Mutants & Masterminds - The Hunt for the Progenitor

Started by Reepicheep, February 02, 2018, 08:55:05 AM

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Reepicheep

Mutants & Masterminds
The Hunt for the Progenitor

Table Talk thread

Scene One - East Vallee Industrial Park

You don't know what caused the explosion. You don't know why an abandoned warehouse just outside of the Lakeside district would explode. What you do know is that explosions shouldn't be green and that green explosions are worth a closer look.

You are among the first in the area. The warehouse is in the middle of the East Vallee industrial park. After the industrial works allegedly started polluting the ground near the natural beauty of Lake Vallee, the disreputable landowners of the estate closed most of the facilities. Only a few private enterprises and storage facilities still operate, on the principle that their operations cause no further environmental damage. Everything else has become dilapidated over the last two decades. The park has been a matter of shame or disgust for the increasingly gentrified region of Lakeside.

For this reason it will be a while before the police, and whatever investigation unit they may dispatch, arrive. Even longer before they begin actually investigating. The first of the police sirens can be heard from beyond the small wall that separates Lakeside from the industrial park.

The warehouse itself was, until very recently, of a very nondescript rectangular footprint with a very nondescript sloped roof. In the last few minutes however, chunks of brickwork and cement have been hurled onto the adjacent roads like a paint splatter. Where those walls once stood are now gaping holes in various parts of the structure. Regardless of the angle from which you approached the building, parts of the steel structure of the walls and roof are exposed. The air is full of dust and green smoke, slowly starting to settle or disperse.

With the visibility still unclear, it is hard to tell what ever went on in this particular warehouse. From where you stand, beyond the metal wire fence between you and the warehouse, there are no signs to give any clues as to who operated here, and certainly nothing that tells tales of why the building exploded with such magnificent viridescence.

You arrived alone, either for curiosity, for a keen sense for opportunity or simply for a habit of being in the wrong place at the wrong time. You know, however, that something this dramatic in a place like emerald city is sure to attract other superhumans, vigilantes . . . and maybe a few villains.

Spoiler
You may begin your character's introduction from whatever point of the story you like. This can be anywhere between before the explosion to the end of my narration. Take this opportunity to describe your character to the other players, and if you choose to, take a closer look at the scene.

As we go on, I will use these spoiler dialogues to give short OOC tutorials during this first scene, or descriptions of why a roll is done in a certain way. For rolls themselves, I will use the code tag. Longer explanations of what's happening under the hood will take place in the OOC thread.


catwhowalksbyhimself

Five minutes ago, in the downtown region

Cheerful music filled the air.  There was nothing remarkable about it to people walking around.  They did not notice that they music was louder than it should have been, or that it could be hear for far too long before any source could be seen, or that the sound stood out just a bit more than it should have.  No, in spite of his best efforts, Bill Morgan, the self-proclaim Organ King was not having the best of days.

In appearance, he was quite old fashioned.  He wore a band style uniform, mostly blue with a splash of red.  On both sleeves were the words "Organ King." His street organ hung on a strap running around his neck and shoulder. A small platform had been built on its side, right underneath the crank.  The platform was currently empty, Bill grinding the organ himself.  On his right shoulder sat a capuchin monkey wearing a small uniform jacket identical to Bill's.  When the song ended, the monkey climbed down his body, picked up a jar sitting at Bill's feet and began running up to the very few people nearby.

"Bill Morgan the Organ King thanks you for your kind patronage and any more tangible appreciation you choose to show."  No one does.  The monkey returned to his shoulder as  he began to grind the organ again.  A minutes later, there was an explosion in the distance.  Bill stopped playing, staring in the direction of the smoke. Bill could see that it came from the direction of the Industrial Park.  "That will be all for today folks, and thank you for your patronage.  Bill Morgan, the Organ King will be back tomorrow." Bill then quickly went to his car, a beat up Yellow Jetta parked by the side of the street, deposited the organ in the back, and began to head in the direction of the explosion.
I am the cat that walks by himself, all ways are alike to me.

Deaths Jester

#2
Wild Card stands across the street from the exploded warehouse where even now a small crowd of people are beginning to congregate.  His clothing - black slacks, a black long sleeved dress shirt with red sleeve garters under a white vest, and mirrored shades - made him stand out amongst the regular jeans and t-shirt-types that normally populated the Lakeside area. First the lead proved wasteful, he thought to himself, and now the only potential lead left  that I know about is an exploded warehouse spewing green-coloured smoke. Today is not a good day.

