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Date: January 25, 2016 It wasn't until after winter break that Raina could round up a small cluster of fellow students to come along to extra curricular training. On the bright side, it meant she'd had several weeks of one on one classes to be confident with both the workings of the school and the general format of the training. Always nice to be the expert in the group, after all. With a large enough group, Claremont sent the teenagers to their extra credit activity in one of the few vans for such purposes rather than letting the students make their own way. The unmarked school van pulled up to let the students unload directly in front of a well kept building in the middle of the West End. A sign proclaimed 'The Espadas School of Self-Defense and Swordsmanship!' (Exclamation mark included), and through the front doors was a small lobby and receptionist desk before the dojo itself. As they had forewarning that there was going to be more than just the one student, Talya had come down early to straighten things in the lobby and keep an eye out just in case the school van had trouble finding a good drop off point. Rather than standing behind the desk, the attractive blonde was perched on top of it, seated on the surface as she sorted through papers. Lately, Talya had taken to wearing a loose cut tanktop over her formfitting practice wear and today was no different. As the students disembarked she shifted the paperwork to one side to welcome the knot of teenagers. "Come on in and pick a cubby for your shoes and anything else you want to put away," Talya invited in a clipped, British accent. She flashed Raina a smile as the young woman stepped in, "Hullo, Raina." She added before raising her voice slightly, "Erik, the students are here."

January 22, 2016 Claremont Academy In a clutch of trees near the athletics field, Woodsman was making notes. "All right, there's 'least two in th' buildin's," said Riley, pointing with his whittled-down golf pencil at the nearby campus structures. "And there's this one," he added, pointing towards the spot where they'd been told to wait for "special training." That meant the Doom Room - that meant more simulations. Thinking about the Doom Room made him remember the arrow in Dr. Metropolis' eye and the scorn of his peers that had followed, so he was spending his time thinking about more productive things. "There's gotta be at least one that leads off-campus," he said thoughtfully, chewing on one end of the pencil. "Down by the bay, when they go fishin'." He looked over at their "guest instructor" for today - the slim, brown-haired woman in the red tracksuit who had introduced herself as "Sam Capote" - and who he had recognized as the Claremont alum Relentless. "We goin' fishin?" "Easy there, soldier," she told him, giving the words more weight than other teachers at the school might have. "Everybody will be briefed at the same time." "Just tryin' to stay productiv," said Riley, standing up and adjusting the crossbow that hung across his back. Slipping into his poncho and standing beneath the trees, waiting for the rest of the team to arrive, was a taste of home - but home had never been so bright, so clean, or so safe. He scratched his fingers against his chin, wondering not for the first time if that was stubble he felt there. How could he tell his teacher that he was tracking the paths used by the cannibal degenerates that lived in the Claremont Academy of his own reality? "Didn't think I was _this_ early."

It was very cold in New Jersey at the beginning of February, especially in the early evening when the sun had retreated to a mere suggestion of cloudy sunset and the stars were hidden by a hundred thousand points of light pollution. Raina shivered as she stood on the quad in her light Burberry jacket and tennis shoes, staring at the sky and trying to locate even the faintest trace of moon. She had a winter coat in her room, some awful thing that her grandmother had picked up at the Goodwill and washed the dead-body-smell off of, but Raina wasn't going to wear that unless there was literally no other choice. She'd rather be cold in a pretty spring coat that was only just a teeny bit too short. Next to her, Merlin sulked in her backpack, festively attired in one of Cathy's hats and a snowsuit made for babies. He had no compunction about sacrificing fashion for warmth, but really, it wasn't as if he were ever going to be out looking for love. "Come on," she cajoled him, "just fifteen more minutes. I gotta try this spell, and there's supposed to be a full moon tonight, it's just behind the clouds." She shaded her eyes, as though that would help. Merlin impatiently pointed out that she was studying the wrong quadrant of the sky, which would make it difficult to find the moon even if it weren't cloudy. Raina replied with an incoherent exclamation of frustration and turned to look in the other direction. "I hate you, you know that?" Merlin indicated smugly that he did indeed know that.

