Christopher

Star Wars, Edge of Empire. Our ship, the Gonk-Gonk, is returning to Ryloth, which is sortof our home base; our Captain is a Twi'lek, and her sister is the Planetary Governor. Unlike on our previous visits, this time all the planets orbital defenses are active due to some recent raids. We're given a very narrow & specific flight plan to follow, and warned not to deviate from it. But our Captain/Pilot is overconfident,has authority issues, and is used to getting away with things due to her family connections.
 
Captain: "Fine, I'll follow their flight plan, but I'm going to do it at full throttle just because I can. I'm not sure if it's possible to "drift" a YT-1300 around corners, but let's find out." [fails her roll] "Ah..."
GM: "So as you take the first corner, you slide wide through the turn and out of the window you were given. You detect the small, localized sensor ping right before you slide broadside into the orbital mine." [rolls] "The mine does X damage to the ship and completely blows out your shield generators."
Captain: "...Oops?"
GM: "The comm system is making that annoying chirping noise."
Protocol Droid: [cheerfully] "This is the Gonk-Gonk; how may I assist you?"
Orbital Traffic Control: "What The Hell Do You Think You're Doing?!"
Protocol Droid: "We were just testing the effectiveness of your minefield. Congratulations! It passed!"
OTC: "Do you have any idea how much those things COST?!"
Protocol Droid: "And now we know they're worth it!"
 
Upon landing, we get an urgent message from the Governor's Office:
Planetary Official: "The Governor requests you join her here at the your earliest possible convenience."
Captain: "How soon do they want us there?"
Protocol Droid: "That's Diplomateese for Why Aren't You Here Yet?!"
Captain: "I don't speak Diplomat."
Protocol Droid: "I know." [beat] "Which is why you have a Protocol Droid to translate for you."
GM: "You have another incoming call, this one from the Gand Embassy." (The Gand are the aliens who had hired us for our last mission; they speak only in metaphors.)
Gand Embassy: "When a leaf falls, while it's path cannot be predicted with certainty, the quicker it reaches the ground the sooner all can be at rest."
Protocol Droid: "That is also Diplomateese for Why Aren't You Here Yet?!"
Captain: "Fine. I text my sister I'll be there as soon as I can but I have to go see the Gand first. They're more likely to rip my arms off if I'm late."
Governor: [texting] "And you assume I won't?" (followed by a chainsaw emoji)
Protocol Droid: "That is also Diplomateese for..."
Captain: "I GET IT, THANKS! I text her back "You're mad about that mine, aren't you?"
Governor: [texting] "Do you have any idea how much those things COST?!"
 
Later, we're trying to help a dying Gand religious figure; the medic doesn't make his roll by enough to save him, and the Gand dies.
Player 1: "I start beating on his chest double-fisted; it always works on TV."
Player 2: "Remember to yell "DON'T YOU DIE ON ME!" as you do; it's important."
Player 3: "That's it! Just like last week, I make an Athletics check for I Hit Him Until He Starts Breathing Again!"
GM: "Heh, funny. But yeah, no."

The March 18 issue of The Economist had a brief article about Fast Radio Bursts, which as their name suggests are extremely brief (milliseconds) bursts of radio waves. The first one detected -- or at least noticed in old radio astronomy data -- came from one of the Magellanic Clouds. As usual with very brief phenomena that do not repeat, it's hard to figure out what they are because by the time you detect them, they're gone.
 
All the mechanism so far proposed for FRBs are pretty weird, such as rapidly spinning stars collapsing to black holes. The point of the article, though, is that a couple astronomers (Manasvi Lingam and Abraham Loeb) have a paper due to be published in Astrophysical Journal Letters in which they suggested FRBs could be beams that alien civilizations use to propel solar sails. (Just radio instead of light.) Not all the radio beam hits the sail, and as the beam and the Earth both move through space, we intercept the beam for a fraction of a second.
 
The authors do not, of course suggest this *must* be the source of FRBs; just that it makes as much sense as anything else proposed so far. Maybe more, since they run some numbers on how to build such a radio beam projector. (It's really really big, but within known technology.)
 
Dean Shomshak

Pathfinder - Street Of Magnimar : Plothooks a-Go-Go
The GM has a whole selection of plothooks that have come to the PCs' attention. For example, a clique seems to have formed within the liberated Kobolds, around a Kobold called Vakri. Vakri has been known to slip away for a few hours here and there, but he always returns with a few loaves of bread and some off-cuts of meat.

On a probably unrelated note, stories of a rooftop-leaping vigilante known as "The Flying Fox" have begun to circulate in Underbridge. She has apparently been operating for a few months but due to various factors, including the embarrasment of her victims, the story is only now reaching your ears. She is described as a Fox-Maiden (Kitsune) with a flair for the theatrical and is known to have more than three tails. The Sczarni and the Night Scales have agreed on one thing. The Flying Fox must die and they have jointly offered a bounty of 3,000gp, with Jaster Frallino (head of The Gallowed) offering a extra 600gp for the opportunity to feed her to his pets.

The arcane community in the city has been whispering that the Wizard, Trace Reveral, has died. Trace was an odd character as he had once been quite the social butterfly for some time, but in the last decade or so had withdrawn into seclusion. He would emerge from his Naos home for a few social events in any given year, but nobody would otherwise see him for months on end. Reiley of the Silks, a Brothel Madam has been making discreet inquiries into the death of a local noble. More specifically, the disposition of his estate. Private bets are made among the party, on the chance that these will prove connected.

The Night Scales and the City Watch are on the lookout for clues as to the location of a large shipment of Keros Oil that went missing off of the docks (not our docks) last week. Keros Oil is highly flammable. Probably completely unrelated to the Fire Cult, as we're sure Sergeant Colon would agree, even if he was aware of the cult.

Harshal: I've been wondering how we can use that kitsune cat-burglar sitation to our advantage.
GM: What cat-burglar?
Harshal: The kitsune.
GM: Well, you obviously didn't read it - she's a vigilante.
Harshal: ... Quite right, my mistake.
GM: Kitsune doesn't automatically mean cat-burglar.
Harshal: That's just me being tired and not thinking clearly.
Gillert: That's just you being racist.

GM: For SOME reason you all met each other and had complimentary skills in stealth.
Harshal: If Stealth Synergy is so effective you have to wonder why political history isn't a non-stop string of assassinations.
GM: Because Stealth Synergy can be undone with a first level spell - Alarm.

Zin: Ys.
Ys: *No reaction*
Zin: Ys. ... Ys!
Harshal: *waves hand in front of the player's eyes*
Ys: Hmm?
Harshal: *directs her attention to the kobold* Obviously Zin passed his stealth check.

Zin: One of the kobolds has been sneaking off at night.
Ys: And you want him dropped into the bay with a lead weight around his neck?
Zin: No. ... well, maybe later.
Harshal: If you're going to Underlord you have to know what all your underlings are doing every minute of the night.

Ys and Zin tail the kobold to what appears to be an entirely innocent community centre, think they've lost him, and then find him talking to him talking to some strangers in a suspiciously well-secluded corner of the community garden.

Harshal: Not a bathhouse for gay kobolds then.

Still, it might be innocent - this meeting apparently happens every week, and the suspect reptilian goes out on other nights as well. Ys considers ways she can be closer next time, without being spotted.

GM: There's lilac climbing thickly up the wall. Wait, lilac isn't a vine.
Harshal: Wisteria?
GM: Maybe.
Ys: Ivy?
Harshal: Ivy doesn't have purple flowers.
GM: It doesn't!
Harshal: Carefully pruned Yellow Musk Creeper?
Ys: I very much doubt it.
Harshal: And we're city people, it's all 'Green Stuff' to us anyway.
Gillert: I have Nature as a skill.
Ys: Which is just one reason why we should have you killed.
GM: I worry about you sometimes, Ys.

