Supercape

GM It was only half a minute to walk back to the Truck. The Rat-gorilla's were gone, at least to the Tattered Man's uncanny senses. Maybe in some trash pile somewhere, maybe in the sewers. A half dozen curious (and possibly even concerned; Bedlam was not without a few kind hearts) pedestrians had gathered around the stalled and dented truck. A hobo, a drunk, a street cleaner, two men (obviously a couple) high on coffee after a night raving, and a lady of the night who had been trying, unsuccessfully, to sell her services to the couple. All were holding their noses. Yes, the purple liquid oozing from the truck had formed a small pool now, and it did not smell good. It smelled like stale sweat, putrid infection, something organic and unhealthy. Something animal. It was the opposite of perfume; something that augmented the unpleasant natural smells of a man (or woman). And a few of the onlookers were twitching. And a few of the onlookers were looking a bit on the hairy side...

GM The bridge held, and held wonderfully. In single file, the chuggers, the Professor, Mr Dickens and the two superheroes crossed it. To either side, weeds, fetid water, and various swamp wildlife. Frogs, beetles, flies. Strange things squirming in the black water, barely in sight. "This ain't natural" said Fatboy Fats, chewing his lip and clocking his shotgun. "I mean, we got swamps all over in Tezville, but not like this. And a hundred feat from the ocean? This ain't natural. Not natural at all..." He gave a guilty gulp and looked at Blackstaff. "We dealt with some spooky stuff coming in from the coast this winter. And Tezville has always had spooks. But, things have taken a turn. Bad turn. This is magic, ain't it? And not the nice kind?" Blackstaff was the first to notice an increased agitation of the black waters. An increased squirm in the depths. Then a burst of fould bubbles that released a noxious fume into the air. Then, a burst of GIANT TENTACLES! It was hard to count. Maybe two dozen, each as thick as a mans forearm, full of suckers, writhing chaotically, blindly. But effectively! The chuggers were taken up, grappled by the horrific appendages. Fatboy was held twenty feet in the air, firing his shotgun madly at.. at what? The tentacles stretched down to the blackest of the swamp water. It was hard to see if anything was down there at all.

Blackstaff is not flatfooted. But we have an explosion of tentacles! The chugger minions are all grappled. Blackstaff and Golden Star This is an area snare attack. Reflex DC 18 to avoid area attack Reflex DC 18 or 14 to avoid the snare. -2 Penalty to Golden Star for being slightly less on the alert (for this round)

Gamma Buzz "Wheee.... Pool!" Baz had been wide eyed in the journey. He spent his entire life in the Americas, and now he was in Fiji. His jaw was dropping so far below his head he couldn't engage in his normal blurted gabble. But a pool? A pool was fun! He discarded his cheap sunglasses (which he needed, due to his rather light sensitive eyes), and, dressed in swimming trunks only, took a mighty cockroach leap into the pool. SPLASH! Baz flailed around in the pool, somewhat stunned by his bellyflop. He could swim, he could hold his breath. But he swam like a brick that had taken a post graduate course in brickness. "Help! Help!" he coughed, splashing about in the surface.

I think we can wave that all - zombies are not agile! All the zombies are prone. Machete Max is not going to bother even resisting - he drops to the floor, now able to properly use is Prone Fighting feat! Blow Fish will try to stay upright: with bonuses, that would be 19 and 21 so manages to stay upright The Gas Man will also try to stay upright: With bonuses that is 15 and 15 so he is prone. And the unpinned grenade rolls out of his hand... We probably need Init rolls at this point: With bonuses that is 2 for Zombies, 20 for Machete Max, 11 for Blowfish, and 16 for the Gas Man

Its probably a new set of initiative rolls? 16 for Diamondlight

Gamma Buzz "Exactly!" said Baz, giving a brief round of applause. "Well done, Timeout! You passed your security company orientation test. You are one of the four smartest people on this boat, for sure!" His Antennae quivered with the fabrication. "Anyway, that sounds like we need to be on our most super behaviour! Laser beams, baby! Bzzzzt Bzzt! Pow pow!" he added, swinging his fists and making his eyes glow red. "Ahem. And of course all in a strictly legal way that breaks no laws. Which is what legal means, right? Breaking no laws. Except if we need to, of course. Say, does anyone know what the laws are around super heroing any way?" "But never mind laws. They are all boring. Lets do whats right, instead. Lets dock and check things out! Thats my idea, right?" he asked, giving Lawrence a look.

