BoloOfEarth

From last night's adventure (Typhoid Dee) in my Champions game (Part One):
 
Pre-game, Circe was jokingly complaining about last session's fight at her nightclub.
Malarky:  (OOC) I thought we warned you -- if you tell (GM) that your character owns someplace, it's almost guaranteed there will be a fight there.
GM:  Didn't you notice, when you gave me Circe's backstory, and it included the nightclub, and your condo's location, and your mom's place, that I chuckled a lot?
 
FYI:  Circe's player provided a very detailed background that involved her grandmother Marie (herself a mentalist and a leader of a group known as the Sisterhood) making a deal with an unidentified "powerful mentalist" -- he and Marie's daughter Hanna would bear two children, one female and one male.  (One of the Sisterhood could manipulate things to ensure the gender of each child.)  Hanna would raise the girl, and the father would raise the boy.  However, after the first child (Circe, aka Ana) was born, Marie and Hanna refused to complete the deal by producing the male mentalist's heir.  Thanks to the Sisterhood, he didn't have much choice but to accept this and walk away.  Ana / Circe didn't necessarily know all of this info, though she was aware of the Sisterhood.  The background also mentioned that her grandmother died when Ana was about 8 years old.  And Circe's Complications included that she is Watched by her father (More Powerful).
 
Cue the GM machinations.
 
GM:  And speaking of your condo, we're going to start Circe, or rather Ana, off there, sleeping peacefully one night...
 
She wakes up to find a man leaning against her bedroom door frame, smoking a cigarette.  He introduces himself as Joseph Ryan, her father (whom her mother had said died when Ana was an infant).  Ryan assures her he means her no harm, and says that Ana's mother (Hanna) and grandmother (Marie) kept him from seeing her.
 
Ryan:  Even though your mother kept you from me, I kept tabs on you growing up, but I did miss out those things a dad gets to do, like watching his baby sleep.  So I hope you'll forgive me for watching you sleep just now.
Circe:  (OOC)  The first thing I do?  Pull the covers all the way up to my neck.
 
Circe tries using her Telepathy (invisible to mental) to read his mind.  Note that all of her mental powers are in a pair of multipowers, and all are bought with the Unified Power limitation.
 
GM:  Two things.  First, you can tell that your Telepathy is greatly reduced in power.  In fact, all of your mental powers are down about 30 points, and you can feel them slowly but surely getting weaker.  Secondly, when you try to read his mind, you get nothing.  He's like a psionic void.
Circe:  This is not good!
 
Ryan, by the way, is the psionic assassin Krait from Blackwyrm Games' rather excellent Algernon Files.
 
Ryan:  I also never got to tell you bedtime stories growing up, so please indulge me while I tell you one now.  Long ago, there was an evil queen, Queen Marie, who was also secretly a witch, leader of a coven of witches known as the Sisterhood.  Queen Marie made a deal with young, handsome Prince Joseph (bows slightly), offering a few nights' time with her beautiful daughter, Princess Hanna, with the goal of producing two heirs.  The daughter would be raised by Queen Marie and Princess Hanna, and then a son would be born and raised by Prince Joseph.  However, after the lovely Princess Ana was born, Queen Marie told Prince Joseph that she and Hanna weren't going to honor the rest of the deal.  Since Prince Joseph was still young and not as skilled as he would one day become, and the evil queen had the backing of her coven of witches, there was nothing he could do but walk away.  But Prince Joseph trained, honing his skills and powers, and one day he returned.  He snuck into the castle late one night and slew the evil Queen Marie in her bed. 
Circe:  But... why?
Ryan:  Because she reneged on their deal.  It was... unprofessional.
GM:  (OOC)  He says that as if being unprofessional is a worse crime than clubbing kittens, maybe even worse than murdering infants.
 
After he finished his twisted bedtime story, he tells Ana that he now plans to murder her mother Hanna for her part in backing out of the deal, and that he felt she should know the full truth of how she came to be. 
 
Ryan:  I don't want to be one of those parents who puts his child into the middle of things, so you may feel free to tell your mother that I stopped by, and of course my plans for her.  All I ask is that you stay out of things and let your mother and I settle our dispute ourselves.  I would hate for you to get hurt in the crossfire.
 
- - - - - -
 
I then backtracked to just after the team's fight against Road Kill.  Last session, the heroes discovered that Road Kill's new songs were somehow summoning Cthulhu-esqe horrors.
 
GM:  So, last time you guys destroyed the Flying Polyp and captured the members of Road Kill.
Honey Badger:  And I got an autographed guitar!
GM:  Yes, you did.  However, how are you going to keep Road Kill from just playing these songs later and summoning more of those things?
Malarky:  The lyrics were basically incantations for a spell.  If we can get them to change the wording, the spell won't work.  (Note that Malarky is a fledgling mage.)
Circe:  (to Nexus, aka Isabelle, a musician)  Does Izzy write her own music?
Nexus:  Yes.
Circe: So she and Malarky can work together come up with new lyrics for the songs, and I'll use my cumulative Mind Control to put them into Heavy Metal's mind and make him think they were his idea.
Honey Badger:  Can you make them a limerick?

"So," The Bear said, "You come to my cave for the secret of Ursine steel , do you?"
 
"Such is my quest," The human said earnestly, hope in his voice but it was a hope he dared not hold onto too tightly. The Bears had guarded their secrets closely from humans, and with good reason. None of them had forgiven the actions of the human King Colbert the First and that mad monarch's reign had tainted human bear relations to this day.
 
The bear scratched his chin, "Not far from here, you will find a greedy and selfish ranger! A woodland warrior who has ever vexed me."
 
The human nodded slowly. He had heard of this fellow, a man by the name of Smith, "I know of him. It would be easier to defeat him with ursine steel," He said hopefully.
 
The bear laughed, "No little human, I do not wish him killed. Bring me Smith's treasure, bring me, his picnic basket."
 
The human winced. This would be no easy achievement. The Bear was setting him to a task that the bear himself hadn't achieved. He should have known. Any animal with the secret to Ursine Steel had to be smarter than the average bear.

Corporations: Not just people, but the only people that matter

Part Two of Typhoid Dee:
 
Maker's background was that she got her powers as an astronaut aboard UNTIL's Gateway space station after exposure to a solar flare or cosmic radiation or something similar.  However, her powers were initially out of control, causing a major problem on the station that left at least one fellow astronaut apparently dead but, in the standard comic trope "nobody could have possibly survived that" which means that of course he survived it, and is now her nemesis.  Her character sheet included Hunted:  TBD (same origin), giving me free rein to name and create the Hunted.
 
I ran her through a quick prequel scene detailing the incident above, with Russian cosmonaut Andrei Vyelov's spacesuit getting holed and him spiraling out of control into an atmospheric reentry while UNTIL was too busy trying to keep Gateway from suffering a similar fate.
 
Back to the present, Maker (aka Li Jenkins) is running late to her regular weekly lunch with her overbearing Chinese mother.  As Li is in the taxi enroute to Boston's Chinatown area, she phones mom (Dr. Hu Cheng) to let her know she's on her way.  In the middle of the conversation, there is screaming and then the call is cut off.  She tries calling back without success.
 
Maker:  How long is it going to take the cab to get there?
GM:  About ten minutes.  Maybe five if you have one of those cab drivers who considers traffic laws as mere suggestions.
Maker:  Can I fly there faster?
GM:  You have a slot in your Multipower that lets you fly pretty fast.  So yeah.  You can get there in about a minute.
Maker:  I tell the cabbie to stop, throw some money at him, get out, duck into an alley.  Turn on my cloak field and fly to Chinatown.
GM:  Are you doing anything else? 
Maker:  Call the others and let them know somethings going on.
GM:  (to other players)  Is anybody else going there?
Shadowboxer (whose secret ID is a PI who also drives a cab to make ends meet):  Well, my last customer just threw money at me and jumped out of the cab, so I'm free to head there!
 
Maker arrives to find a badly scarred man holding her (unconscious) mother, and arguing with some black teen girl with wings.  Another man is lying unconscious at the scarred man's feet.  (He's a good Samaritan who unsuccessfully tried to stop the scarred man from grabbing Dr. Cheng.)
GM:  The guy holding your mom looks like someone tried to light his cigarette with a flamethrower.  Any skin showing is covered with really nasty burn scars.
Honey Badger:  (sarcastically)  Gee, I wonder who that could be?
Maker (with "clueless" field fully engaged):  I don't know, but I'm getting my mom away from him.
 