The faint sound of approaching sirens brought a frown to his face.  "Cops," he mumbled under his breath, "just what I need right now.  This job better be worth it!"

Sighing heavily, he crossed the street and slowly pushed his way through the crowd. Watching for signs of someone trying to make a hasty exit from the scene or anything that might give him an idea if his quarry was near, he shouldered his way to the front of the crowd and took in the full view of the warehouse.

"Green smoke," Wild Card mutters, "Don't see that everyday.  Probably contains something poisonous and me without any breathing protection.  This day is just getting better and better."

Spoiler

I know the intro stinks but once we get running and everything, the writing will get better. I just gotta get into the groove of my character a little....and see what everyone else puts forth to play off of too.
Avatar picture originally a Brom painting entitled Marionette.

UnkoMan

The ants crawled across a barren landscape, no destination in mind. Their small scale search for nearby provisions hadn't attained any results. Still, they wandered, they looked, they did their duty. For the colony. For the queen.

She lay, resting, her garments crumpled. The ground hadn't been right in this area. Too hard. Filled with poisons. Too much like the old place. Still, there were less people here. Empty spaces. It was a place to rest. She had been on the run for some time now, and while mobility of this level was interesting, it was taxing too. So she rested. She dreamed, though she did not fully understand what this meant.

She was roused by a loud and terrible sound. The ground shook. The colony felt it, called the seekers home. She wondered if this would bring more people, if she should flee? Yet, she was interested. They had aroused a curious nature in her, some pulling feeling. She would send a small convoy, see what was happening. It was the only way to learn. Herself and the colony would keep their distance for now, stick to the hidden places. Try to remain unnoticed. Try to remain safe.

The ants crawled across a barren landscape, with a destination in mind.

Reepicheep

#4
Bill Morgan

You approach the scene in your vehicle. You become aware that, except for the distant sirens, your vehicle is the only thing making any sound. The warehouse itself is silent now, despite the extraordinary percussion with which it announced itself. You are still driving towards it in your vehicle. The windscreen is beginning to dust up as you approach, and any onlookers that you pass are keeping their distance from the thicker fog of debris.

Spoiler
Keep in mind that doing anything significant in a car would require a point in the car skill. I'm going to say you're incapable of any manoeuvre beyond turning corners, reversing, three-point-turning... and will receive a severe penalty or instant fail if a driving skill is needed.

Wildcard
Perception 7 vs DC10
d20 = 2
Failure to 1 degree


You may have pushed your way to the front of the small, growing group on onlookers, but in front of you is the thick dust of concrete. Even the evening sun is dulled by the cloud, but still harsh enough to make the scene ahead appear to be a blurred, fiery red hue with the green glow of the warehouse framed in the centre. You are near the edge of the industrial park, still a few rows of warehouses away from the explosion. If anyone remotely capable was leaving the scene, they would have done so under the cover of the dust and would have ran in the opposite direction. As you begin to survey, a few members of the crowd behind you try to nudge their way in front of you, in the same fashion you did to them.

Queen Ant
Perception 14 vs DC10 (Routine)
d20 = 17
Success to four degrees


The small detachment of ants rapidly navigate their way under the small fence, into the perimeter of the industrial park and finally arrive at the exploded building. You may not understand the precise differences between complete piece of architecture and an exploded wreckage, but you can instinctively glean that there is something extremely wrong with this structure. Maybe it's the eerie, greenish hue it seems to be emitting from within. Nowhere else seems to have that.

You become aware of three more oddities. There is a small crowd of humans forming near to the ants. Most of them have mouths gaped, eyes glossed, communicating in uncertain murmurs and mumbles to each other. But there is one at the front who looks at the scene with intent. Something about his eyes indicate a talented observer. The second particularly strange human seems to trapped in some sort of yellow box on wheels. Though the windows into the box are becoming dusty, you can tell that he is more brightly coloured in his fabrics. You also observe that he is not alone: another very, very small human is with him.

The third strange human you notice is high on the rooftops nearby. He is crouched, caped, waiting.

When observing the building, you notice you could enter from five different ways in. On the ground level are two large but closed dock doors. There is a smaller door, about the right size for a human to get through. Higher up, the walls of the building have collapsed in two places. It's not like walls have ever stopped determined enough ants anyway.

Spoiler
Since Cat didn't really specify what he was doing, other than approaching the scene, I didn't have much to roll. That's fine, of course. It's easy to assume he was successful in approaching the scene since that requires no special skill or power of any sort.

