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Sidereal Signs of the New Year
Continuing the terrible holidays of Uncanny Justice…
Being a solo play with Abraham Cadavra, Honeybee, and Demiangel. The adventure is Ad Infinitum’s “The Sidereal Schemes of Dr. Zodiac”.
Chapter 1: Night at the Museum
Chapter 3: Our Fate in the Stars
Chapter 1: Night at the Museum
Honeybee looked at the door by the museum’s loading dock. “The door is ajar,” said Honeybee over the communicator.
“I thought it was a door,” said Demiangel.
“Hush,” said Abe.
“It’s New Year’s Eve,” added Demiangel. “I could be with a date.”
“We’re your date,” said Honeybee. “No sign of forced entry. Maybe it was picked.”
“The Guild files say the museum has a night watch. Any sign?” asked Abe.
“No offence, but being with you guys counts as work.”
“C’est la vie,” said Honeybee. “It’s part of your community service. Guard’s here, unconscious. Probably still in high school.”
“We’re coming in, then. We’ll stay by the watchman until you say so. Demiangel, remember the sprinklers in the PURITY base? No wings inside.”
The museum was dimly lit by emergency signs. She could see in the dark, so it was clear as day to her. She presumed the guard turned on the lights to check each room during rounds.
“Door was opened by magic; I can feel it,” said Abe. “Honeybee, there’s a panel here that shows a case opened in the Wing of Ancient Civilizations. Watch out.”
“Agh. I’m in the dinosaurs. Previous experience, don’t you know.” She changed course and found a dark-clad man in a balaclava bent over an open display case.
Lots of precious artifacts. Poke him with venom shot before he notices. Might be able to knock him out and resolve everything early. [1]
The burglar spun to face her and said, “I can’t see you, but you are too late! Fools! What happens now is written in the stars — a pity you will not have the opportunity to see it fulfilled.” His voice was deep but the words were slightly muffled by his mask.
“Okay, guys, I messed up. Threat on board,” said Honeybee.
“On our way!”
There was a sheet of red and green lights, like a transporter effect, and when it cleared, there were four…beings standing there. Two had animal heads—a ram and a goat—one was a crab with human legs, and the last was a blindfolded man in a toga or chiton or…something, she thought.
“I cannot see you, but they can deal with you.” [2]
The ram-headed one lifted his arm and a bolt of red light hit the area that Honeybee was in and flung her back, out of the room and against the corridor wall. She left a dent. [3]
“I can see you’ve engaged,” said Abe. “Demiangel, you’re up. I’ll take magic duty.” [4]
Demiangel made a gesture as if to summon a flaming spear and then he glanced at the fire sprinklers. The blindfolded one had moved right up so he was blocking the entrance. Demiangel swung a punch at him. [5] The man caught Demiangel’s fist in his right hand and a bolt of crimson energy flew out of his left hand and hit Demiangel. [6]
Honeybee was small enough to fit between the blindfolded man and the rest of the doorway, and she headed straight for the burglar, who had pulled out a breastplate and four gems in gold settings. [7]
Both of them saw her; she managed to avoid the crab-man’s claws but the goat-man did a spinning kick that managed to graze her. By the time she cleared his foot, the burglar was gone. The ram-headed one charged for the doorway, but did not fire because the only thing in his line of fire was the blindfolded one.
Abe felt the surge of energy building for the Teleport spell but he couldn’t block it in time. [8] Instead, he decided to cast a spell of neutralization. [9]
Demiangel took Abe’s word and punched [10] so that Abe could get in. He went to embrace the man, who twisted, so Demiangel couldn’t quite move him.
Abe cast the nullification spell. [11] Demiangel adjusted his grip [12] and squeezed. [13] He felt the blindfolded one struggling to get free. [14]
Still mindful of the precious artifacts and heirlooms, Honeybee decided to use her sting again. [15] She got in under the guard of the goat-headed one and hit him; he faded from view.
The crab-man tried to get her with his (its?) claws, [16] but missed.
Abe looked carefully at the ram-headed one and issued his neutralization spell again. [17] “Dodge Ram there is weakened. When you’re free.”
