Raveled

Ironclad was peeved that her supercharged attack had been intercepted, but as she dialed the power back to a safe level a slashing warning caught her eye. The overcharge had set off a feedback loop in the flight system of all things, and the armor's safety systems were shutting it down. The armored heroine managed to her her feet on the ground before she lost all support, staggering a moment as the buoying force of her etheric drive cut off abruptly. She hurried through the open door in time to see the horde of dead men descend on her friend and fellow superheroine. Ironclad's heart leapt into her throat and she charged forward, intent on saving Dragonfly.

"I'm going to need some of the ashes from the building. You can get that for me." Robin disappeared into the back and came back with a couple of plastic baggies. "If there's some loose electrical wires, collect those, too. I should have everything else I need already. As for how it works," she continued, "it should be like a fog of magical senses. It's not foolproof, but it should stop the demon from recognizing you, if you pass it on the street. It could find you if it pours enough power into the working, but that would burn out the charm and at least give you some warning."

The refs will never allow a blaster pistol as Equipment; it's out of genre. Likewise, the Explosion AoE is frowned upon as it makes things more difficult. Just go with a standard Burst.

Who is up, right now? Is it Ironclad?

Quick distinction: If it has moving parts (an engine, an arm) it's Mechanics. If it's solid state (a computer chip, a screen) it's electronics. For something like what you're describing, yeah, you'd need both.

Robin made a noise under her breath and pulled out a flip-style notepad and a pencil. She started jotting down notes, almost as fast as they entered her head. The list was almost schizophrenic; bone -- baculum?; ink -- cremate? building?; human hair -- strands of... what? She looked up at Gabriel, tapping her chin with the eraser end of the pencil. "That building where you fought the demon," she asked, "has it been rebuilt or cleaned up or anything like that, yet?"

Robin wasn't about to tell this woman, a stranger off the street, her entire life's story. She hadn't told Wesley everything, and they had been an... item. "I taught myself magic," she said, truthfully, "after my parents died. I traveled after that, quite a bit. I learned other forms of magic, made all the stupid mistakes a young person is supposed to. The power I used then doesn't have much to do with what I do now," she admitted, "but I'm a better person for it. "So what are you doing in Freedom City, Etain Maher? What's a woman like you do in the big city?"

Just inside the waiting room, Gregory stopped Blake with a hand on the young man's shoulder. "So where did you meet Jessica? Do you have AP classes at HIT?" Jessica and her mother didn't notice the two men reenter the room and continued their conversation. "I didn't mean it like that," Courtney said. "Superheroes can be like sports stars or actors, you know? It can be fun to read about them, and they seem glamorous, but once you get to know them they aren't all nice people." She gave her daughter a smile. "I'm just trying to think of what's best for you, Jessica." Jessica, for her part, was staring at her mother in shock. "Are you serious? You haven't seen me or talked to me in three years and you want to plan my life out? How can you know what's best for me? You have no idea who I am!" "Don't talk to me like that," Courtney snapped. "I'm your mother! And I'm telling you that getting involved with a superhero isn't always fun and games. You could end up a target for every one of his enemies!" Jessica snorted, and an arrogant tone crept into her voice. "I can take on all comers, trust me. Anyone who thinks they can get to Blake through me is mightily mistaken." "Jessica, you may be a genius, but what are you going to do when someone that can bench-press a city bus tries to kidnap you?" "I don't know, maybe I'll do something like this." Both woman were on their feet again, and Jessica reached down to press a button on her wristwatch. There was a sudden flare of light and Ironclad suddenly stood there, shining in her dark gold and green. The superheroine faced down Mrs. Parker for a moment, then the faceless mask folded back to reveal Jessica's features, tears in her eyes again. "This is who I am," she told her mother, almost shouting. "You don't know anything about! The only person in this family who knows or cares about me is on an operating table or might be dead for all I know. So don't tell me that you have my best interests in mind, when you don't even know who I am!" Jessica stayed standing there for a moment, her posture forward and aggressive, her body tense, before her eyes drifted over to the door where her father and boyfriend stood. She locked eyes with Blake for a long second, then turned and rushed out a different exit, metal boots ringing on the tile.