The scarred man shoves the winged girl away from him as Maker closes in.
GM:  You notice that the winged girl has what looks like a cloud of airborne dust particles around her.  When his hand touches her, you see all the dust particles light up briefly.  Also, she appears to get a bit weaker, and his scars heal up a bit.
Maker:  Crap.  I radio the others:  Don't touch him!
 
The winged girl (Pigeon) flips the scarred man off and begins flying away as Pops teleports Honey Badger to Chinatown, while Maker does a move-by grab on her mother, then flies her to safety. 
 
Pops:  I normally bring the slowest person first, but I start with Honey Badger because I know I can leave him there safely while I get the others.
 
Honey Badger runs up and punches the scarred man (Sushchestvo, aka Wight), knocking him back into some bystanders trying to run away from the scene.  Since Honey Badger has pretty hefty Power Defense, Wight's damage shield Drain doesn't do much, but it does reduce HB's strength enough to make him lose a die of damage. 
 
Honey Badger:  Does he say anything?
GM:  He's shouting in what sounds like Russian.
Maker:  I speak Russian.  What is he saying?
GM:  He's using some rather inventive cursing.  Something about Honey Badger's mother's sexual proclivities. 
 
Wight responds to this attack by grabbing the woman next to him and stealing most of her life energy.
 
Honey Badger:  Is there a mailbox, or a lightpole, or something like that I can use as a weapon?
Malarky:  It's a restaurant with outdoor seating.  Tons of stuff to grab.
GM:  Yep, tables, chairs, big ol' umbrellas...
Honey Badger.  Umbrellas.  Perfect.  I grab one.
Maker:  You're going to pound him with that?
Honey Badger:  I'm gonna shove the umbrella up his a** and open it!
 
Pops teleports Malarky in, who hits Wight with his "Wee Bit Pissed" spell.
 
Malarky:  That should make him drunk.
Pops:  He's Russian.  Probably immune to alcohol.
GM:  If it was vodka, maybe.  But Malarky uses Red Bull in his spell, so it still affects him.
 
Nexus arrives with Circe, and notices two guys on the other side of the street who are looking in her direction.
 
Honey Badger:  Wonder why they're looking at you guys, instead of watching the fight.
Circe:  Maybe because we're hot!
 
As more heroes arrive, the tide swiftly turns against Wight.  Honey Badger rips the cloth off the umbrella to wrap up Wight, then begins squeezing him to keep him unconscious.  Meanwhile,  an older Chinese lady, comes running out of the restaurant.
 
Chinese lady:  Hey!!!  You break, you buy!
Honey Badger:  (turns to Circe, who is wealthy)  A little help here?  I need an umbrella.
An innocent bystander hears this and hands HB a small retractable umbrella.
Honey Badger:  I say thanks, stick it in the ass, and open it.
Maker:  Of the Chinese lady?!?!
Honey Badger:  (incredulously) Noooooooo.  Of the bad guy.
 
The heroes are discussing what they're going to do with the Russian, who Maker now recognizes as Andrei Vyelov.
 
Honey Badger:  (to Pops)  Can you teleport him back to Russia?
Circe:  Do you really want to turn him over to the Russians?
Honey Badger:  Why don't we put him in bed with Putin?
Malarky:  I can make 'em both a Wee Bit Pissed...
 
The heroes reluctantly turn their foe over to PRIMUS, while Maker changes back to secret ID and takes her mother home to recover.
 
GM:  The Return Rate is per 5 minutes, so it'll take about an hour for all the stats he Drained to return.  Even after that, though, your mom is still not feeling great. 
Maker:  I call my dad and explain to him what happened.  Let him know Mom's not feeling good, and to keep an eye on her.
 
After Mr. Jenkins also begins feeling unwell the next day, it becomes apparent something is going on.  The heroes learn that the woman Wight touched last is also sick, as are a few people in Honey Badger's apartment building. 
 
Maker:  I touched my mom.  Am I feeling sick?
GM:  You have a slight headache.  That's about it.
Maker:  Wonder why I'm immune?
GM:  You're not.  You have 5 points of Power Defense, and it's a 1d6 Drain.  It's only getting a little bit through every now and then.
Honey Badger:  That's why it's not affecting me at all.  I have 15 points.
GM:  You also have Life Support:  Immune to Disease.  That might help, too.
 
The CDC quarantines everybody affected at the restaurant (including Maker, in secret ID).  The heroes think the disease came from Wight, but are surprised to learn that he is also sick.  Honey Badger researches Pigeon and learns that she does have some sort of mild toxic aura around her, but it just causes minor respiratory problems that clear up shortly after you move away from her.
 
GM:  Odd thing, the guy that tried to stop Wight from taking Maker's mom recovered all his lost characteristics and isn't sick at all.
Nexus:  Why's he immune?  He was touched by Wight as well.
Malarky:  (light bulb goes off)  Because he was affected before the Russian touched Pigeon. 
Shadowboxer:  When he touched Pigeon, his damage shield must have somehow mutated her disease and made it deadlier.

From last night's adventure (Typhoid Dee) in my Champions game (Part One):
 
Pre-game, Circe was jokingly complaining about last session's fight at her nightclub.
Malarky:  (OOC) I thought we warned you -- if you tell (GM) that your character owns someplace, it's almost guaranteed there will be a fight there.
GM:  Didn't you notice, when you gave me Circe's backstory, and it included the nightclub, and your condo's location, and your mom's place, that I chuckled a lot?
 
FYI:  Circe's player provided a very detailed background that involved her grandmother Marie (herself a mentalist and a leader of a group known as the Sisterhood) making a deal with an unidentified "powerful mentalist" -- he and Marie's daughter Hanna would bear two children, one female and one male.  (One of the Sisterhood could manipulate things to ensure the gender of each child.)  Hanna would raise the girl, and the father would raise the boy.  However, after the first child (Circe, aka Ana) was born, Marie and Hanna refused to complete the deal by producing the male mentalist's heir.  Thanks to the Sisterhood, he didn't have much choice but to accept this and walk away.  Ana / Circe didn't necessarily know all of this info, though she was aware of the Sisterhood.  The background also mentioned that her grandmother died when Ana was about 8 years old.  And Circe's Complications included that she is Watched by her father (More Powerful).
 
Cue the GM machinations.
 
GM:  And speaking of your condo, we're going to start Circe, or rather Ana, off there, sleeping peacefully one night...
 
She wakes up to find a man leaning against her bedroom door frame, smoking a cigarette.  He introduces himself as Joseph Ryan, her father (whom her mother had said died when Ana was an infant).  Ryan assures her he means her no harm, and says that Ana's mother (Hanna) and grandmother (Marie) kept him from seeing her.
 
Ryan:  Even though your mother kept you from me, I kept tabs on you growing up, but I did miss out those things a dad gets to do, like watching his baby sleep.  So I hope you'll forgive me for watching you sleep just now.
Circe:  (OOC)  The first thing I do?  Pull the covers all the way up to my neck.
 
Circe tries using her Telepathy (invisible to mental) to read his mind.  Note that all of her mental powers are in a pair of multipowers, and all are bought with the Unified Power limitation.
 
GM:  Two things.  First, you can tell that your Telepathy is greatly reduced in power.  In fact, all of your mental powers are down about 30 points, and you can feel them slowly but surely getting weaker.  Secondly, when you try to read his mind, you get nothing.  He's like a psionic void.
Circe:  This is not good!
 
Ryan, by the way, is the psionic assassin Krait from Blackwyrm Games' rather excellent Algernon Files.
 
Ryan:  I also never got to tell you bedtime stories growing up, so please indulge me while I tell you one now.  Long ago, there was an evil queen, Queen Marie, who was also secretly a witch, leader of a coven of witches known as the Sisterhood.  Queen Marie made a deal with young, handsome Prince Joseph (bows slightly), offering a few nights' time with her beautiful daughter, Princess Hanna, with the goal of producing two heirs.  The daughter would be raised by Queen Marie and Princess Hanna, and then a son would be born and raised by Prince Joseph.  However, after the lovely Princess Ana was born, Queen Marie told Prince Joseph that she and Hanna weren't going to honor the rest of the deal.  Since Prince Joseph was still young and not as skilled as he would one day become, and the evil queen had the backing of her coven of witches, there was nothing he could do but walk away.  But Prince Joseph trained, honing his skills and powers, and one day he returned.  He snuck into the castle late one night and slew the evil Queen Marie in her bed. 
Circe:  But... why?
Ryan:  Because she reneged on their deal.  It was... unprofessional.
GM:  (OOC)  He says that as if being unprofessional is a worse crime than clubbing kittens, maybe even worse than murdering infants.
 
