csyphrett

Re: Quote of the Week from my gaming group... From New Dawn CES Symm looks at the green stained paw of Zarathos, and then at Deeson's desire to experiment, and mulls things over. "I think I will cook for myself tonight, I wouldn't want to put anyone to any inconvenience."

Re: Magistracy:Origins Jo woke from her brief sleep, staring at the passengers around her. She rubbed her face with both hands. The nanos had typed READY in blinking letters on the overlay. They were more ready to fight than she was. Jo looked out the train window. They were in a tunnel heading toward downtown. If she wanted to deal with Daniels, she would have to switch trains at the main station. She hoped he could tell her why her bosses had decided to kill her. The engineer placed her hands on the window. To anyone looking, she seemed to be playing an imaginary piano on the plastic. In reality, she was checking what the nanos had done with a virtual keyboard. Her machine army had done a fantastic job from every angle as far as she could tell. What she needed was thought processing so that the nanos would respond to her commands as fast as she could think them. She would settle for voice commands until she could perfect the other. Typing was a good secondary relay system, but she needed to be able to activate what she had in mind a lot faster than a few switches. Jo typed for minutes while the train hurried along. Finally it rolled into Central while she was waiting for the system to reload. She struggled to get off before the carriage pulled away and she would have to repeat the ride in a reverse loop. She paused against a concrete pillar, watching the numbers roll out. Finally the nanos signaled everything was ready for the test run. Jo stepped in the ladies room, walked to a stall. She needed a small amount of privacy. "Load armor program." Jo hoped she had it right. The nanos might kill her if she hadn't got the alternative energy builds just so. She closed her eyes, expecting to be ripped in half. Platelets emerged from her skin, covering it in a metal sheath. Metal clamped around her head in a faceless helmet. Jo smiled. The overlay remained clear as day. Mode tags ran across the top of her vision. They were reminders of what the nanos could channel if she had programmed them right. She might be more of a hot shot than she thought. Eat your heart out, Tony Stark. "Systems check." Jo watched the different sections of her armor light up in the overlay as reports of all green came up in neat type in the corner of her eye. She nodded, marveling at the smoothness of the armor moving with her. "Normal stand by." Jo watched as the armor retreated from her skin, and the typing screen came back on line. "I'm going to have to talk to a colleague. You might need to activate at a moment's notice. Until then, I need to do a little more work on you babies." Jo walked out of the bathroom, heading for the stairs leading to the exit. She used one hand on the rail while typing with the other. Eventually she got a shielded wi-fi connection after stepping out on the street. She headed down the sidewalk, showing her nanos build specs for dozens of machines they could build into the armor. She noticed they concentrated a lot of attention on the jet pack before giving their okay. She could almost imagine the conversation in that case. The crazy all mother wants to fly. If she wants to crash and burn, let her. We're indestructible. The engineer kept walking, and typing. She needed to talk to Daniels. He was going to be less than pleased to see her alive. She asked the nanos what they thought of everything. A flood of electronic chatter listed punch lists for all the things she had them look at through the internet connection. She answered each concern as best she could from real world examples. That quieted them down for a bit. Jo made sure to install a trap on the internet connection before shutting it down. She didn't want to be hacked while trying to hack someone else. That would be giving control of her creatures to someone not worthy of them. "Another mile or two, and we're going hot." Jo looked around the neighborhood, comparing it to the get togethers the staff had attended at Daniels's place. "Status?" All green typed the message across the bottom of her vision. Modifications ready. "Good job." Jo smiled. Her babies were faster than she thought. Working in conjunction had improved their ability to operate exponentially. They might not need her to get by now. Jo spotted Daniels's building. She wondered if the company had bugged all their homes, looking for something they could steal. How many others would be killed because they were trying to keep things to themselves instead of handing it over. Jo frowned, pushing the anger away. She didn't need to know that. She just had to prove they had tried to kill her. Jo spotted the door man and headed around the back of the apartment building. She paused at the back entrance, asking for a door opener. The nanos filed into the lock, turning it for her. She stepped inside the lobby, heading for the elevator. Jo pressed the button for Daniels's floor, wishing she had thought of a hat to cover her face. She should have thought of that before breaking in. She stepped out in the hall, asking for the armor as she walked down the hall. She rang the doorbell, listening to the hound dog barks for chimes that sounded inside. The expression on Daniels's face was a mix of fascination and horror. Then it was pain because Jo had kicked him in the shin with the boot part of her armor. "I want to talk to you about blowing up Jo Paulski's house yesterday." Jo's voice sounded filtered enough to be unrecognizable to her ears. "What can you tell me?" "Record." Jo watched the video icon start as she pushed Daniels into his living room. "I don't know what you're talking about." Daniels scrambled back, looking for an escape. "How long do you think it will take the police to realize they served a warrant on a place that blew up?" Jo pressed forward. "Eventually someone will make that connection. What will you tell them?" "I was never at Jo Paulski's house." Daniels hit his chair, hands curved into his carpet. "No one was there at her place at any time." "How do you explain it blowing up?" "She must have done it herself."

