Fox

Will Save vs. Emotion Control (Fear), DC22: 1d20+14-4 21 The meat thing was pretty clever. He fails by 1 - so that's a -2 to his attack rolls, defense, and checks! And his control seems to be slipping....

Gaian Knight / Tiamat (maxed) - Dragonfly (maxed) - Wraith Horrorshow (2) Eclipse - Grim Transmutation (8) Gremlin - GM Horrorshow (3) Split the GM posts between Eclipse and Gremlin, please; ref point to Eclipse.

It should work! His will save's decent, but gimme the IC post - depending on how Kimber goes about it, he may be taking a penalty.

Dude was apparently literal when he called Kimber an 'outsider'. What she gets from him, once she has a handle on it, is outright paranoia - this is a man who is dead certain that all Weird Things are, or trace back to, aliens. The metal one's an alien, the blue floaty one's an alien, of course the aliens showed up here at the moment of my greatest triumph to date etc etc. He also seems to be afraid that she'll come after him directly? Which is odd for two reasons: first, because he's right there and doesn't seem THAT worried about it yet. And second, because her Tracking indicates that he's further away than he looks right now. But if she wasn't here at all, and was still back up at the stairs, the lobby would be about right.

Kimber has, say, one, maybe two posts before she's outright forced into combat - or she could pick a fight immediately! Still a decent number of thugs around - hard to tell which ones are real, if any, which may be a problem. From your sense motive: the little guy seems a bit more perturbed than he lets on; she could guess that he's not used to this much push-back from whatever it is he's doing. He's also not striking first, which is interesting: he's either really, really stupidly confident, or he's exercising a caution against direct conflict that's a little at odds with how up in that thug's face he got earlier. Little Dude's also pinging her Fear Awareness, assuming she's watching that; she doesn't have Accurate on that so it's hard to tell if he's actually where he appears to be, but he doesn't seem to share the thug's immunity to at least her super-sense and he's not as collected as he's trying to look. She'll need an okay notice check to tell what he's afraid of, though.

GM Ghost Girl said "no", and the world replied, "WOOOHMP". She could be pretty sure that the world was not supposed to go WOOOHMP. For a moment - a brief span of time as her wave went out - she could see two things at once, superimposed and fighting for her attention. The lobby was still there, with its glowing, monstrous thugs and suspiciously dark outside, all things exactly where they should be, aside from everything that wasn't. But she could also see the stairwell, the steps leading down from their fight in the cubicles, as if the world had frozen just before one of the thugs had made off with Wraith. It was a vision so complete, in fact, that Wraith was still there, at her side, frozen in place with black eyes wide in surprise or anger at something unseen and unfelt. And then the world snapped back into place, and she was only in the lobby, though it was...thinner, somehow. Less detailed, perhaps, and less populated, definitely: as the smell of acrid, burning electronics hit her nose some of the legion of offending glow-thugs fuzzed out, becoming indistinct and then vanishing entirely, leaving a still-threatening but far less impressive horde behind. "Fine," said the little man's voice, about half as patronizing but twice as irate; he'd appeared, at some point, in the center of the lobby, standing with both hands on the head of his cane, covered entirely in a field of red force. "First the metal one tried to shake me loose, and just as I got that under control, you? I don't know how you did that, outsider, but I - I will not be so easily taken!"

Ah, right, that was it - given her morph's sensitivity to sunlight, Kimber should know when it's daytime out! She's pretty sure they arrived during the day, and they haven't been there QUITE long enough for it to be pitch black outside. For that matter, Kimber has darkvision - to her, it shouldn't be that dark anywhere! Stuff here sure feels real (maybe don't let those guys grab you, just in case!), but she's starting to get the vibe she got from diving into a virtual world: it's a bit like someone created a close-enough facsimile of this part of the building, and either couldn't deal with some of the fine details, or didn't bother. Have a free HP for the plot inflicting a no-save something-or-another.

Archiving character at player request.

Archiving character at player request.

Sufficient! She has a general feeling that some of the things she's seen in the last minute or so are off, but can't quite place her finger on it without immediate reference. She did better-than-even on that Notice so she can take a moment to grab a Wisdom check for free, now, if she likes. What she can place with the Notice alone is that something is specifically off right near her head. Accounting for zoom, this is just about where a security camera should be if their previous security system voyeurism is accurate, but not only is there no security camera here, there's no mount point or wreckage to indicate one ever was here....or anywhere else in the room, now that she takes a look. How odd!

