Professor Wynde issue #2 - Well, actually it's #1 with the LORE KNIGHTS and WONDERMAN!

Waking up in a bed with crisp white sheets having had a warm bath with clean clothes and good food in his belly should have given him a good feeling...

Instead Oliver Smith opened his eyes to a peek of sunlight shining through the thick heavy drapes and wondered what the heck he'd let himself into.

With a groan the last days exertions made their reminding nag. He wasn't old and he WAS superhuman, but that meant he faced superhuman challenges and got superhuman style bruises. He'd done ok. He expected his friend FRED CARSON otherwise known as WONDERMAN to be suffering somewhat more. The cannon that had flattened him would have killed Prof Wynde outright, no doubt. It had one shotted Wonderman and given him pause, knocked his confidence. He'd bounced back of course, because he was a hero, but the world had changed - a lot - since the few short months he'd been given his powers by that Yogi in Tibet.

Change... like it had for Owain Thomas (SNAGA the SENDER), Katheryn DeVeere (FAERIE), Alexandra Davington (BOUDICEA), Marcus Hammill (SWASHBUCKLER) and Robbie Johnson (MAJOR OAK). Robbie, the teenager from the 21st century transplanted back in time to 1940 war torn Britain. He'd been killed by Baron Blitzkrieg.. Oliver had seen it with his own eyes. The Earl of CaerAlwyn, Gerald StJohn had pretty much sacrificed what was the rest of his life to resurrect the boy and repel the Nazis.

Not just the Nazis. ADVENT had a hand in this. The Alien power that seemed on the outside to be beneficial and mankinds friend were more nefarious, powerful and far reaching than mankind could ever know! Their arrival to rescue the world from giant monsters that had smashed through Police, Army, Superheroes AND villains... It had seemed like a miracle.

Strange how it had occurred when most of the Ultrahumans, the most powerful super group on Earth, had been away in deep space.

With a sigh he he turned as a knock sounded at the door. The Mansion had repaired itself, magically, overnight. Prof Wynde had tried to watch it, tried to keep up but it had grown up from the floor and sprouted up from the ruins. The staff had faded back into existence like ghosts and cleaned up like nothing had happened. The Villagers were completely unaware, the magic having protected them.

"Sir?" asked Lucy the maid. Ghost maid probably. "Breakfast is served."

=========

"What's the plan for today?" asked Fred Carson.

He sat at the table in a silk dressing gown and pyjamas tucking into toast and an English Fry Up. He still bore a couple of bruises but they were already fading and would be gone in an hour or less.

"Despite yesterday's battering I feel chipper and ready to go! AND..." he said... "I got a new costume! Same as my old one, just not a mess and trashed and ripped up. The others aren't up yet. Well, the kid is actually. He spent the night in the garden. Like, as a tree. An actual tree."

Fred shrugged. "What do we do for money, for clothes, papers, whatever? I'm thinking.. you know, we should sign up for the army. We have to find the Earls Grandson before the AXIS get to him, get him back here. I asked. Reginald Bonaparte Charlemagne StJohn. Bit of a mouthful. Gonna be tricky to find him in France, that's for sure. Toast? Tea? Try the crumpets."

"We need more information on the new Earl," Prof Wynde replies, wearing his mask.  Just because everyone around the manor was either a ghost or another hero, didn't mean he wanted people getting used to seeing his face or know his real name.  That might mess up the timeline something fierce.  Wonderman had it easier, he was part of the timeline ... mostly.  "We got his name, now we need a face, a rank, his unit, his age and anything else we can think of."

"France and Britain lose Europe, the British Expeditionary Force gets surrounded at Dunkirk, along with what's left of various allied units.  Since this is the 11th, I think we have about two weeks before it occurs.  The retreat lasts 10 days or so.  By June 7th, it was over, if not sooner than that."

"Let's see if the others have any type of government contacts that may help us find the new Earl and get him back.  Even if he is supposed to be at Dunkirk, which is in northern France by the way, we are talking about trying to find him among something like a quarter of a million men."

He spread on the marmalade on his toast and took a bite, discovering he was quite famished and soon dug in.

"I don't," he mumbles through the food he is eating, "have an identity card so trying to join the Army or the Navy is out of the question.  You are an American, while they may take you as a volunteer, you don't have time to go through basic training.  You have a driver's license or something that proves your identity?"

He sips his tea and thinks a bit.

"They are a rough and tumble lot, I wonder if any of them know of or have forgeries skills of their own?  I could use a good set of identity papers.  More so now that the War is on and the Home Guard is really gearing up.  A man with no papers is really suspect around here.  Going to need a passport for you too.  Too hard to explain how an American got to England without one."

"If Reggie is the newest Lore Knight, maybe he will have a magical aura about him.  If so, flying around Dunkirk and trying to sense it while dodging Allied and German planes trying to blast me out of the sky may be our best choice."

"We will just have to ask them when they join us," he finishes up.

OOC t'was the 11th May yesterday. Even Superheroes need to sleep! It has been a busy last couple of days according to Wikipedia...

MAY 1940:
1: Allies begin evacuating Norwegian ports; the efforts will continue until June.
5: Norwegian government in exile established in London.[2]
8: Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain barely survives Norway Debate vote in the House of Commons.
9: Conscription in Britain extended to age 36.
10: Germany invades Belgium, France, Luxembourg and the Netherlands; Winston Churchill becomes Prime Minister of the United Kingdom upon the resignation of Neville Chamberlain. The United Kingdom invades Iceland.
Belgium declares a state of emergency. Churchill is called on to form a wartime coalition government.[2]
The massive German offensive against the Western front: The invasion of Luxembourg, Belgium, the Netherlands, and France begins. In a bold stroke, German paratroops capture the Belgian fort Eben Emael.
10: The Battle for The Hague becomes the first failed paratrooper attack in history as the Dutch quickly defeat the invaders.
11: Luxembourg is occupied.
Churchill offers the former Kaiser Wilhelm II, who is now living in the Netherlands, asylum in the United Kingdom; he declines.
12 (TODAY): The Belgians blow up all the bridges over the Meuse River to halt the German advance.
12 (TODAY): Battle of Hannut begins in Belgium.

Fred chuckles at Olivers apparent paranoia. "Nobody knows you here! You don't even exist! That said you could easily pass as your own great grandfather or just grab a new name, dye your hair whatever. Heck, change you costume and your superhero name if you don't want to be in the history books."

OOC Wondermans responses to Prof Wyndes concerns...

"We need more information on the new Earl," Prof Wynde replies, wearing his mask.  "We got his name, now we need a face, a rank, his unit, his age and anything else we can think of."

"Hmm true." remarked Fred. "There must be some way of contacting ... I dunno, some central office or other to get details of his regiment. I mean, how many British Superheroes are there around at this time? I never heard of any but to be honest when I started there were only a few of us. Now look! We have a whole bunch of em!"

"France and Britain lose Europe, the British Expeditionary Force gets surrounded at Dunkirk, along with what's left of various allied units.  Since this is the 12th (edited), I think we have about two weeks before it occurs.  The retreat lasts 10 days or so.  By June 7th, it was over, if not sooner than that."

This gave Wonderman pause. "What the... wow. I mean, I know we went back in time and I woke up in the future but you saying that stuff like it happened and we're waiting for it to happen in the present day is just... Maybe we can do something? I dunno. Change history? For the better?"

"Let's see if the others have any type of government contacts that may help us find the new Earl and get him back.  Even if he is supposed to be at Dunkirk, which is in northern France by the way, we are talking about trying to find him among something like a quarter of a million men."

"Only ones I think out of the group that might know the right people are Alexandra (Boudicea) or Marcus (Swashbuckler) but he's a 'posh city boy' and she's a daddys girl, though a real handful at that! Owain (Snaga) wouldn't mix in those circles and Katheryn (Faerie) wouldn't..." his voice trails off with a sigh. "Strange how you think you fall for a dame then you get tossed into suspended animation for eighty years or so and go back in time a few months and you've forgotten all about the girl you thought you'd fallen for. Brenda. Or Nora, I forget." he sighed.

"I don't," he mumbles through the food he is eating, "have an identity card so trying to join the Army or the Navy is out of the question.  You are an American, while they may take you as a volunteer, you don't have time to go through basic training.  You have a driver's license or something that proves your identity?"

"Hey my civvies are at my home in the Good Ol' US of A. I'm a heck of a swimmer but even for me it's a stretch to think I could get across the pond in any time to help with the war. I mean, let's face it, with us on the Allied side, we're bound to end it in months!" he chuckles.

"Unless they have some more of those robots." he frowned.

"They are a rough and tumble lot, I wonder if any of them know of or have forgeries skills of their own?  I could use a good set of identity papers.  More so now that the War is on and the Home Guard is really gearing up.  A man with no papers is really suspect around here.  Going to need a passport for you too.  Too hard to explain how an American got to England without one."

"If Reggie is the newest Lore Knight, maybe he will have a magical aura about him.  If so, flying around Dunkirk and trying to sense it while dodging Allied and German planes trying to blast me out of the sky may be our best choice."

"We will just have to ask them when they join us," he finishes up.

"Ask us what?" yawned Alexandra Davington as she wandered in, loose dressing gown causing both men to gape until she slumped at the table with her head on it. "Are superheroes supposed to have hangovers? I had a 'night cap' last night and we cleared out the Earls' cabinet in one of his rooms. I'm hoping I have a super power to clear my head..."

"We need to get ID papers, new identities, so that we can go unnoticed." said Fred, awkwardly looking anywhere except the hung over heroine.

"Huh. Well that accent will have to go. I suppose we could train you on that but an Actor would be the best bet. Papers? I know a thing or two about those..." she mumbled. "On more than one occasion I've had to pass off as someone else. I had a devil of a time colouring my red hair though. Quite enjoyed my time as a blonde but no one took me seriously."