Harshal: Perhaps he's joined the Freemasons
Ys: Or the Captive Masons.
Harshal: Well, the kobolds are effectively a captive labour force for us.
Gillert: Not strictly true - they're free to leave. It's just more convenient for them if they stay.
Harshal: And we have them followed if they do leave.
Gillert: It could be innocent - if he's gaining skills, or working a second job, then good on him.
Harshal: *thinking* That's our Gillert, tragically naive.
Gillert: But if he's passing on info about us to a third party, then we'll have to deal with him. And I realise how strange this is coming from me, but Tannis isn't around.
Harshal: Stop trying to think that way, it doesn't come naturally to you.

Ys does find an engraving carved into the meeting alcove, and takes a rubbing to pass on to Gillert, who recognises it as the symbol of Shei, an Empyreal Lord with community and self-improvement as her domain.

Harshal: So this meeting is probably innocent.
Gillert: Not at all - they're just meeting in an innocent place. We're done that ourselves.
Harshal: Who are you and what have you done with the real Gillert?

Gillert: So she's not an actual god then. Probably just as well - most gods are dicks.
GM: Why do you think the Magnimareans prefer to put their faith in the Empyreal Lords rather than the gods?

Zin: We still have to find out where he's going on the other nights.
Harshal: The bathhouse could still be on the books.

We do find Vakri practicing jestering later, and note with considerable interest that he's including spells in his performance. And he hasn't mentioned this skill to anybody.

Gillert: Well, we were thinking of opening a bar - in-house entertainment draws customers.
Harshal: We should get some elementals in too.
Gillert: ... why?
Harshal: So we can have a rock band.
Gillert: *groan*
GM: Saw that coming. Your fault, you listened.

Harshal: We should have a word with him, about the magic at the very least.
Zin: But I'm not sure he should know I've been watching him.
Harshal: Send Gillert in 'Oh hello, you're one of Zin's workers aren't you?'
GM: So you're throwing Gillert under the bus.
Harshal: If he hits Gillert with a fireball and runs off, it's no loss.
Gillert: *sotto voce* arsehole

Zin: Vakri, can I talk to you for a moment?
Vakri: I didn't do anything!
Zin: It's alright, you haven't done anything wrong.
Vakri: It still wasn't me!

The two talk at cross purposes for a while, neither knowing what the other actually knows. Vakri really does seem innocent, and ashamed he didn't use his magic to escape captivity when he was a slave, but the amount of inadvertent double entendre in the conversation isn't helping. It's certainly not helping Ys, who is eavesdropping from a nearby rooftop.

Vakri: I only have a little magic.
Zin: And I want to help you make it grow.
Ys: OK, I can't contain the laughter anymore.

Zin: We're going to support you and you'll certainly have a role in my masterplan.
Vakri: *whimpers*

Harshal: Would any of the other kobolds benefit from the community centre?
GM: Kobolds are still fairly new to Magnimar.
Zin: I don't what to overload them with new members all at once. Maybe we can send a bunch down later.
Harshal OoC: Send them down on the short bus. Kobolds are 3ft high at best, after all.

That kitsune vigilante foxgirl has at least four tails.

Harshal: But your average Magnimar criminal can't count higher than three.

Harshal: Well, there's a possible in for us, or me at least. I start defending the vigilante's victims. After all, if the Flying Fox can't provide evidence...
GM: I think you're forgetting how the law works in Magnimar. 'We know you did it Jimmy - confess' *thump* ' It wasn't me this time!' 'It's always you, Jimmy - confess' *thump* 'Alright, it was me, stopping hitting me' 'Thanks for the confession, Jimmy. Sign here'
Harshal: Still, it might get her somewhere we can prepare for her.

Gillert: 'Did you hear about Jimmy? He got tied up by a woman! And a fox, no less'
Harshal: Well, some people are into that.

One of the victims is located, recovering from his injuries in a rear yard, and 'self-medicating.

Harshal: I bring along a few extra bottles of 'medication'

Victim: She grandstands.
Harshal: Monologues too?
Victim: Yes! She stands there going on about how we're all criminals and how she's going to bring us to justice!

Victim: We were going to raid the perfume warehouse off Dock Road. It was a set-up, man!
Harshal: Sounds like it.
Victim: She had the whole placed prepped! The sawdust on the floor wasn't unusual, but she'd soaked it in oil - and we didn't even think the smell was funny because they store perfumes there! And she'd chocked all the windows shot so we only had one way out!

She has been killing people too - admittedly only in self-defence, but the evidence suggests that her buckler is magical. It cut through an axe, for one thing. Certainly the were-rat clans are terrified of it. And she uses actual magic, and trick arrows she must be getting from the elves. And alchemical grenades and pellets, such as Instant Caltrops followed by Grease spell.

Victim: This axe is my proof for why you shouldn't mess with her.
Harshal: We should get somebody to look at this.
Victim: What are you offering for it?

Harshal purchases the axe for another bottle of 'medication'.

Victim: The good stuff?

We take the axe to a metalworker, who recognizes the damage as that caused by Living Steel. Which is another thing she'd have to get from the elves.

Harshal OoC: So, what are the kryptonites for magical girls?
Zin OoC: Talking animal sidekicks with dead eyes.

Although, as it happens, Harshal DOES know about the Pathfinder equivalent of Magical Girls.

GM: I don't want to know how Harshal knows about Magical Girls.
Harshal OoC: Give the Blue Book and 'The Lusty Argonian Maid' are a thing, I don't want to know either.

Anyway, it means she'll be impossible to scry except when she's transformed into her Magical Girl form. This is not helpful. Add her Invisibilty power that comes with her fifth tail...

Zin: Be on the lookout for Magical Girls!
Harshal: *invisible* magical girls.

Gillert: So who is she targeting?
GM: Bad people.
Gillert: Well, that's good for us - we don't look like bad people.
Harshal: Apart from Ys, when she's bloody to the elbows.
Gillert: Well, that's just one of us.

Harshal: I need to track down Sergeant Colon.
GM: *eyes boggle*
Harshal: To find out what the Watch think of all this.

Harshal: I hear she's using trick arrows and alchemical weapons. Which she must have got the elves.
Sergeant: Oh right, from the elven merchants.
Harshal: ....
Gillert: Goddammit.
Harshal: Thankyou sergeant - that had not occurred to me.

Unfortunately, she'd been clever enough to cover her tracks there, too, and she hasn't been stealing anything that she would need to fence.

The dead wizard was unusual because he started from nowhere, and actually became quite popular with the nobility. And very popular with the noble women.

Harshal: I'm sure they all loved his 'magic wand'.

In fact, that's where he was when he had his fatal heart attack. Funnily enough, while his lovers WERE checked for enchantments, none were ever found.

Zin: All natural Charm then.
Harshal: Still plenty of reason for murder.

The local arcane community are all talking about the fact that the spellbook found with him can't be his complete grimoire, and they're also disgruntled that his estate is going to be auctioned off. Rumour has it that the auction will include his day-to-day journals.

Harshal: I just bet there's going to be fierce bidding on THEM.

Gillert: The auction is still a month away. I'm speaking of us as a group of n'ere-do-wells -
Harshal: Or you, as the student wizard, Nerd-do-well.
GM: heheeheehee.
Gillert: *sotto voce* ..... smartarse.