Re: Magistracy:Origins Jo walked across City College. Out of the candidates she had looked up on the Internet, the small university had the best equipment, least security, and stood the closest to the subway system. That made it perfect for her purposes. Jo walked to the science department, checking a directory for the labs. The humming was in her head again, but she concentrated on putting one foot in front of the other. Obviously the nanos wanted to do something but she had no idea what at the moment. That was why she needed the work area. Jo found an empty computer lab. She commandeered some equipment from other rooms. She sat down with a knife and started Operation Communication by slicing open her finger tip. She dropped some of the blood in a clean dish. The tiny nick closed almost immediately. Jo took the blood and put it under a microscope. Nanos swam in the blood, looking lost. She took a tweezers and picked one up as gently as she could. She placed it in a clean dish away from its fellows. It froze in confusion. Jo found some wire with a plug to hook it to the computer at the corner of her temporary station. She looked around, gathered some tools to help her plug the connection into the lone nano. A few finger strokes and the nano told her its operating designation and design specs. Jo smiled. This was exactly what she needed to make her plan work. Jo spent the next hours racing daybreak as she programmed the lone critter to do the things she wanted. It was only capable of understanding part of the instructions at a time, but the engineer worked around that by programming it to combine with other nanos it came in contact with inside her. The more of them it touched, the more of the program it could carry out. She loaded the code with an eye on the clock above the door. The last thing she needed was to be interrupted while she was simply waiting for the code to finish transferring files. The computer beeped that it was done. Jo unplugged the nano, smiling as it hopped around. She put it in the dried blood in the original dish. Those nanos had stopped their movement, waiting for new orders. Her newly programmed messenger roused them. She could almost see the information being shared out between them. The tiny machines used the dried blood to build more of their brethren. The new army resembled ants on the march. Jo hoped she wasn't making a mistake as she stuck her hand in the dish. The nanos cloaked the index finger of her hand. Jo heard the humming in her head again, louder than any time before. She pulled her hand away from the dish. A stab in the pad of her last knuckle gave her hope her plan was working. Jo felt weak. Realization set in. She had ordered the nanos to change programming, but they needed fuel. She hadn't given them anything to build with to help carry out what she wanted. That was easy to fix. Jo walked as fast as she could to nearby vending machines holding drinks and snacks. She picked the highest calorie things in the two and bought several packages and bottles. She forced herself to eat and drink as fast as possible to help her nanos do their work. The shakes vanished as the food hit her stomach. She imagined her nanos sitting in her body and ripping the little chunks of moon pies apart to build machinery inside her. When did she get an imagination? Jo went back to the lab, and wiped the computer clean of her work. She didn't need Daniels to backtrack her and find that. Several painful jolts arced through her limbs and spine, but she ignored them the best she could. She washed out the dish and microscope slide. No need to leave her blood around. She replaced the equipment roughly where they had been before she had grabbed them. Light of the early morning spilled through the blinds. Time to get a big breakfast and see if her programming skills were up to snuff. Jo walked across campus, riding out the sudden waves of pain with a gritting of teeth and pausing of steps. The humming was louder in her skull. It almost sounded like the Munchkins from the Wizard of Oz. She saw a diner on the other side of the campus line. It looked like just what she needed to get fuel for herself and her new army. Jo settled in her seat, counted what was left of her money, glanced at the menu, then ordered the most food she could afford with what she had. She ignored the waitress's look of amazement, and asked for coffee on top of everything else. Jo tucked in as soon as the plates arrived. Ridges rushed under her skin and settled like waves. She hoped the waitress hadn't seen those. The nanos were going to do what she had told them to do. Machines followed exact instructions no matter what. Jo sat back in her seat, and drank coffee loaded with sugar and cream until she was sick of it. At least the nanos made it where nothing was going to carry over into fat. She was eating for billions and they didn't mind reminding her. The nanos indicated they were almost done with a small overlay on Jo's vision. She almost laughed, but held it in. Time to be happy later. A control panel blinked in the corner of the overlay. She blocked each button with her finger. The options were blank at the moment. They wouldn't be for long. Jo smiled as she handed over the last of the money. She needed a place to rest, and relax. Then she could talk to the nanos about filling the options in the control panel. It looked like having her house blown up had been the best thing to happen to her in a while. It had at least gotten her to really work on her creations to stretch their application and keep her alive for a while. She walked out in the street and wondered where she could go to let the minions finish their labor. She decided that riding the train would do for now since no one she knew even bothered. That should buy her some time.

Re: Magistracy:Origins Jo got off the bus at the depot, started walking for anyplace that would be open late at night. She wanted a Internet cafe so she could check the news. Several half baked schemes sat in her mind daring her to attempt one of them. Three of her fellow passengers had decided she was a good target of opportunity. They followed her in a casual stroll. The plan was to move in when she was close to somewhere that would afford privacy. An alley presented itself. The biggest pulled the hood of his sweatshirt forward to hide his face. He charged, wrapping the tiny engineer in his gorilla arms. He carried her into the alley, one hand over her face. His two friends followed, an eye out for any alert passerby who might decide to call the police. They vanished into the narrow lane. "We're going to have some fun." The biggest breathed alcohol fumes in Jo's face. "Do what I say and you won't get hurt." Jo's control broke. Anger, fear, frustration, and everything else that went with losing your home to a bunch of faceless slime boiled up. The buzzing came with it. She lashed out, kicking and screaming, throwing her body around as much as she could. "What the heck?" The three of them were familiar with the way victims moved, how fear worked. None of their other victims had started frothing at the mouth like a mad dog. "She's crazy." Jo felt her skin harden, felt a crawling sensation the more she struggled. She slammed her head back as hard as she could. A crunch rewarded her efforts. Her feet hit the concrete and she turned. Her nails had turned into claws. They reflected the ambient light in the dark alley, standing out in the shadow. "What did you do to my face?" The biggest put his hand up to his nose. He touched blood and painful cartilage. "You gonna die now, ho." Jo threw herself forward, anger carrying her on a flood. The humming drowned out anything that might have stopped her charge. Her fingernails sank into flesh and raked like knives. The unlucky recipient of her attention screamed as blood flew through the air. His partners gawked at him crying on the ground. "I can't believe this crap." He grabbed the air. "Help me. I'm tore up." The other two ran. Maybe they could have saved his life if they had put up a fight. Maybe they would have been ripped up like their leader. They decided to leave him. After all they could make more friend if they were alive. Jo watched them leave, calming down. She examined her hands. They were spotless and normal again. She needed to get to a lab. She needed more control than this. She looked down at the man she had ripped apart. She didn't feel any sympathy for him. It took her several moments of hard thought before she pulled his cell phone off his belt and called for an ambulance. She didn't need to kill the poor slob. She had just wanted to so bad her familiars had decided to help her the best way they knew how with the limited knowledge she had given them to operate in their dish. Jo took his money before leaving the alley. If the ambulance got there before he died, that was good now that she was calm. She wasn't going to hold his guts for him while he bled to death. She turned and started walking. Jo found a place that promised no problem with Internet connections. She went inside, paid for a chunk of time, and started surfing the net. She got some coffee as she printed out several pages about her former employers. Even the light digging she did pointed to hidden traces of corporate espionage. They had probably bugged her house when she started to work for them. That would explain the search. They knew she had designed something, but not what. Someone had jumped the gun there. Otherwise they could have done their search while she was working on the tiny machines. Then they would have them, and she would be dead. Jo ignored sirens as she followed links across the information super highway. It looked like there was no legal way to get at them. The bombing had gotten them a paragraph where they stated their former employee had blown herself up. Implied incompetence as a cook as well as an engineer came across in the quote used. So much for being employee of the month. Jo looked through her information, sipped her coffee, ignored the growing excitement outside. She still needed to get some lab time but there was no way she could get into her old work shop now. All of the security codes were changed as soon as someone was kicked off the job. She had seen that twice. She checked one of the names of her fellow fired workers. He had been caught in an avalanche and buried out west. They found the body months later after the spring thaw. What had he done to deserve that? Jo finally looked out the window. Police and the fire department were on the scene. Maybe her attacker would get fixed up after all. She went back to her research. Time ran out as she checked on other labs in the area. Maybe she could bluff her way into one if the security was low enough. Her search yielded only college labs that might be open enough to let her try to work on her nanos without interruption. Jo sighed. She bought some more coffee, put her printouts in her pocket, and left. She spared a glance at the cops trying to figure out what happened but kept walking. A couple of the schools were a train ride away. If she could use the labs, she might be able to talk to her nanos more directly. She didn't know what that would do except to make sure she didn't turn into a monster. Maybe it would give her control. Maybe she could do something to change what they could do. Turning her nails into claws had been useful. Maybe they could do something more. Jo walked into the subway station. She checked the schedule, running her finger along the wall map. Her train should be coming along the tracks in a few minutes. She went to wait for it, glad to be alone on the platform. Jo heard the train coming. She turned to face it, glad to be moving out of the area. She didn't need the police coming down in the subway, and latching on to her. Exposure seemed the worst thing to happen at the moment. The train slowed to a halt. People came out in ones and twos while she stepped onboard. The engineer sat down and waited for the transport to start up again. Jo closed her eyes and thought about her situation, surveying the angles as much as she could. It didn't look good. The chances were likely she would get killed before she could get any of her answers. She didn't know what would happen, and dreaded it.

