RUBY CITY DEFENDERS! Issue #1 - Requiem for a hero...

"And to me, that makes him our prime suspect. Why all the secrecy for theses vases if something illegal isn't going on? No, there has to be a reason I want to find out. You with me?"

"I'm no cop. If they are littering, loitering or jaywalking, then leave me out of it. But I think you may be right about something extra shady going on here. Breaking and entering and stealing is shady too and we just committed those crimes. Should we take ourselves in? I got no reason to believe there is a single innocent in that building. Thus I'm not in a rush to go in there and get shot for trespassing." Captain Conduit then has an idea. "I know a way they will be happy to let us in. I can be an electrician sent from the power company come to look at their fried utility box. I'll sneak you in with my tools. C'mon, let's fly back to my car, where I can get into character."

OOC: Sorry, LB isn't that small yet. He is a little over 3' tall at present. Once we get some HP at the end of the adventure, that will allow me to shrink him further.

Here is his current size comparison to a 6' guy.

"Well, at least I can be a good distraction. Of course if the goons think to call the electric company, then I may be toast. But they won't be expecting me to have powers as I make a daring exit."

Making their way back to Fred Asters' car the heroes had their own opinions about what was going on...

OOC Is Fred keeping his ID secret?

Meanwhile, Elsewhere...

"Ready?"

A nod in agreement.

"Are you sure about this?"

"I want what the other guy got!"

"There are no guarantees..."

"I've seen the results! Do it!"

"Alright..."

==========

As the pair made their way away from the big house on the hill there was a loud CRACK! and they turned.

The house and yard surrounding was plunged into darkness!

With a glance at each other Lightning Bullet and Captain Conduit knew *something* had happened but they had a choice to make. Go back and investigate or carry on through with the plan for Fred Aster to pose as an electrical engineer...

Fred takes off for his car at top speed. "You can do whatever you want. But if you can drive my car, then that will help me get ready faster by changing in the back seat."

In addition to changing clothes, Fred plans to wear a wig and a mustache to hide his identity from the three foot high hero.

"I'm staying and investigating," Lightning Bullet decides. "Good luck with your plan."

He heads out flying high and then diving down to the roof of the building. Instead of checking the upper floors as was his original plan, he instead drops to ground level looking for the small windows that provide some light and ventilation to basements. That's where he would hide things that he didn't want noisy neighbors looking into.

Captain Conduit is not pleased with how this is turning out. He came looking for a cape-killer and ended up following some rude cop's lead to uranium vase thieves and when he called the lawman back, he was drunk and hung up on him. As far as Cap knows the hero was killed by conventional means, not smashed by a super strong bulletproof guy. This first adventure in the city didn't even remain in the city. And there are no hot girls, just a pint-sized guy in spandex who's gonna get himself killed. Now, where did Fred park his car?

Fishing out his workshop overalls and tool box along with a wig and moustache - sometimes it paid to be 'someone else' when disgruntled customers found their doo dad or wotsit didn't work quite as well as it should.

Meanwhile Lightning Bullet took off and headed back to the house. The pairing up hadn't worked quite to plan. Something was going on, and it involved a man with superhuman strength and who knew what other abilities!

It also involved a dead superhero. A friend, as it turned out, albeit one not seen for a number of years.

Determined, Lightning Bullet soared through the sky and landed lightly on the roof of the building, determined to find a way in and found out what secret this place held.

Fred Aster finished his disguise and drove his car up the hill towards the house. His costume under the baggy overalls would remain hidden so long as no one patted him down. That could be an issue.

He got closer to the gates. Guards there looked out in the darkness to the headlights and glanced at each other. It had been a short while - minutes - since the lights had gone out. This would take some persuading to get through the gates but he hoped the guards weren't too smart...

Meanwhile Lightning Bullet decided to find a small window and creep into the house but he knew that the chances of being spotted would be high if the guards inside were vigilant!

