Ari

GM At the voices of the superheroes, the Lateral Ascension grew deathly silent, the upturned faces drinking them in. One, jolted by their question, grabbed a megaphone and hollered over to the drifting captain "Hey! We offer soccer and safe passage, do you take it?!" The Chang's crew looked at the boat, and then at their captain. Caltain Wong looked between the boat of weirdoes and his crew, then at the uncomfortably-distant shore and then at the lack of Coast Guard boats coming around yet. "If they can ferry my crew, I have no objection!" He bawled over the water to the superheroes, plenty loud enough to be heard by the people on the boat To their credit, the cargo of the Lateral Ascension quickly began making room for the crew of the Chang, accompanied unnecessarily by cries of "prepare for the Rescued! Make way for those Blessed and Saved!" Also to their credit, the crew of the large yacht proved adept and competent in their work, swinging around the freighter and maneuvering close enough to be useful but not so much it would have been at risk. They even managed to pick up Wong on the way. What happened next however, while unfortunate, was hardly surprising. As the largely grimy and sooty men made their way to the deck below, the other people had to expand even more onto the port side of the boat, and the resulting redistribution of weight, combined with the already top-heavy vessel, very firmly asserted itself. Before anyone noticed it in time to do anything about it, the boat contentedly slid onto its side in a sudden flood of screaming, terrified humanity! Among them were the young woman in the white and gold and her parents, their precarious perch suddenly plunging them into the South River before they could stop looking up at the heroes and vanishing into the silty depths. <"Oh come on! What the ****! What the **************?!"> Bobbing on top of a particularly buoyant deckrative balloon(also white and gold), Captain Wong hollered furiously at the top of his lungs, while his crew and the now very confused and frightened passengers of the Lateral Ascension bobbed and yelled as they slowly began drifting along the river. The crew, meanwhile, was frantically radioing for help and trying their hardest to corral people to help right the boat, made much harder by the boat's rotation.

Not just that, but on actually looking the Improved Initiative is an artifact from an older version of the sheet. Sorry Avenger, edited.

After advisement, removed the Aura Extra on the Autofire Damage.

Base Power: whirlwind of super-fast punches. AP1: Focused speed. AP2: Mad dash where the Salmon tries to tangle people up in whatever's close at hand. He couldn't, for instance, use that on somebody wearing a suit of armor in an empty room.

GM As the door, and most of the wall around it, vaporized under the concentrated and super-heated acid, several things happened at once. Down below, the will-o-wisp gratefully darted against the crackling tip of the EM Wand, the electrons visibly arcing away into the ball as it swiftly grew into a child-sized, humanoid figure of hissing electrical discharge. Turning a gaping white-hot grin and massive eyes like windows into an abyss on its savior, the thing babbled "Yszzzz! Lock'tVoltawy Straaosfgotme! Newfrennewfr'nnfn! New. Friend. For. VOLT. Volthelp newfren! Wreckingzzz, breakzzz!" Taking an awkward step on one trembling limb of high-voltage, the small, frail thing suddenly looked up, already huge eyes widening as it abruptly lunged at Endeavor and pushed her off her feet, just as the lightning struck. The thin man in the observation room lurched to his feet, yelling out a frantic "Alex, the tra-!" A powerful current ripped through the lab, the thin man jerked and screamed for a long, horrible second, the lights burst in a shower of glass, the consoles exploded in gouts of sparks and the austere chambers below fell into darkness. The turrets stopped firing. And Volt now towered over Sakurako, the size and relative shape of an adult man in his prime, thrumming with power. The face fit now. "Yeszzz. Newfrenfren above. Let'zzzggo!"

