Supercape

GM The captain turned suddenly at the sight of the water rising and crashing. "That ain't any storm. There ain't nothing natural about that..." he said, clutching his shotgun in one hand and the rail of the deck with the other. He leant out to scan the sea fearlessly, as the rain started to come down more heavily, matting his hair and beard. "And I seen plenty of years on the sea..." he muttered. "Tonight, of all nights. What is this? Some trickery from Atlantis?" he yelled at the open waters, which churned and frothed still from the collision of waters. The ship rolled deeply from the crashing. "Son. I think we are going to have trouble tonight..." he yelled at the frightened deck hand "best get the crew ready. Get the ship ready. We ain't fully loaded...but...." he tailed off, stroking his beard. "Fire up the engines!" he said to the young man, who ran off.

Meaning Crimson Tiger is up against Knuckles again!

Rene stewed over the question for a moment or two, studying the priest carefully. Perhaps the wine had lowered his caution, or perhaps it was the astute nature of Henri. He set his wine down slowly. "I have, in my years, seen many things, Father. Some of them mundane. Some of them very much the opposite. Some of them beyond wit or reason. Do not take me for a syphilitic madman.." he added. "Many years ago, in my youth, I came across a spirit. Gallia, she called herself. A powerful and dangerous force, a shaper of nations, whilst simultaneously being shaped by nations..." "Now, I do not expect you to believe me. My story is incredulous, I grant you. But there is more to this world than stone and wood. More to it that the math and science of the age. Maybe, as a man of God, you will concede me that. I have a sense that Gallia is here, and I have a sense that some would seek her out, with hearts of malice. This country, enlightened as it is, has been born in blood and strife - a strife I was, in some small way, part of. I do not wish such a plague again..."

"Here already?" replied Supercape, rather surprised. He had assumed that Azel, whoever she, or it, was, had been the cause of the anomaly. But it appeared he was mistaken. No sense in assuming anything at this point... "That is less than reassuring" he replied. "Dimensional anomalies in the middle of the Fens? for how long? why?" He circled Azel, trusting her not at all. He gave a fleeting glance at Trigger, feeling the web of allegiances and trusts shift beneath his feet. "Whoever it was that sang about this place did so with good reason. And was wise to do so. I find your interest in him - and I find you - ominous in tone and spartan in explanation. But for now, I am going to shut down that anomaly. Such things do not belong here...."

"That doesn't sound good" muttered Rene, stroking his beard. He already felt tired from battling these creatures, and trusted them not one inch. "I haven't been in this country for many years. And I don't know its history as well as I perhaps should. My mind is usually on other, more..esoteric...things. However, I take it from the tone of your voice that ze Lenore is not a creature we should welcome with open arms.." His eyes shifted left to right, scanning the club with a whole new appreciation of strange. "This ritual. I don't suppose you could do it backwards?" he asked.

Im gonna interject here. Has this site now got enough underwater heroes to think about them forming a team and/or an underwater HQ? We have Glamazon, Tsunami, Temperance, and Wave-Eye at least (all similar PL). Arguably some others with more generic life support. Anyway, just an idea... (And incidentally I am up for running an underwater thread with Wave-Eye's Nemesis...)

NPC "Sure sure" yawned Harry, feeling the length of the day in his eyeballs. "I'd kill my grandma for a strong coffee to tell you the truth. Its getting late and the day has been long..." he said, slumping into a chair. "You know my partner, Freddy?" he said, introducing the two as the Mess took Lances hand in a firm strong handshake. "He's a lump of muscle, of course, but he got my back. And yours, if you ever need him. And he's a good man!" he said, chuckling at his friend and giving him a high five. "Look Lance" he continued, shoving the photograph under his nose. "It's a bit of a long shot, but I have been asked to track down this young girl. Seems legit, but you know me, suspicion is our trade. Besides, its gonna be a devil of a job to find this girl, if she is even in the city. Still, I thought you might be able to help me out. See if anything in the photo is bad, y'know? I know you can sniff out a photoshopped trick like nobody else..."

NPC "Here we are then" muttered Harry as he walked into the joint with his two partners. "A den of guttersnipes, wasters, and scum. Perfect. I think we are going to fit right in" he joked, stuffing his hand in his mac-pockets and fingering the dirty rolls of money he had secreted there. "Keep it cool for now, Freddy" he told his partner, whose fists were itching. "I'm sure there will be some Rough and Tumble to come..." he sighed. "Hopefully without me having to eat a double helping of knuckles. I'm not a huge fan of being punched in the face or kicked in the nether regions, just so you know. I'm more a fan of running away very fast..." He walked up the nearest likely looking candidate in the building. "Hey there bozo. Where do we go to lay down some bets and enter the competition?"