Demiangel squeezed once more, and the blindfolded one disappeared.
Honeybee looked at the two manifested beings still there and realized that the crab-thing was the only one in the mist of priceless artifacts. She [18] flew up its side and zapped it; the crab-thing faded away.
The ram-headed one fired at Demiangel and Abe, but his blast [19] only hit Abe and did nothing except crack the walls.
“Police!” came a woman’s voice behind them in the corridor. She and two uniformed officers were at the end of the corridor. Abe froze and put up his hands; Demiangel grabbed the ram-headed one. [20] Mindful of how they faded when knocked unconscious, he only held the ram-headed humanoid.
Abe said nothing. Experience with the police had led him to be cautious. Demiangel had the advantage of being white and bulletproof. “We’re the group Uncanny Justice,” said Demiangel. “We’re subbing in for Sentinel Society while they’re off-planet.”
“Riiiight. Let go of the…other guy.”
“He’ll attack,” said Demiangel.
“Do it!”
“Okay…” He let go, and as he had predicted, the next thing that ram-thing did was fire at them. His blast was not up to full strength, but it was not as weak as it had been. [21]
The police opened fire. All three shots hit, and the ram-headed figure faded from view.
“They fade away if you do enough damage. We found out fighting the others,” said Demiangel.
There was a momentary standoff. Honeybee decided not to appear while the police were holding guns. Abe’s mystic shields were impervious to anything less than a point-blank shotgun blast, but he also knew the difficulties of superhero-ing while black. He hoped for a break from the black detective but he didn’t count on it.
One of the uniforms said, “Apparently the Sentinel Society left a message. Dispatcher just found it. They’re legit.”
The cops holstered their pistols. Abe let down his shield as a show of good faith. “What do you have?”
“In a sec,” Abe said. “We have a third member who has been hard to see; she’s going to appear and I just wanted to warn you.”
Honeybee appeared beside Abe. “Hi. I’m Honeybee. That’s Demiangel and this’s Abraham Cadabra.”
“Detective Tiebolt.”
“No partner?”
“These two. It’s New Year’s Eve. We’re kinda busy.”
“Officer Ryan Jacques, ma’am,” said the uniformed officer who had said they were legit.
The other uniform was helping the watchman. “Officer Luis Delgado,” he said. “What’s your name?” he asked the watchman.
“Ricky Salvatore,” said the watchman. “I mean, Ricardo.”
Detective Tiebolt squatted next to him. “Ricky, can you tell me what happened?”
“I had just finished my rounds and there’s this guy in black, right there. And then everything goes dark.”
“And what did the intruder look like?”
“Six feet tall or so, medium build, balaclava. Gloves. What I could see under the balaclava was white.”
“So not these people.”
The kid checked out Demiangel (the only white male, but four inches too tall) and then said, “No, ma’am.”
“Can you find out what was taken?” she asked Ricky.
Honeybee said, “Breastplate, probably ceremonial, and four gems, each set in silver. Garnet, sapphire, opal, and a diamond. Donated by Mr. Congdon.” They looked at her. “What? I read the card on the display.”
“Display was wired, which we heard.” said Tiebolt.
“Us too. At the Society’s headquarters,” said Abe.
“Show us the cameras,” Jacques asked Ricky. Detective Tiebolt made a sound. “Sorry, Luce. You want to ask him?”
“I didn’t bust my ass for detective to let you ask the questions.”
“So ask sooner.” He smirked.
Delgado shook his head. Delgado was older than the other two.
Ricky said, “I can’t find anything.” He pointed to the screen labeled ANC CIV E. The screen showed only static.
“Magic,” said Abe. “He used magic to open the door, to block the cameras, and to escape.”
“And who was the motherf— uh, galoot you were fighting?” asked the detective.
“Also produced by magic,” said Honeybee.
“We don’t know that,” said Abe. “But it’s a good guess.”
“And you’re qualified to guess about magic?” she asked Abe.
“Yes,” he said. “Guardian against bad magic and ne’er-do-well.” He bowed with a flourish.
