GranspearZX

"Snacks?" Georgia had said the magic word. Instantly his hand was in his bag, and out came three candy bars, a different one between each finger. As excitable as Ralf seemed, he actually stayed quiet for the ride up, processing what had been said so that he could think of more questions to ask. Really, though, he didn't have any, leaving him completely free to enjoy the trip and the company. "Morphic molecules, huh? Hm." Ralf considered the term; he was almost certain he'd heard it before, and couldn't help but think that it might apply to him. He had no idea, how though. Was Elias some kind of science guy? He was surprisingly comfortable around that sort of thing despite all the poking and prodding he'd had to endure. So when the robot appeared, he didn't so much as flinch, at least not as much as he did at William's request for water. The last thing he wanted was to accidentally take his real form. Though the headlines about a random blob-like monster showing up in the ATOM building would be pretty funny. "I'm good, thanks." Ralf gave a polite nod and a slight bow to ALEX. He removed his backpack, settling it between his ankles as he sat down on the nearest couch. "Sorry if I didn't introduce myself before. Name's Ralf! Nice to meet you all."

Amorph >So There's That Blasted Cow! Arcturus Crusader

Ralf did, indeed, have a bag packed. It was filled, however, with video games and probably more candy and chocolate than would be recommended for a normal person. Ralf Steiner, however, was not a normal person. Actual clothes were still kind of a weird concept to him. He could, after all, just MAKE clothes, so why wear them? No one had been able to answer that question without turning all manner of red in the face, so it seemed like the right thing to do just to give in to the request. He tugged a bit at the collar of the black sweatshirt he was wearing--it just seemed like the thing to put on, and it really was a warmer option than just using his powers. Summer was going to be interesting. The idea of going to the moon was too awesome to pass. The fact that he didn't even breathe and could survive without oxygen hadn't been lost on him, which meant that he could REALLY look at things. Plus, souvenirs! Always a plus. He wasn't 100% sure how the others would fare though... Most of them weren't even aware of what he was. Then again, neither was he. Not really. "So wait a minute," he said, raising a hand as he spoke. "...this elevator. Is going to the moon. Right?" There was no shortage of skepticism in his voice, though that was mixed in with a hefty helping of enthusiasm. The concept was tough to wrap his head around... and he was prepared to ask all the questions. All the questions. He was mentally prepared for some sort of rocket or something but this seemed much, much cooler.

Tagging!

Amorph None :I Arcturus >Bright Lights and Good Cheer Crusader None :I

Arcturus Arcturus could see it happening before it actually happened. He'd spent enough time with Errant to know that he valued his personal space pretty highly, and he could almost smell the annoyance in the teen psychic rising exponentially. He cringed inwardly as Errant stormed off; he opened his mouth to stop him, but then thought better of it, shaking his head. He could appreciate how much effort it took to open up to people; Arcturus still wasn't what one would call extroverted, but a year ago he wouldn't have even come to a party as large as this one. His brow furrowed visibly beneath the cowl; he cleared his throat and started off in Errant's direction. "Excuse me, guys... I'll be back in a bit." Just getting near the food made him hungry again, and food was as good an excuse as any to follow after Errant. Arc didn't doubt for a second that Errant would try to sneak out of the party at some point--not that Arcturus could stop Errant from leaving if he really wanted to, but he really didn't want that incident to be Errant's sole takeaway from the encounter. The trick, however, was figuring out what to say to Errant. He didn't at all blame Errant for reacting the way he had... so he asked the first question that came to mind. "You okay, man?"

Amorph/Ralf Steiner would probably qualify as a Freshman/Super-Sophomore, giving his rather... unique situation.

Arcturus Arcturus cringed a little bit. 'Arky'. Subito was... strange. Gregarious to a fault, but Arc really couldn't help but like him for all his quirks. "Heraldo... Happy Holidays." He managed a faint grin. "I can't really complain. I'm here, breathing, et cetera. How've you been?" He really hadn't seen much of Subito after the incident in the training room, where the Beast Rune had first decided to start getting... aggressive.

Arcturus "Arcturus. Nice to meet you. And Happy Holidays." Arc found his gaze angling upward. It was definitely something that didn't happen too often. Nevertheless, he didn't seem to mind new and unfamiliar company. Instead, he allowed the others to introduce themselves as well. The entire situation was a far cry from where he'd been not even a year before, and if his journey into his own mindscape had proven anything, it was that he had a lot of room for improvement. It was a nice change of pace, not being so guarded and on edge all the time. Of course, with the Cult of the Beast Rune still at-large, he couldn't completely relax. This was still an enjoyable departure from the craziness that was his regular situation.

