Ari

GM The shots slammed heartily into the slightly sun-softened asphalt, sending up a spray of molten tar and gravel around their target. As the clatter subsided, and the alarms of those cars pelted hardest by the debris began their annoying wails, the smoke and dust cleared to reveal the Amber Curse staring smugly at the Ages Lost, surrounded by the signs of bombardment but incredibly unscathed by the assault. Flicking a few stray golden hairs back into place, he called out jeeringly "Put some effort into the next shots, or your ship will be torn to splinters, obscurantist!" he yelled, bones and veins suffusing with the terrible light as he took up a combat stance, still taking care to keep Voltage before him. With a flash, a surge of power roared from his hands towards the starship, leaving a grey vapor behind itself as it slammed into the hull.

Staring nonplussed at the giant apparition of hide, hair and nails, Marceau glanced slowly from it to the red and white-clad figure who he guessed had assisted him in beating up the goblins. Waving cheerfully at his new comrade, the King of Suits tossed a card marked with the suit of Clubs from its deck held snugly on his utility belt into the air, caught it between his right little and ring fingers, and with a flourish sent it twirling straight for the head of the noxious entity, cringing as it flew breezily past them and into an abandoned office building, making a good-sized hole in the wall and sending wood chips flying through the air. "Well blast" he muttered sourly.

The nagging irritation at the repeated term 'illegals' was steadily growing, and it took no little restraining of himself to keep from making snarling remarks against the older man. Nodding firmly to Tyrone and smiling at the bureaucrat El Heraldo said "That is a great help, no matter how paltry it might seem to you. Thank you, Mr. Smith" Guh, don't say it like when talking about John, that'd get awkward real fas-wait, I talk about him like that? almost stopping short at the sudden realization, he went in through after Glow, thinking this over with great care. Glancing with a raised eye at the security details, he kept just behind Glow. When the grateful woman called out to the two of them he spoke cheerfully to her in Spanish <"Sweet lady, pay me no mind, your rescue is her doing!"> It WAS thanks to her they'd gotten the refugees back to land, after all, he would never have been able to carry the entire ship, something he still found almost too incredible to believe. With a cheerful grin he asked the woman(relaying her answers to Kristin) <"How are you being treated? Are you comfortable, and is there anything we can do for you? We may need to save you again shortly, be ready for it!"> To his schoolmate he asked very carefully and beneath the hearing of the two nearby guards "Glow, do I seem..weird?"

A 20 hits them fine. Their interior weapons are quite powerful, so not going to bother to roll their saves. The ship is now in pandemonium, full red alert, sirens blaring, etc. Roughly a tenth of their soldiery has been destroyed.

Subito held onto the brim of his hat with a thumb and forefinger, whistling in quiet amazement at Glow's telekinetic prowess and Crow's(underhanded, but ingenious and unexpected) tactics, eyes narrowing on the large snake-man who had leaped to intercept the attack on the wrinkled old woman who seemed to be the leader of the band. I'm kinda strong, he looks pretty strong, maybe I can get his attention if THIS doesn't punch him clear through the wall! he thought, tensing himself on thin air before hurtling at the bulky Cottonmouth, arm extended to bring the full force behind him to bear! And he missed. By a not insubstantial distance. G-! Peace, we will try again I KEEP MISSING! Then let us take more care next time, plan your attacks, do not strike blindly Faugh, very well he thought furiously, glaring at the imposing monster in front of him, no little worry about what he'd just tried to hit seeping into him...

Okay, let's get started. Going to take a Move Action to go over to Cottonmouth, and a Standard to make a Grapple Attempt. Free Action to activate Super-Strength. Attack Roll: 14. Drats, guessing that's a miss. Anyway, -2 to DEF, so he's at a massive +3! Reaction: Interpose for the next attack against Crow if possible.