Owain wandered in, puffing and blowing. "Achh lassie I'm amazed you're alive, never mind up! Ne'er have I seen a lady down so much liquor and still enjoy herself! Marcus was slumped on the settee snoring his head off."

"Well he's a light weight and I still haven't forgiven him for yesterday. He was practically useless." said Alexandra raising her head and squinting at the sun beaming through the windows. "This place is astounding! Repaired itself overnight!"

Katheryn appeared, fully dressed unlike the others and looking very much the librarian that she was. With a polite 'hello' to everyone she sat down and poured tea. Fred glanced at her and seemed to have lost use of his tongue.

Alexandra continued. "On the subject of identities and whatnot I suggest we have a trip to London. All of us have families and loved ones to protect from the people who attacked this place yesterday. We need to be careful about who knows who we are. I trust everyone in this room and those two not here but... it's clear the Axis have agents operating in this country. There must be some way of helping the war effort. Yes, I think a trip to Whitehall would be the best bet."

Fred turned to Prof Wynde. "You said we've got some time yet, didn't you? How about it?"

ooc:  Wasn't positive as to the day but when you said Churchill became Prime Minister on the 10th, I took that as the day we met and fought, so said we are on the 11th, the next day.  But no biggie it still works out fine.

Alexandra continued. "On the subject of identities and whatnot I suggest we have a trip to London. All of us have families and loved ones to protect from the people who attacked this place yesterday. We need to be careful about who knows who we are. I trust everyone in this room and those two not here but... it's clear the Axis have agents operating in this country. There must be some way of helping the war effort. Yes, I think a trip to Whitehall would be the best bet."

Fred turned to Prof Wynde. "You said we've got some time yet, didn't you? How about it?"


"Let's get everyone in here and go over Superhero 101, or How to Survive and Keep your Family Safe, and other important facts of secret identities and superheroing in general," Prof. Wynde.

While he waits for everyone to gather and grab a bite to eat, Prof. Wynde activates his Magic Sense to see if any of the Lore Knights have a mystical aura about them.  If they do, it will help him find the new Earl.  If not, then that plan goes out with the wash.

"Monkey see!  Monkey do!  Let my little eyes tell me about You," he casts as he activates his Magical Sense.

[I imagine that Fred's magic ring will will "glow" for him and any other mystical object in the room or on their persons, like the amulet Wynde is wearing, but I have no idea if any of them will "glow" because they are magical heroes.  Would Prof. glow too because he knows magic?  Horrid thought, there would be no real secret ID for magic users in this universe if that happened.]

After they have gotten some food into them, he has everyone go down into the magical meeting room of the Lore Knights, having them change into their new superhero IDs by the time they get down there.

{There might be some kind of ritual that they would do before seating themselves in their designated chairs, I would imagine, so we go through that too.}

"Right, let's get on with it.  First, Major Oak and I are from the early 21st Century.  Wonderman sort of is and isn't.  He is actually from about a year or so in your past, volunteered to get himself turned into stone, got "unstoned" by me in the early 21st Century and while fighting a magical cult, trying to rescue the boy who becomes Major Oak, and a dragon from Hell with me, we three somehow got transported back into the past, but still Wonderman's future."

He sips his coffee, he brought a pot down with him, while he lets that sink in and their chatter dies down.

"Welcome to time travel, folks.  It's gonna get weirder as we move along."

"You may notice that I am calling them by their heroic names instead of their "regular" names.  By the way, very quickly the newspapers and radio and after that, regular folks are going to call you either costumed crime-fighters, costumed heroes and eventually superheroes.  Wonderman's case and the case of others who wore costumes up to now in America, usually called costumed vigilantes since they operated outside the law to bring folks to justice.  Just like they had in their American West the previous century.  Vigilantes, Vigilante Justice."  

"And that's pretty much what we do, operate outside the law to bring folks to justice.  Which means the Law is going to spend as much time trying to arrest us as they are the crooks we catch.  As the war goes on and the public sentiment shifts to we costumed folks as morale builders, then the government starts relaxing their stance on us and we start to be able to cooperate with them publicly.  We may get the rare bobby or detective to side with us before then but rare as I said."

"So no popping down to Number 10 Downing St and saying "Hi, we are the Lore Knights and our organization has been protecting the Land for centuries, we are here to help fight the war and take down super-criminals the police can't handle."  News folks will go back and forth calling them costumed criminals, super-criminals, and supervillains.  Since most of them will have powers by the 21st Century, supervillain usually wins as the descriptor of them and superheroes for us."

He sips some more coffee knowing it will be in short supply very very soon.

"Sorry if I seem to bounce around on topics but do keep up.  So, in the future, there are lots of folks with powers of one type or another.  That includes mind readers.  So unless you have very powerful mental defenses, which I don't by the way just decent, those mind readers will learn everything about you, including any family you may have.  One of the best defenses we may have against that kind of thing is to become somewhat of a split personality.  Think of yourself as "John Smith" when not in costume and as "Superguy" when in costume and address each other the same way.  When out of costume, "Superguy" is just someone you know about.  Don't take the mask off when in costume, don't use personal names in costume and when thinking of each other in heroic form, think of them as in their costume and heroic name, not the regular clothes and face and name that they have out of costume.  Which is why I am not taking my mask off around here.  When I go into the village, I become my "other person".  Like I said, develop a split personalty without going totally psycho doing it."

"No talking about family members or girlfriends or boyfriends," nodding to the two ladies at that, "who are not "super" when in costume and vice versa.  A mentalist gets a name and a face, you can guarantee that you are asking to be blackmailed into committing crimes and more crimes and even more crimes.  It has happened or will happen in your case in the future."

"The government.  Good people in government.  Bad people in government.  Paper trails in government, even if marked Top Secret.  Spies for other countries in government.  That becomes a huge scandal a couple or three times in your future, especially when they happen to be high ranking members in the Intelligence branch.  So, don't go giving secret ID information to ANYONE in government.  So don't go giving secret ID information to anyone period.  That becomes a problem if you marry while still active as a superhero; it's a battle, do I tell my spouse who I am and why I keep disappearing for hours on end or do I let them think I'm having an affair or keep trying to come up with other excuses for why I wasn't there for Johnny's recital?  Of course, if your spouse also happens to be a super, that makes things a bit easier.  Divorces happen.  Folks try to hurt each other when they get divorced.  Which means your heroic ID could come out in court as your soon to be ex-spouse wants custody of your kids because you would be a danger to them and wants to make sure you do not get any kind of visitation rights."


ooc:  Going to continue this in a few hours, got to get back to bed for another hour or so of sleep then off to work where I can pick this back up.  But if you want to inject what I have done so far, that's fine too.

"People, as you can see, there are reasons we wears masks and not just because it is ... um ... hep?  Is that a word yet?  Hip and Cool and Boss come later.  So if you absolutely trust a person in government with your life, your spouse's life, your parents', brothers', sisters, children and neighbors' lives, then feel free to reveal it to that person.  That's how many lives you are trusting that person with if you reveal your secret ID to them.  Remember that.  And if you associate with your teammates in your civilian identity, you also risking exposing their Secret IDs and endanger THEIR families and friends."

"So you need heroic costume friends and secret Identity friends and do your best never to mix the two.  Gentlemen, you will have the hardest time of this.  If crooks think you have a "thing", is that the word for now?, for a spunky girl reporter who provides you leads to criminals, that she might be your girlfriend, then guess who is going to get kidnapped ... a lot!"

"Ladies will have this problem but to a much lesser extent.  Mainly because women of the heroic world will gravitate to the Alpha Males.  Um ... that means the dominant male of the pack, not sure if that was a phrase for now, for this time.  You know one of those sayings about women not being able to resist a man in uniform?  Or a rich man?  Scientists have studied this and found it has very strong evidence to support this.  A uniform causes a subconscious "ping" in women that such a man is strong enough to protect her and her children.  Such men tend to be able to handle themselves in a fight.  So kidnapping them is much harder and tends to fail many times as not.  A rich man "pings" as being able to provide food, shelter and clothing with ease for a woman and her children."

He refills his cup while letting them digest that information download.  (Wait, that's not a phrase yet, is it?)  

"Now as to the Lore Knights.  I have some information about how they, you folks now, operate but some of the information may be wrong or outdated.  This is information that OOP, the Order of Preservers, taught me and that I recall.  So keep that in mind as I talk about you."  

"Apparently, if the Land feels it is danger, a sound will "appear" in your head, sounding much like a big bass drum slowly being pounded on.  It will slowly pick up speed.  This is your cue to get out of whatever you are doing and change into your Lore Knight form.  Supposedly, you will then be moved or teleported to wherever in the Land that the danger is at.  Not sure if you have to come down and sit here at this round table for that to happen or if you are magically whisked away to the spot the Land wants you to be at.  I think it is the later.  There may be a book around here that has the information, so look for it once I'm done blathering on.  The Land could summon one or more of you or all of you as it feels it needs to.  IT could do as at any time.  So no more drinking to the point of getting even tipsy if you want to live.  I don't think The Land will cure your drunkenness when it summons you.  So drink lightly as long as you remain Lore Knights.  Also avoid sleeping pills for the same reason."

"The other thing is, I do not know how big the "Land" is.  It is England and Wales, at least.  Does it cover Scotland?  Northern Ireland?  India?  Bermuda?  Canada or any other part of the British Commonwealth?  I have no idea.  I also have no idea if The Land returns you to where you were first at or returns you here or leaves you where it put you and you are on your own to get back home.  So try to keep some traveling money on you if you can.  Also, I don't think The Land can send us outside its boundaries, so it may just give us a strong "feeling" that we need to go to such and such place, much like you all felt like you had to come to this village.  Then we have to figure out on our own how to get there."

