Icons Issue 1 : Withdrawal Symptoms

Banjo

Indy breezes through the gloom past the hatch - up close he can see it's free-standing away from the wall, in a wide column that runs floor to ceiling - it looks like something between a freight elevator and a dumb waiter. Beyond in the east wall, the door is a very snug fit with rubberised seals around the edges. However, it's unlocked, and once he coalesces he has no problem opening it. The door opens onto an equally gloomy round chamber with a lift shaft in a spiralled stairwell in the middle; Immediately on opening, the dull thuds and boopety-beeps of electro-funk can be heard drifting up from downstairs. There are at least 3 other doors out of this atrium - the spacing would suggest 5 total but he can't see the opposite side of the room due to the lift column - the one to his left being slightly ajar. He can hear raised voices coming through that door.

Fourier

Indigo slowly creeps up to the door that is slightly ajar. Attempting to peer through as stealthily as he can.

Necro

Banjo wrote: »

Picking her way through the detritus, Squirramorph reaches an empty road and across it a carpark and loading bay. There's a noticeable change in tone, while there are only a handful of cars and trucks in the lot they all look well maintained. On the other side of the car park is a large roughly rectangular building from which delicious smells are wafting.

It's starting to get dark.

Squiramorph keeps out of plain sight and scampers towards the rectangular building with food on her mind.

sKeith

Banjo wrote: »

Sitting on the train home, Shelly is disturbed to see her dexward train is going sinbound. They've switched platforms again and just like last time no notices were posted. That's going to add an hour onto her commute, hitting every ****ing stop on every island on the loop before hers. And then the train breaks down between stops. City of the future my ass!
Some of the other passengers look nervously out the window and down at the wild streets of the Skillet below.

Shelly is feeling really disturbed, not only was her dexward bound train going sinbound, but she has no recollection of boarding any train in the first place.
She tries to recall there being any opportunities for her to be drugged or roofied, but calms as she seems to reassure herself that she must have entered a food-coma-walking state and gone into auto pilot return home mode. Well, as she is feeling better now, she looks around for exits and looks for a safe way to disembark the train, hoping to go for a nice walk to clear her head.

Nebelwerfer

Banjo wrote: »

"Alas there is little information on crimes in the area - the locals prefer to deal with those matters themselves rather than to call the authorities. However, if you're looking for a red flag zone, I can drop you in the middle of the square in front of the Chocolatiers - I'm detecting between 36 and 42 separate bodies not including those of the Secret Squirrels, and judging by their attire I'd warrant all of them are hostile."

Rupert makes the short journey southeast, passing over the elevated monorail line where a broken down train remains stuck, holding about 40 feet above a square filled with clumps of vocationally coutured thugs.

"Does sir have any next of kin I should notify after you introduce yourself to the locals?" RUPERT inquires demurely, waiting for MosCow to disembark.

"Thanks Rupert, could you provide me with an image of the Chocolatiers attire, any public record images will do fine.

I'll attempt to mimic the outfit, as an image before my descent down and hopefully blend right in... aside from my maybe somewhat sudden arrival in the midst of the clump of vocationally coutured thugs".

MosCow awaits the image to be brought up on the screen, before violently tugging himself and assuming his 'masked, masked identify'.

As he looks at his (imaged) outfit, he preps himself to jump out of the Choppa.

He calls upon Rupert one more time, as he is about to depart.

"Rupert, will you assume autopilot back to the base or remain within reasonable distance of your overlords, to be beckoned at a time of need? If so, has the location been predetermined?"

Banjo

OOC: Sorry for the delay - rough day yesterday.

Necro wrote: »

Squiramorph keeps out of plain sight and scampers towards the rectangular building with food on her mind.

Pter wrote: »

'aw sorry fellas. I gotta get to the meet or the big boss will have my balls for his post rubbish collection stew'

Plas continues on his way without waiting for a response.

Squiramorph scurries across the road and into the noisy carpark - some impressively hatted ne'er-do-wells are jeering a lone binman she belatedly realises is a demasked Plasma Squirrel. They don't notice her, as their attention is redirected towards the helicopter that flies overhead, lifting over the monorail track and the train stuck there-on, and taking up a holding position above the street on the other side of the chocolatier's building.