Initiative time!

January 22nd, 2016 Freedom City, New Jersey Midday It could have been a frog, if. It had the right body shape, all bulging belly and eyes and weirdly spindly legs. It hopped with the same quick, spastic, energetic movements. Its skin had the same wet, shiny look to it. Its tongue was wet and pink and long, slapping out and grabbing at prey and dragging them toward its open, stinking max. It could have been a frog, if it hadn’t been five feet tall. If it hadn’t been heavy enough to crack the pavement where it landed. If it hadn’t been redolent of decay and pestilence and rot and stink. If it hadn’t been black and green and ridged with what looked like rock but smoked like lava. If it hadn’t been slowly advancing on the woman with her trio of yappy dogs. Its tongue shot out like a whip and snared the smallest of them, wrapping around the puppy’s head and slowly, inexorably dragging the animal back to its mouth. It could have been a frog, if it wasn’t ready to swallow the woman whole.

January 25, 2016 The beach at Lonely Point The dimensional incursion caught Taylor's senses like the whiff of brimstone - not Hell, exactly, but maybe worse. She knew the stink of the Erdes well enough and this one was particularly foul. As far as she could tell it was a one-off, somewhere just at the shoreline of Lonely Point; away from the base, near the small sheltered park in the area. An annoying way to start the week - but if she was honest, not an unusual one. - Sarah had been sent to the beach that morning with an assignment to meditate by the sea and then write a 250 word paper on her feelings about the dichotomy between land and sea embodied by her own 'chakra-sense'. Combining magic and secondary education sometimes didn't work very well. She had just found herself in a lotus position when suddenly the air opened up before her and a man leaped backwards through an invisible door. A big, beefy man in a brown uniform with a black hat, black tie, and the sort of pale skin that flushed ruddy red at the slightest provocation, it was easy to guess his politics. The swastika on his armband, jacket, and tie, all told that story. "Fools, you'll-hah, it worked!" He slapped himself on the thigh in triumph and turned around before fixing his gaze on Sarah. A suspicious look in his frankly quite piggy eyes, he said something in an Asian language that Sarah understood not at all. When she didn't understand, he tried again once, then again in English. "Me White Knight," he explained in a pidgin that would have sounded insulting to someone born at the time of Sarah's grandparents, much less now. "Me big cheese in skyboat," he said, pointing to the Heavens above, "You take me to chief, savvy?"

For all rollz and the like influencing this right here.

