Gizmo

HoS Swordsmen 5-10 Reflex Save vs. DC 16. (1d20+5=13, 1d20+5=15, 1d20+5=11, 1d20+5=10, 1d20+5=20, 1d20+5=23) Toughness Save vs. DC 21. (1d20+2=20, 1d20+2=13, 1d20+2=4, 1d20+2=22) Toughness Save vs. DC 18. (1d20+2=15, 1d20+2=14) That's taken out five of the six at the door! HoS Swordsmen 1-2 Aid Attack for Zorro. (1d20+3=20, 1d20+3=7) +2 HoS Swordsmen 3-4 Aid Attack for Pirate. (1d20+3=11, 1d20+3=6) +2 HoS Swordsman 5 Attack Dragonfly. (1d20+3=19) That'll be a DC 18 Toughness Save for Mara. 27 - Geckoman - Uninjured, 1HP 25 - HoS Zorro - Bruised x1, +2 Master Plan (3 Rounds), +2 on next attack vs. Geckoman 24 - HoS Swashbuckler - Uninjured, +2 Master Plan 23 - HoS Pirate - Uninjured, +2 Master Plan, +2 on next attack vs. Fulcrum 16 - HoS Barbarian - Uninjured, -5 Defense, +2 Master Plan 15 - Fulcrum - Bruised x1, Staggered, 0HP, -2 Constitution 14 - HoS Hexcrafter - Uninjured 11 - Dragonfly - Uninjured, 4HP, Fatigued Next Round 7 - HoS Atlas - Uninjured 6 - HoS Swordsmen (x5) - Uninjured

Alright, the daze means we pass over Fulcrum this round. I'm adding in Dragonfly now rather than in the next round to speed things up a bit. Naturally she's getting an extra HP for not being able to use her usual tech! (More HP may or may not be coming as various Complications are invoked.) 27 - Geckoman - Uninjured, 1HP 25 - HoS Zorro - Bruised x1, +2 Master Plan (3 Rounds) 24 - HoS Swashbuckler - Uninjured, +2 Master Plan 23 - HoS Pirate - Uninjured, +2 Master Plan 16 - HoS Barbarian - Uninjured, -5 Defense, +2 Master Plan 15 - Fulcrum - Bruised x1, Staggered, 0HP, -2 Constitution 14 - HoS Hexcrafter - Uninjured 11 - Dragonfly - Uninjured, 4HP 7 - HoS Atlas - Uninjured 6 - HoS Swordsmen (x10) - Uninjured

"I died in the wood myself, I so totally get where you're coming from," Kimber assured their host before he eventually wore himself out and took a nap. The idea of all of Bigfoot's friends leaving one way or another until he was all on his own stuck the phantom as particularly poignant, though she tried not to dwell on it too much. Being all alone wasn't much fun to think about at all. Looking about the room, she spotted a heavy, dingy orange blanket and telekinetically floated it through the air to drape over the sleeping alien. Floating back over to the others, she nodded enthusiastically. "We absolutely gotta explore some, yeah!" Humming to herself as she flitted about like a seal swimming through water, lyrics gradually came back to her. "Hmm~hmm do~do~do~doo, dum relaxed and feelin' good..."

Erik placed one finger to the side of his nose and pointed with the other hand toward Kristin as everyone took a seat. "Gold star for the girl who want to keep all her teeth," he confirmed with an easygoing nod. "Not saying here's not a good chance of racking up a few bruises, but I generally want you all in one piece when you leave. If you want to scuff up the mats a bit, though, that'd actually be great," he muttered as an aside shifting on hand to rub the dusting of stubble along his jaw. "The lingering squeaky-cleanness is kinda damaging my credibility here." Turning to the redhead's companion, his broad smirk returned. "And hell yes 'with kicking, too'. If anyone ever tells you kicking is unsporting, kick them." Still smiling faintly but turning to more sober topics, he continued, "If your goal is to learn a formal martial art form for tournaments or expositions that's fine, but frankly there are better schools for that I could recommend to you. What we're going to be learning here is not about looking cool or playing fair or impressing anyone. It's about keeping you and people you care about safe in an emergency." He met each of the group's eyes in turn. "If you are very, very lucky this will all be a colossal waste of your time. So, before we do anything, I want to hear from each of you why you're here."