Player Name: Ari Character Name: The Salmon Power Level: 7 (105/131PP) Trade-Offs: +3 Attack/-3 Damage, +3 Defence/-3 Toughness Unspent Power Points: 26 In Brief: Aquatically-adapted and linguistically-gifted mutant way out of his depth in the Emerald City underworld. Residence: 635 Tkope Ekoli Way, Riverfront District, Emerald City Base of Operations: (Incomplete) A cave in the flooded subway tunnels. Catchphrase: "I got this!/I don't got this!" Alternate Identity: Ishmael Paris Redwater/Ishi/Fishy Identity: Secret Birthplace: Emerald City, Oregon, USA Occupation: Student, translator, superhero Affiliations: Golden Dragon Society, the Malakov Mafiya, the Takazumi-gumi, Emerald City Community College Family: Ellen Riverrun(aunt, paternal), Abraham Hector Redwater(brother, elder) Description: Age: 18 (March 21st, 1998) Apparent Age: N/A Gender: Man Ethnicity: Coastal Chinook(Clatsop) Height: 5'6" Weight: 160 lbs Eyes: Brown Hair: Black Ishmael is slim and athletic with shoulder-length straight black hair. Everything from his fresh-faced, guileless good looks to his relaxed, fluid body language to his relentlessly casual dress sense seems almost tailored to make people feel comfortable around him. He generally wears clothes at least one size larger than fits (mostly hand-me-downs from his brother), many of which have pithy slogans or intricate designs. His favorite outfit, regardless of weather, is a beaten green jacket, red t-shirt, green cargo pants and scuffed red sneakers. His voice is usually soft and awkward, but can quickly switch to clear and projecting. He has the names "Priam" and "Cassandra" tattooed on his shoulders. When talking in most languages, he does not have a noticeable accent. As the Salmon he wears a green and black costume with slanted orange eyes and patterns of thick wavey lines of the same color on the trunk. In costume he becomes much more expressive and animated, talking with a slight accent he doesn't have in normal life. Power Descriptions: Ishmael's powers are internal and nonlbvious besides what they let him do, being a mutation of his body chemistry and biology making him superhumanly-fast, his skin capable of absorbing oxygen in liquid form and improving his ability to sense vibrations. History: Abandoned by his parents as an infant, Ishmael grew up with his brother Abraham in the extended Riverrun family. The boys early formed a bond with their aunt, Ellen, and Ishmael still lives with her and helps out at the art gallery she runs. Growing up, the boy developed none of his brother's self-assurance or independence, instead remaining reliant on others for direction and purpose. As a result, Ishmael's social skills quickly surpassed solitary, introspective Abraham's, and the younger brother became adept at getting in and out of trouble, confident in his legion of pals to back him up. Exposed to so many people from other cultures, he also quickly picked up on other languages with a dedication that far outstripped his academic efforts. While his brother was around, Ishmael had a steady role model to keep himself out of the ever-present gangs around their school. But only two years after Abraham left on a scholarship to Freedom City's Hanover Institute of Technology 'Ishi' has become an invaluable asset to the Emerald City underworld. Lured in by both the promise of easy money and the stylish, iconoclastic flair of mob prince Ryu Takazumi, Ishmael became enmeshed in the inner politics of the crime families as an interpreter and go-between. Thanks to his Amerindian ethnicity and facility with languages and people, Ishmael was ideal as a neutral, inconspicuous party. Even after graduating high school and starting at Emerald City Community College, even after it's become obvious just who he works for and what they do, Ishmael has found it impossible to leave. Besides the money and implicit threats, it's the first time in his life that he's really felt needed or wanted He has only just come into his powers and already made a monumental, horrible mistake with them that resulted in the death of now-late Triad dragon head and beloved Jadetown community leader "Uncle" Zhi. Ishmael's alter-ego, the Salmon, is already a murder suspect and hunted by both the law and the mob. Fighting against his employers as much to survive as to try and redeem himself, he's finally on the path to becoming his ownperson. Personality & Motivation: Ishamel is a jokey, cocksure, fun-loving and irreverent guy who's