In DJ's case, he failed the roll by 1. This would be within one degree of failure, which I'll explain in a bit. Where perception is concerned, degrees of failure probably won't mean a whole lot to you - I'm obviously not going to tell you what you've missed. In these cases, I hope to try and create a prompt for characters to do more so that failure isn't just a narrative dead end. In this case, the crowd pushing back might deliver a sense of urgency or require the character to move. If you feel like you aren't given any space to move your character, let me know and I'll adjust.

Now, Queen Ant has a high perception skill. It was higher than the Difficulty Class I gave to the perception check, so he could only have failed if he rolled a 1. That's going to be a routine check. If we were playing in real time, the player could opt not to roll their dice in this circumstance so as not to risk the critical fail, while choosing to roll may offer higher degrees of success. Since we aren't playing in real time, I will roll on a routine check and you will like it. In tamer circumstances than this, you would all be able to achieve a DC10 perception check routinely.

Since he rolled 17, the total of his skill + his roll was a huge 31. Every integer of five between the outcome and the difficulty is another degree of success or failure, to a maximum of four. He achieved four here, so he saw both Bill Morgan and Wildcard, as well as several ways into the building, and more mysterious things.

Obviously, even though you can see the narration for Queen Ant, her observations only account for Unkoman. Both Wildcard and Bill Morgan only have the narration given to them.

Deaths Jester

#5
"Damn smoke," Wild Card mutters, "blocking me from seeing anything. Guess I'm going to have to go in blind! Can this day get any better?"

Not seeing a way around the fence, Wild Card climbs the fence, hoping it's not electrified. Even as he climbs, he scans the warehouse for a nearby "entrance" - whether it be a door or a gapping hole, he doesn't care - to the warehouse.

Spoiler
I'm just looking for the nearest entrance, no other details per say.
Avatar picture originally a Brom painting entitled Marionette.

catwhowalksbyhimself

The scene looked pretty bad.  Even at a distance, it was getting harder to see.  Bill parked his car at the first place he could find, then climbed out, removing the organ from the back seat.  The monkey climbed up him, then took his place on the organ's platform and grabbed the crank.

Bill continued to approach the scene, looked for anyone in need of help or rescue.

Spoiler

The car was just an excuse to get him there.  I had planned on him walking up to the scene anyway with the assumption he had parked it somewhere.  I have no plans on ever doing anything significant with it.
I am the cat that walks by himself, all ways are alike to me.

UnkoMan

The crowd was getting bigger. Her natural instinct was to avoid, but she did not feel fear. The humans seemed to be too busy gawking to notice her, but the colony reformed an approximation of their shape anyhow, just in case a stray glance came her way. A few among the crowd stood out. She didn't understand why the one up high watched and waited, but the other one with the intense eyes... He seemed like he could be trouble. She'd try to avoid him for now. Try to avoid everybody. Stick to the shadows, the small corners, be ready to disperse. Still, if there was a hidden way to get closer, she would use it.

The small group of ants marched single file towards the large doors. Either slipping under or trying to dig, they would check the inside of this odd glowing structure. Human structures were so strange, built with their own walls. She hadn't really been inside one for some time. What would this one be like on the inside? Curious.

Reepicheep

#8
Wild        Card

You vault the fence and charge into the dust without a problem. If the fence was ever electrified, it has been long turned off.

As the crowd behind you turns from a haze to a blur, the warehouse does the opposite. You can now make out some more details. You are in the delivery forecourt of the warehouse. Ahead of you are two large delivery doors for trucks to reverse into. Currently, both are closed. Higher up, the top right corner of the wall you are facing has been blasted open. Chunks of brickwork from the opening now litter the ground around you, though the roof seems to have fallen inwards. You can't help put be aware of the green glow emitting from within, casting verdant rays in the dust. It doesn't seem to have faded since the explosion.

Already, the dust is beginning to disperse.

Bill Morgan
Perception 11 vs DC10 (Routine)
d20 = 13
Success to 3 degrees.


Of all the people who have arrived, you seem to be the only one who made it this far into the industrial park with a vehicle. The other onlookers, numbering less than a couple dozen, all either ran from the edge of Lakeside or were one of the few warehouse workers still using this place. Nobody was fleeing the scene, which might indicate that anyone responsible or victim of the explosion would be inside. Assuming, that is, that this isn't some sort of freak incident.

For a moment it seemed like nobody was making any effort to help anyone trapped inside until you see one man climb over the metal fence and rush into the dust and debris. With the intent that he moved he surely must be on the lookout for survivors. He might even know more of what happened. As the dust starts to disperse, he is becoming clearer but it is still difficult to get a read.

