GranspearZX

"To be fair, I probably don't understand it any better than you do," Marcus admitted with a nonchalant shrug, "But I still don't get what this Detective Chase person is after. If she's after the Beast Rune, why not come to me directly?" Marcus paused for a second; it was possible that this detective didn't have the information that the doctor had. Still, he didn't like that her info led her to someone he didn't know, which meant he was missing something. He also couldn't help but feel like the doctor was probing him for information about the Beast Rune himself, likely for research purposes. It wasn't a huge secret or anything, but he'd been far more careful about who he discussed magical subjects with ever since he'd first encountered the Cult of the Beast down in Freedom City's sewers. "I'm gonna need a lot more detail than suspicion. No offense."

GM "Not immediately," Trigger mused for a moment as Anton handed over the list. "I know some of these streets though. Some of them are abandoned properties, some are new developments like that apartment building in the Fens. I don't think they have basements like the last one though... I'd know. Unless someone else can install biometric fingerprint locks." "Show-off," Smokey commented, coming up from behind Trigger. He wasn't drunk, but it was pretty clear he'd had a few from the faint scent of alcohol on him. He looked over Trigger's shoulder at the list. "Hey, that one's way in Port Royal. Abandoned subway station or somethin'. Lots of homeless guys hang out there 'cause the city kinda gave up on the place...:

The mention of Adrian Eldritch was all Marcus needed. It meant two things: that the good doctor knew more or less who he was and what he could do, and he should probably be taken seriously. The cover of Marcus's sketchbook clamped shut. This sounded like it was going to be one of those 'things that bump in the night' cases, and now he was wondering if the Master Mage was deliberately steering him towards those. Not that he minded... a little heads up would have been nice. "Alright," he said, standing up and stretching a little. "You got my attention. But... why me?" It was true that Marcus was no stranger to the supernatural and the occult. He figured it best to probe just what the doctor knew about him before committing to anything, if for no other reason than to keep his expectations realistic...

Tagging!

Marcus was on a new sketchbook. By now he'd finished his portfolio and had submitted it to a number of schools, but that didn't stop him from drawing. It was a nice break from everything else that had gone on in the past few months, and there was something to be said for the quiet moments when they were as elusive as this. He didn't notice the older gentleman approaching him. Rather, he didn't pay him any immediate mind. It wasn't as if he was a physical threat, after all. His pencil stopped mid-stroke, however, at his name being spoken. Marcus looked up, didn't recognize the voice or the man to whom it belonged, and a skeptical eyebrow rose. "I'm sorry.. do I know you?" There was a certain amount of defensiveness to his tone, but to his credit, Marcus was trying not to be rude. He wasn't even sure how this person knew him--somehow that seemed incredibly important.

GM "Hey, it's no problem. It's pretty well established that I'm something of a neutral party around here. Probably because she thinks I can't really do anything. I suppose in the most direct of circumstances, she's not entirely wrong..." He reached for one of the napkins on the table. Setting it in front of him, grabbed a pen out of his shirt pocket and began writing. As he was finishing, Trigger walked over to the table. "It seems Smokey's social skills aren't entirely a wash. Our mutual friend is rumored off to see Knives--or Taraxus. From a distance, I'd imagine. Apparently this Taraxus isn't powerful enough to go out during the day without being burned by the sun, but his strength will start returning after sundown. Now I see why she whisked him away when she did..."

GM "That sounds about like her clientele." Anton motioned over to a nearby table, offering Supercape a seat. "She seems to seek out the most despairing souls she can find and offer them a choice. Of course, they never see it as a real choice, giving in to their fears, and... well, the results vary. Some realize the curse they called down upon themselves. Others... aren't quite so quick on the uptake. I can relate." Anton paused in thought, clearly lost in them for the briefest of moments. "At any rate, she's been in Freedom City for a fair amount of time. Long enough to shore up her defenses in a surprisingly mortal fashion. An army of lawyers. Probably has an officer or three in her pocket. None of her resources, mind you, but it comes with the job of professional sowing of chaos among humanity. To what end, I'm not sure. I could, of course, get you a list of the properties leased in her name; that would at least be a start. As far as business partners... hard to say. Pretty sure I don't count."

"....mmm." Marcus merely grunted at the comments Elias made. He didn't find fault with anything he said, really, but he wasn't sure how to immediately respond. He was quickly starting to realize that Elias had a better grip on reality than most people he'd ever met, social shortcomings notwithstanding. Then again, who didn't have those? And where exactly is.... here? Marcus looked up at the building. It was hardly inviting, and he didn't exactly see him or Elias sneaking inside. That really wasn't the point of their trip, and he REALLY hoped that wouldn't be necessary. Instead, he looked across the street to find a decent vantage point from which to view the building's front, should their quarry decide to show his face. "Gonna guess that direct confrontation is an outright bad idea," he mused, mostly to himself.