"Wonderman and I aren't Lore Knights, guess you could call us Substitute Lore Knights or just allies.  So we probably won't hear this sound, so you will need to tell us when you do.  And ... hmmmmmm ... there is probably a good chance that we won't be magically sent to wherever you go.  That could be a problem."

"Wonderman, you once told me you were something of a radio genius.  Any way you can make a radio small enough and with lots of range to it that we could all have one?  That way, if you folks get teleported somewhere, once you know where it is, you can contact us and I can try to fly myself and Wonderman out to join you.  A range of 150 kilometers or more would be excellent.  That's ... um ... just a bit less than a hundred miles.  Too bad cell phones don't exist yet, that would make things so much easier."

ooc: Whatever his answer, moving on

"Someone mentioned using our powers to end the war fast.  Not going to happen.  This war won't end until 1945 ... sorry.  If we could end the war faster than that, we would totally wipe out the entire future myself and Major Oak are from.  We are talking wiping out the existence of literally billions of people.  So no flying to Berlin and killing Hitler.  He gets his before World War 2 ends.  That's what this war is called World War 2.  Nearly half the nations on Earth are going to be involved one way or another in this war before it ends."

"Now, the giant Iron Cross Robot and some of the equipment that they used.  Both sides came up with some pretty weird inventions and weapons but I think some of what we saw wasn't from this time period.  I think it is alien in origin and comes from Major Oak's and my time period."

"There are aliens, called The Advent, are "peacefully helping us to better ourselves", in other words they are trying to take over the world and shape it into their image.  They showed up "Providentially" as giant monsters attacked the major cities and capitals of the world, destroying those that the superheroes didn't take down themselves, after many of those superheroes had been killed or crippled for life.  I wouldn't put it past them that they somehow can travel through time and if so, they may have folks helping out Hitler.  We are going to have to keep our eyes open for that and stop them from doing what they want.  Dunkirk, as the late Earl mentioned, would be an excellent place for the aliens to massively change history."

"As I told Wonderman earlier, most of Europe is going to fall.  France is going to fall in the next month.  The British Expeditionary Force is going to have to flee back to England from the area around Dunkirk, in northern France.  In a week, 10 days time, over a quarter of a million troops will evacuate the area around Dunkirk, leaving many more men behind to be captured.  That's happening at the end of this month.  And it will only happen because Hitler okayed a decision by the German military to stop their advance into Dunkirk because they felt that they needed 3 days to bring up more troops for fear of an Allied breakout."

"Not sure what we could do if the Advent is here in this time and convinces Hitler not to halt for 3 days but to continue into Dunkirk.  But it is something we have to worry about.  And the new Earl, the real leader of the Lore Knights, is somewhere in that mess or will be in a few weeks time.  If we can get him back to England before that happens, it would be to the best.  If one of you have connections in the Army or the Government or with Churchill himself, then you could try to get him home to bury his father and handle all those legals matter that happen when one inherits."

"If not, then we will have to try and find him in a chaotic warzone and bring him here ourselves."

"And getting identity papers for myself, Great Oak and Wonderman will become essential if we are to travel around England for more than then next week or two.  Wonderman being American will need a passport showing he did enter this country.  Can anyone help with that?"

"And we have to figure out how we fit men will avoid joining the military.  War Essential Workers would be out best bet.  Or maybe we will join up, Army over Navy folks, and have to spend time ducking out and going AWOL a lot to handle Lore Knight business.  Unless we can get some officer job that stays in England and our immediate superiors don't track us very closely and we would travel around the countryside as part of that job."

"And we are going to have to ready every fishing boat and any other boat we can find around here and the men needed to sail them to help with that evacuation. Though we are going to have to wait until the troops start falling back to Dunkirk before we do that, otherwise, too many questions will be asked."

"As you can see, we have lots to think about and plan for.  Any questions or comments?"


ooc:  Kind of hard to dance between real world and comic books world where sneaking away, even if you are in uniform, isn't too big a deal.  And if you are off base without a pass or come in past curfew then the worst that happens is you are on KP duty {Kitchen Patrol} peeling potatoes and onions for a few days - like Captain America did in some of his 1940s stories.

WHEW  I wrote too much.

ooc:  Wasn't positive as to the day but when you said Churchill became Prime Minister on the 10th, I took that as the day we met and fought, so said we are on the 11th, the next day.  But no biggie it still works out fine.

OOC my responses to your mega post will be in red...

There was a newspaper with the date on it showing 11th May but you had no money to pay for it! No harm no foul though. It just means W Churchill is the boss now...

Alexandra continued. "On the subject of identities and whatnot I suggest we have a trip to London. All of us have families and loved ones to protect from the people who attacked this place yesterday. We need to be careful about who knows who we are. I trust everyone in this room and those two not here but... it's clear the Axis have agents operating in this country. There must be some way of helping the war effort. Yes, I think a trip to Whitehall would be the best bet."

Fred turned to Prof Wynde. "You said we've got some time yet, didn't you? How about it?"


"Let's get everyone in here and go over Superhero 101, or How to Survive and Keep your Family Safe, and other important facts of secret identities and superheroing in general," Prof. Wynde.

Katheryn went outside to go get Robbie who was still planted in the garden whilst Owain went to rouse Marcus. Prof Wynde figured Swashbuckler would be down here in a short amount of time whether he liked it or not...

While he waits for everyone to gather and grab a bite to eat, Prof. Wynde activates his Magic Sense to see if any of the Lore Knights have a mystical aura about them.  If they do, it will help him find the new Earl.  If not, then that plan goes out with the wash.

"Monkey see!  Monkey do!  Let my little eyes tell me about You," he casts as he activates his Magical Sense.

Everyone lights up like a Christmas tree, because even if their powers were not magical in effect, they were all magically derived!

[I imagine that Fred's magic ring will will "glow" for him and any other mystical object in the room or on their persons, like the amulet Wynde is wearing, but I have no idea if any of them will "glow" because they are magical heroes.  Would Prof. glow too because he knows magic?  Horrid thought, there would be no real secret ID for magic users in this universe if that happened.]

OOC Agreed. Magic Sense is an automatic power so no chance to block it. Instead he will have to cook up an artefact that masks his magic sense by effectively shrinking its range to as low as possible, so it will still detect him, but only close up unless range is reduced to below 0 (which in this game is 10' so -1 or lower means touch). It would not be expensive. Base Cost 5 FC1 Effect - reduces the range of anyone using magic Sense that could possibly detect them. It works normally for everyone else. Let's say you have block magical aura 8 and someone with Magic Sense 10 tries to find you. Unless that character is 10-8=2APs (40' range) distance away it will not detect you. If you had Block Aura 11 they would not be able to detect you at all but someone with Magic Sense 12 would be able to (albeit only within 1AP range 20' away)

After they have gotten some food into them, he has everyone go down into the magical meeting room of the Lore Knights, having them change into their new superhero IDs by the time they get down there.

Marcus was a state. He'd imbibed enough of the Earl's booze to floor a herd of elephants and wasn't at his best! Nonetheless the team gathered in the hall in their superhero personas.

{There might be some kind of ritual that they would do before seating themselves in their designated chairs, I would imagine, so we go through that too.}

The team stood behind their respective chair, which they knew somehow was theirs, summoned a weapon and repeated their oath to fight for the land, the people and justice for all as a Lore Knight.

"Right, let's get on with it.  First, Major Oak and I are from the early 21st Century.  Wonderman sort of is and isn't.  He is actually from about a year or so in your past, volunteered to get himself turned into stone, got "unstoned" by me in the early 21st Century and while fighting a magical cult, trying to rescue the boy who becomes Major Oak, and a dragon from Hell with me, we three somehow got transported back into the past, but still Wonderman's future."

Instantly a dozen questions sprung up and mingled with each other. Marcus spluttered the last. "Who wins the Grand National for the next ten years?" he asked.

He sips his coffee, he brought a pot down with him, while he lets that sink in and their chatter dies down.

"Welcome to time travel, folks.  It's gonna get weirder as we move along."

"You may notice that I am calling them by their heroic names instead of their "regular" names.  By the way, very quickly the newspapers and radio and after that, regular folks are going to call you either costumed crime-fighters, costumed heroes and eventually superheroes.  Wonderman's case and the case of others who wore costumes up to now in America, usually called costumed vigilantes since they operated outside the law to bring folks to justice.  Just like they had in their American West the previous century.  Vigilantes, Vigilante Justice."  

"And that's pretty much what we do, operate outside the law to bring folks to justice.  Which means the Law is going to spend as much time trying to arrest us as they are the crooks we catch.  As the war goes on and the public sentiment shifts to we costumed folks as morale builders, then the government starts relaxing their stance on us and we start to be able to cooperate with them publicly.  We may get the rare bobby or detective to side with us before then but rare as I said."

"So no popping down to Number 10 Downing St and saying "Hi, we are the Lore Knights and our organisation has been protecting the Land for centuries, we are here to help fight the war and take down super-criminals the police can't handle."  News folks will go back and forth calling them costumed criminals, super-criminals, and supervillains.  Since most of them will have powers by the 21st Century, supervillain usually wins as the descriptor of them and superheroes for us."

"So what happens with all of this? The war I mean? You know what happens. I mean... do we win? Do we survive? Do we all speak German in a few years?" asked Boudicea.

Wonderman held a hand up "I don't know about what happens - too much anyway - but let's just say the less everyone knows the better. That's because it may cause doubt, cause you to try a different path. You can't doubt, you can't flinch for a second because the Axis agents are as powerful as we are and more numerous. I don't know of ANYONE like us but that doesn't mean they aren't out there. Maybe us... the LORE KNIGHTS act as... I dunno some kind of Beacon, a way to say 'if you have power, ability, can make a difference it's time to step forward and fight for what is right.'