OOC Ok we have two checks coming up. Stealth for Lightning Bullet, Persuasion for Captain Conduit. Passing both and... we move on. Failing one (or both) will raise the alarm! Anything you want to do before the dice come out?

Can't think of anything more for Lightning Bullet.

Before walking up to the door, Fred checks the powerlines outside for damage. He wants to determine if the house is connected to the grid or if it has its own power generator.

Captain Conduit looks about the place and wonders if it has its own power supply...

OOC Perception is used but to make 'observations' in this case we'll use Scientist as a modifier (with 3 Dice)

Int 6 + 3D Scientist (Observation) + Roll(5d12)+0: 6,4,9,9,11,+0 Total:18 DOUBLE plus Roll(2d12)+0: 12,8,+0 Total:38 (44) vs
OV7 + Roll(2d12)+0: 11,2,+0 Total:13 (20)
+7 (to 11 Will) vs RV7=4 RAPs

1) The house is supplied by the grid according to the power lines Captain Conduit can see...
2-3) But whatever was the cause of the blackout in the house would also have drained the power from other local establishments and dwellings. A quick glance around suggests not. Even the distant lights which must be a mile away or so still shone in the darkness. This place has it's own feed, though it appears that has been exhausted.
4-6) It's probably been supplemented by the grid to a certain degree but to stay 'under the radar' that draw would be limited or disguised in some way. It's probably been investigated at some point by the power company only for palms to be greased, threats made or searches made and nothing found - at the moment. With that in mind the random visit of a power company engineer might not be the most welcome guest. Looking at it that way Captain Conduit considered they might very well even be hostile...

Meanwhile...

==========

Lightning Bullet was small and sneaky but relatively new at this. He would get better over time, assuming an ill placed bullet didn't end his career!

Creeping in through an open window to the multi storey darkened house, he crept about, mindful of guards in the dark.

Lightning Bullet saw flashlights flicker and as he moved onto a landing he heard guards chatting on the stairs. He'd need to get past them to get to the belly of this place where it was more likely that any shenanigans would be taking place. One of the guards leaves, going downstairs whilst another waits on the landing of the floor below.

OOC Here we go.

Perception 2 + alert 2 + Roll(2d12)+0: 11,8,+0 Total:19 (23) vs
Dex 7 + 2D Thief + modifier (dark, despite the flashlights) 2 + shrinking 3 + Roll(4d12)+0: 4,4,5,2,+0 Total:8 DOUBLE plus Roll(2d12)+0: 9,7,+0 Total:24 (36) Perception failed (stealth success)

Waiting for the right moment Lightning Bullet sped past the guard who was lighting a cigarette when a blur moved past him. The guard had a pistol tucked into his belt.

More minutes passed as he glanced in rooms, all darkened. Most were empty as it turned out, some not even carpeted and with boxes of furnishings yet to be unpacked. Such a large house with eight or nine bedrooms possibly and bathrooms, living rooms and the like, would be a status symbol but Lightning Bullet figured whoever was behind all this was more interested in a different kind of status.

As he moved along Lightning Bullet was aware that should the lights come on in this place it would be nigh on impossible to remain unseen!

=========

Captain Conduit/Fred Aster was in his work overalls with a toolbox in hand as he stepped up to the guards at the gate.

"Yeah? Whaddya want?" asked one guard. "We got this. Don't need you wage slaves pokin about. Nothin' ta see here."

"Yeah. Like he said." added the other guard, snarling. Neither had a gun on show but both were bulky fellows and used to throwing their weight around.

OOC Depending on what you say there may be a modifier to persuade them but be warned - it won't be easy. They are automatically hostile to any unscheduled visitors...

As he moved along Lightning Bullet was aware that should the lights come on in this place it would be nigh on impossible to remain unseen!



Keep working his way down into the basement and maybe find any hidden sub-cellar ther.