"No, still exceptionally strange and uncomfortable," Trevor corrected. Certainly their line of work brought about unusual situations on a day to day basis, but it wouldn't do to have Corbin's frame of reference skewed by platitudes, not when he was dealing with important decisions. Thinking back to the business with Madrigal and her Hounds, he considered. "Aware we beat up her father once? Could get it out of the way, balance social impropriety?" Generally in high society the only way for one person to get over an embarrassment was for the attention to be pulled onto someone else and their own indiscretions. It wasn't the reserved young man's first choice but it had the virtue of being relatively direct.

"Got it! Super-sneaky mode is a go!" Picking up the protesting manticore cub from her shoulders, she placed him atop Wraith's faux-dragon back with a calming scratch behind the ears. "Keep an eye on the cutie for me, okay? Back soon!" Skipping off toward the hors d'oeuvre table, she made a show of perusing the offerings as she maneuvered to the opposite side, putting it between herself and most of the guests. "Oh, say, what's that?" she asked a little loudly to no one in particular before bending over as if to pick something up off of the floor. If anyone had cared enough to check when she didn't pop back up, they would have found nothing but empty space where she had been standing. Floating invisibly and immaterially over the heads of the auction bidders, the phantom resisted the urge to get too close for a better look at any of the various practitioners. Nick had said there wasn't anything in place to automatically detect her but who knew what sort of special senses their spells could whip up? Setting her jaw in determination, she surged forward a little more quickly and slid through the curtain on the stage to the other side.

"Wait," Midnight demanded once Edge has made sure the unconscious villains weren't going anywhere. The black clad vigilante placed himself between them and Vanguard, narrowing his eyes behind his mask's ruby lenses. "Explanation, first." Though the phrasing was terse, it was clear that the cold, gravelly words were demanding to know what the well-equipped interloper had been doing there in the first place. The Crime League would keep until they'd dealt with that mystery.

It hadn't really occurred to LaMarr that the continued damage to the street was odd; unlike Eliza, Dr. Metropolis hadn't been a simple fact of life in Freedom since before he was born. Once the teenager had pointed it out, however, it did raise some concerns. Those concerns were quickly pushed out of the way as Temperance abruptly ran out of the shop. "What-- Girl, you don't go running off half-cocked, for... Hnh." Extricating himself from the table with a little more care, he followed her outside in time to hear her address the empty air. "Now, you're sure you're not taking any drug, you said?"