Swashbuckler said "yeah, yeah, but the Grand National winners..."

He sips some more coffee knowing it will be in short supply very very soon.

"Sorry if I seem to bounce around on topics but do keep up.  So, in the future, there are lots of folks with powers of one type or another.  That includes mind readers.  So unless you have very powerful mental defences, which I don't by the way just decent, those mind readers will learn everything about you, including any family you may have.  One of the best defences we may have against that kind of thing is to become somewhat of a split personality.  Think of yourself as "John Smith" when not in costume and as "Superguy" when in costume and address each other the same way.  When out of costume, "Superguy" is just someone you know about.  Don't take the mask off when in costume, don't use personal names in costume and when thinking of each other in heroic form, think of them as in their costume and heroic name, not the regular clothes and face and name that they have out of costume.  Which is why I am not taking my mask off around here.  When I go into the village, I become my "other person".  Like I said, develop a split personalty without going totally psycho doing it."

"No talking about family members or girlfriends or boyfriends," nodding to the two ladies at that, "who are not "super" when in costume and vice versa.  A mentalist gets a name and a face, you can guarantee that you are asking to be blackmailed into committing crimes and more crimes and even more crimes.  It has happened or will happen in your case in the future."

"The government.  Good people in government.  Bad people in government.  Paper trails in government, even if marked Top Secret.  Spies for other countries in government.  That becomes a huge scandal a couple or three times in your future, especially when they happen to be high ranking members in the Intelligence branch.  So, don't go giving secret ID information to ANYONE in government.  So don't go giving secret ID information to anyone period.  That becomes a problem if you marry while still active as a superhero; it's a battle, do I tell my spouse who I am and why I keep disappearing for hours on end or do I let them think I'm having an affair or keep trying to come up with other excuses for why I wasn't there for Johnny's recital?  Of course, if your spouse also happens to be a super, that makes things a bit easier.  Divorces happen.  Folks try to hurt each other when they get divorced.  Which means your heroic ID could come out in court as your soon to be ex-spouse wants custody of your kids because you would be a danger to them and wants to make sure you do not get any kind of visitation rights."

"This sounds like a right farce." said Swashbuckler. "we put OUR lives on the line and try our best to help others and they want to ruin us?"

Wonderman had a serious face as he said "Believe it SWASHBUCKLER" with the emphasis on his code name. "I've been there. There was an attorney called Joseph McCarthy. Just because I wore a mask and fought crime he took it on himself to get in the newspapers, on the radio to declare what a menace I was and that I could be some kind of spy. Within weeks every time I showed up to a bank robbery or whatever there was a crowd of people until at the last I turned up to something that was staged and they were trying to catch me. Which is why I said 'the hell with this' and went back to Tibet to ask the Yogi to make it so I would miss all the nastiness. I had no idea it would take 80 years..."


ooc:  Going to continue this in a few hours, got to get back to bed for another hour or so of sleep then off to work where I can pick this back up.  But if you want to inject what I have done so far, that's fine too.

OOC yup, mega post so far!

"People, as you can see, there are reasons we wears masks and not just because it is ... um ... hep?  Is that a word yet?  Hip and Cool and Boss come later.  So if you absolutely trust a person in government with your life, your spouse's life, your parents', brothers', sisters, children and neighbors' lives, then feel free to reveal it to that person.  That's how many lives you are trusting that person with if you reveal your secret ID to them.  Remember that.  And if you associate with your teammates in your civilian identity, you also risking exposing their Secret IDs and endanger THEIR families and friends."

The Lore Knights looked at one another. Major Oak spoke up "This is me now. This is how I look." he said with his green skin and leafy hair. "I don't think I can look human..." He concentrated then changed into human form! A very naked human form sat at the table! The women gasped, Snaga laughed, Swashbuckler raised an eyebrow and Wonderman face palmed. Robbie changed back to Major Oak. "Ok, new power, got it." Luckily his blush couldn't be seen as a tree man. "I'll work on adding clothes." he added.

"So you need heroic costume friends and secret Identity friends and do your best never to mix the two.  Gentlemen, you will have the hardest time of this.  If crooks think you have a "thing", is that the word for now?, for a spunky girl reporter who provides you leads to criminals, that she might be your girlfriend, then guess who is going to get kidnapped ... a lot!"

"Pfft! That's so far fetched! I mean, a woman reporter?" said Swashbuckler. The women immediately roses to their feet arguing and even Faerie seemed quite passionate!

Wonderman rose too to calm things down and leaned in to Swashbuckler "See me after class pal." It took a minute or two to calm things.

"Ladies will have this problem but to a much lesser extent.  Mainly because women of the heroic world will gravitate to the Alpha Males.  Um ... that means the dominant male of the pack, not sure if that was a phrase for now, for this time.  You know one of those sayings about women not being able to resist a man in uniform?  Or a rich man?  Scientists have studied this and found it has very strong evidence to support this.  A uniform causes a subconscious "ping" in women that such a man is strong enough to protect her and her children.  Such men tend to be able to handle themselves in a fight.  So kidnapping them is much harder and tends to fail many times as not.  A rich man "pings" as being able to provide food, shelter and clothing with ease for a woman and her children."

Boudicea growled "I'm pretty sure that no matter HOW rich or HOW shiny Swashbucklers buttons are I'll give him a wide berth! If he knew what was good for him he'd steer clear too!"

Swashbuckler grinned "You're beautiful when you're angry. Which is a lot, sure, but you sure are a feast for the eyes!" Boudicea reddened, becoming more angry and Swashbuckler sighed, laying it on thick.

It took another minute or so to calm things down.

He refills his cup while letting them digest that information download.  (Wait, that's not a phrase yet, is it?)  

"Now as to the Lore Knights.  I have some information about how they, you folks now, operate but some of the information may be wrong or outdated.  This is information that OOP, the Order of Preservers, taught me and that I recall.  So keep that in mind as I talk about you."  

"Apparently, if the Land feels it is danger, a sound will "appear" in your head, sounding much like a big bass drum slowly being pounded on.  It will slowly pick up speed.  This is your cue to get out of whatever you are doing and change into your Lore Knight form.  Supposedly, you will then be moved or teleported to wherever in the Land that the danger is at.  Not sure if you have to come down and sit here at this round table for that to happen or if you are magically whisked away to the spot the Land wants you to be at.  I think it is the later.  There may be a book around here that has the information, so look for it once I'm done blathering on.  The Land could summon one or more of you or all of you as it feels it needs to.  IT could do as at any time.  So no more drinking to the point of getting even tipsy if you want to live.  I don't think The Land will cure your drunkenness when it summons you.  So drink lightly as long as you remain Lore Knights.  Also avoid sleeping pills for the same reason."

Snaga held up a hand. "As much as I don't like to agree with Swashbuckler about anything, what's tha point? We are givin up our lives, no drinkin no women no telling anyone anything, fighting guys and girls who want to kill us, throwing ourselves in the path of bullets. I mean... there's no pay, no reward. How do we live? I don't have any dependants but I have to work to pay for my grotty little cottage rent... Marcus has a colossal drinks bill..."

"You wouldn't believe how big" he moaned.

"Boudicea has money, she'll be fine but what about Katheryn... Faerie, Major Oak, you and Wonderman? Do you live here and that's it?" He looked about "There are worse places, but do we live here too? What about the army? Won't we be conscription dodgers? I'd rather fight tha enemy but I'm too old according to them..."

Even Swashbuckler raised an eyebrow at that. If anything, Owain Thomas, Snaga the Sender was anything but old or over the hill!

"The other thing is, I do not know how big the "Land" is.  It is England and Wales, at least.  Does it cover Scotland?  Northern Ireland?  India?  Bermuda?  Canada or any other part of the British Commonwealth?  I have no idea.  I also have no idea if The Land returns you to where you were first at or returns you here or leaves you where it put you and you are on your own to get back home.  So try to keep some traveling money on you if you can.  Also, I don't think The Land can send us outside its boundaries, so it may just give us a strong "feeling" that we need to go to such and such place, much like you all felt like you had to come to this village.  Then we have to figure out on our own how to get there."

"Wonderman and I aren't Lore Knights, guess you could call us Substitute Lore Knights or just allies.  So we probably won't hear this sound, so you will need to tell us when you do.  And ... hmmmmmm ... there is probably a good chance that we won't be magically sent to wherever you go.  That could be a problem."

Major Oak spoke up. "Originally I could teleport back here. I never got chance to use it of course but it's gone now. I guess when I died..." and everyone goes quiet at that. "... the ... land decided I needed to toughen up. I only have a vague idea of where I am in terms of powers now but I will learn."

"I can transport the team but only short distances of up to say, a mile or so. I guess I could try for further but it's tricky. I'm not so good at this stuff yet." said Faerie. Wonderman put a hand on hers and said "Hey, we all started out new once!" She smiles and glances at his hand which he yanks away like he was scalded. The others share a glance and a grin whilst Faerie blushes and mumbles "I can fly planes. Maybe the Earl has one."

"Wonderman, you once told me you were something of a radio genius.  Any way you can make a radio small enough and with lots of range to it that we could all have one?  That way, if you folks get teleported somewhere, once you know where it is, you can contact us and I can try to fly myself and Wonderman out to join you.  A range of 150 kilometers or more would be excellent.  That's ... um ... just a bit less than a hundred miles.  Too bad cell phones don't exist yet, that would make things so much easier."


"Ahem. Well, I figure it would need some work but based on my last design it's definitely possible. Why only last year I invented a gizmo that could transmit sound over hundreds of miles." said Wonderman.
ooc: Whatever his answer, moving on

"Someone mentioned using our powers to end the war fast.  Not going to happen.  This war won't end until 1945 ... sorry.  If we could end the war faster than that, we would totally wipe out the entire future myself and Major Oak are from.  We are talking wiping out the existence of literally billions of people.  So no flying to Berlin and killing Hitler.  He gets his before World War 2 ends.  That's what this war is called World War 2.  Nearly half the nations on Earth are going to be involved one way or another in this war before it ends."