After he finished his twisted bedtime story, he tells Ana that he now plans to murder her mother Hanna for her part in backing out of the deal, and that he felt she should know the full truth of how she came to be. 
 
Ryan:  I don't want to be one of those parents who puts his child into the middle of things, so you may feel free to tell your mother that I stopped by, and of course my plans for her.  All I ask is that you stay out of things and let your mother and I settle our dispute ourselves.  I would hate for you to get hurt in the crossfire.
 
- - - - - -
 
I then backtracked to just after the team's fight against Road Kill.  Last session, the heroes discovered that Road Kill's new songs were somehow summoning Cthulhu-esqe horrors.
 
GM:  So, last time you guys destroyed the Flying Polyp and captured the members of Road Kill.
Honey Badger:  And I got an autographed guitar!
GM:  Yes, you did.  However, how are you going to keep Road Kill from just playing these songs later and summoning more of those things?
Malarky:  The lyrics were basically incantations for a spell.  If we can get them to change the wording, the spell won't work.  (Note that Malarky is a fledgling mage.)
Circe:  (to Nexus, aka Isabelle, a musician)  Does Izzy write her own music?
Nexus:  Yes.
Circe: So she and Malarky can work together come up with new lyrics for the songs, and I'll use my cumulative Mind Control to put them into Heavy Metal's mind and make him think they were his idea.
Honey Badger:  Can you make them a limerick?

Part Three of Typhoid Dee:
 
The CDC says that they need Pigeon (as Patient Zero) to better concoct a cure to the disease.  With their police connections, the heroes learn that Pigeon is a girl named Diane Carvey with a juvie record, but nothing they find can help them locate where she might be now. 
Pops:  We could dress up as old men, go to the park, and throw bread crumbs on the ground.  She's bound to show up.
 
They also learn that Pigeon is part of a group of freaks / society rejects known as Vermin, whose other members are Cockroach, Flea, Mink, Gopher, Weasel, and Willard (who can summon a rat pack). 
 
Honey Badger:  They may be named Vermin, but I'm calling them "lunch."
 
After learning that witnesses had overheard Pigeon tell Wight he's a "freak like us" and tried to get him to join Vermin, Circe heads to PRIMUS to see if Wight knows where Pigeon might be holed up.
 
GM:  Are you going to tell PRIMUS you want to read his mind?
Circe:  No.  I speak Russian.  I'm just telling them that I want to talk to him.
GM:  Okay, they'll let you talk to him over the intercom, while he's still in the cell.
Circe:  Can I see him?
Nexus:  They should have a camera on him in the cell.
GM:  Sure, but Circe's powers won't work over a video feed.  She needs direct line of sight.
Circe:  I could use Mind Scan to lock on...
GM:  You want to scan the PRIMUS base to lock onto a prisoner in a super-cell?  Think it through.
Circe:  ... yeah, probably not a good idea.
 
After Circe points out that Wight's sickness can also be cured if they capture Pigeon, the Russian relents and gives them a location:  a deserted factory on the south side.  With building blueprints, a bunch of police and PRIMUS agents as backup, and a combination of Circe's Mind Scan and Shadowboxer's Shadow Sight (Clairsentience) to pin down the specific locations of the members of Vermin, the heroes are ready to go in.  Since Weasel (a mentalist) and Flea (a shrinker) are both in the same room, the heroes decide they are the first targets.
 
Circe:  (herself a mentalist)  We need to take out Weasel first.  Because mentalists are sooo evil.
 
Malarky:  Before we go in, do you want me to cast a spell on all of you?
Honey Badger:  Are we all gonna become frogs?
 
Gopher is actually about six meters underground, in a burrow he dug out along with a network of tunnels under the factory.  Shadowboxer uses his Shadow Sight to see what the gadgeteer is up to.
 
GM:  He's working on some device, you're not sure what, while humming.
Shadowboxer:  What song?
GM:  (Hums a tune, but the player doesn't catch it).  At one point, he actually quietly sings, "When Captain Gopher throws his mighty shield..."  And yes, there's a small round shield lying next to him.
 
While most of the heroes take down Flea and Weasel, and Shadowboxer takes on Gopher, Maker (remote-piloting a captured VIPER flyer bot since she's still in quarantine) smashes through a skylight and fires a missile at Pigeon.  It's a 1 1/2d6 Penetrating RKA with +1 STUN Mod, and she rolls badly:  3 BODY and 12 STUN.
 
Maker:  Useless.
However, Pigeon's armor fails the Activation roll, so she takes the full damage.
Shadowboxer:  (OOC)  It's actually a good thing you rolled so low.  We wouldn't want to bring a corpse back to the CDC.
 
Seeing the drone attack and hearing the sound of combat from the room where Flea and Weasel were, Mink leaps into action.
GM:  She runs to the fire door, shoves it open, and runs outside.
Nexus:  Really?  She's running away?
GM:  Yeah.  Mink is definitely a "me first" kinda person.
 
The injured and pissed-off Pigeon flies up to try ripping the flyer bot apart with her claws.  She also rolls incredibly low, getting no damage past the bot's defenses.
 
GM:  That nice new paint job you gave it, though - she scratched that all up.
Pops:  We're painting our whole base with that stuff.  I mean, look how well it protected the drone...
 
Upset at the drone attacking Pigeon, Willard summons a rat pack and sends it up into the rafters to drop onto the drone, blinding it's cameras.  But with the shrinker and mentalist down, Honey Badger runs into the factory proper and jumps up to grab Pigeon.
 
Honey Badger:  Do any of the rats come along for the ride?  If so, I'll munch on them while I'm squeezing Pigeon.
 
Because of the surprise attack taking down three Vermin so quickly, the heroes soon defeat the rest of them...
GM:  Well, Mink got away.
Pops:  Wait, didn't we have police and PRIMUS out there?
GM:  Oh, yeah.  Forgot about them.
Pops:  But she's a martial artist, so she probably has a high DCV.
Shadowboxer:  Which won't help much against stun grenades.
GM:  So, all of Vermin were captured...

Part Two of Typhoid Dee:
 
Maker's background was that she got her powers as an astronaut aboard UNTIL's Gateway space station after exposure to a solar flare or cosmic radiation or something similar.  However, her powers were initially out of control, causing a major problem on the station that left at least one fellow astronaut apparently dead but, in the standard comic trope "nobody could have possibly survived that" which means that of course he survived it, and is now her nemesis.  Her character sheet included Hunted:  TBD (same origin), giving me free rein to name and create the Hunted.
 
I ran her through a quick prequel scene detailing the incident above, with Russian cosmonaut Andrei Vyelov's spacesuit getting holed and him spiraling out of control into an atmospheric reentry while UNTIL was too busy trying to keep Gateway from suffering a similar fate.
 
Back to the present, Maker (aka Li Jenkins) is running late to her regular weekly lunch with her overbearing Chinese mother.  As Li is in the taxi enroute to Boston's Chinatown area, she phones mom (Dr. Hu Cheng) to let her know she's on her way.  In the middle of the conversation, there is screaming and then the call is cut off.  She tries calling back without success.
 
Maker:  How long is it going to take the cab to get there?
GM:  About ten minutes.  Maybe five if you have one of those cab drivers who considers traffic laws as mere suggestions.
Maker:  Can I fly there faster?
GM:  You have a slot in your Multipower that lets you fly pretty fast.  So yeah.  You can get there in about a minute.
Maker:  I tell the cabbie to stop, throw some money at him, get out, duck into an alley.  Turn on my cloak field and fly to Chinatown.
GM:  Are you doing anything else? 
Maker:  Call the others and let them know somethings going on.
GM:  (to other players)  Is anybody else going there?
Shadowboxer (whose secret ID is a PI who also drives a cab to make ends meet):  Well, my last customer just threw money at me and jumped out of the cab, so I'm free to head there!
 
Maker arrives to find a badly scarred man holding her (unconscious) mother, and arguing with some black teen girl with wings.  Another man is lying unconscious at the scarred man's feet.  (He's a good Samaritan who unsuccessfully tried to stop the scarred man from grabbing Dr. Cheng.)
GM:  The guy holding your mom looks like someone tried to light his cigarette with a flamethrower.  Any skin showing is covered with really nasty burn scars.
Honey Badger:  (sarcastically)  Gee, I wonder who that could be?
Maker (with "clueless" field fully engaged):  I don't know, but I'm getting my mom away from him.
 