GM Throughout the conversation Archimedes had been quite calm and restrained, only slight adjustments of his facial muscles showing any surprise or emotion beyond avid curiosity. Deeply glad at the chance for such an illuminating conversation, he promised to never reveal Jay's true nature in order to preserve "...what little of the timeline can be saved" he said with a wink. The only condition he made for the two's departure was that he be allowed to see them off. He even pitched in to help build the powerful generator needed to boost the Dimensional Channeler, correcting a few slight errors with Martin and Jay's math behind their backs. The thing looked like a large grey wheel bound with copper wires, studded with small lumps of gold, and with a metal wheel connected to a large crank that supplemented the charge generated with a smaller wheel fashioned as a treadmill for Jubatus. A small group of slaves the ancient Greek trusted were in another room, waiting to dismantle the device once it had achieved its purpose. After a short interview with Martin(during which the boy's glee and starstruckness would be difficult to exaggerate), Archimedes worked the crank, while Jay spun the wheel, the electric current sent by copper and zinc rods into the convenient socket the young physicist found on the underside. Once again sliding into the water at the baths Archimedes had commandeered, the two resumed the approximate proximity they'd been in when the Channeler accidentally activated, and with a click of the buttons, a surge of power, and a feeling like being tossed around a whirlpool upside down, the two were sent spiraling through time and dimensions... The aging inventor glanced at the generator, stroking his beard "There can be no harm," he told himself "in merely examining a few of its properties..." ASTRO Labs... With a tremendous splash, the Martin and Jay landed in the tank, which had previously been emptied to prevent any leaking into the other rooms. The small gaggle of technicians talking over the event started and whirled around, shouts of amazement filling the air as they saw the heavily-bearded Martin and the rather scruffier-looking Jay. Quickly putting down ladders for them, the questions flew thick and fast about where they had been, how they had gotten back, and why they smelled like weird perfume...

