Icons Issue 1 : Withdrawal Symptoms

Banjo

Necrominus wrote: »

Squiramorph lightly calls to Plasma Squirrel - 'Turret secured, scan the area for hostiles.'

To the mech pilot she projects:

'Can't help with the gick unfortunately, just making sure you don't hurt any of us while we figure out who you are. Who attacked you? Or are you lying here as a trap for us?'

"A trap for you? Who the **** do you think you are, Apex or Squirramorph or something? I'm with the Soup you moron. A buncha Skillet thugs just robbed the bank, and there's no one else to stop them anymore. I'm the best protection Taxpayer money can afford, so if you're unimpressed, think about that time you marched on city hall when the price of Nuggets went up to $3.50 - if you'd just paid the 2c extra for your nuggets I'd have kicked their asses."
He continues trying to roll left and right to free his arms up.

Necro

Banjo wrote: »

"A trap for you? Who the **** do you think you are, Apex or Squirramorph or something? I'm with the Soup you moron. A buncha Skillet thugs just robbed the bank, and there's no one else to stop them anymore. I'm the best protection Taxpayer money can afford, so if you're unimpressed, think about that time you marched on city hall when the price of Nuggets went up to $3.50 - if you'd just paid the 2c extra for your nuggets I'd have kicked their asses."
He continues trying to roll left and right to free his arms up.

'Eh - yeah! I'm Squiramorph, can't you tell by my super awesome control? Where did the bank thugs go, we were chasing them!'

Banjo

Necrominus wrote: »

'Eh - yeah! I'm Squiramorph, can't you tell by my super awesome control? Where did the bank thugs go, we were chasing them!'

"The **** you are! Squiramorph is a god-damned hero! She'd turn into a mouse and eat all this wax off my face. I saw a youtube video, mice do that all the time.

How am I supposed to know where they went? I can't see! They went that-a-way"
he makes a show of not being able to point which-a-way while delivering the last line as sarcastically as his voice modulation system will allow.

His robo-head jerks to the side a few times, as if he's trying to hit something with his chin, then he says
"Oz? It's Jimmy. ...No.... no I'm down. Can you lock on and send someone with.. .I dunno, a hairdryer or one o' them blowtorches off masterchef? .... no that was Sopranos, I mean the cooking show.... yeah, for making them cream broolies... Sir, you could just trust me? Like the mayor trusts me with this million dollar jap-fetish suit? Send the damned torch!"
He jerks his head again before adding "Golly gee whiz and go **** yourself, sir!"

Necro

Banjo wrote: »

"The **** you are! Squiramorph is a god-damned hero! She'd turn into a mouse and eat all this wax off my face. I saw a youtube video, mice do that all the time.

How am I supposed to know where they went? I can't see! They went that-a-way"
he makes a show of not being able to point which-a-way while delivering the last line as sarcastically as his voice modulation system will allow.

His robo-head jerks to the side a few times, as if he's trying to hit something with his chin, then he says
"Oz? It's Jimmy. ...No.... no I'm down. Can you lock on and send someone with.. .I dunno, a hairdryer or one o' them blowtorches off masterchef? .... no that was Sopranos, I mean the cooking show.... yeah, for making them cream broolies... Sir, you could just trust me? Like the mayor trusts me with this million dollar jap-fetish suit? Send the damned torch!"
He jerks his head again before adding "Golly gee whiz and go **** yourself, sir!"

Squiramorph climbs out of the chopper and walks toward the mech suited man.

'I'll free you up if you promise not to shoot me.'

Baggly

Plas sticks his head out the door 'he isnt being much help to us and could be ordered to apprehend us. If he doesn't want to help us find the baddies leave him to his cop buddy's'

Plas looks around to scan the area.

Nebelwerfer

The man in the cow suit looks around to see whether there are waxy traces leading anywhere, from the mech, to any particular direction.

Banjo

Pter wrote: »

OOC: Banjo what can I get away with in terms of scanners within the Squirrelcopter? I propose radar as standard, movement & satellite thermal imaging on top of that. With some sort of tagging feature so the satellite can pinpoint anyone we tag for surveillance. Maybe a decent AI that can conduct a risk assessment....? Pwetty pweease?