If its ok with you, the Hound taking 10 on notice checks to see if he can pick up a scent of the Riveter to track.

"You do that, buddy, you do that!" smiled the Mess, full of encouragement and giving a hearty smile. "I'm sure Detective Stearns will be on it..." Sounds like the Riveter has go the officers on the street real spooked! noted the Mess to himself. "In the meantime, I can look into this. And I ain't afraid of the Riveter. If he comes knocking, I'll coming knocking back. Just that I'll do it a lot harder!" he said, with conviction. "Go dog!" he said, tapping the Hound with his foot, who sighed a very human sigh in a dog voice, and started sniffing around... "He's a good dog!" smiled the Mess, enjoying himself.

Good idea Scuffs. I am going to leave this to your discretion. If you want to have a lingering injury from that previous thread then thats worth an HP for sure. If you are going for that, please give it a descriptor or something! Something like an injury and bruise that wont heal up (i.e. you are at -1 toughness this thread), or a sprained wrist or ankle giving a penalty to something or other. Its your call. Again, its optional. If you want to just say "She is a bit battered" for fluff but no penalty (and no HP!) thats fine too.

GM "Suits me fine" answered Harrow, passing over the stopwatch to Magnus. As he did so, the timepiece promptly stopped ticking once more. "The facilities here are very impressive. Just what I was looking for, really. I am in your debt, sir!" "I'll send Lawson, my aide, to take the luggage to the outhouse, if that's all right" he explained. "For myself, as long as you can give me a strong coffee, then I would like to observe the analysis myself!" A little later... The first thing the stopwatch did, when subjected to spectral analysis, was open. That didn't help much. All it did was reveal two pictures, the inner workings still sealed. It opened like a locket, and had pictures just like a locket too. Romantic and in black and white, a little faded. One was of Lord Harrow himself, as a young man. And the other one... "Good lord!" exclaimed Harrow as he studied the pictures in the stopwatch. "That's...that's Megan, Megan Howell. She was a...friend...of mine at Cambridge. We studied together there. I often wondered what happened to her. I often wondered why she...if I did the right thing when I...never mind. Now what is she doing in this thing?"

NPC Freddy and Harry stepped out of the Caddy, the evening well and truly progressed into night time. Damn its been a long day. We gotta catch some sleep soon... yawned Freddy, pulling out a cigarette. "I got this, Freddy" he said, stifling another yawn. "Lance and I go back. I sorted him out back in the day, kid got himself into some bad ways. Would have crashed and burned if I hadn't stepped in. Kept it real quiet too. No need for those stuck up brass to get involved and napalm his career early on. Lance is smart, real smart. Genius with photoshop..." It was a long shot, but worth looking into. He fingered the photograph in his pocket and pressed the buzzer to Lance's home...

For info: Coby Towers, after much legal wrangling, was let off prison sentence as he didn't actually commit any murder or otherwise. He was however classes as a minor mutant (the ability to tolerate and conceal any drug in his system), and is banned from professional sports. Further info, is a Knowledge (Current Affairs) Roll. Untrained for you guys. DC 15 DC 20 DC 25

OOC thread for here! Silver Spider, Glow, Jack Jackson, and Coby Towers!

Saturday 17th Feb... At night... ...At the Excalibur Building, Central Freedom City The Excalibur building was your general purpose business sky scraper, loaded with forty floors of pens and terminals, executive suits, conference rooms, and offices. It even had a mini-canteen, known for its fine selection of cheeses. The annual freelance reporter conference was going on, a rather miserable affair full of burnt out hacks and cynical writers. The booze flowed more freely than was strictly necessary, in a half-successful attempt to liven things up. The semi-famous comedian, Bill Flowers was winding up his routine for the crowd. "....with two golf balls and a turkey!" he finished up, delivering the punchline to a round of inebriated laughter. What a job...still, pays the bills... he sighed to himself, his smile not flickering for an instant. Jack Jackson sat in the corner, downing some cheap wine and laughing half heartedly at the gag from Flowers. Man I could do with a break...some news... he moaned to himself. He wasn't doing badly, but he hadn't had a scoop since that Towers guy... The party was interrupted by the sound of gunfire and shouting. Into the building burst five men wearing balaclava's and holding machine guns.... Meanwhile... At the top of the tower, a beacon was lit, projecting, into the sky, a giant glowing green "G". Over the police channels, the call came through... "The Excalibur tower has been seized by armed gunmen! we need back up! we need...hell...what's that in the sky? we need a glowing G???"