grown adept at lying to people(including and especially himself) and telling them what they want to hear. He doesn't like making his own opinions known, and mostly just goes with majority views and whatever will get him off the hook fastest, which has badly-strained his relationship with his family. Ellen doesn't know what he does for money, but as he evades and dodges she gets more and more worried, which pushes him to lie more. At heart, Ishmael is deeply unsure of himself and afraid of being abandoned or unwanted. But as he starts to understand that the underworld needs him more than he needs them, that's beginning to change. For now, however, he's still learning that his alter-ego can be something besides a liability and convenient cover. As the Salmon, Ishmael mostly just copies what he's seen speedsters like Johnny Rocket and Velocity be like on TV: confident, quippy and a little impulsive and prone to water or fish-based puns(Johnny went through a rockets and speed jokes phase that the League is trying very hard to forget). Powers & Tactics: Run up to a guy real fast and hit them, maybe run around a bunch of guys and get them tangled up in some stuff. The Salmon is still very new at this, and his martial training is very basic. Complications: After my alter-ego: The Salmon is not a popular guy after he apparently killed the respected "Uncle" Zhi. The police and the city's underworld are both after him, and they may not exactly have different ideas of what happens after he's caught. Black mark: Being partly responsible for a man's death has left a deep scar on Ishmael's soul. He'd do anything to avoid that happening again, and anything to undo what he has done. Blind Side: The Salmon's senses aren't near as fast as his top speed, and trying to get aroundin confined spaces(like anything built for normal people) can be incredibly dangerous to himself or others. Dependence: Ishmael is very easy to get latched onto things or people. Identity: Secret. Responsibility: Family, especially his aunt, Ellen Riverrun. The lowdown: Ishmael knows a lot of what's going on in Emerald City, much of it could cost him his life if it's found he told someone. Switcheroo: As the Salmon, he can't show he knows what Ishmael does. As Ishmael, he won't reveal anything about the Salmon, not even to other heroes. Abilities: 6 + 6 + 6 + 4 + 2 + 6 = 30PP Strength: 16 (+3) Dexterity: 16 (+3) Constitution: 16 (+3) Intelligence: 14 (+2) Wisdom: 12 (+1) Charisma: 16 (+3) Combat: 8 + 8 = 16PP Initiative: +3 Attack: +10 Melee, +4 Ranged Grapple: +13 Defense: +10 (+4 Base, +6 Dodge Focus), +2 Flat-Footed Knockback: -2/-1 Saving Throws: 1 + 4 + 4 = 9PP Toughness: +4 (+3 Con +1 Protection) Fortitude: +4 (+3 Con, +1) Reflex: +7 (+3 Dex, +4) Will: +5 (+1 Wis, +4) Skills: 48R = 12PP Bluff 7 +(10/+14) Diplomacy 7 (+10/+14) Drive 2 (+5) Gather Information 7 (+10) Knowledge(Streetwise) 8 (+10) Languages 8 (Chinook Jargon, English(native), Italian, Japanese, Korean, Mandarin, Russian, Spanish, Vietnamese) Sense Motive 9 (+10) Feats: 18PP Attack Focus(Melee) 6 Attractive Benefit (civilian I.D. trusted by the Emerald City underworld) Contacts Dodge Bonus 6 Equipment 1 Move-by-Action Well-Informed Equipment 1= 5EP Caltrops [1EP] Handcuffs [1EP] [Masterwork] Smart Phone(Nova Comm's network)[1EP] [Masterwork] Lock-release Gun[2PP] Motorcycle(book-standard)[0EP] Size: Medium Str: 15 Spd: 5 Def: 10 Tou: 8 Powers: 20 = 20PP Physiology Mutation 4 (20PP Container; Action: Passive, Duration: Permanent) [20PP] Biology, Mutation Enhanced Array 6 (12PP Array, Feats: Alternate Power 2) [14PP] Base Power: Damage 1 (Extra: Autofire; Feats: Mighty [DMG4]) [4/12PP] AP: Enhanced Feats 2 (Moving Feint, Wall Run)[2PP] + Enhanced Speed 4 (to Speed 5 [250MPH, 2500FPH]) [4PP] + Enhanced Swimming 4 (to Swimming 5 [50MPH, 500FPR]) [4PP] + Super-Movement 1 (Water-Walking) [2PP] = 12PP AP: Snare 6 (Extras: Area [Burst, 30ft], Blocks Sense [Visual, Normal]; Flaws: Range [Touch], Limited [requires suitable materials(clothing, drapes, carpets, etc)]) [12PP] Immunity 1 (Drowning) [1PP] Protection 1 [1PP] Speed 1 (10MPH, 100FPR) [1PP] Super-Senses 2 (Tremorsesense [Danger Sense, Radius, Tactile]) [2PP] Swimming 1 (2.5MPH, 25FPR) [1PP] Drawbacks: (-0) + (-0) = -0PP DC Block ATTACK RANGE SAVE EFFECT Unarmed Touch DC 18/23 Toughness Damage(physical) Totals: Abilities (30) + Combat (16) + Saving Throws (9) + Skills (12) + Feats (18) + Powers (20) - Drawbacks (0) = 105/131 Power Points