Re: Magistracy:Origins Jo made it away from the gas station without too many problems. She felt a little better, but knew she had several problems. Mostly it came down to having no money and no identification. The vault had fueled enough of her regeneration to make her look almost normal. The problem was her clothes were dirty rags, her wallet with her credit cards and license a scattered memory. She couldn't draw any money from the bank after hours and she didn't look enough like her old self that the teller would give her the money on faith and a filled out withdrawal ticket. She needed to get enough money at least for some decent clothes. She wondered what her house looked like after the blast that had nearly killed her. Maybe there was something there she could use even if everything had been burned to the ground. Jo staggered along, watching her walking. She seemed to be improving as she went. There might be something broken inside the nanos were still trying to fix. She wondered how much longer this would go on. There was a chance they would eventually start branching out into areas that weren't so beneficial. If only she had been given more time to program them before the company men had shown up at her door. Jo ignored stares from people on the street and the sidewalk. It didn't matter if they looked at her as long as they didn't recognize her. She didn't want the company to know she was still alive. They might try to kill her again while she was still recovering from the last attempt. Jo leaned against a light pole when she reached the end of her block. She winced at the police barricade and the milling city employees messing up her lawn. Even from a distance, the house looked like a total loss to her. She had expected that. Jo sat down, feeling run down again. The energy drink hadn't lasted as long as she had wanted. How much longer could she afford to wait before she had to flee. Jo realized that a lot her neighbors didn't seem to be home. The police must have cleared the surrounding houses. She got to her feet, thinking this was the chance she needed. She crept between two houses. The windows had been blown out on both of them as far as she could tell. She jumped up and pulled herself over the sill of the house to her left. Amy Myers was close enough in shape that Jo could wear her clothes until she had some of her own again. The Myers also had six kids, so they were guaranteed to have food in the house. The engineer couldn't decide what was more important, eating or cleaning up. She decided to raid the kitchen first. Jo sifted through the refrigerator, glad the power was still on. She constructed a Dagwood from all the ingredients she found. She didn't know what the nanos preferred but it was obvious they were tapping her body for personal power. If she wanted to keep them going, she had to eat when they called for more energy. Jo put the sandwich on a plate before grabbing a glass out of a cupboard. She drank down two glasses of milk before pouring a third to take with her. She took her meal to the bedrooms in the back of the house, munching as she went. The engineer made sure to stay away from any windows as she went. She didn't need the police checking on her reason for being alive. Someone would tell the company who would come after her again. She was better off dead until she could think about what she needed to next. Jo laid out some clothes to wear while she munched her sandwich, then started running water in the tub. The Myers wouldn't be home for a while so she had time to settle in and plan. She dropped her rags on the bathroom floor. She luxuriated in the hot water while finishing her sandwich and milk. Jo woke a few hours early, sitting in black, cold water. She emptied the drain, stood up and showered the stains off. Then she dried off with a towel, and headed back to the master bedroom. She put on Amy's clothes, stole a pair of running shoes, looked out the window at her destroyed house. The army of police had vanished in the amount of time she had been napping. That was good. Jo looked around for loose money and found a few dollars. She stuffed it in her jeans pockets before climbing out the same window she had used for an entrance. Jo walked over to the rubble of her house, taking a deep breath against the anger that fought up against her iron control. She could hear a buzzing in her head from the emotion. Jo walked over to her wrecked car. A beam had went through the windshield, crushed the hood, fell to the driveway beside the Ford Focus. That wasn't important at the moment. What was important was the trunk, and the spare tire well. She pressed the switch for the trunk, pulled the carpet out of the way, undid the tire. Her box of emergency funds sat right there. Jo took the tire iron and opened the box from a distance. No one had trapped it. She grabbed the spare identification, passport, ATM card, and put them in her back pocket. She left the spare car and house keys. There didn't seem to be any point in taking those. She put everything back and started walking. She needed a place to work on the next step while everyone still thought she was dead. She needed a lab and a computer she could equip to talk to her nanos. Once she programmed them, she wouldn't have to worry about them running amuck and eating everything in sight. Then she could work on finding out why the company had tried to kill her. Jo walked until she found a bus line running for night service. She boarded, putting some of her change in the slot. She got a seat in the back, looked out the window, wondered what she was going to do. Three men of the criminal persuasion helped her with the decision.

