Gizmo

Jack knocked Nadia's strike away with ease. She wasn't a sword fighter, by any means, but he was forced to admit that she was keeping pace with him far more readily than he expected. The swashbuckler was fast, but Nadia moved as though she had an extra second of reaction time. As he probed her defenses, she continuously responded at the last possible instant, correcting her blocks before he had a chance to exploit her mistakes, learning rapidly. Jack suspected that the teleporter was the superior all-around combatant, and only his greater experience with the weapons at hand gave him any advantage. Adopting a more cautious approach, he sent out a lazy thrust, further testing her reflexes. "Aw, see, it's always time for chit chat! I like to talk; I'm a talker." Any attention he could take away from the fight could make a world of difference, he knew.

Huh, I thought I could reduce Distract to a move action by taking a -5 penalty on the check, just like any other interaction skill check in combat, but now that I double check, maybe not. We could call it a taunt instead, which would just hit her with a -2 to attack, not that it makes a difference. Let's assume her Defense goes to 28, then. Now, I know I can Feint as a move action (1d20+16=17), though not very well, apparently! Nor can he hit her, evidently: Attack roll. (1d20+15=22). Unless you royally fumble your save against his Feint, that is!

"Oh, nuts," Erik groaned as Dead Head hit the ground in a literal heap. He spared his sister a quick glance. "Ellie, maybe you and Romeo need some alone time, huh?" She nodded in understanding, leading her confused date away. Jogging over to the collapsed zombie, Erik narrowly avoid tripping over an undead chicken. "Man, these guys really go all out with the prosthetics," he remarked to a nearby man loudly enough to carry through the pandemonium to those nearby. "Too bad that blood and gore looks so fake. Too many Romero flicks, amirite?" Bending down, he hesitated briefly before gingerly realigning the unconscious ghoul's neck with his shoulders. "I swear, 'Head," he hissed under his breath, "if you force me to make a 'pull yourself together' joke..."

Never split the party! quote has a good point, there's no reason we couldn't tackle these plotlines one at a time as a full group. Jack should probably try to get out more, too. Anybody feel like putting up with him for a while?

When they reached the training room, Jack stripped to the waist and rolled his shoulders. Though less heavily muscled than many athletes, there was not an ounce of excess fat on his frame, giving his lithe form sharp definition. The swashbuckler had long suspected that his metabolism was somehow tied into his energy sustaining powers, but whatever the cause, he mused as her turned to face Nadia, it had sculpted a body perpetually ready for evasion. Which was when the Russian's foil suddenly streaked toward is chest. Jack twisted immediately, and failed to avoid the training sword by the narrowest of margins. Which would be great if we were playing horseshoes, he chided himself. He took a half step back and gave his sparing partner a rueful grin. "Alright, got a little quickness in you, fair enough. So, what's the question?" Before she could answer, Jack sprung forward, sliding along the floor and between her open stance. Launching to his feet behind her, the swordsman swiped with his foil like a crop, catching the teleporter across the backside. As Nadia turned to face him, he briefly offered her an apologetic shrug and a boyish grin. One embarrassment deserved another, he reasoned.

Oh ho! Nicely played. Jack's turn: Distract as a move action. (1d20+16=32) Attack roll. (1d20+15=34) That's technically a critical hit, but who's counting?

She could use Total Defense; that's a standard action that gives +4 dodge to defense. It leaves a move action free, if there's something else she wants to do.

I figure we can run the sparing like a regular fight, only they're just trying to 'tag' each other, so there's no actual damage. Oh, and Nadia's pretty much entitled to use whatever means she likes to knock Jack upside the head. That'll teach him not to call 'no powers'... or 'no special forces, hand-to-hand training', as the case may be. Initiative (1d20:5+9=14)

"Good looking and prone to extraordinarily poor judgment," Jack mused under his breath. "My kinda gal." Running to an open space closer to the balcony, he called out to the powerful beings above in a voice that cut through the crowd, hoping to distract the tournament's organizers long enough for Dark Star to do as Acheville had suggested. "My lords! I beg you, forgive my impetuous cousin! I fear the hot-blooded reputation of House Anduril's women is well earned!" he chuckled. "You see how she would challenge only the greatest of Freedom Reach, eager to make her name! A streak of ambition she inherited from my good aunt, I expect," he added with a wry wink. "Let this teach me to let a noble lady of the Western Territories out of my sight, eh?"

Alright, we need an adjective to go along with 'Interceptors'! I'm thinking 'Incomparable'. Either that or 'Improbably Good Looking'.

I'm choosing to interpret that as meaning that Jack is a bad ass, and was singled out for attack because of it. You gotta take out the biggest threat first, amirite? Just 9 rounds until the next roll to recover from unconsciousness!

"Leeeee-roooooy.... Jenkins!" EDIT: Jack's running a Bluff; (12:01:46) FreedomBot: Gizmo rolls 1d20 and gets 15. (15+21=36)

Jack followed the crowd into the courtyard, forgoing his conversation with the registrar in favour of finding his way back to Archeville and Dark Star. He took a deep breath when Centurion appeared on the balcony. Seeing the man who represented the very best a hero could be in the flesh was profound, even though he'd been expecting it. When Omega stepped forward as well, the swordsman nearly choked on that breath, coughing wildly for a moment before he could compose himself. "Hold on," he said, holding his hands before him as though willing the scene to pause until he was ready. "That can't be the Omega, right? I mean, the one who... It's not our Centurion, obviously, 'cause... uh. Hoo. This is way screwy. It was already screwy, but this is 'turn it up to eleven' screwy. Screwy, the final frontier. Screwy, it's what's for dinner." Jack glanced between the other heroes. "I'll stop now."