Where you left your car is a short distance from the gate into the deliveries forecourt. The perimeter of the warehouse is surrounded by the wire fence, you can spot that a mix of age and explosions has dismantled the hinges of the gate. From where you stand, you can see that the delivery end of the warehouse has two large dock doors, a side entrance and one more opening in the form of a large missing chunk of the building.

Queen Ant
Stealth 9 vs DC10
d20 = 13
Success to three degrees


You and your colony remain undetected by the humans, a safe distance away from the trouble. Nor does anyone notice the very purposeful looking ants marching towards the wreck. The small cluster of ants begin the job of excavating the mortar from the brickwork around the door. Working rapidly, they create a little loop around the steel tracks of the warehouse door. As they work, you become aware that the man you noticed earlier has come closer to the scouts. With the tunnel complete, they enter.

Perception 14 vs DC20
d20 = 3
Failure to one degree.


The space they are in is especially dusty. Without clear, still air and with the dust swirls sweeping every surface, it would be hard to deploy pheromones correctly to guide or organise them. As they enter the space from the tunnel one by one, you get a picture of what the scouts see. To them, surrounded by towering steel and concrete rubble, the interior of the warehouse seems impossible to navigate. The air feels thick and heavy, with a green hue that lingers in the dust.

Spoiler
A little background knowledge that I won't reveal in future instances: I rolled a perception check for both Wild Card and Bill Morgan versus a Stealth check for Queen Ant. In both cases, Queen Ant won. Since even just telling you that I made that roll would indicate that there is something to look out for, I'll often keep those sorts of rolls secret.

In Unko's roll, even though he got a high degree of success, the outcome of stealth is kind of binary - you're either seen or you're not. In some cases, the consequences could be worsened by dice rolls.

Unko: I remember us talking about the borrowing ability being indirect, but the modifier has disappeared off your character sheet. I'll treat it as still there being there for now; maybe I had good reason for removing it that I can no longer remember.

Deaths Jester

#9
I'm not getting paid enough for this, he thinks to himself as he nears the building. With how my luck is going, that blasted suit will double cross me too.

Reaching the building, Wild Card flattens his body - back first - against it's exterior wall. Sldestepping stealthly, he comes to the double doors. Hope these aren't locked because I left my picks at home.

Wild Card carefully reachs out - making sure to keep his body flat against the wall - with his right hand and tries to push the nearest door open...
Avatar picture originally a Brom painting entitled Marionette.

UnkoMan

#10
She knew he was dangerous. Now he seemed to be heading the same direction as her dispatch. Had he spotted them? Was he here to bring her back? A few workers for the sake of their queen was no great loss, but she still felt responsible. She had strange feelings like this since what they had done to her. It was confusing. Her scouts hadn't learned much from inside building, and it was still difficult for her to remember the difference in perspective that she now held. They would have to wait for now. Keep on the move. Hug the small, dark corners. Stay away from the man, if they could. Come back to the colony when they could.

The queen turned her attention to the two who climbed out of the box. She had seen these structures before. They moved with incredible speed. She did not understand how. They weren't organic. They held these humans inside them. It didn't make sense. Still, time for worrying about that later. These two must be of the same colony. Their outer markings were the same. No, not markings. These strange things humans draped themselves with. Like what she wore now, what she had found on her first night out. She would have assumed almost all humans were flowing and white, but since leaving the place she had learned they have all sorts of colourings.
The smaller one, there was something familiar. She vaguely remembered the flowing white people keeping some smaller, darker people in cages, but she hadn't seen much of that. She had seen other small humans since she had been out, though. Not in cages. They seemed to be taken care of by the larger ones. Were they queens? Were the larger ones workers? It was hard to tell.

They seemed very interested in the happenings. Moreso than the rest. Would they follow the other man?

Could she slip past the crowd? Find another way to get close to the structure that had broken?

Spoiler
No problem. I'll take it like the ants are less inclined to take on big tasks in general, without more of the group. That would make sense. They don't tend to do much tunneling on their own.
I'll just try to do what I can and leave whether it works or not to you. In essence I am just playing the queen and trying to mentally command all these other ants. So maybe they do stuff or maybe they are too unintelligent or incapable of doing it.
Oh, and so you know, she should be wearing her coat and hat right now, too, to blend in a little more, though if anybody scrutinized her they might notice something wasn't right. Leave that to dice? I think that's what I had in my mind for expansion of the stealth aspect.

Reepicheep

Wild Card

The door is locked. It would also require lifting rather than pushing, but it's locked however you move it.

