Electra
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"That's fascinating," Paige said encouragingly. She leaned forward to look at the sword, even as one of the cameramen rolled in closer for a tighter shot. "And beautiful workmanship on that sword. "I'm afraid I've never read that story, but I'll have to look it up." Outside the camera's view, the intern was scribbling frantically on a notepad with the distressed air of someone with no idea what they were spelling. "What brought you to Freedom City? How long have you been here?"
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Danica's face cleared immediately as she understood what Ellie was going for. "So be nice, but be nice like the most obnoxious nice person ever. Like the sort who would pick you up and carry you without even asking because you aren't going fast enough and then act like they're doing you a favor!" Her smile was downright malevolent this time. "Wow, everybody will want to punch me in the face if I act like that!"
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Stun 10 (soothing what is left of their poor misshapen souls into sleep; Extras: Alternate Save [Will, +0], Area [Burst], Secondary Effect 7, Selective, Flaws: Action [Full], Distracting) {27/27} Don't forget with the Secondary Effect, they have to make the save again at DC 17 as long as Danica is maintaining the stunt.
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Chelone is going to use Knowledge: Life Science to try and figure out if these things have any weaknesses they can exploit. She gets a 33 on her check, using her Eidetic Memory bonus.
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Paige nodded in understanding. "Neighborhood heroes are the backbone of a hero community," she commented. "I know heroes like you do a lot of the heavy lifting during crises in Freedom City, even though you don't tend to get a lot of the screen time. Can you talk about what things were like for you during the infiltration? What did you do?"
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"Breaking into Dakana was pretty fun," Paige agreed with a nostalgic smile, "but they probably won't go so easy on us now that we're not twenty year old kids anymore. I think we may be too old and respectable to do crimes anymore, sweetheart. Especially after we've spent fifteen years telling everybody how they're done." Paige spread a thin film of lotion under one eye, then another entirely different lotion over the eyelid, watching herself in the mirror as she spoke. "We could take six months off," she offered. "Call it a bite at the retirement apple. You're fifty-seven this year, I'm fifty-five, it's Hollywood." She shrugged. "I figure we've got a lot of years of work left in us, but who couldn't use a break? We can use the money we've been funneling back into the company to produce some bright young unknown's miniseries, let Fred and Frank head it up while we're gone. Do you know it's been years since I've been to the moon?"
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"Aquaria, no!" Jessie cried, but not quickly enough to stop the amphibious Deep One from sliding into the hole. She crouched next to the hole and rocked back and forth on her heels a few times, apparently having no trouble keeping her balance on the slick and curved surface of the U-Boat. In the end fear seemed to win out, even over following her best friend. She shrank back once again from the hole and stared at it, even as her fingers unconsciously gouged deep divots into the metal ship.
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"I'm not very good at sarcasm," Danica admitted. "I mean, it's not like I don't get jokes, but I dunno, it's not what I think of first?" She shrugged. "They teach us how to do insults in our classes, but it always makes me feel dumb. Like, sometimes it's easy to insult people, but it has to come from the heart, you know? And saying bad things about people's families or how they look makes me feel kind of bad." She took another drink, then added reluctantly, "but maybe we don't have to go straight to pity? I don't like trying to get people to feel sorry for me, even if it works and they put me in their daycare and nobody gets hurt. I kind of would like to get away from that."
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Danica nodded. "So I have to show them I'm not afraid of them. Or at least pretend I'm not afraid of them, even if I am." She took a thoughtful sip of cocoa as she pondered the psychology of villains. "Because if a little tortoise person isn't afraid of them, then maybe they're not very scary or powerful? Yeah, that makes sense. But what if they just get madder and try to hurt everybody to show how big and bad they are? How do you get them to focus right on you, especially once they see that it's hard to hurt you?"