Of course. I don't think I'll actually bother, though. If Jack wakes up now, he'll still be disabled. If I wait for him to wake up normally I might be able to use the point for Inspire before he passes out again from the strain. Unless the rest of you can deal with these punks before then!

I'ma just sayin'.

The big guys are supposed to be slow, Jack thought indignantly as the demon's fists streaked towards him. Why are they never slow?! White hot pain was followed immediately by the numbness of unconsciousness as the swashbuckler was sent flying through the air to collide with a nearby building. The impact released a flurry of brick chips, and Jack fell limply to the ground, resting in a bloodied pile.

Nice. I guess he can't get any more unconscious and disabled... Constitution check to recover from unconsciousness. (1d20+1=7) And he's not waking up anytime soon! See you in ten rounds, folks. All of this has got to constitute a hero point worthy setback, right? Right?

Well, that seem a bit... excessive. Any chance of having All-Star swing by and catch him? I mean, he's going to be in the air for a while, right?

Y'know, you'd think +15 Defense would let Jack avoid getting hit at least some of the time... Toughness save vs. DC 36 (1d20+5=8) Can you say, "Spending a hero point to reroll?" I thought you could! Rerolled Toughness save vs. DC 36 (1d20.minroll(11)+5=17) Jack gets knocked the hell out. Assuming that was lethal damage, thanks goodness for free Diehard, huh? How far does that send him?

"Not so much talent as a complete lack of social life and obsessive patrolling," Jack admitted with a chuckle, rubbing the back of his head ruefully. "Whatever works, right? Jill shrugged self-consciously, hiding a small smile. "Well, not yet. I'm starting pre-med at FCU next year." "She's a prodigy," her brother insisted. "She was correcting the school nurse when she was in Grade 7." "That's mostly because we didn't have a very good nurse," Jill replied, trying not to look too pleased with herself. "Plus I get a lot of practice on the human punching bag over there." Before Jack could respond to Kristian's challenge, a series of sharp knocks rang out from the foyer. Being the closest to the entrance, the swordsman walked over to open the door. "Hey, Doc! Didn't think you'd be able to make it! You're just in time to see me be awesome." Leading the scientist-turned-conductor into the kitchen, Jack placed his sombrero upside down on the counter, depositing his prop vihuela inside the hat. Making sure the blinds were closed, he moved into an open area and beckoned to the teenaged reaper with one hand. "Alright, kid, come at me."

Jack gave Nadia a long look as he slowly realized her meaning. After a moment he laughed aloud. "You are one legitimately hardcore lady, you know that? Alright, I tell you what, let's make this interesting." Ducking inside his room he snatched a pair of blunted practice foils from his box of equipment. Tossing one to the teleporter, he gestured down the hallway towards the base's hub and, beyond that, the training room. "Each hit you get on me, I answer one question, guaranteed honesty, no evasions. I hit you, you have to answer one of my questions. First to three hits wins."

Hmm, how about it, Doc? Can we take the liberty of spending that point apiece for All-Star and Velocity, given that they'd previously agreed to it?

Jack placed one leg out in front of the other and pulled the pant leg up just enough to reveal his ankle. "Hey, it'd be a crime not to," he grinned. "As far as I can tell, his primary reason for existence is grossing me way out," Jill sighed, rolling her eyes. "Beyond that, he hits the bad guys till they don't get up no more." It was obscured by the twang of her affected drawl, but there was a note of genuine pride in her voice. "Plus he has a tendency to absorb ridiculous amounts of bodily injury, which I'm expected to fix," she chided accusingly. "I manipulate energy into semi-solid, sword-like constructs, Lynn," Jack explained, ignoring his sister though the corner of his mouth quirked up affectionately. "As a rule of thumb, if it's glowy, I can stab folks with it. Fire, electricity, laser beams, eldritch energies beyond the ken of mortal man..."

Jack bristled a bit at the suggestion that he'd 'given in', but he wasn't going to argue semantics. As he saw it, allowing Colt and Blink to bring their firearms into his neighbourhood was a risky but calculated gamble, trusting for the time being that they could use them for the greater good. The gunslingers didn't know it yet, but if anything went wrong because of their choice of weapon, they'd be accountable to him. "Not much to be letting on to," he said airily, but Nadia's training allowed her to recognize the slight defensiveness of his posture, a tautness which suggested readying for an attack. "Guns are messy, I'm not what you'd call a fan. Nothing against you or the cowboy; everybody's got their hot buttons, right?"

Well, it's not too much of a stretch to have All-Star and/or Velocity called away to help the Freedom League with some huge threat while the rest of us hold down the fort in Freedom. That said, anyone have any thoughts as to getting word out about the new url? Any chance a forwarding address could be set up at the old site, even temporarily?