tomorrow, she fought Midnight and the Centurion before disappearing into the future - a future where she met Dr. Tomorrow! She spent a few months as one of his companions, traveling through time and space with him, learning the true extent of her powers and what it meant to have a connection to Time itself. And then they landed in the early 1960s, and she realized how Tomorrow had betrayed her - while she'd been going on adventures in time and space, her estranged mother and father had died in the Olympian Invasion. The so-called heroes had taken all the glory, but had they been there? No! Had she been there, playing at hero? No! She cursed Tomorrow's name and ran; and didn't stop running until she ran into some old friends who were forming a new organization - the Crime League of the 1960s! She made a new friend there; Bryant Haliday, and for a little while Calendar Girl and Doc Holiday were partners in crime, and more. And then she was pregnant, and Bryant left her. Was she an unnatural mother to make sure her son was born with powers like hers, exposing him to temporal radiation even in the womb? Was it so bad for her to support herself and her son in the only way she knew how - to reinvent herself as Clock Queen, the mistress of time and crime, and battle everyone from Doctor Tomorrow to her personal arch-nemesis - the Centurion (aka "The Golden Gargoyle!")? Her family was dead and the heroes would take her son away if they caught her. So she made sure they never did, at least not for long. She had to do some things that weren't too pretty; but she never killed anyone or was part of any plans about killing, and if she was around killers, well - that wasn't her problem! It was the heroes' job to stop the so-called villains, wasn't it? When her son was old enough, he joined her as Tempus Fugit and she truly couldn't have been prouder. Her son had a girlfriend from those crazy Psions - but what the hell, maybe they'd pull it off and she'd get to preside over another generation of people like her. But times were a-changing, the 1970s turning into the 1980s. Bowman got drunk and quit?! Whatever happened to class? Horus defeated Set and imprisoned him? Man, she liked Set. And then came the museum robbery - the police closed in, now with power nullifiers (where the hell had they gotten _those_?) and one put a gun to her son's head to make her surrender. She cut him after that, charges they added to the many, many still on the books for Clock Queen, and when she realized her friends had abandoned her and her son she was left with an inescapable problem. Richard Cline turned eighteen years old two days after his arrest. Freedom City juries hated If he was tried as an adult, he'd be in jail for twenty years. So what does a mother do? Anna took all the blame herself, spinning a tale of child endangerment and abuse, one that got her son held until he turned twenty-one and then freed (to a criminal career she happily followed) - and one that, between this and that and the other thing, got her a sentence of twenty-five to life. She spent the 1980s in Blackstone and the 1990s in Blackstone too, even coming back after a few happy days of freedom after the Terminus Invasion, knowing that her incarceration was what kept her son from being jailed for the rest of his life if he was ever caught. She was immensely surprised to be freed the first time she was up for parole. The Centurion, dead now for years, had left a message in her file - a statement on behalf of her character, urging that she be allowed to rejoin society. That was a hell of a thing. By the time she was out, her son was married and settled down. She drifted for years after that - she couldn't go back to her old ways without endangering the life her son and new daughter-in-law had built, not without hurting the grandkids she adored. She wasn't going to sell out and be a hero, that was for damn sure - but what else was she supposed to do with herself? She lived on the money her son sent, and selling a few items she'd saved over the years, and maybe stealing now and again - acutely aware of a reality that her long time in prison had made absolutely acute. She was old, and getting older. She wasn't immune to aging as she'd often thought, it just happened more slowly to her than it did and the reality that the immortals she knew were this close to dancing on her grave became an ever-heavier weight balanced on her soul. Then, a couple of years ago, what was supposed to be one last job turned out to be a brush with divinity - with unexpected consequences. . Personality and Motivation: Lady Horus has the charisma of her predecessor (and the habit of showboating in combat) but evidently a different personality - she's more inclined to mock and belittle the failings of her opponents rather than call them out as a fellow warrior. She's more close-mouthed than her predecessor as well, talking little about the origins of her powers and what has brought her to Bedlam, generally spinning the question around to one about the welfare of the person she's speaking to. She likes kids and pets - is tolerant of certain kinds of crime but despises those who exploit others, particularly those who are hostile towards women and children. When angry, her accent 