The group went silent at this.

"Now, the giant Iron Cross Robot and some of the equipment that they used.  Both sides came up with some pretty weird inventions and weapons but I think some of what we saw wasn't from this time period.  I think it is alien in origin and comes from Major Oak's and my time period."

"There are aliens, called The Advent, are "peacefully helping us to better ourselves", in other words they are trying to take over the world and shape it into their image.  They showed up "Providentially" as giant monsters attacked the major cities and capitals of the world, destroying those that the superheroes didn't take down themselves, after many of those superheroes had been killed or crippled for life.  I wouldn't put it past them that they somehow can travel through time and if so, they may have folks helping out Hitler.  We are going to have to keep our eyes open for that and stop them from doing what they want.  Dunkirk, as the late Earl mentioned, would be an excellent place for the aliens to massively change history."

"As I told Wonderman earlier, most of Europe is going to fall.  France is going to fall in the next month.  The British Expeditionary Force is going to have to flee back to England from the area around Dunkirk, in northern France.  In a week, 10 days time, over a quarter of a million troops will evacuate the area around Dunkirk, leaving many more men behind to be captured.  That's happening at the end of this month.  And it will only happen because Hitler okayed a decision by the German military to stop their advance into Dunkirk because they felt that they needed 3 days to bring up more troops for fear of an Allied breakout."

"Well won't these Advent people try to change things? Won't they try to destroy all of the British Expedition force instead of give them three days like this Hitler person wants to do. Will do. There was a new chap put in charge yesterday or the day before too. Is he any good or a damp squib like the last one? What if he decides to surrender? Do we fight on? Why not go to Whitehall and tell them to get out now?" asked Faerie.

Wonderman winced. "We kinda have to watch what we do not to change the future and stop whatever the bad guys do, which means I guess we have to trust Prof Wynde and Rob... Major Oaks knowledge of what happens then go from there. I guess?"

"World War II was my favourite history subject at school." major Oak offered. "But ADVENT rewriting things to their own plan couold be a real problem. We need to react... but take steps to find out what they want, how they plan to do it and stop it. And if it's much further than Dover or the coast of France as I understand it we get weaker..."

"Not sure what we could do if the Advent is here in this time and convinces Hitler not to halt for 3 days but to continue into Dunkirk.  But it is something we have to worry about.  And the new Earl, the real leader of the Lore Knights, is somewhere in that mess or will be in a few weeks time.  If we can get him back to England before that happens, it would be to the best.  If one of you have connections in the Army or the Government or with Churchill himself, then you could try to get him home to bury his father and handle all those legals matter that happen when one inherits."

"If not, then we will have to try and find him in a chaotic warzone and bring him here ourselves."

"I suppose I could ask my father to contact some of his friends. The problem is without any kind of official ... role... they are likely to be busy, yell 'Get in the queue!' and we are back at square one."

Swashbuckler held up a finger to speak. Boudicea scowled and turned away. Finally she said "What?"

"We use our powers. We have been given these gifts, we can use them to get what we need to do. I'm sure between us we can figure something out." said Swashbuckler.

Boudicea rolled her eyes. "You have nothing that is useful..."

OOC Broadcast Empath 9 + Roll(2d12)+0: 12,4,+0 Total:16 (25) vs
OV6 + Roll(2d12)+0: 3,10,+0 Total:13 (19) +3 (to 12) vs RV6=6 RAPs success.

"...but you are athletic, powerful, attractive, persuasive and charismatic. You should be the leader. You could be the leader of the country in fact!" she beamed. "You could be... a hero for all of the nation!" She was stood now, gazing with admiration for Swashbuckler.

He grinned, saw everyone else's expressions with dropped jaws and flicked his fingers. Boudicea blinked then screamed "YOU... YOOUUUUUU!!!!" and lunged across the table for his throat!

That took a few more minutes to sort out.

"And getting identity papers for myself, Great Oak and Wonderman will become essential if we are to travel around England for more than then next week or two.  Wonderman being American will need a passport showing he did enter this country.  Can anyone help with that?"

"I'll see about that." said Boudicea, arms crossed and a scowl etched on her face.

"And we have to figure out how we fit men will avoid joining the military.  War Essential Workers would be out best bet.  Or maybe we will join up, Army over Navy folks, and have to spend time ducking out and going AWOL a lot to handle Lore Knight business.  Unless we can get some officer job that stays in England and our immediate superiors don't track us very closely and we would travel around the countryside as part of that job."

"And we are going to have to ready every fishing boat and any other boat we can find around here and the men needed to sail them to help with that evacuation.  Though we are going to have to wait until the troops start falling back to Dunkirk before we do that, otherwise, too many questions will be asked."

"As you can see, we have lots to think about and plan for.  Any questions or comments?"

Wonderman leaned back, hands behind head and exhaling. "A lot to think about. I think Swashbuckler is right."

"What?" "How can you say that?" "He's an idiot." "I don't believe you can even think that!"

Wonderman waited and waved them down. "Look, for better or worse we... six in this room ARE the Lore Knights. We look out for each other. If you don't want to be part of this you have to say right now. No fighting, no moaning, no arguing. You summon the sword, slap it on the table and say 'I'm done' then we get Prof Wynde or Faerie or the Ghost Earl to wipe your memory of this place for YOUR protection so YOU don't be the hostage, the target and the victim. Or you look around, put aside personal feelings and you say to yourself 'This is me now. My old life is gone. I AM serving my country. Better than ... better than I could on a ship or in a tank or whatever. Those people are vital. We are no better than they but we have been given gifts. it's our duty to use them to help those who aren't bulletrpoof, who feel the sting of bombs when they explode, whose boots leak when it rains and belly rumbles when there are no supplies. We need to help them, inspire them, be a symbol to aspire to. That means when we are in uniform we don't argue, don't fall out and present an image to the public."

"A lie?" asked Snaga.

"Only if you want it to be. Don't act it. BE it. BE the hero, the icon, the patriot, the ideal, the one the kids want to play at being in the schoolyard. Live the life of a hero and who knows, you might end up being one." he said.

"We have problems to sort out. Get your own personal affairs in order. Tell your friends and family you've been signed up to something you can't talk about. It's the truth. You can't talk about this stuff. Loose talk costs lives or somethin. Hmm. That would only raise more questions. Tell them you've gone off to fight in the war. You won't be the only ones and before long people will worry about other stuff."

He turned to Prof Wynde. "I still think we need to go to London. We need to trust SOMEONE with this and I think ... I think it needs to be the main man. This Chamberlain guy."

"Churchill." murmured Faerie. "As of yesterday."

"Who?" said Wonderman. He shrugged. "Swashbuckler, you're with us. You can get us in to see him I think. What do you think Prof?"


ooc:  Kind of hard to dance between real world and comic books world where sneaking away, even if you are in uniform, isn't too big a deal.  And if you are off base without a pass or come in past curfew then the worst that happens is you are on KP duty {Kitchen Patrol} peeling potatoes and onions for a few days - like Captain America did in some of his 1940s stories.

WHEW  I wrote too much.

OOC Took some answering and reading through but it was all good and makes me think which is the fun part for me.

He turned to Prof Wynde. "I still think we need to go to London. We need to trust SOMEONE with this and I think ... I think it needs to be the main man. This Chamberlain guy."

"Churchill." murmured Faerie. "As of yesterday."

"Who?" said Wonderman. He shrugged. "Swashbuckler, you're with us. You can get us in to see him I think. What do you think Prof?"


Prof. Wynde looks at Wonderman in wonder. "You are right. The Land choose you folks. You can decide to reject the calling and the power will leave you. If you become something that the Land objects to, the power will leave you. So Swashbuckler deciding to use that mind control whammy for his own hedonistic pleasures, will probably get his power taken away, instead of using it to protect the land."

"Great speech by the way Wonderman, we may have to have you be our spokesman if we ever get on radio. Probably should look at giving you a new more patriotic colored costume. Red, White and Blue are the colors of both our nations so who here is good at or knows someone who might be good at creating a better costume for him?"

ooc: Lots of very minor golden age characters with less than four appearances whose costume we could steal for a new Wonderman outfit. We could even have each player submit one and vote on it.

"Churchill's not a bad idea. He is probably the best war time prime minister this nation has ever had. He will keep the people's spirits up during the darkest days that are soon to arrive. Remember folks, we don't lose, but it is going to be a long hard fought war with many many losses."

"We just don't want to let him know who we are behind the masks. And sorry, I have no idea who won anything. I'm from the 21st Century remember? Sport victories from a previous century were not covered in school. Now if you manage to stay alive another 80 years or so, I could tell you who won a few of those events then."

He grins and sips his coffee.

"Major Oak, did your smart phone survive to now? If so, he might have some more information on that kind of thing."

"As to what we do for a living ... well, I think the new Earl can help us with that. Might even be able to help us with the whole "why aren't you in the military" bit. The guy is filthy rich after all and an Earl. Maybe he can form his own Elite Guard and we will be a part of it?"

"And we can better get all the parts you need for your radios in London as well, Wonderman. So another reason to go before the bomb ... er .... nevermind."

"So, lets figure out how we are going to get to London, where we are going to stay and who is paying for it because while I have money, it won't be accepted here nor my credit cards."

He frowns.

"I know posh stores had credit accounts but do they have credit cards now? Need plastic for them, so maybe not."

"So did I understand right, we men will be living off a gracious and beautiful lady's largess? Like a kept woman except we would be "Kept Men" for the time being?"

"The trains are still running." said Boudicea. She still thought in terms of being normal and occasionally being super.