Fred decides to play nice, like he's one of the guys. "I'm just here to help fellas. If the new supervisor notices your lights are out, he'll start askin' questions and may want in on the take. Best to keep this low profile for all of us. Who's in there workin' this anyway? It's not that idiot Phil is it? Whoever it is missed the box in the yard. Take a look for yourself and you'll see it's been shorted. I'll wait. Then let me in, so I can fix it. But hurry, we don't need any more noses snooping around this place, know what I mean?"

Fred Aster points to the electrical box he shorted out earlier. Since he can see there is nobody working on it, he's banking on this being evidence that he knows what he's doing and the guards should let him in.

I don't know if you will allow me extra dice for Artist (Actor): 4, since I'm acting like an electrician on the take. So I'm just rolling two dice for now.
This dice is not existing.

This dice is not existing.

Does the "Dices roll" feature work here? That is not how I was expecting my roll to look.

ooc: No the dice roll doesn't work, the GM will do all the rolling and give us the results.

OOC For the moment don't use the dice roller on the forum. I'll roll the dice on the Wizards of the Coast Dice roller

Infl 4 + 3D (actor) + Roll(5d12)+0: 12,3,3,6,7,+0 Total:6 DOUBLE plus Roll(2d12)+0: 12,4,+0 Total:22 (26) vs
Ov2 + Modifier +3 (between suspicious and hostile) + Roll(2d12)+0: 12,5,+0 Total:17 (22)
+3 (to 7 aura) vs RV2 + Modifier 3 (RV5)=2 RAPs

The goon looks confused.

"Didn't we have a guy? Y'know, that fella with the beard?" asked one.

"What about that Phil guy? Who was he? Was he one of the ..." the other said, pondering.

"Well, we could watch him."

"Yeah. Ok. Right, you get to dat box n sort it out then get outta here, kapeesh?" said the guard. They looked confused, frowning, not quite sure what was going on...

Fred/CC had a chance to poke around in the grey box. He figured that it was a standard feed to the house and whatever had blacked the area out was downstairs, but it was a start...

OOC You haven't persuaded them, as such, rather used Acting as a form of persuasion so long as you keep the act up they'll keep buying it... he hopes...

=========

Lightning Bullet hears shouts from somewhere but keeps heading down into the depths of the house.

Waiting, moving, being patient, he wonders how his partner was getting on upstairs. He certainly seemed the confident type. Maybe best not to be too confident until they knew what they were really facing...

Lightning Bullet paused.

He'd gone down some stairs and was now stood in a corridor with a couple of doors, one on either side. Voices from the left were arguing about something, silence from the right. The shouting got louder, and the left door started to open...

"Yeah. The sooner I'm done here, the sooner I can get a beer." Fred takes his toolbox over to the box he zapped earlier and checks it out. Does he have what he needs to fix it?

Fred is handy, though not the expert on this system he needs to be. However...

OOC Int 6 + 3D (Gadgetry or scientist in this case) + Roll(5d12)+0: 3,3,11,10,2,+0 Total:6 (Double, but close call with the 11+10) plus Roll(2d12)+0: 3,7,+0 Total:16 (22 all in, would have been better taking the 11+10 but that's how it goes. If you have a preference - high total vs low double - let me know) vs
OV4 + Roll(2d12)+0: 1,11,+0 Total:12 (16)
+3 (to 7 Will) vs RV4=3 RAPs

1) It looks like a simple circuit breaker has tripped...
2-3) But there is a massive drain coming from somewhere else - presumably inside the house - that will instantly trip the CB again. Also the wiring *seems* on the level, but a circuit breaker this size shouldn't trip on anything in the house. There are also other wires - thick ones - that lead out of the box.

Fred glanced about. The street lights had gone dark. Something told him that the box here was meant to look 'on the level' but closer inspection would reveal there was something else going on. If this kind of thing had happened regularly someone at the power company would know about it and investigations would have been started. Unless someone at the power company had been paid to look the other way...