OOC : I offered you a Flying Squirrel with bushy tail rotors, you took an off the shelf helicopter with vinyls for branding. The die is cast! You get a tachometer, altimeter, RADAR. For the rest.... If you can make a case for where you got that kind of equipment and on what budget, and then what facilities you had access to for fitting it, we'll see! (that's a polite no )

Even if it's not immediately possible, if, say for instance, you had access to some kind of cutting edge nanotechnology laboratory in the future you might be able to add that kind of capability on... but...

What you're talking about though is turning the Squirrelcopter into a rolling series of undefined Advantages, which gets very expensive in terms of DP usage and threatens to leave the other players out in the cold. There is a solution to that - there's an OGL power one of the team would have to take. And that comes at a cost...

Baggly

Plas turns on the helicopter radio to scan the airwaves for any reports of hoodlums in a van.

OOC: I take it we have a radio, then?

Banjo

Nebelwerfer wrote: »

The man in the cow suit looks around to see whether there are waxy traces leading anywhere, from the mech, to any particular direction.

While the waxy trail doesn't lead anywhere in particular, the road runs north-south, and they themselves came from the south, so it seems logical that they were driving northwards towards the Panhandle bridge and the Skillet from whence they came. The damaged cars lining the road north would appear to support this conjecture.

Nebelwerfer

Banjo wrote: »

While the waxy trail doesn't lead anywhere in particular, the road runs north-south, and they themselves came from the south, so it seems logical that they were driving northwards towards the Panhandle bridge and the Skillet from whence they came. The damaged cars lining the road north would appear to support this conjecture.

The man in the cowsuit faces the group and remarks.

"My superior intellect tells me we should be heading north, there are subtle markers and indicators to show this is likely the only avenue for their escape".

"How now brown cow? you ask?"

He reassures the group he is pretty certain about his findings.

Banjo

Pter wrote: »

Plas turns on the helicopter radio to scan the airwaves for any reports of hoodlums in a van.

OOC: I take it we have a radio, then?

As detailed in post #1 you have a modified civilian radio that functions as a police scanner.

You're picking up a lot of reports about the bank, chatter between ambulance drivers and dispatchers trying to route the customers and former hostages to the city's hospitals. You gather that 3 of the SWAT team were killed in the blast. There's also a discussion about the difference between Creme Brulee and Creme Caramel that gets abruptly cut off. Eventually you catch a confirmation that that the vans have been seen on the bridge, and an order to raise the bridge is delayed until after they've crossed, to "let 'em go but keep 'em out."

Baggly

Nebelwerfer wrote: »

The man in the cowsuit faces the group and remarks.

"My superior intellect tells me we should be heading north, there are subtle markers and indicators to show this is likely the only avenue for their escape".

"How now brown cow? you ask?"

He reassures the group he is pretty certain about his findings.

Plas shouts out 'Saddle up gang. They are on the bridge! We should have a speed advantage on them if we can lift off asap!'

Banjo

Nebelwerfer wrote: »

The man in the cowsuit faces the group and remarks.

"My superior intellect tells me we should be heading north, there are subtle markers and indicators to show this is likely the only avenue for their escape".

"How now brown cow? you ask?"

He reassures the group he is pretty certain about his findings.

OOC : I can confirm that it wasn't worth rolling for deduction given his superior intellect.
Wait, is Mind Control through the 4th wall a thing??? Help me, mooooOOOOOOOOoother!

Necro

Squiramorph shrugs and runs her finger across the waxy substance coating the mech. She puts it to her lips and tastes it briefly.

'Sorry, bud - gotta run! Bad guys to catch, Helicopters to fly, you know the way it is. I would have freed you too if we had but more time - life is so fleeting though! Ciao!'

She runs back to the copter and climbs in, waiting for the others. She holds her control on the turret until she's out of range as a final 'Fcuk You'

OOC: :pac:

Baggly

Banjo wrote: »

As detailed in post #1 you have a modified civilian radio that functions as a police scanner.

OOC: Apologies - forgot!

Nebelwerfer

Pter wrote: »

Plas shouts out 'Saddle up gang. They are on the bridge! We should have a speed advantage on them if we can lift off asap!'

The man in the cow costume waddles over (quickly) to the chopper and takes a seat.

Banjo

Necrominus wrote: »

Squiramorph shrugs and runs her finger across the waxy substance coating the mech. She puts it to her lips and tastes it briefly.

'Sorry, bud - gotta run! Bad guys to catch, Helicopters to fly, you know the way it is. I would have freed you too if we had but more time - life is so fleeting though! Ciao!'