'slips' and she shouts in a gutter argot unfamiliar to the average citizen of Bedlam, sounding more like a 1930s cartoon character than the sometimes-Shakespearean Sunhawk. Without the Helm, she's not actually that different - just more tired. She can feel her time running out but she does her best to make sure no one can tell she knows. Powers and Tactics: Lady Horus is faster and more agile than her masculine counterpart, wielding the Ankh of Horus with a frenetic energy that speaks more to the kineticism of a young sunhawk at war rather than the brute strength of the Avenger of old. That said she seems to be less creative with her powers than her predecessor - generally striking with mighty blows of her ankh while weaving in and out of combat, occasionally blasting foes or pummeling them with great strength. She has manifested some abilities denied to her predecessor - in particular teleportation, self-healing, and invisibility. Without the Helm, she fights dirty - staying invisible as long as possible, hitting from behind, and otherwise doing whatever it takes to survive. The years may be catching up but she is still entirely capable of outfighting SWAT officers or even low-level metahumans, especially if her goal is just to run away and find the Helm (which it usually is). Complications: Anna, No!: Anna YES Fake!: Lady Horus is not the same person as the old Horus - a source of resentment for many, both divine and otherwise. Grandma: Not all of Anna's opinions have kept up with her age. Help Me Out Here, Sister: Much of Lady Horus' knowledge of the gods of Egypt comes from the spirit of Nephthys, the Lady of the Mansion. But Nephthys, or rather the fragment of her embedded in the Helm, has her own agenda and often keeps her own counsel - and has her own feelings towards the woman who wears the Helm of Horus. Hey, That's Mine!: When deprived of her Helm, Lady Horus reverts back to her normal self within the space of 1 minute. Long Past? Your Past: Anna Cline's life is on the record - and the record is not so cheerful. Not So Tough: Lady Horus lacks much of the physical prowess of her illustrious predecessor. Who Are You?: The mystery of exactly who Lady Horus is remains just that - at least to most. )$% @#$* *& @ !#$%*: Lady Horus's greatest antagonists are the Hammer of Justice and Stabbo the Clown. Abilities: 0 + 4 + 4 + 0 + 4 + 2 = 14PP STR 26/10 (+8/+0) DEX 14 (+2) CON 14 (+2) INT 10 (+0) WIS 14 (+2) CHA 20/12 (+5/+1) Combat: 8 + 8 = 16PP Init: +22/+2 ATK: +4 (+6 Ankh/+10) DEF: +12 (+8 Dodge Focus, +4 Base, +2 flat-footed) Grapple: +4/+17 Knockback: -7/-1 Saves: 3 + 6 + 3 = 12PP TOU +8/+2 (+2 Con, +6 Protection [8 Impervious]) FORT +5 (+2 Con, +3) REF +8 (+2 Wis, +6) WILL +5 (+2 Wis, +3) Skills: 44R=11PP Bluff 6 (+7/+11) Disable Device 5 (+5) Escape Artist 6 (+8) Knowledge (History) 5 (+5) Knowledge (Theology and Philosophy) 2 (+2) Languages 2 (Ancient Egyptian, Arabic, Base: English) Notice 6 (+8) Sense Motive 6 (+8) Stealth 6 (+8) Feats: 15PP Dodge Focus 8 Eidetic Memory Evasion Fearless Move-By Action Taunt Ultimate Save (Will) Uncanny Dodge (auditory) Powers: 45 + 1 + 1 + 32 + 2 = 82PP Device 11 (Helm of Horus, Flaw: Hard to Lose, 55PP, PF: Restricted [Those Chosen By The Gods]) [45PP] Enhanced Charisma 8 (to CHA 20/+5) [8DP] Feature 1 (Advice from Nepthys) [1DP] Immunity 3 (aging, disease, poison) [3DP] Ankh Array 13 (26PP, PFs: Accurate, Alternate Powers 2) [29DP] BE: Flight 5 (250 MPH) {10} + Strike 14 (PFs: Improved Crit 1, Takedown Attack 1) {16} {10+16=26} AP: Blast 14 (Extra: Penetrating 10 [as DMG 24], Flaw: Action [Full], PFs: Improved Crit 1, Variable Descriptor 1 [any light]) {26/26} AP: Enhanced STR 16 (to STR 26/+8) {16} + Super-Strength 5 (Effective STR 50, Heavy Load 12 tons) {10} {16+10=26/26} Protection 6 (Extra: Impervious 8) [14DP] Feature 1 (Temporal Inertia) [1PP]Immunity 1 (aging, Extra: Affects Others, Flaw: Limited [Half-Effect]) [1PP]Super-Speed 5 (Speed 5 [250 MPH/2500 ft per round], +20 Init, Quickness 5 (x50), 10PP array, PFs: Accurate 3, Alternate Powers 4) [32PP]BE: Concealment 10 (all senses, Flaw: Limited [While Moving]) {10/10}AP: Damage 4 (Extra: Autofire, PFs: Improved Crit 2) {10/10}AP: Damage 4 (Extras: Area [Targeted, Shapeable], Selective], Flaw: Action [Full], PFs: Improved Crit 2) {10/10}AP: Healing 2 (Extra: Total, Flaw: Personal) {10/10}AP: Teleport 3 (300 ft) (Extra: Accurate, Affects Others, Flaw: Short-Range Only, PF: Turnabout) {10/10}Super-Movement 2 (Wall-Crawling, Water-Walking, Flaw: Limited [Only While Moving]) [2PP] costs Abilities (14) + Combat (16) + Saves (12) + Skills (11/44) + Feats (15) + Powers (82) = 150/168 pts

She found the lady in question, a skinny, indifferently toothed woman who smelled faintly of tobacco smoke, staring out the window at the battle behind them. It hadn't taken long for Lady Horus to attract the attention of a half-a-dozen bikers, all of whom seemed to be trying to intimidate the sun goddess to limited effect. "...you, uh, you really want a burger now?" asked the woman who had to be "Doris" from the name on the side of the food cart. "I can't believe Lady Horus is actually here!" They didn't get a lot of superheroes in Bedlam - depending on the numbers you used, Lady Horus was the only one.