GranspearZX

GM "You mean besides you?" Thomas quipped, making the other two laugh nervously. "Not really... This building is pretty new, so there's not really much to be worried about..." "Well, there is that foundation thing." "Oh, right..." Thomas nodded, then looked back at Supercape. "I think it's just the building settling. Foreman went down and took a look and said nothing was wrong, but no one's been down there in days. Big 'off limits' sign down there and everything."

Arcturus Two's Company, Four's a Party Crusader Vanguard #1: Kings and Shields GM (Applied to Crusader) A Fool's Errand

GM "Huh?" One of the other three blinked at Supercape, looking genuinely confused. "...but the power's not even connected yet. Hell, the lighting's not even 100% wired yet." "And this isn't Star Trek. Engineering? Come on." Thomas looked as serious as he was skeptical. "Look, you could get arrested for trespassing on a work site like this... and the owner's kind of a jerk. So who are you really?" All three men looked a little tense and nervous as Supercape was exposed, not entirely sure how to react...

Vs. Thomas (NPC)'s Sense Motive: Sense Motive: (1d20+2=21) ...well. ^^

GM Supercape looked a little bit out of place, even among the uniformed men. Fortunately, no one else seemed to really notice one more among them, save for the occasional odd look as to why he wasn't working. The stairs wound down, from the roof down to the fifth, floor, third... The particular stairwell that Supercape chose seemed to be one that tenants didn't have regular access to, used specifically for maintenance needs. The door was wide open on the second floor, and there were three men in their mid-20s standing and sitting around, smoking. "Hey," one of them said with a friendly nod, giving Supercape a once-over. The name 'Thomas' was sewn into his shirt. "You lost?"

Arcturus hadn't ruled out the idea that the prince would try something. If anything, he was counting on it, and the Beast rune remained in predator mode as he looked around the room. A lesson in runic magic often didn't require special materials, but it would have been nice to know if he had any, should the option become necessary. "Tell me... where you you think runic magic comes from?" Demonstration combined with magical theory discussion was largely how he had learned everything he knew. The strain of physical effort combined with mentally recalling what one knew and how to apply it was a remarkably effective method for Arcturus; he figured doing the same with the prince couldn't hurt... yet. Another thing that didn't escape him was the use of 'we' and 'us' when the prince was speaking. He occasionally lapsed into that himself when the Beast rune was going particularly wild; if they were on the same page, he would easily slip and say 'us' instead. It made him pause as he watched the prince, making him wonder if the prince had done some dabbling on his own and had already been overtaken by some power as he'd warned in his introduction. It reminded him that he was about that age when the Beast rune came to his defense, and how lucky he was that it was far less aggressive than it could have been if it had just been suddenly thrust upon him. As the lesson continued, Arcturus covered the basics. Elemental runic magic, and the REAL power that lay behind them. The Beast rune often tapped into that basic, primal power hidden as a sort of universal limiter behind runic magic, but Arcturus stopped well short of going into exactly how one could even begin to break those barriers. Instead, he focused on the fundamentals--it was all he could do not to ask about the unusual word choice, until he finally decided to just get it out into the open. "...what's your name, by the way? Which ever one of you I'm talking to, that is."

Finals week. I probably don't need to say much more than that... Posting will happen, but yeah. :/

Ah, you're right; that IS supposed to be 17. A bit of derp on my part. The Shield power in that array with the Limited flaw should also be 3, which puts the array at 20pp where I originally was supposed to have it (+1 for the Innate feat puts it at 21).

Fixed the skills (added Disguise 2) and the Feats (added Takedown Attack 2, Teamwork 2, and Up The Wall). The Minimum Range drawback, as I understand it, differs from Reduced Range in that the latter drops the maximum range, rather than the minimum. At 1 point, the minimum is 1/4th the max range of the power, and at 2 points, the minimum range is half the maximum range. The idea is that if an opponent is too close, the throw is unusable. I hope that makes sense. :/