Player Name: Amyball Hero Name: Hellbinder Real Name: Sarah Genmai Kahn Power Level: 10 (150/151PP) Trade-Offs: None Unspent Power Points: 1 In Brief: What if Batman knew magic instead of Kung-Fu? Current Residence: Lavish North Bay mansion. LOTS of books. It's a typical rich person's mansion, but every room has at least one bookshelf. Base of Operations: The mansion's basement, built to her specifications Occupation: New Student at the Academy Affiliations: None yet Family: Maria and Gene (Americanized) Kahn, both deceased. Legal Guardians: Xiang Hua and Hatori Hua (Grandparents, living) Description: Age: 16 (DoB: April 6, 1999) Apparent Age: Older teen, perhaps early 20's Gender: Female Ethnicity: Asian (East Asian) Height: 5’ 0” Weight: 100 lbs. Eyes: Black with red pupils Hair: Black Sarah appears to be a fairly typical young teen or young adult. She normally wears her hair long, perfectly combed. In fact, not a bit of her appearance ever seems to be out of place. Perfectly calm, poised, and in control, the young woman exudes an air of... not exactly confidence. Her stance is usually a little hunched over, and her clothing tends towards the baggy and unflattering. Which is no surprise. She developed early and well, and despite her parent's money, she was teased a great deal at her old schools before she started her home-schooling. When she's Hellbinder though, that all changes. Her outfit is clingy, her aura is one of absolute dominion, and her voice resonates with all the threats and promises of hell. Said outfit is black (not leather) with red trim, and clawed gloves over the hands (mainly for show) Power Description: She is a 'typical' magic user. When her powers are used, her hair fans out and she levitates a little as she incants her spell. The arcane gestures she uses create light contrails in the air around her, forming mystic sigils. While she has shown signs of minor power-use when restrained, it's proven to be ineffective at best, and an active hindrance at worst, as it still drains her abilities as any 'overcharged' (power stunted) spell would. History: Her parents were... In a word, WEALTHY. Like Bruce Wayne levels of cash. She was a spoiled sweet princess, had everything she wanted, was generous, a good student... Then her parents died in a plane crash and her mind broke a little. Sarah went through a severe emo-goth streak, and used her parents money to delve DEEP into the occult, which she had a significant talent for. Eventually, she made a pact with hell to bring her parents back to life. They drew up the contract, signed it... And hell brought her parents back as zombies. They tried to take her soul, but couldn't. They'd missed a bit of fine print where she said they had to bring them back to life. Which they didn't. And when they tried to fix their error, they found they couldn't, because her parent's souls weren't IN hell. The contract was broken, and Hell's backlash as the contract ended tore open her soul, providing her with a strong connection to Hell that even the Prince of Darkness couldn't close. They're not too happy with the 16-year-old, but there's not a great deal they can do to her, since they were the ones who broke the contract. She's still a bit of a sore spot, especially since she took up the cloak and cowl of the hero. She's still a nice girl, if a bit dark and moody. Not as trusting. Not as sweet. But she's still loyal to her remaining friends and family. I am imagining that (possibly on a level she does not herself realize) that the emo-goth streak is A) an extension of mourning and needing to incorporate that into living as a kid in western society, and B) a way to declare to the world 'don't screw with me' when she's in a touchy emotional state. Something of a defense mechanism. And her two best friends, one predates all this, likely another rich princess with her own family intact, and the second she has met as a direct result of getting into the Goth scene, someone who has their own troubles and just gets it. Her wealth has -not- come from criminal orgs, but rather a combination of vending-machine manufacture and banking. They'd put a lot of money-politics-effort into getting law enforcement able to keep the criminals off their backs. Family wise, she's an only child but has cousins all over the place. Her grandparents are going most of the work of raising her now, in particular her maternal grandmother who keeps a tight grip on allowances to keep all the money flows stable, and pretends not to notice all the heroing going on while pulling strings behind the scenes to let it happen semi-safely. She gets home schooled via private tutors, some of whom fly int for a few weeks at a time to do really intense, fast sessions and then a week off for her to do her own thing. Or at least she was until she was about to get sent to an academy in Freedom City. That trip to the academy never happened. During a short bus ride around town to get used to the place, the bus was robbed by a small gang of what she generously