Re: Quote of the Week from my gaming group... My son had to write definitions for spelling words as his homework. One of his words was Sarcastic. I told him to write in "Dad." My wife was less than amused. CES

Re: Magistracy:Origins Jo Pauleski looked at her shattered face in fascination. She knew that her pain centers had been shut down. If they weren't, she would be writhing in pain, screaming at the absence of flesh and the visibility of charred bone. Instead she stood in a locked bathroom, stare at the mirror, and wander what had happened to her. Jo raised her hand, staring at it. Her palm held a shard of glass from the petrii dish. She thought she had crushed it when the explosion flung her in front of the fire. The glass slowly sank into her hand, vanishing like a house sinking into the earth. Jo smiled. The nanos must be repairing her as best they could. She needed to give them more material to work with. She looked around the tiny closet, thinking of material she could give the microscopic surgeons that they could use. "What's going on in there?" Heavy knocking followed the strained inquiry. "I have a bad case of the runs." Jo's voice sounded like it had been run through a meat grinder, smoked, and beaten into submission with a bag of rocks. "Use the men's. I'm going to be a while." "Why does this always happen to me?" Jo heard the other door fumble open next to her refuge. She ignored other sounds as she considered what she could do to help her creations. "Maybe some water could help." Jo turned the handle on the cold water on. Brown water ran for a few seconds before it cleared and fell into the sink with a slight drone. Jo put her hand into the stream. Loose flesh came away under the liquid's touch, but the engineer didn't feel it. She turned her hand under the water, then pulled it away. The water still on what remained on her skin dried in a few seconds. New skin replaced what she had lost down the drain. It was smoother than anything promised by Cover Girl. That seemed to help a lot. "That's doing the trick." Jo smiled, her exposed teeth turning the expression into a savage grin. "Help me out, boys. I need to look normal before I can leave here." Jo ran both arms through the stream of water, splashing it as she moved. The activated nanos must have dragged her body the quarter mile to the gas station nearest the house. She stopped there sometimes for coffee on the way to work. Hopefully no one had seen her before she made it to the bathroom. The way she looked provoked interest. She didn't need to look down at the rest of her body to know she looked like something from a nightmare. So far the only thing keeping her from dying were the nanos operating on a basic level to repair her, and build more nanos. Side effects for what they were doing had to be massive. They might even kill her instead of all the fire damage she had suffered. She might have created a plague. Too bad her notebooks, and disks, had been destroyed in the fire. They would have been useful if she needed to create an antidote. It would take weeks to try and recreate her work from scratch. She might not have that much time left. Jo examined her hands under the yellow light from the lamp bar above the mirror. They looked almost normal but too young to be hers. All the lines from movement and use were gone. Women desperate for long gone youth would pay out the nose for something like that. Jo splashed more water on her body, letting it run under the tattered remains of her clothes. The sound of it hitting the floor was a comfort. The water pooled in a dirty mess, holding soot, charred skin, fragments of her bone and muscle. She would clean it up when she finished. Jo continued her efforts until she had to sit down. Her legs wouldn't hold her up anymore. She grabbed paper towels from the dispenser before lowering herself into a dry spot. She laid out the towels to soak up the water she had already spilled. That was the least she could do while she tried to get her strength back. She needed something to eat. The nanos must be using her energy somehow to power themselves while they did their repairs. If they drained enough nutrients from her system, it would be like not eating for two days, then a week, then like a mummy. Jo closed her eyes, tempering her excitement of more of her creations capabilities with the fact she couldn't just leave the bathroom and buy a candy bar. She didn't have the money, the human looks, or the strength to stand. She needed some way to get food that wouldn't involve the police. Any clerk worthy of humanity would call for help when they saw her wrecked face and body. She didn't want to spend time in a hospital when she knew they couldn't help her. What could she do? Jo cupped her hand under the spigot, trapping some water in her hand. She poured it down her throat. Hopefully that would be enough to clear her throat and esophagus. Another handful followed the first. That dimmed the call for more energy enough for the engineer to get back on her feet. She threw the damp towels away as she staggered to the door. Now to make her next move. Jo opened the door. She looked out, hugging the wall as she snuck from the bathroom. The lady in the men's room seemed to be really busy judging by the noise she was making. The engineer grabbed six bottles of Vault off a rack beside the door to the cooler. A couple of staggering steps took her back into the restroom. Her hand threw the lock closed before she sat back down. Jo drank the liquid sugar, one bottle after the next. The taste was horrible, but she forced it down, all six of them. Energy flooded her system. It wasn't perfect but it was the best she could do. Now she had to find someplace away from anything that might want to hurt her and let the nanos keep working. Hopefully the clerk hadn't seen the shoplifting so she could make it out without causing too much of a fuss.

Re: Evil Schemes for the Average Megalomaniac The one guy I use most of the time believes in turning people into monsters and so forth. One scheme was to release a gas in the city to do such an effect on a mass scale. CES

Re: Magistracy:Origins Jo stood outside her house, arms folded, search warrant in hand. She held back tears. What did they expect to find? Did they know about her machines? How did they find out? She had thought she had been careful not to leave any trace of her ideas at the office. Obviously someone had seen something and handed it up the ladder. Otherwise the security guards and police wouldn't be inspecting her house. She hoped they wouldn't find her notes and prototypes. They would confiscate them and her ideas would be stillborn. Forget ever working on them. As soon as she produced something similar, lawyers would take everything she owned in court. Her whole life would be gone. At this point, she could get a job working somewhere else as an engineer. Daniels came out of the house empty-handed. He didn't look pleased. To be honest, he hadn't looked pleased the whole time. The goons came out. They had a veneer of frustration over their menacing professionalism. The police were last. They looked mad. "Ma'am, here are the receipts for your equipment." The sergeant in charge of the search detail handed over her proof of ownership. "I'm sorry for the trouble. I hope you have a good day." The police herded her unwelcome guests out of her yard. Daniels got in his conveyance last, sitting in the passenger side. His driver backed out of the driveway as he rubbed his face. Jo watched them all go. Then she went inside and put water on for tea. She settled in her kitchen, watching the water bubble to a full boil. She got a cup out of her cupboard. Her hands shook a little as she poured the water into the cup. The burner went cool as she steeped a bag of tea in her cup. Two spoons of sugar finished the concoction. What could she do? Her house was no longer safe, she couldn't go back to her lab, she had no prospects for the future. She had a feeling the people from security had rigged her house to be a listening post. That ended any work she might want to do in the future. Her best bet was sell the house and move. That wouldn't keep the company from sniffing at her door for anything she might come up with while she was trying to rebuild her life after the move. More listening devices and watchers would be her lot from the looks of things. Of course, she could just be paranoid about everything. She read a great deal. There was an innocent way to test for bugs. She just needed to make a phone call and say the right thing. What would draw the company out and expose themselves? Maybe the hint of a new discovery they were no longer privy to. They would do everything to find out what they missed in the search. Jo reheated the water and poured that in her cup. She had some thinking to do. She let the steam follow her as she descended to the basement. It had been a piece of luck keeping the papers for what she had bought. The company would have said the machines were theirs without the proof. She sat down at her wiped computer, trying to think of her next move. Jo pulled her work from its hiding place under the mounted tool chest on the wall. A cover had fooled the searchers that the bottom was a solid piece of metal. She put the nanos and notes next to her computer. She needed a better hiding place than that for the future. She stared at the computer. It wasn't safe to use anymore. Someone might have loaded a virus to send her writing over to another computer. That was what she would do. She needed to buy another if she wanted to keep working. Jo heard a clicking coming from her computer. She pressed the button to release the cover. A small clock on the top of a block of clay blinked at her from the bottom of the case. Another clicking turned the red light next to the clock to green. Jo turned to run, covered specimen dish and notebook clutched to her chest to protect them. Sound and light smashed her body before she made it to the stairs. Fire rushed through the room. Then the ceiling, the floor above, fell down on top of everything to add fuel to the flames. The rest of the house slowly followed. Emergency crews responded to save the rest of the neighborhood. Jo's house was gone by the time they had unloaded hoses to start spraying water. Police arrived soon after, one of them was the same sergeant that had helped search the house earlier. He shook his head at the destruction. The firefighters fought the flames under control, snuffed it after several hours of hard work. They would have to go in and look for the dead and clues to what had happened. Most of them knew a bomb when they saw one's aftermath.