Ghoul swings! 1d20+14=30 And it connected! Another DC 29 Toughness for the Revoltin' Revenant.

Gregory nodded slightly, mentally reviewing what he knew about his daughter's boyfriend. "I'm surprised she called you," he said finally. "I'm surprised she called anyone but family, really. She's never been close to kids her own age. She's too smart," he explained. "She's had private tutors for most of her life, and she's been graduate work at HIT for the last year or so." The unvoiced question was just how they had hooked up. Courtney Parker waited until Blake had left the waiting room, then waited a little longer. She wasn't used to talking to ehr daughter and had no idea how to start the conversation, but she tried anyway. "So, Blake," she said. "Have you been with him... long?" Jessica stooped to pick up the pencil she'd dropped, settling back in her chair. "A few months. He's really funny, and sweet. And he's a great artist. He's going to Claremont right now." Jessica knew it was stupid to mention the school the second it was out of her mouth, but it was too late. "Claremont," her mother said archly. "Does that mean Blake has superpower, or something?" "Something like that," Jessica allowed, hesitant. It wasn't her place to reveal Blake's secrets, after all. "It is... Is he a shpeshifter or something like that?" "Why would that matter?" "Well, you're together, and you're both teenagers. I remember what it was like to be seventeen, you know." Jessica stared at her mother in sudden shock. "Are... are you giving me the 'birds and the bees' talk?"

Robin saw the great ape raise his cane and began to turn, trying to present a slimmer target; it didn't help her avoid the attack, but her spell-toughened coat absorbed the blow. She'd have some bruises, but the adrenaline made sure she didn't feel them. The sorceress locked eyes with the sinister simian and leveled her staff at him, touched her other hand to her temple. She shouted a quick word in Homeric Greek and pushed her power straight at him, assaulting him psychically.

Robin's using Mental Blast. It's Perception range, so it automatically hits. Will Save, DC 23.

Robin hesitated for a moment, then extended her hand across the counter. "You already know part of it," she said. "My first name's Robin." She glanced over the store and quickly broke off the conversation to bag a customer's order. "Be careful with levitation spells," she advised the customer, "or you'll have holes in your ceiling." She turned back to Etain. "So where did you learn your craft, if you can say?"

Robin reached out and took Gabriel's wrist, turning his hand palm-up over the bowl. "It's okay," she said. "In a world full of of aliens, impossible science, and weirder things, folks still dismiss magic as parlor tricks." She picked up the knife and pricked the man's thumb, then squeezed the digit until blood rose. The sorceress put the knife aside and picked up the phial of water. She pulled out the stopper with her teeth and turn Gabriel's hand, washing the blood into the bowl with a generous portion of water. When she was done, Robin handed him a washrag and a band-aid from her pocket. The sorceress stopped the phial and picked up the athame again, stirring the water in the bowl with the very tip of the blade. The water clouded almost instantly, turning a milky white color. It shivered oddly, then formed itself into a crucifix, then a harp. Last, it returned to a puddle in the bottom of the bowl, but after a moment it turned black at the edges and the smell of charred wood drifted up from the bowl. Robin frowned and reached into the bowl, touching the water with one finger and muttering a word in dead language. The water boiled away in a heartbeat, leaving nothing but a black ring. The sorceress collected a bit of it and sniffed it, then gave a firm nod. "Demon," she said. "It's got your, uh, well call it a 'scent.' I don't think it's looking for you, exactly, but it'll know if it runs into you." She raised her eyes to meet Gabriel's. "So what do you say? Want the charm?"

Robin tried to keep a smile off her face and was mostly successful, save for a twitch at the corner of her mouth. "Very funny," she deadpanned. And very neatly done, too, with no incantations or hand motions that the sorceress detected. She pressed her hands against the sun-bleached ruin of the boat between them and told herself that she could feel cool glass against her hands, not sand-blasted wood. "Bring us back to my shop, please," she said. Just in case Etain didn't want to cooperate, the sorceress readied her power and prepared to disrupt the illusion herself.

Nah. Cap's got the blond hair, blue eyes, all-Americun look going for him. Fillion may be a great actor and look good in tight pants, but the Cap, he ain't.