would call 'hoodlums'. Ducking down and changing into her outfit, she came up, hands blazing with power... And nearly killed the robbers. She overestimated their resilience, and their bodies very nearly became ragdolls. Such a use of power would easily be tracked by those in the know, and Claremont managed to find her in fairly short order, given that she'd committed the cardinal sin of forgetting her gloves and half her mask. Personality and Motivation. Combat and Tactics: She is, even as Hellbinder, a very sweet girl. Despite her withdrawn nature, a strong sense of justice burns in her heart, and she'd like nothing more than all villains to be rehabilitated, or put behind bars. In combat, she's a firm fighter, using exactly as much force as she thinks she needs... She often over estimates how much force is needed, and this tends to lead to extensive collateral damage. She DOES try to clean up after herself, and generous donations to various media sources keep her public opinion high... Or at least, not terrible. Outside of combat, she is shy, withdrawn, and prone to mood swings. Her parents death is still fresh in her mind, but she hides it behind a quiet, serious mask of study and training. To her friends, she is generous and loyal. To those not part of her 'friendship circle' she can often be seen as a haughty, cold-hearted bitch. She does leave a great deal to charity though, always anonymously. Power Level: 10 (150/150PP) Trade-Offs: -2 Attack / +2 Damage, -4 Defense / +4 Toughness Complications: Hellish Backlash: Her powers, as honestly and true as she tries to use them, are powered by hell. When she's in a vulnerable emotional state, Hell can reach through her, overcharging her abilities and manifesting her powers without her needing to chant, gesture, or otherwise do anything. This is not an advantage, as it never manifests when it would benefit her. Instead, when she loses control, it's always at the most inconvenient times. Hell will have its own. Retribution: She tricked Hell. She got them on a technicality, and denied their hold on her soul and loyalty. What's worse is that they, by their own contract, have to continue providing her with power despite the broken word... Because it was THEIR word that they broke. They're not very happy with Sarah, and frequently attempt to send agents to have her killed so that they can use her magical powers for something other than goodness and 'light'. Secret Identity: Other than her magical tutor and her grandparents, Sarah leads a very strict double life. She's terrified that if anyone found out about her hellish powers, she would be branded a villain, and be unable to continue 'doing good' in an attempt to make up for the 'sin' of making a deal with hell to try and revive her parents. Abilities: 0 + 0 + 0 + 10 + 6 + 6 = 22PP Strength 10 (+0) Dexterity 10 (+0) Constitution 10 (+0) Intelligence 20 (+5) Wisdom 16 (+3) Charisma 16 (+3) Combat: 8 + 8 = 16PP Initiative: +4 Attack: +4, +8 magical attacks Grapple: +4 Defense: +6 (+4 Base, +2 Dodge Focus), +2 Flat-Footed Knockback: -0, -12 w/ Force Field Saving Throws: 6 + 6 + 9 = 21PP Toughness: +0/+14 (+0 Con, +14 Force Field [impervious 10]) Fortitude: +6 (+0 Con, +6) Reflex: +6 (+0 Dex, +6) Will: +12 (+3 Wis, +9) Skills: 64R = 16PP Concentration 12 (+15) Intimidate 1[9] (+4[+12]) Knowledge [Arcane] 15 (+20, Skill Mastery) Knowledge [Theology and Philosophy] 5 (+10) Language 2 (English [native], Greek, Latin) Notice 7 (+10, Skill Mastery) Search 10 (+15, Skill Mastery) Sense Motive 12 (+15, Skill Mastery) Feats: 14PP Benefit: Wealthy 3 Dodge Focus 2 Improved Initiative 1 Luck 3 Ritualist Skill Mastery (Knowledge [Arcane], Notice, Search, Sense Motive) Trance Ultimate Save (Will) Ultimate Skill (Knowledge [Arcane]) Powers: 2 + 30 + 3 + 24 + 7 = 64 Enhanced Skills 8: Intimidate (to 9/+12) (2PP) Magic Array 13 (26pp array, Power Feats Alternate Powers 4) [30PP] Base Power: Blast 12 (mystic blasts, Power Feats: Accurate 2) [26PP] Alternate Power: ESP 6 (20 miles; visual and auditory senses, Extras: Duration - Sustained) [24PP] Alternate Power: Snare 12 (mystic bond, Power Feats: Accurate 2) [26PP] Alternate Power: Teleport 6 (mystic gateway, range: 20 miles, Extras: Accurate, Power Feats: Change Velocity, Easy) [26P] Alternate Power: Insubstantial 4 (spectral form) and Super-Senses 4 (X-ray vision) [24PP] Flight 1 (mystic flight, 10 MPH / 100 ft per round) (PF: Subtle) [3PP] Force Field 14 (mystic wards, Extras: Impervious 10) [24PP] Super-Senses 3 (Magical Awareness 3 [Mental; Enhancements: Acute, Analytical, Ranged) [7PP] Drawbacks: 3 PP Power Loss (Magic, Flight and Force Field, when unable to speak or gesture to cast spells, common, moderate, -3pp) DC Block: ATTACK RANGE SAVE EFFECT Unarmed Touch DC 15 Toughness (Staged) Damage Blast Range DC 27 Toughness (Staged) Damage Snare Range DC 22 Reflex (Staged) Ensnared/Helpless Abilities (22) + Combat (16) + Saving Throws (21) + Skills (16) + Feats (14) + Powers (64) - Drawbacks (-3) = 150/151 Power Points