The late ladies'-wizard was apparently also a matchmaker, on occasion. No doubt this will prove highly significant

Space Armor!

A couple from this week's Star Wars Edge of Empire game:
 
Our ship has two GNK "Gonk" Droids as NPCs. The way our GM plays them is that they have a full & complex language when talking to each other, but to everyone else (including my protocol Droid PC) it all sounds like "Gonk gonk." Early on, they took it upon themselves to christen our ship, so it's now known as The Gonk Gonk.
Recently, we picked up a 3rd Gonk...
Mechanic: "So does that mean our ship is now The Gonk Gonk Gonk?"
GM: "The Gonks all look at you weird and mutter among themselves like you just said something wildly inappropriate. After a few minutes, they file into the cockpit and hand the Captain a piece of paper. It looks like an HR Form for a hostile workforce complaint. But it's hard to be sure because all the blanks are filled in with "Gonk gonk gonk gonk gonk!""
Captain: "What did you say to them?!"
Mechanic: "Apparently I have no idea."
 
We also found an...interesting quirk in the EofE rules while trying to repair some hull damage:
GM: "Anyone who has Mechanics can assist. If you don't have Mechanics, you can use Athletics instead."
Player 1: "Wait, how does that work?"
GM: "It means you're using a more brute-force approach, welding plates in place and so forth."
Player 2: "Are you telling me I can literally buy ranks in I Kick It Until It Works? That's...the most Genre thing ever!"
Player 3: "I am so putting XP into that..."

Lots of great in-character quotes this week, which of course I didn't write down and have since forgotten. But this out-of-character exchange will be remembered a long time...
 
Several of us had been having a lengthy discussion about using shields with spears, pikes, etc...
Female Player: "OK guys, are you done talking about Handling Your Spears so we can get back to the game?"

Champions - Edge City - Back To The Old Routine
GM: Gah! Ah! GM now panicking - I know I had a plan for tonight.
Hero Shrew's player: Not to worry - we were having an interesting conversation about electroweak forces, virtual particles, and great physicists of the early 20th century. If you can't remember what we were going to do, we'll continue with that.

Tyrell's domestic android line is finally starting to sell, despite the very understandable nervousness about robot servants. Also, odd graffiti has been showing up around the Zoo - double helixes and 'In the Game of Evolution, Diversity Trumps Uniformity'

Fireflash: That's good - the exact opposite of Teleios, the Perfect Man.
Hero Shrew: I'm willing to read it as Pro-Moreau. And at least it doesn't say "think of it as evolution in action".

Also, rumour has it that somebody came ashore at the Edge City docks, but nobody can figure out where his passport is actually *from*.

GM: The real reason that Edge City's Chinatown dislike the Moreaus is because the Zoo is right next door, so any tourists coming into town go there instead.
Hero Shrew: And the money becomes the Furry Dollar.

Hero Shrew does track down a witness to some the graffiti going up - unfortunately, it's a sloth, and the graffiti went up while he was blinking. And it's showing up in all sorts of normally inaccessible places too, in and outside of the zoo.

Hero Shrew: Well, I'm stuck. Maybe they can fly?
GM: Not unusual around here.
Hero Shrew: Maybe, but I can't fly, so I'm stuck.
Flux: Sure you can fly. You just land again.
GM: You fly the same way Superman originally did. You superleap.
Flux: 'And then you land in China'
Fireflash: Only Grond can do that.
GM: And then he starts hitting stuff because the wind whistling in his ears was annoying him.

Hero Shrew: Flux, maybe you can find out where this passport guy is supposed from, then go talk to the alternate history fangroups.
GM: ..... am I really that transparent?
Hero Shrew: Well, yes. We've already had that cinema full of fake Greys.

Dock Worker: Yeah, it was weird, he went into the Customs office, but his papers are from somewhere that doesn't exist.
Hero Shrew: Where's that then?
Dock Worker: Some place starting with B? And he only had funny money. I mean, who carries silver dollars these days?
Hero Shrew: ... I need to go talk to some people.

Hero Shrew *texting Flux and Fireflash*: Did they use silver dollars back when undead sheriffs were running around?
Fireflash: Wut.
Flux: I've got a special warning tone on my phone for whenever someone mentions undead.

Hero Shrew: Maybe we should check which boat he came in on too?

Which is when we all finally notice the four-masted sailing boat in dock, where the cargomaster is currently arguing with Customs about unloading a holdfull of timber from Beringia. The consignee for the timber was supposed to be meeting them, but the phone number on the paperwork has four digits. And the address is for Monterey - which Edge City hasn't been called in 20 years.

Fireflash: You're not in Monterey, dude. This is Edge City.
Cargo Master: You are joker. This is Monterey. See? That is Aelfen Bridge.
Fireflash: The Monterey Bridge?
Cargo Master: Aelfen Bridge. A gift from Aelfenheim.
Fireflash: ... wut?
Cargo Master: Aelfenheim. North of Europa.
Fireflash: uuhhhh.
Cargo Master: You are joker with me. Next you will be saying Avalon is no longer at war with Europa.

Eventually Fireflash gets a handle on things.

Fireflash: You're lucky I'm a geek. This is starting to make sense.
Customs Officer: This makes sense??
Fireflash: What do you know about Many Worlds Theory?
Customs Officer: Oh hell no. This is the Mole Men all over again.

The cargomaster DOES understand Many Worlds theory, and further questions reveal that among other changes their Bolshevik Revolution actually ended peacefully, with the Tsar setting up Siberia and Alaska as a separist state for the revolutionaries, after Marx himself realised Lenin was a power-grabbing prick.

Fireflash: Our Marx was already dead by then.
Cargo Master: That's probably why your revolution went badly.

It might also be because their reality has active mages running around. Even their ship is enchanted for permanently favorable winds. So they need to get the passenger Mr Charleston back, and they should be able to get home under their own steam. The Customs house is also glad to see the back of the guy too.

Fireflash: I'm going to get him back home.
Other Customs: To a place that doesn't exist?
Fireflash: It's complicated.
Customs: How complicated?
Fireflash: What do you know about Many Worlds Theory?
Customs: Enough to call off the van from the funny farm.

Fireflash: Take a look at this map. Recognise any names?
Mr Charleston: Sure. The United States. But you've got Alaska as part of it.
Fireflash: And Hawaii.
Mr Charleston: Ha - Like anybody is going to take on Kamehameha.
Hero Shrew: Somebody did.
Fireflash: The fruit companies.

Beringia is also the only successful republic on their world and in their US slavery is still legal.

Mr. Charleston: I'd like to go back to the real world now.
Fireflash: And we'd like to see the back of you, too.
Mr. Charleston: Are you trying to tell me that nobody in this world has sovereignty over another?
Hero Shrew: Not legally.
Mr Charleston: This entire world is an affront to the natural order. I shall have to write a paper about it.
Fireflash: Believe me, we're just as offended by your existence. So we're going to get you back on your ship.
Mr. Charleston: I have to get back on a Republican ship?
Hero Shrew: If I hit him hard enough it might make a suitable hole in reality.
Fireflash: ... .... ..... let's not.

The crew of the inadvertently dimension-hopping sailboat are about as glad to see Charleston again as we were to meet him.

Crew: Oh look, it's Mr High and Mighty again.

That evening the boat sails back out of the bay and fades away in a glow of St. Elmo's Fire.

Hero Shrew: Should we have told somebody about this?
GM: You isolated the situation and allowed it to resolve peacefully. So as far as the US government is concerned, good work!

Fireflash gets on the phone to her gaming group.

Fireflash: Can I run the next game? I've got some ideas.