Spoiler
It's two large docking doors rather than a double door.

small posts like this will be used to give individual players a bit more information without leaving them behind. This way, DJ can make a new decision without other players being given the opportunity to accelerate beyond him. I'm not ignoring other posts, just keeping the timing steady.

Deaths Jester

A rough expletive escapes Wild Card's lips as he discovers the bay doors looked. Sighing heavily, he continuess to stealhly slide/creep around the warehouse in search of an easier - and hopefully unlocked - entrance.

As he goes, he notices the green dust glowing.  That's not good, he thinks before continuing on. My quarry best be here or I'm going to be ticked...
Avatar picture originally a Brom painting entitled Marionette.

catwhowalksbyhimself

Bill Morgan thinks for a second about following the other man, but realized that it better to go elsewhere and help the people that he doesn't. he instead approached the broken gate and will try to move it off its hinges enough to get in.  If he does, he will enter the building through the destroyed wall and will continue to try to find any signs of survives with the help of his monkey.

Spoiler
Help of his money is just for story purpose.  His perception score was made to account for both of them anyway.
I am the cat that walks by himself, all ways are alike to me.

Reepicheep

#14
Queen Ant

Stealth 9 vs DC10
d20 = 15
Success to 2 degrees


Even by human standards, your choice of dress is quite conspicuous. However you are fortunate to been preceded two other equally unusually dressed humans into the chaos, so the crowd is getting used to it at this point. Some of them are still trying to keep track of the two humans ahead, both finding different ways into the structure. Others have begun to chatter, giving uneducated opinions on how this occurred. Some insist that they should wait for cops. Others insist that they should wait for superheroes.

You wait for neither and walk ahead. Whether you choose to behave like a human and find a way around the fence or, given what you are, simply walk through the permeations of the wire fence, you would find yourself in the deliveries forecourt with no further suspicions aroused.

You can still see the three entrances you did before. There are the two bay doors - which one of the humans seems to have just given up on - a door to the west and a large, wrecked hole partway up the building to the east. The two brightly garbed figures are heading towards that hole.

Wild Card

Failing to nudge the bay door, you move around to the western side of the building. There, you find a personnel entrance. It looks as though it had been locked, but the same explosion that had blasted walls off the warehouse also bent the door out of shape. It takes a sharp pull, but it opens with a unenthused groan. You find yourself in the southwest interior corner of the warehouse.

Perception 7 + (d20 = 15) vs Stealth 0 + (d20 = 8)
Success to three degrees


From the corner of your eye, you see someone else enter into the warehouse by climbing over the damaged wall to the east. He doesn't exactly look dressed for the occasion. You spot an unstable metal panel seesaw on the roof above him. It looks like it would crash onto him if it fell. With the sound of steel groaning under the uneasy structure, it seems very likely.

You notice that he has spotted you.

Bill Morgan

The gate is easy to force ajar enough for you, the monkey and the organ to squeeze through. You opt for a different route to the other rescuer, who is trying to lift a locked bay door as you pass. The air is thicker and foggier with dusty debris as you approach the building, but there isn't the smell of smoke that you might have expected from an explosion.

The base of the wall is still intact, the blasted entrance a little over head height. The capuchin might be able to make the leap up without difficulty, but it would take some effort to climb on your part. From it, you can see the green glow casting rays of light in the dust.

Strength 1 + (d20 = 10) Vs DC10
Success to one degree


Fallen debris, a closed dumpster and damaged brickwork make for good footholds to make it up and over the wall, even encumbered as you are by the organ.

As you make it into the southeast interior corner of the warehouse, you can hear the groan of an unstable steel joint.

Perception 11 + (d20 = 15) vs Stealth 9 + (d20 = 14)
Success to one degree


As you ascend over the wall, someone else has entered the building. It looks like the fellow ahead of you had opted for another route in. In fact, it looks like he had simply just found the back door.

Wild Card & Bill Morgan

The warehouse looks like it could have been a manufacturing plant rather than a storage facility. The ground floor where you find yourself was the machine floor. Rusted, blackened machines and broken conveyer belts make an elaborate route, forking and turning, rising and dropping at various points. Dulled and aged as they are, the metal reflects the green glow that lingers in the air, giving everything a mossy gloss.

Deaths Jester

#15
Unhappy and unsure of the new arrival, Wild Card very subtly flicks his right wrist causing three playing cards to fall out of his sleeve into his waiting hand. Best to be prepared when it comes to colourfully dressed interlopers, he thinks.

"I'd turn back if I was you," he shouts out while motioning towards the metal panel with his eyes. "Course, if you want to splatter yourself on the floor it's none of my business."