Arcturus "Errant! Happy Holidays!" He grinned widely and almost gave him a hug. He was certain that was a bad idea, so he just waved as he was more or less dragged over to their group. Having spent some time with Errant, he felt like he understood the quiet psychic a little better. Errant valued his privacy and personal space. If anything, Errant was the one psychic he knew that he could trust. "You guys have definitely been keeping busy," he said with a nod. "You know you can always call me if you need anything, yeah? The Academy's got my number in last year's directory, and I'm pretty sure they have Parkhurst's number around for magically inclined students..."

Nah, not just yet... Unless you think we should?

Arcturus "I know the feeling... I broke my share of cell phones when I was at Claremont. They just don't make 'em sturdy enough for bear paws, I guess." Marcus laughed; for the longest time, he went without one because he was tired of replacing them. "I had a little bit of an incident at the end of the semester that made it kind of hard to start college right after so I decided to do a little bit of personal research instead. Trying to get a solid grip on the whole magic thing." Vague as it was, Arc still didn't like talking about what had happened in May. Only he and one other person in the room knew what happened, and while he'd somewhat gotten over it, he still was dealing with some of the emotional and physical aftermath of it. His regenerative abilities, after all, couldn't heal everything. "I've actually started looking at magic on a global scale. It's really more of a hobby than anything else... That field trip to Africa really got me thinking, but I haven't figured out a real, practical use for it or the random magical contraptions I've been building. Other than that... working in the Theatre District is what's paying the bills. Set design is actually a lot of fun. Keeps me occupied when I'm not rooting around in the dark for things that go bump in the night." "But that's enough about me," he said, a bit embarrassed about having gone on as long as he did. He never was much for talking about himself. It was that party at War-Earth all over again. "I'm sure you guys have plenty of stories to tell, too!"

Crusader "I can understand that; I wouldn't let the 'new' thing get you down. Compared to the other Crusaders before me, I've still got a ways to go. Kinda makes me a little envious of some of these kids..." He laughed at the notion, looking around the room. There were plenty of heroes not much older than some of his students. For all he knew, some of them could very well have been his students. "But I guess in a way, I've got heroing in my genes. Don't get me wrong... I don't have powers or anything, just a really good sense of direction!"

Crusader "About... three years, technically." Crusader had to seriously think about it, nodding slowly. Maxima's height didn't seem to bother him; if it did, he didn't show any real outward sign of noticing. "The mantle just sort of fell into my lap from the Crusader before me... and even then, that was after college. I can't help but feel like there's more I could be doing but it's been kind of a rough year."