There's a been a few shifts in the gang landscape too - the Dreadful Boys and the Iron Killers are on the ascendant, consolidating their hold on territories bordering Marsden.

Hero Shrew: Well, lets hope nobody tries to unite all the gangs.
GM: Given that would mean somebody uniting the gangs aligned with Humanity First with the ones that are aligned with Freak Legion. Not going to happen.
Fireflash: 'Warrrriorrrrrrs. Come out and plaaaaay.'
GM: Much as I love that movie, still not gonna happen.
GM: The big shocker is the Megasyndicate - they control Schuyler now. Which is shocking because the Megasyndicate are allies of the Orphans, which is the gang made of people that can't join anybody else.

GM: And then there's the Nucleohitmen.
Flux: The what now?
Hero Shrew: Is that all one word?
GM: Yes. Nobody ever said they knew how to spell, or hyphenate.

GM: And the Teleknights have pretty much taken control of Nakajima Plaza.
Hero Shrew: Anything like the Teletubbies? If we meet them I'll have to ask which one's Po.
Flux: The one eating dumplings.
GM: They have been known to beat up anybody making Teletubbie references. Not that that will stop Hero Shrew.
Hero Shrew: Not even remotely

Also surprising - the Daughters of Lilith staged an overnight takeover of North Marina.

Flux: The pseudo-vampires? Well, we hope pseudo.
GM: And Scooter heard a rumour that one took on a Juicer, and won.
Flux: An actual Juicer or a weakass Juicer?
GM: The real thing.
Flux: Oh dear.

Hero Shrew: Even if we teleport all the gangs to Mars that will just leave a power vacuum. Do we need to deal with any of them, or do we want to avoid a power vacuum?
Flux: The later. Besides, we've caused enough damage to the gang landscape.

Hero Shrew: Fireflash, you've got sanction - can you find out if the media blimps saw the graffiti go up?
Fireflash: I'm a student! My exams are up!
Flux: Phone switched off then.
GM: Worse, SATS too. Phone in the basket.
Fireflash: Oh god, two weeks of hell.
GM: And the Principal keeps announcing 'Students are advised to curtail their extracurricular activities for the duration of the exams'.
Fireflash's friend Mandy: You were in the news again, weren't you?

Master Zheng was already a wise man and mundane Martial Artist Teacher when he aquired his ice powers. That Viper even captured him was pure coincidence: They were looking for a whole batch of "Guinea Pigs" when they flooded a local supermarket with Knockout gas and abducted everyone inside.
No mater how skilled, even a martial artist teacher can not overcome sleeping gas or the restraints on a experiementation table.
 
And thus he was experiemented on and developed his ice powers. Luckily the abduction was executed rather sloppily and thus he and the others were rescued by heroes. In the following months he noticed a certain "Synergy" between his martial arts expertise and his ice powers: He could channel his ice power using basic Ki/Chacra techniques and letting them flow out of his hands instead impact force. In essence he learned how to cause damage without exerting physical force on his adversaries. Having a supercooled nervous system, his reaction times also increase drastically.
 
Alas, he knew that his time to become a hero had long passed. Even with the increases he was simply to old "for the lifestyle of a hero". So instead he took to the one thing he had learned the very mundane way: Teaching.
His school now includes both conventional Martial Arts training - and asian wisdom. As well as training with superpowers - and asian wisdom.
 
He is the Ice Master, Master Zheng or the Kice-Artist for people that are looking from some training to become a hero - and of course some asian wisdom as side dish.

Master Zheng was already a wise man and mundane Martial Artist Teacher when he aquired his ice powers. That Viper even captured him was pure coincidence: They were looking for a whole batch of "Guinea Pigs" when they flooded a local supermarket with Knockout gas and abducted everyone inside.
No mater how skilled, even a martial artist teacher can not overcome sleeping gas or the restraints on a experiementation table.
 
And thus he was experiemented on and developed his ice powers. Luckily the abduction was executed rather sloppily and thus he and the others were rescued by heroes. In the following months he noticed a certain "Synergy" between his martial arts expertise and his ice powers: He could channel his ice power using basic Ki/Chacra techniques and letting them flow out of his hands instead impact force. In essence he learned how to cause damage without exerting physical force on his adversaries. Having a supercooled nervous system, his reaction times also increase drastically.
 
Alas, he knew that his time to become a hero had long passed. Even with the increases he was simply to old "for the lifestyle of a hero". So instead he took to the one thing he had learned the very mundane way: Teaching.
His school now includes both conventional Martial Arts training - and asian wisdom. As well as training with superpowers - and asian wisdom.
 
He is the Ice Master, Master Zheng or the Kice-Artist for people that are looking from some training to become a hero - and of course some asian wisdom as side dish.

Master Zheng was already a wise man and mundane Martial Artist Teacher when he aquired his ice powers. That Viper even captured him was pure coincidence: They were looking for a whole batch of "Guinea Pigs" when they flooded a local supermarket with Knockout gas and abducted everyone inside.
No mater how skilled, even a martial artist teacher can not overcome sleeping gas or the restraints on a experiementation table.
 
And thus he was experiemented on and developed his ice powers. Luckily the abduction was executed rather sloppily and thus he and the others were rescued by heroes. In the following months he noticed a certain "Synergy" between his martial arts expertise and his ice powers: He could channel his ice power using basic Ki/Chacra techniques and letting them flow out of his hands instead impact force. In essence he learned how to cause damage without exerting physical force on his adversaries. Having a supercooled nervous system, his reaction times also increase drastically.
 
Alas, he knew that his time to become a hero had long passed. Even with the increases he was simply to old "for the lifestyle of a hero". So instead he took to the one thing he had learned the very mundane way: Teaching.
His school now includes both conventional Martial Arts training - and asian wisdom. As well as training with superpowers - and asian wisdom.
 
He is the Ice Master, Master Zheng or the Kice-Artist for people that are looking from some training to become a hero - and of course some asian wisdom as side dish.

Master Zheng was already a wise man and mundane Martial Artist Teacher when he aquired his ice powers. That Viper even captured him was pure coincidence: They were looking for a whole batch of "Guinea Pigs" when they flooded a local supermarket with Knockout gas and abducted everyone inside.
No mater how skilled, even a martial artist teacher can not overcome sleeping gas or the restraints on a experiementation table.
 
And thus he was experiemented on and developed his ice powers. Luckily the abduction was executed rather sloppily and thus he and the others were rescued by heroes. In the following months he noticed a certain "Synergy" between his martial arts expertise and his ice powers: He could channel his ice power using basic Ki/Chacra techniques and letting them flow out of his hands instead impact force. In essence he learned how to cause damage without exerting physical force on his adversaries. Having a supercooled nervous system, his reaction times also increase drastically.
 
Alas, he knew that his time to become a hero had long passed. Even with the increases he was simply to old "for the lifestyle of a hero". So instead he took to the one thing he had learned the very mundane way: Teaching.
His school now includes both conventional Martial Arts training - and asian wisdom. As well as training with superpowers - and asian wisdom.
 
He is the Ice Master, Master Zheng or the Kice-Artist for people that are looking from some training to become a hero - and of course some asian wisdom as side dish.

Stronghold Riot, concluded:
 
Warden Wildman inexplicably screams and falls to the ground unconscious.  Eventually, Malarkey and Pops figure out Wildman was taken out by a shrinker, Hummingbird, who rummages in Wildman's pocket and pulls out his ID card.  She flies with it to the blast door leading the outside, with Malarkey in fast pursuit.
 