Starshot "Certainly," replied Starshot. The sensor array was linked to the bridge, and impressive - state of the art sensors that could detect life readings and energy readings from hundreds of miles in orbit. It had additional regular radar and atospheric analysis, and was linked to the tchayon communicator system. Starshot showed Doctor A the equipment from inside and outside. "About as good as I can get. Customers on Safari excursions don't like to wait around finding the precise nesting ground of their poisonous snake. Or eel." He gestured to the cargo hold. "I had to pull in some favours from our freinds. The Xeno is a hunting ship, not a science one. But I managed to get enough state of the art laboratory equipment in the hold. Its a bit of a jumble, but its the best they had." Starshot made sure to familiarise Doc with the basic ship layout - the space suits, the infirmary, the quarters. It seemed that Doc A could pick up the precise layout and the feature after the briefest glance. Starshot felt that within a few seconds, the Doctor knew more about the workings of the Xeno than he did!

If its ok may as well make the library and laboratory masterwork (+2 bonus) as thats 4 EP? Had a look at Doks ship, and its actually pretty similar to the Xeno. Xeno is unarmed but faster and arguably better equipped for hunting (complete with ATV) so probably better to use that. Of course, we dont know what we will be fighting!

Starshot "Step on board, Doc. We got all the toys..." Inside the Xeno, the repair bots were waiting. Alpha was holding a tray, complete with glass of Charix Champagne for Doc. "Service bots," explained Starshot. "And do a fair job with acting as ships steward, too. Let em know if you need anything. Although they cant cook.." "Doc here is a guest on my ship," he said adressing the five floating orbs. "Activate guest protocol." Beep beep, beepity-beep beep. The bots went, before adding "Guest protocol activated. Welcome, Doc. We hope you have a pleasant stay. We are here to make your journey as comfortable as possible. Just let us know if we can help!" Starshot nodded. "They can keep the ship running. Serve you champagne and ships rations. And even patch you up in the infirmary if you spill some blood. I got a few scars to show from it."

Golden Dead And so... Even a giant makeshift container filled with raging gold was easy to carry either of the two heroes. Together, they made very light work of it, able to carry it up deck. Seawater had flooded perhas three feet of the lower deck, but the Ship was still afloat - and by any mathematical calculation, would be so for hours, barring any further puncture wounds. One would certainly not want to risk matters by having a grenade go off. Boom! Outside, a grenade went off. A horde of zombies were flooding the dock, lead by Machete Max, who had clearly been hard at work. The Gangster has grinning, machete in hand, whilst two dozen decaying corspes were trying to overwhelm Blowfish and the Merc. Blowfish was out of ammo, his Tommy Gun discarded, and had picked up a crowbar to try and defend himself. The Merc was lobbing grenades at the rest, trying to thin the pack. But it was clear that they would both be overwhelmed, and soon!

Cool! So by my calculations Chimera has an effective STR of 29 NightScale has an effective STR of 28 (whilst maintaining emotion control on the gold) The Gold and the bowl is about 900Lbs So close enough we can call that a medium load for one of you and light load for both of you

GM And so... ...at the hidden cove... It was an hours drive buy chugging motorcycle, and five of the chuggers chugged there. Teleportation and flight were available for superheroes, of course. Fat Fatboy, the leader of the Chuggers, was packing - just like the other four bikers. Knives, Glocks, and Shotguns. And Fat Fatboy had brought a chainsaw. He was clearly not fond of zombies. And, as he explained, Tezville had plenty of legends. Aztec human sacrifices brought to life, for starters. The sun dipped slightly, but the heat remained. If anything, it was worse - the humidity was overpowering. It made no sense. The cove was built onto rock by the ocean - and yet somehow, the swamp had engorged this area. Turgid swampwater drained into the ocean. "I don't see how this is geologically possible..." said Professor Armitage, stroking his elegant beard. Fat Fatbody pointed to a rather neatly concealed Cove, two hundred feet away, covered in twisted trees and swamp flora. "There it is, suckers. Dropped off there. Pirates. Smugglers. Maybe worse." The rest of the way could not be reached by bike. One would have to wade, knee deep (or worse), through swamp...