Plas and SM reconvene at the rear of the chocolatier's, at the loading dock. There's a rear door, closed, and a shuttered-over basement entrance. The hatters are still distracted, nudging eachother and watching the helicopter but seemingly unwilling to leave their position by the parked cars.

Banjo

Fourier wrote: »

Indigo slowly creeps up to the door that is slightly ajar. Attempting to peer through as stealthily as he can.

The door opens into the room beyond in a clockwise manner, and being only slightly ajar it's blocking his view - without sticking his head through, he can't get a sense of how big the room is or what function it serves, beyond the shelving he can see along the left hand wall - mostly unbranded cardboard boxes and disembodied mechanical parts. Actually, that gels with the "Machine Stores" sign on the door, now I think about it.

From beyond the door he can hear 2 distinct voices. The first aggressive, a slight note of panic. The second calm but
"Don't play coy, D'Olier - your guys ain't exactly subtle, they don't blend in. They're plastered all over the fricking news."
"I told you - they were not acting on orders from-"
"Bull****!"

From this door he can see there is indeed a 5th door out of this cylindrical hall. It's closed, and marked "Staff Room".

Banjo

sKeith wrote: »

Shelly is feeling really disturbed, not only was her dexward bound train going sinbound, but she has no recollection of boarding any train in the first place.
She tries to recall their being any opportunities for her to be drugged or roofied, but calms as she seems to reassure herself that she must have entered a food-coma-walking state and gone into auto pilot return home mode. Well, as she is feeling better now, she looks around for exits and looks for a safe way to disembark the train, hoping to go for a nice walk to clear her head.

OOC : She must have gone into a fugue state while organising all of those retail outlets alphabetically on her way downtown.

There are doors on both sides at either end of the carriage, a door at either end to the next carriage and windows all the way along. As they're not at a designated stop, the doors ought to be locked. The driver announces
"Ladies and gents, we'll be back underway shortly. It's a leaf on the line and I'm not great with heights so sit tight and we'll wait for it to blow away. In the mean time, just... just stay away from the windows."
A helicopter flies overhead.

Baggly

Plas attempts to open the door.

Banjo

Nebelwerfer wrote: »

"Thanks Rupert, could you provide me with an image of the Chocolatiers attire, any public record images will do fine.

I'll attempt to mimic the outfit, as an image before my descent down and hopefully blend right in... aside from my maybe somewhat sudden arrival in the midst of the clump of vocationally coutured thugs".

MosCow awaits the image to be brought up on the screen, before violently tugging himself and assuming his 'masked, masked identify'.

As he looks at his (imaged) outfit, he preps himself to jump out of the Choppa.

He calls upon Rupert one more time, as he is about to depart.

"Rupert, will you assume autopilot back to the base or remain within reasonable distance of your overlords, to be beckoned at a time of need? If so, has the location been predetermined?"

While RUPERT cannot access the data server at this remove* he makes a best guess.


"I believe it would be prudent to stay close, but possibly out of reach of those below us. Might I recommend, unless you wish to walk home, you locate my charges as swiftly as possible? While I can find them without difficulty, regrettably I find discerning friendly thermal blobs from unfriendly thermal blobs rather testing. And that's assuming all your thermal blobs are still attached to one another when I go looking which I'll wager is not a foregone conclusion. Well.... all the best."

OOC : Image activated. R=7. Image applied R-1.

*Note - RUPERT has data archives in the Fortress, but this was not covered by the point-buy for the vehicle and would require an increase in Vehicle power to facilitate either a 2 way link or a discrete onboard system. I *did* suggest a seperate house AI to avoid this kind of confusion...

Banjo

Pter wrote: »

Plas attempts to open the door.

Both sides of this double door are locked.

Baggly

Banjo wrote:

Both sides of this double door are locked.

Plas checks the shutter to see if there is a lock he can break open.

He also looks around for any vents SM could get through.

sKeith

Banjo wrote: »

OOC : She must have gone into a fugue state while organising all of those retail outlets alphabetically on her way downtown.