Re: Magistracy:Origins Jo Pauleski looked into her microscope and smiled. It looked like her little animals were finally doing what she wanted them to do. It had only taken years of personal time for her to perfect her tiny wonders. Jo let them play as she went over her schematics and notes for any possible error in their construction. One slip up could be catastrophic. Her reputation would be shot. Any future work in her career area would dry up as soon as she put in her application and resume. Besides she was already on thin ethical grounds. She gave the company some of her more mundane ideas. Her nanos fell into grounds for a lawsuit if they found out about them. That's why Jo had set up her side lab at home so no one would know. Loose lips sink ships. Jo planned to serve out the rest of her contract, working on her nanos on the side. Once her contract had expired, she knew several people whom she could shop the micromachines. She hoped to write her own ticket. A mechanical cure for medical problems danced in the petrii dish on her work table. Diseases might be rendered extinct by her work once the programming was right. The doorbell chimed. Jo looked up at the ceiling, wondering who could be visiting her. She didn't have any friends, no one from the office came by, and her neighbors minded their own businesses. One hand covered the petrii dish while she thought about it. The doorbell chimed again. Obviously they, whomever they were, knew she was at home and wanted to talk to her. She looked around the lab. Everything could run without her for a few minutes. That should be more than enough time to brush off her unwanted interruptions. Jo closed and locked her lab door before heading upstairs. She paused in the front hall. Her chief of operations stood out on her front steps. More suits stood behind him. He seemed a little anxious. He pressed the doorbell again as she walked over to the door. She didn't want that many people in her house. Stepping out on the porch was not the most polite thing to do, but that was all she planned to do. They couldn't know about the nanos. The engineer was sure she hadn't left any type of notes, or drawings at the office. What did they want? "What's going on, Mr. Daniels?" Jo peered at the other men present. They had the air of police. "There's been rumors that you have been using company equipment to moonlight." Daniels looked at the others from the office. The faces betrayed nothing. "The VP wants you to hand over anything and everything from our labs. You're fired." "I don't have anything from the office here." Jo frowned at the group. "I can't believe this." "I'm sorry, Jo." Daniels scratched the back of his hand. He did that when something had exploded in his face. "They want to sue you for breach of contract." "What?" Jo leaned against her closed door. She faced losing everything. "I haven't done anything." "It's not my call." Daniels scratched the back of his hand again. "The VP wants to make an example of you for stealing from the company." "I haven't stolen anything." Jo closed her eyes. "All of my work is in my files in my cubicle. I haven't taken anything home, haven't talked to anyone on the phone except you and my mother." "That doesn't matter." Daniels worked his lips. "They want to search your house for company material." "No." Jo looked at the whole group. "Get off my property." "The police will be coming with a warrant." Daniels shrugged. "Once we look through your house, we're going to press charges." "Until then, get off my porch." Jo pointed. "Get walking." "This makes you look guilty." One of the men piped up. "What does that matter?" Jo pointed again. "I'm already fired. Move out." The group reluctantly started across her yard to the black SUVs parked at the curb. Evidently they expected to find something at her house. Either that, or they planned to put something in her house when the police arrived. Jo stepped inside and locked the door. She didn't expect to have a lot of time before the police did arrive. She had to do something before they found her nanos and tried to take them. She couldn't allow that. Someone must have found out about the nanos somehow. That had to be the reason the goon squad had shown up on her doorstep. She walked back to her basement lab. Maybe someone had planted a bug in her computers to check on her private life. Most of her research was on the lab machine. If the goons, or the police, took it, she was back to square one and lost her best ideas yet on top of it all. Jo took her back up disk, the petrii dish, and her notes in hand. They would tear her house apart to find whatever they were looking for whether it was her inventions or something else. She loaded a virus in her lab computer while she thought. She started it ripping the drive apart as she considered a hiding place. There had to be somewhere she could put her most valued belongings without anyone knowing. Finally her mind seized on a place that seemed fairly obvious but she hoped would slip the inspection. She placed the precious material in the place and covered it up. She started clearing the memories from the machines she had used to help her build her tiny pets.

Re: Magistracy: Characters Character Name: Quick Real Name: Marcella Chan Nationality: American Hair/Eye Color: , brown, hazel Place of Birth: New York, New York Date of Birth: 9/28/1975 Height/Mass: 5'8", 125 pounds Cost Characteristic Value 5 STR 15 60 DEX 30 40 CON 30 20 BODY 20 5 INT 15 16 EGO 18 5 PRE 15 4 COM 18 PD 3 ED 6 40 SPD 8 REC 9 END 60 STUN 42 OCV: 10 DCV: 10 OECV: 6 DECV: 6 Phases: 2, 3, 5, 6, 8, 9, 11, 12 Cost Powers and Talents (END) Speed 30 pt Multipower 2u Combat Speed: 15" Flight, 30 pts, only on a surface (-1/4) 24 pts 3u Cruising Speed: 1" teleport 2 pts, megascale (+1), must cross intervening space (-1/4), visible (-1/4) 3 pts 3u Full Speed: 10" teleport 20 pts, megascale (+1), must cross intervening space (-1/4), visible (-1/4) 26 pts Speed Tricks 50+25 pts variable power pool, linked to multipower (-1/2), only to simulate high speed actions (-½) 62 pts Cost Skills 3 PS: Photography 12- 3 PS: Reporter 12- 3 Interrogation 3 AK: New York 12- 3 AK: The World 12- 3 KS: The Underworld 12- 3 KS: History 12- 3 Stealth 15- 3 Shadowing 12- 2 Navigation 12- 15 Lightning reflexes + 10 all actions 5 International Police Powers 1 passport 5 Diplomatic Immunity 150 Points Disadvantages 10 Psych Limit: Avoids conflicts 20 Code versus killing 15 Watched by the UN 11- 25 Hunted by Magistracy's Rogues Gallery 14- 10 Rivalry with other speedsters. 15 Secret Identity 15 Reputation: Queen of Speed 14- 10 DF: Energy Signature detectable by Geiger counters, radar detectors 10 Physical Limitation: Insomia 10 2D6 Unluck 10 DNPC: The Times 8- CHA Cost = 195 Total Powers Cost = 100 Total Skills Cost = 55 Total Cost = __350____