Player Name: Arichamus Character Name: Red Moon Power Level: 10 150/150PP Trade-Offs: None Unspent Power Points: 0 Progress To Bronze Status: 0/30 In Brief: A Farsider scientist and one-time spy against humanity who accidentally transformed herself into a vampire. Alternate Identity: Atraxia Falkaet Identity: Secret, her history and nature are anything but obvious or common knowledge. Birthplace: Farside City, the Moon Occupation: Preserver technology researcher, superheroine, Affiliations: Farsiders, Truth, Family: (Seda)Mother and (Placil)father(deceased), 3 sisters and brothers. Description: Age: 63 (DoB: 1949 ) Apparent Age: 20, age at transformation. Gender: Female Ethnicity: Farsider Height: 6ft. 2in. Weight: 80Lbs., 120lbs. with the terrasuit Device. Eyes: Icy blue Hair: Black Atraxia outside her specialized costume is a towering and spidery woman with black hair streaked with white, and unblinking eyes that are solid white save for a blue core where the pupil ought to be. Her skin is so pale that the dried, blackened veins and shriveled muscles under it are clearly visible, and it is pulled taut around her bones, producing a singularly morbid appearance. The fangs and claw-like hands don't help, and the harshly croaking voice seals the ugly effect. The 'terrasuit' she wears does a great deal to hide this, a grey & red mostly skin-tight affair filled out to resemble a normal example of her kind, with a large, opaquely-black helmet covering her head and allowing her to see without being exposed to ultraviolet radiation or the eyes of others. It is studded with small pouches and pockets to accommodate its wearer's impulsive tendency to collect samples of things. Power Descriptions: (Descriptors: Psionic, Mutation) After being blasted by her attempted recreation of the mysterious Moon Stone, Atraxia's body was effectively killed at the same time her soul(or psychic expression) was partially released from it. As a result, she is basically a ghost possessing her deceased body out of both a lack of desire and power to leave it and the desperate hope that this can be permanently reversed somehow. This had the side-effect of unlocking her bizarre latent mutations: the power to attack a living being's soul by partially transferring herself to another dimension(currently she is unaware that this is the realm of Earth-bound spirits), the power to make herself all-but impossible for the unaided eye or ear to observe her as well as being difficult for psychics to detect, a paralytic toxin secreted in her fangs, and the ability to fly through walls, scale any surface, and walk without leaving a trace and temporarily turn her mass into coherent energy for space-flight. Her eyes can penetrate almost any attempt to deceive her, and she has a weak power to tell if psychics are nearby. Her terrasuit has a built-in translator that enables her to speak and understand any language spoken around her, though its power to translate the written word is a work in progress. The prgram gives her a slightly more normal voice, though it injures that by the breathy translation and disconcerting background noise. Her transformation has not been without ill effects(Atraxia being of the opinion that ALL of the effects it has had are ill), mainly that now she has to contend with dead nerves, the knowledge that if she reveals herself to the light of any sun she will be burned to ashes, an all-consuming need to drink blood, and the bizarre revelation that certain kinds of metals are tremendously dangerous to her decayed body, and could potentially sever the tenuous connection her soul has to it permanently. History: Born in 1949 during the reign of the last crowned queen and king of the Moon's Farside City, Atraxia was born with a variant of the condition termed 'mind-blindness', which meant she was unable to interact with the minds of others with psionic powers and no psychic could read her own thoughts. In the 1950s she developed an interest in the machines and computers that ran the lunar city, trying to figure out how they worked. Passing from the computers themselves as they revealed their secrets to her inquiring mind to what enabled them to function as they did, she became intrigued by the enigmatic Moonstone, the heart of the Preserver-made city's power and occasional granter and enhancer of psionic abilities. After considerable research in the 1960s, she managed to create a machine that imitated the energy wavelengths used by the small crystal when empowering Farsiders. When struck by the focused beam of power however, instead of the harmless and entirely mental effects it usually has, the imitation Moonstone transformed Atraxia into a hideous monster, the transformation all but killing her body but leaving her mind horribly intact. Yet able to act and think as she did normally, she tried to continue with her work but was hampered by a mysterious withering of her body and a never-ending thirst. After grappling with murderous impulses for over a year, she exiled herself from the city, though unable to journey far from it due to the catastrophic effect ultraviolet rays had on her corpse. At last her wanderings brought her to a massive network of caves underneath Farside City, in which she found the remnants of a strange civilization. The twisting convex walls were covered with scratched letters in the Farsider language, but even the most recent were of incredible antiquity. In the long years she had she translated the writings, discovering that she was hardly the first to be so deformed. There had been possibly hundreds like her, monsters who had been filled with a terrible hunger for blood and powers that let them creep undetected through the city looking for innocents from whom to drink. All of them had exiled themselves from the city in horror of themselves. They had wandered into the caves and hidden away from the world, trying to find some way to cure themselves of their horrible curse, the powers it granted them no comfort. All had failed, and at the last cast themselves into space to embrace the Sun's rays. Stunned by this revelation, Atraxia sank quietly into despair for over a week, faced with a future that held no hope. Arising with a feverish intensity she experimented with her powers, pushing them as far as they could go, studying their limits, teasing out her weaknesses from observation and the records on the cave walls. At last she returned to the city, only to find it in the hands of Selene, crazed and filled with the power of the Moonstone, having enslaved the city and its