Aw man! Real sorry to hear that, Absurdist, hope you can make that happen soon.

Geez. Stay well, Sailor.

Have fun in our God-forsaken and lifeless nation, Absurdist! Watch out for the meese, they can get nästÿ this time of icethaw.

Dol-Druth looked for a minute like he had frozen stiff, not even the faintly darker circle of his pupils twitched to read the screen of the holo-cor. "None." Blinking as if just waking up, the Speaker coughed awkwardly and tapped his holo-cor's monitor with a pudgy white digit, retracting the "pages" of light back into itself just before collapsing into the portable computer's body. He looked gravely at the humans, leaning his elbows on the table. "Thank you for your cooperation and time. You have been of enormous help to us in dispelling my initial doubts and uncertainties. Now, do you have any questions for us?" He didn't seem to notice the momentary lapse into the singular.

Chandler stared up at Robin. He burst out laughing. High-pitched and hysterical. He almost sounded relieved. "Knew! Oh, oh what a way to find out! All these years, for this!" Springing to his feet and stumbling away to the window, still gurgling and shaking, the doctor slumped against the cold, transparent surface. "Knew! Knewknewknew...she's gone...all wasted...it's all over..." Recovering from the whirlwind of emotions, Chandler spun on his well-shod heel back to Robin, the bright, polite smile he'd been wearing when she'd come in screwed onto his face. Coming back, he deftly repaired the slight disarray of his suit, plopping back into his chair. "Yes, Mz. Chevalier, in fact I was quite well-acquainted with your mother. Though I am hardly surprised she never mentioned me. Part of the reason she was exiled from Hyperborea(a dreadful business!) and all that, rather despised me actually, me and that brat Kal-Zed. In that life I was called Xan-Jak." "I was...well, I still am, what we Ultima call a vril-ya, a loose analogy would be..." Chandler cast about for a good fit before giving up entirely "...a Jedi Master. Someone able to adeptly use and manipulate what we call the vril, the great life-flow of the cosmos that runs through all living beings. Now that I am actually paying attention"(the look of contrition and regret on his face was downright painful)"I sense a great deal of that energy in you. Your mother, did she ever mention anything? About herself? About what you are, or can do?" He looked closely and curiously at his nominal patient.

GM Gratefully asking for and accepting chilled water, Sefir-Hull nodded as she jotted down notes on her phone. "Leakage of esoteric energies can be a hassle, not to mention expensive. If you could get the experts to give our fellows at AEGIS a more detailed report, that would be invaluable." "As for scrutiny," Violet leaned against the back of her chair and closed her organic eyes "I am prepared for whatever precautions you think necessary, sir. I understand the Nightstone makes the user able to fly, cloak themselvss in darkness, and attack people with some mind of energy. What exactly will you need to make sure of? How will we do this?"