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Once you have your first character in the Character Bank for approval, you may be wondering what to do next. It can take a few days to get your two approvals, especially if there are things on your sheet that need to be ironed out. Fear not! You can use this time to work on fleshing out your character's backstory and reputation, and earn a few extra pp for them in the process. It's also a good time to set up your character's specific thread in Freedom City News, since that's where most of this gets posted. First up is the HellQ, our (mostly) affectionately-named super long questionnaire. Working through this very long list of questions will make you think about many aspects of your character's backstory, and will give you a resource in the future when you're trying to remember things like "Did my character have siblings? Did I give them names?" The HellQ is posted in the Freedom City News forum and is worth 2pp (because it is sooo long). Next is the Twenty Questions interview. This is a similar idea to the HellQ, but it is also a way to start developing your character's voice. Twenty Questions is an interview-style question and answer session, where someone else asks your character the questions and they answer in their own voice. You should come up with a scenario and treat it as a story. For instance, your character might be doing an interview show for local television or meeting a fan with lots of questions. You can also ask another player to use one of their characters and make it an interactive interview. The Twenty Questions is posted in Freedom City News and is worth 1pp. You can also make a Reputation page for your character in the Freedom City guidebook. Reputation pages are a quick and easy way for other characters to figure out what they might know about your character based on their own skills and knowledges. Set different degrees of difficulty based on how unlikely it would be for someone to know particular information about your character. And remember that some people in Freedom City have extremely good research and knowledge skills, so don't put anything in your reputation table that you absolutely don't want anybody to know just from meeting your character! The reputation table is posted in the Guidebook and is worth 1pp. The Origin Story vignette is also available while you're waiting. Write an origin story for your character at least one page in length, including all the detail that just doesn't fit in the history section of a character sheet. The origin vignette is posted in Freedom City News and is worth 1pp for vignettes of at least 500 words and 2pp for 1000+ words. Once your character is approved, you get to start playing! The easiest way to begin playing is to go to the Discord Chat and introduce yourself, and say you're looking for people to play with. You can also post an introduction on the Campaign Discussion forum to let people know you would like to do intro threads. It is usually not too hard to find people to play with, but you have to be proactive! If you have an idea for a thread but you aren't sure you can run it yourself, ask a member of the Ref Team for help. Campaign Discussion is also a good place to look for recruitment threads for other people's adventures. Remember that you are the author of your own character's story here. If you want things to happen to them, you should make them happen! Find a super team to join or start one yourself, go on a wild adventure with people you just met, get into a romance or a rivalry with another character! The world is your burrito, my friend, enjoy it.
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"It's my pleasure," Miss A assured him, accepting the coffee graciously with neither of them pointing out that robots do not drink coffee. "I'm fascinated with the subject, actually. Even though I was caught up in the middle of everything, I never felt like I fully understood what happened. It took me several weeks to recover afterwards, and by the time I was up and around again, it seemed as though the whole situation had been put to bed. Nobody wants to think about how close the Curator might have come, I suppose, and everyone whose loved ones were taken were just glad to have them back. But it's quite a story you're trying to tell!" She set the cup down on the table between the two interview chairs the team had set up. "So, how shall we do this?"
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(Shortly after "The Old Girl is Dying on Her Feet") Later that night, with all the dinner dishes done and the guests settled and the kids long asleep, Paige settled herself at the vanity table in the master bedroom. Richard's powers may have kept them both young, but that didn't mean she could afford to skimp on the moisturizing routine. "So," she began, looking at Richard in the mirror as she began unscrewing jars, "we've reassured everybody that the world's not ending. We've told the kids and your mom that nothing's going to change, we've told the crew we're not laying anybody off. I guess it's time for us to figure out what we're actually going to do."
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"Of course," Paige agreed graciously. It only took a few more minutes to get everything set up. In very short order a tiny microphone was pinned to Blodeuwedd's lapel and the checks were completed to make sure they would look and sound good on television. The SuperCrime! crew had the efficiency of team who'd worked together for a very long time and enjoyed the work. Finally Paige received the thumbs-up from her director and turned to her guest with a smile. "First things first, I'd like to learn a little bit more about you. I know you've been doing hero work for quite awhile now because your name has come up a few times before, but this is the first chance I've gotten to speak with you. How did you get into the business? What do you consider your heroic specialty?"
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Miss Americana swept in exactly at the appointed hour, the slight humidity of the atrium disrupted by the cool outside air as she walked in. She was perfectly dressed and coiffed as usual, wearing an expertly tailored navy suit with a white shell and subtle red jewelry accents. "Good morning everyone, welcome to ArcheTech," she began, smiling at the assembled group. "Thank you so much for coming in! I'm very excited for the opportunity to be a part of your finale episode. Did you all have a chance to enjoy the refreshments?" she asked, nodding towards the cart of hot drinks and pastries that had been provided.