"I can... I can try to transport you." said Faerie. "I'll have to go first to make sure its safe. Transporting someone blind would be a bad idea." she figured.

"So Faerie and Swashbuckler, me and Prof Wynde. That leaves Snaga, Major Oak and Boudicea. Use the time to get to know your powers - in private!! If you have accounts to settle do so. The Earl's death will have to be registered and the appropriate authorities alerted. Boudicea can you handle that?"

She shrugged "I'll make enquiries in the village."

Major Oak fished about into a previously hidden pocket on his chainmail briefs and came out with the smartphone, complete with blank screen. "Flat. As a pancake." he sighed. "Maybe Wonderman can figure out what it needs to charge it up."

As the others chatted Wonderman came up to Prof Wynde and led him aside. "Appreciate the sentiment but it would feel kinda weird to retire the all red after a short time. However... it could be my British persona so when I get back to my home I could pull on the ol red duds. Maybe you should do the same, something dark green with a hint of red white and blue. Maybe your turban." he chuckles. "Major Oak doesn't need a costume and the others could maybe do with all concealing domino masks. Works for me."

"We should have a chat with the Butler in this place. See if the Earl has anything stashed away we can use for day to day stuff. Getting a job, fighting the war and jumping about in fancy duds whacking Nazis in the teeth may be too much even for us to juggle!" he chuckled.

=========

As the group filed out of the basement and into the now pristine Gun Room they were met by the Butler, a man with impeccable posture and waiting patiently for the team.

As Wonderman and Prof Wynde appeared he stepped to the side to wait to speak to them. He was a man in his early fifties, pencil moustache and was completely unphased by the costumed walking past. He didn't bat an eyelid.



"Sirs, may I present myself. I am Cecil Worcester Thornhill, and it is my honour and duty to be head of the household for the Earl." he said.

"Commiserations. You must miss the Earl." said Wonderman awkwardly.

"On the contrary sir. He was a Lore Knight and is practically immortal so long as this house stands in part. The magic will repair the house and tie the spirits of both myself and every member of staff to the house. We are all long departed and the Earl's gift to us was to give us everlasting unlife, if you take my meaning. You may say servitude but we loved the Earl and his father or before and believe it or not we even get days off to enjoy life beyond these walls if we wear one of the Earl's amulets. We live... or rather lived.. .to serve. What goes on in these walls stays here and anything we see or observed shall remain forever secret."

"Furthermore the Earl was a rich man with many connections. I have long corresponded in his name and there are a number of contacts that I can call on to get things done. The Lore Knights will be expected, as everyone else is, to do their duty and so shall it be. However I shall set into motion certain events - with your permission of course - that sees them exempt from oversees duties. Lies? Not quite. Untruths for a greater good. Though... Boudicea ... is independently wealthy the rest of you may be lacking and so a payment of monies shall be made every month to purchase sundries, clothes, payment for services and so on. I shall ensure that Mister Hammills (Swashbuckler) gambling does not draw on these monies." he said with a raised eyebrow. "you also have clothing for a 'road trip' I believe that you are planning."

Wonderman raised an eyebrow and glanced at Prof Wynde. "Eavesdropping Thornhill?"

"Alas sir under this roof there are no secrets from us. The land knows and so do we. We are utterly faithful and cannot be interrogated sir. There is nothing you say or do that others can find out from us." he declared.

Faerie came in, somewhat breathless, from the garden. She had a grin on her face. "I've been!"

Wonderman smiled and offered "To where, dear?"

She grinned at him and said "To London! Instantly! I... it's amazing! I think about it, words form in my mind and I imagine falling... and land gently on the grass at Hampstead Heath where I went for a picnic!"

"With uh, another man?" asked Wonderman.

The Butler coughed "Sir, may I suggest a change of clothing and i shall work with Ms Boudicea to register the Earls passing. His grandson is Captain Reginald Bonaparte Charlemagne StJohn of the 51st Highland division. "An excellent marksman and leader of men he is somewhat impulsive but that will fix with age. Unfortunately it does seem that the campaign in France may not be as successful as previously hoped. I shall gather a photograph for you."

Faerie was blushing when Prof Wynde turned to her and grinning like a school girl. Wonderman was playing innocent. Swashbuckler wandered up, still suffering from a hangover. "I don't suppose I could sit... no I expect not. I'll have a bath and be ready in a jiffy." he groaned.

"We may want to wait to see what Boudicea cooks up with paperwork or maybe get right to it and hope we don't get stopped. What's the plan?" Wonderman asked of Prof Wynde.

The Butler coughed "Sir, may I suggest a change of clothing and i shall work with Ms Boudicea to register the Earls passing. His grandson is Captain Reginald Bonaparte Charlemagne StJohn of the 51st Highland division. "An excellent marksman and leader of men he is somewhat impulsive but that will fix with age. Unfortunately it does seem that the campaign in France may not be as successful as previously hoped. I shall gather a photograph for you."

Faerie was blushing when Prof Wynde turned to her and grinning like a school girl. Wonderman was playing innocent. Swashbuckler wandered up, still suffering from a hangover. "I don't suppose I could sit... no I expect not. I'll have a bath and be ready in a jiffy." he groaned.

"We may want to wait to see what Boudicea cooks up with paperwork or maybe get right to it and hope we don't get stopped. What's the plan?" Wonderman asked of Prof Wynde.

"Unless the staff here can handle it," Prof. Wynde looks the question the Butler's way.  "And what do you wish us to call you?  Cecil Worcester Thornhill is a bit long."

[take in the reply.  Not sure if he wants to be called Thornhill or Cecil or even Worcester or CWT]

"Go get yourself cleaned up Swashbuckler.  Even if we decide to teleport there we probably will need to bring a suitcase for each of us with clothes for a few days.  Then a hotel to stay in.  So if you have some traveling monies already for us, {Butler's name}, we will need that too.  Once we know how things are going in London, we can decide how we are going to approach Prime Minister Churchill."

"Is Brown's Hotel still a decent hotel?  Maybe we should lodge there if it is. We want something decent and discrete."

"I shall gather funds sufficient to cover several days in London sir, rest be assured. And if it would suit, call me Thornhill." said the Butler who like the rest of the staff were long dead ghosts but somehow given solid form within the walls of the mansion and indeed the village of Caeralwayn.

"The papers you need may be difficult for us to reproduce.Browns Hotel is indeed a fine place, I shall make a call." he said. "The household staff are somewhat limited in knowledge of the outside world. I myself departed this mortal coil in 1916. The Earl was gracious enough to call my spirit back to continue service which I was more than happy to do as it gave opportunity to return to CaerAlwyn and watch over my wife and two sons whom the Earl graciously provided for until they moved away from the village. He was... IS... a fine gentleman. The finest." He gave the impression of walking out of sight and Swashbuckler followed him round the corner then to turn back "Gone!"

He shook his head, returning "This is all a bit much to take in. Super Powers, masks, ghosts, Nazis, robots, time travel... Does anything normal happen around here?" he muttered as he went up the stairs to where a bath - already piping hot - awaited.

"I too shall make up a bag." said Wonderman. "There are clothes already in my size. This place is amazing!" He went up the stairs taking several at a time and gave a grin back before he vanished from sight.

Faerie watched him go then sighed. "Fred is a dish." she admitted "But why now? In wartime, when some of us may not survive? I'll get ready... unless... unless I'm just along for the ride and you want me to stay here?" she asked.

OOC If you're happy to have Faerie along that will make the next part of the adventure a four person team up.

=========

Outside in the grounds the correctly attired foursome held suitable luggage for a couple of days and the rest of the team plus Thornhill came out to 'see them off'.

"Any instructions, or things 'not to do'?" asked Major Oak. Though the others were in superhero guise Thornhill had assured them that the magic of the house would detect and indeed prevent prying eyes unless they were close to the great old place.

Boudicea looked miffed at being left behind and stayed silent. Snaga rested on his axe. He'd been practising with it, hefting and swinging about though only had a light sheen of sweat to show for it.

Major Oak had subconsciously grown tendrils from his feet to take root in the soil and seemed more at ease in his more... 'human' form though that was not to say his green skin and leafy hair could pass for human!

Thornhill politely stated "I have taken measures to pay for watchers amongst the local fishermen for anything 'out of the ordinary' so to speak. Few if any of the residents of the village are aware of the battle that took place yesterday thanks to the field around the mansion. Those that say something are politely laughed at and rest assured enough of the villagers are loyal to the Old Earl so as not to say anything."

OOC You have no papers as yet (Boudicea will need time to cook them up) so it's going to be tricky to bluff past people in London. Are you happy with the team of four or want to keep it to three?

ooc: We will go with four, having a healer with us could make or break us if a fight breaks out.

"Any instructions, or things 'not to do'?" asked Major Oak. Though the others were in superhero guise Thornhill had assured them that the magic of the house would detect and indeed prevent prying eyes unless they were close to the great old place.

"Practice your powers, do some sparring amongst yourselves and see if you can find the journals of the previous Lore Knights and learn what gems of wisdom they can provide you," he replies, shaking hands all around.

Thornhill politely stated "I have taken measures to pay for watchers amongst the local fishermen for anything 'out of the ordinary' so to speak. Few if any of the residents of the village are aware of the battle that took place yesterday thanks to the field around the mansion. Those that say something are politely laughed at and rest assured enough of the villagers are loyal to the Old Earl so as not to say anything."

"See if you can get those fishermen to get others from nearby villages involved as well, Thornhill. Every man with a boat is going to be needed very soon so if we already have them involved in our unofficial "Coast Guard" it will be easier to rally them when we need them."

"Hopefully, we will be back in a few days, a week to days at most," Prof. Wynde says. "Now, let's be off."

Faerie nodded and told Wonder man to stand close to her on one side with Swashbuckler and Prof Wynde on the other.