Okay anyway that is a DC26 Toughness check assuming it fails by its Toughness bonus, which is +10. A failure of 16 means destroyed. The door is...gone. Volt, with its Absorption prerequisite to its alternate form, uses the electrical influx from the EM Wand to gain access to its first stage abilities. Effective PL7. In response to napalm!Facsimile, there is a sudden electrical shock. Volt Interposes to take the damage for Endeavor, Absorption letting it reach second stage. Effective PL 10. Facsimile is not touching the metal surfaces so no checks from him. Also, the guards are definitely still coming, and are starting to win against the defences.

GM Loma fumed, but after glaring a side-eye at Roulette for a while begrudgingly said "Fine. The sotz if that isn't still a better deal than if I was just hauling around muscle. You're not afraid to press,that's the kind of attitude I need anyway." Snorting, the Chorna glared at Bliss and Ruby, devoting an eye to each "As for what I ain't saying, it's what I don't know. What nobody knows. No clue what it looks like, any of that. Just know it's probably a silver blob and real sharp, like monocule-blade sharp, nobody can get a clear eye or a holo or even a cambot on it. That's our job." "Unless you think you need anything for the hunt, we're flitting soon as we can."

"People of Earth, you already know that other life dwells amongst the stars!" Without skipping a beat, the prodigious Speaker adopted the gravity and stern demeanour of one who brings only the most vital of messages, large black eyes sweeping the crowd "But, at this moment, a great and terrible intellect observes you from a distance your minds, were they as linked as mine, could not hope to comprehend! It is known as...the Swarm. It looks upon your world, as none other, and it hungers." "People of Earth, Dotrae has long lingered in dread of this thing, this Swarm, a mass of all-devouring nanites the size of a small nebula. Our only sure defence is in our mental prowess, which thanks to the Second Incursion War is much diminished! But it has turned from us, and turns to you. Its movement is slow, but within a century it will have drawn to within mere single light-years of your planet!" Striding up to the bewildered humans, Dol-Druth placed both his massive hands on the shoulder of two journalists. He looked entirely serious "If you are one, and the Swarm is one, then you will have nothing to fear. It looks for cracks, disunity, drawn to the fractured astral waves of struggle, of hate and fear of an organism for itself. Against this, what boots it who this anti-social fiend is? That will soon be decided, and their terror finished. What matters is that all of you, every one, love and trust in your love for each other."

GM With an awkward bark of surprise, Wong clung to his container with one hand as the riverwater sloshed over the smoothly-shifting rock and mud, the other keeping the still-smoking hat tight to his head. Finally recognizing the sunny surfer's question, the captain squinted at the assembled, shaken men on deck. "All of them if you can manage, Mister Kanunu!" He called across the river "We're in no shape to help with the salvage, and going belowdecks is too risky! 'Least she's still in one piece!" He waved thankfully to Volcanic. The Magmin had struck entirely without warning or apparent reason, erupting from the South River right under the Chang in a geyser of super-heated water and magma, attacking the boat with blind, single-minded ferocity. Luckily, the two Hawaiian heroes had been close by. The boat had drawn closer, revealing itself to be a fair-sized motor-yacht named Ascension in Glory. The decks were crowded with people, most of whom looked like middle-class white Freedonians, many carrying signs or banners declaring their allegiance to the "New Gods" and heralding the "Heavenly Spire". Though what exactly the "Spire" was or did was not a high priority for the gathered people's artistic talents. This close, their mingled voices praising the two elementalists rang out as an indistinguishable throng, but one small family perched precariously on the very forefront of the boat made themselves heard quite clearly: "O supers, nothing can stand against you!" The middle-aged woman who'd shouted that, her refined and dark face red with the exertion of making herself heard, reached out to Volcanic "Show us more of the fire we need! The passion and strength that will make us like you!" Her much younger daughter, in a white andgold dress and sandals that looked almost more like a cosplay outfit than anything else, hastily wrapped her arms around the older woman to keep her from falling, but beamed rapturously up at the geothermic heroine "Please, speak to us! Show us your way!" "Show us your way!" Boomed her burly father, sweat pouring from his bald head and into his bristling pepper-and-salt mustache.