The scarred man shoves the winged girl away from him as Maker closes in.
GM:  You notice that the winged girl has what looks like a cloud of airborne dust particles around her.  When his hand touches her, you see all the dust particles light up briefly.  Also, she appears to get a bit weaker, and his scars heal up a bit.
Maker:  Crap.  I radio the others:  Don't touch him!
 
The winged girl (Pigeon) flips the scarred man off and begins flying away as Pops teleports Honey Badger to Chinatown, while Maker does a move-by grab on her mother, then flies her to safety. 
 
Pops:  I normally bring the slowest person first, but I start with Honey Badger because I know I can leave him there safely while I get the others.
 
Honey Badger runs up and punches the scarred man (Sushchestvo, aka Wight), knocking him back into some bystanders trying to run away from the scene.  Since Honey Badger has pretty hefty Power Defense, Wight's damage shield Drain doesn't do much, but it does reduce HB's strength enough to make him lose a die of damage. 
 
Honey Badger:  Does he say anything?
GM:  He's shouting in what sounds like Russian.
Maker:  I speak Russian.  What is he saying?
GM:  He's using some rather inventive cursing.  Something about Honey Badger's mother's sexual proclivities. 
 
Wight responds to this attack by grabbing the woman next to him and stealing most of her life energy.
 
Honey Badger:  Is there a mailbox, or a lightpole, or something like that I can use as a weapon?
Malarky:  It's a restaurant with outdoor seating.  Tons of stuff to grab.
GM:  Yep, tables, chairs, big ol' umbrellas...
Honey Badger.  Umbrellas.  Perfect.  I grab one.
Maker:  You're going to pound him with that?
Honey Badger:  I'm gonna shove the umbrella up his a** and open it!
 
Pops teleports Malarky in, who hits Wight with his "Wee Bit Pissed" spell.
 
Malarky:  That should make him drunk.
Pops:  He's Russian.  Probably immune to alcohol.
GM:  If it was vodka, maybe.  But Malarky uses Red Bull in his spell, so it still affects him.
 
Nexus arrives with Circe, and notices two guys on the other side of the street who are looking in her direction.
 
Honey Badger:  Wonder why they're looking at you guys, instead of watching the fight.
Circe:  Maybe because we're hot!
 
As more heroes arrive, the tide swiftly turns against Wight.  Honey Badger rips the cloth off the umbrella to wrap up Wight, then begins squeezing him to keep him unconscious.  Meanwhile,  an older Chinese lady, comes running out of the restaurant.
 
Chinese lady:  Hey!!!  You break, you buy!
Honey Badger:  (turns to Circe, who is wealthy)  A little help here?  I need an umbrella.
An innocent bystander hears this and hands HB a small retractable umbrella.
Honey Badger:  I say thanks, stick it in the ass, and open it.
Maker:  Of the Chinese lady?!?!
Honey Badger:  (incredulously) Noooooooo.  Of the bad guy.
 
The heroes are discussing what they're going to do with the Russian, who Maker now recognizes as Andrei Vyelov.
 
Honey Badger:  (to Pops)  Can you teleport him back to Russia?
Circe:  Do you really want to turn him over to the Russians?
Honey Badger:  Why don't we put him in bed with Putin?
Malarky:  I can make 'em both a Wee Bit Pissed...
 
The heroes reluctantly turn their foe over to PRIMUS, while Maker changes back to secret ID and takes her mother home to recover.
 
GM:  The Return Rate is per 5 minutes, so it'll take about an hour for all the stats he Drained to return.  Even after that, though, your mom is still not feeling great. 
Maker:  I call my dad and explain to him what happened.  Let him know Mom's not feeling good, and to keep an eye on her.
 
After Mr. Jenkins also begins feeling unwell the next day, it becomes apparent something is going on.  The heroes learn that the woman Wight touched last is also sick, as are a few people in Honey Badger's apartment building. 
 
Maker:  I touched my mom.  Am I feeling sick?
GM:  You have a slight headache.  That's about it.
Maker:  Wonder why I'm immune?
GM:  You're not.  You have 5 points of Power Defense, and it's a 1d6 Drain.  It's only getting a little bit through every now and then.
Honey Badger:  That's why it's not affecting me at all.  I have 15 points.
GM:  You also have Life Support:  Immune to Disease.  That might help, too.
 
The CDC quarantines everybody affected at the restaurant (including Maker, in secret ID).  The heroes think the disease came from Wight, but are surprised to learn that he is also sick.  Honey Badger researches Pigeon and learns that she does have some sort of mild toxic aura around her, but it just causes minor respiratory problems that clear up shortly after you move away from her.
 
GM:  Odd thing, the guy that tried to stop Wight from taking Maker's mom recovered all his lost characteristics and isn't sick at all.
Nexus:  Why's he immune?  He was touched by Wight as well.
Malarky:  (light bulb goes off)  Because he was affected before the Russian touched Pigeon. 
Shadowboxer:  When he touched Pigeon, his damage shield must have somehow mutated her disease and made it deadlier.

From last night's adventure (Typhoid Dee) in my Champions game (Part One):
 
Pre-game, Circe was jokingly complaining about last session's fight at her nightclub.
Malarky:  (OOC) I thought we warned you -- if you tell (GM) that your character owns someplace, it's almost guaranteed there will be a fight there.
GM:  Didn't you notice, when you gave me Circe's backstory, and it included the nightclub, and your condo's location, and your mom's place, that I chuckled a lot?
 
FYI:  Circe's player provided a very detailed background that involved her grandmother Marie (herself a mentalist and a leader of a group known as the Sisterhood) making a deal with an unidentified "powerful mentalist" -- he and Marie's daughter Hanna would bear two children, one female and one male.  (One of the Sisterhood could manipulate things to ensure the gender of each child.)  Hanna would raise the girl, and the father would raise the boy.  However, after the first child (Circe, aka Ana) was born, Marie and Hanna refused to complete the deal by producing the male mentalist's heir.  Thanks to the Sisterhood, he didn't have much choice but to accept this and walk away.  Ana / Circe didn't necessarily know all of this info, though she was aware of the Sisterhood.  The background also mentioned that her grandmother died when Ana was about 8 years old.  And Circe's Complications included that she is Watched by her father (More Powerful).
 
Cue the GM machinations.
 
GM:  And speaking of your condo, we're going to start Circe, or rather Ana, off there, sleeping peacefully one night...
 
She wakes up to find a man leaning against her bedroom door frame, smoking a cigarette.  He introduces himself as Joseph Ryan, her father (whom her mother had said died when Ana was an infant).  Ryan assures her he means her no harm, and says that Ana's mother (Hanna) and grandmother (Marie) kept him from seeing her.
 
Ryan:  Even though your mother kept you from me, I kept tabs on you growing up, but I did miss out those things a dad gets to do, like watching his baby sleep.  So I hope you'll forgive me for watching you sleep just now.
Circe:  (OOC)  The first thing I do?  Pull the covers all the way up to my neck.
 
Circe tries using her Telepathy (invisible to mental) to read his mind.  Note that all of her mental powers are in a pair of multipowers, and all are bought with the Unified Power limitation.
 
GM:  Two things.  First, you can tell that your Telepathy is greatly reduced in power.  In fact, all of your mental powers are down about 30 points, and you can feel them slowly but surely getting weaker.  Secondly, when you try to read his mind, you get nothing.  He's like a psionic void.
Circe:  This is not good!
 
Ryan, by the way, is the psionic assassin Krait from Blackwyrm Games' rather excellent Algernon Files.
 
Ryan:  I also never got to tell you bedtime stories growing up, so please indulge me while I tell you one now.  Long ago, there was an evil queen, Queen Marie, who was also secretly a witch, leader of a coven of witches known as the Sisterhood.  Queen Marie made a deal with young, handsome Prince Joseph (bows slightly), offering a few nights' time with her beautiful daughter, Princess Hanna, with the goal of producing two heirs.  The daughter would be raised by Queen Marie and Princess Hanna, and then a son would be born and raised by Prince Joseph.  However, after the lovely Princess Ana was born, Queen Marie told Prince Joseph that she and Hanna weren't going to honor the rest of the deal.  Since Prince Joseph was still young and not as skilled as he would one day become, and the evil queen had the backing of her coven of witches, there was nothing he could do but walk away.  But Prince Joseph trained, honing his skills and powers, and one day he returned.  He snuck into the castle late one night and slew the evil Queen Marie in her bed. 
Circe:  But... why?
Ryan:  Because she reneged on their deal.  It was... unprofessional.
GM:  (OOC)  He says that as if being unprofessional is a worse crime than clubbing kittens, maybe even worse than murdering infants.
 