people to herself. Nonetheless she went before the queen and asked for help in finding a cure for the affliction she suffered. Selene recognized the chance she had with the strange creature, and offered Atraxia the task of being her spy against Earth's governments, who had managed to come so far as to land on the Moon itself, in exchange for the queen making the scientists of Farside City find a cure for her. Atraxia had learned in her studies that Earth was the home of brutish barbarians, and that plus the offer of salvation from existence as a walking corpse gave her little reason to say no. She worked hard for the lunar despot, traveling to Earth and slipping through walls to find plans, leaving recording devices in rooms to transmit conversations and teasing out the secrets of the mad Moon queen's supposed enemies. The translation device on the protective suit she used for travel on Earth and between it to the Moon soon revealed to her that the humans of Earth were(by her standards) primitive and aggressive, but they had no hatred for the Farsiders and indeed, no evil intentions for the Moon. She tried to explain this to queen Selene but was furiously charged with treason, and threatened with being cast out of the kingdom forever if she didn't continue her work. A cure was provided when Atraxia became vocally sympathetic to the humans after such long proximity to them, and for the first time in years the miserable Selunite experienced the joys of touch, taste and smell that had eluded her for years. When it began to fail only a month after injection, Selene excused it away as incomplete, promising and eventually supplying another (temporary) cure. This went on for years, until at last Mentac, the last prince of Farside City, returned with the Atom Family and Jack Wolf. Defeating his insane aunt and Atraxia along with the few remaining members of her ill-fated Malfidians, the Selunite royal spared the monster's life when he learned her story, permitting her to go free wherever she wished. Retreating to her old home, she did her best to find work in the city but was continually looked upon with fear and hatred, the knowledge that she hadn't been controlled by the Moonstone marking her as a willing collaborator with the hated Selene, and her abrasive and stand-offish personality did nothing to endear people to her. Departing from the Moon entirely after finishing her terrasuit, she went to Earth in 2012 to find a purpose. She has some vague idea that she could start to make amends by joining the ranks of Earth's guardians, and set course for Freedom City. Her first fumbling encounters with the city's bizarre criminals behind her she has taken on the name of Red Moon, an ill omen for evildoers everywhere! Personality & Motivation: Atraxia was never what one would call a people person. The focus of her life's work was almost always on things, how they work and what they do. Years alone and then working as a spy did nothing for her social skills, leaving her quick-tempered and prone to speaking impulsively when not sullenly holding her tongue. She is deeply self-conscious about her condition and does all she can to disguise what she really is from others. The mysterious place that Earth has proven to be piques her interest, but as a thing to be studied and understood before anything else. When meeting others for the first time they get to experience the joys of a suspicious and haltingly-spoken woman who feels deeply ill-used by the world. Despite all that Axtraxia is earnestly committed to trying to help make the human's world a better place in any way she can, and doesn't hesitate for an instant if there seems to be anything of use she can do. The mystical villains that "exploit the superstition of the ignorant" are to her mind the primary obstacles to human progress, and she devotes herself to combating them. Powers & Tactics: Sneaking up behind someone and hitting them from surprise is the only combat tactic Red Moon knows, so she does that. Complications: Enemy: Lady Lunar Habit: Needs blood plasmas to keep at the level of health she considers normal. This might cause difficulties. Reputation: Willing collaborator with the Moon's despot. Secret: Vampire Secret: Identity Abilities: 4 + 6 -10 + 12 + 2 -4 = 10PP Strength: 14 (+2) Dexterity: 16 (+3) Constitution: - Intelligence: 22 (+6) Wisdom: 12 (+1) Charisma: 6 (-2) Combat: 10 + 8 = 18PP Initiative: +11 Attack: +10 Melee, +5 Ranged Grapple: +12 Defense: +10 (+4 Base, +6 Dodge Focus), +2 Flat-Footed Knockback: -5 Saving Throws: - + 5 + 9 = 14PP Toughness: +10 (- Con, +10 Protection) Fortitude: - Reflex: +8 (+3 Dex, +5) Will: +10 (+1 Wis, +9) Skills: 56R = 14PP Computers 10 (+16) SM Craft(Electronic) 10 (+16) SM Disable Device 10 (+16) Knowledge(Physical Sciences) 7 (+13) SM Knowledge(Technology) 11 (+13) SM Stealth 8 (+11) Feats: 13PP Attack Focus(Melee) 5 Dodge Focus 6 Inventor Improved Initiative 2 Skill Mastery(Computers, Craft(Electronics), Knowledge(Physical Sciences), Knowledge(Technology)) Powers: 0 + 0 + 0 = 91PP Device 2(Hard to Lose, 10PP Device)[8PP] Terrasuit Comprehend 2(Languages; Speak & Understand all)[4PP] Datalink 1[1PP] Feature 6(Buys off the Sunlight Weakness)[6PP] Feature 1(Buys off the No Sense of Touch Drawback)[1PP] Immunity 35(Fortitude Saves, Mental/Psychic powers; Feats: Innate)[36PP] Flight 1(10 MPH)[2PP] Lunar Vampirism Array 10(20PP Array, Power Feats: Alternate Power 4)[24PP] Base Power: Strike 10(Extras: Alternate Save(Will)[20PP](Ghostly Claw) AP: Concealment 7(Visual Senses, Hearing, Mental Senses)[14PP](Insidious AP: Drain Constitution 2(Extras: Linked(Paralyze)[2PP]+Paralyze 9(Extras: Linked(Drain))[18PP]=[20PP] AP: Super-Movement 6(Permeate 3, Tracklessl, Wall-Crawling 2)[12PP](Spectral Infiltration) Protection 10[10PP] Space Travel 1(Light Speed)[1PP] Super-Senses 12(Visual Senses: Counter Concealment, Counter Illusion, Counter Obscure(All Descriptors), Tracking; Psychic Awareness, Infravision)[12PP] Drawbacks: (-1) + (-6) + (-3) + (-2) = -12PP Disability(No sense of Touch)[-1PP] Weakness(Needs to consume blood plasmas once per day or suffer a -1 cumulative effect on all scores)[-3PP] Weakness(Sunlight, Destroyed in 10 Rounds; Frequency: Very Common; Intensity: Major)[-6PP] Vulnerability(Cosmic Energy damage; Frequency: Uncommon; Intensity: Moderate(+1.5 DC))[-2PP] Vulnerability(Iron damage[Piercing]; Frequency: Common; Intensity: DC Block Totals: Abilities (10) + Combat (18) + Saving Throws (14) + Skills (13) + Feats (13) + Powers (90) - Drawbacks (12) = 147/150 Power Points