Re: Trek Plot Brainstorm Help! Death at the Amusement Park is a common scenario. A starbase is being considered for a noninhabited planet. Hologram emitters are being tested for making holodecks possible without any of the usual limitations like walls. This would allow for changing scenes, costumes, and nonhuman players in the open on the planet very much like a sca reenactment, or renaissance fairs. Now someone with a grudge has decided to use this new application of the programming and tech to create deadly traps for visitors including the crew of the Seraph. CES

Re: Trek Plot Brainstorm Help! Star Trek also has forgotten technology that wants to eat the crew. Terraformers discover a buried robot while redesigning a planet. The machine activates, forcing the staff to flee. It is up to the Seraph to make its way through a new minefield, discover the whereabouts of the terraformers, and deal with robot after robot waking up and wanting to go to war. Naturally orbit reaching artillery is among those things that have decided to get back in the fight business. CES

Re: How to make a character that turns into a spaceship? you can also do this with multiform. Build the vehicle then use that as the active cost for the multiform. CES

Re: a medical magic school fer thy campain... Might I suggest Drains, aids, transfers to your school of magic. I don't know what kind of restrictions you are under but Drain Com will put people out like magic anesthesia, aids to charteristics can be defined as Energy Drinks, and transfers can be done as using other's energies to boost the target. CES

Re: I'm not sure how to get the PCs together! To echo Hugh, the Angle Man was killed at a detective convention. Something similar could be a start up point. CES

Re: Walking With Strangers 6 Billy Keys headed down to the basement of the building he maintained. He often wandered the premises to look for problems before they developed. The basement might be the start of something he needed to fix. Several things pointed to something growing down there. First there was a smell. It drifted up to the apartments. Several of his renters complained about it. Tracking the smell had led him down the steps to the bottom of the building. Then there were the holes in the walls he had found. He had plugged all he could find but figured that more would keep coming as long as the source was still out there. Experience pointed to a problem he had seen before in other buildings. He didn't like the thought of it. So he had to go down in the basement and look for himself. Then he could figure out what to do about it. Rats were the bane of a healthy building. Billy pulled a flashlight from his pocket and flicked it on. If he had turned the overhead on, the rats would have run like cockroaches. He wanted them to think that he was friendly. That way he could figure out the source of them and plug it. Billy ran the light over the concrete room. He didn't like the way green dots flickered back as the light moved back and forth. He went to the light switch and turned the overheads on. Two bulbs in descending lamps from the ceiling flashed on. A brown carpet stood at attention, blinking in the sudden light. He frowned when they didn't run from the exposure. That wasn't ordinary. Billy examined the room, nodded at the hole in the bottom of the wall on the other side of the room. That must have been the entrance. How could he get them to go out that way? As Billy pondered what to do, the rats took off through the hole. They formed an orderly line and moved single file through the hole and out in the alley beyond. The super moved closer, playing the light on the wall. That was something you didn't see every day. Billy moved closer, light still shining in front of him. The rear guard hissed at him, exposing sharp teeth. That wasn't usual either. Billy took a step back. There was more to this than met the eye. Rats usually didn't form up in packs like this. Maybe someone was in charge, someone who could control rats. Billy knew it was possible. Super Squirrel did the same thing with squirrels. The super ran up the stairs. He needed to find out what was going on. He reached the basement door and stepped outside with a thought. Billy looked around. He spotted the line of rats forming into a marching band a few feet to his right. He didn't expect that. The rodents turned and started marching away from him at full speed. Billy scratched his head. He should follow them and find out what was going on. He also needed to repair the hole in his wall before they came back. He shook in place, trying to decide what was more important. Finally he put the flashlight in his pocket after turning it off and walked after the marching army. He could always get some concrete for patching the wall from the hardware store later. This might be his only chance to follow the rats back to their boss. The procession worked its way across Marlowe to the forest at the edge of town. The rats broke up and ran in different directions, acting more like normal rats than they had so far. Billy lost sight of them in the underbrush. Billy scratched his head. He still didn't know what was going on but at least the rats were gone for now. He would just have to keep an eye out for more problems from them. That meant constant vigilance. He was already doing that, so a little more wouldn't be that much of a big deal. He pulled out his pad and wrote down what he needed to make repairs. It would take some time but eventually he would have all the holes filled, everything back in order. Passing the word on seemed to be advisable. Maybe the others had run across something like this before. He had helped save the city but that wasn't what he liked to do. It had been an extension of keeping his building safe. A giant monster would have destroyed that with a flick of its paws. Save the city equaled saving his building seemed an easy equation in his mind. Billy headed back to his building, reaching for his phone. He had Odd's number. The book seller knew where everyone was. He could alert the others.

Re: The New Circle Water surged out of the ocean south of Japan. Something large started swimming for the island nation, sparking a flood of requests for help. The defense force and UNTIL scrambled planes to check out the approaching monster. The planes tried to herd the thing back to the depths. Their best weapons merely caused the creature to swim for shore faster. Evacuation for Kyoto and Tokyo started but civilian deaths were estimated in the millions. Superhumans from around the world went on alert to at least try to reach the threatened country. The sea monster touched the shore, rearing out of the ocean. Super Silver Astro Force Man punched it in the head as he leaped from the roof of a nearby building. The blow barely staggered the behemoth. The protector of the country readied himself for a long fight against the angered thing trying to get to the city proper. A Man and the squid lizard squared off, trying to size each other up. Finally the monster lost patience and charged with talons extended on its paws. The silver shield threw the monster into the water as a delaying tactic. Being thrown back into the ocean wouldn't stop that leviathan. A Man readied his next attack as he waited for the beast to return. He wondered where a giant lizard like that had come from. The sea monster reared up. Both giants went down. A Man kicked out with his tremendous feet, hoping to encourage to go out to the sea. It seemed that the beast would rather not fight and get away from heavy lifting. "Please turn and leave Japan's waters. We'll get your information later. Try to stay out of trouble." The sea monster grabbed the hero's leg and dragged him under water. Bubbles marked their position for long minutes. Super Silver Astro Force Man burst into the open. He raised one arm and took off to space. The battle was over for the moment.