She runs back to the copter and climbs in, waiting for the others. She holds her control on the turret until she's out of range as a final 'Fcuk You'

OOC: :pac:

Ignoring all rules of urban aviation, and the proximity alarm that suggests they might have been a little close to that elevated train line on take-off, the tetrad traverse the financial district, leaving the bemucused mech-man to his fate, headed towards the bridge. By the time they get there the vans are gone and the bridge is raised. As they approach the middle section of the bridge, there is a polite *Ahem* over the headset intercom.

"Beg your pardon sirs, but I'm detecting a build-up of energy on the far side of the bridge. Given your recent escapades I'll warrant it's the gentleman standing on the roof over there waving what appears to be a dikirion, and I'd further suggest that he means us ill. Would you like me to perhaps alter our course towards somewhere a little more clement?"

Necro

Banjo wrote: »

"Beg your pardon sirs, but I'm detecting a build-up of energy on the far side of the bridge. Given your recent escapades I'll warrant it's the gentleman standing on the roof over there waving what appears to be a dikirion, and I'd further suggest that he means us ill. Would you like me to perhaps alter our course towards somewhere a little more clement?"

Squiramorph smiles.

'I was beginning to think you left us, Rupert! Yes, circle us around to his rear. Plas - fire up the Acorn Gun!

It's... oh how do we say this again?

It's Nutting Time?'

Squiramorph lucks a bit bemused at her recent catchphrase.

Baggly

Necrominus wrote: »

Squiramorph smiles.

'I was beginning to think you left us, Rupert! Yes, circle us around to his rear. Plas - fire up the Acorn Gun!

It's... oh how do we say this again?

It's Nutting Time?'

Squiramorph lucks a bit bemused at her recent catchphrase.

'I believe we settled on 'It's time to nut'' Plas says as he mans the Acorn Gun, aiming for their wouldbe attacker.

'SM, can you and Rupert evade but at the same time keep us steady enough for me to get some decent shots off?'

Necro

Pter wrote: »

'I believe we settled on 'It's time to nut'' Plas says as he mans the Acorn Gun, aiming for their wouldbe attacker.

'SM, can you and Rupert evade but at the same time keep us steady enough for me to get some decent shots off?'

OOC: If you mean by rolling a series of dice that Banjo conjures, sure!

'I can try Plas. Moo-man, Gaseous, yet strikingly handsome boy, strap yourselves in. Things are about to get leafy!'

Banjo

Pter wrote: »

'I believe we settled on 'It's time to nut'' Plas says as he mans the Acorn Gun, aiming for their wouldbe attacker.

'SM, can you and Rupert evade but at the same time keep us steady enough for me to get some decent shots off?'

"Apologies sir, I believe we are inside his range but I regret to inform you that... "
the helicopter veers sharply to the right as a rocket flies through where the Squirrelcopter used to be,
"...he is still outside ours."

OOC : Everyone on the left of the helicopter, the person to your immediate right is on top of you now if they didn't put on a safety belt - this is an appropriate time for social awkwardness, a double entendre, perhaps an opportunity to finally confess your long-held affection for a team-mate or for you to turn to gas so they fall past you and out the window, as appropriate. I may have read too much Gen 13 in the 90s... (one issue, that was more than enough)

Baggly

Plas sits back upright and gets SM off his lap before fixing the anti air loomie a stern stare and then dishing out a lash with his Mind Forage.

Necro

'Ok, Rupert, I'm going to take the controls here for a while. I want a full 360 scan of what else might be out there.'

Squiramorph shouts to the others.

'Buckle up boys, this is gonna be the ride of your lives!'

She banks to the left and tries to put a building between the rocket-toting Loomie and the Squirrelcopter.

Banjo

OOC : I have to concur with Rupert, you're not within firing range of your weapons. You're over the river, about half way along the length of the bridge. You can move to close the distance, putting him in range of your weapons (his range is basically Visual where yours is Extended)
To close the distance you'll have to risk a co-ordination test vs him and anyone else that's similarly armed. Note - if he hits, it's not you who takes the damage, it's the helicopter. Given this is a test of Plasma Squirrel's piloting skills, it's his Co-Ordination with an assist from the chopper (which is very nimble!) vs the missile launcher. Once you've closed distance you can take a shot at him in the next panel if you want.

