On his turn, Trailblazer takes one of his Flash/bang grenades from his utility belt and moves to the doorway. What does he see?
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Sorry. I thought I went near the bottom of the initative order. "I'm sorry, Captain; it looks like the feed's been sabotaged manually. I don't think there's anything we can do here to regain the signal, but your men might be able to patch your monitors into the building's own archival back-ups; you'd be reading from an auxiliar signal they might not have thought to disable. And that assumes the cameras themselves are still working. "I think I'm going to be needed inside to monitor the situation. "With your permission, I'd like to set my transmission to your frequency, to keep you abreast of what I see in there."
Trailblaser attempts to get the cameras back on-line.
Two Notice checks. "Captain, off the record, I'm an electronics officer in the air force. Let me know if there's anything I can do to lend a hand with the ECCM."
"Intercoms," Trailblazer mutters. "At least the bad guys coordinate." "She's calling reinforcements from down below," he calls out. Trailblazer starts scanning for the other five villains, particularly in stairways. "Captain, do we have a patch on the casino's security cameras?"
"Oh, we landed a friggin' plane in the parking lot, and Tom's waving to the cameras. If the thieves have either brains or merely ears, they know exactly where we are. "So, on 1, Tom, you move in. I'll try to distract the weather-caster as well." Attack roll: 1d20 + 5 = 13.
Sure. Tom is stronger than Trailblazer's psychokinesis at a distance, and altogether more annoying, so he makes a better distraction. Trailblazer re-engages his clairvoyance to see if she's still there, and gives Tom the coordinates as best he can.
. We saw em go in, 6 of em. Never seen em before, They've never tried anything like this in my city. I got my people searching the database to figure out who these guys are. Bottom line is, we dont really know at this point. "Thank you, Captain. May we have a copy of the visuals you have of the six? Trailblazer briefs his team on the information about the weather witch in the office. "I can probably take her out, or at least disrupt her field position, from here. Once I do, would you be able to get the civilians out?"
"Roger that, Captain. Apologies. ETA 40 seconds." Then Trailblazer launches the craft, flies a few thousand feet, and lands it. Who in the group does have some sort of comm link?
"Captain. "We've located one woman in the offices, creating a hurricane-strength wind-and-rainstorm on the main casino floor. There are at least two dozen civilians, trapped in makeshift shelters. I'm going to distract her. On my mark, get your men in there and get the civilians out. You won't have much time. "Do not try to engage her, or any allies she has in there. Get in, get the people, get out. Engaging the enemy is our job. "Questions, Captain?"
Gold Rush's built-in receiver is short-range only, and I didn't buy him a standard transmitter. It would have to be a high-powered transmission for him to pick up on it. Never mind. I'm on it. Memento mori, Trailblazer broadcasts on the police band frequency: "Calling STAR Squad Captain Maddick. Captain Maddick, can you respond?"
"Gold Rush, are you listening on our Comm-frequency?"
That would be an attack roll. Excellent. Trailblazer keeps his team-mates informed, and he attacks.
You eavesdropping there leads you to a character who to be concentrating intensely on the storm, her arms spread wide. Trailblazer keeps the rest of the Vanguard informed. Studying her carefully, he tries to determine whether she has any equipment on her; in particular, some sort of comm link? If so, Trailblazer will try to fiddle with mine and find their frequency. If not, Trailblazer will distract her with psychokinesis, perhaps throwing a stapler at her head.
Being in the heat of the storm, you cant discern any source of the chaos. That's fine. I climb into the AAVT's pilot chair and start warming up the engines. While we're waiting for Captain Incredible to change into his costume, I re-engage my clairsentience and move my observation point around the casino to see the extent of the storm: only the main gaming room, or the whole building? And I'm specifically targeting the areas likely to access the vaults.
Make a notice check. Notice = 1d20 + 4 = 23
For Trailblazer, it's an odd experience: he's reporting what he's sensing to the rest of the team, but he can't hear his own voice. He'll take 30 seconds to search for the source of the disturbance.
Given a choice between just running there, on the one hand, or buckling ourselves into the AAVC, engaging the gravity drives, decoupling from the docks, flying there, finding a place to land, landing safely, and so on, on the other hand, I know which option is my choice for "quick and quiet".
Trailblazer enters, having completed some errands around town. I've never described him. He's a black man, appearing to be in his early-to-mid 40's, ell-built but not spectacularly so, his hair kept in a military trim. He wears a metalic vest -which you know to be armor-reinforced- over a midnight-blue jumpsuit. There are cargo pockets on both thighs. On his left wrist, Trailblazer keeps his "Data Analysis Device", or DAD. (Circuitry in his right glove interacts with a EFID field around the DAD, so he doesn't need to touch it in order to interface with it.) Although he's never saluted anybody in the Vanguard, he still seems most comfortable in a quasi-military discipline. (For example, he's happy to answer to "Chief".) He stops, bows ever-so-slightly, and greets you all with a polite "Gentlemen." Then he smiles.
Excellent. Let's simplify matters by saying that the character has full ESP, all senses, up to a range of a mile. (16 points). That leaves two points, which really isn't enough for a worthwhile force field. Instead, I'll put those point in feats. I'll also rearrange the equipment (he's not carrying a full 16-point-cost assault rifle around as a reservist; but he does have a military-grade techno-widget on his wrist). Do you have any suggestions for shuffling the Combat adds around any?
Folks, Chris here. I spent another hour-and-a-half last night working through the M&M book and my character, and I'm afraid I still don't quite understand all the ins and outs. But here's what I tried: 1. Start with a base unpowered human Because he's still in the military reserves, I started with the Soldier (pg. 229) "This (level 5) archetype covers the typical infantryman. Specialists and officers have appropriate additional training and skills." So, I figured a communications specialist would be level 6 (15 additional character points) and so I increased Int up to 15, Cha up to 12, took 8 points each in Craft (electrical), Disable Device, Knowledge (Technology), and Pilot. 2. Buy Powers If I understand correctly, I have 60 points with which to buy powers. --+--
Telekinesis costs 2 points per power rank, so that's 19 points) He'll want to take the power feats: alternate power (twice, see below), precise, split attack, and subtle. (5 points) Although I admit, I don't understand why Alternative Power is a power feat. It seems to be a limitation on powers (no two can work at the same time) rather than an advantage that costs points. He should also take the Feedback modifier. Would this allow him to increase the power of the TK another rank (up to 9?).
That should only need 3 ranks (accurate, and ranged). For 3 points. --+-- He should be able to use telekinesis to stop blows. I tried to find something like force field, but I obviously wasn't looking in the right spot. The Deflect power seems a reasonable choice. 2 points per rank (all ranged attacks), 7 ranks, action (+1 rank). Cost: 16 points. --+--
Cost: 7 x 2 = 14 points. --+-- That's 57 points. He should have some equipment that allows him to use his military communications training, and he should have some contacts with his army unit. |