Nice work @Nerdzul! So I guess you could roll a Craft (Structural) to make some funky container for the pacified gold, but even DC 0 would provide a basic bowl! Im open to suggestion here, but since gold is quite heavy and there is also an iron container to hold it - what, 400 Kgs? (4 Gold men plus the container?) (For the purposes of carrying and throwing and all that) Who is carrying? And what funky power array / lifting STR? (Higher Craft might cut down the weight a bit I guess)

Starshot Starshot gave a subtle nod of approval. He was a hunter, but there were parameters. Animal intelligence, tooth and claw. It would not do to be killing Sarcota until they knew exactly what they were, and R'arth had the same philosophy-it seemed. "Solar anomalies? Sounds like a job for a scientist..." he said, patting Doc A on the shoulder. Over the years, Starshot had developed a basic understanding of biological sciences and medicine, but astrophysics was not even basic. Stars were hot balls of fusion energy best avoided. That was about as far as it went. "Let me know when you want the tour, Doc," he said. "Best you know you way around the ship. I like danger, but I also liked to be prepared. And besides," he said with a stony face marred by the slightest smile. "Always good to know where the hot tub is." More importantly, good to know the infirmary. He suspected the Doc was, well, a doc. And someone who could patch up an eviscerated bowel was good to know.

Gamma Buzz "Looking like what?" spat back Gamma Buzz, clearly vexed. "Like an awesome superhero? No --- the doctor didn't fix me. Not that I need fixing..." he added, waving his hands in front of him defensively. "Because I'm Gamma Buzz, baby! All your radioactive insect superhero needs catered for! And my sidekicks here..." He nodded at his chums. "...an I intend to smash evil and right wrongs. Which means helping you!" He paused, realising he had run out of steam. "And Timeout here will tell us what to do, right?" His pleading eyes looked at Lawrence to see if brains would be better than bravado.

Starshot "No point in hunting from orbit," said Starshot, with a slight nod. "Although with these eels... well I guess it may just come to that." "But we don't know nearly enough about them. For starters, wether we have any right to hunt them at all. How intelligent are they? I guess that's where you come in." "We'll get the job done," he said to the insect, R'arth. "And try to get it done fast. But we need to know what we are dealing with. Answers may not come as fast as you would like. Don't rush a hunt, I always say." He nodded back at Doctor A. "If you want a tour of the Xeno first, that may be wise. Show you the sensors, the quarters, the ATV. Even had some lab equipment set up in the cargo hold for this expedition. Never needed that before - I respect science, but I know I am no scientist."

GM "Zombies? Pffft! I ain't ever seen no zombie. And if I do, I'll shoot its damn head off..." replied the Leader. There was an awkward pause. The fat leader swallowed, and turned to the other gang members. "Get the shotguns, guys. Just to be sure. And check the chainsaw works." He turned back to Blackstaff and Golden Star. "We can help you. I mean, its in our interests. Community minded, we are. Look, we have sometimes... ah... seen some stuff. Stuff that might get smuggled in via the docks. I don't know if thats what you are looking for. But if you can wait till nightfall, we can show you where the smugglers set in. Its a couple of miles north. A pirates lair, you might say."

For reference (as d/w Thevshi) Starshot burning his only HP to get Equipment feat, FOr this mission he has converted some of his cargo bay into a combine Laboratory and Library features (2 EP) for the Xeno.

COuld we have a craft [structural] from Chimera to see how well the plug works? I think your descriptor of how you do it means we can waive the penalty for no tools. (Always grab a multi-tool! ) Also a giant plug isnt too difficult so can be done untrained (just INT bonus) DC 15 for good fit (will maintain for hours) DC 10 for reasonable fit (Leaks slowly, ship will still very slowly sink) DC 5 for feeble fit (slightly slows rate of sinking)

GM With a weld there and a rip here, Chimera could quickly make a makeshift plug. The Water was seeping fast - and she was up to her thighs in sewater by the time she had forged a plug... ...but how well it would it work? And meanwhile the gunshots kept coming. And an explosion! Whatever was happening outside, it was getting more frantic and more desperate! And possibly more lethal!