There are doors on both sides at either end of the carriage, a door at either end to the next carriage and windows all the way along. As they're not at a designated stop, the doors ought to be locked. The driver announces
"Ladies and gents, we'll be back underway shortly. It's a leaf on the line and I'm not great with heights so sit tight and we'll wait for it to blow away. In the mean time, just... just stay away from the windows."
A helicopter flies overhead.

Shelly heads toward a door and exits the carriage through the door. She then looks for a way off the train that is going to cause her the least pain, she knows she wants off this train, and a little pain ain't stopping her.

Nebelwerfer

Banjo wrote: »

While RUPERT cannot access the data server at this remove* he makes a best guess.


"I believe it would be prudent to stay close, but possibly out of reach of those below us. Might I recommend, unless you wish to walk home, you locate my charges as swiftly as possible? While I can find them without difficulty, regrettably I find discerning friendly thermal blobs from unfriendly thermal blobs rather testing. And that's assuming all your thermal blobs are still attached to one another when I go looking which I'll wager is not a foregone conclusion. Well.... all the best."

OOC : Image activated. R=7. Image applied R-1.

*Note - RUPERT has data archives in the Fortress, but this was not covered by the point-buy for the vehicle and would require an increase in Vehicle power to facilitate either a 2 way link or a discrete onboard system. I *did* suggest a seperate house AI to avoid this kind of confusion...

"Thanks Rupert... I appreciate the information provided, lets hope it comes to good use!"

MosCow leaps out of the helicopter with the intent to land within relatively close proximity to the thermal blobs previously described and within clear sight of MosCow's visual range.


"WEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEeeeeeeeeeeeeee...".

Banjo

Pter wrote: »

Plas checks the shutter to see if there is a lock he can break open.

He also looks around for any vents SM could get through.

There's a padlock at the base of the shutter.
OOC : Strength vs difficulty 5 if you want to break it. And I can't stress this enough people, you're supposed to roll your Effort (d6+attribute) and the opposed difficulty - the power is in your hands!

There are a number of vents nearby, they might be a tight squeeze depending on what kind of rodential morphology the Squizzster has in mind.

Necro

Banjo wrote: »

There are a number of vents nearby, they might be a tight squeeze depending on what kind of rodential morphology the Squizzster has in mind.

In her current rat form Squiramorph checks out one of the closer vents to see if it looks like she can squeeze through.

Banjo

sKeith wrote: »

Shelly heads toward a door and exits the carriage through the door. She then looks for a way off the train that is going to cause her the least pain, she knows she wants off this train, and a little pain ain't stopping her.

While the train doors are locked during transit, they're no match for Shelly's gargantuan strength. She opens them easily, finding herself staring down at a 40ft drop with a carpark below. The monorail passes quite close to a delicious smelling building that might be withing jumping distance.

OOC : with Strength 7 there's no point rolling for the doors. As there's not a lot of detail on Shelly's background, I'll leave it up to you whether or not she knows she can make that jump, but again with Strength 7 she can. However it's a ten foot drop, so you'll need to roll co-ordination vs difficulty 3 to avoid damage. Dropping to the street will cost you 4 damage; This will put Shelly in the carpark behind Plas and Squirramorph who she's never met before but I'm sure you'll get along swimmingly. I know, this seems awfully contrived, but I assure you it's a random event dictated by the dice, scouts honour.

Banjo

Necro wrote: »

In her current rat form Squiramorph checks out one of the closer vents to see if it looks like she can squeeze through.

From rat height, it's quite hard to tell, but at a guess, no. I'll save us a few hours of "what about a..." - the Etruscan Shrew isn't a rodent, the tiny Pygmy Jerboa is - and I heartily recommend you look up a few videos of them, they're very cute - and neither one of them could jump up to the vent unaided. But Plas could probably reach one to lift you up, as long as you don't turn into anything too repellent.
A small mouse would fit too. But Jerboas are more fun and much more educational. Unless you've already heard of Jerboas.

Necro

Banjo wrote: »

From rat height, it's quite hard to tell, but at a guess, no. I'll save us a few hours of "what about a..." - the Etruscan Shrew isn't a rodent, the tiny Pygmy Jerboa is - and I heartily recommend you look up a few videos of them, they're very cute - and neither one of them could jump up to the vent unaided. But Plas could probably reach one to lift you up, as long as you don't turn into anything too repellent.
A small mouse would fit too. But Jerboas are more fun and much more educational. Unless you've already heard of Jerboas.