And now, without further ado, the counts for March 2017: alderwitch Bombshell: 4 posts = 1pp Psyche: 1 post = 1pp Sophia: 1 post = 1pp Volcanic: 4 posts = 1pp angrydurf Savant: 1 post = 1pp Sandman: 1 post = 1pp Ace Danger: 1 post = 1pp Phalanx: 1 post = 1pp Ouroboros: 0 posts + 1 (Phalanx rollover) = 1 post = 1pp + 1 (ref point) = 2pp Ari Hyperslice: 1 post + 14 (14/24 GM) = 15 posts = 2pp Red Moon: 1 post = 1pp Salmon: 5 posts + 10 (10/24 GM) = 15 posts = 2pp The Speaker: 3 posts = 1pp GM: 12 posts x 2 = 24 Avenger Assembled Citizen: 7 posts = 1pp Comrade Frost: 5 posts = 1pp Edge: 1 post = 1pp Harrier: 1 post = 1pp Lady Horus: 10 posts + 7 (Citizen rollover) + 1 (Edge rollover) + 1 (Harrier rollover) = 19 posts = 2pp Sea Devil: 5 posts = 1pp Woodsman: 31 posts = 3pp + 1 (ref point) = 4pp Blarghy Adept: 11 posts + 4 (4/28 GM) = 15 posts = 2pp Leviathan: 7 posts + 24 (24/28 GM) = 31 posts = 3pp GM: 14 posts x 2 = 28 Blue Rose Kit: 1 post = 1pp Curious Key Warp: 15 posts = 2pp Darksider42 Rosethorn: 1 post = 1pp Ruby Voxx: 1 post = 1pp Droideka Gallant: 13 posts = 1pp Ecalsneerg Geckoman: 1 post = 1pp (rollover and ref point still pending) Electra Sparkler: 23 posts + 2 (NPC) = 25 posts = 3pp NPC: 2 posts EternalPhoenix Terrifica: 4+9+1= 15 posts = 2pp Waverider: 0 posts + 15 (15/16 GM) = 15 posts = 2pp Queenie: 0 posts + 1 (1/16 GM) = 1 post = 1pp Pacer & Stalwart: 3 posts = 1pp GM: 8 posts x 2 = 16 Fox Eclipse: 0 posts + 1 (GM) = 1pp + 1 (ref point) = 2pp Gremlin: 0 posts + 1 (GM) = 1pp Grim: 4 posts = 1pp Wraith: 3 posts = 1pp GM: 1 post x 2 = 2 posts Gizmo Jack of all Blades: 4 posts = 1pp Ghost Girl: 3 posts = 1pp Set: 8 posts = 1pp Reagent: 3 posts + 4 (JoaB rollover) + 3 (Ghost Girl rollover) + 8 (Set rollover) = 18 posts = 2pp + 1 (ref point) = 3pp GranspearZX Arcturus: 1 post = 1pp Grumblefloof Mister Strix: 5 posts = 1pp Heritage Grimalkin/Shrike: 35 posts = 3pp Miracle Girl: 10 posts + 35 (Grimalkin rollover) + 1 (NPC) = 46 posts = 3pp NPC: 1 KnightDisciple Gabriel: 2 posts = 1pp Thoughtspeed: 1 post = 1pp Judex: 2 posts + 2 (Gabriel rollover) = 4 posts = 1pp Sun Walker: 1 post = 1pp Kolohehonu Greasy Gear: 0 posts + 1 (1/88 GM) = 1 post = 1pp Hyperactive:32 posts + 68 (68/88 GM) = 100 posts = 5pp Kid Kamehameha: 12 posts + 21 (21/88 GM) = 33 posts = 3pp GM: 44 posts x 2 = 88 MBCE Hammer: 3 posts = 1pp Nick Ardent: 1+2= 3 posts + 2 (Willow rollover) = 5 posts = 1pp + 1 (admin point) = 2pp Blue Fox: 0 posts Nightingale: 0 posts Willow: 2 posts = 1pp olopi Bonfire: 7 posts + 18 (18/80 GM) = 25 posts = 3pp Barrier: 4 posts + 11 (11/80 GM) = 15 posts = 2pp Bird of Arms: 14 posts + 36 (36/80 GM) = 50 posts = 4pp Sha'ir the Spellsmith: 4 posts + 15 (15/80 GM) = 19 posts = 2pp GM: 40 posts x 2 = 80 Raveled Blue Jay: 3 posts = 1pp Corona: 1 post = 1pp Miras: 0 posts + 8 (GM) = 8 posts = 1pp Chrome: 2 posts = 1pp GM: 4 posts x 2 = 8 (unknown: how to distribute GM posts) Sailor Endeavor: 2 posts = 1pp Sophistemon Presto the Preposterous: 9 posts + 14 (14/16 GM) = 23 posts = 2pp Punchline: 0 posts + 2 (2/16 GM) = 2 posts = 1pp Upgrade: 4 posts = 1pp GM: 8 posts x 2 = 16 Supercape Flintlock: 7 posts = 1pp Lord Steam: 0 posts + 1 (1/4 GM) = 1 post = 1pp Starshot: 2 posts = 1pp Synth: 23 posts + 3 (3/4 GM) = 26 posts = 3pp The Red Rat: 2 posts = 1pp GM: 2 posts x 2 = 4 TheAbsurdist Asad: 1 post = 1pp Bliss: 1 post = 1pp Errant: 2 posts = 2pp Thevshi Tsunami: 0 posts + 6 (GM) = 6 posts = 1pp + 1 (ref point) = 2pp Synapse: 0 posts + 3 (Paradigm rollover) = 3 posts = 1pp Paradigm: 3 posts = 1pp GM: 3 posts x 2 = 6 Thunder King Crimson Tiger: 2 posts = 1pp The Tattered Man: 2 posts = 1pp Tiffany Korta Blodeuwedd: 0 posts + 1 (1/18 GM) = 1 post = 1pp Dr. Thorne: 2 posts = 1pp Frostbyte: 1 post = 1pp Emerald Spider: 21 posts = 2pp + 1 (ref point) = 3pp The Traveller: 14 posts + 1 (Guest Star) = 15 posts = 2pp Merge Trois: 2 posts = 1pp Voin Zhenschina: 3 posts = 1pp Guest Star (Ms Britannia): 1 post GM: 9 posts x 2 = 18 trollthumper Cannonade: 1 post = 1pp Cavalier: 2 posts = 1pp tv50watcher Gargoyle: 23 posts = 2pp Vahnyu Master Vyrdna: 1 post = 1pp Vorik Mannequin: 9 posts = 1pp