By the way, while everyone would be aware that the Skillet is a bad area, Plasma and SM would know that it's basically lawless at the moment, and rife with gang activity since the underfunded, overworked Police refuse to go in there any more; Based on their back story, this is where the Secret Squirrels regularly patrol by day. But not by night. You don't go outside in the Skillet at night...

Edit - My mistake, was treating Mental Blast as a regular Blast. Visual range it is! R.U.P.E.R.T. you dolt!

Banjo

Necrominus wrote: »

She banks to the left and tries to put a building between the rocket-toting Loomie and the Squirrelcopter.

With very few buildings -none in fact - in the middle of the river, the Squirrelcopter dips low to try and close out the rocketeer's angle, using the struts of the bridge for cover.

"Madame, while I applaud your ingenuity I hardly think it behooves us to endanger civilian architecture to save our woooooah!"

Squirramorph banks hard to avoid a rocket, which hits the bridge's supporting structure, the explosion ripping out masonry. The bridge begins to wobble.

Debris batters the chopper though mercifully misses the blades.
(Rupert -2 stamina)


As they emerge on the other side, Plasma Squirrel steadies himself and reaches out with his mind paws, searching for the pink-grey acorn inside the loomie's head and grabbing it firmly to be stored away for winter. At this distance, the man's scream is inaudible, but they can see his distress as he staggers backwards, drops the rocket launcher, gripping his skull and trying to force the foreign fingers from his faculties. In his agony, he doesn't see the edge of the roof until it's too late.

Fourier

Mr. Heffernan had landed on Indigo's lap after the Squirrelcopter swerved. Though awkward to many, those who serve justice value camaraderie unburdened by innuendo.

"Sorry my fellow hero" Indigo says gently moving him aside and placing a hand on Plasma Squirrel's shoulder.

"We have killed a man, we must turn ourselves in...shouldn't we?" he says searching for answers in Plasma Squirrels eyes. Surely his ancient race had an answer to this moral dilemma.

Baggly

Fourier wrote:

"We have killed a man, we must turn ourselves in...shouldn't we?" he says searching for answers in Plasma Squirrels eyes. Surely his ancient race had an answer to this moral dilemma.

Plasma Squirrels eyes widen. They have defended themselves against attack. It is the righteous thing to protect ones drey. As the ancient Squirrlan saying went; sometimes to save the acorn, you have to reach down into the dirt and get ones hands dirty. It was an 'enlightened' sense of not killing wrong doers that allowed the Greyons to lay waste to Squirrlon IV.

Plas relays this to the sexy young dude but realizes he doesn't know these two strangers very well and in the confined space of the Squirrelcopter, with nightfall upon them, it probably wasn't the best place or time to have this philosophical discussion.

'There will be a reckoning for that gang. But not today. There will be other branches to fight other battles on. I propose we leave here and return to the Secret Squirrel base to review what has happened and discuss our next move.'

Nebelwerfer

Fourier wrote: »

Mr. Heffernan had landed on Indigo's lap after the Squirrelcopter swerved. Though awkward to many, those who serve justice value camaraderie unburdened by innuendo.

"Sorry my fellow hero" Indigo says gently moving him aside and placing a hand on Plasma Squirrel's shoulder.

"We have killed a man, we must turn ourselves in...shouldn't we?" he says searching for answers in Plasma Squirrels eyes. Surely his ancient race had an answer to this moral dilemma.

The old man stands up and comforts the beautiful half-fart-half-man. (Ready deception)

"I am certain he survived that fall...". he explains to Indigo.

"Many more lives will be lost, if we hesitate or falter... we must persevere..."

"MOSCOW reporting in for duty!"

Banjo

Pter wrote: »

'There will be a reckoning for that gang. But not today. There will be other branches to fight other battles on. I propose we leave here and return to the Secret Squirrel base to review what has happened and discuss our next move.'

OOC : Excuse me? Your WHAT??? R.U.P.E.R.T., do you know what he's talking about?
"I'm afraid not sir, though I believe he may be referring to the spare room in Ms Edward's semi-detatched."

OK, you want a base, lets talk bases.
As has been previously discussed, you don't have a base per-se, you have a house. It's important to bear that in mind when you're considering your options below - try not to do anything stupid that wouldn't make sense for a house in the burbs!

Location :
Is it in the burbs though? Is it a farmstead? Is it an apartment in the city? Decide! And then figure out how you land a helicopter on it! I have ideas on that (for a house in the burbs) below, but it's your call. And your responsibility.