A strange voice in Squiramorph's head convinces her to morph into a Pygmy Jerboa. Perhaps it was that documentary she conveniently watched a couple of nights ago. She nibbles at Plasma's cuff leg in expectance to be lifted up.

Baggly

Plas gently but firmly lifts her up to the vent.

sKeith

Banjo wrote: »

While the train doors are locked during transit, they're no match for Shelly's gargantuan strength. She opens them easily, finding herself staring down at a 40ft drop with a carpark below. The monorail passes quite close to a delicious smelling building that might be withing jumping distance.

OOC : with Strength 7 there's no point rolling for the doors. As there's not a lot of detail on Shelly's background, I'll leave it up to you whether or not she knows she can make that jump, but again with Strength 7 she can. However it's a ten foot drop, so you'll need to roll co-ordination vs difficulty 3 to avoid damage. Dropping to the street will cost you 4 damage; This will put Shelly in the carpark behind Plas and Squirramorph who she's never met before but I'm sure you'll get along swimmingly. I know, this seems awfully contrived, but I assure you it's a random event dictated by the dice, scouts honour.

ooc: I believe she has a good idea of her own capabilities even if we are depending on dice rolls for a lot of it, so we can put in background: multi years of having and using powers. Now, if the distance down on failing the jump is somewhat comparable to the distance down for just dropping, even if she had no idea if she could make it or not, she would still attempt the jump as a possible means to being the lesser pain.


Shelly looks down, 40 feet, that's gonna hurt, but if I could make it to the building, i can pounce drop off it and if thats takes 15 feet of the total drop, that would be about 70% less pain.


Shelly backs up and does a running jump towards the building, aiming to pounce drop at the point of intersection between herself and the building, and to roll when she makes final landing.
On the other hand, if she makes a sweet jump, and she happens to make it onto the building surprising herself, then wahay, she will roll to a halt and reassess.


ooc: Shellyl co-ord roll. [ d6+1 = 4 ] v 3

Banjo

OOC : "difficulty 3" means rolling D6+3, and unfortunately it came back with a total of 8, which is a massive failure and should result in her hanging off the building. However due to her prodigious strength, she can't fail the roll to lift herself up.
Shelly launches into the air with the grace of a wet bin bag, arms and legs flailing for the roof. She falls short, her foot meeting the wall awkwardly with an unnatural crunch but catching the ledge and hauling herself up.

Like this, if Tom Cruise were a 27 year old woman of african heritage.

That will require medical attention - Movement is slowed until you find a crutch, Continued movement will be considered Exertion until you can get it looked at.

Exertion and Exhaustion :
Typically a hero can exert themselves continuously for 10xStrength Pages before they need to rest. Exertion typically would be lifting the maximum weight your strength allows, moving at top speeds, use of powers at maximum level, that kind of thing. Once you hit that limit, you risk Exhaustion.

Special cases would be certain hostile environments, holding your breath, extremes of temperature - these things jump immediately to the Exhaustion test.

Exhaustion starts as a Difficulty 0 Strength test, and each page the difficulty increases by 1 until you fail it. Failure means you collapse, can take no action and must rest for 10 minutes. Marginal-Moderate success means you either collapse and rest for 2 minutes or take 2 stamina damage (player chooses). Major-Massive Success means there is no effect on that page.
Tests continue until the exertion stops, one way or another, and the player rests for a minimum of 1 minute.

____

Shelly finds herself on a rectangular rooftop. She's in the south-eastern corner. It's pretty bland, lacking the chimney stacks that abound elsewhere in the neighbourhood. Near the middle of the roof there's a large cylindrical building with a roof access door. Dotted around the roof are skylights, 3 near her, another cluster over on the western side of the building.

Fourier

Banjo wrote: »

From beyond the door he can hear 2 distinct voices. The first aggressive, a slight note of panic. The second calm but
"Don't play coy, D'Olier - your guys ain't exactly subtle, they don't blend in. They're plastered all over the fricking news."
"I told you - they were not acting on orders from-"
"Bull****!"