An HP for dastardly pre prepared plot! Revenant 4 HP As the place is going up in flames, it is a damage 5 effect, with increment every round up to damage 10 when the whole place is an inferno. The Steel door is a foot thick, giving it a toughness of 13. As we are starting with damage, the Master has exposed himself to some flame, and his toughness roll is 1d20+12=19 so he, unfortunately, takes an injury Post toughness roll and then move to initiative 1d20+4=22 The door is about 30 feet away.

GM "It seems I have created a force of nature" replied the Master, sitting back in his chair and drumming his fingers. "I have little desire to either destroy you, my greatest error. And little desire to lose this establishment. From my observation of you, you have a physical strength and resilience greater than my own, or indeed any vampire I am aware of. Something powerful indeed moves those lifeless muscles and dead limbs...perhaps, as you say, your will" He sighed. "It seems one cannot truly get what one wants. Sometimes, one has to cut ones losses..." He pressed a concealed button on his chair, and the huge steel door to his underground lair swung shut. "Cut them, and burn them..." he laughed, as he wavered and turned into a formless smoke, wafting into the air. All around her, Revenant could feel the sighs of gas, as incinerators lit, drenching the whole lair in flame. the furniture and experiments all started to ignite, and the poor vampire who had accompanied her started yelling as he caught alight, his undead flesh crackling in the heat...

NPC "New Year, huh? well that's a good idea. It will be devil busy, mind, but you never know...." stewed Harry as he contemplated the options, fingers drumming. "As for the Buddhist temples, smaller, easier to look into, but on the other hand requiring a lot of diplomacy" he muttered to himself. Priests of any sort were not the best source of his information, in his experience. On the one hand they wanted to be helpful, but on the other they deeply respected privacy. It was hard enough getting them to open up when he was 'official', on the force, but as a private investigator they would be even more likely to 'politely decline'. "Well, they are both a bit of a shot in the dark, but you never know, we might just hit bullseye" he concluded. "In the mean time, lets hope you and your phone call put a rabbit out of a hat, eh?" he finished, finally caving in and placing a prawn cracker in his mouth.

NPC Harry's fingers clawed around the ball of notes, drawing it back to his wallet with greater speed than they had been pushed away. "A Favor for a favor, eh? well that works for me, Mr. Chen. I like the way your wheels are greased" he replied, a sly grin curling up one side of his face. Not that I like being in pocket to an unknown quantity, but, eh, this Chen chap sounds useful! He stuffed the money back inside the wallet, placing it, with deliberate slowness in his inner left mac pocket. "You can have that favor, Mr. Chen. So, what about that girl? we don't have much to go on , you understand. We got a picture, and a name...Xian Lou"

Good point, well made!

KD, could you cut us to your mountain facilities complete with description?

GM "If it's not too much trouble" answered Harrow, pocketing his watch. "I travelled light. I must say, your secluded facilities seem to be a good idea. Away from prying eyes, and all that. And, I suppose, if the damn thing explodes in our faces at least we wont be in a heavily populated area, hmm?" "Are you sure you won't stay?" asked Harrow politely, indicating his assistant should gather the luggage again. "It must be a pressing matter, I suppose, to drag you away from this little mystery" he said, patting his waistcoat. "But so be it. Your expertise in these matters is well known, and I should hate to be bereft of your insights..."

NPC "Ah yes...money, you mean. But of course..." mumbled Harry, his voice laced with irritation. He patted the pockets of his Mac. "How odd. I seem to have misplaced my wallet...most awkward...I could have sworn it was here somewhe..." "Its in yer inside left one!" yelled out the Mess from a few yards away, still stuffing his face with prawn crackers. "Oh yes. So it is..." withered Harry, bringing out his leather wallet. "How could I have missed it..." He drew out a bundle of notes and slid them across the table to Mr. Chen. Good thing that lawyer was liberal with the payments... "I hope that will cover the cost's of any manpower, or even, dare I say it, bribes" he said, hunching and screwing up his body.

There are several dozen Swamp dwellers homing in on you. We have two rounds before Broken Crow shifts you back home (to the modern age I think as requested?) In the meantime, some DC 20 Notice Rolls please!