Happy that the interloper has been warned, Wild Card starts to cautiously search the area for clues - making sure to keep the newcomer in sight.

Spoiler
Using investigate skill for search via Jack of Trades and hope I beat the Dc...I'll use my hero point to improve roll
Avatar picture originally a Brom painting entitled Marionette.

catwhowalksbyhimself

#16
Bill is taken aback somewhat the response, but realized that he hardly looks like a typical rescuer, or even a typical hero.

"Thanks for the warning, friend, but there may be people in need of help.  If do find anyone that can't get to let us know.  Bill Morgan, the Organ king has his ways. Still you are right that caution is in order.  Confidence, if you please."

At this the monkey stands on the platform and begins cranking the organ.  Strangely the sound seems--muffled?  Certainly not right for any sort of instrument in proper working order and very quiet.  If anyone is standing close enough, they might notice that the sound seems to be coming, not from the instrument itself, but the air around Bill.  If the light were brighter, or someone had visions keen enough, they might notice a slight shimmer in the air around him.

He then began to search in the opposite direction away from the stranger, still looking for survivors.

Spoiler

I am activating my Sound Barrier around myself and will continue to Sustain it until further notice.  Up to Reap whether anyone is able to notice the shield or whether they just think the organ sounds broken.
I am the cat that walks by himself, all ways are alike to me.

UnkoMan

#17
The queen watches the humans who had approached the building. They seem to find their own ways in. She brings her colony towards the larger doors and calls her scounts back to the group, away from the danger.
She is hesitant about proceeding further.

Spoiler
For reference, how hard is the ground here? Would it be possible to burrow in if I wanted to? Further, would it be possible to burrow most of the way in, then somehow stealthily rise? (if the dice goes in my favour)
Just trying to get a handle on how I am able to approach things. I guess I could also swarm under possibly? But then would I lose the coat and hat?

Reepicheep

#18
Queen Ant

The cement foundation of the building would be too dense to dig through, but you could feasibly burrow into the brickwork and mortar of the walls. The small deployment of ants are returning to you this way, arriving back at you through their small egress dug around the bottom corner of a door. The doors themselves are metal. The quicker you'd want to move your mass through, the more wall you'd need to demolish.

Spoiler
unko: be aware that not having the wall climbing effect doesn't mean you can't climb. But you'd need to use your athletics or strength modifiers to do it, which Bill just did. So going up through the gap is still an option.

cat: I shouldn't really dictate what you impress upon each other, so however you describe the organ music (for instance) in your narration is how it communicates to other players. Their characters can interpret your narrative as much as the players can.

If there are times you want to do something secretly, I guess you should just PM me.

catwhowalksbyhimself

Spoiler

In that case, I'll let that others decide how much of that they notice, other than the fact that the music does sound right, which should be obvious.  Although Queen Ant might not be familiar enough with music to understand that.  The visual effect is quite subtile though, even under normal lighting conditions.
I am the cat that walks by himself, all ways are alike to me.

UnkoMan

Acting on a sudden impulse, the queen decides to proceed around the door. Slowly, cautiously, she will tell the colony to crawl their way through the walls, making just enough space to slide in what she has come to consider an adequate human style covering. She will try to keep her mass low, and move undetected into the area. To take in what the other humans are interested in. Try to discern their motives, their own reasons for entering.

Deaths Jester

Spoiler
Guessing you're running timing so that Queen Ant gets in before my investigation begins, Reep. That's cool.
Avatar picture originally a Brom painting entitled Marionette.

Reepicheep

#22
As Bill Morgan and Wild Card turn their attention away from each other, the metal tile slips down from the roof. It would have wrecked Bill Morgan's Organ, had it not decelerated during its descent, bent out of shape and found its falling trajectory now arced towards wall where it crashed harmlessly in a plume of plaster.

So far, none of you have experienced any sort of nausea that one would usually expect from being around so much green glow.

Queen Ant

To anyone in the crowd who might have been able to distinguish you in the dusty scene, they would have seen a woman with a long coat, a broad hat and a strange gait approach a brick wall, stand there for a moment and then vanish through it like water through a plughole. If that sounded strange, wait until you hear about the view from the other side.

Wild Card
Intelligence 4 + (d20 = 18) vs DC 15
Success to two degrees


Searching your immediate position, you find two clues.

Just next to where you entered is a row of four coat hooks. On them is one long, white coat and one parka style rainjacket. Another white coat is crumpled on the ground. With all of the dust, it is hard to tell how long they've been there - but they look well for two decades of neglect, if that's how long it's been. Neither of the white coats have any means of identification, but in the parka is something a little more interesting.