After he finished his twisted bedtime story, he tells Ana that he now plans to murder her mother Hanna for her part in backing out of the deal, and that he felt she should know the full truth of how she came to be. 
 
Ryan:  I don't want to be one of those parents who puts his child into the middle of things, so you may feel free to tell your mother that I stopped by, and of course my plans for her.  All I ask is that you stay out of things and let your mother and I settle our dispute ourselves.  I would hate for you to get hurt in the crossfire.
 
- - - - - -
 
I then backtracked to just after the team's fight against Road Kill.  Last session, the heroes discovered that Road Kill's new songs were somehow summoning Cthulhu-esqe horrors.
 
GM:  So, last time you guys destroyed the Flying Polyp and captured the members of Road Kill.
Honey Badger:  And I got an autographed guitar!
GM:  Yes, you did.  However, how are you going to keep Road Kill from just playing these songs later and summoning more of those things?
Malarky:  The lyrics were basically incantations for a spell.  If we can get them to change the wording, the spell won't work.  (Note that Malarky is a fledgling mage.)
Circe:  (to Nexus, aka Isabelle, a musician)  Does Izzy write her own music?
Nexus:  Yes.
Circe: So she and Malarky can work together come up with new lyrics for the songs, and I'll use my cumulative Mind Control to put them into Heavy Metal's mind and make him think they were his idea.
Honey Badger:  Can you make them a limerick?

Re: Quote of the Week from my gaming group...
 
Sorry for the long posts, but I’ve been having way too much fun with this adventure arc.
 
Part 1:
In my Champions campaign, we finished things up with the guest teen heroes:
 
Elemental: Pretty but bossy cheerleader able to control earth, water, air, and fire.
Piccolo: Cute band geek with musical abilities.
Powerplay: Transplanted loud-mouth redneck, now brick/speedster hockey player.
Specs: Brainy but klutzy guy with a penchant for steampunk gadgets.
Stretch: Basketball player / prankster with stretching abilities.
 
Powerplay (to Piccolo): So a flute player is called a flautist. Does that make you a piccolist?
Piccolo: Very funny.
GM: I’m just amazed he knew the word “flautist.”
 
To recap, the teen heroes discovered a deserted 1950s-era hero base, which had a secret area containing a supervillain (Black Oak the druid) in stasis. When we ended last time, the robotic custodian Jason had alerted the teens the stasis tube was failing, and they were rushing from their homes to the base, communicating via bulky Liberty League-issue videophone watches, or as Stretch put it: “We’re using our Farnsworths.”
 
Elemental: But that whole area is covered with traps. Won’t that keep him in?
Jason: It appears Black Oak has summoned a number of large rock creatures and they’re breaking through the traps.
Powerplay (OOC): Squirrels?
GM (sarcastic): Yeah, you got it, they’re giant squirrels in disguise.
Specs: We could call in the Squirrel King. He’ll save the day.
 
The teen heroes decide to alert the local adult hero team (S-Squad), just in case.
 
GM: You’re all on the north side of town, and S-Squad is on the south side of Chicago… in the baddest part of town…
Stretch: Do they have Leroy Brown working for them?
 
Stretch arrives first, calls S-Squad, and is trying to convince their receptionist that it’s not just a prank call.
 
Receptionist: And what is the supervillain’s name that you say you found?
Stretch: Black Oak.
Receptionist: (typing) I don’t see any record of a Black Oak in our files.
Stretch: You’re gonna have to use the way-back machine, lady. This is a really old dude.
GM (OOC, imitating a teenager): He looks like he’s in his late 30s, man, he’s ancient!
 
Receptionist (to Synergy): We have a call, some guy calling himself Stretch says he and his friends found an abandoned secret superhero base, and there was a supervillain named Black Oak in stasis there, but he’s breaking free. I looked Black Oak up online - he existed and was active back in the 1940s and 50s. The caller sounds like a kid, so it might be a prank. Do you want to take it?
Synergy: Well, this one’s original, I’ll give him that. At least it looks like he did his homework. Yeah, I’ll take it.
 
The other teens arrive, and they all go to fight Black Oak and friends. The earth elementals are blocking the hallway, so Elemental creates a sheet of ice under them. Despite this, two of the elementals make repeated DEX rolls and remain standing through almost all of the fight.
 
GM: … number 6 is bracing himself against the walls, and number 5 is moving like he’s Michael Jackson.
 
Piccolo wants to use her No-Range AOE attacks against multiple elementals.
 
Piccolo: I need to get into the middle of them, but I don’t have a way to get there.
Powerplay: You’re in marching band! You know how to walk!
Piccolo: But I’m too far away!
Powerplay: (begins imitating marching music)
 
In the heat of battle, Powerplay has been making crass, suggestive comments to the two girls.
 
Elemental: You are so shallow!
Powerplay (leering): I go deep enough.
GM: (grins and begins scribbling down that exchange)
Piccolo (OOC): Just how R-rated is this website where you post these quotes?
GM: Compared to some, yours are pretty tame.
 
The teens are trying to figure out what Black Oak’s other abilities might be.
 
Specs: (Makes his KS: RPG Games roll) Well, he summoned multiple earth elementals, so he’s at least an 8th level Druid…
 
Piccolo uses her Pied Piper tune (3d6 Mind Control, Cumulative) to try to affect the elementals.
 
GM: What are you commanding them to do?
Piccolo (shrugs, figuring she hasn’t rolled enough effect yet): Just to hold for further orders.
GM (rolls EGO rolls): Okay, that’s something they’re inclined to do, so these three stop moving.
Piccolo: It worked?!
Stretch: Think about it. What do rocks like to do the most? Just sit there.
 
Elemental has been sand-blasting individual elementals, wearing them down slowly but seems to feel she’s not highly effective.
 
GM: Too bad you guys don’t have, oh, I dunno, someone who commands the elements!
Elemental: (pause) I can do that?!
Specs (OOC): You have a Cosmic Variable Power Pool. You can do pretty much anything you can think of!
 
Despite their efforts, Black Oak gets out of view and up to the underground river. When Stretch and Piccolo arrive, they see Synergy approaching from down the opposite tunnel.
 
Synergy: Okay, where is he?
Piccolo: I think Black Oak turned into a bird and flew off.
Stretch: Did you see a budgie on your way in?
Synergy: No, sorry, didn’t see any birds.
Powerplay: He hopped into the river and turned into a carp! An old gnarly one with a bunch of those feelers hanging down in front!
Stretch (OOC): Hush. You’re not there.
Powerplay: I’m telling you, put some bacon on a hook. They can’t resist!
 
While Synergy, Stretch, and Piccolo compare notes, the heroes down in the security level hear two voices behind them.
 
Voice 1: Dang it! I was sure these kids would stop him!
Voice 2: Ha! I win!
Stretch (OOC): Oh, great, we have house elfs.
 
Two imps, Mischief and Mayhem (former teammates of Black Oak in the Alliance of Evil) appear in midair.
 
GM (describing their height by hand): They’re about this tall. They’re tiny…
Piccolo (singing): They’re tooney…
Others join in: They’re all a little looney… (all continue the Tiny Toons Adventures theme song)
 
The heroes discover why Black Oak’s stasis tube failed.
 
Mayhem: Think Black Oak’s gonna be pissed?
Mischief: Hey, he commanded us to set him free if he was ever captured. He didn’t say how quickly we had to do it!
 
Specs: So what are you two up to?
Mayhem: We’re thinking of getting the band back together.
Specs: Band? What do you two play?
Mischief: (banjo appears, starts Dueling Banjos)
Mayhem: (accordion appears, starts playing a Weird Al medley)
 
Elemental gets tired of the two irritating imps and creates a globe of water around Mayhem’s head to shut him up.
 
Mayhem: Glub! Glub, glub, glub! (sticks tongue out at her)
Mischief: (giggles, then puts his rear end into the water and lets out some gas)
Stretch (to Elemental): Any way you can light that up?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lm46-envrHo

She's a high school teacher.  If being out of your mind isn't a job requirement, it happens on it's own within the first year on the job.
 
NT:  Completely shocking character cameos in the Captain America: Civil War movie.