“Uh-huh.” She shook her head. “I like the others better.”
“C’est la vie,” he said, echoing Honeybee from earlier.
“There were four galoots,” said Demiangel. “The two I saw were a blindfolded guy and the ram-headed one.”
“And how do you know there were four if you could only see two?”
“We talk,” said Demiangel.
“Also she can see in the dark,” put in Abe. Tiebold glared at him and Abe smiled winningly.
“The other two were a crab with human legs and a goat-headed guy,” said Honeybee.
“Crab, goat, blind guy, and ram?” said Abe. “That’s Cancer, Capricorn, Libra, and Aries. Cardinal signs.” [22]
“And…?” asked Tiebolt.
“The cardinal signs are associated with the start of something. Traditionally each sign is associated with a stone: Garnet is Capricorn, diamond is Aries, ruby is Cancer, and opal is Libra. Presumably he got the stones and could summon avatars of the zodiac signs associated with the stones.”
“Of course,” said Jacques.
“There are twelve zodiac signs, which means eight more?” asked Tiebolt.
“At a guess.” Tiebolt sighed.
“Can he use them again or is each one a once-a-day thing?”
“No idea. Babylonian magic isn’t my specialty.”
Honeybee said, “Our burglar knew about this. Did Congdon know about this magical connection?”
Demiangel said, “Is it a fake-out? Like Congdon actually paid the burglar to steal from him. so he could collect the insurance money?”
“For the first, I dunno, and for the second, we’ll check his financials,” said Tiebolt. “But it’s just a theft and you guys kept property damage to a minimum. We’ll have CSIs here in the morning but we have other things to deal with. Besides, the show doesn’t start until day after tomorrow.”
“Any idea where Congdon is?” asked Demiangel.
“No idea,” said Tiebolt. “High society so he’s probably at or hosting a New Year’s party somewhere. Gives him plausible deniability in case Mr. Demiangel’s theory is true.”
Abe said, “He’s hosting a small exclusive New Year’s party on his yacht, the Bullshark .”
“And how do you know that?” asked Tiebolt. “Magic?”
He grinned. “Smartphone and a newspaper subscription. Just plugged ‘Congdon’ into the search engine.”
“Eww. Rich people,” said Honeybee.
Chapter 2: Troubled Waters
The Bullshark was in international waters, about two dozen miles off-shore. Honeybee could fly fast enough to reach it in a couple of minutes; Demiangel would take about fifteen minutes. They had [23] an enclosed lightweight ski lift gondola for carrying Abe. On the Bullshark , Abe got out of the gondola and Demiangel chained it to the hull and threw it over so it hung attached to the hull, above the water line.
There were maybe six guests on deck, who regarded them with a stoned equanimity. “Pupils the size of dinner plates,” said Honeybee.
“Well, that explains international waters,” said Abe.
“Only the nouveau riche need to worry about details like that; old money doesn’t care.”
“And you know this how?” asked Demiangel pleasantly.
“Dad was a good plumber, and I helped,” she said darkly. “In here.” The ship barely registered by cruise ship standards, but it was huge when Demiangel compared it to the sailboat they’d used that one year he was at camp. Honeybee was already shrunk and Abe took the opportunity to throw up his mystic shields. Behind the door was a wood-paneled ballroom with tables around the edges. A band played to the left, and staff moved among them with platters of refreshments. By the band was a wastebasket full of money and cheques. Four figures were keeping people at the edges of the room: A humanoid made of water, a bull-like one, a lion-like one, and a walking scorpion. Aquarius, Taurus, Leo, and Scorpio, Demiangel figured.
But what got their attention was the struggle on the dance floor. People were clapping for the rare good hit, as if it were part of the entertainment. Abe recognized one man as Congdon; the other was dressed in black and wearing a balaclava.
“Honeybee, take the water boy. He controls water and we’re on an ocean! Demiangel, the bull or the lion. Scorpion will be poisonous!”
Honeybee flew directly at the watery humanoid, [24] slapped him with venom and he fell apart instantly. Sound travels better in water , she thought.