Selective on an attack wouldn't be a feet, it'd be an extra. On the plus side, DH can probably shrug that off, even at PL 10.

Ghoul's roll to resist the Startle 1d20+7=27 O.O Well, can't say against that. Even without a bonus, he still would've won. Attack, I'm afraid to say, misses without the Startle.

Blake wasn't the only one by the vending machines. Gregory Parker was also there, talking into his cell phone. "well, what about that cardiologist that tracked me down in Berlin? Someone -ska or -ski. He had a fully artificial heart he wanted to prototype." He paused, listening to whoever was on the other end of the line. "And if we say to hell with the testing and just made the the things?" Gregory apparently didn't like what he heard, if his expression was anything to go by. "Well, find something. That's I pay you for, dammit." Gregory ended the cal and put his phone away, running a hand through his hair. His eyes hunted across the tiles and the glass-fronted vending machines, looking for something that just wasn't there. Instead, his gaze fell on Blake. "You were in there with my daughter, Jessica." He stepped forward and offered the young man his hand. "Gregory Parker. So... what exactly is your relationship with Jessica? Why are you here with her at the hospital?"

Robin gave the cards a long hard look before selecting one and examining it closely. It was the 7 of hearts, and the design was floral and actually rather pretty. Te centerpiece was a circle of thorns with seven flowers coming off it, and the numbers in the corners had thorns coming off them. The sorceress studied the card, fixing it in her mind before returning it to the deck. She watched Etain shuffle the cards, the woman's movements slower and more deliberate than Robin would've expected for someone doing a card trick. It was surprising to see someone put such concentration into such a mundane activity. Things started clicking together in Robin's dead: the easy fluency with a dead language, knowledge of magic -- or at least magical items -- and her unfamiliarity with historical icons all pointed to someone out of joint with human time. Etain could be an immortal, a time-traveler, or something not human. In any case, she merited closer watching.

"We could go straight to the charm," Robin said, "or I could give you the names of two or three other spellworkers who could read your aura and make the charm. None them will enjoy you turning up on their doorstep, and one might will give you an impromptu tour of the Outer Planes for interrupting his studies." It was an exaggeration, but other magic users tended to stay out of the -public eye for a reason. "I'm no going to use your blood against you. I promise."

Toughness for Robin 1d20+11=13 Oh, Christ. Rerolling that. 1d20+11=31 Well, that's quite a bit better. :P

Robin pulled the knife out of its leather sheath, revealing a blade of black stone. "Everything touched by magic has a field of energy surrounding it. Since life creates the energy of magic, that includes every living thing, like yourself. It's possible to read this aura and discern certain things about a person." The sorceress put the blade beside the bowl and set the flask of water on the other side. "Some can do that just by looking at a person. I am not sensitive to such energies, but there is a quick, simple ritual that I can perform to get the same information." She held up the phial and moved it so that the clear water inside caught the light. "This water is absolutely pure and free of energies. This knife," she added, picking it up in her other hand, "could be called a ritual athame if you were so inclined. But I've had it for quite a long time, and through it I can link my will to the water and read your aura. It should tell us if, in fact, a demon or any otherworldly entity is hunting after you." She locked eyes with Gabriel again and raised one eyebrow. "I only need a drop or two. Honestly, it won't hurt more than a paper cut."

Maneuvers FTW! Full Power Attack, full All Out Attack on the High Cultist. Damage goes up to +14, Att stays the same, Def drops to +0. 1d20+7=16 Ehn, I'm gonna reroll that. Don't like a number that low for such a powerful alpha strike. Reroll! 1d20+7=12 -.- Well, at least I get to add 10 to that. So, Att of 22, Toughness DC of 29, and minus 1 HP.

Ironclad rose into the air until she was level with Cobalt Templar, setting herself before a different window. As many different paths of attack as possible, and all that. When the zombies started shuffling forawrd, she focused her attention on the chanting priest. The heroine narrowed her communication link with Dragonfly to a bare thread and brought her weapons to bear on the robed figure. She hovered there in the air for a moment, lining up her shot, before releasing a heavy barrage of near-light speed particles, the flesh lighting the warehouse for a moment.