Gamma Buzz "Stronghold, eh? Well, we all know about Stronghold, dont we?" said Baz, eyeing his partners. "I mean, you would have to be a total dunce not to have heard of Stronghold, right? Pfft." His eyes shifted left and right. He swallowed. "Timeout, why dont you tell tell us all about Stronghold to refresh our memories. Not that my memory needs refreshing, of course, but perhaps the amazingly aquatic Torpedo Lass might need refreshing after her incredible maritime adventure." He scratched his antenna. "And who attacked you? Throwing Fireballs?" he added. "Where are they? Sounds like they need to get beaten uuu- I mean arrested! Super-arrested! With radiation!"

Captain Cosmos in Strong Hands Buddy’s attire was classic German. Lederhosen, with a splendid green cap that itself contained an even more splendid feather. To make matters worse, he held a frothy mug of warm beer in one hand, and a stout walking stick in the other. And to make matters even the worser, his name had become Hans. He shook his head. How had he got here, walking along a forest path in rustic old Germany, and why was his name Hans? Was he going crazy. “No. I’m buddy. Buddy! Do you hear me!” He was addressing the universe, but two young men dressed in similar traditional clothes jumped from the forest either side of the road. “Of course we are you buddies, buddy!” They both looked suspiciously identical to buddy / Hans. Even in this dream, I have summoned alternative versions of myself… The thought was disconcerting. It implied that he was not fully in control of his multi-dimensional powers. They activated, subconsciously, even his dream. But what could he do? He couldn’t control his unconscious, and he hadn’t time to see a psychoanalyst. He raised an eyebrow. What type of alternative versions had he summoned? They both looked completely identical. “Yeah… Buddies.” “I’m strong!” said the Buddy on Buddy’s left. “I’m strong two!” added the Buddy on Buddy’s right. “And you are super strong!” they said together, both pointing at the original Buddy. To test out strength, the two other Buddies passed the original the largest rock they could find in the forest. It must have been a ton, but Buddy handled it with ease, tossing it from palm to palm before hurling it into the sky. It soared into the clouds, never to be seen again. Maybe it landed in a castle. More feats of strength followed. The breaking of rocks, with bare hands. The crushing of pines into ropes. Emboldened, they went to hunt, finding and killing a wild boar that ended up being skinned and cooked over a roaring fire. Feats of super strength had built up quite the appetite. Their feast was interrupted by a curious creature. Small, squat, with spiked purple hair and enormous ears that wobbled as he spoke. He was thin and hungry, and begged to share in their food. “Of course, fine dwarf!” said Buddy, tearing of a strip of well cooked meat for the poor fellow. “Why thank you!” said the Dwarf, brimming with gratitude as he gobbled up the food. Grease dribbled down its protruding chin as it chomped. All four bellies filled, it was time to sleep under that stars. But Buddy stayed awake, eyeing the dwarf, a suspicious, greedy fellow. Something about him made Buddy cautious and curious. When the moon shone bright in the middle of the sky, the Dwarf scuttled off, mumbling and murmuring about a Princess. A princess! Why, there must be a princess to rescue! What good fortune! He roused his Buddys.“Quick! Awake! There is skull-duggery afoot! Follow me!” The three strong men followed the dwarf through the forest. The ground grew steeper, and steeper still, until they reached the base of small mountain. Behold! A cave! It looked like a deep cave, and a dark one. Foolhardy to jump in – but, they had made plenty of rope. The original Buddy took no time in volunteering. “I shall rescue the princess!” he said, feeling emboldened. After all, he was Captain Cosmos and had two splendid chums to help him. Lamentably, the cave was dark, as the interior of caves tended to be, and Captain Cosmos could not see in the dark. Not in this dimension, nor in any other. Perhaps if he found the dark dimenions, the Buddy Brand that resided there might be able to perform this super feat, but as far as Captain Cosmos could determine, the way to the dark dimension was guarded by strange sorcerers. So he had to fumble in the darkness, reaching out for the stone to guide him. “Princess! Oh princess! I’ve come to rescue you!” What a dashing hero! A tale that could have been told by a fairy! “My hero!” said a feminine voice. A regal feminine voice. The voice of a princess! “But he’s behind you!” she shouted. “Oh no I’m not!” said the Dwarf. “Oh yes you are!” said the Princess. “Oh no I’m not!” said the Dwarf, louder. “Oh yes…” and so on, louder and louder, until the pantomime climaxed in a screaming frenzy and Captain Cosmos had to shield his ears. He had to stop it somehow, and he reasoned it was better to thump the evil dwarf than the beautiful princess. Admittedly, it was too dark to see if she was beautiful, or even a princess, but she sounded so. So he thumped the dwarf. “Oh! You knocked me right out, you did!” screamed the dwarf, before Captain Cosmos heard the sound of a falling body. “Serves you right for capturing a beautiful princess!” retorted Captain Cosmos. “Oh stranger, do you think I am beautiful?” asked the princess, still enveloped in utter pitch black darkness which prevented all vision. “Of course!” said Captain Cosmos, fumbling around in the dark. There, no, that was a rock. There, no, that was a dwarf. There, no, that was a… …he moved his hand quickly, thankful for the darkness that concealed his blushes. He felt a right tit. “Ahem. Let us be off, fair maiden!” he continued, cautiously reaching for her hand. He was most relieved when the Princess interlaced her fingers with his own. Together then lumbered to the centre of the cave, just below the entrance, and started to climb the rope. Snap! “haha! We cut the rope!” said the two other Buddies. “But why? What motivation had you?” yelled Buddy, furious with the threachery. The two buddies above scratched there head. “Good point.” “Well made.” Simultaneously, they snapped their fingers, caught be inspiration. “Narrative!” they yelled down, and danced off down the mountain, quite satisfied with their unsatisfactory explanation. “Curses!” screamed Captain Cosmos. “However will we get out of this cave! We would need some clumsily explained magic device, maybe of a circular architecture, to get out of this pickle!” “What about my magic ring?” asked the Princess, showing the brave Captain Cosmos her shining silver ring that encircled her dainty and regal finger. “Why how fortuitous!” exclaimed Captain Cosmos. “It looks like it needs a good rubbing!” Together, with fingers hinting at the beginning of a romance that would surely lead to the twain living happily ever after, the two trapped protagonists rubbed the ring. “Take us home! Take us home! By all the Gods, take us home!” pleased Captain Cosmos! And lo, and behold! He was home. Back in mundane old Freedom City, forever departed from his beloved fairy princess. It seemed, in the end, that although he might live forever, it would not be happily with the princess. Bah!