Sadly no. Combat begins in earnest. Using the Armored Megalomaniac build from the Core Rules, dropped down to PL12 caps along with a Device containing the powers of the Eye of Argon. Their Initiative: 20. Seeing as their bonus is +1, that is hilarious.

On the one hand, he DOES know the ship is there, on the other he's focused on Voltage.. I'll rule Stormbreaker has a surprise round if she attacks now.

Whoops! Quite correct, i'd forgotten to finish that sentence. My aplogies for the slip and thank you for pointing it out.

So yeah, if you want to fight this guy, go right ahead. He ain't the most reasonable, obviously.

Hurrah! A happy birthday to you, O Dokboss! May you return happily to this day for years to come! Hip hip!

Technically yes, he's experiencing powerful(and for him terrifying) hallucinations as well as a vague awareness of the Reverend's "patron"as an immense and fearsome presence.

Initiative in case it's needed: 10.

The horrid power of the false Reverend stabbed out from his eyes and into Subito's, the youth moving to turn his head a second too late, and the lance of despair shot through directly into his brain! A lead casing seemed to fall over his limbs, his heart was numbed and all the world turned to shifting greys before him, and he knew with the certainty of the mad that all things were futile, that against the power wielded by the priest neither of them could hope to fight, and that the pews were getting to their clawed feet and beginning to creep towards him, wooden mouths opening to reveal slavering jaws, and a strange sliding noise like scales on wood.... From the outside, it looked like he had frozen stiff, eyes wide and jaw slowly clenching and slackening, arms pinioned to his sides. All of a sudden he gave a shriek of horror that echoed painfully around the room and started babbling "They're everywhere! They're all over the floor and the walls, it's slithering through! Get it out, get it out!" and turning on his heels he dashed for the door, eyes widened from terror at the phantasmal terrors!

Reflex save: 8. Will save: 10. BLAST.

"Yeah, we cou-" began Subito when he was interrupted by the vicious words of the erstwhile reverend, mouth slightly agape in mid-syllable and dark eyes glaring at the man who had spoken, wondering how best to respond to such statements that infuriated him from at least two different angles. After a few seconds of thought, he snapped brusquely "Not welcome? 'Course we aren't! But we are here, and neither of us are going to leave without some answers" he stepped towards the reverend, watching him suspiciously and asking "We're looking for a man who just arrived in town, tall, dark, wears a cloak, heard he came to this church" he fought to keep from automatically making fists with his hands and tensing into a fighting posture, no reason to blow a chance for answers, even lies would be illuminating.

Threads posted, sorry for the delay.