The second thing you notice is an array of security cameras, each pointed in the direction of an entrance into the building (with the exception, of course, of the more recently made entrances). They are the small, inconspicuous, dome variety of security cameras. Not the kind of security camera you imagine would have been in circulation when this area was abandoned.

Spoiler
It's a good thing you did specify, DJ. I ran two perception checks beforehand and you failed both (you were very unlucky with the dice). But the investigation check succeeded. Since you beat the DC anyway, you can keep your hero point.

Though that does bring up a good point. Y'all have one hero point. Refer to the first post in the table talk thread for all the cool things you can do with it.

Also, yeah, exactly. Kinda like golf, priority goes to the person furthest behind. Especially since Unko only needed to know about materials to proceed, similar to how you only needed to know whether a door was locked or not.

Bill Morgan
Perception 11 + (d20 = 5) vs DC15
Success to one degree

Technology 4 + (d20 = 4) vs DC10
Failure to one degree

Perception 11 + (d20 = 6) vs Stealth 9 + (d20 = 6)
Success to one degree


As far as you can tell, nobody at all was caught in the blast. Very little of the building has actually fallen inwards, with most of the wreckage being blown away from the structure. What little there is of debris on the inside wouldn't have done much to bury anyone beneath view.

The upper floor looks like it would have been offices and staff space, with the entirety of the ground floor committed to machinery and storage. Located near you at the delivery bays are stores of large reels of thick plastic filament, now yellowed by age. The filament would be fed into a nearby machine, but trying to tell what would happen to it next is indecipherable. Following the conveyer tracks, you notice that they're mostly intact - if a little bent - except for one spot. At that spot, the conveyer belt has been blown out of its fixing on the ground and snapped in two. Each side was now arced upwards off the floor. A nearby machine has received a huge deforming dent in the side.

Before you have a chance to investigate, you notice something even stranger. Out of the brickwork near you, a small hole has opened and a stream of black fluid starts to rush out of it into a puddle on the ground. The hole in the bricks get larger and larger, more and more black fluid - no, not fluid, some sort of aggregate - pours through. It starts piling up. It starts taking shape! It's bringing a hat with it!

Spoiler
Unko and Cat are on a first-come-first-serve basis on how they react to each other.

Deaths Jester

#23
Pocketing his find, Wild Card makes a mental note concerning the dome cams. Those are too new to go with how old these coats appear. Course, if there are security cameras, that means there is probably a CCTV/security room around.

Intent on discovering more, Wild Card wanders deeper into the warehouse. His eyes scanning for clues of his quarry being here - perhaps an office of importance - and anything that might look like a security office.

Spoiler
Woohoo! Didn't think my investigate skill would beat the DC!
Avatar picture originally a Brom painting entitled Marionette.

Reepicheep

Wild Card

You find some stairs near your location and head upwards to the offices, away from the factory floor. The steps themselves are those galvanated folded steel type with a tread pattern. The type that clang loudly and echo through the warehouse when you ascend.

The upper level makes an L shape on the north and west side of the building, overlooking the machine floor. It is composed of three rooms connected by walkways. There are two offices and a staff room. In one of the offices, the closest thing you can find to a computer terminal is a typewriter. In the other, however, you find something very out of place: a laptop.

UnkoMan

The queen begins to reconfigure her colony, and as she does, her perspective shifts back to the level of these human creatures. Seeing the world in this light is still new to her, still takes adjustment.

Spoiler
I'd have to assume the first thing the queen would notice is that she was in a place that may have similarities to where she escaped. I'm not sure how it works but if I could do perception check followed up with my expertise in either science or tech (whichever is relevant). She may be too taken back (white coats after all) to notice the people for a second. If she isn't reminded of much she'd then do her standard checks for human spying and would want to hide herself from that.

catwhowalksbyhimself

Bill Morgan seeing the strange being take shape.  He and Confidence both shrug in unison.  There are all kinds of strange supers out there.  Of course some of them would show up like he and surly stranger had.  He addresses the forming shape.

"Greetings my friend, I am Bill Morgan the Organ King, and this is my associate, Confidence."

Confidence gives a slight bow on cue, still grinding the organ.

"It looks like no one is hurt, so our job seems to be done.  If you'll excuse me, I may still be able to make a few bucks before the shopping crowd goes home."

Without waiting for any kind of reply, Bill will attempt to exit the building through the side door that he saw Wildcard come in through and will try to return to his car the same way he got in.
I am the cat that walks by himself, all ways are alike to me.

