KnightDisciple

I'm pretty well set up and settled...but. Now my laptops CPU isn't cooling properly (goes from 50s C to nearly 100 C in an hour or less). I'm going to be looking into repairing it and/or getting a cooling pad. Replacing isn't in the cards for a bit yet. I'll try to be around but I can't make promises yet. I'm so sorry for all the threads that are stalling because of me. ???

I got moved fine but a couple minor things mean I won't likely have much/any chance to do IC posting for a few days yet.

Gabriel Empire of Emerald and Jade: 1 Posts Strange Visitors: 3 Posts (Al posts to Nevermore) GM Posts Deep Into That Darkness Peering (IC) = 4 GM Posts (8 IC Posts) (All posts to Nevermore) Judex And All the Devils Here : 1 Posts From Beneath You It Devours: Are You My Mummy?: 2 Posts Nowhere Noone Nohow: 1 Posts Nevermore Cinco por Cinco: Hijo De La Luna = 3 Posts June/July Vignette: Honor Thy Father And Mother Sun Walker Oni Oh No!: 2 Posts Thoughtspeed Elvis Isn't Dead = 1 Posts Father's Day: 2 Posts From Beneath You It Devours: Atlantis Attacks: 3 Posts

Judex frowned as he saw the sigil, moving slowly and carefully into the room. His feet barely left the floor, but he stayed well clear of both bed and symbol, staring thoughtfully at it. The frown didn't leave his face. "I've seen the symbol before, in at least one text. It's...not common, thankfully. But. This...is probably the symbol of a demon named Sabnock. But...this doesn't make sense. There's no army or fortress here, and that's the typical association with that demon. Why do this? What is there to afflict here for one such as that?" He seemed genuinely confused and unsure, stroking his beard in what seemed like a nervous tic. His brow was still furrowed in thought and frustration.

GM Once Sparkler and Merlin were done in the server room, and Reagent had finished her chemistry work downstairs, the team regrouped upstairs to consider the exit scene. Grim and Woodsman compared notes, and the whole team headed outside. Once there, it took only a bit for a combination of Woodsman's skills and Grim's hounds' noses to pick up a more explicit trail. It dropped in and out, but after a bit of jogging along, it started to become clear they were headed for the 3rd reported crime area they'd been assigned by Raven. A high-tech storage warehouse that just happened to be owned by the same company they'd just traveled from. When that became clear, it was actually easier to keep with the trail, since they knew the rough direction to go. When they arrived, most of the streetlights were out, and the now-approaching dusk made it difficult to get a good picture of what was going on around the large concrete slab of a building. There was a single patrol car out front, with a pair of officers sitting inside chatting.

Honor Thy Father and Mother Nevermore/Raven III Aleksander Garen Nakani stood quietly in front of two small grave markers. They were pale imitations of the real ones, sitting across the ocean in a graveyard he’d visited twice since being freed. The first visit, he’d barely understood what he was seeing; the second time, he was viewing the markers for much of the rest of his extended family. It was not a lively part of the world, and sometimes, people died. These gravestones sat under a mighty oak tree on a back corner of his adopted family’s property, paid for by Callie Summers, like so many things in his life were; Alek had decided he was done with his birth-country, and so they’d placed these here so he could remember his birth-parents without returning to a place he had no connection to. They each bore an inscription. “Henrik Nakani, Loving Husband, Heart of a Warrior” and “Maral Nakani, Loving Wife, Soul of a Warrior”; perhaps a bit fanciful, but Loren and Melissa had more than once said they believed he got his fighting spirit from his birth-parents. He just wished he could talk to them now. He struggled so much with understanding and grasping the beliefs many of his friends, and even the Barbeaus, had; intellectually he could go through all these different faiths, but nothing felt right. So he stood there, unsure if he even believed these dead people would ever see him again…but he couldn’t not say something. His heart cried out for him to speak. “Mother. Father. I…I wish you were here. Loren and Melissa, they are good people. Good parents. I’ve even called them ‘Mom’ and ‘Dad’, and meant it. I didn’t even know you two, not really…but I miss you. I wonder what you would have taught me? What you would have done if you’d lived and they’d still taken me, but then the League had freed me…would you have welcomed me home, or recoiled at what I was?” The bouquet of flowers in his right hand shook, as did the rough stone in his left. “I just wish…I wish I could know you were proud of me. I wish I could know you’re proud of what I’m doing. Who I’m becoming. What I’m becoming. I…Loren and Melissa say they’re proud. But I still wonder! And it makes me feel weak. I question myself. Would you comfort me, here, if you could?” Only wind answered. He stood there, silent for over a minute, breathing heavily. “I miss you. I never even knew either of you, and I miss you. I can’t bring you back. And I guess I can’t hear you, if you’re even out there to be heard. But…I want you to know. I’ll get justice for you. Not revenge, justice. I’ll do everything I can to be what Mom and Dad say I can be, and more. I’ll do it for both of you. Then, maybe one day, I’ll hear you.” Tears tracked silently down the face of a young man who, for this moment, was so very alone. He knelt down and placed the flowers in front of his mother’s grave. White daises, shining like pearls in the sun. The rock, bearing a rough, simple shape like a bird, was laid in front of his father’s grave, or the stand-in he had for himself here. His eyes closed behind his sunglasses, the wind blowing his hair about just a bit. He took a deep breath, and stood, squaring his shoulders and not-so-subtly wiping away the tear tracks. “I’ll be back by next year. And in the meantime. I’ll make you proud.” He turned, his coat flaring in the wind, and began walking back to the house. There was work to be done.