Power Level: 10 (150/154PP) Trade-Offs: +2 Toughness / -2 Defense Unspent PP: 4 In-Brief: Experimental life form with the mind of a teenager Alternate Identities: Ralf Steiner Identity: Public Birthplace: Munich, Germany Occupation: Student Affiliations: None Family: Andrew Steiner (adopted father) Age: 2 (though mentally around 16) Gender: Male Ethnicity: ??? Height: 5' 8" Weight: 175 lbs Eyes: Green Hair: Black (usually) Description: In his raw, undisguised form, Ralf is a slender, vaguely humanoid blob with large, muscular looking limbs. He tends to look more than a little monstrous when not in disguise, sporting a large maw and large, glowing yellow eyes. His Claremont uniform typically consists of little more than a pair of baggy blue pants and a pair of black bracers that cover half of his forearms. Though he can look any way he pleases for the most part, he tends to walk around on the day to day looking like a teenager, based largely off of a picture of his creator when he was younger. In this particular form, he's a tall, somewhat gangly young man with black hair and green eyes. Power Descriptions: Ralf is a vaguely humanoid gelatinous blob, able to stretch his body and pass between a liquid-like and solid state almost at will. Because his entire body is a weapon, he uses it as such in often inventive ways, striking with mallet-sized fists (or actual mallets!) from a significant distance. History: Andrew Steiner was tasked by SHADOW to create a weapon: a life form that could cause untold destruction while being durable enough to withstand anything that any hero could throw at it. After years of development, he created an amorphous blob creature named RALF: Recombinant Artificial Life Form. It had everything that SHADOW asked it for--strength, durability, and the potential to cause significant destruction if mass produced. During the testing and experiments, however, Steiner noticed that his creation had odd quirks. While it didn't require sustenance in the traditional sense, it snatched a candy bar from an unwitting technician and immediately ate it. And it seemed to enjoy it. After six months, it began mimicking the speech of those around it. In time, it learned not only to speak, but to read and write as well. It started asking question, learning at a rapid rate with the curiosity and innocence typical of a child. Steiner realized what he had created, and that handing RALF over and turning him into a weapon would be a terrible mistake. This fact became all the more clear when RALF was put into combat testing and showed a clear reluctance to harm living targets, constantly questioning his handlers. Steiner fled to America, taking RALF with him. Giving him a name and instructing the still evolving life form to disguise himself in a form fitting his intellectual age, Steiner contacted Claremont Academy to put Ralf in their care before he disappeared. Personality & Motivations: Ralf is a playful individual, always quick with a joke or a witty retort. At a glance, he seems to take almost nothing seriously, and his general nature and energy border on the hyperactive. Still, he knows his situation and rails against the idea of someone else using him to harm others. His lessons in morality are, in his mind, a personal connection to the man who created him, and he'll do whatever he has to in order to honor it. Ralf is an uncompromisingly honest person--perhaps a little too honest. In most matters, he doesn't really know how to pull his punches, either physically or emotionally, which can often lead to a little bit of awkwardness and unintended friction with other people. He knows he's not perfect, however, and that's just one of many things he needs to learn. Powers & Tactics: Ralf tends to use his superior physical strength and durability to his advantage, and is perfectly fine with wading into a fight, fists swinging. His ability to stretch his limbs only lends to his preference for slugging it out with an opponent, and his elusive nature is often used as a distraction to allow heavier hitters to take advantage of the situation. His unusual body structure allows him to use more than just his arms as weapon; able to bounce from place to place, climb and suspend himself from walls, and use his entire body to snare opponents, Ralf can be incredibly unpredictable, but the constant is always about his mobility. Complications: Enemy: SHADOW wants its biological weapon back. It Ain't Easy...: All of Ralf's humanoid forms have green eyes. Keep It Together: Ralf has a tough time maintaining a disguise in the presence of water. While he can at least keep his basic form intact, anything more doesn't hold up, even rain. Sweet Tooth: Ralph can eat just about anything. Though he has no appetite to speak of, he can't resist sugar. Trophy Hunter: Ralf often feels like everything he does needs commemorating, and often looks to collect souvenirs from encounters. Abilities: 0 + 8 + 24 + 2 + 0 + 4 = 38PP Strength: 10/30 (+10) Dexterity: 18 (+4) Constitution: 34 (+12) Intelligence: 12 (+1) Wisdom: 10 (+0) Charisma: 14 (+2) Combat: 16 + 16 = 32PP Initiative: +4 Attack: +8 (+10 melee) Grapple: +28 Defense: +8 (8, +0 Dodge Focus) / +4 flat-footed Knockback: -6 Saving Throws: 0 + 2 + 6 = 8 PP Toughness: +12 Fortitude: +12 (+12 Con, 0) Reflex: +6 (+4 Dex, 2) Will: +6 (+0 Wis, 6) Skills: 32R = 8PP Acrobatics 4 (+8) Bluff 10 (+12) Disguise 4 (+6) Escape Artist 0 (+9 Elongation) Intimidate 4 (+6) Language (Native: German; English) Notice 4 (+4) Perform (acting) 3 (+5) Stealth 2 (+6) Feats: 5PP Attack Focus (melee) 2 Distract (Bluff) Improved Grab Improved Grapple Powers: 6 + 6 + 5 + 23 + 7 + 6 + 6 = 59PP Elongation 5 (100 ft range, 50 ft increments, +5 Escape and Grapple) [5PP] AP: Leaping 5 (x50; 250/500/1000 high/standing/running jump) [1PP] Immunity 6 (Critical hits, disease, poison, suffocation) [6PP] Insubstantial 1 (fluid) [5PP] Morph 10 (Broad--any humanoid, +50 disguise) [23PP] AP: Bouncing 9 (PFs: Move-by Action, Ricochet) [1PP] AP: Enhanced Strength 20 [1PP] AP: Snare 10 (Flaw: Distracting, Ex: Engulf, Regenerating) [1PP] Regeneration 6 (Injured 6 [1/round]; PF: Regrowth) [7PP] Super Movement 3 (Slithering, Sure-Footed 1, Wall-Crawling) [6PP] Super Strength 3 (+15 STR, heavy load: 6.4 tons) [6PP] Drawbacks: -0PP Abilities (38) + Combat (34) + Saving Throws (8) + Skills (8) + Feats (5) + Powers (59) - Drawbacks (0) = 150/154 Power Points DC Block Attack Range Save Effect ============================================================================ Unarmed Melee DC25 TOU [Staged] Damage [Physical] Snare Melee DC20 Reflex [Staged] Bound/Entangled