Arcturus Crusader GM/NPC to Arcturus)

May 12, 2013 10:45 pm Having an informant was a wonderful thing in the Fens. It made all the legwork of crime fighting a lot more bearable, even when the information came at an unexpected time. He could barely remember where he'd met the young man who had referred to himself as 'the Skeptiq'--spelling and all. He wasn't sure how he kept finding him on his patrols around the Fens, but the kid had eyes and ears everywhere, and he'd taken a particular liking to dropping clues into Clark's lap. While Clark hardly trusted the little weasel, he couldn't really complain. Yet. Today's tip: a warehouse recently bought by a local 'business' was housing a ton of illegal weaponry, and there was a huge gun buy scheduled to go down that night. Alerting the authorities wouldn't do much; constrained by legal process, Crusader could see the problem--one that he didn't share. He watched from a nearby rooftop as a white car pulled into the warehouse; as the sliding metal door went up and down to let it in, he spotted at least four men with guns, all wearing the black leather vests with the Motor City Mauler motorcycle club patches on the back. Well. Time to clock in.

Solo thread for Crusader. Street level thug bashing; if anyone wants to join in, PM me!

GM "I can't really say what she intends to do," Anton mused, rubbing at his grey-streaked chin. "She's something of a power broker though. Very good at getting people in contact with other people, no matter how... undesirable the outcome. Pretty sure she wouldn't just destroy a universe for kicks though. You're probably overestimating her on that front." Anton sighed deeply. "I'd worry more about the folks she makes deals with than her specifically... She didn't make one recently, did she?"

Off to Jerusalem for a spiffy bit of pugilism, by Supercape! Crusader 6 PP to spend ------------------- A nice simple edit--all of his points are going into his Feats! Adding: Ultimate Effort (Intimidate) Cunning Fighter [Uses attack bonus instead of Bluff skill for feints; Warriors & Warlocks] Improved Throw Defensive Throw [If an opponent attacks and misses, can immediately make a trip attempt at full attack bonus as a free action; Warriors & Warlocks] Reversal [When escaping from being grappled, can immediately make a grapple check vs. attacker; Warriors & Warlocks] Unbalancing Strike [May throw an opponent off balance instead of dealing damage (Reflex save vs 10 + damage bonus); Warriors & Warlocks]

GM "I wonder what she's gone and done now," Anton mused with a sigh, bringing his song to a close. There was a light clapping as he stood up; he bowed to the sparse crowd before starting to pull Supercape to the side. "Now, let's be serious, boys... what exactly has Ms. Azel done to warrant a veritable house call? This place is the sanctuary; we don't really condone fighting. Keeps everybody more or less honest, and I'd like to keep the Seventh Chakra a safe place if at all possible. That and the bartender just rip your soul from your body, and nobody really wants that. Quite a messy process, from what I understand..." Anton looked over at the bartender and Smokey, who had struck up a conversation well out of earshot of Trigger and Supercape. They seemed to be getting along just fine.

GM "I didn't take you for a jazz fan, but thank you." He smiled. "And call me Anton." Trigger glanced around the room; other than a few inquisitive stares, no one seemed too concerned that they were there. Smokey had, instead, headed straight for the bar to get himself a drink. "You must be looking for Ms. Azel. I've gotta say... you boys jumped right down the rabbit hole on this one, didn't you?" Anton chuckled and leaned back a little, his fingers nimbly gliding over the keys. "This is a... sanctuary of sorts. Good place to come if you've got an eye for the extradimensional and the supernatural. Definitely not a place for confrontation, but... I'm sure upstanding gentlemen like yourselves wouldn't go around looking for trouble."

"I still haven't quite figured mine out either, and I've been at this a while. I could be holding back... at least, that's what the instructors think. That's partly why I'm out here. The whole 'facing your fear' thing. I don't really do well when water's involved..." Marcus fidgeted a little at the thought. He could swim, sure--but it wasn't something he was able to do consciously. He'd panic and sink like a stone, all because of a rather unfortunate accident when he was 7 years old. The last time, the Beast Rune had mostly snapped him out of his phobia, and he hadn't been able to reproduce the effect since. But he wasn't willingly going anywhere near large bodies of water... and now here he was, aiding flood victims with a secret fear of drowning in obscurity.