Alright, so, here's the wor-wait, no, wrong announcment. So. Tomorrow (Saturday), I will be out of town on a day trip, won't be back in until evening, may or may not end up doing stuff with friends then. But during the day, no posting. Sunday, between church, family lunch, and hanging out with friends, probably won't really post. Next Thursday, might be on later, might not be, having a last hurrah type thing with coworkers. Then between next Saturday, and...probably until the Thursday after that, I'll be pretty well non-existent. I'm actually moving, so between final rounds in the area of family/friends, moving itself, starting to settle in, it's gonna be hectic. Frankly, August might be a bit shaky overall as things settle but I'll be doing what I can to not completely drop the ball. Hopefully I'll find my rhythm within a couple of weeks.

Raveled covered most of the relevant points. I would say having this character's bookstore be adjacent to Claremont, and not officially affiliated, is totally doable, though. Since he'd just be the guy who owns the store, he's not in a position of authority over other PCs, and it gives a good hook and interesting location. It also leaves him open for team-ups with non-Claremont PCs more readily!

Welcome to the forum, Tipop! "Low Rent Doctor Strange" as a quick concept is totally doable; FCPBP has a decently-active magic scene, and of course M&M (whatever the particulars) is very much able to have a magic-flinger active as a hero! A couple of quick links to help you get yourself acclimated and get the ball rolling: Newbie Guide and House Rules. The former should help you get a better feel for this forum, as well as giving a bare-bones example template for your character sheet (which helps make sure we are all on the same page to reference them!). The latter is pretty handy to help understand what isn't like M&M 2E; we've done some cannabalizing of some of the later 2E rulebooks, as well as a few 3E concepts, so I'd encourage you to take the time to give the House Rules a read-through. After that, I'd like to point you to our Sample Characters, pre-made sheets that can help serve as a strong foundation for your first (and so on!) character(s). We don't currently have one that's specifically a Wizard/Magician/Mage type, but maybe they'll help you get a feel for how things would work.