@alderwitch @angrydurf OOC for this thread. Lots of water stuff in this one.

GM August 3rd, 2016, 2.44 PM Freedom City South River Waterfront The last of the Magmin dropped, hissing, back into the water, lumbering into the blazing hole into Sub-Terra from whence the bizarre semi-molten invaders came. A ragged cheer rang from the very terrified and now very relieved crew of the Chang Ping Xian, who had crowded onto the half of the freight ship that wasn't submerged and partially wedged into the cavern. "Thank you, thank you!" Captain Wong hollered up to the two superheroes, bobbing on his half-melted cargo container and looking much the worse for wear from the brief, fiery and watery battle. Plucking his charred hat from the water, the lean captain added hopefully "I do not mean to impose, but would you please help get my crew to shore? Those things, well, they burned all the lifeboats." Meanwhile, the large motorboat festooned with its quasi-religious banners had stopped holding off thanks to the giant waves and the rock and fire being flung around. This much closer, it quickly became obvious that several of the banners had a similar 'pinnacle' shape to that of the self-help quasi-cult of the Pinnacle Path. The bits about "Hail the New Gods!" and "Lead us to the Heavenly Spire" was new.

Hey Ra-endome! Yeah, sadly Invisible Castle is no longer functional, so most of the folks here have migrated to orokos.com. Just as much flexibility, which is handy.

Do you want to read something? Forget it. But what about something else? Now we're talking. Naturally, since this game has been going for around nine years, lots of different material from third-party and closer sources has crept in. Some of that ancillary material is also unowned or not known to all the player base, who may also feel leery over buying something they don't know the value of to them. So, I will buy it for you. PM, or post here, or whatever, the email of your DrivethruRPG account(assuming you have one), what you want, and I will get it for you as soon as I am able. As a general rule, this is limited to things about superheroes, but that's as flexible as the famously ill-defined genre itself. EDIT: None of youse seen nothing, observe?

So many things! The fearsome Umiquan Empire is right in the Pacific, Emerald is a major shipping destination, super-tech is becoming a very large part of its industry(at least one of the companies is a front for selling and distributing mad science and super-muscle to supervillains on the sly), there's aliens and monsters in the water and woods and hills and an Undercity with maybe ghosts, the regular syndicates are a real problem, and there's always the shadowy cabal of supervillains who really, really don't want superheroes cluttering up their picture of perfect order and retirement plan. Not to mention all the ways heroes can make a splash in a city that doesn't have any of its own, and hardly any history with them. There's powerful friends(or enemies!) to make, people to help out, even a mysterious blogger-of-the-weird who might need some heroic rescue after stumbling onto something big. Also a giant warehouse full of things that Indiana Jones would just throw up his hands at. Biggest difference is that if there are supercrooks acting in the open and blowing things up with cyberdinos, then they're most likely from out of town.

Fixing up a PC of my own for Emerald, and will add that if anyone needs a GM I'll be glad to step up. Raveled, part of what we're working with for this version of the city is that actual supercrime(!) is both very rare and kept hidden. What kind of trouble were you thinking Tona catches on to? Plenty of "normal" crime families and organized gangs, though.

Preparing Guidebook draft to send the admins.

Tiff, just in case you didn't already know there is an Iron-Fist-esque East Asian fisghtsman called Jade Spider based in Emerald City in the Threat Reports. While they just have Martial Arts Fighting Powers based on spider movements and jade and emeralds are wholly different minerals, it's at least something to be aware of. To be clearer, not saying you should change the name, just that it is close. But that's almost inevitable when you get into (thing)[animal] names, so what even point did I have. EDIT: oh yeah, looks great so far, glad you're interested, Tiff! Drop me a line if you want to work something out.

He cannot transmit through, but he can try and melt through. Roll Attack, but just to see if you get a critical, assuming you Power Attack? Good thing Endeavor freed 00002...*ominous music sting*