Raveled

The tide went in and out, but the sorceress sent a trickle of her own will into it the elemental responded. Sea water started pooling under Robin's feet, forming a layer between her shoes and the beach. She drifted slowly out on the surf, halting the platform of water a pair of long strides from the shore. She was still facing Wesley, and she made sure her smile was extra-wide and easy to see. "I only contracted this elemental out to carry one," she said, "but maybe there's a way around that if the rider carried someone else. Maybe you could become a big ol' sea turtle and I could ride on your shell? Or," she added, her smiled growing sly, "perhaps a big black snake? I could wear you then, draped all over me."

Robin needs a good combat thread this month. She's in.

Robin relaxed in Wesley's arms, leaning against his broad chest and inhaling his scent. She felt the warmth of his body, this obvious strength and sheer physical presence, and it was a comfort. She could let down some of her defenses here, sheltered and protected by Wesley, safe inside the circle of his arms. Part of her wanted to stay there forever, to unburden herself to him and lighten her load a touch. Part of her also wanted to toss that palm leaf aside and leave the complex thinking for later. She pushed both those parts down. The sorceress stepped away from Wesley, trailing a hand down his arm as she back up to the tide line. When her staff touched the water, she was suddenly aware of the presence of the water elemental who had carried her here, a wild, shifting, somehow eager pressure in the back of her head. She looked at Wesley from her new vantage point. "Will you be coming back to the city?"

Clad is taking 20 on a Notice check, which she can as a Free Action. Result of 27.

"I'm sure plenty of folks have called the police already," she said, "but we can do this." The heroine went to one knee next to the villain, cupping the man's face and turning it to face her full-on, then looking at it in profile. She blink-clicked two pictures, arranging into into a rough mugshot using a program already on her armor. While the composite image was compiling, she accessed the FCPD public website and logged in with a special account, limited to the cape and cowl set. She shot off the mugshot and her location, appending a note that the perp was down for the count. Ironclad had performed the entire procedure with only her eyes, blink-clicking through menus and operations almost as fast as she could have done with her hands. She found that people looked at her funny when she waved her hands in the air; though, the heroine hadn't considered what it would look like to freeze for several minutes while she worked in the privacy of her helmet. Unawares, she stood and stretched, wincing at the bruise she could feel forming where that huge iron ball had hit her. "The police have been updated. The paddy wagon should be here for Mister Social Commentary before long." The heroine turned her head a bit, focusing past Dynamo to the wreckage the villain had crated before they had intervened. She slowly scanned the debris; it was just possible that there was a civilian trapped under all that rubble, and Ironclad had to be sure.

Robin shrugged with one shoulder. "A number of elementary texts are in Latin," she said. "Almost of all of the practical works are. Some lingering sentiment about it being the language of learning, I don't know." The sorceress waved her hand loosely, as if batting the notion out of the air. "It can be inconvenient, you know, especially if you don't have a teacher. I carry a full set of books for learning Latin in your spare time." She locked eyes with Etain, staring the other woman down. "It can be useful at times, though. Almost anyone who speaks Latin fluently is usually a serious magical practitioner."

Ironclad was dragged back with Wrecking Ball, and she was almost dragged down onto him as he fell. She managed to pull away, though, and stumbled a few feet away before she got her feet planted and turned to Dynamo, rotating her shoulder and feeling the bruises from the villain's ball-shot. She offered the speedster her hand, making sure to power down her disruptor field before she did so. "Thanks for the assist," she said. "I go by Ironclad." She jerked her head at the defeated super-criminal. "And idea on this one?"

Ghoul Attack 1d20+14=26 Hu-hu-hits! Toughness DC 29 for the ghoul.