GM Frank was still wildly off balance from the blow to the back of the knees, giving Mess quite an opening. The heavy blows to the body doubled the already unbalanced Riveter over, and the shot to the head that followed didn't make his situation any better. The combo sent Mazziari crashing to the ground, the lead pipe he'd been holding skidding across the ground and underneath another vehicle. Crusader was a little stunned himself, though not nearly enough to have forgotten why he was there to begin with. "I'm only gonna ask this once. Ben Noble... you know him, right?" "...heh..." The Riveter managed a laugh, spitting red at Crusader's boots. "If that loser owes you money, you're probably too late to collect..." Crusader's expression changed instantly, barely perceptible underneath his mask but obvious in his body language. He grabbed Riveter by the collar and hauled the big man up to his knees. "You're not in a position to make jokes, Francis."

Knockback check ends up being less than 5 feet, so now he's prone on top of everything else! (Incoming GM post!) Crusader's going to skip his turn entirely (as per his complication about not hitting downed opponents!) so...

TOOK THE CROSS by Thevshi Crusader 4 PP to spend Feats (2 PP) Adding All-Out Attack and Elusive Target. Powers (2 PP) Adding PF: Innate to Leaping and Speed (which I should've done a long while ago; overlooked it.)

TOU check [DC 27]: (1d20+10=17) So now he's Bruised x1, Staggered, and Stunned. Riveter is definitely seeing stars now. Crusader :: 27 -- Unharmed Bloody Mess :: 23 -- Unharmed Thugs [4] :: 6 -- Unconscious Riveter :: 5 -- Bruised, Staggered, Stunned Which means Crusader's up again!

Arcturus Bright Lights & Good Cheer Junk & Scrap Spirits Within Crusader Bright Lights & Good Cheer My Brother's Keeper GM/NPC My Brother Keeper [points to be applied to Crusader]

Crusader wasn't at all discouraged by having done little to nothing to the Riveter. He wisely moved well out of the way before Mess had swung the car at the metallic giant, which gave him pause--it wasn't exactly something he'd expected. Not to be outdone, he rushed forward, dropping low and swinging his shield while it was still in hand. It slammed right into the back of Riveter's left knee, making him stagger as his legs threatened to give out underneath him. The bigger they are...

Yep, and since Crusader's up next, he's going to make use of Unbalancing Strike! Attack Roll (Unbalancing Strike): (1d20+8=21) vs. Riveter's Reflex save: REF save [DC 18]: (1d20+7=17) And he's stumbling all over himself and loses his dodge bonus. Mess is up next then; posting IC in the meanwhile!

GM Riveter actually looked surprised for a second as the car nailed him, sending him sprawling backward. It wasn't quite enough to knock him over though, and he snagged a lead pipe off the ground, attempting to hit a home run with Mess's body. "You little..." He snarled at Mess, muttering words that might give sailors pause, hitting the ground with his swing hard enough to send sparks flying.

Arcturus was in trouble. Despite all the confidence he'd had in telling the other woman to leave, he couldn't help but think that decision was a bad one. Somehow, Gauntlet was stronger than he remembered, and being pinned down by hundreds of pounds of living armor was incredibly painful. He was doing all he could not to be crushed between the golem and the cavern wall. He couldn't even think of a cynical comeback; just surviving, at this point, was paramount... In the back of Arc's mind, though, he could feel his grip on the Beast Rune slipping. He could sense something brewing, taking advantage of his fear and split focus... Damn it... not now...

Crusader Crusader laughed, shaking Silver Spider's hand. "No problem; I know how it is. My ride here was pretty peaceful. Cold and people still drive like maniacs, but otherwise..." "Interrupting? Not at all." Crusader offered an encouraging smile. "A pleasure to meet you, Maxima." "I've done most of mine already. Still a few things to pick up and a birthday gift to buy, but I think I've got it pretty well managed this year. I think I can relate to the networking thing too..." He looked around the room and nodded. He wondered just how many of these heroes the Crusader before him, his father, knew. "But hey, that's a good reason to be here too, right?"