I agree that their desire to avoid magic is definitely a problem with Dr Strange, but hopefully the story and visuals will help get past that.
 
Superhero films are doing well right now for several reasons.  First, a lot of the audience today grew up reading comics and going "this would make an amazing movie!"  And we were right.  Second, they're some of the only original content out there in movies.  Everything else seems like a remake and a sequel, whereas every new superhero film seems like something fresh and new so far.  Third, superhero movies allow spectacle and wonder in just about every genre imaginable.  Spy movies, gritty noir, wide open adventure, fantasy, sci fi, it doesn't really matter.  Superhero comics can embrace any genre and make it work, so the variety is enormous but still gives the opportunity for incredible effects and explosive, epic action.  Fourth, its just flat entertaining.
 
For me, watching people line up to see tales of heroism, self sacrifice, a strong message of good vs evil, and people working to change their place by personal effort is a very positive thing for our culture.  And that's what superhero films are, at their best and at their core.  Just seeing all those kid wearing Captain America shield shirts and lining up by the hundreds and thousands to watch another film of heroic do-goodery warms hm heart.

Another golf joke:
 
Steve's business meeting ended a little early, so he decided to take in a quick nine holes of golf before going home. When he got to the course, he was told that he could not play unless there was at least a twosome. Looking around, he saw an old man sitting on a nearby bench. "I'll play a round with you, sonny," he said. Having no other option, Steve signed himself and the old man up for the next tee time.   The game turned out to be a lot of fun. The old man was a pretty good golfer, with a good sense of humor and a hundred stories of how good he had been "in the old days". Before he knew it, Steve was setting up his tee shot on the ninth hole.   He drove the ball solidly into the rough, and it landed right behind a huge oak tree. As he surveyed the situation, trying to see the best way to get around the big oak, the old man spoke up.   "When I was your age, I would've taken out my 5-iron and knocked the ball right over the top of that tree and onto the green."   Steve, feeling challenged by the old man's claim, strode over to the cart and took the 5-iron out of his bag. He lined up his shot, swung the club and   >> SMACK! <<   hit the ball right into the trunk of the tree. The ball bounced back and rolled to a halt less than a foot from where Steve had found it.   The old man smiled. "Of course, when I was your age, that tree was only three feet tall...."

Three couples, friends, die together in a big car crash. Shortly, they stand before the Pearly Gates. St. Peter looks at them over his glasses. "Will the Jones family step forward." The first couple does.
 
"Mr. Jones," St. Peter says, "you have spent your entire adult life obsessed with money. Acquiring more money has obsessed your every waking moment and most of your sleeping ones. In fact, you married a woman named 'Penny.' No, you will not be entering."
 
Blinking, the two step back and go over to the side to await their friends. "Will the Browns step forward." The second couple does so.
 
"Mr. Brown," St. Peter says, "you have spent your entire adult life obsessed with alcohol. Acquiring more drink  has obsessed your every waking moment and most of your sleeping ones. In fact, you married a woman named 'Sherry.' No, you will not be entering."
 
They step back and join the first couple. Before St. Peter can say anything else, the third man says, "Well, no use of us standing around here. Let's join the others, Fanny."

Despite all the reasons Steve Rogers has to be bitter and cynical, he holds firm to his ideals. They continue to motivate him to do everything he can to make a difference.
 
That's why we created superheroes. To inspire us to try to be better than we are.

I just love this story so much, I don't even care that it's just up the road from me
 
Couple Arrested For Selling “Golden Tickets To Heaven”
 
 
 
 
I was going to add emphasis to a few lines, but where to even begin? Tito's statement alone is pure gold.
 
[link]
 
 

Re: Quote of the Week From My Life.
 
My youngest daughter is a supervillain in training. She claims to be "mostly evil." When I asked what she meant by "mostly," she replied, "I'm 66% evil, 1% good, and the rest is artificial sweeteners, which is evil with one of those twirly moustaches."
 
Growing up, my sister was famous in our family for her mis-statements. A few examples:
 
"I'll be in the bathroom if everybody wants me."
"The lake comes all the way up to the shore."
She would also refer to volcanoes "interrupting."

Given how people can be, it might not be genetic, but rather generic.

Magnetite detested paperwork; if he'd known how much he'd have to deal with, he might not have taken on being Chicago's VIPER Nest Leader.  So he was quite happy when two VIPER agents interrupted his daily administrative slog with a young woman in tow.  He ignored her tattoos, lip piercing, and multi-hued hair; many supervillains had very distinctive looks, and hers was milder than some.
 
The Nest Leader stood and smiled.  "Amethyst, isn't it?  A pleasure to meet you.  I'm Magnetite, but you probably already know that since you did apply to work with VIPER."  He reached out and shook her hand, and wasn't all that surprised when his heads-up display warned of psionic activity.  He was mildly surprised, however, to see her hair changing colors slightly as she used her powers.  "I should warn you, my helmet will make mental attacks against me quite difficult.  And it really does get us off on the wrong foot if you try to manipulate me."
 
The young woman shrugged and smiled.  "Sorry, old habit.  I was just trying a touch of telepathy.  It's nice to know how a potential boss thinks."
 
"Understood."  Magnetite sat back in his chair.  "Just don't try it again, and we'll get along fine."  He pulled up her file on his HUD and glanced through it quickly.  "Full suite of mental powers.  That's good.  Specialty in... neural location and telepathic links.  Interesting.  Tell me, how many people can you mentally link at once?"
"Fifteen to twenty with minimal effort.  I can go as high as sixty, but can't maintain that for longer than a few minutes."
 
He shrugged.  "A lot can get accomplished in a few minutes, especially by a dozen teams of VIPER agents.  Cross-communication, or do you have to relay?"
 
"Once linked, everybody can communciate with everybody else."
 
Magnetite smiled.  "Excellent.  And would you mind giving me a demonstration of your scanning capability?  Where is state senator Michael Clayton right now?"
 
Amethyst closed her eyes and tilted her head back.  Once again, her hair began to change color, ranging from turquoise to deep violet.  Magnetite noted that she really was quite lovely.  "He is... at the Garfield Park Conservatory."  She concentrated a bit more.  "Going over his speech in his head right now."  She opened her eyes.  "Want to know what his new crime bill's about?"
 
"Not necessary.  We've had a copy of it for several weeks."  He drew a few sheets of paper from a folder on his desk and studied them for a moment.  "Tell me, how skilled are you at manipulation?"
 
She looked mildly uncomfortable.  "I can do okay, but it's not my strong suit.  I can nudge people to do things they wouldn't mind doing anyway, and push to do things they're not flat-out against.  But I can't make someone shoot himself or a friend, if that's what you're looking for.  The more they're against it, the more likely they'll know they were mind controlled."
 
Magnetite shook his head.  "Not to worry, I'm not looking for anything overly dramatic."  He pulled out a thick envelope and slid it across the table to her.  She opened it to see banded stacks of money.  "I hope that is an adequate retainer."  He stood and handed her the sheets of paper he'd been reading.  "And I would like this to be the speech that Mr. Clayton gives.  Nearly identical, but we'd mainly like him to go off the rails for this bit here." 
 
He pointed to a paragraph, and Amethyst's eyes widened as she read it.  "What is his stance on S-Squad, and superheroes in general?"
 
"Senator Clayton's not a huge fan.  Has called them 'costumed vigilantes' in private, but since they're media darlings right now he holds his tongue."
 
Amethyst smiled.  "Well, I think I can make him let it go for a bit."

Magnetite detested paperwork; if he'd known how much he'd have to deal with, he might not have taken on being Chicago's VIPER Nest Leader.  So he was quite happy when two VIPER agents interrupted his daily administrative slog with a young woman in tow.  He ignored her tattoos, lip piercing, and multi-hued hair; many supervillains had very distinctive looks, and hers was milder than some.
 
The Nest Leader stood and smiled.  "Amethyst, isn't it?  A pleasure to meet you.  I'm Magnetite, but you probably already know that since you did apply to work with VIPER."  He reached out and shook her hand, and wasn't all that surprised when his heads-up display warned of psionic activity.  He was mildly surprised, however, to see her hair changing colors slightly as she used her powers.  "I should warn you, my helmet will make mental attacks against me quite difficult.  And it really does get us off on the wrong foot if you try to manipulate me."
 
The young woman shrugged and smiled.  "Sorry, old habit.  I was just trying a touch of telepathy.  It's nice to know how a potential boss thinks."
 