Robin Cross :arrow: Spending a point to buy another rank of Equipment, and rebuilding her HQs. [quote name="Equipment"][b][u]PL 11 HQ[/u][/b] The Apartment Unless otherwise noted, all features apply to both the apartment and the lab. [b]Size:[/b] Diminuitive/Medium (1 EP) [b]Toughness:[/b] +5 [0 EP] [b]Features:[/b] 19 EP [list] [*][b]Alternate HQ[/b] The store [*][b]Defense System 2 [/b] [*][b]Dual Size[/b] The lab is size Medium. [*][b]Laboratory[/b] [*][b]Library[/b] And arcane library. Lab only. [*][b]Living Space[/b] [*][b]Power 3[/b] [*][b]Power System[/b] The lab does not run off of electricity. [*][b]Security System 3[/b] Disable Device DC 30. Only lets you into her apartment. [*][b]Sealed[/b] Lab only. [*][b]Workshop[/b] Lab only.[/list] [b]Stun 11[/b] (Magic, ward; [i]Extras:[/i] Alternate Save/Will, Sleep) [22 PP] [b]Blast 11[/b] (Magic, ward, fire) [22 PP] [b]Concealment 2[/b] (Magic, wards; ESP, Auditory) [4 PP] [b]Force Field 11[/b] (Magic, wards; [i]Feats:[/i] Affects Insubstantial 2, Selective; [i]Extra:[/i] Impervious 11) [25 PP] [b][u]PL 11 HQ[/u][/b] The Store [b]Size:[/b] Small (0 EP) [b]Toughness:[/b] +10 [1 EP] [b]Features:[/b] [list] [*][b]Defense System 2[/b] [*][b]Library[/b] An arcane library. [*][b]Security System 3[/b] Disable Device DC 30[/list] [b]Stun 11[/b] (Magic; [i]Extra:[/i] Alternate Save/Will, Sleep) [22 PP] [b]Snare 11[/b] (Magic) [22 PP][/quote]

Ironclad :arrow: Add a Complication. No Plans, No Prototype Jessica has a habit of putting prototype designs in her suit; between that and her constant tweaks, there's a chance that any given system could fail. :arrow: Spending Clad's remaining 4 PP on skills. Should give me 16 skill ranks to play with. 6 ranks into Computer, 1 rank into Concentration, 10 ranks into Disable Device, lose 1 rank each from Craft/Mechanical, Craft/Electronic, and Know/Technology, and put 2 ranks into Notice. Should end up looking like this. [b][u]Skills:[/u][/b] 52 r = 13 pp Computers 10 (+15) Concentrate 9 (+10) Craft (Electronic) 5 (+10) Craft (Mechanical) 5 (+10) Disable Device 10 (+15) Knowledge (Technology) 5 (+10) Notice 8 (+9) DONE BY SHAENTHEBRAIN

"Wes, no." Robin stepped up to Wesley, grabbing his arm and squeezing. "I enjoyed out time together, I really did. I'm just... not in a place where I can be with someone all the time. I need my space." She looked up at him, cocking her head slightly. "You're really not mad at me? For any of it?" She stepped inside the circle of his arms and hugged him tightly. "You're a better man than I will ever be, you know that?"

Robin's posture grew stiffer at Etain's words. She didn't like her stock being compared to the stuff that was foisted on tourists. "I know a gnome," she said. "Technically, this is the rope fairies use on their hunts. I don't suppose the truth-telling effect is too useful when dealing with other fairies, but when dealing with mortals it can be an edge." The sorceress touched the ring in a certain place and the rope retracted swiftly; before long it was the same length as Etain had seen it when she came in the store, and Robin put it back under the counter. She waved her hand, indicating the rest of the store. "I've plenty of texts on theory, and practical matters for beginners, if you'd rather. And all my reagents are top quality." She stressed those last two words perhaps more than she should have, but that 'tourist' jib stung.

Free Action: Switch Weapon Array to Disruptor Field. Move Action: Land next to Wrecking Ball. Standard Action: Attack. Clad's Attack. 1d20+7=27] Hahaha! Auto-hit and crit! Nice first Strike with the new power! DC 29 Toughness from the Strike, and DC 29 Fortitude for Drain Toughness.