Arcturus just stared at the prince for several moments. Seeing Waker's magic was a sharp contrast to looking at the prince indeed; Waker's was measured, controlled... but the prince? It was disturbingly raw and undisciplined. It would have almost been impressive save the look the prince was giving him. It made the territorial nature of the Beast rune nudge at his psyche, nearly forcing him to say something he might regret later. "Let's be clear on one thing, Highness." Arcturus stepped further into the room, confident and entirely undaunted by the prince's expression or his station. "What you get from my instruction is entirely up to you. I'm not here to coddle or baby you; you're an adult, and you'll be treated as one. And you'll succeed--or fail--on your own merit. Runic magic is not easy... In fact, if you're not careful, it could very well destroy you. I've seen it happen to men far greater." Arcturus was entirely prepared for the prince not liking that one little bit. The prince was barely 16--Arcturus certainly wasn't going to allow himself to defer to anyone, and if he had to assert his dominance in other ways, he was fully prepared to do so. That, as far as he was concerned, had been Waker's first mistake. "Runic magic requires more than just barking out a few words and expecting something to happen. It requires an honest connection, surrendering your will to the energies around you. It's not nearly as complicated as it sounds..." He raised his right hand and the Storm rune flared to life on the back of his hand. Violet streaks of lightning lanced upward between his fingers, sending small harmless sparks off of his fingertips. "But you gain nothing from me lying to you. The first lesson is knowing exactly how much you don't know."

"That definitely helps.... can't wait to meet him." Marcus took a deep breath. He HATED teaching and tutoring. Not that he couldn't, but explaining his thought processes to other people was always difficult. He was, at heart, an artistic person, but for some reason translating that into words and coherent thought was always a little difficult. Still, his knowledge of runic magic was pretty extensive, and it had even started to branch off into combining basic runes to create significantly more detailed arrays--something he certainly had Morgan to thank for later. The Beast rune was an array well beyond his experience, but the more he understood about runic magic, the more he realized just how little control he really had over its influence on his body, mind, and soul. He certainly wasn't going to be teaching the prince any of that. "I'm ready when you are."

GM "..." Harper started to say something to object. Before he could get a word in, however, his phone buzzed in his pocket. The agent frowned deeply and turned slightly, raising his right hand to his ear. "Harper. Go ahead." For several moments afterward, he didn't make a sound, save an occasional grunt of affirmation. "Understood. Be there in 15." He relaxed and looked at Supercape, nodding slowly. "Fair enough. Umbridge is ready to give an official statement so I'm off to deal with that. No sign of the Saikashuu's Hermit, either... I'm not sure if that's a good thing or a bad thing. Either way, I suggest you be extremely careful." In moments, Harper was on his motorcycle and headed off, leaving Supercape to head to the site of the disturbance. The five-story apartment building was a good distance away from the Silver Hammer Garage. For a place in the Fens, it looked pretty well kept, and judging by the debris in the alley, recently renovated. There didn't seem to be too many tenants wandering in and out of the building; most of them looked like workers still doing painting and the like inside. None of them seemed to pay Supercape a whole lot of mind, though he did garner the occasional look acknowledging his presence.

"...huh. That's actually not a bad idea." Arcturus wasn't entirely certain that this was a wise idea. The prince sounded even more emotionally unstable than him, which was saying something considering the Beast rune's effects on his already conflicted mental state. Despite the fact that he hated dealing with stuffy royal types--a fact he learned from his trip to War-Earth--he knew that this was likely his best bet in completing his objective. It was a rather roundabout way of doing it, but he realized that if he'd tried to extract the prince by force, he would have been facing not one but THREE hostile enemies that he wasn't allowed to harm. Terrible odds, even by the Beast rune's standards. Changing back to his human form, he stretched his arms above his head. "This might be a little less shocking for His Highness," he mused aloud, wincing inwardly at having to get used to using a title to address someone. "Maybe you should tell me what he knows before I go pretending to teach him anything..."

GM "What are y-..." Harper cut himself off, falling silent as he realized Supercape was concentrating. He remained quiet, eyes scanning the surrounding area as Supercape scanned further. Much, much further. There was plenty of energy in the current area; power lines criss-crossed the Fens like any other part of the city, and telephone and cell phone signals seemed to have pretty normal and uninteresting traffic among them. The apartment building, located several blocks away, was much the same, though there was a single key difference that would give anyone pause if they could sense it. Beneath the building, there was a small pocket of dimensional energy. It didn't seem terribly big, but it was seeing a small increase every few seconds. It was difficult to pinpoint its exact nature, but just judging by its size and rate of growth, it would be quite large in a matter of hours.