GM The Driver was half a block away, trying to warm himself up in some crummy bar. Warming himself up with Central Heating For Hobos. Alcohol. He was already on his second double shot of whiskey, staring at the glass in shock. There were a half dozen other drunkards and truckers in the boozer (unfortunately, at least one person was both). The barman was serving both without the bat of his eye. This was Bedlam by name, Bedlam by nature. the barman - a middle aged man of lean physique and a broken nose, spotted the Tattered Man, but responded only with the raising of one eyebrow. The Driver was lost in his thoughts, holding the whiskey shot like it was some kind of divine panacea for his troubles.

SUPER SPY'D BY THEV Updates to Echohead New, more dramatic AI image Updated complications: His device: glasses are very vulnerable 7 PP to spend 3 PP: Powers Improving Sunglasses for 3 PP (5 DP) Adding Direction Sense to super senses [1 DP] Adding Radio obscure as AP to communication [1 DP] Adding Supersense (Acute Mental Detect Psionics) - essentially allowing him to sense when he is being effected by subtle psionic powers and what they are (but not where it is coming from) [3 PP] 4 PP: Skills Add Search 4 (+7) And Investigate 4 (+7) Add Knowledge (Behaviour Sciences) 4 (+7) Increase Concentration to 8 (+11) NEW SHEET: (WIP)