OOC Adren Surge 9 + Roll(2d12)+0: 7,5,+0 Total:12 (21) vs
Teleport OV1 + Roll(2d12)+0: 2,10,+0 Total:12 (13)

+4 (to 13) vs RV1=12 RAPs. Teleportation is boosted to 13APs with a range of just short of 1900 miles. That will cover it.

There is a flash of light and when it fades the four are stood in the shadow of a tree in Hyde Park. "I thought it better to get a little closer than on the Heath. I love travelling like this! It's instant!"

Wonder Man blew out, looking slightly green and Swashbuckler went further, popping around the tree to hurl his breakfast up. He coughed, fumbling about for a handkerchief and groaned before straightening up. "I actually feel slightly better though I'm sure my breath is quite rank. I apologise in advance."

"Quite alright I suppose." said Katheryn pulling a face. "Shall we?" The group with suitcases in hand made their way through the park where few wandered about. Most that were appeared to be older men and their partners or younger women and small children. Men of fighting age were being mustered and quickly. Within weeks they would start to be trained to a standard that the BEF was lacking and then the slog of World War Ii would commence. Prof Wynde looked about. Chances were many of the houses he saw would soon be flattened in the blitz.

A 15 minute walk later and they were checking in at the Brown Hotel, one of the oldest and most prestigious, not to mention expensive hotels in London. The Butler had provided each with a wallet and over £100 pounds each to spend on 'sundries' whilst paying for the accommodation on the Earls account. All was in order and the four made their way to a separate suite apiece.

=========

"What's the plan?" asked Fred Carson, keeping his voice low so as not to draw attention to his accent. He waited in a downstairs lobby reading the times waiting for Katheryn whilst Marcus Hammill wandered in with a paper tucked under his arm and a gin and tonic.

"Chaps." said Marcus. "This place is... is immense! And fabulous! There's been a lot of famous people stayed here. Oscar Wilde, Bram Stoker, JM Barrie to name a few." He sat down and glanced about. The well to do and well to mind your own business moved in and out of the hotel.

Quietly under his voice he murmured "You know the staff of these places are often foreign men and women come looking for work, right? We need to be wary is all. A smile here, a tucked sheet there... powders slipped in your drink and before you know it..." he glanced at his own G&T and suddenly didn't feel like a drink.

Katheryn came down and all three stood. She wore a smart business suit with skirt well below the knee and was all business. "We still have a few hours before teatime. Shall we see the sights Gentlemen?"

Fred was up in a flash offering a grin and his arm and turned to Oliver. "You lead, we'll follow, old boy!"

Teleportation is boosted to 13APs with a range of just short of 1900 miles. That will cover it.

ooc: Didn't know England was so big in our universe.
and I love that Mark Hamill is Swashbuckler, in case I forgot to mention it before.

"Before we go," Oliver Smith said, "Let's peruse the latest papers here and see what is new that we didn't know in Wales. Maybe we can find something about the whereabouts and movement of our new PM. Then a nice stroll would be called for. And let's see if we can find some place where our American friend can find food more to what he is used to as well. Steak and Potatoes and Beans, yes?"

"Well shucks that sounds like a mighty fine idea pardner!" said Fred. He turned to Katheryn offering his arm. "Ma'am, would you care to walk out with me?"

She blushed, glanced at the others and did so, trying not to beam like an excited school girl.

Marcus (OOC aside from the mark Hammill reference he is also the ancestor of Kevin Hammill-Hope, otherwise known as the British Bulldog in our Executive days...) rolled his eyes and turned to Prof Wynde. "Hang on, I'll break this ten pound note for some change."

He was back in moments and offered Oliver a smoke (which I presume he declined).

As Fred and Katheryn chatted whilst walking in front, Marcus glanced around the streets of high society London. "One could get used to this." he said. "I was pretty successful as a businessman but this is old money. Place positively reeks of it. It seems a world away from war though." he added as a Chauffeur driven Rolls Royce rumbled by.

Well dressed men and women walked by and no one seemed to be in a rush. Children were itching to play but a stern word from a father or mother would bring them to heel. People walked dogs, cycled by, horse and cart were still in use and Policeman strolled on the beat, nodding to those who acknowledged them. Oliver hoped a policeman wouldn't catch any of Fred's accent so as to avoid any questions...

Walking on down tree lined avenues Marcus procured a newspaper from a vendor. "Hmmm. Yesterdays. Didn't notice that. Oh well. Here." he said, handing it over to Oliver.

OOC MORE TO FOLLOW



OOC A summary so you know what's going on. Basically Churchill has been in office two days and can most probably be found at 10 Downing Street...courtesy Wikipedia.

May 10, 1940 (Friday)

• Germany invaded France and the Low Countries at dawn. The Battles of France, the Netherlands, and Belgium began.
  
• U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt learned of the German attack at 11:00 p.m. (23:00) on May 9, Washington time. He phoned his Treasury Secretary, Henry Morgenthau, Jr., and told him to freeze Belgian, Dutch, and Luxembourger assets in the United States to keep them out of Germany's hands. Roosevelt could do little more that night, since phone calls to Paris and Brussels were rarely getting through, so he went to bed at 2:40 a.m. (02:40).[16]
  
• Neville Chamberlain went to Buckingham Palace around 6:00 in the evening (18:00) and resigned as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom.
  
• King George VI asked Winston Churchill to form the next government, and Churchill accepted.[17][18]
  
• The Battles of Rotterdam and Zeeland began in the Netherlands.
  
• The Battle of Fort Eben-Emael began in Belgium.
  
• The Battle of Maastricht resulted in German victory.
  
• The Battle for The Hague resulted in tactical Dutch victory.
  
• Germany conquered Luxembourg within the day.
  
• The German-controlled Norwegian troopship Nordnorge was sunk at Hemnesberget by British warships.
  
• The colonial Governor-General of the Netherlands East Indies declared martial law, ordering the seizure of 19 German cargo ships and the internment of all German nationals.[17]
  
• The biographical film Edison, the Man (1940), starring Spencer Tracy, was released.
  

May 11, 1940 (Saturday)

• The Battle of the Grebbeberg began in the central Netherlands.
  
• The Battle of Fort Eben-Emael ended with the German capture of the fort.
  
• President Roosevelt added the newly belligerent countries to the list of submarines prohibited from using American ports and territorial waters.[19]
  
• British and French troops occupied the Dutch Caribbean possessions of Curaçao and Aruba. President Roosevelt announced that these actions were not contrary to the Monroe Doctrine and allowed them.[19]
  
• The British spy film Contraband starring Conrad Veidt and Valerie Hobson was released.
  

May 12, 1940 (Sunday)

• The Battle of Sedan began. In this key battle the Germans attempted to capture the important strategic point of Sedan, which would enable them to cross the Meuse and advance into the undefended French countryside.[20]
  
• The Battle of the Afsluitdijk began in the Netherlands.
  
• The Battle of Hannut began in Belgium.
  
• Sir Kingsley Wood became Chancellor of the Exchequer.
  
• Rose Philippine Duchesne was beatified by Pope Pius XII.
  

"Let's head over to Downing Street," Prof. Wynde suggested as he perused the paper. "And keep your eye out for the Daily Mirror, there is something there I want to check on as well."

He offered the paper to anyone else who wanted to read it. If none did, he tucked it under his arm and started moving in the proper direction.




Jane

Jane Gay
Alignment Good
Affiliation British Army
Relatives Jane (daughter); Jane (granddaughter)
Published Daily Mirror
Base of operations England
Characteristics
Gender Female
Eyes Blue
Hair Blonde
Status
Citizenship British
Marital status Single until end of strip
Occupation Bright Young Thing
Origin
Origin Normal human birth
Place of birth Britain
Creators Norman Pett
First appearance
Daily Mirror (5th December 1932)

Powers and abilities
Abilities Driving army vehicles; secretarial skills.
Strength level Young human woman who gets regular light exercise.
Paraphernalia
Transportation
Army vehicles; rowing boat.

History

Jane Gay was a bright young thing from the 1930s whose life revolved around society, romance and her pet dachshund Fritz until the dawn of World War II, when she offered her services to the Army and became the driver and PA of "the Colonel." She had a series of often hair-raising adventures, most of which coincidentally involved her losing her clothes at various points. Her arch-foe was the languorous foreign floozy Lola Pagola, a Nazi spy. On 10th October 1959, the seemingly ageless Jane sailed off into the sunset with long-time boyfriend Georgie Porgie.
Jane's daughter, also called Jane, starred in the imaginatively titled Jane, Daughter of Jane from 1961-1963. It was drawn by Alfred Mazure.

Her granddaughter, predictably also called Jane, had a series of adventures in the 1980s, drawn by John M. Burns. Others who worked on various incarnations of the strip included writers Les Lilley and Tim Quinn.


In wartime Britain, the cartoon heroine "Jane" appeared regularly in The Daily Mirror and boosted morale during the Blitz and thereafter by taking her clothes off during periods of bad news. It was said that the first British armored vehicle ashore on D-Day carried a large representation of a naked Jane. She'd finally lost the last vestiges of her modesty during the Normandy campaign in 1944, inspiring soldiers to say that "Jane had given her all." Prime Minister Winston jokingly dubbed Jane "Britain's secret weapon" in homage to her role in raising and maintaining morale.

But who was Jane?

Yes, she was the woman who kept British soldiers smiling through their gloomiest hours, and one story comes to mind that best illustrates her effect on those in the armed services. A British submarine had been attacked, and was crippled and powerless on the bottom of the ocean. Sea currents swirled round the vessel and there was always the chance the enemy would swoop in for the kill. The crew inside fully expected the vessel to become their tomb, but knew how they wanted to spend their last moments. A request was put in to the captain. The submariners wanted to live out what time remained gazing at pictures, currently in his safe, of a stunningly beautiful woman from Eastleigh, Hampshire. Their commanding officer obliged and the images of the supremely sexy Christabel Leighton-Porter, aka "Jane," were distributed.