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"You can call me Paige or Hologram, whichever you prefer," she told him easily. There was another minute or two of preparation, camera and sound checks mostly, that let Ghost finish his hotdog and have the trash whisked away by the same intern. Finally the director nodded to Paige that they were ready to go. "First I'd love to learn a little bit more about you and your history in hero work," she told him, relaxing into her seat despite the cold. "What sort of hero work do you specialize in? Were you already working in Freedom City in 2013?"
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It took only a moment for Danica to realize that her phone suddenly had zero bars, and her call wasn't going anywhere. "Well that's not great," she muttered, even as her classmates began rushing in to attack the things. It was a relief to see the driver of the flipping car emerge apparently unscathed and ready to fight the Omegadrones, but the shock troops of the Terminus were frighteningly tough, and extremely fast. Getting close was a really bad idea, but she couldn't just let the younger students get hurt! Summoning her toy-sized tortoise construct to her hands, she whispered "Go for the jugular" before releasing it from upflung hands like a dove at a wedding. The little black and gold creature flew in a graceful arc across the street, arrowing in on the first of the drones. It landed neatly on the thing's shoulder, opened its mouth as wide as it could, and took a chunk the size of an orange out of the juncture of neck and shoulder.
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Chelone will attack Omegadrone 1 with Mighty Tortoise Power, her first roll is Very Terrible Spending 1hp for the reroll. Is it possible to get an HP for the failure of phones to work? Second roll, she gets a 19, for a roll of 29. She has Improved Crit, so it's a critical hit. I'll use it for the +5. Her spectral turtle bite is an energy effect with Penetrating 6.
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"Fifteen years is a good long run," Paige replied automatically as she sat down opposite him, the words a reflex after having to using them so often. "And this is for our finale episode; we wanted to go out with one last big investigation. I understand from the pre-interview that you were working in Freedom City during the Curator's infiltration of the city's heroes? We're looking to get all sorts of perspectives on what it was like in the city that day. Troubles you faced, people you rescued, if you had to fight with any of the robots, that sort of thing. I'll ask some basic questions to start and then we'll get into your stories, then I'll follow up on a few things and we'll wrap it up there." Her voice was confident and reassuring, making the whole thing sound easy. "We won't air the entire interview, and if you say anything that might compromise your or someone else's identity, we can edit that out." The woman who'd been manning the large microphone approached Ghost with a tiny mic in her hand. "I'd like to attach this to your lapel," she explained. "With all the noise out here, we need all the help we can get when we're recording your voice. I assume you'd like to keep wearing your mask during the interview?"
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Danica's head lifted slowly from her shell, her face bright with scandalized fascination. "You can teach me that?" she asked, sounding hopeful and doubtful all at once. "I can't even say... you know." She flushed. "I mean I can, it's not like magic or anything, but using swear words feels so weird... I bet it would get some attention, though." Straightening fully in her seat. Danica laid her hands flat on the table. "I'm ready," she proclaimed. "Teach me to be a butt-" She took a deep breath. "Teach me to be an asshole." The last bit came out very quietly, but she looked proud of herself anyway.
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"We appreciate you coming in very much," Paige assured her sincerely. "And a television interview is really no big deal, you and I will just be talking and doing our best to ignore all these guys, who will be doing their best to stay quiet." She grinned over at the crew. "Since we don't have our own sound setup here, we're going to use lav mics, that's the kind you pin to your collar, and one overhead mic as well, and then our two cameras to video. Since you have a mask, we'll take a couple minutes for sound and light checks to make sure we can hear you clearly and nothing is reflecting too badly, but you get to avoid the makeup chair! Did you have any questions before we get started?"
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Danica slumped all over, all but disappearing into her shell. "Nobody else is cute when they fight!" she exclaimed, her voice echoing slightly. "They're impressive and flashy and sometimes even scary! The villains pay attention to them! Last time I faced off against some villains they put me in their daycare center!" The top of her head was still visible now, but not much else. "I know I could be useful in a fight if the villains tried to hit me instead of my teammates because I'm really hard to hurt, but they just ignore me!"
