Fox

GK stood under his dome, hands reaching out to touch its surface, breathing slowing as he concentrated on the bugbot's movements. In his mind's eye he could see them: every step, every scramble as they climbed around and over the ground. Still a little overwhelmed from raising the bay floor, he almost giggled. "Peekaboo." All around the dome - and along the surface of the dome itself - spikes of asphalt erupted out of the ground into the marching machine army.

Spending the HP to recover from the fatigue - having that on him makes me all nervous-like. Indirect Area Blast: 9 5-foot cubes, shaped to hit the maximum number of 'bots (and avoid any non-bot targets on the ground in that area, though I don't think anyone's that close?), more or less centered on the dome. DC19 Reflex, then DC19 or DC24 Toughness, depending on whether or not they make the save. Really ought to give GK a bigger area attack (or progression - probably progression) next time he has some PP lying around.

unknown enemy - super-speed - magic technology mutation inhuman parahuman variables - consider sna-- Dragonfly did a double-take, stepping away and throwing up one hand to blast the suited man who was now entirely too close for comfort. Her attention, though, was almost immediately turned back to Ironclad. "Excuse me? A what to subdue?" villains subduing villains? - unlikely speech for criminals - bluffing? hero?

Blast on Mr. Johnson: Attack Roll, Blast vs. Unknown Villain (1d20 + 7=22) DC21 Toughness if it hits.

Dragonfly opened her mouth to speak up, but choked on her words as she spied the friendly bit of hair. She froze for a moment that seemed like an age as every normally rampaging, whispering thread and train of thought in her head came to a screeching halt and was replaced by...other things. She coughed, turning a little pink. Forcing her gaze away - even if she couldn't do the same to her imagination - she tried again. "Don't...have much experience playing with other people. Learn quickly, though. Probably best solo, but available if anyone needs an extra set of hands, too."

Opposed Notice Check vs. Gossamer's Stealth, DC19 (1d20 + 5=24) Dragonfly rocks the notice check, though I belatedly realize that with Mental Quickness 4 she should probably just take 10 or 20 on these things in the future.

Dragonfly slowly shook her head. unknown quantity - employer? - couriers unprofessional - this one wearing suit - dignified - organized? "....no." She frowned, taking a step backwards and flexing her hands. minor tingle - nerves or spacial array needs adjusting "....and no one buying what's in that case can be trusted with it."

Toughness Save vs. Ironclad's Blast, DC22 (1d20 + 6=22) My god, she made the check. By the skin of her teeth. However, her force field takes a hit - it's now functionally Force Field 4, having lost 1pp due to Ablative. She's down to Toughness 4. Attack Roll, Blast 6 vs. Ironclad (1d20 + 7=13) A near-miss! :argh:

Dragonfly'd already turned around go head home and sulk when a glitchy, twitching warning indicator came up on her visor - she looked down just in time to see her adversary emerged and charging. "What-?" was all she got out; then life was brightness and pain for a moment. Though she couldn't appreciate the effect, being inside it, from the outside the lightshow likely looked impressive - as the blast hit it scattered, splitting off into a series of twisting, darting streams that flowed and jerked across the force field to the other side, where they shot off into the sky as largely harmless streams and sparks. For just a moment before settling down, the field was almost completely refracting her image, making her look less like a hero and more like a modern art piece, a thousand shards of herself sewn back together out of order. When her vision cleared she was - to her great surprise - still standing, though a quick query to her gauntlets told her that the force field had lost some strength. need to work on force field stability - rotation dynamic regeneration restructuring physics problem stabilizing - cannot take more hits like the last Making a short sprint to put some distance between them, she whipped around and fired off a shot, hoping but not expecting much. losing ground - need other options....

Dragonfly blinked. "...what...?" phasing permeation insubstantiality - changing suit? very quick hard to catch possible methods? - reassess - shaken but undamaged, target is.... "....she took the case with her."

Actually had to look up the Groundstrike mechanics...never seen it used! First, a reflex save! Reflex Save vs. Ironclad's Earthquake (1d20 + 6=11) Reflex, you FAIL me! Between STR, DEX, and Acrobatics Mara's best on DEX, so that's her opposed check. Opposed check, Dragonfly's DEX vs. Ironclad's STR, DC16 (1d20 + 2=16) 16 exactly. Ironclad's got the higher bonus, though, so she wins. Dragonfly's knocked prone. Move Action to stand back up. Standard action: Blast time! Attack Roll, Blast 6 vs. Ironclad (1d20 + 7=9) Fail!

Dragonfly was clearly expecting another punch, but didn't have much time to appreciate not having a fist fly towards her head before the ground bucked under her and knocked her flat on her back. what was - physical power incredible - power supply must be - More than a little dazed, Mara scrambled back up onto her feet and threw out a hand for another blast...which completely missed its mark. stupid, stupid - care and precision - aim before releasing - reach dangerous, too long to stand up, need to get out of reach rapidly getting outclassed....

it worked! it worked it worked it worked it worked - tested on thugs but never at this range - interesting suit density resists scatter effect? good data - power loss minimal also good, effect needs adjusting more shockwave less fracture danger to fabric cohesion - coming to attack ag--oh jeeze Dragonfly barely snapped out of her thoughts in time to dodge the charge, swinging her other hand around to let another blast fly. "Really don't want to hurt you. Give up the weapons case, explain how you found it, will be happy to walk away."