(02:02:40) Electra: I should embiggen Stesha's array a bit more while I'm editing things. But adding more points means changing EVERYTHING. (02:02:49) Fox: Nugh, yes. (02:03:04) Fox: Gotta go down the whole list of powers, and figure out what you're boosting, and what you aren't, and what all the NEW ranges/limits/sizes/areas are.... (02:03:24) Electra makes a note to find a bribe for AA (02:03:36) Fox: Can this power go up a rank? No, it doesn't have an even pp/rank, so it only goes up every couple of array increases. (02:04:17) Electra: I could dump all 40 unspent pp into the array and effectively double the base size, nnyeeesss... (02:04:25) Fox: You're mad! Mad! (02:04:44) Gizmo: That is probably too big. (02:04:51) Fox: GK, fortunately, will be spending pretty much everything he has on the dragon, because she costs almost as much as he does for a lot less oomph. A lot less oomph. (02:05:15) Electra: Oh, it is much too big. Most of her powers are as big as they can feasibly become in the array. (02:06:10) Electra: And the fact remains that despite her impressive and nearly godlike range of powers regarding plants, she still can't hit a damn thing in a fight. (02:06:27) Gizmo: That's a problem. (02:06:31) Fox: Yeah, GK's is still...40pp? But he's due for another boost. MOAR CREATE OBJECT! MOAR MOVE OBJECT! (02:06:44) Fox: Build all the things! And then move them! (02:07:20) Fox: ...jeeze. I haven't looked at GK's sheet in forever. CLEARLY what he needs is more powers that take up three lines on my widescreen monitor. (02:07:29) Electra: I consider it a trade-off. If she could routinely catch things on the move and shove them in her dimensional pocket, it wouldn't be very fun to GM combats for her. (02:07:57) Fox: Alternate Power: Super-Movement 3 (Dimensional Movement 3 [Any], Extras: Linked [Teleport], Portal, Flaws: Action 2 [standard Action to open Portals]) [6PP] + Teleport 10 (200,000 miles ["Earth To The Moon"]; Extras: Accurate, Linked [Dimensional Movement], Portal, Flaws: Action 2 [standard Action to open Portals], Feats: Change Velocity, Progression [Portal Size] 2 [25ft x 25ft], Complications: Medium [Anchor-Stones]) [33PP] [6 + 33 = 39PP] (02:08:02) Electra: As it is, someone else pretty much has to stop them for her, or she has to chase them down and get a stun on them. (02:08:07) Fox: That's what happens when you have a concept in your head and try to build around it, kids. (02:08:26) Fox: E - teamwork! (02:08:50) Electra: She has always been a character built for teamwork! (02:08:52) Gizmo: Jeez, what does that even do, Fox? (02:09:21) Electra: He can go any place in any dimension if he's got a rock (to wind a string around) (02:10:08) Gizmo: Okay, I'm sure there are easier ways of writing that. There must be! (02:10:19) Fox: If he's been somewhere before and made an anchor stone there, he can open a teleportal to said stone. (02:11:48) Fox: So he's sort of a walking Stargate. That can't actually reach stars. (02:12:11) SpicyWaffle: Yet. (02:12:23) Fox: I wanted him to be able to get around - especially to and from Sanctuary - and liked the idea of an anchor stone - like a keystone in an arch. And then I built a power around it. An awful, terrible, wonderful power. (02:12:33) Gizmo: Just he can reach a planet with lots of trees, so still like a Stargate! (02:12:48) SpicyWaffle: A... Treegate, I guess? (02:12:53) Fox: Dimensional Stargate! Dimensiongate. (02:13:16) Gizmo: (The joke is that pretty much all the planets they went to were Vancouver.) (02:13:30) Electra: Any linked Dimensional Movement and teleport is going to be kind of unwieldy. (02:13:52) Fox: It's really just a utility power. He has to have gone there already (or...I don't know, sent an anchor fedex), and the action gives it little combat utility. But it's great for escapes or dramatic "get the civvies to safety NOW!" moments. (02:13:56) Electra: Alternate Power: Teleport 9 (900ft per Move Action, 20,000 miles per Full Action ["Anywhere On Earth"], Extras: Accurate, Linked [super-Movement], Flaws: Medium [Plants], Feats: Change Direction, Change Velocity, Easy, Progression [Cargo] 14 [2,500 tons], Progression [save DC] 5 [DC24]) [40PP] + Super-Movement 2 (Dimensional Movement 1 [To/From Earth-Fleur], Extras: Affects Others, Linked [Teleport], Flaws: Medium [Plants]) [4PP] (Stepping Through Plants) [44PP] (02:14:03) Fox: Yeaaaah. (02:14:19) Fox: WONDER ELEMENTAL POWERS: ACTIVATE! (02:14:25) Electra: :hfive: (02:14:25) Fox: FORM OF: AN EDITING NIGHTMARE! (02:14:29) Fox: :hfive: (02:14:55) Electra: SHAPE OF: WHATISTHISIDONTEVEN