"Understood."  Magnetite sat back in his chair.  "Just don't try it again, and we'll get along fine."  He pulled up her file on his HUD and glanced through it quickly.  "Full suite of mental powers.  That's good.  Specialty in... neural location and telepathic links.  Interesting.  Tell me, how many people can you mentally link at once?"
"Fifteen to twenty with minimal effort.  I can go as high as sixty, but can't maintain that for longer than a few minutes."
 
He shrugged.  "A lot can get accomplished in a few minutes, especially by a dozen teams of VIPER agents.  Cross-communication, or do you have to relay?"
 
"Once linked, everybody can communciate with everybody else."
 
Magnetite smiled.  "Excellent.  And would you mind giving me a demonstration of your scanning capability?  Where is state senator Michael Clayton right now?"
 
Amethyst closed her eyes and tilted her head back.  Once again, her hair began to change color, ranging from turquoise to deep violet.  Magnetite noted that she really was quite lovely.  "He is... at the Garfield Park Conservatory."  She concentrated a bit more.  "Going over his speech in his head right now."  She opened her eyes.  "Want to know what his new crime bill's about?"
 
"Not necessary.  We've had a copy of it for several weeks."  He drew a few sheets of paper from a folder on his desk and studied them for a moment.  "Tell me, how skilled are you at manipulation?"
 
She looked mildly uncomfortable.  "I can do okay, but it's not my strong suit.  I can nudge people to do things they wouldn't mind doing anyway, and push to do things they're not flat-out against.  But I can't make someone shoot himself or a friend, if that's what you're looking for.  The more they're against it, the more likely they'll know they were mind controlled."
 
Magnetite shook his head.  "Not to worry, I'm not looking for anything overly dramatic."  He pulled out a thick envelope and slid it across the table to her.  She opened it to see banded stacks of money.  "I hope that is an adequate retainer."  He stood and handed her the sheets of paper he'd been reading.  "And I would like this to be the speech that Mr. Clayton gives.  Nearly identical, but we'd mainly like him to go off the rails for this bit here." 
 
He pointed to a paragraph, and Amethyst's eyes widened as she read it.  "What is his stance on S-Squad, and superheroes in general?"
 
"Senator Clayton's not a huge fan.  Has called them 'costumed vigilantes' in private, but since they're media darlings right now he holds his tongue."
 
Amethyst smiled.  "Well, I think I can make him let it go for a bit."

Re: Quote of the Week from my gaming group...
 
Last night's D&D 3.5 game. Trying to work from memory, without my trusty-rusty notebook, so I'm sure I'm forgetting something. But here goes nothing!
 
Before the game, Leila's player was talking about working at the police department, and some of the local wackos that repeatedly stop in at the front desk for various nutty reasons (i.e. complaining that one of the officers can "turn invisible").
 
Leila (OOC): The sergeant calls them "frequent fliers"...
Yllek (OOC): With the empasis on the "freak" part...
 
On to gaming. Last session, while I was out of town, the heroes defeated some sort of mega-giants, three of whom were bullying a tribe of stone giants. The DM is telling me what happened.
 
DM: ... so one of the Big giants picked up the nearest fighter (points at Aren) and used him to beat on everybody else.
Yllek (OOC writes something and hands it to Il'Marcum's player): Note -- have Kalen [Yllek's woodworker brother] carve a club in the likeness of Aren.
Il'Marcum (OOC): Ooo! And I can get a permanent Magic Mouth scroll, so it says "Ow! Ow!" every time it hits someone or something!
 
Some goat-people allies bring an eight-sided box to us, wrapped in a deer skin. They found it but refuse to touch it because "it has bad juju."
 
DM: ... and there are eight small hexagon-shaped holes, one on each side of the box.
Yllek: I look inside. What do I see?
DM: Nothing. All you see is darkness.
Yllek (jokingly): I shoot a magic missile at the darkness!
Devlyn (picking up the reference and starts talking like a whining teenage boy): Are there any chicks in the room? If there are, I want to DO THEM!
 
We go to the river where the goat people found the box. To search the water, Leila had turned all of us except Ryan into otters. We find odd pieces of carved stone, then eventually spot a half-buried stone room 40 feet up in the cliff face. (Over time, mudslides uncovered it and one corner collapsed and caused the box to fall from the room, into the river and roll downstream where the goat people eventually found it.) Unfortunately, Ryan can't communicate with all of us otters.
 
Yllek: I go over to Ryan's pack, rummage around until I find a piece of cloth, tie it around my neck like a cape, and then stand like this! (Poses dramatically, like Superman)
Ryan: What? You want me to throw you up there?
Yllek (nods vigorously)
DM: All right. Ryan grabs Yllek by the tail and begins spinning him around his head...
 
We all eventually get up there and discover that the room leads to two others, with no apparent entrance other than the corner that collapsed. The walls are intricately carved and brightly colored, with eight lines (each a different color) leading from starting points in one room to the corner that collapsed, and presumably to the mystery box.
 
Through trial and error, we discover that spells from different magic schools cause different carved lines to light up. So we come up with a plan to direct magic into all eight lines and position the mystery box at the other end to see what happens. The whole thing is very complicated and requires a lot of effort on our part.
 
Ryan: You know, we have absolutely no idea what all of this does. All we know is that the room will generate some sort of epic-level spell, way past our level, but no idea of even what kind of spell it is. The box holds pure magic and appears to temporarily suck away our highest level spells. And apparently, if we cast a bunch of spells in the right order, we can probably activate the box. Again, with no idea of what it's going to do once it's activated. Only adventurers would be stupid enough to actually do something like this...
 
We teleport back to town to pick up some supplies first, and Yllek realizes that he forgot his new wife's birthday, so he goes to the best jeweler in town.
 
Yllek: I explain to the jeweler that I forgot my wife's birthday, so I need to find a nice present. Something that will keep her from killing me.
Jeweler: Oh, that's okay, we have many fine pieces.
Yllek: Her birthday was last week.
Jeweler: Ooo. I don't know if we have anything *that* nice.
 
Yllek: I knock on the front door and kneel there. I hold out the flowers, the necklace, and my dagger, while exposing my neck...
Kalina: (rolls her eyes and sighs in exasperation) Get in here!
 
The next day, we go back to the mystery box and the mystery room. Il'Marcum casts the spells and we activate the box. It generates a 4-foot globe of white energy, and Ryan and Yllek are immediately sucked inside. Il'Marcum and Leila approach the globe.
 
Il'Marcum: What the heck. I jump in. Geronimo!!!
DM: Oookay. Leila, you see Il'Marcum jump into the globe, yelling some weird name, you have no idea why.
Leila: (shrugs) I jump in too.
DM: Do *you* yell anything?
Yllek (OOC): Sitting Bull!
 
After everybody finally jumps in, we find ourselves in a 2-mile across pastoral setting, deserted except for a few sheep. The thing is floating 50,000 feet up in the air. It is also apparently sitting outside time, and Il'Marcum can't teleport us out, nor can Leila tree-walk out of there. So we're trying to figure out how to get home.
 
Il'Marcum: There *has* to be a way out. After all, we got in, didn't we?
DM: Yeah, and the only way in was from a room that was, until recently, completely buried. Before that, it had no other entrance. You had to have been to the room before, and then use Teleport to get inside. Then, to activate the gate, you needed spells from *every* school of magic, and position the box *just right.* It's not like they just left the front door open for anyone to slip in...
 
Yllek: Well, since we're apparently stuck here for a while... (goes into full Cleric mode)... have you heard the Good News about Autumn Willow?

Magnetite detested paperwork; if he'd known how much he'd have to deal with, he might not have taken on being Chicago's VIPER Nest Leader.  So he was quite happy when two VIPER agents interrupted his daily administrative slog with a young woman in tow.  He ignored her tattoos, lip piercing, and multi-hued hair; many supervillains had very distinctive looks, and hers was milder than some.
 
The Nest Leader stood and smiled.  "Amethyst, isn't it?  A pleasure to meet you.  I'm Magnetite, but you probably already know that since you did apply to work with VIPER."  He reached out and shook her hand, and wasn't all that surprised when his heads-up display warned of psionic activity.  He was mildly surprised, however, to see her hair changing colors slightly as she used her powers.  "I should warn you, my helmet will make mental attacks against me quite difficult.  And it really does get us off on the wrong foot if you try to manipulate me."
 
The young woman shrugged and smiled.  "Sorry, old habit.  I was just trying a touch of telepathy.  It's nice to know how a potential boss thinks."
 
