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Mutants & Masterminds: Lake City Universe - HoH: The Early Bird Killer (OOC)


Heritage

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I don't think I adequately addressed Gary's examination of the site itself, in terms of architecture, etc. From his side of the wall, he can see it's an open five-sided space formed on four of the five sides by the lower floors of two buildings on either side, both of which appear to be mid-century skyscrapers. The fifth side is the concrete wall with the mural that was partially destroyed by the bucket arm.

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I don't think I adequately addressed Gary's examination of the site itself, in terms of architecture, etc. From his side of the wall, he can see it's an open five-sided space formed on four of the five sides by the lower floors of two buildings on either side, both of which appear to be mid-century skyscrapers. The fifth side is the concrete wall with the mural that was partially destroyed by the bucket arm.

I'm reading this and re-reading this and ... I don't understand.

It's open sided and yet it is bounded on 4 sides by two buildings and the 5th by the broken wall?

I'm not understanding what it is you mean here, can you clarify/elaborate for me/us?

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I thought it was like this:

"An open five sided space" Meaning the area we are standing within is an open area or plot of land where they're planning to build something. We're probably standing on dirt or gravel.

"Formed on four of the five sides by the lower floors of two buildings to either side" So, if the broken mural is to the north and runs east-west, then there are two buildings directly to the east and west of this plot of land. The floor plan of the lower floors probably isn't square. Perhaps they have a small wing or something that extends at an angle and touches one edge of the mural and this is mirrored by the building across.

So it might look something like this: (Please excuse that my ascii art is a bit rough :P)

............mural..............

................/''''''\................

....bldg..../.......\....bldg..........

...............\......./..............

.....1.........\..../........2......

.................\../.................

..................\/.................

Does that make any sense? I hope so :P

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I suppose so, but who builds buildings like that? There's no indication that the space is that acute of a pentagon either, granted there's also no indication it is a regular pentagon (regular as in equal angles all around).

I suppose maybe he meant that on each side there were two buildings that formed walls for a total of 4 buildings forming walls, though again, who builds buildings like that?

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I get what you're saying, but does it HAVE to be a regular pentagon? Also, that depiction is with the use of bad ASCII are where the slashes can only go at certain angles :P

Who builds like that? Have you ever been to Philadelphia, by any chance? Or any city that has an 'older section of town'? I live nearby PHilly, and I find myself asking the 'who would build buildings like that'? question almost every time I try a new route to work. There are so many odd angled streets that sometimes construction companies are forced to just make buildings fit where they can. To use the most famous example I can think of: Who Builds Like That?! Indeed. It's a real thing.

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Okay, I'm sorry this is so damn confusing; I can say that I'm basing this on a slightly heightened version of Chicago, where there is som bizzare-ass architecture, especially in the parts of downtown near upper and lower Wacker Drive. Let's see if I can make this clear, and if possible I will find a picture that gets close.

1. We're below the 'normal' street level. As this series of images show, there are two levels (three in some parts), and we're on the lower of the two. It's where they shot parts of The Dark Knight chase sequence with the armored cars and rocket launchers.

2. It's not a picture perfect pentagon, though not quite as drawn out as the lovely ASCII image provided by Mr Hound. I'm basing it on the corner of Upper Wacker and Michigan Ave, as seen on the far left edge of this image. There are buildings that face the different streets of the oddly-shaped block, and the long back ends of them form a strange undeveloped little quadrant; the Lake City version is a pentagon.

3. The small space is closed off by a concrete wall on what would be the one open side; this wall is decorated with the strange mural, which now has a big hole in it.

4. I should have been more specific about what kind of construction is going on, which is some sort of street work; they're not building so much as digging up the street to do repairs for the city. The area where there digging has been blocked off from the rest of the lower street level by temporary fencing and low concrete barriers.

Does any of this help?

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Kam, I never gave you answers based on your Science and Investigation rolls; the main two things are the mural was done with spray paint, and appears to have been very recent, as in less than a month old, based on normal wear and tear.

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  • 2 weeks later...

I'm thinking of jumping forward an hour or two so we can have the results of everyone's various researches; would everyone be back at HQ, or would anyone stay on-site? I'm thinking at least one of the detectives probably would.

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Yea, someone should hold down the fort at the site. Probably Colby because of her knowledge base, and especially if more uniforms are going to show up. If we're able to gather some info, it may be best to analyze it back at HQ with all the tools and such we have available. Lisowski is a fine detective, I'm sure. He'd be able to help piece through all the info we have there, and I'm sure we can radio to Colby if anything goes weird. Of course, the opposite would also work. Lisowski at the scene with the uniforms and Colby with us in the lab. Heh, I got the image of them drawing straws for the duty in my head :P

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SB was just being in character to think of a way to get you out of an uncomfortable situation. I also think it's perfectly in Blitz's character to want to stay and face that fear.

SB is a lab rat. I just gotta remember that I can gadget up too. HH pointed out to me OOC alot I'm forgetting about our favorite supergenius. Something to remember next time when I head out to the field.

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As much as a lab rat as SB is, I'd expect her to be constantly cooking up new inventions, and therefore always have a reason to have some new device 'just laying around' after we have a break in the action or downtime.