"Don't look so guilty, you're on time," Erik assured the chagrined looking young man you came in after Jasmine with a knowing smirk; he hadn't exactly been the most punctual person himself at that age. Before he could say more another pair of teenagers bounded inside as if they'd been racing, both petite, though the shorter of the pair looked like she had a pound of muscle over her lithe companion for every one of her numerous piercings. The heavily freckled redhead's accent stood out but the West End was hardly a stranger to regional inflections. The self-defense classes seemed to bring in a steady stream of active young women and the swordsman had been mentally kicking himself for not having opened the school when he was five years younger and single. Laughing a little at her enthusiasm, he nodded to the rail-thin girl in confirmation. "That'd be me, yeah. So Jasmine, Baxter, Kristin, Tona," he repeated back, nodding to each in turn partly to introduce everyone around and partly to reinforce the names in his memory. His usual tactic of assigning nicknames to new acquaintances seemed a little unprofessional this soon. "Kristin or Kirstin? And to answer your question," he added, turning back to the first arrival, "that's about it. We had a few 'maybes' but we won't hold things up waiting for them. First thing's first, everybody grab a seat." He gestured to the mat covered floor before sitting down cross-legged himself.

Giving Blodeuwedd a florid bow from the waist in return for the concession, he straightened to accept John's paperwork and blinked again at the teen's crisp tone. Gotta be an officer's kid or something. Placing the paper on the front desk to start an eventual pile, his expression reached a balance between amused and reassuring. "Well, my daughter calls me 'Gheeabpbth' which I'm pretty sure is salty Klingon language, but Erik's fine, or Mr. Espadas is you like. Mr. E if you want to be hip." Spotting the the final arrival once he'd answered, almost did a double take at her white hair. She was a little too well kempt and not-tearing-the-building-down-with-giant-plants to be one of Willow's relatives but it was still pretty striking. "Hey, right on time. Let me get you a form and we can get started."

:approved:

"Son, I weigh the better part of a ton," Wail told Gabriel frankly, his voice resonating powerfully even as he kept it low. "I don't do quiet so well and I sure don't do rooftops. If you young bucks want to give sneaking in a shot, I can stay here and wait for our new friend to show." If the contact turned out to be a set-up their would-be ambushers would have an interesting time dealing with the sonic shouter backed into a corner. If the others ran into trouble inside, by the same token, he was only one shout and a lot of rubble away from lending a hand.

:approved:

We'll have one more round of diner posts unless something suitably dramatic comes up in conversation, then onto more action with Cobalt Templar and Citizen!

When the waitress finally came by, her purposefully anachronistic pink apron playing interestingly off of her sleeve tattoos, Kimber made good on her stated intentions by order pancakes, gesturing emphatically to convey the necessary height and diameter. The breakfast sampler - served throughout the day despite its name - and the waffles were jotted down as well and though Koshiro passed himself, the waitress nevertheless brought him a new fork when she noticed his was missing from his place setting. When the food arrived, the temporarily corporeal teen doused the stack of pancakes roughly the size of her head in syrup and proceeded to shovel a forkful into her mouth, massive enough to seem impossible now that she was constrained by bones and musculature again. "Sho'g'd!" she praised in a muffled but cheerful voice, waving one hand gleefully as she retrieved a glass of orange juice with the other.

"Any clan, huh? And here I'd thought there could be only one," Erik responded with broad smile and a firm handshake, ducking back behind the desk to get additional copies of the form for the new arrivals. "I may have to add a 'no decapitation' checkbox to these things, good thinking." It took a little longer to dig up another pair of writing instruments, leaving Tarrant with an oversized pen with something about a FCPD softball league written on the side and the second teenager with a ballpoint missing it's cap. While 'John' - perhaps Erik was just one to be paranoid about pseudonyms, but something about the teen's stiff introduction raised his eyebrow - was built like a farmhand-turned-quarterback and Tarrant looked outdoorsy in an average sort of way, the fencer guessed that the third attendee had had some gymnastics training or similar conditioning. "I am... probably going to have some trouble remembering that," he admitted as she introduced herself, shaking her hand as well and offering a rueful grin. "So bear with me. Take your time with the forms, guys; we're still waiting on a forth."

"Hey, he's kinda cute," Kimber noted under her breath, echoing the thoughts of the others before narrowing her eyes, raising one fist to shake angrily and adding, "Cute with evil! What's the plan, 'bro'?" Turning to Nick expectantly, she waited for instruction. There were a lot of people around so slipping off long enough to turn invisible unnoticed or sneak away with Indira so they could get a better look behind the scenes was going to be tricky, but the poltergeist was confident the more experienced necromancer would have a crackerjack strategy up his sleeve.