Malarkey:  Now, lass, I'd hate to pin your wee self to the door with one of my shillelaghs.  Truly I would, but you're not leaving me much choice.
Hummingbird:  Maybe we can make a deal.  I help you, you let me leave.
Malarkey:  I'm listening, lass.  How are you to help us?
Hummingbird:  I can take down Bulldozer for you.
Malarkey:  And how's a wee slip of a girl like you going to do that?
Hummingbird:  Mental blasts.  He's a brick.  Probably not a lot of brain in there.
Malarkey:  Aye, that's true.
 
Despite Maker's EMP doing major damage to them, the big guard robots together take her down (into GM-Discretion Land) then move over to her unconscious body.
Circe:  They're not going to blast her again, are they?
GM:  Nope. 
AR-307 #1:  You are under arrest.
AR-307 #2:  You have the right to remain silent.  If you refuse that right...
Circe:  Okay, that's fine.  We can get the cuffs off later.
 
After doing a Move-Through on Shadowboxer (and a grabbed Ripper), Bulldozer makes his way over to Nexus.
 
Bulldozer:  Hey, babe.  What say you dump these losers and take off with me? (flexes his muscles)  I'm ten times the man your teammates are. 
Nexus:  Um... yeah... that sounds like a good idea...  (OOC)  Inside my head, I'm screaming over the Mind Link, "Good God, nooooooo!"
 
Honey Badger winds up for a haymaker on Osmium... who just smiles and waits patiently.  When HB swings his fist, Osmium catches it in one hand. 
 
Honey Badger:  WTF is that?
GM:  It's a Block combined with a Grab.  It's one of the Brick Tricks martial arts maneuvers.
Honey Badger:  Now that's just cheating.
 
Eventually, Ripper and Bulldozer are taken down, as are the rest of the villains except Osmium.  The GM decides to take things out of combat.
 
GM:  You know that scene toward the end of Avengers, where Loki comes to and finds the Avengers all standing over him?  That's what it's like for Osmium now. 
Osmium:  Fair enough, you caught me. (raises his hands, then nods at Honey Badger)  You're a damn good fighter.  But you gotta admit, that Fist Grab was awesome.
Honey Badger:  (grudgingly) Yeah, that was pretty slick.
Osmium:  When I'm out of jail, I'll buy you a drink.
Honey Badger:  (smiles)  That's cool. 
 
The heroes help the Stronghold staff round up what supervillains they can, though a fair number managed to escape.  A good number of them got out through a tunnel down around Cellblock Level 5. 
 
GM:  The escapees include Doctor Decapod and Psi-Borg, a few of the members of Vermin, all of the Secession Squad members you captured...
Malarkey:  All of them?
GM:  Yes.  (pause)  Back when you captured them, someone commented that it seemed awful easy to catch so many of them.  That's because they wanted to go to Stronghold.  If you're looking to recruit supervillains for your cause, a prison full of supervillains is a great place to do that.
Malarkey:  Especially if they're all going to owe you for helping break them out of prison...
GM:  Yep.  And once they had the specs on the field generator to neutralize the Power Negation system, it was just a case of Manassas creating a bunch of them disguised as things that could be smuggled in by a disgruntled or friendly guard.  Distribute them to the villains willing to play ball, and you're good to go.

Continuing Stronghold Riot
 
Maker hits Interface with a neural beam, so the cyborg orders the two guard robots to "get her!"
 
Maker:  Remember, I'm invisible.
GM:  To which senses?
Maker:  Sight, no fringe.
AR-307 robot:  Radar target acquired, initiating class I attack.
Maker:  Crap.
 
Malarkey creates a Thorny Entanglement around Brass Monkey and one of the AR-307 robots.
 
Brass Monkey:  G**D*** F****** S***!  I'm going to have to spend all week pulling burrs out of my fur!  (begins fighting his way through the Entangle)
Circe:  (smiles and crooks her finger)  Come on out, monkey boy!  I've got more fire for you!
Brass Monkey:  (flips her off)
 
Bulldozer goes to grab Warden Wildman.
 
Malarkey:  But what about the agent protecting him?
GM:  Bulldozer backhands him.  12d6 to the face.
Pops:  Yeah, he's probably out.
Shadowboxer:  Maybe a little broken, too.
 
MinMax had created a temporary hole in the floor under Honey Badger, dropping him to the level below.  Meanwhile, Pops teleports Bulldozer down a floor too.
 
Bulldozer:  What the hell?!  How did I end up here?
Honey Badger:  (smiles)  Looks like I have a new playmate!
 
Honey Badger does a Move-Through on Bulldozer before running up the stairs back to where the real action is.  Bulldozer follows on his heels, veering off to do Move-Throughs on Pops and Malarkey before going at HB.  The dice were really with the GM, and he hits all three targets even with the consecutive -2 per target.  Even the damage was above average.
 
GM:  Pops, your action.
Pops:  (OOC)  I recover from being Stunned.
GM:  Okay, Malarkey?
Malarkey: (OOC)  I also recover from being Stunned.
 
Early in the fight, Shadow Boxer dove into Ripper's shadow, coming out looking like a shadowy version of Ripper.
 
Shadowboxer:  (to GM)  Can I see Ripper's sheet?
GM:  (hands over character sheet)
Nexus:  Hey, why is he allowed to see the character writeup?
Shadowboxer:  Because I'm mimicking his powers and need to know how much they cost.
 
Now it's Ripper's turn.  He activates his strength boost.
 
Shadowboxer:  Yeah, I probably should have waited until after he did that before mimicking him.
 
The heroes take down Interface.
Maker:  (hopefully)  Does that shut down the robots?
GM:  Nope.  They're still following the last order they were given.
Circe:  (imitating a Dalek)  Maker... Exterminate...
 
(to be concluded soon)

Some quotes from last night's Champions game, but first a little setup.
 
About six months back, before the US elections, the heroes stopped an attempt by the Secession Squad to disrupt the vice presidential debates, with Southern Belle mind controlling the VP candidates to tell the whole, complete, honest truth, and also mind controlling the debate moderator to ask some rather pointed questions, mainly about what the VP candidates knew about the presidential candidates.  (Other team members were dealing with Secret Service agents and disabling the psionic detection gear in the debate hall.)  Of course, the heroes intervened, and a fair number (5) of the Secession Squad were captured and sent to Stronghold.
 
At the time, one of the players said, "You know, that was really stupid of them.  What did they think was going to happen?  Sure, they caused a little embarrassment for the candidates, but it's not like they'll derail the election.  And now they're going to prison."
 
When PRIMUS arrived, since the heroes claimed a mentalist was involved, the PRIMUS techs used equipment to scan the heroes' minds (as well as the candidates, moderator, etc.), looking for psionic signatures and traces.  They discovered that during the fight, Southern Belle also used Telepathy on PC gadgeteer heroine Maker.  Circe (PC mentalist) went in Maker's mind and found out Belle had been looking into Maker's preparations for dealing with the Corrupted when they took over part of Stronghold prison about a year previously.    The PCs worried that the Secession Squad was trying to find a way to bring back the now-exorcised Corrupted spirits, but otherwise let the matter drop.
 
Fast forward to last night, when the heroes are called by Warden Wildman asking for help in dealing with a number of supervillains taking over the main security building, and others rioting in the cellblock levels.  He points out that before losing contact with assistant warden Rothschild (who was in charge while Wildman was away at a law enforcement convention), he verified that the Power Negation system was still functioning, but somehow these two dozen villains had regained full use of their powers.
 
Circe:  Maybe they made a pill or something. 
Maker:  How were we able to use our powers when we were there before?
GM:  You created magnetic field generators for everybody to wear.  They're variations on what the guards wear, and what is hardwired into the prison robots.
Maker:  Can I make some now?
GM:  Sure.  Even though that happened over a year ago, for some reason the designs spring immediately to mind.
 