"I don't suppose letting the prince go home is an option?" Arcturus grinned faintly. "I mean... if it's his magic you're worried about, you could always take them from him, right?" It was a theoretical suggestion; Arc really didn't know the true nature of the prince's magic. After all, his own power was unique and inherent, and yet there were ways the Beast rune could be contained and even subjugated--even though those options had plenty of dangers on their own. He wasn't sure of Waker was even capable of doing it... or if he was simply afraid to try. If the prince was as powerful as the thought, Arcturus could certainly see the latter.

GM "Don't let that guy fool you," Harper quipped as they left, well outside of earshot of the garage. "Every Mauler is trouble. Even former ones. Sounds like Knives is a marked man though. Not sure if it's even ethical for me to be involved at this point. ...not that that's stopped me before." Harper took a peek at the address and took off the dark sunglasses covering his eyes--the first time he'd done it since meeting Supercape. "I suppose I don't really have a choice. That address is the same as the apartment building Umbridge pointed us to." The agent mounted his bike, shaking his head as he replaced his sunglasses. "Lead the way then, hero."

Whoops. Forgot to take into account the Limited flaw, which reduced that from 10PP to 5PP. It's fixed though.

GM "..." He rubbed at the bridge of his nose with his forefinger and thumb, shaking his head. "Amateurs. But... y'know. Whatever. If you wanna deal with Knives, go right ahead; he ain't my problem anymore. I wouldn't be broken up over seein' him broken up though. In fact, I can tell you where he'll be. But if I ever see you two bargin' in here again like we're some two-bit criminals, I'll tear your arms off and use 'em as back scratchers." He stepped behind his desk as he spoke, grabbed a pen, and wrote down an address. He handed it to Supercape, all without missing a beat or a breath. "Now get out while your legs still work."

While Crusader isn't initially tech based, the shield itself isn't magic. Sure, it was a bit supernatural the way he ended up with it, but the shield itself is just one big question mark. I even gave him Craft [mechanical] specifically because, as he progresses, he's going to be doing a more than just shield-throwing and goon-punching. Not that there's anything wrong with that, mind you. I'm just rambling at this point though.

GM The big guy looked almost instantly annoyed; Lucky just blinked at SC, then looked at his boss. "Ah... Mr. Armstrong?" "...you two, come with me. You, get back to work." He gave Lucky a gentle nudge before turning around, heading into a fair-sized office towards the back. He stepped to the side as the two entered... then slammed the door shut, hard enough to shake the walls. "I don't know who you've been talkin' to--probably that idiot Knives--but we don't roll like that. In fact, I told him if I ever saw him or those pansies that left with him again, I'd wring their necks." He narrowed his eyes a little bit at Supercape. "...I hope for your sake he didn't send you. And I REALLY hope you weren't in on that stupid kidnapping bit with that four-armed psycho either."

Vs. his Sense Motive: Sense Motive: (1d20+5=13) Nice job. :D

Arcturus stood upright and began looking around. "...so explain to me EXACTLY what this artifact does." As Waker explained, Arcturus started building. At first, he kept it entirely theoretical and in his head, imagining the design in his head. It was an odd object; he had never created a magical artifact that wasn't something truly solid. That certainly wasn't to say that he didn't know how to work with cloth, of course, but he felt that it warranted being a little more careful. What felt like hours passed as he scoured book after book, reading and rereading until his eyes felt heavy. Perhaps the strangest thing through it all was, despite holding his bear form during the entire thing, he never considered changing back, and the Beast rune was dead quiet in his mind while it was occupied with incantations and formulae. He wasn't sure how to solve Waker's other problem. This one would go a long way in gaining the prince his freedom; it was abundantly clear that simply leaving the tower would only be putting him in harm's way. There had to be some way that he could help with that, but he had to admit that all the finery and finesse of royalty was often lost on him...

I think I will take 10 to be on the safe side, which covers me for both checks. Post forthcoming.

Gonna need a Bluff check from Supercape on this one. :)

So it looks like Arcturus is going to try to recreate the Circle of Salt. Is there enough information about it between Waker and the books around his tower to actually pull that off?