GM The Ages Lost slid grandly down through the sky, sails crackling in the sharp winds hurtling above the coastline, thin streamers of cloud rendering most of the city hazy and indistinct, save for the area above somewhere in the Riverside district the piller of energy had stabbed out from. it led down to a parking lot ringed about with small shops and local businesses, mostly having to do with food of some kind. it was easy to see both the armored man gleaming with the same kind of radiance as the blazing shot had, and a flying man in black and grey confronting him. The armored man had long reddish-blond hair and a good face, clean-shaven, a long forehead, and a curly beard. The armored man seemed briefly surprised, but rallied in mere instants to make a cage of power around the Deep One. "'Putting people at risk'?" he scoffed "What nonsense! I will rule this world with the aid of this majestic jewel, and all shall know Peace on Earth!" he roared, glowing at a nearly eye-hurting level, holding the Eye(which was in a metal net attached to his armor's waist by a chain) aloft. Then he saw the giant ship above both of them, which registered as a slight pause and tilt of his head before he quickly resumed his rant. "You heroes, you can't see the big picture! A robbery stopped there, a few Nazi doomsday weapons dismantled here, you never go right for the real root of Evil: CHAOS! The fractured nations, the splintered families, the billiosn working against each other will all be int he past once i take the reins of history in my hands, and get us back on track with Paradise! I, the mighty Amber Curse!" He looked cooly at Voltage, adding scornfully "if you want to stop me..then come and try!" he pointed at the electicity-controller with a hand that was slowly growing brighter with the same light as the Eye's, the building charge illuminating the bones and veins of his hand in a ghoulish fashion.

Maybe she was taken in by a kindly(and space-having) family during her stay, but as they were of little means they couldn't do much except feed, house and clothe her and serve as an address for the gifts her friends and family sent?

As they approached the decaying structure Subito looked it over with a critical eye. His family was fairly determined in their own faith, and he had seen the insides and outsides of churches for much of his life. The signs of neglect struck him a lot more deeply as a result, and seemed to him pretty conclusive proof that something horribly wrong was afoot. He kept his ears as well as his eyes alert and keened to the wind, searching for any passing mutters that might clue him into the specifics of the evil that seemed to be lurking in the town. The whispered prayer of the crouching priest slid into his ears, the vague tonal shifts created by the translation warping the already alien words further. He spent the seconds walking the rest of the way into the church figuring out how he would tell Agnes this without warning the priest) that at least one of their guests was wise to him. Gotta keep it short and simple, a hand gesture maybe, something wavey to look like a sn-nah, it'd end up looking like an 'S', and that could mean anything. Hm... His dilemma was solved the instant he saw the priest, his winding form, large black eyes and coiling posture was perfect. Turning to Agnes just as they stepped in he commented casually in a low voice "Reminds me of a snake I met back home in 'Rico. I bet they'd see eye to eye on holy things if they ever met"

Okay, three things stick out to me about the story, not a Ref so take it with a few shakers of salt. 1) Who was her father? Even if she doesn't know(yet?) IC, people need to know OOC. 2) Most people in Japan are taught English in school, unless she fell through a time warp she'd find lots of people who could understand her, even if only police trnaslators who would want to know who the living Hell this random Irish woman was and what she was doing there. 3) How did being in juvenile detention help her worldview, specifically?

Succeeds by several miles. The Eye of Argon is a powerful Atlantean artifact that is hypothesized to be from before the sinking, based on rudimentary carbon dating several decades ago during one of the Opal's(a society journalist named Amanda McKittrick possessed by the jewel's malevolent power) stays in prison during the early 1950's. Listed powers include flight(rank 6), increased physical attributes that often push beyond human norms(Enhanced CON 10, DEX & STR 8), heightened combat skills(Enhanced Attack & Defense 8), tremendous defensive benefits(Immunity 9, Impervious Protection 3), forming solid objects out of its own power(Create Object 8) and becoming incredibly desirable to others(Attractive 2). Nothing about shooting blasts of energy though. Last known location was in a powerful vault in Atlantis. There are no listed villains who resemble the current douchebag and nothing like his armor can be found,

GM The shield bounced with loud thuds of metal and tough flesh among the assembled gremlins, laying them all low in short order! A deathly hush spread over the rail yard, punctuated by the ragged breathing of the fallen goblins. The King of Suits, amazed at the speedy defeat of the strange creatures, was looking about him and was preparing to examine the goblins when a shuddering was felt by both of the vigilantes, and thick cloud bank slid slowly over the gleaming moon. With a roar that sent tremors through the ground, a monster burst onto the scene, hard skin covered with scales that gleamed slightly in the dark, eyes that shone green, claws and teeth that glistened white and a shaggy coat of blue hair that hung from its back and head, and a ragged loincloth made of what looked like lion skins. It looked very unhappy, snarling with breaths that sent thick plumes of fog from its mouth as it eyed the two heroes.