Pops teleports teams of PRIMUS agents into side buildings of the prison whose walls don't stop teleportation, while the rest of the team makes plans to retake the main security building.  Shadowboxer uses his shadow-sight to scout the security building and finds a fair number of supervillains (Ripper, Oculon, Interface, Brass Monkey, Osmium, and MinMax) inside, along with a big guard robot (think ED-209 from the Robocop movies).  Interface (cyborg mentalist) is controlling the prison's Zap Towers, using the pulson cannons to shoot down any military vehicles that get within a kilometer of the prison.
 
Maker:  Why isn't the guard robot trying to stop the villains?
Shadowboxer:  Maybe because Interface is controlling it.  (pause)  We need to take her out, first thing.
 
As they make plans, one player (of PC heroine Nexus) arrives late.
 
GM:  I didn't think you were going to be here tonight!  I don't even have you on the speed sheet!
Nexus:  (OOC) I got back early.
GM:  Well, in that case... (adds another big guard robot to the map)
Malarky:  Hey, where the heck did that come from?  It wasn't there a minute ago!
Shadowboxer:  (OOC, imitating a robot) Mage detected - increasing security presence.
 
Warden Wildman is going along with the hero team.
Malarky:  Why is he coming along?  We have enough to do without keeping him safe.
GM:  He's going to get to a terminal and shut down the guard robots that Interface is controlling.  Also maybe retake control of the Zap Towers.
Malarky:  (reluctantly)  Okay.  Have him bring someone along to keep him safe.
 
The heroes teleport to the top of the security building and then use Pops' short-range AP teleport to get inside.  They're in an area out of sight of the rest of the level, by the elevators, stairwell, and bathrooms.  Within moments, the heroes rush out and attack, starting with Circe mind-blasting Brass Monkey (the closest villain), and followed by Honey Badger running up to try punching him.  And my apologies in advance for Brass Monkey's language.  It's a big part of his personality.
 
Brass Monkey:  Bunny Badger!  I've been dying to kick your a**!  But first, tell me bro... (points at Circe)  you hit that yet?
 
Brass Monkey continues making rude and crude comments, culminating in a comment about Circe:  "I'll bet she like anal."
Circe:  Anal?!  I'll show you anal!  (uses her pyrokinesis on him)  Let's see how you like it when I light your a** up!
Brass Monkey:  (who is Vulnerable to fire attacks)  Aaaaaa!!!  Put-it-out, put-it-out, put-it-out!!!  (glares at Circe)  B****!!!
 
GM:  Oh, crap! I just realized I forgot one of the villains.  Bulldozer's supposed to be here.
Malarky:  Too late.  He's not on the map.  Where's he been hiding all this time?
GM  (smiles, puts Bulldozer's figure in the bathroom and then walks him out)
Bulldozer:  Whew!  Man, I had to take a wicked dump!  (waves his hand in front of his face)  Might wanna stay out of there for a while!
 
(more to follow, hopefully)

OK, this requires a little more set-up that the funny one-liners I typically post here, but it was too awesome not to share. This is a low-fantasy FH game set in 11th century Europe.
 
Dramatis Personae:
 
Thyri Torvaldsdottir: PC, Viking shieldmaiden with a mysterious past and serious anger management issues.
 
Father Edmondo: PC, Priest of Rome, the "face man." Edmondo and Thyri have an odd codependent relationship that includes an unspecified level of intimacy. (Hey, it's the 11th Century; celibacy for priests was encouraged, but not mandatory.)
 
Geralt Mac Uaid: PC, Irish warrior, also a chirurgeon (medic).
 
Jarl Calder: NPC, Thyri's nemesis. 5 years ago Calder raped and killed Thyri's mother, had her entire family declared outlaws, seized their lands, and oh yeah enslaved Thyri and tortured her for years before selling her into a pit fighting ring. (The other PCs don't know this part of her backstory.)
 
Hjortur Larsson: NPC, respected elder and neutral arbiter.
 
 
Our Heroes have returned to Thyri's native Sweden, where of course they run into Calder. Thyri goes Berserk and attacks Calder; after a lengthy fight, Thyri succeeds in beating the shit out of him, but Edmondo convinces her not to kill him.
 
Afterwards, Elder Larsson appoints himself as judge to hear their dispute and decide if Thyri should be punished for assaulting a Jarl and generally being an outlaw, or if her charges against Calder are justified. Thyri tells her emotional story, the first time the other PCs/players have heard any of it. Calder of course tells a completely different story, and several of his men are willing to back up his version of events. Edmondo on cross-examination is able to poke a few holes in their story, but nothing conclusive. And since she's been declared an Outlaw, she doesn't have the right of trial by combat so the fact that she already defeated him isn't considered conclusive. So it's basically He They Said, She Said, which of course is likely to go down in favor of the noble.
 
Geralt: [grasping at straws] "If he enslaved and tortured you for that long, do you maybe have any scars that can substantiate your story?"
 
Edmondo: [sudden realization] "Oh, is that what that's from?"
 
Thyri says nothing.
 
Edmondo walks over to Thyri and reaches towards her. Thyri shoots him a Back Off look. Edmondo returns a Trust Me look. Thyri, suddenly looking vulnerable for the first time since they've known her, nods.
 
Edmondo pulls Thyri's hair aside revealing the scar on the back of her neck that she always keeps hidden - where Calder had branded his initials into her with a hot knife.
 
Calder: "Uh..." [blank stare]
 
Elder Larsson: "...Well that seems pretty conclusive to me."
 
And Larsson rules in favor of Thyri. (Sentence TBD.)
 
 
I love it when minor bits of character backstory written months before, and which the GM had honestly forgotten about, become a big dramatic reveal and wind up being crucial to the plot!

I know nothing of the game Transistor, or the character Red.  So I hope you're not going to be irritated if I completely ignore the established character mentioned and instead use the image to create a new character (which, I believe, is the premise of this thread anyway).
 
I don't know where the giant sword came from.  Given its size, I really shouldn't even be able to wield it.  But somehow, I can.  With the circuitry motif, I doubt it's magical.  Maybe it's alien technology.  (shrug)  I don't know, and frankly I don't really care.  All I know is, with it in my hands I become almost unstoppable.
 
Some wag reporter jokingly called me Broad-Sword, but I started fighting that in the media right away.  Not that it worked 100%.  But at least some people call me by my chosen hero name of Joyeuse.  Practically nobody knows that's the name of Charlemagne's personal sword, and half of them pronounce it as "joyous," which to be fair is the English translation of Joyeuse.  But hey, practically anything's better than Broad-Sword.  Sometimes, you gotta take what you can get.
 
So, what can I do?  Well, when I have the sword in hand I'm covered in a protective field that's pretty darn bulletproof.  I'm also much stronger and faster than normal.  And it's definitely more than just a fancy Ginsu knife.  Sure, it can slice and dice like nobody's business.  But it can also generate a short-range electrical blast, create portals that I can step through to get across the room or even across town, and it even has it's own pocket dimension.  Oh, it also comes to me when I call for it.  Pretty damn cool, if I do say so myself.

And often two start with the same letter(s) too.