Hello, children. Normally I put something pithy here before moving on to the post counts proper, but after this month's counts I am a creature of sermon and judicious ire so let's do the standard disclaimer and then address three points of order: Disclaimer: As with all post counts, we guarantee best (and tool-assisted!) effort. We will, on occasion, get a count or edit wrong - please do not hesitate to call us out on this when it happens by sending a polite PM to the month's post-counter (that's me!) or the ref team as a whole. We will fix it ASAP. Point of Order #1: Quite a lot of you did not post your counts this month. In our magnanimity we've done best effort on your counts and made the appropriate edits anyway, but please do not count on this now or in the future. Standing rule is that if you don't post your threads, you may not get credit for that month. Please, please try to post your threads, or at least get them in up in Late Thread Counting. If you have max-pp characters or GM posts to distribute or ref/admin points to assign, please always make sure to include instructions on those, as well! Point of Order #2: Please ensure your threads are tagged appropriately; your IC threads should be tagged with 'IC' as the prefix tag. Ask around if you aren't sure how to set that. Similarly, if you don't note your GM posts as GM posts, especially in threads where you're also posting as a PC, we're going to count all your posts as PC posts and you'll lose half the credit. We have two-score posters and twice that many threads to go through every month, we are not reading all of the posts to do guesswork. Point of Order #3: As it came up for at least two peoples' counts, a minor rules reminder: GM posts only count as GM posts when you are GMing for other people. Solo threads don't qualify - the posts still count, but only as PC posts for that character. In lighter news: Let's get a round of congratulations to olopi, who has reached their Silver veteran award, and to Tiffany Korta, who has reached their Orichalcum veteran award! Well done, both, and I wish you the best of luck in deciding what to do with your shiny new character slots or bonuses.

Clever Kimber. They don't fly! Another shot at Notice or Wisdom, if she cares to. She's literally fingertips away from her foes - if she sinks down much further without moving forward into open air, they'll probably get her. (The open space between the second and first floors is probably safe, but only until one of them decides that diving at her from the ledge is a good plan.)