Abe ran directly for the two struggling figures, which caused the lion to roar right at Abe, [25] who was deafened by the sound but kept going to slam into the burglar [26] and bore him through the swinging doors into the kitchen, [27] where they both lay on the floor.
Back in the ballroom, Demiangel slugged the bull-man — minotaur? But did not connect as solidly as he wanted because the bull-man was already charging into the kitchen to protect the burglar. In the kitchen, he—it?--picked up Abe, and threw him back into the ballroom. [28] “Keep them occupied,” the burglar ordered the bull-man. “I’ll get something else to keep them busy, since Aquarius is gone.”
The scorpion thing scuttled over to Demiangel and its tail lashed out [29] and hit a table, spraying poison to the wall. One of the party guests stuck a finger in a droplet of poison and tasted it. “Yum,” he said before falling unconscious.
There was a general drift of drunk party goers to taste the poison.
Honeybee managed to hit the scorpion-thing, and it faded out.
Abe crawled to his feet and saw the bull heading for him; he glanced behind him and saw partygoers. Can’t dodge out of the way or they’ll get hurt. This might hurt.
Demiangel leapt in front of him and punched the bull thing, stopping it in its tracks. [30] It faded from view.
The lion-man leapt at Abe, who was just beginning to get his hearing back, and slashed at him with its paws. [31] His mystic shields absorbed the blow.
Honeybee made him vanish. Demiangel charged into the kitchen. “He’s gone!”
“Well, that’s not a surprise,” said Abe.
“Yeah, but that is.” Honeybee grew into sight and pointed out the window.
A wall of water was headed for the boat. [32]
Abe calculated quickly. The tsunami was less than a minute out; too many people to carry them out. Magic was the only answer, but this was a big boat.
“Get everyone into this room,” he ordered. “Everyone has to be together. You have…maybe thirty seconds to do that. People, I need a space by that handrail. Everybody link hands. This works better if people are touching,” he said. If it works at all.
He was going to have to push for this; he’d never tried something this large. On the other hand, it would really impress them if it worked. [33] “Here goes.” He began reciting the spell. There were screams from the passengers as the water approached, and someone was praying.
His hands glowed with blue fire as he touched the railing…
And the boat was teleported to the other side of the wall of water.
Abe collapsed with fatigue. [34]
Chapter 3: Our Fate in the Stars
Abe woke in the gondola, shivering despite the woolen blanket wrapped around him.
“My mouth tastes terrible. What did I miss?”
Demiangel said, “Dogs and cats living together and mass hysteria.”
“You…have been watching old movies. Lauren?”
Honeybee said, “Congdon claimed he recognized the burglar, a Lemuel Zodius. Former employee at the Robinson Island Observatory.”
“You believe him?”
“The little bit we found about Zodius says astrological kook. I phoned Tiebolt and she got them to check a couple of things. MyFace page had a rant about the zodiac gems and claimed that you could achieve apotheosis at midnight at the dawn of a new year.”
“Tonight, in other words.”
“Tiebolt seemed annoyed that you hadn’t figured it out. Being the magic guy and all.”
“Was busy saving a boat,” Abe replied, mildly miffed.
“Told her that. You gonna ask her out?”
“Don’t think she’s very impressed with me. What are we doing?”
“The guy who fired him is working the observatory tonight, and the ritual needs a human sacrifice.”
“Two birds, one stone?”
“That’s what we’re guessing.”
Demiangel said, “And Congdon just happens to sponsor the observatory. I think he’s up to something.”
“It’s the gems that puzzle me,” said Abe. “I know about zodiac coins but I’ve never heard of the gems.”
“Also, Delgado is married, Jacques is bi, freshly divorced and a temporary horndog, and Tiebolt is single and not seeing anyone.”
“I hate it when you try to set me up.”
“You didn’t respond to the woman on Hallowe’en. Gotta keep trying.” [35]
Abe saw the flaming arrow arching up from the island. He reached out with his mind and tried to snuff the arrow; he made it weaker but he couldn’t put it out entirely. It hit Demiangel and did no harm.