Unbelievably, this particular maritime incident had a happy ending. It was eventually possible to refloat the stricken sub and the crew returned to the safety of dry land. And this is just one of dozens of similar tales which reveal how the A-grade assets of this classy Hampshire lady were a direct hit with the armed forces.

Mention Christabel's name to younger generations today and you're sure to receive blank looks. But the impact of her wide smile and superb physical statistics on WW II troops cannot be underestimated. In the fight against fascism, maintaining the morale of service personnel in a climate of relentless death, rationing, and destruction was practically as vital as having enough ammunition.

Christabel was, quite simply, Britain's first bona fide sex bomb. She was the model for the Daily Mirror's Jane cartoon. Every day the deliciously curvy character and her dachshund Fritz were involved in a short, light-hearted adventure. Frame by frame, layers of her clothing would be mysteriously (perhaps illogically) shed, leaving Jane left completely bare, sometimes in front of an entire battalion. (Which was the precisely the point!)

The cartoon's prominence was such that submarine captains were given copies of the strips weeks in advance so their crews didn't miss out on any crucial developments — it were these strips that were given out by the commanding officer in the story of the doomed men related above. There's no denying that in the dark days of the war a sex interest for "the boys" was vital. But warfare fuelled by coursing hormones was nothing new. You only have to cast an eye over history to see Paris getting fierce in the name of Helen of Troy and the great Roman soldier, Anthony, wielding his sword around for his love of Cleopatra. Though Jane certainly made male hearts pound faster, she clearly inhabited a smut-free zone. There was a sense of innocence about the cartoons and the heroine's honor always remained unsullied.









ooc: This is what happens when I wake up a couple of hours before the alarm clock goes off. Now I have to wonder, is Jane Gay a comic strip character or is she a real person in our universe? Only the GM knows for sure!

there was both a TV series and a movie in the 1980s about Jane. Saw the movie, it was awful and I had no idea it was based of a comic strip character.
Learn something new everyday! Helps keep you alive.


Lola Pagola

OOC Crikey. The comic strip is vaguely memorable for some reason (not sure when it ran to but my Dad read the Daily Mirror for years). Probably because of the TV Series I guess...

However, there is also a fact from the war more pertinent to a supers game... "Between 1939 and 1945, reported crimes in England and Wales rose from 303,711 to 478,394, an increase of 57 per cent." Being a comics code friendly type game we'll ignore the more horrible types of crime and concentrate on things like...

It was turning out to be a pleasant Sunday in May 1940.

The group had been steadily walking through the streets of Central London, stopping to look in shop windows. The lack of men of fighting age became more obvious and Marcus had been squirming somewhat at the looks he got from women, something he would normally lap up.

"Hmmm. We really need to figure out what the heck we're going to do about the war effort. I mean, I've dodged it so far but now with conscription I have no excuses and need to..."

BANG! BANGBANGBANG!"

Marcus ducked, then turned. The group was at a crossroads and down one street were a number of expensive/high class jewellery stores. One of those was getting attention from masked men whilst another man fired into the air to get people running! This was around 150 yards away and bystanders ran from the fellow. He was holding a Thompson submachine gun and firing into the air to frighten people away. They didn't need much persuading.

Several dozen people out for a nice day were suddenly running for their lives!

Fred snarled and turned to Oliver. "We're up! Katheryn and Marcus, feel free to sit this one out and watch how the Pros handle this!"

Marcus frowned "Well I don't know about that old chap! We're 'professionals' too now you know!"

"That's right!" said Katheryn with a frown on her face as well.

"Well, it's just that... Bullets bounce off my skin and I don't know if... Look I just don't want anyone to get hurt is all. If you think you'll be ok, jump in!" and with that Fred stepped into a side alley and leapt UP!

With one spring he landed lightly on the ledge of a building several floors up and Oliver saw him peeling off his suit to reveal the red costume underneath....

Marcus shrugged "In for a penny..." and he stepped into the alley and INSTANTLY was dressed as Swashbuckler!

Katheryn moved to the same alley and shrunk from view before reappearing in a blue haze of sparkling dust as the beautiful Faerie!

OOC Perception 5 + Roll(2d12)+0: 3,7,+0 Total:10 (15) vs
OV4 + Roll(2d12)+0: 3,2,+0 Total:5 (9)

+3 (to 9) vs RV4=5 RAPs

1) The guy in the street is dressed in all black and it looks kind of bulky. As if the cloth was over some kind of armour.
2-3) The Tommygun fired several shots per 'bang' and Prof Wynde saw a building spray debris from holes much larger than a single bullet might normally inflict...
4-6) There are backpacks on each of the robbers backs (Prof Wynde sees one in the street and saw two enter the store but others might be in there) and they look metallic, despite being painted black. There is also a smell in the air of burnt fuel that is highly reminiscent of airplane fuel...

"They're not what they appear to be," Oliver warns as he took steps into the alley and instantly changes into Prof. Wynde. "Their technology is more advanced than they appear. These may be the aliens I told you about or Nazi agents using the alien tech. And those are rocketpacks on their backs so beware of them flying."

With that, he takes off into the air to provide overhead cover, ready to take on any of them that are in the air or will try to use, what to him look like rocketpacks, to take to the air.

ooc: IF we get surprise, I'm going last in the group to give the others their chance to pract ... er ... shine!

Prof Wynde can't see Wonder Man from where he is and suspects his friend has gone down to ground level to try and get into the jewellery store to prevent the theft/save any innocent bystanders.

That left Swashbuckler and Faerie, flying beside him.

As usual Marcus couldn't help himself.

"Ah ha!" he shouted from a low rooftop looking down on the man with the rocketpack in the street. "An evil miscreant! Methinks you need to be taught the error of your ways, villain!"

He was seriously 'over the top' and yet like Douglas Fairbanks and Errol Flynn after him, couldn't help but bring a cheer to those watching him. Faerie swooped about and as usual tried to avoid combat.

OOC initiative...

Swashbuckler goes first, no need to roll.

Adren Surge on Superspeed 12 + Roll(2d12)+0: 3,6,+0 Total:9 (21) vs
OV6 + Roll(2d12)+0: 9,4,+0 Total:13 (19)

+2 (to 14) vs RV6=8RAPs. Superspeed is now 14. Sub for Dex.

Swashbuckler jumps to the floor level and jogs over to punch the man in the rocket pack!

OOC Dex 14 + M Arts 3D + Roll(3d12)+0: 9,10,9,+0 Total:18 DOUBLE plus Roll(2d12)+0: 6,11,+0 Total:35 (49) vs
OV3 + Roll(2d12)+0: 2,1,+0 Total:3 ROLL FAILED OV0

+10 (to 15) vs RV4=11 Damage. Jetpack guy is DOWN and OUT!

SMECK! The jetpack garbed man is sent flying across the road to thud into the side of a car leaving a dent and rolling away, unconscious!

"This is childs play!" he laughed. "Ha!"

Faerie flew up to Prof Wynde and squeaked "Maybe he's right. This could be the training session we need to hone our powers. Maybe you should call Fre... Wonder Man back."

OOC Prof Wynde is up. There are no targets on the street - they are in the store. He can hear police whistles from somewhere and a distant siren.

"Inside Faerie!  Help Wonderman and protect the innocent," Prof. Wynde orders pointing to the front door.  He himself lands and steps through the door ready to do an air punch at the closest foe he can find that he can get a clear shot at.

The doors to the store had been 'blown through' so to speak, with glass shattered and a diagonal crossed gate bent and torn aside by someone with superior strength.

Swashbuckler and Faerie led the way into the store which was a multi floor type that sold all manner of high value goods - fur coats, jewellery, art and many other things valuable not just to ordinary people but to Thieves.

"Look at the prices!" gasped Faerie as she flitted about in the air. "Who can afford these things?"

Swashbuckler was ahead. He turned back. "This floor seems to be clear! We should go upstairs and help Wonder Man. Before he mops up all of these jokers on his own!"

Faerie flies around and under mannequins dressed in the finest of clothes and over perfume stands towards the stairs.

Suddenly there is a sound from the floor above - RATATATATAT!

"Gunfire!" shouted Swashbuckler, and he made for the stairs with a single leap across the room!

Prof Wynde is about to rush with them when he hears a THWASH! sound and the crashing tinkle of glass - windows - shattering!

OOC Swashbuckler and Faerie are heading for the stairwell to get to the upper floor (the lift won't work when the store is closed). You heading up that way, hanging back to let them sort it or doing something else?

"Be careful, I'm going to check out that crash sound," he yells out. He ducks back outside to see which windows had gotten blown open.

Prof Wynde moved out into the street to see a lot of shattered glass in the road along with Wonder Man!

He was lying on his back and rising groggily.

Prof Wynde was shocked to see he was reaching about himself as if he couldn't see and there was blood streaming from his ears!

Still, he was struggling to get up and looked unsteady on his feet. He looked about and past Prof Wynde without appearing to see him!

OOC GM Note 10RAPs of SENSORY BLOCK on Wonder Man. Lasts for 1 hour all OV/RV increased by 10. OV vs Physical attacks reduced by -4.

Wonder Man squints and turns back to the building then crouches as if ready to jump but seems to be having trouble focusing...

The windows he'd been thrown from were the second storey of the department store....

Prof. Wynde moves up to Wonderman and taps him on the shoulder, ready to duck if his friend takes a swing at him.

"Wonderman," he yells, "Can you hear me?"

{whatever the response}

"Stay here and clear your head," he yells.  "I'll go look!"

Flying up the the window to see what is happening.  Magic Shield is up, not that it's been of any use yet.