Bottom line - whatever had drawn the current was still doing it and resetting the breaker would trip it instantly. However... with his lightning power Captain Conduit could 'juice' up another circuit and send something back down the wires...

=========

Moving quickly the diminutive hero Lightning Bullet dashes into the other room as the door on the left side of the corridor started to open...

And he gasped!

Light from the corridor revealed cages. LOTS of cages! Inside were sleeping animals - large ones at that. A wolf, a bear, an eagle... more beside. The common theme seemed to be that they were predators and they were sleeping despite the shouting and LB's presence that suggested they were - more likely - drugged!

Moving carefully so as not to make any noise Lightning Bullet counted a dozen cages in all. Then the door to the room opened!

"Alright already! I'm gettin it!" said a voice.

"Always the gopher. Gopher dis, gopher dat... I'm sick of it!" snarled the man in the suit as he moved from cage to cage. "Wolverine... wolverine... what the heck does a wolverine look like anyhow?" He turned and started to go for the light switch, his lighter providing little in the way of useable light.

Click!

Lightning Bullet's heart skipped a beat - he was sure to be seen!

Except...

"Dammit! We need ta fix da lights!" yelled the man in the suit as he fumbled with his lighter again.

"You got da beast?"

"Nah, dey all look da same in da dark!"

"Boss says Wolverine next."

"Dat like... a mean possum or somethin?"

"I dunno, it's a canuck thing!"

The man in the suit sighed, and started to move from cage to cage. At this rate in four cages time he'd come across a three foot high man who wasn't a wolverine!

Fred decides his best course of action is to deactivate the suspicious powerlines, while activating the ones for the lights up top and then get the hell out of there. If he's successful in making it look like everything is fixed up top, while disconnecting the wiring for the hidden power-leech, Fred gathers his stuff and says, "That's it. Now I'll get outta your hair... and into a broad's," on his way out the gate. And then he hustles to his car to get clean away as fast as he can.

"You got da beast?"

"Nah, dey all look da same in da dark!"

"Boss says Wolverine next."

"Dat like... a mean possum or somethin?"

"I dunno, it's a canuck thing!"

The man in the suit sighed, and started to move from cage to cage. At this rate in four cages time he'd come across a three foot high man who wasn't a wolverine!


Moving quickly to the front of the cage but before the light from the lighter reveals him, Lightning Bullet reaches up to the door of the cage and opens it, letting it swing wide. Then he moves back around behind the cage and crouches down, doing his best to be hidden by the now open cage and the animal within.

Fred fishes several tools out of his bag and starts rummaging about inside the junction box.

As he tinkers more and more he realises this other feed/spliced off cable is set to bypass the meter so there was reason to call the cops or at least the power company in that respect for fraud.

It would take him several minutes to separate the 'piggyback' cable.

"How's it goin?" asked one goon in between drags on cigarettes. He started to look about, get a little antsy.

Fred continued to work carefully - he was probably able to withstand a whack from a certain amount of 'juice' but the armed goons would certainly notice!

"Hurry it along!" said another goon. "Like, don't you just... reset somethin' or somethin?" he asked as he started to walk over, clearly intent on looking over Fred's shoulder! He might discover what Fred was up to!

=========

"I got it. No problem." said a goon as he came into the room.

With a flashlight he shone about, having to shake it a couple of times as the batteries were on the wane.

"What we got here... snake... spider... ewwww... rat... hawk... wolver... wol... what the hell!" gasped the goon!

"Grrrrrrrr!" growled the creature as it moved out of the cage!

The goon fumbled about in his belt for a pistol!

"What's keepin ya? An we need the power restorin. Go get the circuit breakers an replace em in the driveway!" bellowed a voice from the other room.

"I... I gotta problem here!" yelled the goon with the gun, flashing the light about as the Wolverine moved out of view!

Lightning Bullet stays hidden and watches, waiting to see what the other will do before he acts.