Re: The New Circle Character Name: Decoy Real Name: Frank Fortune Nationality: American Hair/Eye Color: brown/brown Place of Birth: Salem, Mass Date of Birth: 9/16/1975 Height/Mass: 5'8", 175 pounds Cost Characteristic Value 5 STR 15 33 DEX 21 20 CON 20 10 BODY 15 15 INT 25 20 EGO 20 PRE 10 COM 10 PD 3 ED 4 29 SPD 6 REC 7 END 40 STUN 32 OCV: 7 DCV: 7 OECV: 6 DECV: 6 Phases: 2, 4, 6, 8, 10, 12 Cost Powers and Talents (END) 10 Super Disguise: Shapechange sight, touch, and hearing, any humanoid form, imitation (+10), OIF (supplies -1/2), extra time (5 minutes -2) 12 Bulletproof clothes: armor (12 PD) 18 pts OIF (-1/2) Cost Skills 3 acting 11- 3 deduction 14- 2 WF: small arms 3 stealth 13- 2 navigation 14- 3 paramedics 14- 3 combat driving 13- 3 combat piloting 13- 5 TF: Wheeled vehicles, planes, boats, parachuting 3 disguise 14- 3 mimicry 14- 3 demolitions 14- 3 streetwise 11- 3 KS: The underworld 14- 3 AK: Salem, Mass 14- 3 AK: The United States 14- 3 AK: The world 14- 5 cramming 3 system operations 14- 3 survival 14- 3 KS: security systems 14- 3 lockpicking 13- 3 mechanics 14- 3 electronics 14- 3 research 14- 3 lightsleep 4 choke 3 legsweep 4 block 4 disarm 4 escape 3 grab 3 throw 4 nerve strike 5 offensive strike 25 + 5 with HTH combat 5 eidetic memory 9 lightning reflexes + 6 5 Wealth 27 danger sense 2 concealed weapon permit 2 private investigator license 7 Contact: Bennie the Rat 11- 150 Points Disadvantages 20 Fearless 20 The mercenary's code 15 Public Identity 10 Reputation: Master of Disguise 11- 20 DNPC: Mrs. Johnson, secretary 14- 10 DF: Scarred face 10 Hunted by Tim Marvin, the trap master assassin 8- 15 Physical Lim: Migraines 10 Vulnerable to Sonic Attacks 20 Enraged if Client is killed 14-/11- CHA Cost = 132 Total Powers Cost = 22 Total Skills Cost = 189 Total Cost = ___350____ Background Information: Frank Fortune had a normal childhood, characterized by run-ins with the local bullies. He found that he didn't feel fear at these confrontations and wondered if there was something mentally wrong with him. In any case, Frank outgrew his neighborhood, taking to the stage to learn to act. Frank found that he wasn't a star. Instead he could mimic others so he could use the adopted personas to lift his performance up. Essentially he became a man impersonating another man impersonating a third man. That could only work so far, but Frank's natural ability with disguises helped him along, allowing him to make a comfortable living. That all changed when an arsonist decided to burn the theater down. The fire was a hit on the theater company and the building for the insurance. Frank acted to save as many people as he could. A piece of debris fell on his face leaving a long scar along his profile as he ushered people out of the death trap. The actor was taken to the hospital to recover. Depression set in as he was told his face would never look normal again by the doctors. While in the hospital, Frank discovered that someone was trying to kill the patient across the hall. He intervened by switching places with the helpless man, using his disguise skills to hide the man as him in his room, and cover his own face with the other patient's. He tricked the killer into trying to kill him while he was supposedly helpless. The confused assassin was turned over to the police where he quickly gave up his employer. Frank found he enjoyed the cat and mouse game with the hitman. He decided that he should switch careers. He undertook some training and set up an office that offered a unique bodyguard service. That was the beginning of the Decoy Protective Service. Quote: "Let me get rid of this mask." Personality: Frank has adopted a buttoned down persona for conducting business. He takes the client's money and does whatever he can to find out who is trying to kill the client before he himself is killed. Appearance: Frank always looked average before his accident. He tended to be able to blend in unless he was mimicking some other actor on the job. The side of his face bears a long, wide burn down one side. He uses his disguise skill to hide it when necessary. Powers: Frank is an actor with some training in other parts of the business. He uses his knowledge to build masks he can wear to impersonate other people. Plot Hook 1) A player has to protect his secret identity. He needs a stand-in for a public function. Naturally he hires someone to do the job while he arrives in his mask and costume. Hopefully everything goes as planned and no one found out the person under the mask didn't attend as such. Plot Hook 2) Someone has been threatened with murder. He hires the Decoy Protective Service. The problem is heroes get involved and the situation grows out of control. And what happens when the client goes missing? Plot Hook 3) The players need to know how to disguise themselves, or need someone to make a credible disguise for them. They turn to Frank Fortune for help and a bit of tutoring. Will the players need to take their master of disguise along to keep the illusion alive? Notes: Frank Fortune is based on a detective called the Human Target. His shtick was based on impersonating people and trying to figure out who was trying to kill them before he got killed.

Re: US Government's reaction to superhumans plus some states have samaritan laws in effect and laws to increase legal penalities because you didn't act when you had a responsibility to do so like lifeguards are responsible for saving an idiot who swam out too far, and can be sued for not doing their job. A super battle would be disasterous in the real world, but the world would be changed so far beyond what we have now it would be naive to think otherwise. Only writer fiat keeps the real application of major powers to a real setting from changing it from something we can see out the window to something from a Legion comic book. CES

Re: Teen Guardians John has taken over. The time has been jumped ahead to November. CES