From this door he can see there is indeed a 5th door out of this cylindrical hall. It's closed, and marked "Staff Room".

Indigo dismisses the current door for now and sneaks up to the Staff Room door and listens in.

Necro

Pter wrote: »

Plas gently but firmly lifts her up to the vent.

Squiramorph scampers through the vent.

Banjo

Necro wrote: »

Squiramorph scampers through the vent.

Roll a d3 or pick left, right or middle vent. It might be important later.

sKeith

Banjo wrote: »

OOC : "difficulty 3" means rolling D6+3, and unfortunately it came back with a total of 8, which is a massive failure and should result in her hanging off the building. However due to her prodigious strength, she can't fail the roll to lift herself up.
Shelly launches into the air with the grace of a wet bin bag, arms and legs flailing for the roof. She falls short, her foot meeting the wall awkwardly with an unnatural crunch but catching the ledge and hauling herself up.

Like this, if Tom Cruise were a 27 year old woman of african heritage.

That will require medical attention - Movement is slowed until you find a crutch, Continued movement will be considered Exertion until you can get it looked at.

Exertion and Exhaustion :
Typically a hero can exert themselves continuously for 10xStrength Pages before they need to rest. Exertion typically would be lifting the maximum weight your strength allows, moving at top speeds, use of powers at maximum level, that kind of thing. Once you hit that limit, you risk Exhaustion.

Special cases would be certain hostile environments, holding your breath, extremes of temperature - these things jump immediately to the Exhaustion test.

Exhaustion starts as a Difficulty 0 Strength test, and each page the difficulty increases by 1 until you fail it. Failure means you collapse, can take no action and must rest for 10 minutes. Marginal-Moderate success means you either collapse and rest for 2 minutes or take 2 stamina damage (player chooses). Major-Massive Success means there is no effect on that page.
Tests continue until the exertion stops, one way or another, and the player rests for a minimum of 1 minute.

____

Shelly finds herself on a rectangular rooftop. She's in the south-eastern corner. It's pretty bland, lacking the chimney stacks that abound elsewhere in the neighbourhood. Near the middle of the roof there's a large cylindrical building with a roof access door. Dotted around the roof are skylights, 3 near her, another cluster over on the western side of the building.

Shelly makes her way to the roof access door and opens it, enters and makes her way down to the ground floor. On the ground floor she will look around for a cloak room or a coat stand close to the exit and if one is found she will look for canes or folded up large umbrellas that she can use as a crutch. She will then exit onto the street.

Necro

Banjo wrote:

Roll a d3 or pick left, right or middle vent. It might be important later.

OOC: Middle vent please

Banjo

Nebelwerfer wrote: »

"Thanks Rupert... I appreciate the information provided, lets hope it comes to good use!"

MosCow leaps out of the helicopter with the intent to land within relatively close proximity to the thermal blobs previously described and within clear sight of MosCow's visual range.


"WEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEeeeeeeeeeeeeee...".

Why MosCow didn't use the rope is one of those mysteries we'll never solve. The wind whips at his shirt as he plummets, halting inches from the ground in the middle of a small square. Rupert peels away. Around him at the edges of the square, leaning against walls and parked cars are groups of flamboyantly dressed thugs - each according to vocation; the bloodied butchers' whites are easy to spot off to the north, and the smell gives away the fishmongers to the northeast but some of the others a little more difficult to guess. Most of the gangs are staying well away from eachother but to the east the guys dressed in boulanger's whites are freely mixing with goggled dudes in heavy black aprons.
When he lands, they applaud and make no move to intercept him, with members of most groups visibly talking into communicators but none appearing alarmed.

R-1.

Banjo

Fourier wrote: »

Indigo dismisses the current door for now and sneaks up to the Staff Room door and listens in.

The heavy door muffles most of the sound coming from the other side of the door, but he definitely hears voices. There's a small window in the door if he wants to have a peep, but bear in mind that windows work both ways.

Banjo

Necro wrote: »

Squiramorph scampers through the vent.

Like a proton torpedo into an exhaust port, Squiramorph scuttles inside. The duct on the other side of the vent almost immediately splits left and right.