"Waiting on you now!" - Tony Stark

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I'm fully expecting blitz to seize the opportunity to rush forward, and place her hand on his other shoulder when Colby does. She'd be fast enough for time it properly :P

Extraordinary Effort (thanks to the feat) to grab Progression 2 on his Dimensional movement to be able to take two passengers with him. If only one rank is required, then He'll only use Extra Effort. But I like the idea of Blitz jumping in and him having to use the Extraordinary Effort as a result and the shift will tire him out a lot more than he was expecting ;)

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3e Extra Effort doesn't work like that. You don't gain an extra, you specifically gain an Alternate Effect:

HH page 20

POWER STUNT

Temporarily gain and use an Alternate Effect (see Alternate Effect in the Powers chapter). The Alternate Effect lasts until the end of the scene or until its duration expires, whichever comes first. Permanent effects cannot be used for power stunts.

You'll need to build your effect with the same number of points as your normal effect and include whatever extras you need to carry the others with you. Adding a flaw may be required.

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That's a 2e layover, where Power Stunt allowed you to "gain an extra" including Alternate Powers. I believe that they changed the wording because people would "gain an extra" like perception range on a blast, or burst area, and effectively gain 10 pp worth of extra (on average for a PL 10 game) which is not what they had intended.

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Upon further inspection, HH has Dimensional movement 2. He can only actually travel between Hell and back. In Heritage's world, we've determined through PM that there is really only one actual hell regardless of creed/religion/whatever, IIRC. So he should probably only have Dimensional Movement 1. That saves me two points.

Now, I'm sure that Blitz weighs about as much as a twig. Her character sheet says 135lbs. Add in any gear she happens to be carring in her non-existant Hammerspace pockets, and we can assume she weighs any where between 140 and 150lbs. I doubt detective Colby weights a grand total of 50lbs or less, but I think having both her and Blitz weigh 400lbs or less when combined is a safe bet. So that means I'll need 3 ranks of the Improved Mass extra on my Dimensional movement to afford this power.

If we assume that I use those extra two points for the first two ranks of Improved Mass, his power is:

Dimensional Movement 1 (Hell) {2pp} Extras: Improved Mass 2 (200lbs) {+2pp} [4pp]

If I use Extra Effort, I can get an AP on that:

Dimensional Movement 1 (Hell) {2pp} Flaws: Tiring {-1pp}; Extras: Improved Mass 3 (400lbs) {+3pp} [4pp]

The book states that you can also build a Tiring power as 'requiring extra effort to activate'. I'll build my Tiring power that way. Hellhound has the Extraordinary Effort advantage which I'll activate. He uses the first instance of Extra Effort to gain the power, and he uses the second instance of the Extra Effort to activate it. He'll be Exhausted (and probably pretty grumpy) when the team gets there.

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From my original post, a bit more detail for the Hell side of Lake City; the 'filled with hate' part no longer applies, because Russ opened the gate:

Russ finds himself standing on freshly-fallen snow, under an open winter sky. As he looks around, he makes out a few physical features that look familiar: to the north, the Fulton River, under a thin layer off ice; across it, the high limestone dome dotted with skeletal trees that will one day be the exclusive neighborhood of Lake Bluff, and off to the east, just behind some low grassy dunes, what looks to be the icy waters of Lake Michigan, cold and forbidding. A breeze from the west carries the smell of smoke, which pulls the XP's gaze in that direction, where a short distance away a frontier fort made of logs burns, surrounded by dozens of corpses lightly dusted with snow; hundreds of crows and gulls noisily fight over the bodies. The smoke reeks not only of wood, but also the greasy stink of roasting human flesh. A black flag flies over the fort, flapping in the breeze; in the center of the fort stands a tall blockhouse, untouched by the fire, and though he can see no one, Russ's heart tells him he is being watched by something behind the shadowy slit-like windows, and that something is filled with hate...

The thick wooden door which rippled with fire flew off its hinges, and Russ was able to see inside the fort for the first time; more bodies filled the courtyard, but unlike the bodies which were outside, which were Native American men, women and children, the bodies that were inside were dressed in the dark blue uniforms of the US Cavalry, though no birds picked at their corpses. Other than the blockhouse, which had no visible door, Russ could now see there were five low towers, one at each corner of the five-sided enclosure. Five sides...

From inside the the blockhouse, a low voice chuckled, as though at some personal joke. "I have to thank you, stranger; before you broke the barrier, I could only slip out to punish the bitch just before the sun kissed the sky. Now I can come and go as I please..."

And just like that, Russell knew he was alone. All at once, the gulls and crows took to the air, and began shrieking and cawing as they wheeled overhead.

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Guys watching the videos, please give me an investiagation-type roll; I don't have my book with me, so I forget the proper skills.

Edit: yes, give me an Investiagtion roll. If you don't have it, Perception might get you something as well.

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[Charta Domina] 3:44 pm: investigation roll

Charta Domina *rolls* 1d20: 3+18: 21

[Charta Domina] 3:43 pm: spending HP to re-roll

Charta Domina *rolls* 1d20: 16+18: 34

[Charta Domina] 3:44 pm: witness?

[Heritage] 3:46 pm: witnesseed!

This is for the Investigation roll I needed to do.

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