“Lauren, I make you a target. Set me down on the island; I see the observatory and I’ll get there. You guys deal with Zodius and his hostage. If we’ve only got until midnight, time is of the essence.”
“No, he’s magic and we’ll need you. I’ll pass the gondola to Bill, though.”
“Leave us! Scout the way.”
“That I’m willing to do.” She let Demiangel take the gondola and she shrank down.
Abe knew he wasn’t at full strength but if they hit the gondola, he was going to be worse off. He made the hand gesture that put up the mystic shields [36] and looked around for the next flaming arrow.
Demiangel swooped down low to the water, hoping to be less of a target with the giant flaming wings. The next arrow arched down from above. [37] He managed to avoid it easily…in time for ten tons of killer whale to breach the surface, snapping at him. [38]
“Crap! Dropped the gondola!”
Abe saw the water coming up quickly. He braced himself inside the gondola: even though they had been low, it was going to be rough hitting the water at almost two hundred miles an hour. The gondola hit the waves and then skipped, from wave to wave until it was in the shallows. The gondola sank and then split open.
It might have been the shallows compared to the deeper water, but it was still over Abe’s head, and the salt water was cold . His shields didn’t keep water out unless it was an attack, and he knew he had only a few minutes at that temperature. He ducked under to leave the gondola and couldn’t move. Something was holding him back.
He opened his eyes in the salt water and found a pair of fish eyes staring back at him. The fish eyes were in a humanoid face.
Pisces. Of course, he thought . And he was being held in place by a school of fish. Presumably they were holding him in place until the shark or killer whale or barracuda got to him.
He couldn’t talk underwater, so that eliminated a lot of magic, but not all. A slight tweak to the shields, though, that he could do. [39]
Demiangel dodged the killer whale again and tried to follow the gondola on its course. Yes, the flaming arrows were still coming down but his uncle had been a sailor, and he had heard tales about how long a man could last in that water. If only he could see in the dark, like Honeybee could! [40] “I’ve dropped the gondola, it’s under the water and I can’t find it!”
“On my way,” Honeybee said, but then a wave of pain lanced through her head.
“Don’t like my mental blast? I couldn’t use it until I knew where you were,” said the woman. [41]
“And I can’t hit you until I know where you are.” [42] Honeybee flew straight at the woman, hit her with a venom sound, and the woman faded. “Ow. Sorry for the delay,” she said into the communicator. “One down.”
A huge shark battered the gondola; it wouldn’t survive much of this assault. Abe ran through the limited number of spells he could perform, and came up with one that would probably hurt him too, but it would take out the shark and Pisces. He carefully traced the gestures with his left hand only. [43]
Demiangel scanned the waters. He avoided another flaming arrow but saw nothing, even when the arrow sank into the water.
Honeybee zoomed out. “He’s over there! Oh. God. Big shark. And another person.”
The shark hit again and broke apart the gondola, leaving Abe with a fuzzy blanket in his right hand.
Abe let go of the fuzzy blanket and once it was below him, touched it with his left hand. [44]
The light was blinding and suddenly Abe was flying up. The air remaining in his lungs was punched out of him despite the magic shield.
A section of ocean suddenly became bright and there was a geyser. “What sign are explosions?” asked Demiangel.
“The sign of Abe,” said Honeybee, moving so Demiangel shielded her. She knew the sound was coming, and it did… [45] Demiangel flew through it to catch Abe.
Abe said, [46] “Don’t try to tell me anything; I’m deaf from the explosion. We’ve got to learn ASL or something.”
“Observatory,” said Honeybee. “The top is open. You make a fiery entrance. We’ll keep him busy and Abe can do magic stuff.”
“It’s a plan. You figure out some way to explain it to him.”
They dropped Abe off outside the observatory and he looked at them. “Oh. You distract, I magic. Got it. Good luck.” Hope it doesn’t call for hearing. [47]
As Honeybee and Demiangel dropped into the observatory, Dr. Zodiac was saying, “Now you see my apotheosis, Oscar!” The twelve gems rose from their places on the twelve-pointed star he had inscribed on the floor; a blast of light hit him and blew away his clothes, revealing the breastplate he had stolen from the museum. The stones settled into the breastplate and he was transformed. “The power of the sidereal signs is mine! Bow down before your new master….Dr. Zodiac!” [48]
Honeybee headed straight for him, hoping he didn’t see her. She didn’t try for the venom this time, using her sonic blast instead. [49] He caught it on his left hand and his right hand glowed, sending the sonic blast straight back at her. [50] The blast knocked her back behind Demiangel.