Base Building
When creating a base you get 20 points to spend. That covers your stats, your powers, everything. You can get additional points if you chip in 1 DP (from your starting pool - this is a permanent loss of power) - each person in the Team can only chip in one point total. This is Squirramorph's house so Squirramorph's DP is already in the pot, offset by the Limit that this is her house, registered in her name, which is a Challenge for her Secret Identity.

Note : If anyone else wants their own base (Heffernan's farm, Hamilton's lab, the spare room in Craig's mother's house) feel free, this applies to you too.

OK - your Base has 3 stats :
Resources : The base's available resources stat, can be used for rolls for where appropriate - as defined by your base's Qualities.

Example : Batman consulting the BatComputer would roll the Batcave's Resources vs difficulty to gain Insight, provided the batcave had a "BatComputer" quality he could activate

Security : Defences, resistance to infiltrators.

Example : a very insistent postman wants to ensure that your Amazon package is delivered, so he tries to pick your lock. Roll security!

Structure : General material strength of the base.

Example : Having failed to pick the lock, the postman tries to kick down the door - he has to beat the material strength of the door / wall to breach. Structure is that measure. THIS IS NOT YOUR BASE'S STAMINA! It's a breach, not total destruction. It would require multiple tests against your base's structure to destroy it.

Brick is 3, Concrete is 5, diamond is 9!

Powers :
Like the Squirrelcopter, your base can have powers. Each power costs a point a level 1. Each additional power level costs another point.

I would recommend looking at the following :

Helipad
Power : Images (at least 2 - power level is the "believability" if anyone rolls awareness to question the image) - This allows you to project and image box around your back garden, extending upwards to Visual range, that displays an empty garden, while playing the noise of your helicopter landing out-of-phase to cancel it out. This, along with the Shrinking power of the helicopter for convenient shed storage, explains how you're able to operate out of a suburban home undetected.
Limit : Can only project the empty garden image. (-1 point to cost)

Before you ask - no, I don't know how you get over the "wouldn’t the neighbours get suspicious about the wind???" with this power. You'd need to - for example - have a Telekinesis power that allows you to turn off the engine up in the sky and then land on TK power but it would need a strength of at least 7 to comfortably lower the copter. That's a lot of points! You could offset it with major limits like "it only works on the SquirrelCopter" and "Only raises/lowers in one axis" to bring it down a little.

If you choose not to have the Images power, a Helipad in the back garden would cost you 1 point as a Feature.

Squirramorph's workshop:
Power : Gadgets () - This power allows you - with an Intelligence test - to produce a gadget that replicates any power in the book, subject to GM approval. Keep it to stuff that makes sense for your Machine Control / Mechanic leaning, but since you have alien tech to experiment with there should be scope for some monkeying around.
Max power level of the Gadget is the power level of the Lab's Gadgets power.
Note : As this is a power, you cannot produce an infinite number of gadgets. This is basically a "Captain Slug is attacking the city - where did I leave my Silica Gel cannon" <Intelligence roll vs desired power level> <Marginal Success / failure> "****, all I can find is this turbo-charged pepper grinder - it will have to do!" kind of thing. They will mostly be temporary usage. One gadget at a time! However, I think it'd be fair game to have X number of gadgets with a total Power Level less than or equal to the Gadgets power of the lab. And, as I said, subject to approval by GM.

House AI :
Power : Servant () - Either extending RUPERT into the house (Servant 4) or give him a sibling with appropriate powers.
This is bending the rules slightly, but I think it makes sense, and I'm in charge!

Note - cannot have any physical characteristics or physical Powers. Also, while high mental stats are good for most mental powers, it's worth bearing in mind that AIs with good mental stats often don't make good housemates (Ref : HAL, SHODAN, Joshua, <redacted> the AI in Thomas Augustine's helicopter who refused to release telemetry data to the inquest following that fatal accident and was later sold at auction to a couple of washouts from a clinical trial over at Torisson U.

Pter, if I didn't send you details of the SquirrelCopter, ping me - it might help with this bit.

Let me know what you wanna do!

Banjo

Nebelwerfer wrote: »

The old man stands up and comforts the beautiful half-fart-half-man. (Ready deception)

"I am certain he survived that fall...". he explains to Indigo.

"Many more lives will be lost, if we hesitate or falter... we must persevere..."

If Indy wants to resist this lie, Fourier - Roll Awareness. Nebelwerfer - Roll Intellect with your Deception bonus