GM The man merely shrugged, allowing the trio to get by him. He didn't follow, but the door shut behind them without the hat-wearing man so much as touching it. It seemed that no one had been thrown out yet; the black-and-white checkered floor reflected the soft violet lights overhead, leading from a narrowly lit hallway into a much larger bar. There didn't seem to be many people around--a few dozen at the most, scattered around the booths around the edge of the room. The bartender looked up at the three entering, but said nothing at first. Instead, the older gentleman at the piano waved Supercape over. "You boys went through quite a bit of trouble just to hang out at a club," he mused, amusement lacing his tone. All the while, he never stopped playing...

GM The man paused for a moment, then put the card face up on the table--an ace of clubs. He started to say something before stopping mid-breath, pausing and looking slightly upward as if listening to something. Trigger slapped his forehead, whispering in Supercape's ear. "Told you... don't you have like, X-ray vision or something?" The whole thing seemed moot, though, as the card-wielding bouncer motioned over to the door to the group's right. "Right this way. Seems you've got a friend around here... otherwise I'd be kickin' all three of ya out."

GM "The lady's busy." The man's voice had a very gravelly quality to it, like a lifelong smoker. Almost on cue, he reached into his shirt pocket with his left hand, producing a cigarette. His right hand put the deck of cards down on the small table between them, and he drew one, holding it up in the air. "One card, for the lot of ya," he said. "Guess right and you're in. Guess wrong and... well..." His voice trailed off, leaving the consequences open to interpretation.

http://rolz.org/embed?3562971 Nerts. I'll spend an HP: http://rolz.org/embed?3563038

"Consider it confirmed." Marcus smiled faintly and nodded. "Sounds weird, but I can smell it on you. It's not a bad smell, mind you... It's not like it's necromancy or something. Smells more like elemental magic. "I guess that's about what I meant; 'magically-inclined' can mean a lot of different things. I know a lot of the theory behind it, but there's still only so much I can actually pull off. Typically the physical stuff. Anything else takes a lot more time and energy than I usually have to spare." He shifted in his seat a little as the cargo van rolled through a rougher patch of the road. "I can't really say if it's important or not... Heck, it's been like two years and I still haven't really used my abilities all-out. At least, that's what I've heard."

Arcturus The Great Escapist Psychics and Tigers and Bears... Oh My! The River Claims Its Own Crusader My Brother's Keeper ?do=embed' frameborder='0' data-embedContent> GM/NPC A Fool's Errand (apply to Arcturus) The Devil In The Details (apply to Arcturus) My Brother's Keeper My Brother's Keeper (apply to Crusader) ?do=embed' frameborder='0' data-embedContent>

Marcus did what he could to keep busy, but mostly he felt largely in the way. At a loss for what to do, he was especially grateful when they all started moving again, leaving base camp for the first village. It had, of course, occurred to him long before that his long-standing issue with large bodies of water might become an issue. The last time he panicked, the Beast Rune had taken completely over, and somehow it hadn't gone on some crazed rampage when it did so. He didn't want to think of what would happen if anyone else was actually around, and he was bound and determined to face his fear one way or another. Marcus noticed it the second he was seated next to her. He suspected it on the plane, but now it was a lot clearer--he could smell magic. Somewhere. It was somewhere around her, but he couldn't be sure without asking and potentially sounding awkward. It was actually a somewhat familiar smell to him; his own magic was elemental in nature, though in a primal, physical sort of way because of the nature of the Beast Rune. But then again, awkward had never stopped him before. "...Tsunami, right?" He wasn't about to use her government name. After all, he wasn't sure if it was that sort of situation, and protocol dictated that they use code names anyway. Plus, he was almost certain he was mispronouncing her real name in his head, and spared them both potential embarrassment. Added to that was the fact that he was terrible at starting conversations... There was really no turning back now though. "This is gonna sound weird, but... you wouldn't happen to be... ah... magically-inclined?" Yeah. Totally not awkward.

Hm. Are we going to try fighting them all? o.O if there were some way to limit their numbers somehow... close off an area so that all 27 of them can't rush us maybe? Barring that... hm. This requires some thought.

That was fast. The first time the flash of light caught his eye, he wasn't sure what it was. Crusader looked casually in its direction and it happened again, and he nonchalantly looked elsewhere. He knew what it meant. Taking up the rear, closest to the control room, he stood his ground and faced forward, rubbing at the back of his neck. The best he could do was make sure no one watching; if KoS could go undetected while he ran interference, it would be mission accomplished. Providing a distraction seemed like too great a risk; if someone wasn't looking at him, they'd look past him, and things would only get that much more complicated. The number of guards made him nervous. Not that he was afraid of bullets, not with his shield around, but a direct confrontation was bound to have unforeseen complications...