Blast again, since...her other option is a terrible unarmed attack. Need moar device ranks! Attack roll, Blast (1d20 + 7=26) Almost a crit! Probably a good thing it wasn't. DC21 Toughness save.

Force Field go! Blast attack (her only decent offensive power...I weep): Attack roll, Blast (1d20 + 7=22) The dice are kind. If that hits, it's a mere DC21 Toughness save.

"It is not a gun. And the size of a weapon is not--!" Cut off, Dragonfly ducked to the side, the armored hero's fist meeting nothing but trailing hair. "Fine. The hard way." far too close - defenses! Taking a quick step or two backwards, Dragonfly called up her force field, and a shifting...something sprung up around her, as if the air two inches from the edges of her profile was being distorted. Every few seconds a flicker of refraction would dart across her figure, like long pieces of space were being cut up, jumbled, and pasted back together. offense - counter seek opening there! Throwing up the still-whining gauntlet and taking another step back she released a similar distortion straight at her new enemy - like a focused, rippling shockwave in the fabric of reality.

Dragonfly didn't move an inch. confidence - experience? - quality construction on the suit; built it herself built for her inherited found too many variables - possibly outclassed "It's pointed at you. The contents of that case will not be reaching your 'authorities'. It's not leaving in any hands but mine. Drop it -" She paused, and winced a little. possible contents of case - tag and power source reused too many times - GXA-1202 HYE-80 too large CRS-5 would eat through case HYE-39 SDG-01 SDG-4x series possible case construction unknown impact dangerous? "-...carefully."

Init roll (1d20 + 6=12), for when it's needed. Not the best init ever. Dragonfly's gonna get smushed if she's not careful.

Stealthing up behind her by the twin powers of Plotâ„¢ and Distractionâ„¢.

The fearsome pajama mastermind didn't get far before being hurled back the way he came, skidding to a halt in an unconscious heap a couple feet from the back of the van mere seconds before a low, pitched whine started up from behind Ironclad. There stood Dragonfly, one arm outstretched, the noise apparently coming from a heavy, high-tech gauntlet...which was pointed directly at the hero's torso. Dragonfly's face - what could be seen with the visor in the way - was cold and impassive. battlesuit - high tech? - powers unknown strength likely / man holding wrist - blast possible / standard on suits - sensors interests supervillain? need to get database online "You get one warning only. Put the case down and walk away. Its contents are not worth the trouble."

GK appears to have gotten this but not Dragonfly. Probably should have made them two separate edit posts for clarity...my bad. In any case, Dragonfly also needs Secret Identity on her complications list. DONE BY SHAENTHEBRAIN

Dragonfly AND Gaian Knight: On reflection and chat discussion, I realized that they both ought to have Secret Identity in their list of complications. I'd been taking it for granted, but it ought to be made explicit. DONE BY SHAENTHEBRAIN

Hurrah, my instincts didn't fail me (for once)! Thanks, durf.

This came up in chat and got me curious on how Duplication ought to be built here: Imagine you build a duplicator at PL10. Intuitively you give them Duplication 10 (some stuff), which, by the rules, gives you 150pp summoned duplicates as minions. The power, though, specifies: Which means that you basically have wasted pp on your duplicates - if you've sunk at least 20pp (10 ranks x 2pp/rank) into Duplication, your duplicates can't be any better than 130pp (your 150pp - 20pp). You get the same effect with Duplication 9 (some stuff), which costs at least 18pp, limiting your duplicates to 132pp and giving you 135pp to fuel them with - still over, but only just. Which brings me to the question: is there any reason to go Duplication 10 over Duplication 9, here? You've met the power's minimum requirement so your duplicates ought to have "your full abilities", unless refs rule that they're functionally PL9 unless they have the (completely unused) pp to make them PL10. The only thing I can think of is planning for the future - if you have Duplication 9 and get more than 3pp you'll have to bump Duplication up a rank to keep your duplicates in top form. But then, you could just do that with the pp you earned. For that matter, this becomes a mess if you're putting extras and feats into Duplication. Take the following: Duplication ? (Extras: Horde, Survival; Power Feats: Absorption Healing, Mental Link, Progression 4/25). This costs 6pp + 4pp/rank. If you're PL10, we can do some maths: rank*15 >= 150 - 6 - rank*4 rank*15 >= 144 - rank*4 rank*19 >= 144 rank >= 144/19 rank >= 7.57 Meaning that Duplication 8 (Extras: Horde, Survival; Power Feats: Absorption Healing, Mental Link, Progression 4/25) [38pp] gives us 120pp to fuel PL10-capped duplicates who are limited to 112pp. By not going Duplication 10 we've saved ourselves 8pp...but only if that's legal. Is that legal, or am I way off my rocker?

Mara tilted her head, popping a bit of food into her mouth. delicious - recipe? - Claremont - school drama? would explain quite a bit - in theory no experience - missed out on important parts of early life? yes but will have to do without "....no. Suspect I know less than you do." She frowned, popping a bit of food into her mouth while she listened to Eddie's address. "Unfamiliar with this sort of thing in general. Hard to infer."