GM Glowing people. Glowing people were everywhere. The floor below Kimber turned out to, in fact, be two floors: more offices and meeting rooms ran a ring around the outside of the otherwise-open space, large wood and metal barriers separating visitors from falling through the air and straight down into the lobby below. It probably would have been a pretty great design, a decade or two ago - high-powered investors could have stood up here, leaning on the railing and watching employees mill about on the tiles below, watching the ebbing and flowing tide of business and science as the day went by. Now it was dust and neglect, some of the guard rails leaning out in a way that would make an OSHA inspector break out in hives. Oh, and it was positively swarming with glowing figures, with glowing eyes, that all simultaneously snapped up to look at their spectral guest. They moved with singular purpose, slogging out of the offices, leaving their posts by the glass doors to the dark outside, crowding in to try to grab her - though from where she floated near the ceiling they couldn't quite reach....

If she likes, Ghost Girl can make a Notice check or a Wisdom check! But not both. She has pressing concerns. If she plans on fighting, she'll need an initiative roll, too.

GM "Yes, that would have been clever of you." The voice was...everywhere, echoing and without source, but they knew it none the less: they'd heard it berating the science-empowered thugs over the security system earlier. Their little leader had lost none of his ego or condescension in the intervening minutes, his words laced with the quiet excitement of a man with a plan. "How unfortunate for you that you've done all this for nothing. Nothing," he hissed, "nothing to stop me or even slow down our plans here. But you have cost me a number of my minions - replaceable, yes, but recruitment is time I can ill-afford! I'll be quite busy later, you see, but for now...now you've earned my undivided attention." They'd almost made it to the stairwell when the voice had started, intent on their descent toward victory - and their opposition appeared to want to give them a helping hand. A glowing, helping hand, which burst through the wall near the stairs to reveal the glowing body of an empowered thug against the darkness outside. He grabbed Wraith around her midsection, three alien eyes wide in surprise, and pushed her - thug and all - over the stairwell railing to plummet into the darkness several floors below. Behind Ghost Girl, shifting debris were her cue that the thugs were getting back up again, jerking upright like marionettes and flaring back into their larger, energy-cloaked forms. Two more could be seen coming down the stairs on the other side of the room, light cast upon the back wall of that stairwell, while a cracking sound from the ceiling just above implied that the one she'd trapped in the room had awoken and, perhaps, decided that he'd take a more direct route down.

Matt made some kind of vague motion with his arms but it ended almost as soon as it began, weighed down with his burden of bags, loose clothing, and second-guessing; he managed to transition it into an awkward shrug, instead, fooling no one. "Yeah, well," he said, clearing his throat, "everyone's a stranger in something, right? Life's all about feeling out of place, and then you die and you're just a visitor somewhere else. I've been told a bunch that people only really regret not doing and learning stuff, when it's too late." He paused, and made a face. "Which is kinda grim, sorry. But seriously, any time - everyone could use a hand once in a while, and I bet you I'd have been just as lost if I were in your shoes. Uh." He peered down into one of the bags. "All of 'em."

Matt's expression was dubious at best - not afraid, to his credit, though one could imagine that may as well just be his lack of first-hand experience with Winifred's other half. "Yeaaaah, I've heard some stuff," he said - without judgement, oddly, like he was reflecting on a bad habit or embarrassing rumor. "All the same, maybe don't do testing on people 'til other testing stuff gets done. Never hurts - everyone always thinks the new stuff is safe until explosions, and then it's my--and then it's someone else's problem, yeah?" He shrugged, mentally shelving that idea. "You've probably got most of what you'd need, though I'm sure Raina knows better'n I do. Worst case, it's a good start and we can come back out another time. Besides, I still owe you a trip to a proper music store, anyway."

Matt had a very visible and traditionally teenage boy reaction to being threatened with eyeliner, uncertainty written all across his hook-nosed face, but he recovered well enough. "Now that's a serious threat. Maybe if I decided to go up on stage, or something. Didn't mean to, uh, demean your skills, really," he insisted, shaking his head. "Some stuff just isn't fought with big brains and crazy chemistry. Lotsa stuff needs practice, and some fights y'just can't win. Doesn't mean it isn't fun to try anyway." He briefly wondered what the dogs would think of makeup, and immediately resolved to not tell them about the conversation unless absolutely necessary. He didn't need their heckling, and if they had their way he'd probably be fully painted - in a dress. "Not gonna be much help there, myself, but let me know if there's ever anything I can do. Maybe I can volunteer the dogs for testing. They'd probably find it funny."