Tossing the heavy bag with both arms and a grunt on top of two others to form a small pyramid, Erik turned with a the rakish grin that seemed to be his default expression. "Hey, thanks for coming out!" he greeted amiably, dusting off his hands and walking over to dark haired woman. Her scars were immediately obvious, of course, but for better or worse the fencer had seen much worse before and left them unremarked. Digging a folded piece of paper out of his back pocket, he skimmed down the list printed upon it. "Don't tell me... Jasmine? Fair warning, a lot of the folks coming out tonight are teenagers," he informed her with a short laugh, tucking the page away again and extending a hand. "Erik. I'll be the instructor."

Exciting!

Erik looked up from the uncooperative computer and nearly checked over his shoulder to find who to carefully polite teenager was talking to before remember that 'sir' was probably him. A little more 'drill instructor' than I usually go for but I'll take it, he decided, opening a drawer in the desk and pulling out a copy of the form stored there before stepping out and giving the youth a broad smile that was welcoming even if it looked like it was a little more used to being a smirk. "Hey, c'mon in! The sword-fighting class, right? I'm Erik, I'll be your instructor." He extended the piece of paper in his hand along with a pen. "There's a little bit of super-exciting paperwork, yeah," he confirmed with a brief chuckle. "Basically making sure we've got your emergency contact info, relevant medical conditions, that sort of thing."

Seated at the table, Trevor's head tilted slightly to one side as Quo-Dis exited, his eyes beginning to squeeze shut involuntarily behind the oval lenses of his sunglasses as if in response to a sudden massive headache. His silence gave the announcement time to sink in and distress to play across Corbin's face and for Erin to offer what encouragement she could muster. For his part, Trevor had never been any good at handling these sorts of situations; as much as he kept up appearances at high society events from time to time he didn't have much experience in displays of emotion. When the gap after Erin's words had gotten long and awkward enough that it was clear he had to some something, he straightened his neck and quietly offered, "That's rough."

If anyone missed the PMs, The Espadas School: Helping Hand-to-Hand is up for Bee-Keeper III, Blue Jay, Catalyst and Glow and The Espadas School: You Hold This End is up for Blodeuwedd, Gaian Kight, Myrmidon and Sage. Cubist, Gar, I appreciate the interest but since the school is intended to be entirely civilian identity and low-key I don't have anything that could easily accommodate Jubatus or Victory right now. Gar and I already discussed the issues with Victory teaching a class - and to reiterate, Erik will not be approaching anyone who only knows him as Jack - and and any class with Jubatus would just be questioning why there was a talking cat around. I'll keep you both in mind once things are a little more established but it's just not a good fit right now.

The swordsmanship class for Blodeuwedd, Gaian Kight, Myrmidon and Sage!

A warm summer breeze blew through the West End street of small businesses and restaurants weathering the times with varying degrees of success. The light wind stirred the gorgeous flowering plants hanging from the second storey windows of one such building, trailing leaves and vines brushing against the top of a bold gold-on-black sign that proclaimed the street-level floor to be home to "The Espadas School of Self-Defense and Swordsmanship!". The dojo had been open for a little over a month at that point, attendance gradually picking up as fliers throughout the city and good word-of-mouth did their job. The proprietor was a well like native of the neighbourhood if unknown in the city at large and while the more introductory self defense courses were all well and good it was the more specific sword fighting classes which were purportedly worth the trip. Erik Espadas himself was locked in particularly grueling battle with the second hand computer on the reception desk, attempting to bring up the spreadsheet with the list of new students signed up for that week's class. "No, that's the budget," he grumbled under his breath, the annoyed expression on his lightly stubbled face visible from the other side of the large windows that looked out onto the street. "Depressing but not helpful right now. C'mon..." The attendee would be showing up shortly; if he could get this sorted out he was going to have to track down a pad of paper and a pen to take attendance.