Champions - Return To Edge City - You Do The Voodoo That You Do So Well
Back in Edge City, where we hopefully deal with a certain undead sheriff for good, before he unleashes some kind of apocalypse. Of course, since we need to stretch this out to a full session, there's no way that this is going without a hitch. One obvious hitch - this entire scheme revolves around an agreement between our team (Quadrant) and the Voodoo Crew, a group of rather alarming people including Papa Vandredi (Papa Friday), Madamme Nwa Dantèl (Madamme Black Lace, of unknown role and powers), Mr Gato (Mr Cake, and the drug merchant for the Crew), Mr Zanmi (Mr Friend, in charge of Protection/Extortion)and La Doktè (The Doctor, in charge of prostitution in Little Haiti). At least Quadrant's bad reputation is merely the result of incompetence.

Flux: Hardlight - You know how you want to be Tony Stark? Don't. You'll be arrested.

Hero Shrew: So, now to deal with the sheriff. So, Flux, you're our occult expert. You and Fireflash's school counsellor, apparently.

Flux: Ok, we have a solution.
Hero Shrew: So, what do you need me to do?
Flux: Stand around for when it inevitably goes wrong.

Flux: Wait a minute.... Damn.
Hero Shrew: Do we need to talk to the Voodoo Crew again?
Flux: Yes. *sigh*
Hardlight: I guess I'll be spending the day in the lab then.
Hero Shrew: Yeah, they don't like you very much. I mean, I dunno what their problem is, I think you're awesome.
Hardlight: Thanks.
Hero Shrew: I mean, you let me use your credit card.

GM: There's a black stretch hearse waiting for you. It's widely known as Papa Friday's personal vehicle.
Fireflash: The only way he could be more obvious is if he had a giant top hat on it.

Papa Friday 's friends on the other side have been yelling at him to deal with the situation, but none of them thought to mention that the Sheriff has Nephilim blood. He's not delighted.

Papa Friday: I am the servant of three masters, and none of them know what they need of me.

Papa Friday is also grudgingly impressed that Hero Shrew is completely unaffected by his aura of fear.

Papa Friday: You are an interesting one, my furry friend.
Hero Shrew: Thanks!

Fireflash: We need to move him somewhere specific for the ritual.
Fireflash's FBI Contact: You realise there's limited battery power on those containment units, right?
Fireflash: I've got somebody that can handle that.
Hero Shrew: I know where we can get car batteries.
Hardlight: Oh? Where?
Hero Shrew: Cars.

FBI Contact: OK, I think I can swing this, but only if a full squad of Iron Guard come along too.
Fireflash: Uh... I'll need to clear that with the Voodoo Crew first.
FBI Contact: Wut.
Fireflash: Witchcraft is unavailable, Doctors Black and White aren't around, we had to go with local resources. Who else would you suggest to deal with an undead situation?
FBI Contact: NOT the guys that were stockpiling corpses?

FBI Contact: I don't think this is a good idea.
Fireflash: Neither do I - I'm following Flux's lead on this.
FBI Contact: Who?
Flux: Godammit.
Fireflash: He's the fourth member of Quadrant.
FBI Contact: Ah, so this Flux guy is your fourth member.
GM: I've been paying attention - Flux has been studiously avoiding cameras and every conversation with the authorities.

The Voodoo Crew aren't happy with this either.

Fireflash: At least the Voodoo Crew are big on contracts.
Hero Shrew: Very big.

Since Hero Shrew is apparently oblivious to fear (Shrews are afraid of NOTHING) Flux takes him along to look over the ritual site, and meet Le Doktè. He shows us the body of the Tombstone Kid, chained to the gate that now leads to to the Nephilim realm, and explains how the Nephilim used the Tombstone Kid as a wedge to resurrect Thomas Graves, the undead sheriff. It takes a while to hammer this info into Hero Shrew's head.

Flux gets to work setting up a Faraday cage around the gate, as part of his technomagery tweaks on the upcoming ritual.

GM: I've seen the kind of stuff they sell at CostCo - Americans have no idea how good they have it with that kind of thing.

GM: The Voodoo Crew don't have copper mesh around the place - they're not a technologically minded gang. They're more concerned with magical surveillance.
Flux: And 'where did that corpse wander off to?'
GM: That only happened once.

Hero Shrew: Take that magic detector you invented with you when you buy your quartz crystals. You don't want to buy one that actually has residual magic effects.
Flux: Yes, I wouldn't want one that had a genie in it.
GM: Eh, genies wouldn't be seen dead in a quartz crystal. A small gnome maybe.
Hero Shrew: And Geb would LOVE that.

GM: So, the ritual.
Flux: Dun dun DUUHHHHH
Fireflash: Don't do that.

Papa Friday anoints Flux, Fireflash, and Hardlight so the Fear aura won't cause problems for the rest of the ritual. He's still a deeply scary individual.

Hardlight: So the magical fear has been replaced with everyday intimidation.

GM: There's also a bunch of Voodoo Crew footsoldiers.
Fireflash: We'll have to call in the Turtles.
Flux: ... what?
Fireflash: Weve got Foot soldiers
All: *groan*

Flux: ONCE, you get to do that ONCE a day...

GM: Anyway, the ritual. Which is mostly Flux. So why did they even need the rest of you? Which is when Papa Friday draws his sizzling machete and says 'Be Ready.'
Fireflash: Oh dear.
Papa Friday: Baron Samedi said it would require all of you.
Hero Shrew: Well, that's the kind of advice you can't ignore.

Figures made of something resembling melting plastic pour out of rifts in the air.

GM: Something on the other side doesn't like what you're doing.

Hero Shrew: uh... should I hit it?
Fireflash: YES

Happily, punching them back through the rifts seems to work. Although more of them seem to be coming through, faster than we can deal with the ones that are already here. Mademoiselle Dantèl demonstrates one of her other skills - she's a spell filcher. She yanks the ritual out of Flux's control, and continues it as he gapes at her.

Madamme Nwa Dantèl: Well, get out there!

GM: Mademoiselle Dantelle is lucky she survived that hit - there's a reason she usually keeps a few zombies around.
Hero Shrew: I expect they thought having zombies around today was a bit risky.
GM: Well, yes. It's an empty vessel.
Fireflash: Possessed Zombie.
GM: Not going to happen.

Superheroic shenanigans ensue.

Papa Friday: I wonder if you even feel the fear of St. Croix.
GM: Papa Friday really doesn't want to get into hand-to-hand with these things, but he made promises to his friends on the other side, so... what do you know, he actually hit it. Oh god, no, the smell of burning fat.

One of them gets a hit on Hardlight, who learns that their touch drains Comeliness.

GM: FaceMELTTTTERRR!!!!!
Hardlight: I just looked at the Ark of the Covenant, didn't I.
GM: Yes. You don't want to get hit by these guys - they ARE the Ugly Stick.

Happily Flux manages to blast the last one back through the hole... and then Hardlight puts a force bubble around both of the rifts. Which is all it takes to complete the ritual without further interference. Go us!

Flux: I feel like I'm hogging the limelight a bit here.
Hero Shrew: Hey, you ARE our occult expert.

And then Madamme Nwa Dantèl gives the power she 'borrowed' off Flux back.

Flux: Much appreciated, madam.

GM: At least we wrapped up the story arc.
Flux: And now we can move forward to Undersconsin.
GM: You are going to hate Undersconsin.
Flux: Do they still have cheese?
GM: ..... yes. Made from naked mole rat milk.

A few from this week's FH game...
 
Thyri is a Pagan, but has been reading/researching the Bible and is quoting it at Aeddan, a Christian:
Thyri: “This is your book. Haven’t you read it?”
Aeddan: “Of course not; that what Priests are for.”
 
The PCs have come upon a large fish kill, and are trying to think what might’ve caused it.
Aeddan: “It was a water demon.”
Abida: “What’s your theological basis for that?”
Aeddan: [duh] "It was in the water.”
 