"Understood."  Magnetite sat back in his chair.  "Just don't try it again, and we'll get along fine."  He pulled up her file on his HUD and glanced through it quickly.  "Full suite of mental powers.  That's good.  Specialty in... neural location and telepathic links.  Interesting.  Tell me, how many people can you mentally link at once?"
"Fifteen to twenty with minimal effort.  I can go as high as sixty, but can't maintain that for longer than a few minutes."
 
He shrugged.  "A lot can get accomplished in a few minutes, especially by a dozen teams of VIPER agents.  Cross-communication, or do you have to relay?"
 
"Once linked, everybody can communciate with everybody else."
 
Magnetite smiled.  "Excellent.  And would you mind giving me a demonstration of your scanning capability?  Where is state senator Michael Clayton right now?"
 
Amethyst closed her eyes and tilted her head back.  Once again, her hair began to change color, ranging from turquoise to deep violet.  Magnetite noted that she really was quite lovely.  "He is... at the Garfield Park Conservatory."  She concentrated a bit more.  "Going over his speech in his head right now."  She opened her eyes.  "Want to know what his new crime bill's about?"
 
"Not necessary.  We've had a copy of it for several weeks."  He drew a few sheets of paper from a folder on his desk and studied them for a moment.  "Tell me, how skilled are you at manipulation?"
 
She looked mildly uncomfortable.  "I can do okay, but it's not my strong suit.  I can nudge people to do things they wouldn't mind doing anyway, and push to do things they're not flat-out against.  But I can't make someone shoot himself or a friend, if that's what you're looking for.  The more they're against it, the more likely they'll know they were mind controlled."
 
Magnetite shook his head.  "Not to worry, I'm not looking for anything overly dramatic."  He pulled out a thick envelope and slid it across the table to her.  She opened it to see banded stacks of money.  "I hope that is an adequate retainer."  He stood and handed her the sheets of paper he'd been reading.  "And I would like this to be the speech that Mr. Clayton gives.  Nearly identical, but we'd mainly like him to go off the rails for this bit here." 
 
He pointed to a paragraph, and Amethyst's eyes widened as she read it.  "What is his stance on S-Squad, and superheroes in general?"
 
"Senator Clayton's not a huge fan.  Has called them 'costumed vigilantes' in private, but since they're media darlings right now he holds his tongue."
 
Amethyst smiled.  "Well, I think I can make him let it go for a bit."

Magnetite detested paperwork; if he'd known how much he'd have to deal with, he might not have taken on being Chicago's VIPER Nest Leader.  So he was quite happy when two VIPER agents interrupted his daily administrative slog with a young woman in tow.  He ignored her tattoos, lip piercing, and multi-hued hair; many supervillains had very distinctive looks, and hers was milder than some.
 
The Nest Leader stood and smiled.  "Amethyst, isn't it?  A pleasure to meet you.  I'm Magnetite, but you probably already know that since you did apply to work with VIPER."  He reached out and shook her hand, and wasn't all that surprised when his heads-up display warned of psionic activity.  He was mildly surprised, however, to see her hair changing colors slightly as she used her powers.  "I should warn you, my helmet will make mental attacks against me quite difficult.  And it really does get us off on the wrong foot if you try to manipulate me."
 
The young woman shrugged and smiled.  "Sorry, old habit.  I was just trying a touch of telepathy.  It's nice to know how a potential boss thinks."
 
"Understood."  Magnetite sat back in his chair.  "Just don't try it again, and we'll get along fine."  He pulled up her file on his HUD and glanced through it quickly.  "Full suite of mental powers.  That's good.  Specialty in... neural location and telepathic links.  Interesting.  Tell me, how many people can you mentally link at once?"
"Fifteen to twenty with minimal effort.  I can go as high as sixty, but can't maintain that for longer than a few minutes."
 
He shrugged.  "A lot can get accomplished in a few minutes, especially by a dozen teams of VIPER agents.  Cross-communication, or do you have to relay?"
 
"Once linked, everybody can communciate with everybody else."
 
Magnetite smiled.  "Excellent.  And would you mind giving me a demonstration of your scanning capability?  Where is state senator Michael Clayton right now?"
 
Amethyst closed her eyes and tilted her head back.  Once again, her hair began to change color, ranging from turquoise to deep violet.  Magnetite noted that she really was quite lovely.  "He is... at the Garfield Park Conservatory."  She concentrated a bit more.  "Going over his speech in his head right now."  She opened her eyes.  "Want to know what his new crime bill's about?"
 
"Not necessary.  We've had a copy of it for several weeks."  He drew a few sheets of paper from a folder on his desk and studied them for a moment.  "Tell me, how skilled are you at manipulation?"
 
She looked mildly uncomfortable.  "I can do okay, but it's not my strong suit.  I can nudge people to do things they wouldn't mind doing anyway, and push to do things they're not flat-out against.  But I can't make someone shoot himself or a friend, if that's what you're looking for.  The more they're against it, the more likely they'll know they were mind controlled."
 
Magnetite shook his head.  "Not to worry, I'm not looking for anything overly dramatic."  He pulled out a thick envelope and slid it across the table to her.  She opened it to see banded stacks of money.  "I hope that is an adequate retainer."  He stood and handed her the sheets of paper he'd been reading.  "And I would like this to be the speech that Mr. Clayton gives.  Nearly identical, but we'd mainly like him to go off the rails for this bit here." 
 
He pointed to a paragraph, and Amethyst's eyes widened as she read it.  "What is his stance on S-Squad, and superheroes in general?"
 
"Senator Clayton's not a huge fan.  Has called them 'costumed vigilantes' in private, but since they're media darlings right now he holds his tongue."
 
Amethyst smiled.  "Well, I think I can make him let it go for a bit."

Tricky. The only truly "exceptional" properties I see are the hair and several tatoos. I'll go with the tatoos.
 
In magic, a lot of things have power:
Names. Sounds. Images.
If those are aplied to a living being thier power can sometimes increase in unique ways.
 
Pigment's power come from ancient egiptian tatoo lore, that was once used to cure and empower the pharaos of old. However this specific kind of magic only works on beings of sufficiently pure noble egyptian blood and (in her case) a person of prophecy. The old guardians of egyptian medical magic found her through a prophecy mentioning the "women of many colors". For obvious reasons they asumed it is her, thanks to her hair coloration (wich was created using very mundane methods).
"The one of many colors" is supposed to guard egypts indipendence and the prophecy comes (no wonder) from the varius times egypt was under foreign control. She does not really believes in that prophecy, but there are a suprising number of ancient gods and cursed undead pharaos that want to establish thier rulership again. And then there is the whole backlash of the 2011-2014 crisis to clean up.
 
Each of her tatoos grants her magic powers and all of them are based on plants or animals:
The rose grants her beauty. But it also grant her "thorns", wich manifests in a very high striking power.
The Cactus grants her the ability to sustain great heat and cold.
The Camel gives her the endurance and ability to go without food as her namesake.
 
The snake however is a totally normal tatoo she got before she was found by the priesthood. Like her hair it has no special meaning. But people just keep asking about it.

Crimson Phoenix snarled at his fallen foe, the blood still dripping from his sword.  "Nobody, and I mean nobody, tries to screw me in a deal."  He ripped a length of cloth from the dead DEMON Morbane's robe and wiped the worst of the blood off the sword.  His own wounds were already healing at an incredibly fast rate.  He had gotten so used to his ability to regenerate that he didn't even notice it any more.  Ever since he had come back from supposed death a decade before, he trusted that nothing could truly harm him for long.
 
The DEMON initiates had fled while Phoenix was shrugging off the Morbane's magical attacks and slicing the back-stabbing jerk to pieces, but he didn't want to stick around any longer than necessary.   The authorities just might show up to investigate all the weird lights in the night sky, and Phoenix didn't want to have to slice his way through a couple cop cars to get them to leave him alone.  As Crimson Phoenix reached back to sheath his sword, he felt a pain in the middle of his back and winced.  That's right, he thought.  The Morbane had literally stabbed him in the back, and he never had pulled the dagger loose during the fight.  It took a swing or two with the sword to knock the dagger free, and it fell to the ground with a clatter. 
 
Shaking his head, he walked over to the stone altar and picked up the small oxyx skull DEMON had hired him to procure.  "I wonder what the heck DEMON wanted with you," he said, then shrugged indifferently and dropped it into his leather shoulder satchel.  "Whatever it is, I'll bet I can find someone else willing to pay me for you."  With that, he strode off into the night.