Deaths Jester

Wild Card slips the playing cards he'd been holding back into their spots, up his right sleeve. Well, well, a laptop here. I wonder if I should just take it and look it over latter or let my curiosity get the better of me?

A slight grin crosses his face as he cracks his knuckles and sits in front of the laptop. Curosity it is, he thinks. Besides, it's good to know if it's even worth a bit of cash before making off with it.
Avatar picture originally a Brom painting entitled Marionette.

Reepicheep

Queen Ant
Expertise: Science 6 (d20 = 17) vs DC10
Success to three degrees


As you and your colony enter the building, you feel a familiar sensation. While human dwellings aren't your favoured environment, there's something more intrinsic. It's the way that the air trembles. Not trembles. Wobbles? Waves. It's the way that the air waves. It's a dull and slow vibration. It's considerably more faint than how you experienced it in the past, but it seems to be emanating from somewhere below the space you're now in.

The space you're in is very mechanical; obnoxiously human. It's a lot dirtier than places you may remember, but there is the same feeling of motion and industry that you know well. From where the colony is rebuilding, you can see the darker dressed stranger ascend some stairs with clanging footsteps.

Before you've even finished assembling the colony into a fully formed vehicle, the brightly coloured human and the small brightly coloured (possibly queen) human address you. He starts to turn to walk away, making for a nearby egress.

Spoiler
Basically, your characters' emotional reactions to things are entirely up to you. I can only tell you what you experience externally. The exception would be if someone were using some sort of mind altering power on you. So if you do feel like a scene would be traumatisingly familiar to the character, you can go ahead and be traumatised.

If I do write something that seems to be putting thoughts into your characters' minds, you are welcome to ignore it. That's probably more a slip of my writing style than supposed to be actual instructions.

I'm going to give you a chance to communicate with Bill Morgan if you choose to, as per his post in table talk.


Bill Morgan

Satisfied that nobody was harmed by the explosion, you start to make to leave. At the door, you spot something. There are some clothes pegs, on which is hung one lab coat and one parka. Another lab coat is crumpled on the ground by your feet.

You may not be a fashion expert, but you see a lot of coats in your line of work. You don't recognise this exact parka, but it is an off-brand variety from a recently opened outlet near one of your busking spots. Even just for the glossy nylon material, there is no way it predates the closure of the factory. So, either somebody recently left it behind and forgot about it...

From where you now stand, you can see out into the street to the south. Three vehicles have arrived. Two are police cars. Their occupants are either backing the crowd away from the site or cordoning off the area. Depressingly, your car is within the cordoned zone. The other vehicle is a Hazmat utility van. Near it, someone is climbing into a suit of yellow, rubber overalls.

Spoiler
DON'T LEAVE MEEEEE


Wild Card

Technology 7 + (d20 = 8) vs DC10
Success to two degrees


The laptop has two outlets: A power lead and a USB cable. Both are padlocked to the desk, but the laptop could be removed and stolen. The USB cable vanishes into the floor if you follow it, but you might have guessed where it leads.

Hacking is old hat for you. The computer runs on a standard proprietary operating system and before long you find yourself logged into an account named 'Orsec'.

The laptop doesn't do very much. The hardware is kept quite minimalist too. In fact, it only seems to regularly run three functions. It controls the cameras, records the feed and then sends each 24 hour video feed to a server... elsewhere.

Each daily purge of the laptop's local storage of the camera feed is done manually and logged. A different pair of initials signs off on it with a date and time stamp. There are three different sets of initials, but they don't seem to run in any order. There is no indication of what the record is for, but the most recent timestamp was this morning.

Over the last five days the order of initials and the times stamped to them were:

JF - 05:22
PM - 05:31
BS - 06:24
BS - 06:04
JF - 05:22

catwhowalksbyhimself

Bill and Confidence sighed in unison.  Great.  Just great.  By the time they got their car back it would be past prime busking time, and they were not about to walk all that way carrying the organ.  The bus wasn't a great option either as most bus drivers frowned at both the organ and the monkey and absolutely HATED both at the same time.  Besides, the HAZMAT van was troubling, especially with Confidence's low bodyweight making him less tolerant to toxin exposure.  Well, there was that oddly new coat.  Maybe they could help the police find the culprit, or at least a useful witness.

He turned to face the Queen Ant.

"Well, it looks like I'm not going anywhere for a while. . ."

Take a close look at her for the first time, he stops.  There is something very strange about this person.  She is not just another shapeshifter.

"Well, you're an interesting one, aren't you?"

I am the cat that walks by himself, all ways are alike to me.