Later, a Vodyanoy (Slavic water spirit) drags an NPC into the river to drown. Aeddan jumps in the water, and with some help from the others, succeeds in rescuing her and driving away the Vodyanoy.
Aeddan: [as he breaks the surface] "See? Water Demon!"
GM: "Technically. it's a spirit not really a demon..."
Aeddan: "WATER DEMON!!"
 
And out of character...
Player 1: “I say we nuke it from orbit.”
Everyone else in unison: “It’s the only way to be sure.”
Player 1: “You guys are such geeks.”
Player 2: “Hey, you started it!”

And stay out!
http://www.spacetelescope.org/news/heic1706/

Pathfinder: Xcrawl

The Cast:

Drew Blood: Female Human Barbarian from Minneapolis, Minnesota. (Yes, she has the accent)
Steel Rose: Female Elven Rogue/Ranger (Two Weapon Specialist)
Silver Sorceress: Female Human Sorceress (Dragon Blooded)
Lacey Cravat: Gender Confused Dwarven Cleric

The Setting:

Silver is buffing the party before an anticipated combat.

The Action:
 
Silver Sorceress (OOC): I cast Stoneskin on Drew --
 
Drew Blood: It's clobberin' time!

Oh, and I can't remember the exact context for this one, but it cracked us all up. From the African alchemist to the Welsh ranger:
 
"As the only black character in probably this entire country, can I point out that your White Privilege is showing?"

From last night's FH game. The players are laying low for the day, keeping a low profile before planned nighttime shenanigans.
 
Barbarian: "I'm going to the library to continue my research*."
Ranger: "I thought we were laying low?"
Barbarian: "...It's the library."
Knight: "I wouldn't think to look for her there."
Ranger: "Good point."
 
* It's a running gag that the barbarian is far smarter than she lets on.
 
 
Another running gag is that the Barbarian and the Priest have this odd will-they-won't-they quasi-romance thing going on. At one point the players are talking about an incident a few sessions back when they got captured and tortured.
 
Barbarian: "That was so awesome! The torture wasn't even that bad."
[blank stares]
Barbarian: "I'm not saying I'm into being tortured..."
Priest: [grabs pen & paper] "Just making a few notes for later."
 
 
The Priest always jokes that he doesn't need to carry a weapon because "I have a Barbarian."
GM: "You have all been summoned to appear before the Grand Prince. As before, you have to leave your weapons outside."
Priest: [jerks a thumb at the Barbarian] "So you want her to stay out here?"
 
 
One of the PCs is Welsh:
Barbarian: "I don't know how they do things back in Welshland..."
Welshman: "Welshland?!?!"
Barbarian: "Whatever..."
A few minutes later...
Priest: "He's from some place called Welshlandia."
Welshman: "[sigh]"

I got a "magical Braniac" vibe from this. Also reminds me of 2 Babylon 5 Characters: The First One and the Soul Hunters.
 
 
The Alrahomi were a highly developed species on the fast track to ascend to energy beings. Unfortunately the impending death of physical bodies atracted a being calling itself "The Preserver". It was dedicated to preserving any species it felt was going to die. And it was not asking for consent before preserving them with thier entire system into a pocketdimenson. The ascension was impossible from such a pocket dimension, leaving them trapped on the precipice of thier next Evolutionary step.
 
But one of the Alrahomi managed to escape the entrapment, stood against the Preserver, defeated him and took his most important posession:
The Preserver Staff. It is the means to "Preserve" a Starsystem by moving it into it's own pocketverse. It also allows the wielder to watch the Universe and sometimes enter it (presumably to make certain they do not destroy themself from within). All these functions were readily apparent for the last Alrahomi.
But the one most important function eludes him: How to release something from the Staff or rather it's pocket dimension. It might well have never been intended in the design of the staff.
 
While "The Perserver" was defeated and is no longer avalible for questioning, he did come from a pre-existing Civilisation. A civilsiation that had outposts across the galaxy - many places that are now accessible only through the Preserver Staff itself. But especially they had an outpost on earth. And so the path of the Last Alrahumi was set: Go to earth. And find a way to free his species from thier Imprisionment, by studying the works of the Perserves Civilisation.
 
He has a number of odd titles given to him over the ages:
Last and First Alrahomi
The Blind Reader
The Eternaly Homsick Wanderer
The unwilling Preserver
Carrier of the fate of a thousand worlds
The Technomage*
Bighead*
Old Dude*
 
But among earth super he is mostly known as "Big Al" (Al is short for Alrahumi)*.
 
 
*Recent titles given to him by some serious and several less serious earth supers.
 
 
Roles:
He could be a questgiver of sorts.
Some of the knowledge he needs might only exist in a pocket dimension but those can be highly dangerous, so he might hire the Heroes to explore one of them.
He could also be a villain, driven near mad by the isolation and the burden of carrying the fate of his whole species. He did firgure out how to release a very recently preserved thing, wich he could use to blackmain the heroes into helping him (thier help for the freedom of a city or important person).
 
As a hero or covnentional villain he would be dedicated to unlocking the secrets of the staff, wich might give him spartial manipulation powers (Portals, including Portal based Deflection, dimensional barrier shields, attacking with "shards" of pocket universes).

I got a "magical Braniac" vibe from this. Also reminds me of 2 Babylon 5 Characters: The First One and the Soul Hunters.
 
 
The Alrahomi were a highly developed species on the fast track to ascend to energy beings. Unfortunately the impending death of physical bodies atracted a being calling itself "The Preserver". It was dedicated to preserving any species it felt was going to die. And it was not asking for consent before preserving them with thier entire system into a pocketdimenson. The ascension was impossible from such a pocket dimension, leaving them trapped on the precipice of thier next Evolutionary step.
 
But one of the Alrahomi managed to escape the entrapment, stood against the Preserver, defeated him and took his most important posession:
The Preserver Staff. It is the means to "Preserve" a Starsystem by moving it into it's own pocketverse. It also allows the wielder to watch the Universe and sometimes enter it (presumably to make certain they do not destroy themself from within). All these functions were readily apparent for the last Alrahomi.
But the one most important function eludes him: How to release something from the Staff or rather it's pocket dimension. It might well have never been intended in the design of the staff.
 
While "The Perserver" was defeated and is no longer avalible for questioning, he did come from a pre-existing Civilisation. A civilsiation that had outposts across the galaxy - many places that are now accessible only through the Preserver Staff itself. But especially they had an outpost on earth. And so the path of the Last Alrahumi was set: Go to earth. And find a way to free his species from thier Imprisionment, by studying the works of the Perserves Civilisation.
 
He has a number of odd titles given to him over the ages:
Last and First Alrahomi
The Blind Reader
The Eternaly Homsick Wanderer
The unwilling Preserver
Carrier of the fate of a thousand worlds
The Technomage*
Bighead*
Old Dude*
 
But among earth super he is mostly known as "Big Al" (Al is short for Alrahumi)*.
 
 
*Recent titles given to him by some serious and several less serious earth supers.
 
 
Roles:
He could be a questgiver of sorts.
Some of the knowledge he needs might only exist in a pocket dimension but those can be highly dangerous, so he might hire the Heroes to explore one of them.
He could also be a villain, driven near mad by the isolation and the burden of carrying the fate of his whole species. He did firgure out how to release a very recently preserved thing, wich he could use to blackmain the heroes into helping him (thier help for the freedom of a city or important person).
 
As a hero or covnentional villain he would be dedicated to unlocking the secrets of the staff, wich might give him spartial manipulation powers (Portals, including Portal based Deflection, dimensional barrier shields, attacking with "shards" of pocket universes).