“Are you married to that name? I’m sure we could come up with something better, like Dr. Punching Bag.” Demiangel threw a javelin of flame at the villain, [51] who easily sidestepped it.
Abe looked down at the circle of enchantment and noticed there was no binding element. It could still be undone. He tried to remember Babylonian magical rituals. [52]
“I was intending to make Oscar here the blood sacrifice to solidify my ascension— But you’ll do!” Dr. Zodiac pushed both hands outward and the same energy blast they had seen from the Aries creature came from his hands. [53] It rammed into Demiangel and caught Honeybee, nearly knocking her unconscious, even though she had been behind Demiangel.
Honeybee shook her head [54] and flew away from Demiangel so that the energy ram couldn’t hit them both. Her powers were useless against the villain but she could at least harry him. The cape…she went for the cape. [55] She grabbed it and pulled it forward, over his head, blinding him.
Demiangel took the opportunity to punch him. [56] Dr. Zodiac got his left hand up but didn’t quite manage to stop Demiangel’s punch.
Abe knew how to fix it but he needed to be in that ritual circle. [57] There wasn’t much time left before midnight, so he hastened himself.
Dr. Zodiac wheezed and said, “You fools! You can barely manage to touch one of me; how will you succeed against two? I have the powers of Gemini!” Dr. Zodiac split into two individuals. [58]
Honeybee thought, Have to avoid the left hand . She flew in for a venom attack [59] and managed to avoid the left hand. Her attack seemed to have no effect.
Demiangel couldn’t try punching again — the reflected energy of the attacks was just too much — but he could try grabbing the villain. [60]
Abe got to the center of the circle easily, stepping carefully to avoid smearing the marks, and picking up the tools along the way. His hearing cleared at the higher speed. He spent a moment making sure the candles were all lit. He couldn’t remember any reason that he couldn’t do the ritual at his temporarily higher speed.
“No!” cried Demiangel’s Dr. Zodiac. He wriggled in Demiangel’s grip.
“Teleport free!” said the other one.
“I can’t! I have only some of the powers!”
“Then clearly you are not the original Dr. Zodiac!”
Honeybee thought, Abe needs time … I’ll modify my venom to produce a kind of vertigo… [61]
That Doctor Zodiac managed to teleport into the circle. Abe took the opportunity to punch him while he was stunned. [62] Abe’s punch knocked him to the ground and then Abe said the final words of the incantation:
“— Tammuz!”
The two selves were forcibly pulled back together. He convulsed, and the Zodiac gems exploded from his breastplate in a shower of multicolored light. Dr. Zodiac started to stand, as a final act of defiance, and then crumpled to the ground, unconscious.
“Let’s see the Sentinel Society do that!” said Demiangel.
Abe rubbed his hand. “Talking Assyrian always makes my throat hurt.”
Chapter 4: Conclusion
Detective Tiebolt got the police out there because the island was inside the limit. The next afternoon, she showed up at the Sentinel Society’s headquarters, a low two-story building that had originally been intended to be a mall. Abe was wearing coveralls. “Detective Tiebolt! Just fixed a sink.”
“You fixed the sink? Why not use magic?”
“No, I just held things for Lauren. She knows far more about plumbing. As for magic… Building gets hit by an anti-magic spell, sink starts to leak again. Who wants that when you’re busy with a possible attack?”
“Any problems with giving the gems back to Congdon? He’s the legal owner.”
“I think they’re magically inert now. I asked Hexenwight to take a look at them and she couldn’t bring forth avatars. It’s possible that they’re attuned to Zodius now but I doubt it; there’s no magical resonance at all.”
“Hexenwight? Your…friend? Colleague?”