Re: Teen Guardians Saturday the Sixth Eric looked at them as the catgirl left them alone "He might be my dad, he might even deserve some sort of justice for what I went through and..I guess going through again... But if there's one thing I learned the first way around is not all cops are bad. There might be a few of them that deserve a bomb in the face but I seriously doubt all of them do." Eric smiled. "Besides what fun would it be to let my dad die before he gets to meet my girlfriend? One less thing for him to tease me about." "He won't tease," Patty promised. "Let's go, lover boy." Pusher grabbed the wall, preparing to move through the ground to the police station. "I'll see what I can do while you guys catch up." "Right," Patty said, sweeping Eric back up off his feet. "I'll get him there, you just tell where you want to meet--and we'll be there with bells on." Boyfriend in arms, catgirl in her wake, she took off down the corridor. "Let's try the front door." Pusher headed into the ground. "You might want to call ahead." There seemed to be no interception as the group moved to the police station. The police were coming and going as they usually did. The question was in this small three story building and two sub-levels plus one holding area, where was the bomb? Patty sat Eric carefully down on the concrete behind the dumpster and glanced at the building. "Darn it," she said, one hand on his shoulder, "Well..." A sudden flash of brilliance hit her and she looked at the catgirl. "Where's the bomb?" Pusher started at the bottom of the building, looking at the main supports first. His molecule vision should pick out something fairly quickly as long as he was passing through the walls and floors. The catgirl looked at her and laughed. "Silly girl, The bomb is where it would be most effective. It's over Eric's dad's head." She seemed to grin. "See it's at a perfect place. Wouldn't you say?" Patty's eyes closed in a wince. Starting at the bottom and working upward did help as the stuff of the area seemed to shift and move. Finally The bomb came into view above an officers desk in the narcotics area. "Naturally." Pusher examined the bomb for timers or radio mechanisms. Patty looked at Eric. "Darn it," she said. "Can you get us in there without really being noticed, I mean, I've can get a change of clothes quick and we can go see your dad, better now than never I mean that gets us in anyway on the pretext of you and me going to see him because..." she frowned and her eyes brightened. "...I'm your girlfriend!" "Yeah." He looked at the catgirl "Wait here, we're .. going to go say goodbye to my dad. okay?" The catgirl just smiled at him. "Phf, I might be more fluffheaded than the average human but even I know you plan on stopping bomb. Master might not like it, Eric, but I remembers you not always happy. You go try and make things way you want. if it work. Happy ending for you maybe but dad will still be there. So will Master Incubus." The catgirl stood next to a wall "My duplicate already speaking with Master so I know that you have ten minutes. He has activated timer. He say your test starts now. Hero or Villain." "Patty, go get that change of clothes. I hope Pusher found that bomb already cause this won't be pretty. Meet me by the front door." Eric yelled while running towards the front of the police building. There was something strange about the bomb as Pusher began examining it. It was slightly off from more conventional explosives but there was a sudden soft beep barely heard as he approached which caused the Timer to light up for ten minutes. Pusher tried to turn everything to oxygen, not wanting to take a chance on moving it, or taking it apart. Patty was already gone and moving, accelerating to her full power and moved towards point A which was where she'd left her pants and blouse and got to the hiding place and grabbed them and tossed them over her arm her stomach rumbled again she didn't have the energy to really expend she was going to do herself harm if she wasn't careful but she hit the gas and kept moving slowing only when she got back towards the police station that was too easy she pulled her blouse ran her fingers through her hair then slowed more as she was sure no one was watching and quickly shed her shoes and pulled on her trousers and then slid her feet back into the high-tech running shoes and ran her fingers through her hair again... ...and looped her hand over his forearm. Her hair was out of the eternal ponytail and fluffed lightly about her shoulders. "Ready," she said, to the tune of her stomach rumbling. "Let's do this!" Pusher could feel the molecules around the bomb giving way bit by bit. The device seemed protected but not enough that it couldn't be changed. It was just going to take a long time to get through it. Question was did he have enough time to get through it before the bomb went off? Pusher decided that he couldn't move the bomb, and transforming it was going too slow. He could use it as fuel for a molecule blast, or create a solid barrier around it to try to contain the blast. Either way would be a mass of destruction for the station, unless he wanted to chance moving it himself after all. Better let someone know. "Hey!" Pusher stuck his head out of the ceiling. "There's a bomb in the ceiling. You might want to clear the building." Once Patty and Eric started to go through the door no one really paid them much attention there or inside. Yet Eric was on edge simply because of where he was. He felt like a long tailed cat in the room full of rocking chairs. Downstairs where Pusher came through the officer looked up at him "What the hell!? Why did you put a bomb up there?" He took out his gun to open fire. Dirty consciences bred dirty thoughts in this case with Eric's father that the teen supers were actually criminals. "I'm trying to save the building, idiot." Pusher shook his head. "Pull the fire alarm and get everyone out of here." Pusher went back into the ceiling and decided the best thing he could do was transform the surrounding material into lead and steel to seal the bomb in a box. He kept doing this until he knew the countdown was in its last stages before trying to make his escape. He hoped Patty and Eric had taken the hint and gotten clear. He really hoped the idiot he had talked to had pulled the fire alarm like he said. Patty wrapped her hand around his elbow, bouncing and flouncing along, ever the chipper cheerleader her eyes left and right quickly, taking in the sights--she'd been here before, as an adult, but even though there was purpose, she was nothing if not curious. She squeezed his arm. "It'll be okay," she assured him. "In, out, introduce me to your dad and worst comes to worst, I disappear in a cloud of dust with a bomb in my hands." They had been nearing the elevator when the police started shouting out alarms and pulling people out of the police building. Pusher's ability focused on the bomb helped keep the explosive from destroying who knows how much more than it would have normally done. But the remaining destructive force was enough to cave in the ceiling, at least superficially. Nothing major fell in. They'd need to replace titles and supports for the tiles. Eric's father was too busy for his own good giving descriptions of what had happened and how he'd know there was a bomb present. Busy enough in fact that he and most of his friends on the force didn't even notice Eric and Patty standing among the crowd. Patty wrapped her hand around Eric's waist. "Well, that was almost bad," she decided, "at least nobody's hurt, we didn't blow cover, and Pusher managed to clear out most of the cops and minimize the bomb damage." She looked around. "Was that my imagination or did I hear gunshots earlier?" Eric looked at her a bit "Not sure.. I thought I'd heard something too.. but your right at least it looks like no one got hurt."

Re: Quote of the Week from my gaming group... With streaks of lightning. CES

Re: Quote of the Week from my gaming group... The Kobold turns to his companion (An Air Elemental). "I guess we could start there. Brother, do any of the stone look like the one I have described?" "How should I know, dude?" The tornado glared down at Lahknar. "I ain't got no eyes."

Re: The Addams Family Bobobo-bo bo-bobobo was created by Yoshio Sawai. Shonen Jump is reprinting parts of it with Slam Dunk, YuYu Hakusho, Naruto, One Piece, Yugioh GX. The collected volumes are probably on sale at book stores and you can probably get the cartoon somewhere. CES