"I dunno, she has a point?" Matt gave Raina a nod, biting his lip in thought. "Even if you're the best - and I'm not gonna say you aren't, 'cos I don't think that's a fight I'd win - it's gotta be more time than buying it, and maybe more money, especially with some...I dunno. Experimentation, I guess, to get started? Never really did a lot of the science thing, but everything anyone's gotta do takes some trial and error. Maybe the big companies get ingredients cheaper than you can, maybe their big factories and stores mean they can make stuff faster. But it'd be worth the try, I guess - worst case, maybe you can make something you like better than what's on the shelves. Or, I guess, worst case it doesn't go well but at least you had a fun afternoon blowing up lab equipment." Matt snorted despite himself, though he at least got his sense of humor back under strict control. "Though, nobody," he said, quite seriously, "nobody should have to suffer through a period of Faretti's pickup lines. They're never directed at me, but with my hearing even I don't want to suffer through a period of Faretti's pickup lines. Y'know they seem to work once in a while? That kinda worries me sometimes."

"I don't think all of it comes off with water," Matt mused, trying to remember half-eavesdropped conversations and the useful bits of color commentary from his dogs. "Keeps it from getting messed up by rain or sweat or whatever, I guess. I think they make wipes? Or oil? Something about oil, sometimes, or alcohol. I think I've heard people complaining about it." He shrugged again as Winifred's attention turned to the boxes, but her response was interesting enough to cock his head in attention. "That'd probably save you a bunch, long-term, if you could get the stuff to make it out of. Maybe even make some money, or earn some favors with people who can't shell out a bunch of allowance for good eye shadow or whatever. If you can find somewhere that'll sell you, uh...." He used the edge of one hand to tip a box backwards, eyeing the side of it with the gaze of a boy who had not spent enough time paying attention in chemistry last year. "....'dimethicone'. Probably somewhere online you can buy raw stuff, or some wholesaler down by the docks."

Matt wasn't quite sure whether to look embarrassed or pleased, standing just a hair taller while not appearing overly distracted - a dog given a compliment, but not one offered a treat. "Yeah, well. I live to serve," he dryly noted, shrugging Fred's clothes back into place. "Sending messages, guarding junkyards, helping g---people," he corrected, whatever word he was going to use completely lost. "Hauling wardrobes. Glad I could help." He snorted, but there was good humor in it. "I don't think the clerk's gonna care. Nobody who works in a mall is paid enough to care. Like, good people, sure," he hastily added, "but really, really not paid to care. And I famously don't care about anything, so, y'know, y'only really need the one foot for Raina. If it matters."

"What? I don't - what?" Matt's eyes were wide with surprise; however he'd seen this conversation going, this wasn't it. He'd barely had enough time to try to figure out if Winifred was flirting with Raina before she asked for his help, and the topic was apparently well outside his areas of expertise. "I'm a guy, what do I know? ...I mean, I guess that's the point, though, right?" He shrugged, and absently caught the clothes that subsequently threatened to shift out of his grip. "Like, you always look really good, but you aren't covered in forty layers of oily crap," he suggested, uncertain. "Everyone thinks you look good but half the female class tries way too hard and doesn't make it half way? And I don't know how much super-fancy stuff you have, but I'm betting you make do - better'n they do - with stuff that isn't this expensive a lot of the time, without anyone being able to tell, and that's pretty impressive. Or, I guess, would be if I knew more about makeup. Yeah?"

Wraith was humming to herself, dragging the thug by his heel over to rest by the other two, form melting back into something more reasonably-proportioned...but not before she grabbed each of their projectors is one long-fingered hand and crushed them, one by one, into sparking uselessness. "I have been too busy lately," she noted to Ghost Girl, wistful. "I have missed the hunt for people like...these. It is a good practice of one's skills. Perhaps I was too...what would the word be. Indulgent?" She turned to look at the room, eyes sliding across her face a bit to take it all in. "Your way was equally effective but much faster. This should be everyone on this floor, however, and I think most of them are still downstairs. Perhaps we can clear many of them at once, or defeat their leader."