“Colleague. Been dead for a long time so she mostly does consulting.”
“I’ll leave that out of the report.” She passed over an envelope. “Here are the financials that Demiangel was asking about.”
“Thanks.”
“I thought I’d drop it off after work. Which is now.”
“Can I interest you in a drink and conversation?”
“Here?”
“The Sentinel Society keeps a fully stocked bar.” He offered his arm.
“I did not know that,” she said. “What else you can teach me?”
Game Mechanics
[1] 6+2 > 3, so she hits. The affliction roll is 6-1 > 3 this time. Zodiac has 11 stamina, though, so 5 left.
[2] Zodiac uses a Recovery to quell the Affliction, which means that Honeybee gets a Determination Point.
[3] She takes all 7 points of Stamina but there’s no Slam result.
[4] Best do Initiatives: Abe 12 Demiangel 8 Honeybee 6 Cardinal Signs 6
[5] Oh, he’ll probably hit. 6-1>4.
[6] Reflection of 8 versus 8; Demiangel takes 4 Stamina.
[7] She uses that new determination point for a recovery (activating “There is No One Like Me”) and gets 5 Stamina back. Libra and Aries have gone; Cancer and Capricorn fail their Awareness tests but they’re going to see her anyway, so she gets a determination point as they attack her. Cancer snaps at her 4+4 < 6+1+2; Capricorn gets a marginal hit for 3 stamina.
[8] Well, we don’t actually want him to because of Plot, and the way it works, if you can avoid being hit, magic nearly always works to get you away. In this particular case, teleporting to outside the museum is sufficient. He doesn’t even suffer Teleport shock.
[9] Makes the Spellcasting roll: 5+2+2 > 5
[10] Prowess 6+0 > 4; moderate success, so partial hold; attacks against him are +2.
[11] Coordination 5+2+2 > 4; the Reflection is reduced to 3.
[12] Prowess 6+0 > 4; moderate success, so upgraded to complete hold
[13] He does 8 damage, but 3 is reflected and has no effect vs Demiangel’s Damage Resistance.
[14] Libra does Strength 3-3 < 8, so not free.
[15] 6+5>4, and 6+0>3. Success & success.
[16] 4+2 < 6+2+1
[17] He’s spending a Determination Point and activating “Child of Magic” for +2. 5+3+2 > 4. Aries now has explosive blast 2.
[18] To hit: 6+2+2 > 4. Affliction test: 6-1 > 3
[19] 4+0 < 6, 4+0 > 3…hits Abe, but his force field absorbs it.
[20] 6+1 > 4, so he’s got the ram.
[21] We’ll say it’s been two panels. The attack is 4+0; it misses Demiangel but hits Abe (who’s being motionless) the police with level 4. This has no effect on Abe because of his shield, but the police…
[22] That’s 5+0>4. He knows.
[23] Well, they retconned it. But it makes sense that they’d have such a thing. Abe thought of it (Maneuver: Intellect 5 +1 for Leadership +2 > 5) so there it is. And she’s STR 5, so she can do it.
[24] She hits: 6+5> 4, and Afflicts: 12>3
[25] He hits, with 4+2 > 5; Abe
[26] Maybe: 3+2 > 3, so 4 stamina damage, succeeds at the push (4+1>3) and retcons it to another door: the kitchen. (He activates Child Of Magic, spends a dp)
[27] Initiatives: Honeybee 12, Abe 11, Demiangel 11, Avatars 10, Zodius 6, Bystanders 4
[28] And he takes 2 Stamina from that: 7 - his shield.
[29] 4-2<6, so it misses.
[30] 6+0>4, so that’s another 8 Stamina. That makes 16, and the bull thing falls unconscious.
[31] It hits, with 4+0>3.
[32] The GM, who is a slave to the text of the adventure, will give a Determination Point to the person who saves the boat.
[33] He’s spending one of the two determination points he has to push his Magic, so it’s Magic 6; he’ll activate “Child of Magic” for that. Then the other determination point is so he doesn’t have to roll for whether the spell works, and he’ll activate “Addicted to Applause” for that. Effect: Teleport 4 Extra Burst (as in contagious: everything touching the boat), and he’ll add the limit Tiring.