Carson Finbar Keefe was a man; if describing himself to others, he'd say he was a simple man who did his best and failed, often as not. Gabriel was Carson. But Gabriel was, in a sense, a collection of experiences, many of which included intense negotiations with not just diplomats, but metahumans of all stripes. He'd encountered aliens, Terminus forces, robot duplicates, and Fae. Part of him found Sancta charming, found the whole group charming. Another part of him, though, was realizing something: these aliens were perfect matches. Not just "oh there are some parallels". There was a sunlight-emitter for Stesha, big and strong and charming and gentle and noble and polite. There was a big, burly, scaly sort who appreciated power and teeth, for Tiamat, all flattery and implications of fealty. There was a disarmingly-cute geologist-type for Tarrant, who seemed to already have him on the back foot just by her presence and personality. And he had a polite, charming, innocent, well-mannered diplomat of a woman. Practically perfect match-ups all around. His gut churned in a combination of fear, fear at what sorts of tricks and resources they might have, and wrath, that these invaders would prey upon them so. It carried the same sugar-sweet false masks as the likes of the Fae and Fallen might utilize. But here and now, his friends were targets. The defenseless people here were targets. This would not stand. Gabriel was all smiles as he spoke with Sancta. "That is quite fascinating. You'll have to forgive me, of course, if the more technical aspects of the tools you describe just fly over my head. I can use my personal technology well enough, but it's a toss-up if I really understand the nuts-and-bolts hows-and-whys! Heh, I'm sure you understand." His smile ratcheted up a few points on the scale, then, even as he gave a helpless shrug. "I can appreciate the willingness to expend energy to make new peaceful contacts. We must always be good stewards of what we have, but the best stewards know you must spend and invest to get the fullest returns. It sounds as if your people have overcome incredible adversity to achieve what you did. As for the Stellar Khanate, they may simply not exist here; as I said, we haven't ventured into space. Perhaps the people-groups of that would-have-been nation simply got absorbed into the overall Grue nation. Such is the way of the diverging waters of universes. As for our time in our home universe, I can't rightly say. I don't think there's much difference, if there is any. Really though, beyond our humble selves, what brings you here? You mentioned "the right sort of place"; what makes this place so right?" His head tilted in curiosity at this question, seemingly enraptured by Sancta's presence and words. Simultaneously, he was using his ventriloquism to speak to two individuals. The first was the lead monk at the monastery, Brother William. <Brother William, this is Gabriel. Do not let anyone outside. Repeat, do not let anyone outside to greet these visitors. Worst-case you may have to enact that protocol, but for now things are under control. Stay safe and smart.> The second was a bit further away, but Gabriel could hear her humming to herself as she led her sisters on a patrol. It was one of the dragon-bees, the mighty fire-breathing protectors of Sanctuary. <Devora, this is Gabriel. We've met a few times. I need you to quietly, quietly! get your sisters ready just in case. I'd also like you to ask the robo-bees to get ready, and ask if one of them, I don't mind which one, 'just happens' to fly by here. Just fly by, nothing more. Casually, you know? I know I can trust you with this, Devora, and so can Fleur de Joie.> Some tiny part of his mind felt slightly bad at playing the "Stesha appreciates you" card without her knowledge. But the rest of his conscious mind was too busy blaring alert signals to care.

Woodsman is pretty dang sure this is the same group. He sees a few fiber traces at the door into the server room, and a few bits of glass. He can pretty easily track their path, too; they came from the stairs, to the server room, and then out into the hall and through a nearby segment of cubicles to the window they busted out and escaped from. He also finds places where they attached grapnel lines to descend to street level. Which suggests at least most of them can't fly. The blade is quality steel, and bears marks of being handled in an actual forge environment, not a factory, but also a uniformity that suggests being one of many identical pieces. The alloy itself suggests an area somewhere in China, likely more toward Tibet or Mongolia. The styling of the blade itself is very bland and functional; it seems inspired by no one place. It's hard enough to stand up to a lot of wear and tear, suggesting a weapon that's generally thrown and recovered, and that rarely takes much more than slight nicks and dents. Alright, between these and his Computer skill.... He can tell that the damage to the racks was actually carefully targeted. The damage caused would have caused the servers to switch to their redundant drives; some poking at the terminal indicates this happened after some USB drives were inserted, and the split-second changeover was all they needed to access the information on them. Specifically, the technical specifications, location, part numbers, and basically everything else of the pieces of tech alluded to from the information from the home break-in. Which suggests that one occurred first, which led these thieves to here, and then onward. Probably to that warehouse you all got a report on! Merlin's not 100% sure....but it seems like maybe these components would be able to build some sort of...teleportation gate? The weird part about that is, they could open a gate, but not "point" it anywhere.... Hm. The dog, noting the most unique of the scents the pack has been picking up at both these sites, noses around until it finds the broken tip of what at first looks like just another knife....but further examination suggest is something a bit weirder!

Feats like All-Out Attack, Power Attack, Defensive Attack, and so on are expressly allowed to "break" Caps, per our House Rules, though per those House Rules you can only shift values by +/- 5. Keep in mind these feats don't really "break" caps, as you're shifting the overall bonuses around temporarily, with tradeoffs in other areas.

"Now you are simply being rude and uncouth." Sun Walker took a single step to one side, and the meteor hammer hit nothing but air. He sighed and shook his head. "Besides, did you think that no one would contest your thievery? Why are criminals always so upset people oppose their base villainy? After all, how dare a simple citizen, or group of citizens, take a stand in their community?" He took a couple of steps toward the large man, before suddenly the tail that had been coiled around his waist shot out like a viper. "How dare we say 'nay' to violence and greed? And then you have the audacity to stoop to insults with shades of racism? For shame, good sir." The large man tried to evade, but even as Sun Walker just stood there, his tail zigged and zagged through the air, before winding around the man's legs and whipping up to his arms, binding them together as well. He was practically hog-tied in a few eye-blinks. "Perhaps you need to sit and think about what you've done."