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Kelsey, who'd been adjusting the boom mic, yipped in surprise and startled enough to nearly bean Eamon the camera operator as she swung around, but he ducked with instinct born of long practice. Paige raised a hand to telekinetically stop the swinging mic before it could get near their guest. She supposed that did explain the subtle feeling of being watched she'd had for the past hour. Some metahumans were more paranoid than others. This didn't even compare to the time she'd interviewed Mentolac the Wise in his remote wilderness fortress and been required to camp for two days while he decided if she was on the level or not. Smiling, she wiped her hands on a makeup cloth and went to make introductions. "Blodeuwedd, thank you so much for coming," Paige began, pronouncing the name from careful practice. "You're exactly on time; we're just finishing up our preparations. I'm Paige Cline or Hologram, whichever you feel more comfortable using." She turned to indicate the crew. "This is Fred, our director, Eamon and Dave on the cameras, Kelsey doing sound, and Vivi is our intern PA. Have you ever done a television interview before?"
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"Slow is absolutely fine," Paige assured her son, coloring very faintly at the mention of what she and Richard had been up to at Will's age. "But if you're going to be getting serious with this girl, you ought to tell her about your family soon. You're on a fair number of episodes, and if she does sound she probably has a good ear." She smiled wryly. "As someone who's been in the community a long time, the last way anyone should find out about their boyfriend's heroic identity is by guessing it from television. And you're going to help us with the special, aren't you? Keeping her in the dark would be risky." "He just doesn't want her to see his dorky costume," Holly chortled. "Or the ones he used to wear for the show with the brains on them." Paige put her tongue in her cheek. "Ah, that's right. Holly, do you still want to be Princess Power for the show, or would you like a more grownup super name now?" "Mooom!" Holly whined, looking betrayed.
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"Yes, it's ready to open... there." Singularity pried up the hatch and then immediately reeled back, choking from the smell. Old death and bodies rotting together, a smell that brought back a hundred awful memories. Something about the locking hatch with the confined space beneath was bad too, in a way she couldn't remember nearly so well, but she had plenty of experience with dead bodies left where they lay. She began shaking her head from side to side, subtly and then harder. "We can't go down there," she told the others. "It's a trap. It's really a trap. If we go in, it'll be bad." She stared into the darkness in fascinated horror, eyes round and wide as silver dollars. "But if we break the boat, they will have to come out or sink to the bottom."
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It was another morning in Freedom City, and the SuperCrime! crew were back at the TV studio. Yesterday's cold, clear weather had turned into miserable, sleety drizzle today, enough that Paige had needed to change her clothes and redo her hair and makeup as soon as she arrived. Since the studio space they'd borrowed didn't include a dressing room, she wound up hiding behind the blue scrim pretending to be the set's side wall while wriggling into a dry SuperCrime jumpsuit. "Okay, I know we've got a bunch of these to run through, remind me who's up first today," she called. "First up this morning is Jill o' Cure," Fred reminded her from the other side of the curtain. "Healer type, local to Freedom City, was on the Interceptors during the infiltration." "Ah, right." Paige paused in her dressing a moment. This interview would be a little bit tricky, just by the nature of secret identities and the super community. Paige Cline knew Ellie Espadas through a score of Nicholson family nights and Saturday field trips over the years, but that was an entirely different thing from Paige Cline the television personality or Hologram knowing Jill o' Cure. That family guarded their identities well enough that Paige only knew because Richard and Will had gone to a party at Fleur de Joie's place once and met Ellie's brother Erik, who was Jack of all Blades. Secret identities could get very confusing but Paige did her best to respect them absolutely, even to the point of concealing them from her crew. Paige stepped out from behind the scrim and finished toweling her hair before going for a quick makeup retouch. "I'm going to keep this interview loose and see what she wants to say, then maybe prompt her a little," she explained to Fred. "Be ready if I call for a break, I don't know if we'll need one, but this stuff can be difficult. We all ready to go?" "Sure, just don't make us go outside again," Dave called from his camera. "We're ready to go whenever."