[34] Hey, Tiring. But he gets a determination point.
[35] He’s not busy so he notices the flaming arrows: 3+5>3 They’re strength 7 and his Flame Control is only 5
[36] Initiatives: Abe 11, Demiangel 10, Honeybee 8, Avatars 6, Dr. Zodiac 5
[37] We’ll say he’s being defensive but the gondola evens it out. Sagittarius gets 3<6.
[38] Orca attack: 4+2 for surprise+0 < 6. Let’s offer some Trouble too: he drops the gondola into the water.
[39] Aura, but the damage is defined as acid…and he’s got lots of water around him, so that makes the area unpleasant. 5+2-1>5. Next page the acid starts.
[40] Killer whale missed by a lot: 4-4 < 7
[41] Virgo stunts Mental Blast, so Honeybee gets a Determination Point. She gets another because I gave Virgo +2 to that attack so it would manage to be a marginal success: 3+2 = 5.
[42] Prowess, 6-3+2 > 4. Affliction is 6+1>3.
[43] 5+2+5>5+7. Start of next turn, he can do transmutation with his left hand.
[44] He turns it into sodium. The boom is going to be substantial. Let’s say it’s burst radius, and 7 damage, which is not his power level, but I lived with stories of chem teachers and that old sodium they had to get rid of.
[45] He spends a determination point to make sure he catches Abe.
[46] Rather than make that a power, I’m offering it as Trouble: Abe is deafened until the end of the chapter. If he wants to fix it, he can just pay the determination back and Recover..
[47] Initiatives again: Honeybee 11, Demiangel 7, Abe 6, Dr. Zodiac 5, Dr. Lyton 4
[48] Does he notice Honeybee? 5+6 > 3+2; of course he does.
[49] Coordination 5+2 > 4, but his Reflection is 8+1 > 6. Hits automatically. Fortunately she used an advantage to recover as they were heading here. There’s slam; we’ll say she gets knocked back in the air and moves to be behind Demiangel.
[50] Gonna be a fight. She’d better activate “There is no one like me” to recover 5.
[51] Coordination 6-3 < 4.
[52] He needs a massive success for a pyramid test, and his intellect and occult knowledge only add to 7, so he needs to add to it for a massive success. He’s going to activate Child of magic for +2. 5+2+2+4 > 8, and that is a massive success. That…is very lucky. But we’ll take it.
[53] 4+4>7 hits Demiangel, 4+4>6 hits Honeybee; 7-5+2<5 for slam.
[54] And recovered again. “There’s no one like me.”
[55] Maneuver, Prowess based, pulling cape over head. We’ll call it a Dazzle. 6+2>3+2 (it’s a grab, for the Advantage, activating “Never too late”). Rules say Coordination but this is clearly Prowess: Moderate success, one panel blinding.
[56] Lucky he’s blinded. 6-4+2>3. Reflection is 8+2-2=8, so each gets Stamina 4, which bounces for both, because Dr. Z has damage resistance of Cancer…
[57] The GM is offering Determination, saying here’s the trouble: You have to take a page and be in the circle. Abe’s player agrees, but immediately spends on Determination, activating “Addicted to Applause” for a recovery and gets his hearing back. He then makes an Occult roll for a Superspeed power, because he needs to do this fast. His magic roll is 5+2+2 > 5. He has Superspeed 5.
[58] Random roll: Honeybee vs #1; Demiangel vs #2.
[59] 6+3 (dice) -2 (avoiding hand) > 3. She manages, but he’s the strong one: Affliction 6<7, moderate failure. Try again next time.
[60] 6+3 > 3; that’s a solid grab.
[61] With the aim of causing Trouble (lost panel by failing the Teleport check), Honeybee is going to offer her version of Dr. Zodiac additional sound waves: 6+2-2+2 > 3; the affliction test is marginal, so this Dr. Zodiac takes 3 stamina; and the teleport shock test is an automatic failure.
[62] 3+3>3, and a lam effect, and he gets a major slam,
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