Not sure if I'd still be Shaken or not, I guess a round has gone by...anywho! Gonna try to Grapple the Hammer guy. TAIL POWER HO! Unarmed Attack: 33. (So close to a crit!) Grapple Check: 35.

I'm not sure how applicable it will be, but here's a Knowledge: Theology and Philosophy check: 30.

Your PP spent for your abilities is off. You pay 1PP per point of the Ability Score, not the Ability Bonus.So you'd pay 2PP for Str, 4PP for Con, 14PP for Int, -2PP for Wis, and 2PP on Cha.

So, is the idea for the first iteration (Rogues and Rallies) basically just a bullet-point-style list of stuff from History, relationships, etc. on character sheet, plus any NPCs that end up being recurring points of contact? For the relationship map, is that just a more comprehensive iteration of the above, or is it more than a bit different in implementation?

Judex took a breath as the bookshelf finished moving. Part of him was sad they'd not had the time to figure out the mechanism; he took a sort of childish delight in the idea of secret passages, hidden doors, and the like. If a man's life weren't on the line he'd have poked at that shelf for hours. And then he'd have read the books for hours more, even if some of them looked more than a bit dubious in scholarship. Perhaps some were diamonds in the rough. Instead, he moved into the tunnel, pausing to look at the handprint on the wall, his own hand brushing the surface just below it, before turning down to the dark tunnel. "Deeper and deeper into the belly of the whale we go..." He followed behind Lady Horus, doing his best to keep up with the light.

Thoughtspeed had mostly been concentrating on maintaining the slightly-tingly cloaking field around himself and Glamazon, but he was aware enough to notice the small army swimming out. He desperately wanted to do something, but the situation was precarious as-is. 'I want to stop them, but...there's dozens and dozens of heroes up above. We're the only ones poised to get in here and now. We can't stop them, Thaelia. We can't. We have to press on. And we have to do it now, and do it fast.' What emotion she could pick up from the telepathic "voice" made clear Will didn't really like that option, but that he was also convinced it was the right one.

I'd say folks can make some more checks at this point, seems like the time to do it...

Aleksander had easily donned the luchador mask that he'd picked out, one that, perhaps ironically, had a draconic flair to its decorations. If it brought back memories he'd rather forget, Erick couldn't tell. Instead, the young vigilante had just silently waited for his partner in crime-fighting to don his mask before opening the door for him. Once through, he fell in a step and a half behind and to the right of Erick, his posture shifting a bit to be...not quite a bodyguard, but the air of someone more interested in staying aware than conducting business. Let these others think what they would, he'd just stand there silently. After all, he really did want to make sure he had a very, very good idea of the layout.

Pastor Theo had regular contacts with several local charities, and even a few sort-of-charities (one couldn't be too picky in Bedlam). So it wasn't really a surprise he caught wind of a resident at Celestial Spirit Fellowship whose problems were...more extreme than most. He'd made a couple of phone calls to try and get some therapists in touch with the center, but then he'd taken just a bit of time to think and pray on the matter. Bone-deep, he knew this was an issue for his other face. He just hoped his help would be enough... ------------------- Judex had slipped along the streets with no one the wiser, his comparatively mundane, and rather shabby, appearance meaning no one really wanted to bother him. Which suited him fine, it let him pass the way in peace. He stopped just around a corner, sizing up who was there so far, before coming swaggering out. "Greetings to those I've met and those I've not. Grim tidings may bring us together, but that's no reason for me to be sour, one supposes. I'm Judex, and I'm here to help." He also looked like a burly hobo, but, hey, Bedlam.

22 was my Perception, not my init. My init is 9. FYI.

Init Roll: 9. Delightful. Perceptron: 22. Almost, but no.

"Interesting. So you were able to detect the goings-on on this planet, even though we didn't broadcast anything? Tell us, what activity were you detecting? And how?" His arms were folded in front of him, and he had a disarmingly charming smile on his face as he regarded all of the odd aliens present. Why he was harmless, a wonderful conversationalist, nothing more! "Just how far does the Ocholocracy spread? Have you encountered the Grue, the Lor, or the Stellar Khanate?" His eyes blinked wide and innocent, just a humble man trying to understand these wonderful visitors! "It truly is remarkable your society has been able to achieve post-scarcity. I would just remind you, and your people, that sadly we are not quite there yet in this community. Much of what the people here own is necessary for their survival, and what things are not are still either necessary for more skilled labor, or has strong sentimental value. After all, while abundance can provide for raw material needs, can it truly provide for memories and the feelings associated with them?"