Ironclad tried to dodge the attack shooting her way, but the overpowered blast she had unleashed made her sluggish in the air and it caught her high in the chest. She rebounded from it and managed to stay aloft, though her head was spinning. She flashed back to her first real super-powered encounter, when a drunk on a hover-board had shot up a parade float. At least this time I didn't fall, she thought to herself. A moment later, though, she descended carefully to the ground, rerouting power from her wrist blasters to the field generators in her gauntlets. A subtle, buzzing glow surrounded her hands, the atoms in the air rent apart by the power she held. The heroine waited until the super-fast hero had struck, then dashed in and tried to land her own blow. With luck, a few strikes like this would soften the target up, to the point where he'd go down to a few more barrages.

Clad's Toughness 1d20+9=18] Well, I knew I was gonna burn a HP on that, anyway. HP re-roll. 1d20+9=14 So, total of 24. Clad's just Bruised! .. Not sure how to work the Knockback. Geez, some help? And Ini. 1d20+3=17] Woot.

Ironclad was patrolling the city, sensors scanning the ground for trouble while she listened to the police band with one ear. She couldn't miss a sudden plume of dust and debris from near the city's center. She banked in the air, pouring on an extra bit of speed until she was over the scene of destruction. "Hey down there," she shouted, cupping one hand to her helmet, roughly where her mouth would be. "If you want to get in on demolition in this city, I suggest you apply for a job before giving a demonstration." She aimed her wrist blasters more-or-less straight down and let off a powerful blast, aiming to take this upstart down in one hit.

Clad is going full All-Out Attack and +3 to Power Attack. So Def drops to +2, Att is +9, and Dam on the Blast is +12. Speaking of which, attack roll! 1d20+12=14 :cry: I'm definitely using a HP to reroll that. Reroll! 1d20+12=23 Gaaaaaaaah. Still, Toughness DC 27 if it hits.

No, I just want the hero to win. Now are ya gonna take the cookie I gave ya or what?

Since they've been talking a bit, I let DH keep his Defense bonus.

The ghoul charged at the revenant, wide arms swinging back and forth. Dead Head used his smaller size to managed to slip to one side, though, and the ghoul's claws sailed over his head. The creature let out another tea-kettle whistle and tried to spin around to attack again, but its momentum carried it past the undead, eventually slamming up against the far embankment. The impact didn't seem to even phase it, however, and the creature turned to orient on Dead Head again.

Ghoul's Attack 1d20+14=16 That's what you get for being Large, I suppose.

Robin smiled at the aphorism and shrugged lightly. "Never discount a defense," she advised, "but if that doesn't interest you, maybe this will." She replaced the clay skull and the deck of cards in the display case, drawing out rope. The sorceress laid out about three feet of it on the counter, the last few inches threaded though a gold ring. "Fey rope," Robin called it, running her hand down the length of it. "Made from braided unicorn hair and silver wire. Tie someone up with this rope, and they cannot lie to you -- but caveat emptor." The sorceress put one hand on the gold loop and muttered low, liquid syllables, pulling at the rope to reveal more and more length. "Nearly a hundred feet of rope," she said, coiling the new length in her hands. "Interested?"

Ghoul's Ini. 1d20+7=21

The super-ghoul cocked its head to one side, almost like it was listening to Dead Head after all -- but after a minute it roared a challenge and tried to charge, all four clawed limbs tearing a the wet sands. It let out a surprisingly high-pitched scream as it came, like a train whistle, the noise amplified against and again by the close confines under the bridge.

Jessica blushed as the Doktor brought up the obvious problem with her building-sized coilgun. "It's not completly destructive," she insisted. "It... it could be used to launch satellites! I'm sure projectiles would at least reach escape velocity. And it could... um... Be used to shoot down spaceships?" The young woman sunk in her seat, trying to appear as small as possible, hiding from the collective gaze of Freedom City's best and... Well, certainly its brightest! "Everyone gets a death ray but me," she muttered. "All I really want is one."